Cute, no?

There's so much to talk about, but I wanted to get this out there for family. Here are the proofs from Anna's portraits for school. If you want one of these, let me know. Obviously it would not have the watermark.

Au Contraire Monsieur Voltaire, We Know Where One Angel Dwells

It is not known precisely where angels dwell - whether in the air, the void, or the planets. It has not been God's pleasure that we should be informed of their abode. - Voltaire

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Off the Wall

Is she beautiful? Is the sky blue?

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Today Annabelle told me "I want ..." For the longest time everything was "I need ..."

E.g. "I need something." (pronounced "sumptin'")

Now it's "want." I am amazed at how fast she is learning and growing up.

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Lots of thoughts on MJ. But it's mostly about his kids. I feel sad, not because he is dead -- the MJ I loved when I was a kid ceased to exist a long time ago. It's more about the cult of celebrity and sycophants and evil doctors and cruel journalists and opportunists. I'll just leave it at that.

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The Kaat came out to play today. She also found out that the "skirt" she'd tried on last week was actually a ... wait for it ... sleeveless top! Miss Gigi and I laughed like crazy when I told her how I thought it was such a cute skirt, but it was too short!

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Just wanted to say "hi" to Mrs. R. Thanks for your comments. :-)

Wow!

Annabelle, June 14, 2007


Annabelle, June 11, 2008


Annabelle, June 10, 2009

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In other news, Van Halen's "Dance the Night Away" has always been one of my favorite songs. Now, Annabelle loves it too.

Did You Get the Memo?

Re: The NBA
I love Inside the NBA on TNT. Charles, Ernie and Kenny. The Rockets sent the Trailblazers fishin '! Yeah!

Re: Photography
I'd been looking for this rather excellent article for a while. Boy do I know some of the let's-talk-about-our-equipment-rather-than-use-it types! Seven Levels of Photographers

Re: This website
I am going to be making some changes in the near future. I want to change blogging software, so the look of this site will probably change. Though I want to avoid it looking too bloggish. We'll see. Blogger is great, but it doesn't have some of the features I am looking for right now. So anyway, be on the lookout, ye three people who actually read this blog. Oh, and Anonymous, who loves to make nasty comments -- you too.

Re: Annabelle
We spent hours in the pool today. She's a little water baby. So funny and adorable and unique and precious.

Trick-or-Treat

Annabelle went Trick-or-Treating for the first time on Friday. She caught on really quickly and seemed excited to go. We only went to a few homes -- neighbors of my parents and Andy's. Anna went up to one house in my parents' neighborhood and was quite terrified by a ghostly display. She ran to me crying. I felt so sad.

Overall, though, it was a lot of fun. Here are a few pictures. Don't forget our complete photo albums!

We Are Lucky

September both flew by and seemed like it was never going to end. I have a whole new respect for what my parents went through when Hurricane Alicia hit Houston in 1983. Back then it was "Oooh! Look all the golf carts are in the bottom of an empty pool!" and "how did that get there?" and "let's play with our Star Wars figures in this big pile of dirt!"

Now that I am grown up (that's what people keep saying anyway), it is no fun at all. Fences to rebuild, trees to chop, our sprinkler system was ruined -- so was the ice maker on our refrigerator. We lost all of our beautiful landscaping and flowers and bushes and four trees. We have a leaky roof. Our power was out for more than two weeks. Yet, we definitely ARE the lucky ones.

I did a heavy-duty closet clean out on Wednesday, being absolutely brutal. I eventually got two boxes worth of stuff together to donate to Hurricane Ike victims. (Andy did the same.)

I am somewhat miffed that Galveston and parts of Houston are suffering so much, yet they (we) are all forgotten. God, when Katrina devastated New Orleans it was wall-to-wall Katrina for a month and a half. And I know how much attention the media gave the story -- I worked day after day on it. For Ike it was hey! look! And move along. It pisses me off.

In other news, we moved back into our house Sunday. It was so great to be home. We still have so much work to do, but it is nice to be back in my own house. With control of my own thermostat! Oh baby, is it ever! :-)

Annaebelle is going to Gymboree twice a week and swim lessons. It's my goal to get her out and interested in new things. Meet kids her own age. I am fun and all, but I am sure she appreciates playing with other toddlers.

Here are a few pictures from September. We've got Annabelle in there among many Hurricane Ike pictures. And don't forget our family photo albums and don't forget to comment! We want to hear from you!

Cheers for now!

Look at This Photograph

I just wanted to remind everyone about our Photo Albums. I've posted a bunch of pictures of Annabelle that I've taken over the last couple of days. While the vast majority are available to anyone, there are some that require you to sign in. It's free to sign up and signing up will allow you to see the pictures I flag as "Friends and Family Only."

To get your free account (and trust me, Flickr is so worth it!), just Visit Flickr's signup page. If you already have a Yahoo! account, you can use that to sign in! See, I told you it was easy!

And best of all, once you've signed up you can leave comments on pictures, which I find to be very fun.

If you do sign up, please send me your user name so I can add you as a Friend or Family Member.

Have a wonderful day! And try Flickr!! (No, they don't pay me to endorse it. I just love it that much.)

Wowza Annabellza!

Sometimes being a stay-at-home mom is really mentally taxing. Sometimes the hours seem to crawl by. Other times they fly by with alarming quickness. This has been one of those weeks. Annabelle has done something new everyday this week. Maybe two or three new things.

Her comprehension of the spoken language is remarkable. Though she hasn't spoken all that many words, she understands many words and phrases. She can point to a cat, a dog, a duck, and, yes, a toucan (!). She can understand simple commands. She knows who mommy and daddy and nana and mimi and poppy and papaw are. She knows who Miss Gigi is. She even knows who kitty Sarah is.

She loves to point. She loves to read. She loves to dance. She is an amazing little girl.

If you haven't done so lately, Check out some pictures! May 2008 | April 2008 | March 2008

Let us know what you think!

No Photos, Please!

I've noticed lately that Annabelle is becoming a bit camera shy. I am not sure why that is. Maybe it's a natural thing. Now that she's getting older and recognizes things she gets scared more easily. Whatever the reason, her smile, while ever present, is increasingly difficult to capture on film.

I've uploaded a few images from her birthday. So check 'em out ...

Prayer Request

For my friend Gigi who is having a planned C-section today.

On a completely different note: Pictures galore in the Photo Albums >>>

Plugging Away

As you probably know by now, our photos are up on flickr.com. If you do not have a flickr account, I highly recommend it. It's free and, signing up will allow you to access photos that we do not make available to the general public.

You see, flickr allows you to set permissions for every photo. If you are not a flickr member, you will not be able to see our "Friends and Family" only pictures. Again, creating an account is free. You don't get any spam as a result of signing up. And it only takes a minute. If you already use Yahoo!, creating an account will take mere seconds. So, if you haven't already, why not sign up for a flickr.com account? That way, you'll get to see all of our pictures AND you can comment on them too. You know you want to.

To sign up, just visit flickr.com. There is a big button in the upper right-hand corner that says, "Create your account."

In the meantime, I uploaded a few more pictures to our albums.

Annabelle and I made a whirlwind trip down to CL today to order a cake from the one and only Cake Lady. I am tired now.

Oh Snap!

Check out some of our great photos from the last month of 2007.

• Annabelle gets her first real pair of shoes! (Anna B strides right in to get a new pair of shoes)
  
• Neen's Birthday celebrations (complete with fondue and Mexican food!)
  
• Christmas Eve (Including a meet-and-greet with Santa Claus!)
  
• Spa time in December!
  

Recuerda Usted?

Don't forget, I add new photos to the Photo Albums nearly everyday. Be sure to check them out.