The Toy Story Trilogy

I looked around tonight and noticed that I had Toy Story 1 on in the living room for Ryan and Toy Story 2 on in my bedroom for Leah and it occurred to me that there is a pretty good chance that we watch this movie WAY TOO MUCH! I decided to pay attention to Ryan's reaction to these movies instead of thinking, "Thank God, this bought me an hour or so to do laundry and clean". Here are a few observations of what I saw and (more importantly) heard during the movies. Yes, she rotated room to room, and yes, I realize it is a Toy Story sickness that should be consequentially named "The Ryan Syndrome". The following are Ryan quotes and if they are questions (MAINLY and annoyingly) I DID answer each and every question, even if I said, "I DONT CARE"
TOY STORY 1: (she always opens with the song, but only sings the line, "You got a friend in me" pretty freakin cute)
"Where is Jessie?" (Not until TS2-which prompts her to head into the other room)
"Where is Bullseye?" (See first question)
"What is ________ doing?" (this is a very common question)
"Where is _______ going?" (again, annoyingly common)
"Are they having a party?" (yup)
"ARE THOSE PRESENTS?!" (this is a troubling question seeing how Christmas is coming)
"Why is Buzz flying around the room?" (He's not flying, he is falling with style. Are you NOT paying attention Ryan?"
"His room is messy" (Speaking of Sid's room, and I find it interesting that she DOES recognize filth)
*took a break to take her "guys" including Buzz [big & small], Woody X2 [big & small-insert chuckle here], Jessie, Bullseye, the Alien, a monkey, Lotso, and 5 pacis from the living room to the bed...and back again.
"Are they finding Nemo?" (Oh Lord give me strength)
"The End" (YES!!!!!)
"Again?" (Crap!!!!)

TOY STORY 2:
"TOY STORY!!!" (Upon seeing the opening credits, followed by a double fist pump..yes we are sports fans and she picks up a few things)
"BUZZ!!!" (Another couple fist pumps-she gets really excited for TS2 more than TS1 it seems-so far 5 fist pumps WAY UP)
"Where is Woody's hat?" (Now her very own Woody's hat is missing so this may just be a coincidence since she asks this question 50o times a day)
"Where is Jessie?" (She is coming, hang on!)
"Where is Bullseye?" (Ok, apparently I need to teach this girl some patience. In the meantime I am just going to skip to that particular chapter)
"Barbie swimmin?" (Is that a question or are you telling me-its hard to tell sometimes because she always ends everything by raising her voice..its weird...really.)
"TURN INTO THE SPIN BARBIE!" (Ok, she really didnt say this, but I just love that line, had to fit it in)
"They going to bring Woody home?" (OK, so she is getting it..thats something)
"COOKIE!" (Yes honey Wood..wait, WHA? [heading to kitchen to a cookie])
"You've got a friend in me" (In her best Weezie voice..which isn't bad...really)

TOY STORY 3:
She doesnt talk during TS 3, just sits and stares. Now, this could be because we have a bootleg version and it is in Chinese (I'm teasing, its not) or because she just got it and is taking it all in, or because it is incredibly dark and she cant wrap her head around her "guys" accepting their fate or getting "donated". I am however thankful for the fact that we dont have a 3rd tv, and the break in questions/statements is certainly welcomed.

This isnt to say that she doesnt have the same reaction to other movies. She has a decent rotation of flicks to choose from:Up, Monsters, Inc., Madagascar, Finding Nemo, A Bugs Life, etc...and she has questions throughout all of them. The one reoccurring theme question is, "What are they doin/goin?" to which I always answer with whats going on, unless I answer, "I DONT CARE!"

Halloween 2010 Take 1-ZooBoo

I have to warn you, this post is going to involve a great deal of screaming and that is just from me reliving the evening at the ZooBoo. And NOT in a great "scared at the haunted house" kind of screaming. More like, tons of tears, and "Why me" sort of screaming only mothers of tantrum throwing 2 1/2 years old and a "blow out in costume" producing 1 years old can do. My mantra is, "hope for the best and expect the worst" and I certainly got it. Neither girl wanted to wear their costumes, which for Leah wasnt as bad, but I spent a great deal of time, effort and energy to make Ryans. Although, when she finally got hers on, Leah took hers off and then Ryan's costume made no sense. Geez. Once there Ryan seemed to have a good time while the rest of us were miserable. Leah wouldnt sit still, in the seat or dads arms and he was forced to "hold" her while pushing the stroller, while I chased after Ryan around in the dark! I heard a few whipsers from the crowd, they said, "cute costume" with a few "poor parents" sprinkled in.

Thank Goodness for Grandparents!

Jamey had his last out of town regular season trip and I always dread these trips because (to remind you again, I LOVE my girls) I have to fill several days of stuff for us to do. I have tried art projects (messy), singing & dancing (fun, but only covers 15 minutes out of 48 hours), and movies (the girls fav, but there is only so many times you can watch Kung Fu Panda)-I have even tried locking myself in the bathroom and letting the girls have free reign of the house (not the best parenting move, but we I do the best I can). So when Jamey's parents, Nana & JoJo, decided to come for a visit at the last minute I was so releived (I believe my exact words were, "Hell yeah you can come!"). We filled the days with shopping, a visit to the ArtWorks museum and Ryan introduced them to Toy Story 3 (clearly they arent as close to the charaters like we are, they didnt even cry), but certainly a MUCH better alternative to "Free Reign Saturdays". I should have thought of this ages ago-just plan for all the grandparents to visit when Jamey is out of town-who wants to see him anyway?!

And So it Begins....

I told Jamey is was "Grandma's fault" (she likes to pretend to put make up on Ryan, well, rather Ryan likes for grandma to pretend to make up on her), when she got a hold of some of my make up and asked for him to put it on. But the fact of the matter is, honey, we have little girls and no matter how rough and tumble, no matter how we dress them, little girls LOVE make up. Now, obviously at some point I am going to have to teach her how (scary thought) because when she does it she looks like a transvestite, a very pretty transvestite, but still!

Was That a Hurricane?!

I grew up in Florida and am very familiar with the process of a hurricane. You watch the Weather Channel for a few days while they watch a storm, then as it grows they give it a name and attempt to predict which way it is going. If it is possible to hit anywhere near you you watch this named storm for days as it approaches, "LISA IS COMIN". You have time to prepare, buy supplies, get out if you have to. So imagine my surprise when I stepped outside to hurricane forced winds the other day-NO warning, no preparation, no name. We were lucky enough to avoid the severe weather associated with hurricanes, but the winds were certainly not anything I have experienced in a long time. I got Ryan out onto the balcony and her hair was EVERYWHERE! The sustained winds were around 30 mph with gusts up to 45-50. Ryan was all fun and games until one of those gusts came along-then I couldn't get this child inside fast enough. I never thought about how scary that would be for a kid-something invisible, out of nowhere, blowing you over. A strange weather occurrence indeed!

Backstage pass for Halloween Costume Makin!

I have tried since July to think of something creative for the girls costume for Halloween to no avail. Then while telling a friend of mine what Ryan was for her for year (a spider in MY web) it occurred to me that I could let Leah be the spider this year and make Ryan the web! Now Leahs spider costume was store bought (or more like Grandma bought) and I am ok with that, but I HAD to make Ryans costume so at least one of them is in a "Jenbug one-of-a-kind". I decided to make a version of a tutu, with a black shirt painted with a spider web on it. It is an apron pocket style tutu filled with webbing and spiders! I have made spider clips for her hair and we even plan to cover the stroller with webbing and spiders as well! I could have waited to post just the pictures of the girls in their costumes and skipped the "backstage" look, but I cant seem to get Ryan to try on the costume, so "just in case" she never puts it on, I wanted some proof of the effort I went through to make it! :) Fingers crossed she comes to her senses and puts on this cool costume! ZooBoo here we come!

Newsome Bugs Putting on a Show for Grandma!

So it is no secret that my favorite spot in Montgomery (well, besides Target and Publix) is the park. And the girls thought (ok, there is a chance "we thought) it would be a good idea to show Grandma our new favorite spot. Again, hoping to get out of the house and to the park before it got too hot to keep them in their cute fall sweaters, we grabbed their newly picked pumpkins and headed out the door. We did our normal path and it still amazes me that of all the wide open fields, beautiful ponds with ducks, swans & turtles, gorgeous flowers and wooden decks-the girls favorite spot is inside the rock tower. This is of coarse NOT an area we can let them roam free, but it always makes for lovely pictures!

Newsome's on the Farm-Dream Fields Farm that is!

It is that time of year, my favorite time of year-FALL! I think back to my days in Asheville with the mountains in full autumnal splendor, driving down Kimberly Ave while it rains colors of red, yellow and orange, putting on my favorite coat to head downtown with a nip in the air and the bluest sky backdrop amidst the 65 degree temps. Sadly those are mere memories, replaced by a panicked mom dressing her girls at 6 in the morning just so it is cool enough to put them in a long sleeve tee, sweating through a pumpkin patch amidst the green background, and faking being comfortable in order to feign excitement of fall in the deep south. I held out as long as I could hoping the temps would lower a bit, but with my mom in town, we had to go ahead to get our pumpkin pickin done. We headed to a farm that the owners had turned into a "Fall Childrens Amusement Park" of sorts. It had the pumpkin patch I was after, hay bales to play on, cow train rides to ride on (after squeezing my butt into one and the consequential bruising that followed), a corn maze that consisted of burnt (from the Alabama sun) corn that Ryan seemed scared of, animals and the best part- a sandbox of corn. All of it was perfectly pleasant, the girls had a good enough time, and so did we, but I couldn't help but think how much more wonderful it would have been had it actually been more "fall like" outside. I have been in the south for a number of years and you would think I could get used to 85 degrees in October, but I am always amazed just how hot it stays deep into fall. Dont worry, I still have Christmas in Florida to look forward to!
(Added a week later) So in the spirit of "blocking things out" Grandma reminded me of a pretty important part of the day that I conveniently "forgot": As we arrived and were getting everything (meaning our traveling house) out of the car, Ryan climbed up into the front seat. We already had Leah in her stroller and then opened the door....YIKES-RYAN FELL OUT! Now, as if this wasn't bad enough, Ryan falling out of a van onto the ground-she decided to take Leah out with her! Her fall caused Leah's stroller to tip over ONTO LEAH'S FACE! See, this is why I dont like strapping the girls in...she had no where to go except onto the ground on her face! So yes, this was the start of our day! :) Thanks for reminder Grandma!

Actual Photos of the Girls TOGETHER!

Finally, a good photo of my girls together. No hair pulling, kicking, pushing, screaming and crying that usually happens when these girls get to close to one another. The scene usually is, Leah crawls over to Ryan, uses her shirt to pull herself up only to tug on her pigtails, then Ryan (who inherited my patience) shoves Leah off of her, then the ensuing screaming and crying from both! So not only do I love these photos because they are tooooo cute, but they also serve to commemorate a monumental occasion-2 minutes of the girls side by side. I equate it to capturing an endangered species, only a true photographer can be so quick on her feet! These truly are my favorite pictures to date. Also, as a side note-I didn't ask Ryan to pose for any of these (I learned my lesson the hard way) I just let her do her thing!

A Hidden Gem in Montgomery!

Wow-we have passed this "little" park every now and then since we moved here, but finally decided to check it out. It is Oct 3 and FINALLY getting some relief from this insane heat (low 80's sounded good to us-we will certainly take it), so we thought we would head to a new place to walk. We pulled in and decided to drive around to check stuff out first and was in absolute amazement to see just how HUGE this park was and how surprisingly gorgeous it was. We parked up front and just on the small walk we took there was a very nice pond with a rock bridge (with tower), swans (I have to apologize to the swans for Ryan's behavior, she got a little excited and probably didnt mean to hit you with those rocks), fish, turtles, a nice path to walk, WIDE open grassy hills to run all over and even baby ducks (good grief they were cute)! Really spectacular. We had a nice long walk on a very lovely day. This is certainly going to become one of our "hot spots"!!!

My Future Picasso's

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up. -Pablo Picasso
Even though I am not very talented I never feel better than when I am painting, drawing, or creating. Because I have a little time on my hands while not working, I have been working on a few items and actually got the guts up to not only display my work, but actually try to sell my items. In this vein attempt, I wanted to get a few photos of me and my girls in an "artist" moment. What started out as a "photo shoot" ended up being the most fun we have had in a long time. I brought some "washable" paint, brushes, and a huge a white sheet of paper-the girls brought their imaginiation. I guess they imagined a mess, becuase that is what it turned out to be-not bound by conventional rules, they thought I made a better canvas than the paper and fingers worked better than paint brushes. And what a beautiful mess these girls made!

A House Full of NUTS!!!

Buckeye nuts that is! Aunt Judy sent us a BIG box of Buckeye gear for the upcoming season and we got all "geared" up for their first televised game against the University of Miami. I was going to put everything Buckeye I had on these poor girls, but then I was afraid it would look like Brutus threw up on them, so I opted for a few choice pieces and the house bled scarlet and grey and we were ready for the game. Of coarse the girls fell asleep at the beginnning of the game which worked out perfectly for us! Over the past few years we have become adept to "cheering softly" but there were certainly a few plays (bad AND good) that had us subconsciously louder than we wanted (this prompted a frozen stance, eyes shifting to see if we woke them up). The Ohio State won the game and now we have to dress the girls up every weekend-yes, we are more than a little superstitious!