Encouragement....

I have a dry erase board on my refrigerator. Usually I write my grocery list on it, take a picture then use the picture at the store, like this:

 and like this:

 

I don't always use the board for practical reasons. I consider myself a world-class doodler, sometimes inspiration strikes and I use my dry-erase board to express my emotions. 

For example, here is a picture of our High School mascot with a baseball in his mouth literally "flipping the bird." 

 I made this drawing for Chris when the baseball team was playing a championship game:

 

And once during Fall I drew a picture of Edgar Allen Poe:

 There is a great website called Free Crappy Portraits that creates a unique portrait of you based on fun facts about yourself, and a picture you send in. I felt inspired by this great website and created a dry-erase masterpiece that would show Chris how awesome I thought he was........

A shirtless, rock-star Chris.....riding a unicorn.

He was extremely impressed.

Herding cats.....

I have always said that getting my family to move in one direction while in a group, or pose for a picture at the same time, is like herding cats. Everyone knows what the ultimate end goal is, but they will achieve it when they're ready or have nothing else catching their attention. As the bossy eldest, who likes when things are going according to MY plan, it can be extremely frustrating and annoying.

Here is an example of what I'm talking about so you can commiserate with me! I'm sitting at a table in the airport between my mom and dad. All I want is a simple picture of Chris, Andrew and Christian sitting across from me. The following attempt at cat herding is what occurred:

Ok! Hey guys, let me take a picture really quick!  

Chris you weren't ready, that's ok! Lean in there- I promise it will be real quick!

 

No! Dad! Don't talk to them, I just want a quick picture!

Well this is ok, but if you could just put your hand down REALLY quick Christian that would be great! You don't even have to smile! Just- NO MOM! Don't talk and distract them or else....

Aaaaand I've lost them.

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I don't even know why I compare my family to herding cats, because I seriously doubt I could get them to do this:

 

OR THIS:

 

AND ESPECIALLY THIS:

 

Most Photogenic?

When I was a senior in High School the student's voted on 'Senior Personalities,' Chris won most athletic but I was voted most photogenic:

When I see a picture of myself all I see are teeth, but I've done my best to uphold the most photogenic honor bestowed upon me, and smile for the camera with all my heart:

Senior Picture

My best friend Jana, and me, at one of the most outrageous parties I've ever been to.

My best friend Lesley, and me, at the Phantom of the Opera.

 Us at a wedding. 

My dear, kindred Spirit, Mackenzie, on Cinco De Mayo. 

(See what I mean about the teeth?)

I've never been a person who doesn't like her picture taken. If there is a camera being taken out of pocket or a purse, I am posed with smile on my face and a hand on my hip saying: "I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. Deville!"....and this is why I'm baffled......

Remember how I had to re-new my passport because of my new last name? When you need a new passport you need a new picture. When you need a new picture you go to Walgreens. When you go to Walgreens there is a VERY crabby lady who doesn't count to three before the picture. When she doesn't count to three, you get a passport picture that looks like this: 

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Oh you don't believe this is my real actual passport photo? I didn't either. Surely the Government wouldn't do this to me?

Well, I DID get my passport this morning (HUZZAH!) and it was confirmed: 

So much for most photogenic......

Did that even happen?

This last weekend my mom celebrated a VERY big birthday....

No. Don't ask me her new age! I won't tell you! No, I refuse! I swore to her I wouldn't let it slip that she was --whoa! You almost got me! Ohhh you are a tricky one, nice try, but you won't get me to tell!!

So anyways, back to my mom's 50th birthday weekend...it started off right with a beautiful bouquet of flowers being to delivered to my mom at my dad's chiropractic office. They were so pretty, I had Mr. Bones pose with them:

Later that evening, a bunch of us went to a delicious pizza joint (that we frequent about once a week) that has the most a-mah-zing spinach dip ever created:

I guess when you yell: "HEY EVERYONE! LOOK AT ME AND SHOW A CRAZY FACE!" Christian is the only one that will respond appropriately. 

Notice my dad's hand and intense face? He's getting the last bite of the spinach dip before anyone else notices..... I TOTALLY SEE YOU DAD!  I was so happy that all of our friend's came to help honor my mom while she celebrates being---Hey! QUIT trying to make me tell you her age! I won't do it!

So anyways, at my mom's 50th birthday party, my younger brother Christian and I decided we don't have enough pictures of us together after 23 years of 'togetherness' (lie) and used this opportunity to create a memory...

Actually, I just sneak-attack-style yelled: HEY! CHRISTIAN! SMILE!! 

Being the good-looking young man he is, this is how it turned out.....whatta jerk, right?!

Saturday we left the motherland and drove an hour away to continue the 50th birthday celebration. I feel like all I did this weekend was eat...and eat...and eat...but first, a baseball game: 

Then, we kept rocking her ---ooooh! I almost told you her age! Whew! That was close! Anyways, we kept the party going with an AMAZING dinner at my favorite Italian restaurant EVER. The place is pretty fancy, they even have a girl whose sole job is fill your water glass. You literally take a sip and BOOM! She's right there making sure the water level never reaches below the half-empty (or is it half-full?) mark...classy. 

Here is my mom in her fancy: "I just hit a big birthday but I'm kicking it's ass" outfit.

After the BEST dinner in the world (I had the tortellini, Chris had walleye) we made our way over to SHREK: The  Musical. I saw a flyer for this a few weeks ago while we were at the Willie Nelson concert and couldn't believe my good fortune, I was actually going to hang out with Shrek and the gang! 

They really really really insisted that you turn off your cell phone (don't ask me how I know this) so I couldn't take any pictures for you, but here is a picture I google-found of a scene: 

We decided to take advantage of our location, and went to one of our favorite places: the dueling piano bar. We were having so much fun I wasn't doing such a hot job of taking pictures, BUT I did get one of my mom up on the stage letting the piano man sing a Happy Birthday song to her: 

If you think he looks like he has crazy eyes-you're right, he totally does. He was super stoked to be singing a Happy Birthday song to my mom on her big --whoops! I almost just told you!

The next morning,  we needed needed food in our bellies and STAT. Fortunately, we had the good sense, the night before, to make plans with our good friend Sarah and her cute family for brunch. 

We ate at a real honest to goodness cafe and crepery...it was pretty awesome. I had no idea you could have so many different types of crepes. Even ones with Nutella...but that wasn't the best part. I mean, really, wouldn't you want to eat breakfast with these sweetie-pies?

Hi Livi! You're super cute!

Hi Caroline! You make my heart melt into a puddle of Nutella!

Before we left, I insisted the creator of these angels, that I've been friends with since I was 12, take her picture with me: 

Caroline's cute baby belly was just a bonus.

After our weekend of celebrating my mom's birthday (For the last time, I'm NOT telling you how old she is now) with her and my dad...

....I'll totally be ready when it's my turn to hit 50!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM,

I LOVE YOU!!

I'll never be too old for this:

 Remember how I told you about the busy chaotic times Spring brings because of baseball? Remember how I told you that I am a converted baseball fan now? I'm definitely ready for the sound of the crack of the bat now. Let me tell you about my weekend. Better yet, let me show you....

Date: Friday, February 10th 2012
Location: The Motherland, Missouri.
Activity: Dinner
We eat dinner with my parents most Friday nights; and usually, we stare at each other for 40 minutes saying: "I dunno where do YOU want to eat?" but Friday we had a plan: SUSHI. So there I was minding my own business watching my dad tell a crazy story......

I've totally forgotten what this story was about...He might even be saying: "So I lifted it up....

....pushed down, watched it swirl around...

....called my mom...

.....and that's the first time I used the toilet!" 

My mom obviously enjoyed whatever this story was.

So, my dear reader, I'm sure you can imagine my surprise when I was playing the BEST game ever, Apples to Apples, and Chris said: "I think I want to go."

This happened right as my mom was saying: "Stop taking pictures and pick a card already!!!"

Chris was talking about a banquet honoring past and present baseball players for a team called "Midwest Nationals." He was on the very first team and he waaaasss pretty awesome! We THOUGHT it was just a simple dinner, nope. There were about 600 people there and Chris was even asked to sign autographs.

Date: February 11th, 2012
Location: Springfield, MO
Activity: Autograph signing/banquet.

This little boy walked up with his ball and said: "Can I please have your autograph?" and Chris said: "Really? You don't want my autograph" at that point I put down the camera and yelled: "HE DOES TO WANT YOUR AUTOGRAPH!"

Here is Chris, getting in the autograph flow with our friend, Matt:

It was at this point Chris and Matt, the seasoned autograph giving pros, realized the newbies at the start of the line were signing the ball incorrectly. After Matt explained to the novices how to properly sign a baseball, things went smoothly.

And they even served us dinner:

But all Matt really cared about was cake (you know I wouldn't give him mine!), he was resourceful and used his name plate to get the server's attention:

Don't worry, he was successful! He might even like cake as much as me...Nah..

You may think that the cake signaled the end of the night. You thought wrong.

Date: Later that night

Location: Hammons Field (more specifically the indoor batting cages)
Activity: "Meet the Bears" fundraiser and Silent Auction.

This was a lot of fun. It's cool because the indoor batting cage facility is HUGE and has artificial turf, so I totally felt like we were at a picnic!

Looks real, right?! It's not. But those feet are and they belong to some of our favorite people:

Oh look! Here's one now!

Hi Brayden! You are also our neighbor back in The Motherland; and I love your wife!

Going to the "Meet the Bears" fundraiser was really cool because we saw a lot of our old friends and made a ton of new friends:

Tyler played for Chris last year, and might be the best pitcher...EVER. Hi Tyler! And the guy on the right is one of Chris' college coaches: hi Lump! Your hair is feathered and lethal, good sir!

 This is Pat. He was a freshman when Chris was a senior, he's all grown up now.

Hi Pat! Good luck this season!

I took this picture because I thought it was cute, all the boys sitting together looking so young, we didn't look that young when we were that age; did we!?

 HEY! Wait just a second! I see something in this picture... Is that? Could it be? It is! Someone is wearing Chris' old number:

If you know me, you know it wasn't out of character for me to say: "Hey you! That is my husband's number! Let me take a picture of you wearing it!" You would know it wouldn't be out of character for me follow that by saying: "You've got some big shoes to fill wearing that number....don't mess it up!" 

Looks like fun, huh!?

You would THINK our night would be over after all this excitement, you would be wrong- again.

Date: Later Later that night....

Location: Local restaurant
Activity: catching up

This was a fun part of the night because we all got to hang out, swap stories and throw a few cold ones back:

This is the head athletic trainer at Missouri State, and one of Chris' favorites. He actually helped Chris come up with the idea of how to propose! Hi Jim!

You can't write a blog about Missouri State baseball without mentioning Curt:

Sorry for the blurry photo, you know about my iphone photo skills....

And here's one of my favorite people of all time, Stefanie:

Hi Stef! You sure are pretty!

You would think that after all that reminiscing our night would be over- you would finally be right!


Even though we were tired from our exciting weekend. We still had one more celebration on Sunday: our niece's 7th birthday party!

Date: February 12, 2012
Location: Party Central, Motherland USA
Activity: Birthday extravaganza....

"I said: Oh no...I don't need any cake, I already had some yesterday, it is beautiful though!" 

That's a lie, I really said: "uhh the piece with the most frosting please!"

My birthday is in May, I'm thinking a Barbie theme is where it's at:

If Barbie is so popular, why do we have to buy all her friends!?

Even though we had a whirl-wind weekend, I can say this: 

I still know how to party!