The Beauchamp FamilyYes, we really are this geeky…

I basically have to resort to hounding poor little Julie when the kids decide to be anti-camera.

At least she’s cute (even if not fully potty trained *TOM*).

I took this late last week… I thought it turned out really good…

Cassie LOVES Julie. Julie worships Cassie. Seriously, this little dog puts up with so much from these kids. I honestly have no idea where she gets the patience. Julie likes to play with Jamie – mainly lick his ears – yeah, we think it’s weird too. But Cassie is her BFF. They are inseparable. I’ll walk into the living room or Cassie’s room and there they will be, Julie usually has finagled herself into getting a belly rub.

Sometimes we let Julie stay out for the night instead of putting her in the kennel. She almost always end up in bed with Cassie.

I’m not sure how she got covered up and snuggled in like this, but it was just too cute not to take a picture of:

Sigh… maybe I won’t give her away because she STILL isn’t 100% potty trained. Seriously, if it’s raining or cold the dog will NOT go outside. We’ve tried locking her out there and she just sits on the stoop shivering looking pathetic. Then comes in and promptly craps on the rug.

Freaking dog.

Our friend, J, had the class pet (this stuffed lizard – I dunno, it’s weird, but whatever). So I took a picture of him with his new BFF, Dakota, our lizard.

J’s mom made me, I’m not THAT corny.

Errr… okay.

I was playing with my camera and these are my faves…

Cassie and her BFF…

A face only a mother could love…

Friend J gets the big hello from Julie…

Jamie looking super cute…

It’s a good thing I have a marketable skill or we’d all be in the poor house…

I think Julie’s WTF look kind of says it all:

Cassie’s “Rock Show”

Jamie’s “Dog Show”:

… and Tom thinks he is a Guitar Hero (ca-thunk is NOT a note):

See that little morsel…

Gonna eat it…

Yummmm…

The kids think it’s HILARIOUS to watch the icky lizard eat…

.

Indoor photography without flash SUCKS. Just sayin’

So, I took Jamie to practice and got some photos. They turned out okay. I took like 100 and 25 were good, I kept like 4. Not a great return on my time, but whatever, I had fun playing. So here he is in action

I also bribed Cassie into doing a few things for me, for the specific purpose of getting these photos I think they turned out pretty well for someone that doesn’t know what they are doing.

And here’s another one of the freaking lizard. It’s still here. It was ticked with me for bugging it during it’s bedtime.

(that one was pretty fun to take, dirty glass, glaring at me reptile with no flash)

The crabs are small and bury themselves… this thing… it’s a freaking lizard. In my house. It has to stay in Tom’s room. It’s his birthday present. It better not touch me.

Welcome, Dakota… I refuse to so much as buy you a cricket. The kids are all excited and Tom’s trying to figure out how to get the tank into the house while this thing sits on his desk staring at me.

I’ll let Tom give the full scoop, but Dakota is a bearded dragon, about a foot or so long.

It’s a freaking lizard.

IN MY HOUSE.

Surely this grounds for divorce, right? Sigh, but Tom has wanted one for forever and some friends were looking for a new home… and holy crap, they just brought in this things tank… do you KNOW how big 75 gallons is?

I must go murder my husband immediately.

I hinted about it in a post below, but yesterday late afternoon, my Canon Rebel XTi got here! WOOHOO! I’ve been lusting after this camera for about a year now. I also signed up for an online photography class. I know, probably silly, but I do so few things just for me that are for me and me only that I’m going to take the class and enjoy the camera.

By the time the battery charged, it was night, so I warily took some indoor shots (my old camera takes really bad bad bad bad indoor shots) and lookit! This is even using the flash, so much sharper. That last shot… well, Jamie was tired of me stalking him. *laugh* So, these are just those first “test shots” – not too shabby for indoor and not knowing what I was doing!