50 mm Baby!

I purchased a new lens for my camera today and I was so giddy I drove home and begged the girls to get ready and let me take a few pictures of them in Down Town Mesa. Andelyn was the only sweet child (therefore my "favorite child") to offer up her smiles. I love the technique I get with this lens. Soft out of focus back ground.I had a little learning curve since the lens does not have any zoom (I am the zoom I decided) and what fun I had.
Andelyn: "Mom, you said it would only take 30 minutes".
Mom: "I lied, lets take pictures till I run out of space and battery K".

RUBY ROO

This is our sweet little Ruby Roo. A.K.A......Roobs, Roobaloobs, Rubeee Rubee Roooo, Woobee, Boobie, Scruffy, Sugar Butt, Puppy, Puppy Wuupy, Baby, Widdel Wooby Girwl, Fur Face, Fluffy Wuffy. You get the picture I'm sure.
She is a mixed bread of Bichone Frise, Shih Tzu and a tiny bit of something called a Griffon. She only weighs 7.5 lbs so obviously a serious lap dog. She can fix just about anything going wrong in your life with one little snuggle and lick. She acts like we have been gone for days at a time each and every time we come home, even if it's only been a few moments. She has learned to sit, shake, beg, stand, walk on two feet (for a long time) dances, plays dead and stays. She is a fabulous watch dog as she likes to stare out the front window for goings on outside and sounds her bark/howl alarm if anyone gets close to our house. Of course all she would do is lick a robber to death if they ever made their way in our house, so she needs a little work in that area. She has some quirky habits like chewing on a tiny spot of her toys for hours at a time, she thinks she needs to get praised for every single time she goes outside to go potty (which is left over from her potty training days) and sometimes she just goes burzurk running around the house like a greyhound all excited over who knows what??
Ruby's Favorite Things: VISITORS! Sun Spots on the floor, peanut butter, Mommy's lap, sleeping on top of Amelia's bed pillows, open windowed car rides, New toys, water bottles, her bears, tummy rubbings, chicken and lunch meat and the groomers..ha ha.. just kidding.

BALLET UNDER THE STARS

It's tradition! Every year the girls and I attend a free concert given by the professional Arizona Ballet Co. They perform at several outside venues including Peoria, Tempe, Phoenix and Mesa. We always attend the Tempe Town Lake concert. We pack a lunch or pick up Subway and lay out our blankets and chairs. The dancers all come on stage in various styles of dance clothing and warm up for their performance. We are always amazed at their strength, flexibility
and grace. The show only last for 1 hour but it's packed with pieces from the Company performances from the past year and sometimes a sneak peak of what is coming up for the new season.

It's a "green stick" fracture!

Just a few days after school started Amelia was doing a back bend in dance class and landed wrong on her left hand. She went totally white and started crying. We did the usual, some ibuprofen and ice, we bought her a brace for her wrist but 5 days ( includign two school days) later the wrist was swollen and still very sore. Dr. Braun said it was a "green stick fracture" which means, like a thick green branch that has been broken but the outside green bark is still attached. She had to wear the cast for just shy of 8 weeks, which should have been a little less but Dr. Braun was deer hunting the last week and so Amelia had to wear it an extra week. When she finally went back to have the cast removed and checked, it wasn't completely healed and she had a terrible rash. Because the rash was so bad Dr. Braun said he wouldn't recast it but that she needed to wear her brace for the next month and after that when ever she does things that could lend itself to a fall. The rash took about 6 weeks to clear up and the swelling is finally all gone. Whew! We hope to never deal with that again, but are grateful that it wasn't worse. For those of you who have never had a broken bone. Let's just say showering for 8 weeks with your arm in a cast is very interesting!

SCHOOL THINGS AND SUCH

Of course we always do the traditional first day back to school picture. New clothes, backpacks, lunch boxes, $ 60 in pens, pencils, paper, erasers, folders, binders, glue, crayons, protractors, tissues, hand sanitizer and a few more odds n ends. Times have sure changed from the days when mom just bought a couple packs of lined paper and a box of pencils. Taking Amelia shopping for clothing this year was quite interesting. She kept saying to herself "is this what Salena Gomez would wear?" If the answer was yes...she wanted it.
Daddy : "Ammah, here are the keys to your new car, now go outside and see which car you can unlock and that's your car".
Ammah: 'Screaming' "I have a car? I have a car? I have a CAR!"

Amelia later said of the 1st ride around the neighborhood that Ammah screamed for the whole ride.
Ammah was so excited to start Jr. College this year and get her very first car! It's a 2003 Chevy Malabu with not a single "power" anything in it. Yes Ammah, you have to roll the windows up and down with a crank, unlock and lock all the doors by hand and watch out for that tricky gas meter.

Kenzie Jones - The Newest Edition to the Jones Clan

Randy and Krissy added number 5 to their growing brewd. After 4 boys Kenzie is a very welcomed little ball of soft, pink, fluff! Of course I had to have a little photo shoot with her. She looks so serious....wonder what she is thinking about.

SUMMER FADED INTO THE FALL

Last call for a summer sleepover. Sleeping bags, vides games, walkie talkies, pizza and pancakes. What else could anyone ask for on your last weekend before school starts. Brynly and Madelynn are some of Amelia's bestest friends and they had a fantastic last hooray to summer.