2-22

2:00 am. what crazy numbers. 2-22 at 2:00 am. what sad numbers. dan lost his biological grandfather, philippe roux, to these numbers. in fact, it was philippe's daughter's birthday today too. *sigh* jack's middle name is philippe after his great grandfather. philippe roux was married to roberta for 68 years. a man who has seen tremendous change in our country and others. served in the United States Air Force, fluent in french & spanish, a WWII veteran - he was a brilliant man and leaves behind 3 grown children. i know it's so hard on his wife and children. we, too, hate to see him depart this earthly land.

while dan didn't get to know him until he was in his twenties or so, it's been a wonderful reunion of family blood.

these pictures are from our cross-country from washington, dc/northern virginia to las cruces, new mexico in september 2006. it was a long journey with lilli, who was then 8 months old, but well worth the trek. i wish jack had the chance to get pictures with his great granddad. philippe held tight to photos of jack up until his passing.

i'm hoping he has united with my parents in the shining light of heaven. my dad (would be 83) and dan's grandfather (88) are about the same age. my dad was 45 when i was born. i'm sure they could share some crazy stories about the service and all that life brought them. this is my wish...

i pray for gram roux and her children. death is brutal to the living soul. time is the greatest thing.

mcgill & lill password is...

bunnylove

mcgill and lill

my precious lilli, my high maintenance lilli, my little lilli is growing up... we went and did pictures with lilli on sunday, february 15th. she has just one picture that was deemed a success from a professional photographer when she was 1. i just can't bear the thought when she's older of not having at least attempted to do some more. my little ham, jack, will have an over abundance but lilli could fall behind. i can hear it now when she's 16, "why does jack have all those great pictures and not me? couldn't you have at least tried or forced me into the studio?" and so i did. this time i stuck to my mantra of, "only buy the 'bunny package'", "only buy the 'bunny package'". it worked! the link to the photos will be up for about 3 months. llilli got to take pictures with REAL bunnies. mcgill and oreo. too cute. BUT get this? the studio allowed me to put one of my flameless candles in their place, so i called yesterday to check on if they liked it or not. of course, they are loving it. so, as i'm talking to the young marilyn manson (minus the make up) looking artsy photographer guy, he tells me they selected lilli's picture with mcgill to use for their advertisement in the mall. they were ordering the monster print yesterday. once it's up for display, i'll be sure to post a pic. :) i'm feeling like a proud mama. they are using picture #17 - nose to nose with mcgill.
www.s121.com
go to portraits online
go to the woodlands mall
name: nixon (don't worry about date)
just search
photo date: 2/15/09

and the winning goody bag is...

i figured out yesterday that there is no longer a simple exchange of a simple boxed valentine's day card among children. lilli's little class did a party like everyone else in the world. not only did i totally blank on giving her a valentine's for each teacher, man, do i look like the chintzy unprepared mom. she got goody bags with candy, pencils, stickers and one little girl even made her heart shaped hand-painted magnet with her name on it - even spelled lilli right! note to self: STEP IT UP MAMA! candy is a competitive sport these days.

one down

or should i say one up? jack FINALLY sprouted a smidgen of a tooth on wednesday, february 12th. that was a lot of work on his part for one front lower tooth. now we have only 19 more to break ground. here's to unleaded chewy toys and the blessing of a fridge with the crushed ice option.

GQ Jack

february 5, 2009. oh my precious son. i went into the studio telling myself, "only buy the $11 offer. only buy the $11 offer. only buy the $11 offer." wow. that did NOT work. please enjoy these photos as they cost me a lot more than that!

karoake virgin

yes, it's true. i WAS a karaoke virgin until a week or so ago. i promised the world i would never torture it with my horrendous singing but i gave in at a mommy gathering at a coffee shop. i know, sounds strange not to even involve shots of malibu rum or no less than 4 glasses of conundrum (the best wine ever!). i broke down when i saw "rappers delight" flash across the menu screen of the karaoke machine. i ran up and grabbed the microphone. from there, i proceeded to sing 3 more songs or so. too funny! here's a tiny snippet at the website: http://www.woodlandsmommy.com/community_photogallery.html. i couldn't open this on my laptop but only on my PC.