Anna's 4th (1st) Birthday!

We celebrated Anna's 4th birthday (1st if you are technically counting - Leap Year and all) at the Young Chef's Academy where the kids got cooking lessons. They all made pizza (with pink dough) and cupcakes!

Anna's 1st Haircut (self imposed)

While on a conference call yesterday, I get another call on my other line.  No message.  Then they call again.  No message.  Then they call my work blackberry, which no one has the number to except CDC-folk.  So I answer it thinking it must be work related.  The operator asks if I can take a call, and I said I was on a conference call and could she let me know if it's an emergency.  Alas it was not, so I got the message to call the daycare before I came to pick up Anna.  I'm thinking now, oh God, who did she hit, bite, and all the other reasons the daycare may need to talk to me before I pick her up that are non-emergencies.  But I'm still on my conference call, so I go back to focus on that.
After a couple of minutes, here's the instant message chain:


 Park:  hi you still there?

 me:  yes

 Park:  this should be a good kicker to your day... got a call from Ms. Carol...
             Anna has cut her hair 'pretty short on one side and a little on the other'...
             ummmm.... wasn't sure how to react 

             i see you are wondering how to react as well

 me:  HOLY S**T

 Park:  yep
             she wanted to let us know before you got there
             I don't know the extent
             not sure how the scissors got to her hair without anyone noticing, but they did

 me:  WHAT A DAY

I was too focused on not making Anna feel bad that I forgot to take pictures until we got to the salon.  But these pics are still from before the girl had started the repairs.

Anna's handywork - I mean, she REALLY cut it

In mid repair

Back to ridiculously cute and adorable. 

So she seems to really like it.  There were some moments yesterday when she started to get really upset, like when i had to explain that we had to cut off the rest of her hair and that we couldn't just put it back tomorrow.  She said, "Only boys have short hair" and got sniffly, so I reminded her of all the princesses and fairies with short hair.  Broke my heart.  But like I said, I think she's really happy with it.  We'll see how it goes after she's at school - she's quite sensitive, so if the kids make fun of her, we could be in trouble.

Wish us luck!

Halloween!

I know these are a bit late, but I wanted to share some pics of Halloween '11. We continued our tradition of going up to Cart Cart and Nonna's to trick or treat.  This year, Ann went as Belle from Beauty and the Beast, and Sam went as Superman.  We had a great time!

The Princess

SuperSam!

The trick or treating crew

Boston

We were lucky to have a few days in Boston together (I cashed in some skymiles and joined Ash on the tail end of her biz trip), and we had a great time:

The Skyline - we stayed at the Intercontinental (Thanks CDC!)

We saw really old cemeteries...

really old court houses....

Paul Revere statues...

and we walked the entire Freedom Trail!

While Ash was working one of the days (she was there for business after all), I took a detour over to Fenway Park.

... and took a tour - this is from the press box...

and this is sitting on the green monster... 

The Future

iAnna and eSammy

Slidin' Sammy

Static electricity never gets old.

Parkarazzi

Atlanta has been a great place to film movies for a while and as the engineering company in my building moved out, there were about 3 floors that became available in the office park where I work.  Two film production offices from Hollywood moved on in - the movies are being shot here and are in pre-production.

One is Neighborhood Watch starring Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn among others - directed by Akiva Schaffer (of Lonely Island fame).  And the other is Parental Guidance with Billy Crystal and Bette Midler.

Showcasing my TMZ-worthy paparazzi stylings (iPhone camera from my 4th floor window overlooking the parking lot), I snapped a few shots of the only stars I've seen - Vince Vaughn and the aforementioned Akiva Schaffer.  A lot of Cadillac Escalades and wardrobe trucks around, as well as some co-worker elevator rides with Ben Stiller.  No signs of Bette Midler yet.

Vince and his assistants

Director Akiva Schaffer

Sammy's 2nd birthday & other October events

My little man is TWO!  I seriously can't believe how quickly these things happen.  We celebrated with lots of friends and loved ones at a nearby playground.  Luckily the weather cooperated, though a bit chilly, so we were still able overload all the little ones on sugar.  Thanks to Aunt Eli, we have some photos of the event, since my camera battery was out (sigh).  There should be more pix to come from one of Sammy's friends' moms.  Stay tuned, and I'll post them on the soon-side.  

Daddy arranging the birthday hat and Maia focused on her cupcake.

Getting ready to sing!

Anna, Carter and Violet (it's sorta dark, but that's Alessandra and Sophie on the right - Sophie's birthday was this week, too)

A very modern goatee - he's so down

Little drummer boy loving his present from Cart Cart

Earlier this month, the Fowlkes clan had our annual outing to the Washington Farms pumpkin patch.  This is the most fun farm ever, complete with corn troughs, cow tractor trains, swings, giant rocking chairs, pig races, FOOD, funky slides, etc.  Needless to say, the kids napped WELL on the way home.  Aunt Eli put together an awesome slide show from the day.

Just a random pic of baby John.

Park and me in Boston Commons - Oh yeah! Mommy and Daddy get a vacay courtesy of your tax dollars!!!

Some recent photos of the kids

Where will Ashley be this week?

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Cookie Monster

Gwinnet Braves game

A Fowlkes-filled afternoon!  Though Anna did not appreciate the noise and we spent a considerable amount of the game in the restaurant, we managed to squeeze in some fun fowlkes family time.  The highlight was the moment that will be burned in my memory forever.  We're standing on a hillside and I, in a moment of true idiocy did not lock the stroller, and then turned away while talking.  All I remember is that in a split second, Elizabeth's face went white and she was suddenly running down the hill after Anna in her stroller.  More than worth note that Elizabeth is 9 months pregnant, no less.  Fortunately, there was a fence not too far down and Anna was unhurt after crashing into it.  Definitely one of those "I'm the worst mother in the world" moments.

The rest of the afternoon was smooth by comparison.  Here is one of the only pictures I took:  an incredibly sweet one of Cart Cart, Park and Anna.

More pix taken by Elizabeth-sorry, she was too busy to film the chase down the hill.

Photos by Anna

I would like to share a few selections from our budding photographer's portfolio.

more from LA-LA-land

Paradise-esque house where we stayed.

 I've never been so enamored with a staircase.

 Getty museum

 Extreme cuteness at the Getty

 Tickle Tickle!

 Aunt Leigh read to a very ecstatic Anna and Sammy.

 Anna's favorite finding on Venice Beach.

 Last night in town at Leigh's (Clayton, Jeffrey and Greg)