Watson's First Birthday (Seriously)

My entire life I've always made fun of people who treat their dogs like human beings.

Dogs shouldn't own sunglasses, they shouldn't have play dates, and they shouldn't have parties thrown in their honor.  I've always felt that way, and so you can imagine my chagrin when forced with the realization that, because of our kids, Watson was going to have to have a 1st Birthday acknowledgement of some kind.

Seriously.

We picked up a gourmet dog 'cookie' from the Purple Pooch - I won't tell you how much that thing cost - and, for the girls, we threw in a few leftover cupcakes from Kris' Easter Basket Cupcakes for Church endeavor.

Singing 'Happy Birthday' to Watson. . . because he really appreciated it.

Dog birthdays aside, my buddy Melvin from work recently let me borrow his 40mm Canon lens for my Canon EOS Rebel T4i.  Check it out. . .

I love the depth of field with this lens, but there's no auto-focus or zoom to speak of, so you have to move and focus manually. . . which can be a pain in the ass.

It's good for close-ups, in case you want to capture your kid's snarky-ass smirks.

Kris helps Alayna with some of her homework

And now on to coloring. . .

. . . Hell, at least she's not eating them anymore.

- Brian

April Showers Bring May Flowers... But Mostly Weeds

Seriously.  My yard looks like a hobo's butthole.

I could easily devote a whole post complaining about my yard, as it always looks like total crap this time of year, but I figure that'd be pretty boring for you guys.

Somewhat less boring, is looking at pictures.  So here you go:

The go-to backyard activity around here.

Some lady Kris knows had these free Antique Portrait sessions at her church (or they were only $10, or something. . . I don't know), so after a full day of swimming and hanging out in the backyard we threw the kids in the van and headed over to this random church.

. . . and as you can see, we didn't even bother changing the girls out of their swimsuits.  Screw it.

There was a line of people waiting for their session with the photographer, but fortunately they had a playroom full of creepy, vintage children's toys to keep the girls occupied.

As it turns out, this whole portrait thing was kinda lame.  The dresses were all of the same material/style, and the accessories were minimal.  They wouldn't let you take pictures inside the 'studio,' but I'll be sure to post the final result once we get the picture back (we'll see how it turns out.)

Patiently awaiting their photo shoot. . .

These are some pretty bizarre murals for a church.

I've failed as a teacher.

Yes, our dog now plays for the Detroit Lions.  He's not going to make them any worse, that's for sure. 

The Cannonball has taken to reading sheet music pretty well.  I'm interested to see how she does with the bow.

Another family outing at Azteca de Oro - our favorite Mexican restaurant.

Abby, posing 'nicely' with her mom.

Bunny Ears are HILARIOUS. 

So long as she doesn't grow up to do this for a living, I'm cool with it.  Of course, those calendars usually feature cooler cars than a Ford Focus.

Keeping a weather eye out for Kris, Abby and Watson.

Family spotted.

We ended up splurging on Watson's new dog bed, purchasing a deluxe model from Doctors Fosters & Smith.  Our rationale was that since sleeping is Watson's favorite thing in the world (besides chasing lizards and digging pit traps in the backyard), we might as well get him something he'll get good use out of.

Six hours before the Blood Moon.  I didn't feel like staying up on a school night - sue me.

- Brian

The Bunny Hath Risen!

Happy Easter, everybody.

I was going to make a Zombie Jesus joke here, but that'd probably offend a bunch of people, so instead let's check out the barrage of pics below to see how the Houghs celebrated this magical and most-recognized of pagan holidays-turned-Christian cornerstones.

Behold:

Wouldn't be an Easter without Paas.  Right, America?

 

I think it's safe to say that, besides the dye itself, every other Easter Egg decoration is little more than a poorly-conceived gimmick.  We've tried tie-dyed eggs, bedazzled eggs, stickers, and these bizarre shrinks-when-you-blow-drow-them plastic wraps (seen here) - it all sucks.

Showing off some of her new Easter threads, courtesy of Grandma and Papa John.

. . . and Alayna's.

More Easter care packages, this time from Papa and Nana. . .

F*** it, it's Easter.

When you politely ask our kids to pose nicely for a picture with their new shirts, this is what you get. 

Bubbles last a couple minutes in this house.  Then Abby spills the bottle and pouts.

Kris wanted to make some Easter-themed cupcakes this year - she got the idea from some chick she works with.

Easter Basket cupcakes.

Don't ask me what's all over this kid's face. . . 

. . . OR this kid's face.  Jesus, we have THOSE kids.

Ah. . . healthy, nutritional Peeps.

Finished product

The dependents' Easter Baskets, appropriately hidden in our bathroom shower.

Easter Egg hunt throughout the house (surprisingly enough, both kids slept in until 7am. . . which rarely happens)

We weren't going to buy a bunch of candy this year, 'cause the kids don't really eat it. . . so the kids ended up getting more eggs filled with quarters and spare change this year.

Once they had hunted down all the eggs we had hidden around the living room/play room, we directed them to the basket scavenger hunt - something we started doing three years ago, and the kids have a lot of fun with.  This year, since Alayna's reading, we were able to write out the clues instead of me drawing pictures of the clue's next location.  This was WAY easier.

(In case you ever wanted to see what the inside our refrigerator looks like.)

Kris' desk looks like someone tossed a hand-grenade on it and left the room.  (See that game on the screen? Sid Meier's classic Pirates  - graphics don't quite hold up, but it's still awesome for being ten years old.  I like playing it on Kris' large-screen desktop, opposed to my MacBook Pro.)

Yes, we wrote that. 

Oddly enough, both kids were more obsessed with what was in Watson's basket than in theirs.  Go figure. 

Like stated earlier, Alayna's been really into Lego Ninjago lately.  We threw a set in her basket along with a chapter book (a step up from the leveled-reader books, so she can grow into it and build up literacy.)

We did the same for Abby, except her latest obsession is Lego Friends. 

We decided that the girls would get a kick out of seeing an Easter basket of treats for Watson, so we went to that Purple Pooch dog boutique (that upscale dog store I've mentioned before that caters to affluent Hunters Creek soccer moms) and bought him a bunch of these frosted, gourmet dog biscuits.

After skipping a healthy breakfast and subsisting on jelly beans and chocolate, we sat the kids down at the kitchen table in order to assemble their new Lego sets. . .

. . . I can't begin to describe how awesome it is to have the kids finally into something badass like Legos.

- Brian