Little Boy Hell

Little Girl Heaven

ROCK THE VOTE!

Please go to http://ajesplin.blogspot.com/2009/09/hunger-games-cakes.html and vote with your heart. I'm not allowed to say which cake is mine, apparently. I know you'll make the right decision. Particularly if you've READ The Hunger Games.

You'll know.

You'll know.

Voting is open until 11:59pm tonight.

I want that apron...no... I NEED that apron.

Not your Mother's Facepainting

My neighbor is starting a little facepainting business. She is extremely artistic and talented and creative. Her home is a sight to be behold as she refinishes furniture and should have been an interior decorator. I'm putting together a little flyer for her and she wanted some pictures of her work on it. This is a far cry from the facepainting I've seen/done in the past.... a spider (a black blob with lines coming off it), a daisy (other flowers are too hard), maybe a star on the cheek (it would be lopsided though), etc.

Beebee was so excited to be a model and get her make-up done. She even makes buckteefs look adorable.

Some more of her handiwork below. Her daughter is on the left and her friend on the right. By the time I got to them the friend's lip color was off, but you get the idear.

So if any of you local yokels are looking to have a face-painter at your next shindig be sure to let me know. I have a connection.

PS Catching Fire in THREE days. ::ripping off another link of my paper chain::

Some Stuff I Know You're Interested in Hearing About

• Labor Day Weekend we are off to TX. It is our only "official" family trip this year. For some reason I don't count trips where we drive to UT & hang out with family. Anyway, we are going down for the big BYU v. Oklahoma football game being played in the new $1.6 gajillion stadium that Jimmy guy built in Dallas. Along the way we will be seeing the Alamo and checking to see if it has a basement, walking the River Walk in San Antonio, going to a b-day party at the American Girl Doll Cafe (the boys are beyond excited, ahem), going to Medieval Times!!!, and tons of other cool stuff. After realizing I probably didn't REALLY wanna go to the game, Garret sold my ticket, Beebs' ticket and Tbone's ticket to the game on StubHub for a grand total of almost $1000. I then promptly turned around a bought a new camera lens (the Canon EF 50mm f1.4 for those interested in such things). It's already the best trip ever.
  
• TBone: Hey Mom, do you know what my favorite word is? ME: No, what is it? TBone: Pants. (I'll let you contemplate that for a while on your own)
  
• I'm putting together a slide show for an upcoming ward activity. It is of all the youth activities over the summer (youth conference, girls camp, high adventure, etc). I can NOT find/think of any good songs to put with it. Every song out there is about drinking or disco sticks. Any ideas?? So far I have "Roam" by the B-52s--it's perf with the young men hiking "through the wilderne-e-ess"). Thanks in advance.
• Tbone brought home a "I Made A Bad Choice" paper on the 4th day of school. I had to sign and return it. It was because she had "asked him 3 times to stop rolling around during group time and he didn't stop." I was like "Uh-oh, this teacher is not for the TBone." He was grounded from TV and video games for the rest of the night. I told him that if he ever got another one of those papers he would be grounded from TV and video games for a week. The NEXT DAY he brought home a SUPERSTAR paper (basically the "I Made A Good Choice!" paper). The reason? He sat in his spot nicely for all of group time. Ok, maybe Mrs. C knows what she's doing. We shall see what she says at the end of September during parent/teacher conferences. I think I may take up drinking.
  
• Gty & I are now thinking that we don't need to finish the basement. It is the perfect place for us to hone our Ripsticking (tm) skillz. It's a big loop with no hills or curbs. I'm way better than him, if anyone asks.
  
• I finished The Diplomat's Wife for the big SRBC meeting on Sunday (nail biter!). I am starting to re-read The Hunger Games here in about 5 minutes. I'm nervous though...what if I don't love Peeta as much the 2nd time around? What if I have fallen out of love with him? I'm nervous...it's been a while since we've been together. I've changed. I hope we haven't grown apart.
• I told you FB is fun.

Facebook: The Poor Man's Blog

Due to the fact that blogging/fellow bloggers have been so lame this summer (and srsly, you gize have been THE WORST! Almost to the point where I wanna give you all the finger, btw) I have been spending a little more of my computer time on Facebook. And I'll be honest, it's been more fun than I was expecting.

Some Observations:

• I've come to the realization that on Facebook, you get what you give. What goes around, comes around. The love you take is equal to the love you make. The more you're into it, the more everyone is into it with you. It's good times.
• All my young women are on Facebook...and I mean ALL of them. They live there. It's the perfect place to go around and let them know you're thinking about them with very little effort and/or make fun of their status updates & tease them about boys.
  
• You can use real names with out being too worried they are gonna hunt you down & murder you. They already know your name & haven't murdered you yet, so why would they start now?
• It's EASY. So freaking easy actually. Zero effort involved. Who can't come up with a one liner every once in a while? And beyond easy to do from the iPhone.
  
• It's the only way I've found to get people such as HotPants, Erin, Sara, my sister, other cousins, Gty's cousins, etc. to acknowledge my online existence. Blogs are too much work for these people to a) write b) read.
• Facebook cannot take the place of a blog, obviously, for historical purposes but it is great for interacting with friends & family that you normally wouldn't interact with on a regular basis.
  

So that's it. My diatribe on Facebook & how sucky blogging has been this summer. Hopefully it will pick up again here now that the kids are back in school 'nstuff. If not, I'm gonna revisit that "giving you all the finger" idea.

The Cutest Day of My Life

MyPastSelf: You know, I think I just want boys.

MyPresentSelf: {{smacking MyPastSelf across the face}} You idiot!

Look at what I would have missed out on! Beebee's FIRST DAY OF DANCE CLASS!!



I cannot adequately describe the sheer delight I had on Monday as my girlie got all dressed up for Level 1 Ballet/Tap. I was literally giddy. And ready to go, like, 1/2 hour early.



And look who is in her same class! Her best frenemy, Miss SassyPants!




When reading through the dance studio's material, I was a little bugged to find a little snippet about "required dance attire" for this particular class. Beebs HAD to have 1) a pink leotard 2) a pink skirt or tutu 3) pink tights 4) ballet shoes 5)tap shoes. I understand the shoes, but the rest? Srsly?

It wasn't until we got there that I realized the reason.....it was for the cuteness factor! I mean, look at all the pink leotards and skirts/tutus!!!!! It was overwhelming for a first time "dance mom" such as myself. I may have run right out to TJMaxx after this and gotten 3 more outfits. K, I for sure did. Plus a dance bag. Had to.



Beebee didn't want to miss a word Miss Misty was saying.



In the studio: proper stretching is a must for those 20 inch legs.








They came out of the studio half way through class and changed into their ::gasp:: tap shoes!! Beebs' face in the reflection below says it all. Pure joy.



Did she like it? This is what happened when she realized that when she came out the 2nd time it was not for another shoe change but because it was time to go home.



And this is what happened 5 minutes after arriving at said home.



The next morning I was awakened by a little 3 yo. girl who had gotten up, put on her own dance outfit and was by my bedside asking when we were going to dance class.

Do you think SYTYCD will run for at least another 15 years or so? I am seeing myself in the audience crying after a particularly poignant piece Mia Michaels choreographed for Beebee and holding up a sign saying "BEEBS IS AMERICA'S FAVORITE DANCER!" in glitter and stuff.

I dunno.

I see it.