I am not an animal! I am a human being!

This is what Drew looked like on May 9th at 6:55pm.
This is what he woke up looking like.
Actually, some of the swelling had gone from when he woke up. He's having an allergic reaction to sunscreen. Well, that's my best mom diagnosis. It happened to him once before when he was about 2 when we lived in Utah.

Poor little, sweetie. Doesn't he look happy?

Yo Mama

Yo mama is so fat!

How fat is she?

Yo mama is so fat
when she got up
She caused an eclipse.


Joke written by Drew O'Pry

Yo Mama

Yo mama is so stupid!

How stupid is she?

Yo mama is so stupid
that she sat on the TV
and watched the couch.



Joke written by JB O'Pry

Brothers - Just a Memory I Want to Remember

One night this past month the boys were sitting outside, one on each lounge chair. They were eating Ben & Jerry's Phish Food ice cream for dessert in their special sundae bowls. They were talking and laughing with each other over I don't know what. It wasn't quite dark yet but the light was fading.

I was sitting inside messing around on my computer when their shared laughter got my attention and I looked out at them.

They were singing a parody song with JB leading the way the loudest. Both were bouncing to the beat they were making and the occassional spoon would hit the air overhead.

I thought I should get the camera out but honestly, I just wanted to live the moment. It made me smile. It reassured me that these two brothers were indeed best friends.

I'm pretty sure they were singing, TheCompterNerd01's Baby (Justin Bieber parody).

Whoa! They're Purple!

Pretty Orange Roses

This camera phone picture of the orange roses sitting on my desk does not do my orange roses justice. Orange is one of my favorite colors. It's also my Colorstrology color.

My friend and coworker puts together the flower arrangements for our office. I don't know why she never puts any flowers on my desk. Maybe she's mad at me. But, there are always flowers in her area.

In fact, these roses were in her area and I felt it was my duty to enjoy them. The Universe told me that I deserved to appreciate these roses.

So, I took them.

And, I have been enjoying them thouroughly. She just noticed that I took them so she wasn't enjoying them anyway.

I may make this a weekly habit.

Stealing flowers.

February Snow

Ah! It's so pretty....

Bleh!

Don't ever do that again, Mother Nature!

This photo of my backyard was taken on February 4th in the afternoon after a moring snow storm.

The Yellow Envelope Project

The Yellow Envelope Project is an important initiative that we, the House of Shine, are committed to doing and promoting. This weeks post from Claudia addresses issues as to why one may hesitate in participating.

Please take a moment and read her post. Then, see if you can find it in yourself to at least give it a try.

I can promise you that the action of of anonymously sending out gratitude will invite more gratitude in your life.

To Love a Teacher

This past Wednesday evening JB was trying to thread a long piece of yarn string through an empty ribbon spool but the yarn was getting jammed in the spool and wouldn't not come out the hole on the other side. It wasn't a big spool. Probably only about 3 or 4 inches.

I watched him for a little bit and finally asked if he needed some help.

He sighed and told me how he had the yarn through before but couldn't get it back through. He brought it to me defeated. I tried and failed. I picked up a pencil and wound the yarn around a couple of times and we stuck the pencil through and voila! We had yarn threaded through a spool.

I fished for the compliment. A nugget of thanks. "Who's the smartest mom in the whole wide world?"

And wouldn't you know that little stinker thought about it! He hemmed. He hawed. Then he said this:

"Well, not the mom in front of me. Hmmm... I know. Mrs. Bingham! She's a
mom and a teacher."

What a brat!

I promptly got on email and sent this email"

And this was her response:

Well, I'm glad I made her day. You know, she is a pretty smart mom. And, I know she's a great teacher. If I could only convince her to move up to the 5th grade to have both boys in her class again. (They both had her for the 2nd grade.)

She keeps telling me something about 5th graders smelling. Pfft! Like they didn't smell in the second grade!

A Valentine Card

This is the card that Drew and JB gave me for Valentine's Day:

It could not have been more appropriate as the whole weekend was filled with poop talk and if you get offended easily stop reading.... I warned you.... and ball talk. Not to mention the levels of gassiness.

It's the simple use of the word ball. Throw the ball. Snicker. Dude, pick up your balls. Snicker. Poopyhead.

Boys. I sometimes have to have the mindset of: If you can't beat 'em, join em. But, there does come a point when it is just not appropriate any more and I have to threaten to take away a DS.

The inside of the card looks like this:


Their sweet print.

As I was scanning the card, I saw this quote on the back and thought it was funny. And good advice.

The truth of the matter is they're rarely poopyheads. And JB was sure to point out that it was mostly Drew who was the poopyhead but I don't really think they're poopyheads. Their just boys and boys are by nature.... poopyheads.

They can't help it.

Carrie Smith Photography

I can't wait to see all the photos that Carrie took yesterday. I didn't think I would like the ones with me. I mostly just wanted some good pics of the boys. But Look!



Aw! I love those boys. And Carrie didn't prompt them to be all cute and cuddly like that. They did it on their own. I can't wait to see the rest of them now.

We walked around West End for about an hour and she was really great with the boys. I just tried to stay out of the way because they tend to do better if a parent isn't around.

You can check out more of Carrie's work at her Site at www.carriesmithphotography.com.