Meet Fred & George, or Struggling to Corral the Twins

Ok, so before everyone who knows me well has a heart attack, I'm not pregnant and I don't have twin children. lol But I do have some twins that everyone who knows me well knows about. And I've been struggling with them lately. You see, a relatively recent growth spurt has caused me to be unable to control them with the equipment I already owned. I know some that think that is a special blessing, but anyone who has personally faced the same problem knows that it's a real pain in the neck. So I've had to devote some special time and thought (and bucks) to helping take care of the problem.

You see, it's not that they're there. I mean, I've dealt with these two most of my life. The primary problem is that I've really never given much time to really getting a handle on the situation. You see, Fred is a bit smaller than George. Fred is a lot less trouble to corral. George, on the other hand, is always trying to escape or make things a bit more difficult. Unsightly, to say the least. I mean, I know everyone is lopsided, but this is ridiculous! And were you to just gaze at them, you might not notice. But giving them a close side-by-side comparison can definitely show the differences. And ever since I've had Joe, it's gotten worse. Maybe it's my own fault. I should have known that, once I had a new child, that it would be more difficult to keep other life issues under control. But the twins never really kick up much of a fuss on their own. It's all the other things that they affect that really shows the problems.

So, I had to chip in and get some new equipment for them. And boy, I knew I would have to change sizes of that equipment. So I tried several different models. And the model I ended up with was... a bit of a surprise. Perhaps a bit too personal to share online, but the twins needed a 42 DDD for their comfort! That can translate to 42 F, for those who are curious. Thus the new nickname of Fred for the twin on my left. But George is still causing difficulties! So, while the new solution is indeed an upgrade (in more ways than one!), I'm afraid that the next piece of equipment bought will have to be a whopping 42 G. (Thus the new nickname of George.) Sure, Fred will have a little extra space. Somehow, I think that's not going to be a problem. Maybe Fred deserves a little extra attention after all these years of George being the problem twin.

For the curious, here is the new equipment I acquired:



(grin) Y'all have fun now, you hear?

Easter Madness

I hope everyone had a nice holiday weekend! Ours was busy, to say the least. First up was the Easter egg hunt at Clark Springs Baptist on Saturday morning. Joe was in his finest (as you can see in this video), and Mommy and Daddy were excited to see what he would actually do on his first egg hunt. I didn't get any good pictures of it, but the verdict was that he was more interested in chasing the other kids at top speed than actually searching eggs, so Mommy picked some up for him. Daddy trailed behind faithfully as he waved the one egg he picked up (purple, which is why it caught his eye, I'm sure) and chattered at the other kids. He had a blast. It would have been even better had it not been for Mommy's overprotective streak. I covered him with sunscreen. Unfortunately, some of it got in his eyes. He wasn't a happy camper about that, but since he got more chocolate than he had ever imagined existed, he was ok with it. He also got some cool cars from Nana in his basket. He really liked that. :)

After that, we loaded a (very very tired) baby into the car and went to the park to meet with Aunt Jo. It was a perfect day for Kiroli Park. We piled up on a table and ate fried chicken while Joe had fun on the "fire truck."



We also did the swings and stuff, but I haven't uploaded that video yet. Joe had the best time watching Daddy swing in the swing next to him. Unfortunately, that meant that the yellow baby swing wasn't good enough for him anymore. We'll see if that lasts when we get to the park again. We also did a nice walk through the (shortest) nature trail, and I got some good shots of azaleas and other things. If they turn out well, I'll try to extract them and pass them along for everyone to share. The colors are too awesome not to look great in a spring layout. ;)

As for Sunday, we chilled out. And it was a good thing, too... Mommy hasn't felt her best. Maybe it was the candy, maybe it was her body's way of saying "noooooooooooooooo!" Whatever it was, I could use another Sunday to make up for it. :) I guess I'll have to wait a few more days for that, though. Joe and I played a lot, and Daddy was the only one who woke up early enough for sunrise service. Good Daddy! :)

Oh, and one of my blogging buddies Brandi is supposed to have her third child/first daughter by c-section today. Happy thoughts for welcoming little Karis into the world!

I love my dog!

iluvmydog
Originally uploaded by mawkinberd

Ok, so I couldn't make a layout with Ike yet. It's gonna take me some time to get there. But I did have this excellent picture from a few days ago when the dog, the baby and I were out playing outside, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I think it turned out pretty cute. :) The kit is Karmatic Impact by RebeccaPSP Designs, and the lovely word art is by Jacquie. :) I think it turned out pretty well. I've been playing with the colors lately for photos to see what sort of new looks I can come up with, so I'm pleased to see that this one worked out okay.

Things are going okay. Slowly but surely, life is evening out again. There's just really too much going on generally. It felt odd and calming to just sit down and do a quick layout again. I've missed it. I've even considered just forgetting about doing the music for Joe's first year album video and just leaving it as is so I can get rid of this sword of Damocles over my head, cuz I just have so many other projects I would rather start scrapping rather than worrying over it. Maybe I should just leave it as is. I don't know. But knowing me, I don't generally like leaving things as is. ;) I've got some new ideas about the music now, so I'm going to try to track them down. Hopefully, something will work well.

Have a lovely evening, everyone!

First Haircut

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Originally uploaded by mawkinberd

I've been looking forward to doing this little LO. I can't claim the pictures, because I knew I would be busy and called Aunt Jo to document the event. :) She did an amazing job, as you can see. Kylie also helped with filming. We made a good dinner party with it, and Daniel made his famous chicken and cheese enchiladas. Mmmmm.... I think that was the last time we had those. That was too long ago! 7 months is too long to wait for really tasty food like that. lol

Joe and I had a grand adventure today. We went to the zoo with Uncle Jeremy! Jeremy wanted to go so he could get in some practice for his camera class, which was his Valentine's Day gift from his partner. So, we took lots of aperture experiment shots. Plus, I got some great shots of Joe looking at the animals (as well as just Joe and just animals). I'll probably make a layout of some of them for the birthday challenges at MLAS, which kick back up for another round starting tomorrow. Can't wait!

I also saw something I had never seen before today. I saw something on the road, and I thought it was an animal. But when I got close enough to start swerving, I realized someone had tossed their weave into the road. How bizarre is that? Were they taking advantage of the fabulous weather by riding with the windows down, and the wind blew it out? Or did someone just snatch it off someone else's head and just throw it? I mean, the possibilities for humorous possibilities are endless. I'm still entertained just thinking about it.

Ciao for now!