Saturday, July 31, 2010

nite nite

the big boys stayed over at the fishin' camp last night, so henro & i packed up 782962896 toys, our pjs & toofbrushes, and headed to fi's for a slumber party with boo boo & ami.  all survived, but let's just say behavior wasn't as sweet & innocent & calm & adorable as depicted in the following snapshots from "the good ol' days"...

happy birfday!
backseat buddies, circa oh eight
fast forward a couple years & it's pandemonium...super hero versus bag guy, 6892042906 "men" and their wheels, and lots of running & jumping & wrastling & yelling & hugging & fighting & high-fiving & virtually nonstop miscellaneous NOISE.

someone please remind us to (1) pack earplugs and (2) drive through the frozen sun en route to our next cousins' sleepover...IF/when that happens :)

ps.  chaos aside, henro & i had fun and loved waking up to see their awesome bedheads & cutie patootie faces!

toys Rx

henro circa 2007
aka "dr baby"

hospitals, doctors, their offices & shots...
these are a few of my favorites.  NOT!!!!!!!!!

mom o' the year finally managed to bring henro in for his four year wellness checkup.  for those keeping score:  he'll make wishes on five candles in less than two months.  nonetheless, he went through the appointment like a champ.  i, on the other hand, was a complete basket case and started worrying several days in advance about the dreaded vaccinations...FOUR OF THEM.  ugh to the nth degree.

i still remember making a terribly embarrassing scene for georgie at hamilton medical group when it came time for my shots as a child, so i feared i was reaaaaaaaaally in for it.  karma's a bish, you know?!  boy, was i in for a surprise...no tears, no screaming bloody murder, no attempts to run outta the room.  henro did pretty well through it, too.  lol!

while divine intervention surely didn't hurt (pun intended), i have a hunch my promising a post-appt visit to geoffrey giraffe had a lil something to do with perfect patient performance.

"went to the pediatrician's office and all i got was this lousy..."
just kidding:)  he was very essited & appreciative.
who is this child & what has he done with henro?!

Friday, July 30, 2010

threads

i've been doing some em'iniscing & looking back through photos of my precious just ducklings & the adorable clothes we've created for them.  if i must say so myself, we've built some fabulous wardrobes these past few years!

as my next just ducky show nears, i thought i'd share several of my favorite designs...and maybe just a few pics of henro :)

due to the ridonkulously high volume of snapshots on mimi's macbook (haven't even touched the library on our dinosaur desktop pc!), i'll limit this entry to include only designs from past fall/winter collections...
"rudolph lab" embroidery option...
loved those crimmus jammies!!!
...and loved our shirt with "rudolph bunkie" (our choc lab)
holiday jammies are always a MUST...
jd's are just as cuddly & comfy as they are cute!
our all time fave embroidered cords...FOOTBALLS!
perfect with his lsu jersey or a "pio red" polo :)
jd's baseball tees are always GREAT!
stay tuned for more fall/winter...and, MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE, just ducky spring/summer threads.


Monday, July 26, 2010

biggest loser

final score from the weekend:
henro  26596289406
mimi   1 (sympathy point)

that's all i have to say about that.


Friday, July 23, 2010

tripolar

i felt compelled to share the artist lineup that cranked in my truck with today's itunes "shuffle."  here goes:
     
     1.  kenny
     2.  fergie
     3.  kenny
     4.  kenny
     5.  snoop
     6.  sugarland
     7.  kenny
     8.  ying yang twins
     9.  go-go's
    10. rihanna

perhaps it sheds a little light on how/why our state of affairs is generally all over the place & outta sorts?  seriously.

ps.  yes, there's a whole lotta kenny in the list.  88 songs in my library, to be exact.

Road & The Radio

Thursday, July 22, 2010

quack!

as many of you know, the past few years i've been a sales rep for a children's clothing line.  just ducky originals is a fabulous company based in asheville, north carolina, and twice yearly i host trunk shows with parties at the homes of friends, family & yours truly, plus i set up at a couple local kid-nesses.


JD offers a classic range of customizeable kiddo clothes, made exclusively to order.  you can mix & match fabrics in various styles, add monograms, embroideries & trims to create ridonkulously cute outfits for your whole bunch of littles.  it's such a beautiful thing because (1) you can coordinate the kids in styles appropriate for their various ages and (2) you can create garments that are uniquely your own, unlike most other home show lines.

i'm in the process of planning my fall/winter 2010 trunk show for late august/early september, and will soon begin sharing specifics regarding dates, times & locations.  in the meantime, please click here to check out the newest collection.

Lafayette, LA trunk show ~ August 18 through September 5

if you're interested in hosting a party - and earning FREE CLOTHES - please let me know.  it's a fabulous line to represent, and i absolutely love sharing it with my friends & your ducklings :)

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

emspedia

several friends have inquired about our recent vacay accommodations.  michael's cme conference was at the hilton san diego resort & spa on mission bay.  it was fantabulous.


from what i gather, the hotel has been around a while, but recently underwent significant plastic surgery.  after all, this is socal we're talking about, and dr 90210 works his magic just a couple hours up i-5.


as far as location goes, it's just a couple miles from the zoo and within sight of seaworld (shamu's nightly fireworks extravaganza can be watched from most room balconies or any spot on the hotel's boardwalk).

seaworld pops from our balcony

the airport is also nearby.  we rented a car & had no trouble getting around.  well, except when henro & i met a friend for lunch...but that had nothing to do with san diego & everything to do with my inability to navigate a downtown area.


great on-site dining.  henro inhaled his breakfasts.  i did the same when it came to fries.  hands down, some of the best anywhere. mcd's and burgersmith included.  seriously.  and we don't mess around when it comes to fried taters.

 

my only regret:  we didn't have enough time poolside.
check this...
yes, that's a flat screen tv/dvd combo mounted in the cabana. between the chairs are baskets full of all kinds of snacks & goodies.  these surround the pool & can be rented for the day.  city club, please take note.

additional touches worth mentioning:
(1) movies are screened poolside on wednesday and friday nights
(2) they facilitate the following at dusk...

twas a good place for us...
if i have my way, we'll return sooner than later :)

still six

our final day in sunny southern cali was spent surrounded by animals & creatures of all shapes and sizes, and i'm not just talkin about those on exhibit.  what a people watcher's dream!  clinton & stacy would have a blast:  crimes of fashion for days, if not 'til the end of time.  my fave observation was that clearly a large percentage of tourists believe fanny packs are acceptable, particularly if they're a designer knockoff.  wrong.

back to the matter at hand...twas another great day of vacation, complete with more henroisms & related entertainment.  most notably, he'd NOT forgotten the lil driving school scandal of the previous day. it came up several times, and my favorite instance was blurted out of the blue during lunch:

"what do i have to do when i'm at the six game & they ask how old i am?"

i'm oh, sooooo proud of encouraging my preschooler to deceive. mom o' the year i am.

legoland came up quite a bit throughout our day at the zoo.  aside from several mentions of his driver's license & being six, he proclaimed that "all of these pretend things around here make this look like a zoo."  lol.

"who's the star of the place at the whole zoo?"  we'll let you decide.  here are some clues...
note to self:  sunglasses + cap = willie wonka look

often he seemed way more interested in our rides than the amazing creatures seen while touring.  shocker.


chalk up another "been there, done that."  and, boy, did we get the gear to prove it:

of alllllllllll the gadgets, goodies & garb in the kids' shop, he demanded nothing but the zookeeper getup.  of course, his theme crazed momma couldn't resist (and was immensely proud of his selection!)

Monday, July 19, 2010

san diLego

day two:  legoland.  i tried keeping a running log in my phone of comments made throughout the day, as henro was on fire.  here's my attempt at an abridged pictorial...
the day started with 78239678962894075 questions about the various lego creations around the park.  "are those lego (elephants/zebras/etc) real?...real legos?...what's inside them?"
we eventually got him to understand how/why much of the park is constructed of lego bricks, with many things simply being non-functioning models of real stuff, then the challenge shifted & he thought everything was a replica made of plastic bricks.  at one point he approached an actual, run of the mill trashcan and exclaimed, "whoaaaah!  is this real?!?"

"there's no pedals on that fing"...

bad news:  the wait for this 3 minute ride was nearly an hour...
good news:  henro did this the entire wait...
a beautiful thing about lego paradise is that line wielding attractions have adjacent play areas full of bricks & tables where kids can pass the miserably boring waiting time.  our routine put dad in line & me supervising henro.  i was kept entertained & giggling under my breath as i eaves dropped on his exchanges with other kids:

"you can buy 'em.  they're almost done."  regarding two towers he created while waiting to go sky cruising.

"see these glasses?  they're hot."  as he pointed out his hot wheels shades - the ones with flames down the side - to an uber cool, surfer looking boy.

"so, what are y'all making?"  said repeatedly to a pair of geekazoid brothers who were less than impressed with henro.  he knew it, so he pressed on.

"what time y'all sit out here?"  my best guess is that he was wondering how long the boy had been waiting, b/c he'd had enough.  so had mimi.

"does he speak my language or not?"

and my personal fave..."i have uh iphone already."  huh??

end scene.  cue perhaps the best part of the entire day...if not the entire trip...
look closely at the age requirement on the sign.  now, one might think having a four year old would nix the chance to participate in volvo driving school.  such is true, unless your child is willing to lie on command.  

the experience was simply too perfect & dreamtastic for henro, so we encouraged a slight bend in the truth, and he lied through his little teef perhaps a bit too easily.  nonetheless, he was able to drive a kid sized lego volvo on kid sized roads, through kid sized traffic signals & signs, amongst busy traffic of kids doing the same.
this girl rear-ended him.  i can't imagine what he told her with this look...
fender benders & all, his driving was fantastic & earned him the following...
he's since proudly worn his "offical" identification in its "official" lanyard for most of his waking hours.  oh, and the fib about his age hasn't been forgotten...

walking past a big rollercoaster:  "can we ride that, mom?  i'll tell the man i'm ten!"

ummm.  yes, officer, he's really six.  wink, wink.

something else we loved was miniland.  20 million bricks representing several different areas of the USA in 1:20 scale.  uber ridonkulously cool doesn't even begin to describe it...
hey, wait...dat looks familiar!!!

now for a lil (ok, lots of) randomness from the day...it was such a cool place!!!

finally...the tell tale sign of a super terrific, fun filled day: