EverAfterLand

PhotoStory Friday - Finally! Somebody's Done A Little WORK Around Here!

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

Lately, I have been a little frustrated.

Alright, so it’s a LOT frustrated.

Frustrated that the revamp of my blog is going so. painfully. excruuuutiatingly.  sloooooooooow.

Frustrated that, in our house-hunting expedition down South, we are not able to find the right house, in the right place, for the right price.

Frustrated that my family is living in “The House That Mr. Clean Forgot” because every waking moment is spent either dealing with the kids (why, someone tell me, do they have to eat SO OFTEN?!??!) or dealing with the blog upgrade.

Frustrated that I have four different crafty projects started, but barely constructed because every spare minute is spent dealing with this blog.

Frustrated that even the blog is suffering from lack of posts because I’ve been spending my extra time working on the layout of THIS DAMN BLOG!!!

Whew!

Anyway, in moments like these, I find that something has to give.  Some project has to get accomplished.  Something big MUST get done in a timely manner, exactly the way I want it, to exact specifications.

Otherwise, I may explode.

And, trust me, People, that ain’t something you wanna see happen.

Miss Priss’ bedroom had been bothering me for a while.  Not only had it turned into the Little Miss Priss Pigsty (listen, I spend all the energy and patience I have getting her to pick up all her toys and crap on the first floor – by the time we get upstairs, it’s just easier to close the door) her bedroom never seemed to be arranged quite right.

Maybe it was the Frustration that had come to a head.

Maybe it was all the HGTV we’ve been watching lately.

Whatever it was, I got in there like a hurricane, and laid The Smackdown on that fiasco.

I did take before pictures.

They are embarrassing.

And my mom will not be very happy with me (although I’m sure she will NOT be terribly surprised).

So I took a cue from the magicians, and included a Beautiful Assistant, you know, as a distraction.

I’m sure you didn’t even notice (my Gorgeous Assistant works like a charm!) but that bookcase is broken.

Which is why all those books are on the floor.

Or at least that’s the excuse I’m going with.

 

The Pretty Princess thought that it’d be a great idea to help me unpack her bag from the last trip….

Oh, wait, what’s that back there?

Is it a BABY?!??

Well, now, who would put a BABY back there?  Now I’ve totally forgotten WHAT we were TALKING about.

Oh, yes, the bedroom.  It’s a weird shape and has this cut-out to the side…

Dah da da DAAAHHH!!!

Me: So, Priss, what do you think of how I did this photo?

Priss: Mmmm, NOT so GOOD.

Me: Why not?

Priss: There’s no CROWN.

Of course.  What SuperHero would leave home without her Crown?

And here are the aftereffects of all my frustrations….

Ooooooooooo!!!!!

 

Aaaaahhhhhh!!!!!

 

Ooooohhhhhh!!!

 

(Disclaimer: The “After” photos are, in no way, a reflection of the current state of the rest of EverAfterLand.  The “After” photos of Miss Priss’ Bedroom are no longer even a reflection of the current state of Miss Priss’ Bedroom.  In no way does the aforementioned “frustration cleaning and organization” bind the cleaner, JenEverAfter, to perform any additional cleaning or organizational duties in this or any other room of EverAfterLand.  In fact, the aforementioned cleaning should just about do it for the rest of the year.  Or until we move.  In which case, it’ll be clean because it’s empty.)

PhotoStory Friday - Worst Bridesmaid EVER!!!

Hosted by Cecily and Serious Krystyn

Recently, I had the honor and privilege to serve as a Bridesmaid for my stunningly gorgeous and favoritest cousin Cari.

(I'm cheap, though.  My next favoritest cousin has nothing more to do than offer me a triple-fudge brownie.)

But I think she may have asked me in the hopes of being the subject of a post on my blog.

(I'm not joking.  I think ya'll have grossly underestimated my popularity in the Midwest.)

Unfortunately, I was, like, the WORST Bridesmaid in the whole world because I couldn't make it to her bridal shower or bachelorette party.

(In my defense, I DID have some pretty heavy "Dad Stuff" going on, but that's NO EXCUSE!!!)

So when I got to the Rehearsal Dinner, I came well prepared.

And threw her my own "Bridal-ette Show-rty."

In the course of, oooh, about 10 minutes. 

Following is photographic documentation of the events that transpired....

 

Special thanks to the photographic talents of HubbaWubba Photography.  Remember HubbaWubba for you next special event.  As long as it doesn't last longer than 15 minutes.

PhotoStory Friday - Bootylicious

Alright, Miss Priss is a scant three years old, and already it's time to start worrying. 

Rather than explain, allow me to show you...

 

"Oh, she's just wearing your shoes.  That's adorable!"

I can already hear you commenting to me. 

It's not the fact that she's wearing my knee-high boots in a thigh-high manner that I find horrifying.

 

It's the fact that the ONLY pose she would do for the camera while wearing them was the

Victoria-Secret-style

over-the-shoulder

booty-facing

wall-clutching

maneuver

you see here.

Girlfriend needs to put those cupcakes away - pronto!

ACK!!!

PhotoStory Friday - Appley Apples

Hosted by Cecily and She's a moron and can't remember...

Now that we have landed in New England, we are trying out all kinds of New Englandy things!  First up,

APPLE PICKING!

"For appley apples in the apple garden that grows, grows, GROWS!" according to Miss Priss.

 

The first pick!

 

Oh, and Miss Sunshine and I were there, too!

 

All bundled up, of course!  We were obvious California transplants.  There were kids running around in shorts and t-shirts.

But back to the apples.  Daddy was the crane, and Priss was the picker.

 

She's going for two this time - what a pro!

Hey, check out them apples!

What?

I heard this is the way all proper Rhode Island women put them on display!

PhotoStory Friday - Somewhere On The List Of "Top Ten Things NOT To Do In Your Ninth Month"

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

There's a lot of rules to this whole pregnancy thing.

(Way more than my mom had, but probably still less than Miss Priss is gonna have.)

For instance, when you're in your ninth month of pregnancy, 'they' generally like you stay close to home, in case the baby makes an early exit.

Definitely NOT drive with a busload of rowdy Naval officers and their spouses for two hours to the little town of Paso Robles on the California coast.

And when you're at almost 37 weeks, 'they' like to see you stay off your feet, to help keep the swelling down and such.

Certainly NOT stand around wineries all day long, only sitting on the bus to the next winery or when the occasional chair presented itself.

But when you've only got 3 1/2 weeks left till your due date, 'they' tell you one of the most important things to do is stay hydrated.

'They' just never specified with what....

That's right, mama got to evict the Pull Ups from her purse (still held onto the Ziploc full of Cheerios though - for emergency hunger reasons) and spend a whole day in ADULT company.

(Although I use the term "adult" loosely, considering there were efforts to lure one of the winery dogs onto the bus.  Luckily, though, everyone managed to keep their clothes on.)

And yes, that was me at In 'n Out Burger partaking in a cheeseburger with TWO sides of fries AND a chocolate shake.

Keeping the baby well-fed, just like 'they' want me to do.

PhotoStory Friday - Magic of the Bebe Fairy

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

There were PROMISES made, I tell you!

Or, at the very least, Super Nanny made this look deceptively easy.

"Just tell the kids the Paci Fairy is coming for all their pacis to give to the new babies in the world,
and leave them a little gift.  They'll be thrilled!"

At 2 1/2, Miss Priss was a little overdue for the Bebe Fairy to make her visit (she had named her pacifiers "bebes" oh so long ago).  We're not totally derelict in our duties, we did manage to wean her off daytime bebe usage.

Now it was time to ditch the nighttime need as well.

We'd watched Super Nanny do this dozens of times.
We TOTALLY knew what we were doing!

Miss Priss gathered all her bebes and put them in the special Bebe Pot.



We placed the bebes where the Fairy would find them, along with a chocolate mini-cupcake.

Then we spent the next two hours listening to Priss wail, "BEBEEEEEE!  BEBEEEEE!!!" and, "I'm NOT a big girl!  I'm NOT a big girl!"

Funny, I don't remember that part on the TV show.

The last straw was the discovery that the dog had swiped the cupcake. 
Nice.


The next morning, Priss spied the Bebe Fairies offerings immediately.



And then quickly turned her attention to the Bebe Pot.



Anything left in there?



Damn, that Fairy did a very thorough job.


Miss Priss enjoyed the bounty the Bebe Fairy had left for her.

But it didn't stop her from balling her eyes out at naptime. 

Or the next bedtime.

Or lessen the demands for "BeBEEE!" as we tried to put on her jammies every night for weeks.


I think the next time Super Nanny gives advice that seems like a perfect fix,
we'll just shut off the TV.

PhotoStory Friday - When His Ship Comes In (Subtitled: The One I Meant To Do For Fourth of July)

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Last weekend was a pretty eventful one here on base - one of the ships had returned from a six month deployment.  All this week I was surrounded by ecstatic moms, dads and kiddos still googly-eyed and euphoric.

It was also a pretty eventful weekend around the Happily-Ever-After-Land Palace - Hubs and I set to work unpacking the boxes of crap cherished mementos we had stored back in 2006 and hadn't been in a place long/big enough to unpack. 

Which was when I discovered, hiding amongst an array of desk accessories and stationary, a CD, burned back in 2002, with pictures of Hubby's return from his first deployment.

I tell you, that day was very exciting stuff!  Decked out in a new dress, purchased especially for the occasion, and ridiculously tall stiletto heels (just the thing you want to wear on a cold windy morning in a crumbling parking lot, by the way) we waited and watched as the ship pulled in.

Despite all those uniforms looking very much the same, I could recognize the silhouette of my man immediately! (The glasses might have aided in the search just a little.)

Do I look a little giddy? 

This is one of my favorite photos of all time.  We've had it on the fridge for years, and I thought it had been lost in The Computer Crash of 2004, so you can imagine my excitement at this archaeological find.

That was the first of four homecomings (at last count).  And you know what?  They are really that amazing.  Every.  Single.  Time.

It's the reason I get teary eyed watching the end of "Love Actually" for the hundredth time.

It's the reason that, even though I despise local news, I'll tune in if there's a ship coming home.

Maybe it's cheesy.  Maybe I've romanticized it too much in my head.  But the long-in-coming reunion is one of the most real, honest, raw, joyous, human moments that can ever be committed to film.

When was your last joyful homecoming?

PhotoStory Friday - A Sight Rarely Captured By Explorers...

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Behold!

A sight seldom seen by any human,

but for the FIRST TIME captured on film.

Risking life and limb,

our explorer carefully crept through the underbrush,

dodging all manner of possibly poisonous, certainly ankle breaking, traps

in order to bring to the world

photographic documentation of this rarely seen creature

holed up in its natural habitat.

I now give you....



the Missipitus Prissypie!

(This safari made possibly through grants from the National Geographic Society.
Do not attempt locating this creature on your own, such safaris require professional guides
and months of specialized training.  You never know when a herd of blocks
might appear out of nowhere and cause injury, or even death!)

PhotoStory Friday - The Yosemite Adventure!

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

 

I might have mentioned (ok, can't stop talking about) going up to Yosemite National Park last week.  It was a great trip!  And I waited until PhotoStory Friday to share some of the great pics with ya'll!  All the photoshopping was courtesy of Papa Bear.  It was his first time playing around with the program, and I think he's caught the addiction!

These first few pics are from a little train station right outside the park.  There's Miss Priss panning for gold.  She would have had a little bit more, had she not dumped half of her pan into the water.  The old guy helping her out was horrified.  He kept looking at us like we were crazy.  I tried to tell him that we weren't expecting much from her, just wanted her to experience how it was done.  He seemed to think that made us even crazier. 

Once in the park, we took lots of pictures of nature and stuff. 

 

 

 The next morning, we conquered the Yosemite Falls!
In our own ways, of course.

Papa Bear spent four hours hiking all the way up to the tippy top of the Upper Falls.

While Mama Bear and Baby Bear opted for the ten minute stroll to the Lower Falls.  Lest you think we're total pansies, we did walk the paths for another hour after that.  (And did our best not to smell like bear candy.)

There are many, many, MANY more amazing pics that I'd LOVE to share with you (about 565, to be exact), but it was hard enough just getting these photos situated in this post, so I'll end the family photo torture here.

At least for today!

 

PhotoStory Friday (on Saturday) – Father’s Day

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Daddy showed Miss Priss the best way to cool your feet off after a long hike in the Sequoia National Forest.

Daddy enjoyed sharing this peaceful time with his first-born.

Priss thought it was the awesomest thing in the whole world.

Mommy's just thankful nobody fell in.