Dear O's Aunt,
Please consider adopting me so you can make me gorgeous blankets like these two kiddos have.
Thank you,
Melissa
Here is a same-day sneak peek for Mr. Faux Hawk and his toddler sister:
The best smile of the day, when mom was loving on him:
There are certain foods that just feel like summer – watermelon, grilled hamburgers & hot dogs, bomb pops from the ding-ding man, lemonade, and my delish corn salsa. I use the serving size below to top off tilapia or grilled chicken, or double the recipe to use as a party dip. It is sweet & salty & citrusy good!
Corn Salsa
1 large ripe avocado diced
1 large tomato diced
1 c frozen corn
1/4 c red onion
1/4 c cilantro
1/4 c fresh lime juice
2T Olive oil
2t Sugar
1/2 t salt
Let it chill in the fridge for 20 minutes then serve.
My son's future flashed before my eyes the other night at dinner. In an instant, I saw E-Man in the high school cafeteria eating 17 pounds of coleslaw because someone double-dog-dared him to. I saw him mooning the student body because he was double-dog-dared to. I saw him shaving his head and eyebrows because someone double-dog-dared him to.
We were getting ready for grilled hamburgers and he wasn't sure if pickles were his thing.
"Try one," I said.
"Try one with ketchup on top," piped in his big brother.
Well, E-Man's eyes lit up and sparkled over the unlikely pickle/ketchup prospect.
"I double-dog-dare you to," challenged the loud mouth brother. E-Man absosutely LOVED the dare and responded immediately by eating the whole nasty thing. Big B later told me, "Mom, I can get E to do anything if I say double-dog-dare." Isn't that reassuring?
(This photo was taken with my new purse size camera, Canon G10. Amazing point and shoot, with huge view screen and many setting options. If you shoot beyond 'auto' on your camera, this is a great portable.)
Camping is work for me. I'm an air-conditioner girl, who likes internet access and city drinking water and the absence of creepy crawly critters. A couple times a year we take the kids camping, and I truly deserve an "E" for Effort, because I try to enjoy myself. I think it's a great family experience to explore and step away from modern conveniences for a summer ritual. Within a few hours, though, I'm itchy and hot and sweaty and searching for Benadryl, wondering how I agreed to four days of sleeping in a cabin smack dab in the middle of NATURE.
I admit, It was not all a hardship. I knowingly traveled across Oklahoma and Missouri to a secluded hillside on Tablerock Lake to enjoy a hamburger grilled over charcoal (OK, the s'mores, and watermelon were also motivators) . We put our neglected boat to good use, catching enough blue gill and bass to keep the kids entertained. We had quality family time that was so welcome after a frantic last few weeks of school. If only I could bring along my PC and central air-conditioner!
These were taken with my point and shoot camera, didn't even use the 'big' camera all week!:
Fishing on the docks thanks to serious rainfall:
Number One on E's vacation wish list, which remains the same every year: Pee on trees and stuff
And purchasing some of Missouri's finest exports on the way home:
I will be out of town from Tuesday, June 2nd until Wednesday, June 10th. All orders submitted during that time will be placed on the 11th. Calls and emails will be returned before the weekend.
June is filling up fast….only a couple Saturday spots left (June 27th in the afternoon). Weekdays have more availability.
And a recent cutie to share:
This session has been in the works forever. I wanted to borrow my mini-model friends here for something different — urban street chic. Then it rained. Then it got cold. Then it rained for another month.
We finally made it, and found some cool spots for pictures. I love the perfectly imperfect little details like ten different colored toenails on bare feet:
Mom is such a good sport and joined the fun after minimal begging from moi:
Cute tutu alert! Any customers with young girls know that I have a large tutu obsession collection, all with matching bows. This tutu is new and I love it! A dance mom made it for Miss J, as I was looking for something fun for 3 year old pictures. Miss J felt so pretty and danced and danced while I snapped away.
And another tutu tester, who felt pretty and showed off her dance moves too:
Moms….you are always welcome to bring a solid colored tutu to your session for some dress up fun!
Miss J thought she was so sneaky on our walk around the block today. She found 3 dandelions and looked both ways before she pulled them, thinking someone was going to bust her for yanking weeds. Each time, she whispered, "I am so lucky."
She has become obsessed with the little yellow flowers all over. She picks them on the playground and on walks to the duck pond. I find yellow smudges on all her clothes and find withered dandelions in her pockets. I keep waiting for one of the boys to show Miss J how to pop the tops off and send her over the edge.
Wishing you have a dandelion picking, firefly catching, popsicle eating, bike riding kind of day!
Family game night is a serious thing in the Miller Household. We don't get competitive often, but when we do, look out! We played Yahtzee this weekend, with the standard house rules: losers scrub the toilet and winners enjoy a treat (root beer floats this go-round).
E-Man and I were on a pretty good winning streak teaming up against Bill and Big B in games and sports picks — we celebrated the Steelers' win on Super Bowl Sunday, we had lots of winning teams during Sweet 16 Basketball, we won the Sorry Sliders tournament last weekend. We were so totally over-confident and we lost.
So, we got out the Clorox Blue and scrubbed the main guest toilet. I'm probably risking a DHS intervention by sharing these house rules with my blog readers. I have two boys and one girl who cannot quite figure out how to make their pee go INTO the toilet instead of ONTO the toilet. The seat usually rivals a Jackson Pollack painting for creativity with splotches and streaks and frantic lines here and there. E-Man and I were gracious losers and scrubbed that baby clean. Then we weaseled ourselves some root beer floats for the hard work.
