Could It Be?

Welcome.  I know some of you are sick of coming to our blog only to find "Bearding the Shave".  Not that the aformentioned subject wasn't important in our lives, because it very much was, it just may not have meant very much to you.  However, this next subject may be different.

Shutterfly!  GIVING away 50 Holiday Cards?  This is an offer I cannot pass up.  I learned about it from the amazing Hannah's blog.  If any of you know Hannah or remember her from high school, she is one seriously go-getting girl.  Smart, talented, cute, nice, did I mention smart?  I figured I can't go wrong with something she is advertising.

I love Shutterfly because they always send out e-mails containing discounts, like every week.  I have ordered pictures and return address labels through them before and been very pleased, but my favorite thing had to have been Camden's 1 year book I printed earlier this year.  Details here.

I am hoping this works.  If any of you fellow bloggers would also like to try your luck, click here for more info.

If this whole thing is for real, I think I'll choose this one.

 or 

or

heck, I love 'em all.

Maybe I'll even get a Christmas picture mug for sipping hot chocolate or a get some baby announcements for our next little one, which I wish was already on the way but it is not.

Bearding the Shave

My beard had been growing for about 3 months, unregulated and unfettered. Unfortunately, it looked like crap: not full, wiry, untamed, more like regular thin hair and less like thick beard hair. I looked like this for my sister-in-law's wedding, missed the Nutcracker for it, and generally alienated some people. But it was fun.

Last night, my sister intimated that I ought to trim it before our upcoming family pictures. During this last week I had been contemplating my beard because I knew it didn't look how I would like. Since my sister wanted me to I decided to try and trim it. I used our hair clippers and started my shortening the mustache. That didn't look good. Then I tried trimming the neck. It looked a little better but because of the thin hair it didn't fit. Then I tried trimming some more and couldn't get it even. Finally I knew that this wasn't working and shaved it all off. I have also been letting my hair grow without cutting it and now that looked weird so I shaved all that off.

"He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man" -Much Ado About Nothing, Act II, Scene 1

At the risk of sounding overly sentimental about a seemingly meaningless superficial aspect of my face, when I look at myself in the mirror I feel like a complete and total wuss. It's like I'm just another baby-faced conformist who rejects the natural way God has combined my DNA to fit our society's trivial, base standards. I feel like my defiance and rebelliousness, my questioning and critical mind, my individuality and creativity, my whole value system (anarchism, anti-war pacifism, free-economy community-driven cooperation), my "inner beard" so to speak, was also shaved off. It's as though a despotic, tyrannical regime suppressed, quieted, quelled and finally crushed my protest against what I see as evil and ignorance. I've felt dejected and depressed ever since.

Thankfully it will grow back and hopefully both my internal and external beards will fill in a little more. Just go easy on me for the next few weeks until it's back.

Genealogy

Can you tell we're sistas?

Look at Camden's smile!!

This my friends, is some mad dance moves.

Camden's Switch Pitching Training

Camden has been throwing all balls (along with kicking them) and recently we got some of his training to be a switch pitcher on film. Kelsey taught him to wind up like he does.



The inspiration for this comes from the pitcher who I believe pitches in the minor leagues right now.

SITS

Last night while going to sleep Chris and I discussed the following.

M: What are the muscles around the shoulder blade?  I know there is one above the spine and one below the spine.

C: Supraspinatus, Infraspinatus, Teres Minor and Subscapularis.

M: Oh yeah. 

This is one reason why I love Chris and his smart brain.  He can remember the rotator cuff muscles (SITS) years after anatomy.  :)

Old Man

A few lucky people on this earth have seen the "Old Man Walk" in action.  I have no idea where it came from, but Camden does this hilarious walk, that looks like an old hunched over kyphotic man.  It is so funny, that we are always trying to get him to do it.  To no avail.  After Gug's reception (post coming soon) the Robinette's (the best accompaniment one could ever ask for at a party) all jumped at the chance to get Cam to do the "Old Man Walk".  The most surprising of all were; Clytie Su, Steve, Maura, our new friend Derek, and really Mark.  I guess I should have listed those who did NOT surprise us; Sarah and Kate.  :)

I am pretty sure I do not know how to use a semi colon.  Circe?  Little help?  Did I use it right?  Chris will be mad that I didn't ask him for help, but he's asleep so, his bad.

Start from the Very Beginning

There are so many things I've wanted to blog about, so let's start at the very beginning.

HALLOWEEN!  Thanks to Ptolemy, Golda, Ruby, and Lexie Dopp (the most thoughtful family you ever will meet) our costumes were Toy Story themed this year.  It was our first family costume.

Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue

Spitting image of Woody right?  sans beard?

Nothing better than playing with G-ma.

Camden loved looking at the kids that came to the door.

Jessie, Buzz, and Woody. 

Kelsey was the mastermind, director, producer, costume manager, etc. of our costumes.  Without her we would have looked pretty crappy (because I tend to cut a few corners in these kind of things), so THANK YOU KELS!  (I need the "in-the-process" pictures to put up.)

Jarica

This is how we feel about Gug getting married.

Of course, you can check out their new blog here.