Random Fun!

Shiloh Sings

Bedtime Conversations: Shiloh Edition

The following conversation took place last night between me and my 2 year old princess.

Me: What are you getting Daddy for his birthday tomorrow?

Shiloh: Caffeine.

Sounds good to me!

For more bedtime conversations, click here.

Decorating Day is Finally Here

Ah, the day after Thanksgiving. No shopping for me, thank you. I look forward to this day for one reason only...well, make that two reasons.

Reason #1: Leftovers. I had turkey, ham, CiCi's hot corn, Lindsay's bacon-wrapped green bean bundles, Brandi's double layer pumpkin pie, and a small slice of cran-apple pie. Mmmmmmm, I love me some pie.

Reason #2: Time to decorate the tree. I miss decorating Paw Paw and Grandma's tree more than anything, but watching Brandi and the kids decorate our trees is fun in a whole different way.

The boys were up long before Brandi and me. They made their own breakfast and passed the time playing video games until we finally rolled out of bed at the late hour of 7:30am (very late for us).

Then, we continued the family tradition of giving each other new Christmas ornaments. Brandi and I especially like the S'mores ornaments and Dad and Cindy have given me for several years, so this year we added to the collection by getting Mullin a baseball player S'more and Lincoln a soccer player S'more. Very cute.

I got Brandi a cross for her theme tree, and she got me a Starbucks cup and a basketball player S'more.

Shiloh got more than everyone, as usual. She has no chance of not being spoiled rotten. Brandi got her an antique baby carriage, a Care Bear, and a very pungent Strawberry Shortcake.

The kids did a great job of getting their tree decorated without too many catastrophes, due in large part to Brandi's skillful staging of the whole event. We finished up all of the hard work with a cup of homemade hot chocolate.

Testing Blogger Video

I don't think its anybody's birthday (well, I know it's somebody's birthday, somewhere in the world; just nobody I know), but Shiloh likes singing with this bear, and the whole thing was just cute enough that it gave me a good excuse to record it and try out the Blogger Video feature for the first time.

Update: I knew as soon as I posted this, someone would remind me who's birthday it is. Thanks Carrie. I can't believe I forgot it was Phil's birthday. Phil - friend of years, friend of tears - happy birthday!

Simpsonize Three!

I had so much fun Simpsonizing Brandi and myself, I thought I'd try it with the kids. Here, in order, are Mullin, Lincoln, and Shiloh.





And here is my third sentence of original content, followed by the fourth. Good grief!

Shiloh Turns Two

Father's Day Pics

I woke up on Father's Day to an assortment of handmade cards, a pound of my favorite coffee, and a new mug, appropriately baseball themed.



I thought it would be nice to get a picture with my kids to commemorate the special day. Shiloh had other ideas. Aren't the boys a handsome pair?



I decided a little later to make another try at getting the picture I wanted. Shiloh continued to protest, though not quite as vehemently.



By day's end, Shiloh's temperment softened somewhat. I'm sure it helped that I was reading her Beebo and Thomas books.



Happy Father's Day to me!

Pics a plenty!

Shiloh loves to have her picture taken. This shot is from one of her recent "Sunday Morning Photo Shoots."


As you can see from this picture, we finally talked Mullin into getting a haircut. Now, if only we could convince him to let us do something with it.


Last night, we set out on a Memorial Day weekend camping expedition...in our backyard. The weather was perfect, very cool and comfortable. We setup the telescope and looked at Venus, Jupiter and the moon. Then we piled into the tent and fell asleep watching a movie on my laptop. Fun times!


Here's Shiloh being cute...again.


Lincoln's team had their end-of-season party at Peter Piper Pizza this weekend. He's very proud of his first baseball trophy. For those of you who may not be familiar with Peter Piper, it's a louder, more rambunctious version of Chuck E. Cheese. We actually had to go to Peter Piper two nights in a row, which meant I had to go to Wal-Mart last night on an emergency Excedrin run.


Here's another random Shiloh pic. There are an abundance of these types of photos. Here she is with her two favorite babies, Ella and Tenderheart Bear. Brandi's already planning her Care Bear birthday party for later this month. Shiloh is also really getting into tea parties. She hosts several of them for her "babies" each day. We even let her use the nice tea party set that her Aunt Karen gave her, but only when there's an adult present to make sure the festivities don't get out of hand. Shiloh's tea parties have been know to get a little, how do the kids say it, "off the hook."


Here's a little shot we managed to get towards the end of baseball season. The wooden bat I'm holding belonged to Grandma's little brother, Connie Mac. This bat is very special to the boys, and I let them each use it in one game this year. They considered that to be a really big honor.

Well, that's enough randomness for now. Sure wish I was skiing at the river today.

Lincoln's Movie

Not to be outdone by Shiloh, Lincoln asked to do his own little movie for all of my blog viewers to enjoy.

Random Shiloh

Here's some random Shiloh footage taken last Saturday after breakfast. Unfortunately, this Saturday she has a fever and is irresistibly pitiful.



Well, the boys and I are off to watch Cy Young winner Brandon Webb and the Diamondbacks take on the NY Mets. The boys get to wear their Little League uniforms and march around the field before the game. I managed to score some premium seats right behind the dugout. Should be a fun night. Hopefully, I'll take some pictures worth posting.

Later.

Disclaimer: Boring New House Post

So, we've been in the new house for a couple of weeks now, and we're making lots of progress.

Allow me to be Captain Obvious. Here's the front. Notice the designer curtain in the downstairs window. Notice also that the vehicles don't fit in the garage just yet.



Here is the backyard before...



and here's the backyard after. We're still waiting on some vines and another tree.






Here's the fan I installed...three times. See how happy I am about it.

Shiloh, like Mommy, is very happy to have all her things back in their place. The only thing left for this room is a coat of Water Lily Bloom and a butterfly curtain rod, both of which have been purchased and are on my never-ending list of honey-dos.



The boys took time out from Mario Kart to pose for this photo in their room.




This is our living room, accented with various fineries obtained as a result of Brandi clearing out a Pier 1 Clearance Sale.



Captain Obvious here again - note the kitchen. There's a laundry room and pantry on the right, and the back patio is to the left.



Finally, for now, we have Dad's office-turned-kids playroom. Again, notice the designer window treatments!

More Christmas Blogging

Well, not all of our pictures turned out today. We were having a little trouble with the camera, but I did manage to salvage a few shots.

In these photos we're showing off some of our gifts from Grandma Honey, Jim, Uncle B and Catie!

It's hard to tell who's more excited about the Cabbage Patch doll from Paw Paw and Grandma, Shiloh or Mommy?

A Tender Tennessee Christmas (Desert Edition)

Being 1,500 miles away kind of prevented us from making it to Pa and CiCi's Christmas supper this year. We certainly missed the festive feast, the house full of fellowship, and the annual drubbing that we would dole out on the rest of the family during the traditional gift card competition. Well, at the very least our absence should create a good deal more parity in the game. Now, everyone else can honestly say they have a chance of winning first prize.

Enough gloating. On to the photos...


Here's Shiloh and I enjoying a little "Christmas Cocoa" before opening Pa and CiCi's gifts.




They're doing their best to be patient while everyone gets ready!




Shiloh is really into phones, so this was the perfect gift! She opened it right up and called Pa and CiCi to say thank you!


The boys went crazy for their new lightsabers.


Here's Brandi and her elegantly long fingers modeling her new bracelet. Thanks also for our gift certificates. They'll come in so handy if/when we get into our new home!

Wish we could have been with y'all tonight to share in all the Christmas fun.

Thanksgiving Photos

This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for the most adorable girl in the world, even if she is a stinker.








Here's Shiloh loving on one of her new cousins. He's either Kenneth or Ryan.


Mullin took a few minutes off from playing with Christian and Jacob to hold one of the twins. Again, I'm not sure if this is Kenneth or Ryan.


We ate our Thanksgiving dinner under this awesome sunset.

It was weird not being at my Aunt Kristi's house for Thanksgiving. I really miss everybody, and the phone call was definitely appreciated, even if I did miss out on the pie because of it!

Business On Top, Party In Back

Quite frankly, there aren't a lot of things out here that evoke memories of home, but when I saw this ad in Monday's edition of the Arizona Republic, it had Memphis written all over it!



I should have taken Shiloh to "Mullet Night." She would have won that competition for sure.

Photos From The Western Front

It was good to hear from my buddy Chris yesterday evening. Congratulations to him and his lovely wife Lisa on the birth of their baby girl Lydia!

See folks, it's that easy to stay in touch. Send an email. Post a comment. Wire cash. Don't be a stranger.

Okay, here are the belated Halloween...um, All Saints' Eve...costumes. As you can see, Mullin was a Clone Trooper, Lincoln was Darth Vader, and little Shiloh was an adorable Care Bear. Leave me a post if you can tell me which Care Bear she was. If anyone's wondering, I went trick-or-treating dressed as Guy Fawkes. (Thanks Brandon.)

Here's Mullin puttin' tha hurt on Goliath!



And here's little Darth plummeting to his doom!



These are just because.

T.G.I.M.

Well, it was one of those weekends where Monday just wasn't coming fast enough. Yeah, that bad. Anyway, who wants to blog about that? Not me. So instead, I give you PICTURES.

Here's the obligatory Shiloh picture.

Yummy holiday treats!

Mullin made a pagoda, and yes, there are trees in Arizona upon which one could hang a pagoda (see below). The pagoda is a big hit with the neighborhood birds. Nothing like a flock of nasty, pooping, virus infected, freeloading foul camping out in one's backyard!

More news and pictures forthcoming. Work is going well. Still don't have a house.

Let Them Eat Cake

Okay, okay.

"Enough with the Shiloh videos already," I'm sure you're saying, but I promised just one more for the grandma in Arizona.

Besides, who can resist a little cutie eating cake for the first time?

A Year With Shiloh