i {heart} faces ... at the beach ...

i{heart}u, originally uploaded by jenniferlivolson.

in the land of 10,000 lakes, i figured we were bound to have a minimum of 10,000 beaches to choose from. we don't frequent lake beaches often. mama has a fear of fish in the not-so-clear water nibbling on her toes. she's trying really hard not to let that phobia rub off on the girly-girls.

back to the beaches ... they aren't quite your white sandy beaches of the warmer regions of the world ... but they are beaches, nonetheless. and if you work really hard to avoid the shirtless men in the canoe and the man in a purple and gold jersey fishing for dinner ... they make for a rather decent photographic opportunity.

alas, my poor little complaining and sick with an ear infection stella was forced to endure an evening of beachiness.

mama wanted to enter a beach picture over at i {heart} faces this week. (i'm still crabby about missing the feet week ... life kinda got in the way ... but i did catch a cute footy-ish picture at the beach tonight that i'll share soon.) visit i {heart} faces for more beachy pictures ...

note to self. in the midst of an evening filled with ear infection whininess ... distractions are a definite must. and the beach is a good place to start.

poor baby ... i hope you feel better tomorrow. thanks for being such a good sport.

successful day? well at least ... some of it was.

girly-girls are gone today. one of those crazy
must-pay-for-daycare-to-hold-our-spot-'cause-we-never-want-to-lose-our-daycare-lady days.
ah. the sacrifices i make.
(i know i know ... tell me how lucky i am in the comments below.)

a day when i had hoped to accomplish oh-so-much. because tomorrow.

oh hell.

tomorrow. i have agreed to watch the children of good friends. all 3 of their children. one is stella's best friend and is the same age as her. one is cora's age ... there's really no saying if they are best friends yet ... they're only 2. and a baby. a wee little baby. that requires bottles and holding and more often than not ... their mama.

and two of them are boys.

i don't know what to do with boys.

so, in other words. there is no way that i'm getting ANYTHING done tomorrow, besides attempting to keep myself and all 5 children alive.

and we are leaving for a camping trip on wednesday.

so i have much to do. i wrote a list this morning. it said ...

go to bead store(s): need boxes, 1/2 inch round blanks, pro-polish pads.
clean kitchen.
do dishes.
find someone to check in on the cats.
clean bathroom.
pick up.
finish necklace orders for the week.

that's not so bad, huh?

except ... that i only managed to ... pick up supplies at bead store(s), do the dishes, pick up the house (a little), and finish the orders for the week.

i feel less than successful.

except ... for ... these ...

oh yeah ... and because all of my orders (including the two that you saw) turned out relatively well. with no major do-overs. thank goodness.
i ate this for lunch.

my dad dropped it off the other night. he randomly goes grocery shopping and brings really yummy things to my house. because he doesn't cook. i'm NOT complaining.
*yes, i am aware that it is completely out of focus. i must have been too hungry to think about it's actual bloggability.

p.s. jeremy. i really should have waited to enjoy that dessert with you. i know. but i didn't want it to go bad. and then you would have gotten food poisoning and we wouldn't have been able to go camping. just watching your back.

strawberries, raspberries and olive juice ... oh my.

well ... i might not be around here often, but i do check in occasionally ... and sometimes i even stop long enough to think about potentially writing a blog post ...
and then ...
life gets in the way.

which is a good sorta thing to be happening. i guess.

and then tonight ... as i was randomly attempting to do various things around the house, i realized that ... AHA! ... random is really where everything is at anyways.

remember random tuesday thoughts?

the unmom?
because i suck like that ... i haven't visited her in awhile either ... but random pregnancy thoughts are a perfect way to acknowledge the fact that i'm still alive. and i hope that i actually get an opportunity to link up sometime tomorrow.

and still thankful that some of you come back to visit and comment and say hi. because yes ... i have noticed several of you disappearing. sorry if i said something ... or more likely ... sorry that i haven't been saying anything.

but back to random thoughts of a pregnant woman.
...............................................................................................

SELF to self ... wow. i am super hungry. i wish i was hungry for SOMETHING.
self to SELF ... pregnant woman are always supposed to be hungry for pickles and ice cream ...
SELF to self ... hmmmm. yum. that sounds so good. is chocolate ice cream ok?

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self to SELF ... picking strawberries was sure a fun activity to do with the kids.
SELF to self ... then why don't you blog about it?
self to SELF ... and include super cute pictures?
SELF to self ... and then edit them ... so they are super super cute?
self to SELF ... oh! and then i could totally lie and tell everyone that reads my blog that i'll post about the strawberry escapades the next day!
SELF to self ... excellent idea! and then don't. for at least a week. maybe two.
self to SELF ... wow! i'm so glad that i thought of that!

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SELF to self ... i really wish that people would only name their kids names that have tops 5 letters.
self to SELF ... why?
SELF to self ... because metal stamping 8 or 9 letters on a disc can be really REALLY time consuming. and slightly frustrating. but in the end really cool ... thanks for your business!

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self to SELF ... yippee! let's take the girls to the raspberry parade!
SELF to self ... how fun! i always used to go to that parade when i was little!
self to SELF ... we can see our niece and father in law in the parade this year!

... big marching band ... PRINCESSES ... unicycleists ... PRINCESSES from another town ... drummers ... PRINCESSES from ANOTHER town ... motorcycles ... PRINCESSES from a town i've never heard of ... crazy car things that will take off your toes if they are too far into the street ... PRINCESSES from another town and i wondered where it was located and thank goodness they had a map with a star pinpointing their exact location on the back of the float ... a pony ... sprinkle in a few more PRINCESSES from various towns and cities ... add some more PRINCESSES ...

SELF to self ... they could have had fewer princesses.
self to SELF ... but we totally scored on the candy front.

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SELF to self ... i wanna nap.

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self to SELF ... a full night's sleep would be so nice.

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SELF to self ... shit. i just realized i only have two hands.
self to SELF ... and i already have two kids.
SELF to self ... what's the third kid gonna hold onto?
self to SELF ... time to invest in one of those rope thingies that daycares have that each kid holds onto a loop.
SELF to self ... is it illegal to handcuff the children to their loop?

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me to husband (see i don't just talk to myself) ... i'm sooooo thirsty.
husband to me ... drink something. (or he probably offered to get me something ... but this is my blog and it sounds more snarky that way.)
me to husband ... but nothing sounds good (probably said in a really whiny way and i probably deserved it if he said the snarky-ish drink something comment)
husband to me ... well then i can't help you. (in truth ... he probably never said that ... my blog)
me to husband ... the only thing that sounds good to drink is olive juice.
husband to me ... gross.
me to husband ... pass the olive jar please.
husband to no-one in particular ... (shaking head) (and walking away) ... disgusting.

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self to SELF ... i wonder if you can buy just the olive juice.
SELF to self ... no kidding ... the olives just kind of get in the way.

i {heart} faces ... pets (kinda)

arkansas bumblebee, originally uploaded by jenniferlivolson.

a second entry in the challenge this week at i {heart} faces.

not one of the members of our zoo of pets ... but a fun one to watch, nonetheless.
not so cuddle - y ... but important.

i {heart} faces ... sports in action (kinda)

wanna be big, originally uploaded by jenniferlivolson.

not sure that this REALLY qualifies for the challenge ... but meh. i like it. we don't get super sporty around here ... yet. so this was my best option ...
and i think what will really disqualify me ... is ... the major lack of faces.
really ... with a site called i {heart} faces ... i think this picture isn't gonna win. but it's one of my favorites ...

cora on the right, with her one-day-older cousin on the left ... watching their big sisters tubing behind the boat.
i can just see the "wanna be big, too" emotion pouring out from them.
cute, huh?

my lilies ...

or as jeremy likes to say ... OUR lilies.
... either, or ...

i tend to think the person that loves them enough to take their yearly portraits is the one that can claim ownership ... but whatever ... i learned to share quite well in kindergarten.

since the computer internets are proving to be inexplicably slow this evening and the photo editing is quickly creeping into my sleeping hours ... i must stop editing the potentially overedited pictures of our strawberry picking excursion ... and focus solely on the only photos that were finished with editing because ... no joke ... i didn't edit anything other than the rounded edges my lilies ... oops ... i mean OUR lilies ...

that are this amazingly spectacular display of orange-ish perfection this year.

why hello there ... beautiful lily ... so glad you could finally join us this year. better late than never, i suppose.

now if only i could find a way to make them last all year long.

hmmm ... maybe i just did.
and tomorrow ... strawberries. stay tuned.

by the numbers.

8,437,698,291 ... tears that have been shed since my body was overtaken by pregnancy hormones.

624,539 ... renditions of mommy/mama/mom heard in a whiny tone of voice ... yesterday.

519 ... blog posts to read (and possibly comment on) in my blog reader.

98 ... tosses and turns that i made attempting to get comfortable last night in bed.

85 ... forcasted high for today.

84 ... percent humidity.

69 ... current temperature. overcast. bummer.

22 ... swimming attempts that i was able to watch stella manage in the pool the other day. we're close!

16 ... ounces of pasta noodles to cook for a get-together with friends and their kids later this morning.

10 ... necklaces that i need to finish stamping for the farmer's market.

8 ... kids that are going to be here looking for fun later this morning.

6 ... number of times that i was awokened in the middle of the night last night. either by children, or my bladder.

4 ... thirty o'clock - the time that jeremy awoke to get himself to the airport.

3 ... cats that are bugging me to feed them.

2 ... girly-girls that i want to cherish every waking minute with.

1 ... little someone that i am working very hard to grow.

* please excuse my absence lately. i'll be back someday. soon. hopefully.

home.

there really is nothing quite like
pulling into your driveway.

a day early.
and surprising boppa.
though not really surprising ... 'cause your sister sucks at keeping secrets. she tried. she just acted overtly abnormal and gave boppa a clue in.

after a really ... trying ... vacation.

and seeing that the lilies decided to hold off on opening their orangeish blooms.

i like to think that they were waiting for me to come home ... probably because i made my dad promise to take their pictures as soon as they opened.
i love my lilies.
i love being home. even more.

it's not that we didn't have fun.
it was just really hot. and stella doesn't do well with hot. whiny and puking and sickish. and i'm constantly pregnantishly queasy. not such a good mix.
i promise to share some pictures here soon.

though not of the puking or queasy. don't worry.