Christmas Pictures December 19, 2008

A few weeks ago my friend Jon Ed came over to my Mama’s house to take pictures of the babes.  Cass was in a foul mood and was in serious need of a nap.  He still managed to get several good pictures of her, and there were many wonderful pictures of Caleb as well.  Although, half way through the photo shoot I heard Sam (my sister-in-law and Caleb’s mother) say, “Why don’t we just tell him to ‘smile pretty’?  I don’t think we need to tell him to ‘smile big” anymore.”  So just let your imagination run wild with what “smile big” must mean to a two year old.  Caleb did.

That was the best picture of the two of them together.  That’s my Daddy dressed up like Santa, so I’m sure that picture will be a precious keepsake for the two of them as they get older.  Although Caleb may have figured something was up because he called Santa “Papa” a few times.  Sam pointed out that it didn’t help that my mother kept yelling “Bill!” when she’s need to get Santa’s attention. 

Good times in the Hogue house.  Also known as “Hogue Manner:  Where Daycare meets Nursing Home and We All Wear Diapers.” 

And I hope I don’t spoil anything but I got my Mom a big sign to hang over her front door with that engraved on it.  The print is big so that the elderly may be able to read it from the street and avoid any confusion. 

This is my favorite photo from the bunch.

ISN’T THAT PRECIOUS? 

That’s the same face that made me fall for her father!

Jon Ed was great with the kids, and bonus, he travels.  So if you need a great photographer that won’t cost you and arm and a leg and second mortgage then call this guy.  Well worth it!

An Elliott. A Dunn. A Pasci. A Gunn. October 8, 2008

I was glad to get to see on old friend and her little boy a few weeks ago and I tried to get some pictures of her babe Ian and Cass.  Getting those two to look at the camera at that time was like trying to get something that didn’t want to do something to do something else.  Most people agree that I’m a literally literary genius. 

      

What Emily doesn’t know is that while she wasn’t looking I saw Cass put Ian’s entire head in her mouth. 

Hoping to see these guys again real soon!

Trees That Die in Winter. September 17, 2008

I’m on my second cup of coffee and my third round of postnatal what the fucks?.  I mean, this kid just won’t sleep.  I was awake for several hours HOURS last night.  Oh God please help me.  It’s like Night Time Cass has every intention of sticking it to me the old fashion way and because she can’t walk or talk, she just stays awake for inhumane amounts of time and screams until she vomits.  Like it’s not bad enough that I have to smell her poop all day.  She’s just like her father.

This is my friend Chad.  He doesn’t like you.

Intensely handsome, huh?  He belongs to these guys and also these guys.

I have a few friends who have literally changed my life, SO FOR THE BETTER, and he is one of them.  One night he saw me hyperventilate so bad that this mofo just breathed for me.  It was one of the most humiliated things I’ve ever experienced in front of another person and for some reason when it was all over I still had my dignity.

How did he manage that?  Well, I’ll tell you.  He’s magical.  That’s how!  He’s made of cheese and garlic and comfy comfy pillows and also, probably a little bit of beer.  And if life were different I’d like to imagine that we’d be drinking the blackness of coffee and smoking love out of cigarettes and conversing of something too smart for me.  Later he’d asked me if he could drink whiskey at work, and I’d say no, but in my heart of hearts that means WOULD YOU PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE, SPIKE MY COFFEE?

There was a night when he decided to teach me a lesson.  He took me outside and made me look at the stars.  “How significant are you?”  In that moment, it was clear.  How significant am I?  NOT VERY.  Not when you see the vastness of the created world and space with the addition of the bigger-than-life balls of fire in another galaxy burning to degrees that would emulsify you in a nanosecond when to your naked eye it seems that the night is just borrowing twinkles and sparkles from your best friend’s wedding ring and sprinkling them across the dark black sky.  And there you are.  Tiny.  Insignificant.  At the mercy of something greater.  See?  Clarity achieved!  Or it could have just been the handful of mushrooms I had eaten a few hours earlier.