Sunday, November 27, 2011

Obsessed


Afton is. Obsessed. With drawing. She is literally running me out of paper. The stack pictured above represents about half a day's worth of her efforts. She likes to draw people--everyone she knows. She tries to draw smiles but once in awhile one will turn out as a frown and she'll lament, "Aww, Lydia [or whoever she's drawing] is sad."


Friday, November 25, 2011

Thanksgiving Talent Show 2011

Afton has a funny relationship with her Knoxville cousins, aunts and uncles. They love her like crazy. She's the youngest of the bunch and is in high demand. About a year ago she could not tolerate a single one of them. All of their repeated and earnest efforts at showing any amount of love were met with flat out rejection: crying, growling, "go away!"s, hitting...anything to send the message loud and clear: "How dare you love me. Take your kindness elsewhere." Somewhere over the last few months her heart of ice thawed out at least partially. She doesn't mind them all so much anymore and will accept hugs and high fives most of the time. She is still very particular though. If she's not in the mood for you, you'd better just back off. It's become a sport of sorts to see who can win her affection/tolerance and who she will kick to the curb. Many tactics are used--ipads, treats, phones and up high--with varying degrees of success and sustainability. We thought it would be fun to put the whole saga to music for this year's talent show. Bonus: the night before Thanksgiving, we were treated to a sweet and endearing Afton who spent the last hour before bedtime telling all of the cousins that they were her best friend and showering them with hugs and kisses and pretend stickers and stamps. It was nice to have a happy ending.




{Movie styling is a nod to the Smith family's music video, which we all enjoyed seeing last summer.
We also appreciate the intro to a cool song.}

Friday, November 11, 2011

Ragnar video update

You can help us achieve fame and glory if you vote for our team video as the best one.

Right here.

I think you have to LIKE Ragnar to vote, so no pressure.
But seriously, go do it. And tell your kids to. And all of their friends.
Thanks, I like you too!

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Ragnar Relay Tennessee 2011

We did it.
It was awesome.
I ran my last leg around 4am, what could be more awesome than that?
Scott ran five miles straight up a mountain (that's why I married him...that and his endless encouragement and enthusiasm).
I got to train with Lisa in the weeks leading up to the race, which made it so much more fun.
One event motivated me to start something new and end up loving it.
Check us out...
(and vote for our video here!)