not so magical bubbles

Austin has been enjoying the outdoors from sun up to sun down these days. The weather here has just been incredible! Austin loves bubbles so I made up a solution of dish soap, corn syrup and water the other day. According to MARTHA, it's the best bubble solution in the world. We didn't get a single jumbo bubble out of it and now I have to go buy more dish soap. Regardless of my failure to mix up an awesome batch of magical bubbles, Austin had a great time and that's what matters most. It's pretty awesome, he's still young enough to think I'm the best, even when I mess up. My bubbles were still magic to him, even thought hey tasted a little funny. We hope you enjoy the photos and check back soon. xoxo Liz xoxo

'i think mommy did it like this'

'fishin' for my wand, my magical bubble wand...'

'bubbles must taste good if they
come from a bottle!'

'wow! sister! that's no warm milk!
yuck, magical bubbly ick!'

'mamma! get this taste out of my mouth!'

'now that that's been cleared up, back to business
where was I?'

Moo!

SOCIALISM: You have 2 cows and you give one to your neighbor.


COMMUNISM: You have 2 cows. The State takes both and gives you some milk.


FASCISM: You have 2 cows. The State takes both and sells you some milk.


NAZISM: You have 2 cows. The State takes both and shoots you.

BUREAUCRATISM: You have 2 cows. The State takes both, shoots one, milks
the other, then throws the milk away.

TRADITIONAL CAPITALISM: You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull.
Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows. You sell your herd and retire
on the profit.

SURREALISM: You have two giraffes. The government requires you to take
harmonica lessons.

AMERICAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You sell one and force the other
to produce the milk of four cows. Later, you hire a consultant to analyse
why the cow has dropped dead.

FRENCH CORPORATION: You have two cows. You go on strike, organise a riot
and block the roads because you want three cows.

JAPANESE CORPORATION: You have two cows. You redesign them so they are
one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk.

GERMAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You re-engineer them so they live
for 100 years, eat once a month and milk themselves.

SPANISH CORPORATION: You have two cows but you don't know where they are.
You decide to have lunch.

RUSSIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You count them and learn you have
five cows. You count them again and learn you have 42 cows. You count them
again and learn you have 2 cows. You stop counting cows and open another
bottle of vodka.

SWISS CORPORATION: You have 5,000 cows. None of them belong to you. You
charge the owners for storing them.

CHINESE CORPORATION: You have two cows. You have 30 people milking them.
You claim that you have full employment and high bovine productivity and
arrest the newsman who reported the real situation.

INDIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You worship them.

BRITISH CORPORATION: You have two cows. Both are mad.

IRAQI CORPORATION: Everyone thinks you have lots of cows. You tell them
that you have none. No-one believes you so they bomb the shit out of you and
invade your country. You still have no cows, but at least now you are a
Democracy.

WELSH CORPORATION : You have two cows. The one on the left looks very
attractive.

WE'RE BACK!!!

Well I know it's been a while since my last post, but we've been busy, on the road and in the air. Chris has been busy continent trekking (he's hit three this month) and Austin, Hannah and I have resorted to the life of gypsies, showing up on the doorsteps of unsuspecting relatives and crashing, I mean trashing their homes. We've had a blast and although it's been so nice to be reunited with daddy, we miss our other family members already.

Our first leg of the trip was up to Connecticut to visit Cathie, Jamie and the boys for a week. We were so blessed to take part in Josh's First Holy Communion. His mom and dad sure have a lot to be proud of, as does the rest of the family.

After a full week with the Martin clan, we took the ferry down to New York to spend some much needed time with my mom, Dan, brother Chris and Laura. The weather was crummy, perfect for napping and catching up on some much needed tube time.

This weekend Chris' mom and dad are coming out. I hope to get a ton of yard work done with the creative gardening eye of Gloria. I know Austin's looking forward to seeing Memere and Pepere, he's been gearing up and practicing his hugs and kisses on Hannah, poor dog!

Well we hope you enjoy the photos. As always, we would love to hear from all of you. I will start posting more regularly again... I think....

Love, Liz, Chris, Austin & Hannah

Our new favorite neighbor

This is Miss Riley, she's the new kid on the block and the queen of cuteness. I took a couple quick pictures of her today while Austin was napping and hope to photograph her a little more with her mom and dad.

Belly shots

How gorgeous is this? I had such a wonderful time photographing my good friend and neighbor Mandy. She is in her 30th week of pregnancy and is just so perfectly pregnant. Thanks so much for letting me do your belly shots! I can't wait to photograph the baby when he/she arrives!

Lovable, laughable you

He's really the best thing ever!



Love to all, Liz

Martian invasion

Okay, so mid-month (April) we had a few of our favorite guests in town, Cathie, Jamie and the boys and no not from Mars, but close, Connecticut.

We had taken gobs, and gobs of photos and well I get overwhelmed when there are gobs to go through. So it's taken me far too long to edit them and get to this post, but here it is. As you can see we had loads of fun and did so much in the short time they were here. We can't wait to see you guys again soon! I love our martians!

Dan-de-lions

'So how does this work ma-ma? Just blow on it, like this?'

' This isn't quite working for me the way it did for you ma-ma.'

'I 'll just eat it.'

a better view of our newly stained deck

Just after the sick left, still gaining back some energy. I think he may have overcompensated though, there's a bit too much energy now!

At the Park with Billy-the-kid

Austin and I had such! a great time at the park yesterday with Billy and his mom Erin. It was truly the first time Austin has played tag with someone, as these two chased one another all over Bestgate Park. Austin also learned a little thing or two from Billy about sharing his food, better he learn it from a friend than me pulling my hair out over yet another thing to 'train' him on. Austin is very bored with Chris and I these days, so any day with a friend is a great day especially when that friend is Billy-the-kid.

Sharing so nicely!

Oh the thrill of having a best bud like Billy!

And away we go!

Awww honey-pie, you are driving me frantic

Okay, I know I'm partial, but let me just start by saying the 'terrible' twos have entered out home with full force. I have been tested many times, hourly, and have come to realize that if I just walk away for 15 seconds or so, I realize how amazing this little being terrorizing my life is! So, with that said, Austin just gets more adorable by the second. Here are a few shots I took last night as he was enjoying watermelon on our newly stained deck (took Chris and I all day Sunday to accomplish, but it was worth it, looks like a brand new deck!).

This first one is my favorite. I just like the way it's framed and that it's not perfectly in focus, shows how non-stop and busy Austin is these days.
This one is pretty close to #1, I just love his eyes in this one.
This is the one that tells the story though, so maybe this is my #1.... which is yours?

All my love, Liz