J Cooper Photography

We always assumed we would call him “Daniel”.   But it didn’t take long in Africa to realize that NO ONE was calling our sweet boy by his given name.  It was “Danny Boy” for all the special mothers.  Even the immigration officer corrected my when I called him “Daniel” with a stern…”DANNY!”  We just shook our heads and kept our opinions to ourselves.  But the name has stuck.  And he is definitely our little Danny.  At first it felt strange…we had 6 months of Daniel in our brains before we got to bring him home.  But he’s just a Danny and that’s all there is to it

He responds to either name.  But “Danny” will get you bigger smiles

Playing around with some different processing tonight just to mix things up a bit while I post a few snapshots of our little Danny Boy this week.  Or as The Brainiac likes to call him “Dantisimo!”

He makes the funniest faces…so expressive.  You never have to wonder what this kid is thinking. This is his “just try and make me laugh” look.  He’s got this one perfected {it is usually followed by a hearty laugh!}

I really can’t get over the change in him this past month.  I’ll do a separate post on all his recent accomplishments {which are probably small things to you but seem big in our house right now}

Sam likes to introduce everyone to Daniel like this:  “This is Baby Dandel…he’s soooooooo toot!”  And we couldn’t agree more.  Daniel, Danny, Danny Boy, Dan the man, Dantisimo, and Danster…we love you buddy!

I had a request from the peanut gallery to get with the program on Tuesdays (sorry I was letting you down Mom!)  So I am flinging myself back into the saddle and will try not to fall off the bandwagon again. I’d love for you to join in the fun (it’s gonna be fun, right?)  Here’s the deal-ee-o.  Just make a list of 10 random things about your week.  Toss in a few pictures (don’t edit them…I just sharpened these all up for the web) and stir!  Off we go!

1.  Pretty sure Spring has officially sprung around here.  The grass is turning crazy shades of green, my daffodils have bloomed and almost died already, and the kids have pulled out the flip flops.  Daniel likes the swing (which is good as I predict him spending many hours in there over the next few months).  And I like naked baby toes.

2.   Ms. Middle thinks she is a teenager.  Long gone are our baby doll dresses and tights.  They’ve been replaced with ugly t-shirts with neon dogs sporting glittery necklaces.  Seriously?  Who buys their kids this junk?  Oh yeah…that would be me.

3.  The Brainiac is a walking encyclopedia these days.  In the car on the way to violin the other day she was drilling me on single shelled mollusks?  We aren’t talking light reading here folks.  I just typed out “mollusk” as “mullosks” and had to spell check it to figure out which one was right…so clearly she didn’t get any of my stellar brain cells!

4.  Super Sam has gone brunette.  After a long, frigid, gloomy winter…the baby blondes are officially gone (sniff, sniff) and he now has a full head of brown locks.  Plus, he badly needs those brown locks cut.  This is the first time I have ever let his hair grow a bit and I’m digging the “bangs” on him.  Do boys have bangs?  I’m so tempted to pull out the clippies

5.  If I just kept having kids I wouldn’t have to come up with anything else to say on 10 on Tuesdays.  I could just do one post per child.  What do you think…wanna cast your vote??

6.  I am still trying to decorate our master bedroom which is proving to be a difficult task with all these little people running around calling me mom.  Mr. P snapped this picture of me this past weekend priming my childhood dressers to use as night stands.  It was a valiant effort.  But today I loaded up those bad boys in the swagger wagon and dropped them off with my good friend Jamie who is going to work her magic on them.  Sometimes you just have to know when to call in the professionals.

7.  I was feeling every bit a Kansas girl this week during our short lived but highly destructive hail storm.  The front of our house looks like it was hit by massive artillery.  Those hail stones ripped right through our siding leaving the front of our house all Swiss cheese-like.  Not exactly what I was hoping to spend out $1000 deductible on this month…but that’s Kansas for you Dorothy.

8.  Little Mister is changing like crazy these days.  The curls are really starting to come in…and are quite the work.  I spend more time conditioning his locks than I do my own (that might not surprise you if you have seen me in person this week).  Pretty stinking cute though, huh?

9.   He’s also teething…getting his very first little toofer.  Which is exciting because I feel like he saved that milestone just for me.  But annoying…because he saved that milestone just for me   Just kidding…I’m loving laying in bed not sleeping while I listen to him try to chew his way out of his crib.

10.  We have a crazy, wild week this week.  There are lots of things happening…some REAL BIG and some real small.  I’m a wee bit stressed out…so if you think of us this week would you just pray for my sanity?  I’m feeling a bit like I could POP

Happy TUESDAY everyone!

Said in my best Bob Barker voice…KARLI, COME ON DOWN!!! (don’t forget to have your pet spayed or neutered}

Here is why Karli loves spring:

“Why do I adore Spring? – that’s an EASY one! Because my super gigantically large clown feet are too big to fit into closed toed shoes, and come Spring I can pull out the sandals and they can be FREEEEEEE! My very bare front door is pining for that lovely wreath!”

If you don’t “know” Karli you should definitely visit her sometime.  She has a fun blog and loves photography.  I find it funny that the Random Number Generator chose comment #16 as Karli and I go way back.  As in WAY back (think junior high ski trips….need I say more?)  I spent most of my adolescent years wishing I was half as cute, bubbly, and adorable as her.  Turns out she is just as cute as a grown up (and you should see her kids).   And I don’t remember her feet being big…but it DOES make me feel just a wee bit better

CONGRATS ski buddy!  (Send me your current address when you can)

If you didn’t win…just turn that frown upside down.  The good news is that I am going to try my darndest to do this little giveaway each month.  So now you have 26 days of eager longing and anticipation until the May giveaway {which is already turning out quite lovely} 

HAPPY APRIL!

In order to spice things up a bit around here I am going to try to offer a MONTHLY GIVEAWAY.  Just a collection of fun items that have inspired me.  Just as a little thank you for sticking around here and reading my random rambles.  Hopefully, I occasionally say something interesting…but if I don’t…hey, you get free stuff!  So it’s all good!

This was a dreary week in these here parts.  But today the sun donned bright and glorious and the temperature soared (we hit a whopping 60* folks).  I had an entirely different collection of items to debut today…but those will have to wait until May.  Today I needed something BRIGHT and HAPPY!

The rules:

There are NO rules.  Just leave a comment in the comments section about why you adore Spring with all your heart.  You don’t have to tweet how much you love me.  You don’t have to plug my business on Facebook.  You don’t have to blog about my blog.  Just leave me some comment love and I will have the random generator pick ONE lucky winner!  Please make sure that I have a way to contact you should you be the lucky duck who wins!

What you get:

1.  Bouquet wreath lovingly handmade by moi.

2.  Set of 3 chartreuse mercury glass votives.

3.  Punchy collection of journals, notecards, and pencils to organize your thoughts.

4.  Accordian style bronze photo book with sweet embellishment.

Open to US residents only (unless you have an APO address).  I will do my research this time around to figure out a way to economically ship overseas (and avoid those crazy custom fees) for all my friends living abroad!