Tales From the 'Vine

oops

2009-01-29T18:51:00.000-08:00

This poor little blog gets so neglected. I hope anyone reading this knows, but we had our second child. About a month a go. Oops. Here is a photo of the boys. I will try to keep this one more up to date with pictures, especially for the grandparents. But two kids is hard. Especially with our Cupcakes and Cutlery blog. That is much more of a priority. And if I get 10 minutes to post, I have to do it there since we have actual followers. Not many, but a few. So, I guess, happy new year!

Elf on the Shelf

2008-12-10T18:41:00.000-08:00

So Grandma Marilyn got our family this really cool holiday keepsake. It is called Elf on the Shelf and I should put a link in here of where you can buy it, but I am too lazy. Anyway, starting at the beginning of December, you place the Elf, which your child names (ours is named Carl) on a shelf and the story goes that he goes back to the North Pole every night to tell Santa if the child has been good or bad and also what they want for Christmas. So someone is supposed to move it every night so it is kind of like a scavenger hunt for Carl. Last year, O was okay with it, but really didn't know what is going on. But this year, when we started talking about him, the mere idea of Carl was too evil for O. But we got him out anyway and placed him on a shelf. It has taken a few days for him to be okay with Carl being in the home and now even kind of likes him. Every once in a while though he freaks out about Carl. Like when he saw me taking a picture. He was yelling at me to stop taking pictures because Carl was so special. But here are a few that I got. It really is a fun tradition and I can't wait for O to teach baby brother all about him. And if any of you were wondering if O's 15 minutes were up yet. No, they quite clearly are not considering that this is he and his friend, E, at the Mission Viejo Mall last week. We are still semi-famous.

2007-06-14T20:33:00.000-07:00

Ahhh, sweet Katelyn. My friend Taryn asked me to take some pictures of her whilst pregnant with her second child. Little did we know that the sweet, stirring child inside her would end up being 9 pounds 6 ounces at birth. Bitch, please.

2007-06-14T20:39:00.000-07:00

Some photos from Oliver's first birthday party.

2007-06-14T20:48:00.000-07:00

My favorite picture of Ethan ever, mid meltdown. And my niece Tony Danza at Oliver's party.

Easter, 2007

2007-06-15T16:40:00.000-07:00

We spent Easter in Reno this year, as it was also my niece, Taylor's first birthday!

Taylor's First Birthday Party

2007-06-15T16:52:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from Taylor's princess party. She is so adorable as are her friends!

O M G

2007-06-15T17:01:00.000-07:00

It helps that he is such a cute kid. It is not hard to get a good photo of him.

Work it

2007-06-15T20:16:00.000-07:00

Some photos that I took at the park before Christmas. There was duck poop everywhere. This was also one of the first days I realized he could sit up by himself. I sat him up and hurried to take the picture and he didn't immediately plop over...he finally did but I promise...no babies were harmed in the making of these photots.

manual labor

2007-06-19T21:19:00.001-07:00

The last few days I have shot only in manual mode. It has been about 8 years since I last shot that way so I'm a bit rusty. Here I was playing with shutter speed although it is a pretty accurate display of his speed. He pretty much only runs now.

super cute

2007-06-19T21:23:00.001-07:00

so...these two weren't done on the manual setting. I just love these kids.

if you can't stand the heat

2007-06-19T21:26:00.000-07:00

who knew food could be so fun. i guess you are supposed to cook it in a timely manner. it is interesting to me that when you bring home flowers and don't take care of them, they die. but when you bring home food and don't take care of it, it grows flowers. this was an attempt to branch out and try cooking some new veggies for oliver. turns out mom got hit with the lazy stick.

Two little tea cups...short and Stout

2007-06-21T18:52:00.001-07:00

These are two of my favorite little kids!

Put the camera down and FINGER SWEEP!

2007-06-27T18:17:00.000-07:00

Oliver and I had a playdate at the park yesterday. Apparently there was a party in Oliver's mouth and the whole park was invited. Just as I would set up the best shot, I'd have to run over and finger sweep some bark out of his mouth, much to his dismay. I think he had a good time anyway. He got to play, or not play, with sweet little kaitlyn. Oliver's main goal was to steal her sippy cup, much to HER dismay. It was a pretty short trip to the park. The mama's were too hot, and I'm not talkin' bout temperature...Badabing...

how long do we have to stay here?

2007-06-29T19:09:00.000-07:00

Oliver and Ethan are so funny together. One minute Oliver is trying to take something from Ethan and Ethan is angry. The next minute, Ethan is trying to help Oliver up on to a swing (not sure if that is a nice thing or evil...). Please note the look he is giving Oliver in one of the pictures. I can't wait until they get older and really get to be friends.

i see london, i see france...

2007-06-30T20:57:00.000-07:00

It is amazing how far technology has come. This morning, Oliver and I got to video chat with daddy who just happens to be in France. It is a cheap alternative to overseas phone calls and daddy gets to see his little buddy. We had tried it once before when Brian was in New York, but Oliver was too young to know what was going on. This time though, he waved and laughed and knew it was dada he was talking too. We miss daddy very much and wish him a speedy and safe return. We will have another video chat tomorrow morning. We will be sure to let him know how Mr. Fish and his cousin from Mexico Senor Fish are doing.

peachy keen

2007-07-01T21:17:00.000-07:00

my daddy loves his hot rod. yet, he loves his grandson more. he let him climb all around in it today. Oliver wanted to touch every button, and every dial. but grandpa just smiled (mostly). I can't wait until Oliver is old enough to drive it. :)

i don't know what any of it means

2007-07-01T21:26:00.000-07:00

another shout out to my dads 3 window '32 duece coup with suicide doors. dad, am I forgetting anything?

ooops...i did it again

2007-07-01T21:30:00.000-07:00

I'd like to say that I did this on purpose. it was a fortunate mistake as I was going through the 300 pictures I took today. as you may have noticed, I like taking pictures of shadows. i thought this one was pretty awesome. my exposure was totally wrong, but so right at the same time.

tv cute

2007-07-01T21:32:00.000-07:00

my boss, lea, says oliver is "tv cute". I can't help but agree with her. I know I am partial (aren't most parents?) but come on. he's freaking adorable.

swim with the fishes

2007-07-01T21:35:00.000-07:00

grandma marilyn hates to be in pictures. i thought she wouldn't mind if just her feet showed. seeing as how we have 5300 pictures on our mac, it has taken me a better part of the evening to upload them and post. i'm done. i'm now going to dig in to the apple pie that my mamma sent me home with.

blankee

2007-07-04T20:17:00.000-07:00

it is hard to not grab the camera when your son wakes up smiley and laughing after every nap. he loves the blanket that meme made for him almost as much as mommy and daddy love theirs. meme's blankets are the best!

you spin me right round

2007-07-09T18:50:00.000-07:00

y we took a spin on the merry go round at the spectrum this weekend. it was so great to see cousin paris and noah. Yeah, he finally made it on to the blog. although i took so many pictures that I didn't get a chance to hold him. i hope we have another playdate soon.

it's been a long time, i shouldn'tve left you....

2007-07-30T17:06:00.000-07:00

does anyone but my husband get the old school rap reference? this is sweet little katelyn. you may remember that she was 9 pounds, six ounces when she was born. yeah. and her mother speaks of having more children. she crazy. this picture was taken when we were trying to get some good shots of her and ethan for her birth announcements. notice that ethan is not in the picture. he too, was perched atop a frog, but far, far away from his offensive little sister. okay, he doesn't really dislike her but would you hang out with your little sister when there are giant frogs to be jumped on? i'll admit. i got up there too. and then i saw ants crawling around and went to get down and then thought, I haven't jumped off anything in quite some time. It probably won't end well. so I carefully scurried down before taryn noticed my terror and would make fun of me. i just noticed that my son is IN his toy box right now. actually sitting in it. This puts him closer to the toys kepts in his old cradle. i think I better regulate. Oh and by the way, this was my first try at doing a little fancy photo editing. It's a little bit Alice in Wonderland and I think I like it.

Brynn Taryn Fraczek

2008-01-12T13:39:00.000-08:00

Brynn was born on December 28, 2007 (Take that IRS!) in Reno, NV. I was lucky enough to be there for the momentous occassion. To be able to be there to support my sister was awesome especially considering that I couldn't be there when her first baby, Taylor, was born (I was about 100 weeks pregnant also). Here are just some of the 500 pictures I took in the few days I spent with them. I wish they lived closer so that I could see them grow up and spoil them rotten. Oh my god y'all (to be said like the mother of the year, Ms. Britney Spears) do you even know how cute they make little girls clothes?