It seems that something happens every year that I don’t get 4th of July pictures of my girls that are actually taken on July 4th. (In fact it was my sister who spotted a branch of a Christmas tree in the background of one picture that I was trying to pawn off as Independence day …don’t judge me, I was trying to get her scrapbook finished and that was the only thing holding up the process so I went through the summer clothes and stuck the poor kid in red, white and blue and took the shot… I was so focused on getting it done that I missed the tell-tale Christmas tree peeking from another room in the picture.)

So this year I was determined to make it happen on the big day. Well, of course, one thing lead to another and we were running out the door to meet the Moore’s and head to the New Albany Fireworks when I realized I had no picture of them yet. No problem, I had my camera. So I attempted to take the picture there but this turned out to be the be shot of the night.

Yep, you guessed that’s not my kid. The shots of my girls were terrible.

Clearly unsatisfied, I forced my daughters to the basement studio when we got home and took these shots of them at 11:30pm! Call Children Services, I know I’m a bad mother. But the funny thing is that the outtakes turned out to be priceless. My girls were exhausted and getting loopy so when I asked Lainey to hug her big sister, she leaped into her arms. In another shot Lainey kept pretending that she was taking my picture and by that time I realized that I had lost all control and just let it be ‘their shoot.’ So this is what I got.

Seriously People?

Oh and for any of you wondering about the neighbor who just last year I was wishing would accidentally shoot a bottle rocket up his own wazoo…. well, I guess there’s one good thing about this foreclosure crisis…Yep, he’s been outta here for a few months now… ahhh peace and quiet. My dogs thank you big, bad bank.

When did 12 year olds start looking like this?
(And she turned twelve only 2 months ago!)

NCC Swim Team June 18, 2008

Originally uploaded by The Griswold Story

I was so saddened to hear that Tim Russert had died suddenly today. I have been a fan of Russert for so many years now… as most journalists are. He will be missed, his contributions to journalism are unparalleled! (I’ll never look at a dry-erase board the same again.)

Here is the story from CNN

That’s all we hear now that the Swing-set is complete! Here are a few shots of the process.

I have to say thanks again to Jay’s parents for getting us this wonderful gift. And a big thank you to the coolest neighbors ever. Josh, Jason and Doug never disappoint. We can always count on them to help with projects like this one.

That’s what the Griswolds will be busy with today. We are (with the help of neighbors) building this swingset for Lainey tonight. I’ll update you tomorrow as to whether we made it without killing each other first.

Lainey is so excited to get her new swingset that last night she wouldn’t go to bed because she wanted to swing on it… it is still in pieces by the way…. so I told her that daddy would build it tomorrow. This morning I heard her in the baby monitor yelling, “Mommy come get me…. I wanna wing (swing)!” She was disappointed to see that daddy had not built it while she slept overnight. I believe she said, “Daddy is a bad boy” about 10 times.

The instructions state that two people should be able to build this in 3-6 hours… we shall see. We normally gauge how long a project takes by the number of beers one can drink before it is completed, but the box did not include that information. I will let you all know how many it took… and if it is stable enough to trust our children on once finished.

Oh and thank you Grandma Dedi for buying us this wonderful gift! You are too generous.

I got a new diffuser for my camera flash unit… take a look at how it softens and spreads the light. Ignore Lainey’s nightgown and pull-up, I decided to try this out in complete darkness so I couldn’t tell that it was showing.

They didn’t win, but the New Albany girls Lacrosse team gave it their all in last weekend’s Ohio Cup. Playing a double-header in temperatures above 90 degrees and these girls never gave up! I am so proud of the NA Eagles.

In this first picture, Lakyn was so hot after finishing her first game that she grabbed a bottle and poured it over her head. Lainey thought she was nuts and said “whatda hick?” (aka What the Heck)… we all laugh everytime she says it and I snapped this picture of Lakyn laughing at her little sis. We have no idea where Lainey got this saying but I have to tell whomever she heard it from… I’m so glad you didn’t say “What the F*&^” instead because we hear this all the time in our house now.

]]> http://thegriswoldstory.wordpress.com/2008/06/09/winners-either-way/feed/ The Griswold Story http://thegriswoldstory.wordpress.com/2008/05/28/photochopped-to-perfection-someones-version-of-perfection-that-is/ http://thegriswoldstory.wordpress.com/2008/05/28/photochopped-to-perfection-someones-version-of-perfection-that-is/#comments Wed, 28 May 2008 13:19:08 +0000 The Griswold Story http://thegriswoldstory.wordpress.com/?p=445

I’ve read this blog - Jezebel -  for qute awhile now but totally missed this post …. and you know how much I love to expose Photoshop tricks that screw with our daughters’ heads.  So here is the absolutely beautiful Faith Hill before and after being photochopped.  The woman is gorgeous but, of course, not perfect enough for our f*&^$d-up society.  Check out how editors went so far as to add hair to her scalp and turned her hand into an arm… unbelievable.