More from the photo shoot

Lots of teeth. Okay, maybe just 6.

Luke at 9mo. Happy boy.

She LOVES pianos. Am tempted to try to find one of these for her.

Claire at almost 3 years old.

Calling the Geek Squad

We got family photos taken today. At one point, this happened:

A certain photo company has changed their online viewing process. I was all excited this afternoon with the thought of posting some of the pictures we got today on the blog, and then I went to copy and paste them and found out I couldn't do it! Thanks to my fabulous sneaky husband the resident geek, we have solved the problem. Don't tell anyone. I'll post more pictures tomorrow if you're good.

Later, after we were done with photo torture, we took the children to McDonald's, where Claire ate her apples dipped in ketchup. Last time she dipped them in sweet and sour sauce. She loves her dip.

Tomorrow night we're headed to an open house at a possible private school for Kate next year. Seriously. I can't believe we're thinking about putting her in private Kindergarten. I'm all stressed out about whether to keep her in her current private school or send her to public school. Mostly I take issue with the length of class at the public school: it's only 2 1/2 hours a day! She goes to pre-k for 3 1/2 hours this year. I had no idea figuring out Kindergarten would be so complicated and stressful. And expensive! I practically need a job just to pay for it!

Tease

Our friend Melissa took us up to Red Rock Canyon on Saturday for Claire's 2-year pictures. She is still working on editing them, but this is one of my favorites so far. More as soon as I get them. Thank you, Melissa!

Worthwhile

Last Saturday, I bathed and dressed the girls, braved the mall crowds, and, because I love to torture myself, took them kicking and screaming to the Picture People to get updated photos. We survived, if only barely, and got one adorable picture to make it worth my while. The rest of the time was spent as follows: Look! Look at the camera! Stop touching your sister! Claire, don't cry. Don't pick your nose! Leave your hair alone! PLEASE stop touching your sister! Come back here, please. Don't suck your thumb. Don't choke your sister. If you're good, we'll go to Old McDonald's after this! You're not being good. Please be good.

Claire's 1-year photos

Perhaps my favorite thing about the Picture People is that they send you an email of the photos for free. Not so with JC Penny; they will charge you for this, even though it's bound to add to their sales when a family member falls in love with a particular picture and buys it in black and white, with captions. But whatever. We are done with Penny's, as our membership ran out and I refuse to pay for another one when the Picture People are so much closer and more professional. Not to mention, there is no sitting fee.

Claire was not all that cooperative at the photo shoot, but they did take a lot of pictures in hopes of getting some good ones. I somehow found several that I just had to have. Here's a sampling of the nearly 30 taken last week.

My favorite one.

Kate's 2 year photos

Here's a sampling of Kate's 2 year photos. My favorite is the first one. Which one do you like best?

Joy via the Picture People

No matter that I've gotten nothing useful done today (besides scanning family photos). No matter that Claire has not had one good nap today. No matter that Kate just fell asleep about 20 minutes ago, after talking and talking and talking in her crib for more than 2 hours, keeping her sister awake for most of that time. No matter that I woke Claire up out of a perfectly good nap this morning to go to the mall and get pictures taken. I have these to show for it.

Claire at 8 months, Kate at 7 months:

Grosse Pointe Blank, Oregon-style

We came to Oregon for the month of July for 2 primary reasons:

1. Tim's dad's 60th birthday on the 4th, and
2. Tim's 20th high school reunion this weekend

Last night was dinner and drinks at Mac's, the local watering hole. Tonight is the formal dinner downtown at a hotel. We had fun last night. I wasn't sure how it would go; I had never met any of Tim's friends from high school, save Mary whom I met at our wedding. Tim's sister, Buji, who graduated 2 years behind Tim, also was there last night, so that meant I knew a grand total of 3 people. But as I sat thinking about it over blueberry pancakes this morning, I realized why I felt (and apparently) looked so much more comfortable amongst all the spouses: I have done this before. I have done this many times before. The military does it to you all the time: you go to events where your husband knows a lot of people and you know no one. So there I was, trying to talk to these wives of guys Tim had gone to school with, and they're giving me the "I don't know you and I don't want to be here so I'm not going to make eye contact with you" look. Thanks to Mary, Buji, Tim and a couple of other people there who were not afraid to talk to someone they didn't know, I had a pretty good time. Also, it was a night out at a bar with good beer, and my kids were at home with grandma and grandpa. I could have stayed out all night. Well, not really; I was yawning by 10pm, but that's beside the point.

So last night was fun, and tonight will be...well, I don't know. I kind of hope not all the fun was had last night. We shall see. In any event, I hope no one has to kill a blonde guy with a ball point pen.

JC Penny's Photos

I took the girls in last week for their first photo session together, Kate at 17mo and Claire at 1mo. We ended up photographing them seperately for the most part, for reasons you can see. If you would like to order a photo, let me know and I'll email you the order information.

Kate's famous scowl.

Note Kate's glee at her sister's angst.