My pretty girl

I can't believe my Ryelie is going to be 8 years old in just a month.  It feels like just yesterday that we were bringing her home to our little apartment in Bremerton.  She has become such a 'mini-adult' lately.  Wanting to be in the grownup's conversations, which I am constantly reminding her she's just not old enough for.  She's thinking things through more thoroughly, trying to be funny in 'not so childish' ways.  I miss my little baby girl but, at the same time, I'm looking forward to this new time of her life.  Don't get me wrong...it scares the begeezus out of me.  We're already dealing with 'teen type' attitude and sullenness.  And I think, if this is how it is at 8, how much worse will the teen years be?!?!?  But we'll handle it, we'll deal.  I love my girls so much, I just want them to grow up thinking more of themselves than I did of myself.  I want her to be happy.

Bathing Beauty

Testing the waterLooks good Mom
bubble head picture
The water's not that good


cheese
that's right, i'm cool
get outta my face
ready to get out mom

New Camera

The girls hanging out
Sumo Squat

Got my toes done for the WA trip. Hehe.

testing.

New This Week...So Far

I wasn't going to do this post yet, because I have 2 more movies to watch, but I had to tell you about Fired Up!  RENT IT!  It's definitely an adult movie.  It has language, some nudity and sexual comments....but I have not laughed at a movie do hard in a long while.  I was afraid it was going to be kind of lame, you know how some of these smaller movies can be.  Oh man, not this one.  The movie is about friends, Nick & Shawn.  Football players who's summer plans look rather boring, 2 weeks at football camp with no girls in sight.  They decide to scam their was into the cheer camp by becoming cheerleaders.  The plan to bail early after they've scored as many chicks as possible.  Of course, changes of heart ensue...I may have to watch it again before I return it.  Seriously, if you're in the mood for a hilarious movie, this is definitely it!  If you're easily offended, this probably isn't for you.

I'll edit this and add more movies when I get to them.  I have Revolutionary Road and Gran Torino waiting.

Some Randomness

A few picture I've taken over the last few days. This first one is of a note Eric left me on our chalkboard. The only reason I'm sharing this is because...I DIDN'T NOTICE IT FOR 2 WEEKS! I swear right before and after he leaves I kind of go on auto pilot. It's weird. I was so touched at Eric's thoughtful gesture. Thanks babe!The girls hanging out in the playroom.  Jo's mad that I pulled out the camera.
Us.
Me & my baby
The girls being goofy.  Jo was laughing so hard.  She wouldn't get off of Rye.
Kisses.  A rare show of affection.
Rye, always trying to horn in on a shot.  So funny!
Jo likes to do her sad face sometimes.  She's so adorable, I can't stand it.  
Kisses for Mom.  I have a similar one with Rye at this age.

New This Week

Alrighty, I'm a little late this week with the posting.  As all the new releases for this week come out tomorrow.  And seeing as I watched these movies on Thursday I have no reason for my procrastination.  I watched two new movies this week, technically three, but one was on TV.  

The first movie I watched was New in Town.  A sweet comedy starring Renee Zellweger and Harry Connick Jr.  Renee plays a Miami based exec that goes to Minnesota to change over a factory and lay off hard workers.  She falls in love the with town and with Harry's single dad character.   I don't want to give too much of it away so I'll say no more.  It was a good movie.  I am not a huge Renee fan but I would definitely watch this again.

Next up is a small movie called The Ramen Girl.  It stars Britney Murphy as a girl that never commits to anything until she follows a boyfriend (that didn't want to be followed) to Japan.  In the sorrow that follow his ditching of her she finds solace in a Ramen shop.  She decides she want to become a ramen chef and asks to be trained by the alcoholic chef.  There are subtitles through out the movie but worth the read.  I only checked this movie out because I love her other small film, Love and Other Disasters, even though she's not always the best actress.  If you're in the mood for something a little off beat, check out this flick.

The last movie I want to touch on was a Lifetime Original Movie, starring Sarah Chalke, called Maneater.  It's a long one, but totally worth it.  Find it's replaying on TV when you can.  Chalke plays Clarissa, a girl totally caught up in having money and things.  On being told by her father that he'll be cutting her off she decides to bag a rich husband so she doesn't have to work.  All kinds of craziness ensues and she grows up a lotthrough this movie.  I was seriously bawling at the end of this movie.  It was great.  Sarah Chalke is just hilarious in general and I loved her in this role as well.  Again I say, check this movie out.

I'll be buying He's Just Not That Into You when it comes out tomorrow.  I can already tell you that is a great movie.  I watched it in the theaters and it was awesome.  You can't help but love Ginnifer Goodwin's character but also cringe for her when you see her doing something countless women do.  There are so many story lines in this movie that all end up intersecting in one way or another.  This movie, with it's star studded cast, is definitely buy worthy if you are into romantic comedies.

Cleaning out the Camera

Emptying out my camera today, so I thought I'd upload pictures from the last few weeks.

Joey had her first Oreo cookies this month. She loved them, but didn't like the mess so much. It was no surprise that she adored them, as they're both Eric and Rye's favorite cookies. I don't think they'll be an all the time thing, since they are so messy. But every once in a while is cool.



More pigtail pics. These pigtails are way cuter than the ones I posted last month. I put these in her hair for a trip to the park. She loves to swing but her hair is always getting blown into her face. So I tried these out to see if they would help. She didn't keep them in long after we left the park but they served their purpose. She looks so adorable. This first picture is a typical 'Jo in front of the camera' picture. She can't stand more than 2 pictures...then she gets erictated. This was the 3rd picture.
Isn't she just the sweetest, cutest thing you have ever seen.  Her smile is so infectious and so is her laugh.  She does the 'sucking in air' kinda laugh.  It is too cute.

Three random pictures over the last 2 weeks.
Rye and Jo being sisterly. They can be so cute together, and so maddening. I love watching their relationship develop.
This is the Lonestar State Cheesecake I made. I saw it on Cooking for Real on the Food Network and I just had to try it. I actually made the Steak Fajitas from the same episode and those were yummy too. This was my first time making a 'real' cheesecake. I used a spring form pan and everything. It turned out so so good. I will definitely make it again. I am going to try a pumpkin cheesecake next. Mmmmm.
Here is my newest tattoo. It translates (as far as I know) to "I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine" in Hebrew. I might need to make a couple of adjustments to it. I really like it and I wanted to get it in Hebrew because, from what I've found online, that's the language Song of Songs was written in originally.  There will be more tattoo pics to come.  I am thinking of getting another this paycheck.  I have an addiction.  Sorry Aunt Georgie!
These are a few pictures I took of Joey today. She saw me grab the camera and started going, "Chee, chee." so I had to take a few pictures, since she never wants them taken of her.
This is her after I said, "Pose for Mommy"



I am now listening to her sing Twinkle Twinkle with her DVD.  So sweet!

New This Week

Let's be honest...I will probably never get my new release movies viewed and written about on Tuesday. Just not going to happen. Hehe. So I thought I'd just post them when I get to them and within the week. Sound reasonable?
So, the new movie I watched this week was Paul Blart: Mall Cop. It's about a State Trooper wanna be that takes his current job as a mall security guard (officer? the debate continues) very seriously.  When a band of urban jumping thieves tries to steal from his mall he makes it his mission to take them down, hilarity ensues.  As soon as I saw that it was a Happy Madison Production, I knew I would love it. Plus, I've heard nothing but good things from those that have seen it as well.  To be honest, if it had been anyone other than Kevin James in this role it probably wouldn't have been half as good.  He is just a comedic genius and you instantly fall in love with the guy.  If you're looking for a fun comedy that will make you feel good, grab this one from your nearest rental place.

Three other movies I have seen recently: Made of Honor, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans & Taken.  I love love loved all three of these.  They're great for each genre: Romantic Comedy, Fantasy & Suspense/Thriller.  

Made of Honor was very sweet, if not some what predictable.  How can you not love McDreamy though?  There was some flat out funny parts that made me laugh out loud, even though I was 2 hours past bedtime when I was watching it.

Underworld...I can't say enough about this movie.  Admittedly, there were one or two slow points.  But as a lover of this trilogy I was enthralled.  Michael Sheen (Lucian) was outstanding.  I wasn't a huge fan of him in the earlier movies.  I didn't not like him, but he wasn't my favorite.  I totally fell in love with him watching this movie.  He was great, the character he played was great.  Good story, that went well with what you learn in the 'later' movies, with lots of action.

And then comes Taken.  Wow!  This is how I imagine Eric reacting if anyone ever did something to our girls.  Liam Neeson was a total bad ass!  Which I couldn't really picture before seeing the movie.  Maybe I just like all movies but again this was a great one.

Lastly, I'd like to share about a book I just read.  It's called Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson.  It's a wonderful story about a girl with and imaginary friend.  A friend she meets again when she's all grown up and just might be in love with.  It is a truly beautiful story.  It's right along the lines of his book Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas.  If you're not in the mood for a tear jerker, don't read either of these books.  It amazes me that a man that can write The Women's Murder Club Series, Kiss the Girls & Along Came a Spider...such thrilling, sometimes mind bending, books can also write books that just touch your heart.  Art comes in many forms and the written word is one of my favorites.  If you're in the mood for a book full of romance, pick this book up (pick up Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas as well).