The Perils of Blogging

I have had this blog for almost 4 years. Sometimes I can't believe I have had it this long, and other times I think it is time to stop blogging, that surely no one can be that interested in what we do with our lives or with seeing one.more.photo of Finn. But the truth is that even if no one reads it? I love to do it. Sometimes I hit a slump, and go on an unannounced short hiatus, and other times the words just spew, even if they mean nothing to anyone but me.

I try to be real, to be honest, and to keep certain things private. Unless you know me in real life you don't actually know everything that is going on with me, or with my family. Some things have to remain for us, and I think every blogger, give or take a few, feels this way. I realize I could take my blog private, and write even more, but right now I think I have a pretty good thing going, and I love looking at my blog stats and seeing that I literally have readers from all over the world. I don't know how you found me, or why you stuck around, but I really do appreciate it. I love that people find me by searching terms such as:

*proper way to blow nose

*blow nose once a day

*grown daughter tells mom to shut up all the time

*what is the correct way to blow the nose

*advice moving london to atlanta

*DON'T ADDRESS LETTER WITH FELLOW

*labor day 1997

Clearly some people out there really need some help with blowing their nose. And to think that stemmed from a post about something my oldest nephew said to me, not a tutorial on how to blow your nose. Someone also really wants to remember what happened Labor Day 12 years ago. Rock on!

Yet, here's the dilemma. I can see what people look at, I can see what photos people download, or enlarge, or what search terms they use to get to certain pages. And I don't care, 99% of the time. Look at them, don't look at them, comment, don't comment, this is a public blog so I have to expect that, right? I don't mind.

But when is it too much? I know someone is searching for info on people in my family. I can SEE them doing it. I see the search terms they use, the photos they pull up. And it angers me. It is inappropriate and nosy and they won't find what they are looking for and if I could ban them from my blog I would. This makes me question my blog, about why I do it, and almost makes me want to stop. Almost. Instead I think I will have to be much more vigilant about not putting my extended family on here, which makes me sad.

This is a peril of public blogging. I know it, I guess I accept it, but I don't have to like it.

Roar!

Landon and Wes played hooky from school on Wednesday and we headed off to the National Zoo, which is arguably one of the best in the US. Or at least a million times better than the Atlanta Zoo, which isn't really all that hard. And it's free!

With a 21 month old, a 3 and 3/4 year old, and a 6.5 year old - and trust me, those 3/4 and 1/2's are important at that age - it is almost impossible to get a picture of the 3 of them together. Finn is running off, Wes is making faces and Landon is busy reading and learning about everything. But they came out okay.

We pretty much had the zoo to ourselves, thanks to it being a Wednesday morning, early, and cold. We didn't complain. Finn had free reign to run and he enjoyed it way more than being in the stroller. But most of all he loved his cousin time. I do think Landon and Wes may be his favorite people in the world.

When A Bad Picture Is Okay

I hate pictures of me. Hate. Them. I used to like them, pre baby, and then I never returned from looking bloated and pregnant and, well, I hate them.

But sometimes a bad picture is worth it. Even when it is taken from an awkward angle that requires you to lean over something and look like a triple chinned fool, or like a deer caught in headlights.

Last night I went with some good friends to see part of Travis in an 'intimate acoustic experience', my all time favorite band, tied only with David Gray. I know, I know. Some of you probably think it's NKOTB. But you would be wrong. They were, for a long time, and we had a good time reminiscing last year at the various shows I went to. It  happened to be luck that I could be there, and I knew, from having seen them 2 weeks ago in Atlanta with Lee, that they signed autographs after the show. So we made our escape at the end of the show and we were the first people in line.

I won't say how we embarrassed ourselves, besides telling them we flew to Mexico City to see them in concert about 6 years ago (and yes, that is actually true), but they were the nicest, most down to Earth guys, and the night couldn't have ended better. Bad photos and all.

Argh Matey!

Halloween, Take One

We had a small Halloween party yesterday for Finn and a few of his friends. Sadly, I took no pictures. So today, when we had a bigger group of friends over for another party, I made sure I took lots of pictures. And who can resist pictures of adorable toddlers in their Halloween costumes? This is Finn's pre-Halloween costume, his big one is still to come!

Finn the footballer


The spread


My 'mummy' dogs. I am way too proud of these.


Finn and Wyatt, the Magpies


Finn trying to hug Wyatt. He wanted no part of it!


Addie the doggie


Finn's favorite pink crocs, courtesy of his friend Alyssa

And then, sadly, we had to say goodbye to our good friends Brandi, Ray and Wyatt, who packed up and moved up to Annapolis today. We have spent many, many days with them over the past year, and Finn and Wyatt are the best of friends.  It sucks to lose them, but I am glad we got some good photos before they left. I will spare them the embarrassment of the bath tub photos from last night, I will save that for their respective wedding days!

Just In Time For Halloween...

Finn's first black eye. I blame an eagerness to show a spider on our porch to his friend, also named Finn, and my slow reflexes as he tumbled down one step. I think it will work well with his costume, which will be revealed come Halloween!

Peter Peter Punkin Eater

(As an aside - check out what I did this weekend. I have to say I am pretty proud that we raised $1600 without harassing people or begging. Thanks to everyone who contributed!)

When you live in an urban area, and you can't seem to find the time to venture way out to a real live punkin patch (using the language of Finn), you work with what you got. And we got a punkin patch next to one of the busiest streets in Atlanta. But it is close to our house, it has punkins (BIIIIG punkins! Leeeetle punkins! TWO punkins!), and we went there last year.

This was last year:

And this was last week - now you may notice Finn has a lot more hair. A lot.more.hair. We know. It is a bone of contention in our house, and let's just say that right now I am winning the battle, hence the head full of hair. If it was the other way these pictures would likely look a lot more like last years. I know his bangs need trimmed, I know his hair, as Lee often says, balloons up over night. The poor boy has definitely inherited that from me.

Sadly, the excitement of the punkin seems to be wearing off, replaced by love for his new abacus, which he calls six seven eight and which Lee insisted we buy so that Finn will never inherit my inability to do math. Or maths, for those of you in the UK.  While I think it is a little young, we attended the open house for the school we want him to attend starting in September of 2012 (wrap your head around that) and given their strict criteria for entry we better start whipping this boy into shape. But first we need him to be able to count higher than 12.