Dirty Dancing, High-Speed Chases and What's this World Coming To?

Thought I'd share my usual Holly conversation with everyone today. The Shred-It guy just left and I didn't bother him at all(yay me). This is probably just because I accidentaly almost gave him a hug and I feeling a little bit like a moron so I wasn't quite as chatty as usual. If he knew me he'd think nothing of it because I'm just flighty and clumsy like that but he really doesn't know me that well so I'm sure he just thought I was an idiot. Anyway, I just had these things to share and I'm sure you've all been checking your computers hourly hoping I'd post something.

Topic 1: Dirty Dancing

I've developed the habit of looking ahead on the movie channels to see what's coming up so I can TiVo some stuff to get a little bit of a vault for when I'm up working into the wees. If I don't have something making some noise then I'll never stay awake. Obviously movies that I've already seen are ideal because I don't really have to watch them-just listen. So I dug into the vault this past weekend and watched Dirty Dancing. Awesome movie...period. It's just a classic really. My best friend Angel's mother let us watch it when I was in 1st grade (what was she thinking?) and I was sick with guilt because I knew I wasn't supposed to watch stuff like that. I ended up breaking down and telling my parents about this horrible thing I'd done so please don't tell my parents that I love this movie, okay? Anyway, after I saw it Angel and I were absolutely in LOVE with Patrick Swayze. Who wasn't? We practiced the lift over and over trying to get it just right so if he ever dropped in we could impress in hopes to be the next "Baby". After watching this movie over the weekend I couldn't help but think of how extrememly far-fetched it is. I mean, obviously it's a movie, I know but seriously? Who was in charge of casting her? Never in a million years could she have gotten the likes of Johnny's goodies. Looks aside, she's such a whiner! She really grates on your nerves and I don't think Johnny would have put up with it. She did have a rockin body though so maybe that was it. I will say that she did give us ugly, big-haired, flat-chested girls hope though. (I feel the need to mention here that I have in no way patterned my hair after hers despite my love for the movie. I just happen to be genetically cursed in the hair department just as dear Baby was and it's a mere fluke and much to my disappointment that we have the same style.)

Topic 2: High-speed chases!

Jay was the lead car on a high-speed chase today! He even buckled up for it so I was extra proud of that. You'd think he'd know the dangers of not wearing a seat belt but he's stubborn that way. He said it was very Dukes of Hazzard and they were going 120-130 mph down the interstate. He was really excited. Apparently all law enforcement people just live for the car chase so maybe he got his fix for a while.

Topic 3: What is the World Coming To?

This topic really upsets me and actually makes me sick to my stomach. Jay was called out at 1:30 this morning which is not out of the ordinary but the crime is what's so disturbing. He had to go to the hospital to interview a 5 year old girl who had been raped by her 9 year old cousin. Yeah, you read that right, 9 years old!! I was totally speechless. How does this kid even know about things like this? It scares me to death to think about all the madness out there and how in the world can I protect my babies from it?

Burns Family!

Some of my favorite people on this planet asked me to take some family pics for them this week for a mother's day gift. The Brothers Burns and their families have become like an extention of our own (or the other way around:) whether they wanted to or not. I'm so glad they decided to join O'Neal and I can't even remember what in the world we did without them! Kynlsey thinks everyone's last name is Burns and I'd have to agree that this world would be a lot better place if there were a few more! So here are some of my favorite shots of the day:

Al & Brooke

These two lovebirds made it feel like an engagement session

Say it with me now...awwww

They just happened to wear purple and this place has an awesome purple door

I love this shot! Except Al looks like he's shooting a bird. Don't worry Brooke-if you want this one I can fix that right up for you:)

Matt & Angela

You'd never guess these two kids have been together since like, 8th grade! They still have so much fun together and are so good to each other...sweet.

Their sweet girl (who just happens to be Kynsley's bff & my future daughter-in-law) Anna Beth

Destiny (or Dessie as Anna Beth calls her)

Jeremy, Tiffany & Destiny

The whole Burns gang

You'd never guess that Al was actually standing behind me getting the girls attention would you? We just left a spot open for him by Brooke and then I plugged him right in. What did we do before photoshop?

Surprisingly, this one required no photoshopping! Uncle Bobo (a/k/a Al to some of us) is quite a handy fellow to have around when picture taking. He had the bright idea to throw a pinecone over my head so the girls would be watching it and I could snap away. He was lightning fast to jump quickly into posing after he threw. Even after all his hard work I think there are only 2 pics with everyone's eyes open and both girls looking. Head swapping may be required after all.

Gorgeous day, beautiful light & great subjects. I'd say it was a success!

21 months going on 14

I'm already dreading the teenage years. I'm afraid our sweet little Kynsley has inherited her Daddy's flirty nature and seems to be developing quite a little attitude to go with it. (No idea where she's gettting that from). She's had a major crush on Cody Grissom for some time now. She's played it smart and has been using Cayla to get closer to him-we girls learn young, huh? The first thing she looks for every church service is Cody and now that he's moved to Chatanooga, when she doesn't see him she'll throw up her hands and ask "Where's Cody?!" So I'll tell her "He's in Chattanooga". Well, Granny brought her a stuffed horse last week when Bryson had his tubes put in and she had a bit of a cold (any excuse will do when Granny wants to bring presents). So Granny asked Kynlsey what she was going to name her new horse and we were all expecting "Neigh, Neigh" or "Poppy Vance" because she's generally very predictable with naming things. Apparently she decided to honor Cody because she took a long thoughtful look at the horse and then at Granny and said "Chattanooga". Chattanooga has now become a permanent fixture under her arm and she won't go to sleep without it.

So now to the attitude part of this tale. Since Cody is not there to fulfill Kynsley's needs, she's starting to look elsewhere. My good friend Holly got married a few weeks ago and leading up to it we were getting together working on wedding stuff constantly. In this process, Kynsley met John Michael, Holly's older brother. Well, it was love at first sight. She followed him everywhere the night they met and when he had to leave for a short bit she looked all over the house calling "John Michael! Whe ah you?" He returned and all was well in her world. When it was time to leave I found her sitting with him on the couch working on his laptop and engaged in what I'm sure was a very in depth conversation. John Michael made quite the impression on Kynsley because she "calls" him daily from our cellphones. She pretends to have a whole conversation complete with pauses for his response. Example:

Kynsley: "Hey John Michael"

Pause

Kysnley: "Nuthin"

Pause

Kynsley: "Okay, see ya later"

Sunday night she had my phone pretending to have this conversation and I told her it was time to get her pajamas on & get ready for bed. She turned to me and held up her hand in the talk-to-the-hand fashion and said "I have to talk to John Michael for just a minute!" Wow. I really did not think it would start this young ! I hope we can get the attitude in check before the real stuff starts or it's gonna be a long road!

The Easter Bunny Came!

The Easter Bunny visited our house this year! He called the night before and left a message persuading the kids to be good & he'd leave them a surprise. If Jay tries to tell you that it was actually his insane wife who acts like an 8 year old- don't believe him.

It looks like Kynsley got
It looks like Kynsley gotmore but Bryson's stuff was just smaller.

He brought Oreos rather than candy because they're Bryson's favorite. Kynsley is just like her mama-every food is her favorite. Nothing like an Oreo smile. Lovely, huh?

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Quarterly Update

Hey everybody! When I started this I thought that I'd get on here every day at work and check in, add pictures, etc. Yeah, obviously that didn't happen. Every spare minute with the boss gone was spent in wedding mode up until Holly's big day. Since then I've had the place to myself with both her responsibilities and mine so free time hasn't been that ample. Unfortunately, free time outside of work is non-existent so I just haven't had much time for updates. But today it's slow and I actually remembered to bring some new jpeg files to work so I can put some pics up. Most everything I have is raw and that doesn't jive until I convert them (which I haven't had time to do either) but I did happen to take my little camera to the Easter Egg Hunt and some of our Easter activities because it's just so much easier to haul around when I'm also chasing 2 kiddies. So now if I can just figure out how to get them on here...

Well, they're on here. Albeit randomly positioned but I haven't figured out that part yet:)

Best Week EVER

So, this is my first blog here and I really hate to start this out with such a negative post but I just really see no way around it. So far 2009 is crappy. I know, I know--usually I'm the glass half full girl but I'm having a hard time with that lately! Here's the run-down so far this week:

For starters, Jay's been in Kentucky for 2 weeks-which is bad enough-but then he calls several times a day in between watching football games with the guys, eating at all these nice restaurants, going bowling and tries to tell me how much he misses us. Give me a break. I mean I know he misses us or the kids at least, 2 weeks is a long time. But here on the homefront things aren't that peachy and I'm sure he's secretley glad these are the 2 weeks he got to be away.

Monday

Both the kids have RSV. Let me just back up...last Wednesday we found out that sweet little Anna Beth (good friend and playmate of my 2 kids) had RSV. On Thursday afternoon, Kynsley started running a 101.7 fever and had a runny nose and awful sounding cough. Bryson's had RSV a couple of times so I knew these were the symptoms and thought I better get her checked out before the weekend. So I took her in on Friday and told them she had been exposed to RSV. The doctor looked in her ears and at her throat and said "just a cold". Over the weekend, she got worse and Bryson picked up the "cold" too. On Sunday he was coughing so bad he was gagging and throwing up so on Monday I took him to the doctor. I decided to drag Kynlsey along too (since it was just a cold) and let her cough and sneeze all over the office just for kicks. Well...guess what! Bryson has RSV & double ear infections. I asked her if we should test Kynlsey and she said "Oh, no--she obviously has the same thing". Seriously? I really wanted to just slap her and demand my co-pay back but clearly I would never have the nerve to actually do that. Oh, and apparently they don't give medication for RSV anymore, who knew?



Tuesday

My mom kept the kids and since Jay was away I just stayed at there after work so we could all get a nice free meal:) It was also American Idol night so I stayed to watch it with some adult company because if I had went home the only thing we can watch is Alvin and the Chipmunks. Well, I got home at 9 or so to discover that the heat wasn't working! Perfect. So I called around and was advised to turn on the emergency heat until the morning. Guess what--that wouldn't work either. Luckily my parents only live a stone's throw away so I packed up the kids and we went to sleep at Granny & Poppy's.

Wednesday

Wednesday started out okay actually. After phone calls back and forth someone came out and fixed the central unit. We didn't have to get a new one so that was good. A girl called and booked a wedding...awesome (thanks for the referral Beth!) Then Lori Gooch called up to tell me that she was sending us a check for $250 that was an insurance refund from where we sold our house a year and a half ago! Perfect!! Hopefully that will pay for the central unit repairs! I thought my luck was finally swinging up. Then I went home. The girl who started keeping the kids on Mondays and Wednesdays to give my mother a much needed break told me that she had taken another job because they could give her more hours. Don't get me wrong--I can't argue with that & good for her, la de da. It just would have been nice to know (when she called and asked for a job or when she started 2 weeks ago) that she needed more hours (never mentioned) or that she was looking for something else. It's really not a big deal, I know. She's a sweet girl and nothing against her but it was just something else to be piled onto my lovely week.

So now it's Thursday and so far nothing monumentally has gone wrong. I have 3 month pictures after work which is by far my least favorite age to photograph though so I'm expecting that to go just horribly. Wish me luck!