And Now, A Word From Our Sponsors

Word of the Post
Today's word is: insouciance
/in'sou'siance"/ noun
Heedlessness; thoughtlessness; carelessness; unconcern; the cheerful feeling you have when nothing is troubling you.
I long to regain the days of my college education, to experience again the time when homework was the only worry; recapturing the happy insouciance of playing cards at lunch, and having the weekend off.
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Honors have befallen me. I have been blessed by people who read, pay attention to and like my blog. Wow. I really don't know what to say, besides the traditional "Thank You". Allow me to try to do a little better than that.

First, WAY back on Saturday, July 7, Niki gave me this award:

Rock On! I am not a noisy kind of music listener, but this is fun. I want to turn up the radio, do a little head-banging, and wear lots of black with band names on my chest. I have met Niki, and I am blown away by her commitment to God, her open heart, her thoughtful nature, and her coolness as a mom. She prays with a genuineness that puts me to shame. I know she deserved this award, and I hope that I can too.

Next, on Wednesday, August 22, Sally gave me this award:

I have met many new people online, and Sally is definitely one of the nice ones. We will meet face to face someday soon when I go to her hometown for a visit with some friends. Chatting at a Starbucks is definitely in order! I look forward to reading her blog every day. It is good to know that someone else is thinking some of the same things, and reacting in the same ways as I. It makes me feel a little less alone in the world. And that is Nice.

Now, when I got these, it was a tag sort of thing. I am supposed to pass them both on. Since I am new to this world of blogging, I don't really know whom to give them to. I just thought I would share them with you. You can see how cool they are, and pass them on for me!

This past Saturday, we went with the family to see Jelly Bean get her two-year pictures taken. She is a HAM and a hoot. She was having fun playing with the ladies who were taking the pictures. These people at Portrait Innovations here know their stuff. Jelly Bean would not smile, until one of the ladies said, "Show me your teeth!" and "Where did those teeth go?" Smiles came out, but only just long enough to snap the picture, and the lady was fast with the camera. She got to sit in a rocking chair in a "garden", but she was finished with that pretty quick. "I done." She got to play with flowers, sea shells, some posts that looked like the corners of a dock on the ocean, and two different chairs. In the sea shell picture I have on my mantle, she is talking to the ocean like on a cell phone. "Hello! Yes. Gampa? Bye!"

SIL said that this wasn't fair. They expected her to sit in a chair, look at a huge screen picture of her Baby, and tell them that it looks bad. They are all of her Baby, and they are all great! But we had to pare them down. It took 6 adults more than 45 minutes to go through 70 pictures of that 1 little girl. We saw another family come and get their pictures taken, chose the poses, get their prints (20 minute turnaround) and leave while we were deciding what poses to keep.

I have physical pictures, but I don't yet have computer renditions. I have to get those from SIL and her disk. You know the minute I get some, I am posting them here, to brag on my girl! For now, I will try to satiate our desire for pictures with a view from my own digital camera.
Here, Jelly Bean was looking at her reflection in the TV screen. I like this picture because it shows a little of how long her hair has grown. We all want to trim her hair to make it more even, but none of us want to take away those wonderful little fly-away curls! Too cute!

Rumor has it she has a 3 year old vocabulary, and has long had the 2 year old attitude. Dangerous mix. Recently, she was getting a "talking to" for something, and told BIL, "Daddy, don't talk to me anymore." What do you say to that? She was not being malicious about it, so how do you stop that without scaring her? Tough not to just laugh out loud, for me. But, then, I wasn't there in the heat of the moment. I don't know what BIL did about it.

DH was putting her in her car seat on Saturday after our dinner, and then gave her kisses, and said, "I love you." She responded by telling him, "Go to your car." Again, not malicious. We had talked about DH going to his car, and Jelly Bean going to her car, and Gramma and Granpa (I spell they way they do, because that is how she says it) going to their car. So, she just decided it was time. It was raining at the time, so who can blame her? We are still laughing.

Jelly Bean is happy being the center of attention. I hope that doesn't translate into stealing the attention once she is not the focus anymore. At the babysitter's house, she is the youngest of the kids, so maybe she has learned about being part of a group, and the new baby won't be so much of an intrusion. She won't remember her alone time, anyway. It is just something for me to ponder, as her attentive awesome Auntie.

Happy Thursday!