Hello, Oreo!

We got a new hamster today. Shhh... it's a secret. Don't tell.



Our movie-star hamster, Cookie, died a month ago (so sad... she was a really cool hamster) and we had decided to be a pet-free house for a while. But the film maker in me came out the other day while thinking about the upcoming Holiday Program at school. Every year, Pern and I record the HP and then sell copies of the DVD to the parents at school. We include a highlights montage, interview questions with the children ("How does Santa get back up the chimney?" Is one of my favorites), and a hamster movie. Little Bob was the first hamster-movie star ("Little Bob's Big Night Out"), and then came Cookie, who starred in "Cookie's Christmas Caper," "Cookie's Big Vacation," "Cookie's 12 Days of Christmas," and "Cookie's Mountain Adventure." So we were hamsterless and wondering what we were going to do about the Holiday Program DVD. We thought about putting a "best of" compilation together, but then inspiration struck.

So this year, we're taking a new approach. The kids don't know I'm getting a new hamster. We're going to film the movie in the next couple of weeks (might wait until after Christmas) and she will be "unveiled" on the Holiday Program DVD in her very own hamster-flick. It promises to be very cute. Can't give away any details, however... that's strictly under wraps. You know how it is in the movie industry... hush, hush.

Other things a happenin'... we've been working on the photography. Here is the link to a wedding we did a couple of weeks ago. We were hired as videographers, but took the still cameras along to practice. I think they came out pretty good. We still have a lot to learn, but we're getting there.

Dan and Mary's Slideshow

Here are some Christmas tree shots. We put the tree up way early this year. Went to Indiana to see Pern's parents for Thanksgiving and didn't want to put it up a week later than normal, so it went up a week early. And since Thanksgiving was already a week early, we basically put the tree up sometime around Labor Day. At least, that's what it feels like.


We call this our "Vegas Angel." She's a very traditional angel tree topper with a crazy colored star behind her. Vegas, baby!!


Love our Mickey and Pluto ornament. So cozy.


I decided to put my Dickens village under the tree this year.


Our tree.

Um...now I'm 30

So yesterday was my birthday. I'm officially 30. This is not as sucky as I thought it might be. But it still sucks. The birthday party I was supposed to have was cancelled when we answered the friendship call of duty and went to babysit our friends' children, but I had a nice birthday anyway.

It went a little something like this:

p.s. Italics represent my reminders to myself as I went through my day.

Nothing says "happy birthday" like a Monday morning. Time to go to work! And, oh, yeah... by the way, you're thirty ! We had parent-teacher conferences for the last couple of days, so it was a fairly quiet day at school. Got some conferences in and got a lot of work done in my classroom. And oh, that's right... you're thirty! Yummy brownies from Keturah at lunch. Don't forget, you're thirty! My dad brought me the biggest balloon in the world, some flowers, and candies to wish me a happy birthday (psst..still thirty) at work, which was really nice, and when I got home I got more flowers from my friends, Claudia and Linnea. My parents came over, we went to The Cheesecake Factory (home of the yummy corn cakes that I love) for dinner, and then home for ice-cream cake (guess how many candles?) and presents. Did I mention that I'm thirty?

All in all it was a good day. If I had to do it all again, I wouldn't change a thing. Except maybe the thirty part.

I love Gerbera daisies! Thanks, Linnea and Claudia!

I love presents, too!

I love my new Crate and Barrel fall-leafy placemats, napkins, and candle holder!

Mom wasn't too impressed with Dale's card. It says, "I couldn't ask for a better sister. Well, I could, but I think Mom's too old now!" Ha, ha.. I thought it was funny.

Yes, I could feel the heat from the candles. That was a lot of candles.

My wish? Not to turn thirty ever again.

Ten more years until I turn forty. Ugh.. here we go again!

Camera onslaught (oh, yeah.. and Halloween)

So the expansion of Blue Square Productions has officially begun! We are the proud owners of some very fancy cameras and a Macbook Pro that Pern is in love with. Should I be jealous?

The cameras arrived on Halloween. And between doorbell rings and Pern's traditional Halloween spaghetti dinner, we were snapping pictures left and right like crazy people (crazy people with cameras that they don't quite know how to use yet). We also took the cameras with us to our friends, Joe and Renee's, house this past weekend. They were unexpectedly called out of town and asked us to babysit two of their three kids. I won't post any of the fabulous pictures we took of the young 'uns, but I will point out that nothing says "professional photographer" like a picture of a bucket full of oversized legos. Enjoy!

Do I look like I know what I'm doing?

Yum, yum... lot's of Halloween candy!

...and this is all that's left.

Halloween decorations at Joe and Renee's.

Artistic legos. Uh... riiiiight.

I love fall!

Fall is my favorite season. The leaves are so pretty, the air is so crisp. I took this picture of the tree in our front yard.

It's a heart-shaped leaf... get it? I love fall. Hearts represent love. It's a symbolic representation of my feelings towards an entire season using a single leaf. It's deep, I know.

Ain't it purdy?