It's a BIG day....

Kai lost his very first tooth today!  That's my big boy.  Mommy loves you and couldn't be prouder.  Now stop getting older.  Right now.  I mean it.

So you think your life is hard sometimes, huh?

Take a couple of minutes and find some perspective....


Walk For Water from A Glimmer of Hope on Vimeo.


This next video is about a place in Ethiopia called Korah.  It is a huge trash dump.  People LIVE here.  People EAT here.  Children LIVE here.  Do yourself a favor and watch this video.  See what these amazing people are doing here to help these forgotten people and tell me that you can look the other way.  Once your eyes have seen.....  you know the rest.


Ordinary Hero~ A day in the trash dump in Ethiopia from Kelly Putty on Vimeo.

Cute & creative mama!

This woman is either incredibly creative, has only one child, or has way too much time on her hands.  Probably all three.  In any case, SO ridiculously cute.  Enjoy....

http://milasdaydreams.blogspot.com/

Thanks to my cousin Jessica for pointing me to the cuteness.

Hard-headed.

This is Ian.    

He is my middle child.  He is younger than Kai by 2 years, and older than Elliot by 4 months.  He can be incredibly sweet and snuggly.

He can be so silly and cute and funny that he makes me pee my pants.

I have also described him as "testy", "ornery", "difficult", and "hard-headed".  But I didn't know just how hard-headed he actually was until this Friday when we were snuggling on our Lovesac beanbag.  That was when my dear, sweet, funny, ornery, hard-headed, middle child sat up and then threw himself backward with all his four year-old might.  Right onto my face.  I knew it hurt like hell, and I knew it swelled up right away, but I didn't think it would be too bad.  After all, I've taken a few punches in my day.  It happened at about 10am.  This is what I looked like at 1pm:

This is what I looked like at 5pm:

And this is what I looked like on Sunday morning:

Happy 4th of July everyone!  I'm pretty sure I saw stars before any of you did.  And if any of you wanted to know a way to make your husband not want to go anywhere with you in public for at least a week and a half -- I have discovered it, but I don't recommend it.

More awesome trip pics!

A hodgepodge of trip photos for your perusal....  Enjoy...

I have now learned that when you put white sunscreen on a black child, what you get is a purple child.  Very interesting.

Ian, enjoying the rides at Santa Cruz Boardwalk.

The "twins" getting up close and personal with nature in Santa Cruz.

Chillin' in the pool with the Young crew.  From left to right:  Sammy, Kai, Emma (aka "The Birthday Girl"), Ian, Sam, and Quincy.

The Ethiopians.  So stinkin' cute.

This is SO Sam -- Doing the bunny ears behind his own head.  Love you Sam!!

The big person is me.  I just love this pic.  :-)

RV trip, summer 2010 at OneTrueMedia.com

For more awesome pics, go to:

http://ourcrazy8.blogspot.com/2010/06/best-friends-forever.html

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

He's official!!

It's official -- "Shimeles Tegene Ayalew" is now "Elliot Shimeles Tegene Briola", and he has been readopted here in Texas!  He refused to smile for the group photo (would you after 2 hours of complete boredom??), but after some tickling in Daddy's arms, the real Eli showed his personality once again...