The monster out back

How was your 4th of July? Mine was eventful. My parents were up for part 342 of the kitchen remodel saga. It is soooo close to done. A few more handles on cabinets and a light fixture are all that stand between you and more pictures. 

Since I'm sticking to my promise to hold off on showing the finished kitchen until it's, you know, finished, I instead ask for your assistance in solving this mystery:

These are my dogs:

I know, ferocious. These dogs usually take several tours per day of the backyard to do their business and run security rounds to determine whether anything fun to play with has made an appearance since their last outing. As of this past Saturday, Luna is completely uninterested in going out there after dark. Cora isn't too thrilled with the idea either, but she'll go if I go. Saturday night they both came in panting to beat the band and Luna had some cuts on her face. Before you worry too much, let me just say that cuts on Luna are not generally a cause for major concern. Her attitude is most often similar to a battering ram when it comes to getting into things. This time, though, something had obviously scared them but good. I didn't hear any fireworks going off while they were out there. Therefore, I am going with the most obvious conclusion:

There must be a chupacabra in my backyard. Does anyone have advice on how to escort this to another area?

Those are not my babies

Rob and I trekked it down to Mo City last weekend to meet our newest family members. Here are some quick introductions for you:

Meet Liam:


And Samantha:


There is an official baby blog and photo explosion at
http://web.me.com/nathan_shipley/Babies/Welcome.html
Check it out for the full baby details.

My mom and I headed over Saturday morning after my very tired brother called to say that he was ready to pass out already. We made small talk with Kelly for a bit, but just as I had settled into a "I'm going to be a helpful relative" plan and started putting dishes away, the twins woke up and I was invited in for an official meeting. On a side note, if you guys are missing any dishes, I'm really sorry.
I got into the bedroom and headed to the crib prepared to ooh and ahh in the way I imagine aunts do. It was about that time that I was handed a baby and a bottle. As Kelly very correctly notes on her baby blog, I was kinda new to this experience. Many years separate me from my last babysitting gig, and I had never held a newborn before. After a brief tutorial, though, I was on the couch feeding Samantha.

That was pretty much the tone for the weekend. We were either feeding babies, watching babies eat, or talking about when we'd be back for the next feeding. It kind of reminded me of making special plans to arrive at the zoo in time to watch the sea lions fed. I've been on a bit of an odd visual kick with this whole thing actually. Every time I think about Kelly having a c-section, I'm reminded of that scene from ALIEN. Except not that scene. Really I'm thinking about the scene from Spaceballs where the alien not only pops out of the guy's belly, it then proceeds to dance and sing show tunes.

Perhaps I have an overactive imagination. That's a good thing, right?

Anyway, here are some more pictures from the weekend, including incriminating images of Rob and I holding babies. Don't get started. Anyone making comments about us looking great, or worse "natural", holding a baby is liable to get a punch in the face. You've been warned.






Finally, here come some ridiculously cute pictures of Nathan holding Liam:







Are you ready?






These are seriously cute...







Ok, here you go:

Day One

Nathan posted baby pics. Who could possibly resist this link? Liam and Samantha

Something went awry

Trust my brother to hold up my progress. Nathan and Kelly welcomed Liam and Samantha into the world yesterday and effectively uprooted my weekend plans. Aunt Victoria and Uncle Rob are headed down to Houston to check out the new bundles of cute. You're just going to have to settle for baby pictures for now. I know, it's hard, but the kitchen will be finished eventually. Just hang in there.
On a side note, this Aunt gig is already pretty good. People were congratulating me left and right yesterday and I didn't even have to do anything.

Almost there

The kitchen is THISCLOSE to being 100% done. In fact, it's so close that I'm not going to post more pics until next weekend when, unless something goes awry, we will be done.

So today I'm just sharing a little something I thought was cool. The June catalogue for Anthropologie includes a photo spread from Austin. It looks like a lot of South Congress with a hint of downtown and S. 1st I think? The pictures are very pretty, and can be seen here. 

Jesus loves big screens

A church near my house recently added a giant screen on the road-facing side of their building. It plays 24/7 with blindingly bright images and comments about Jesus and upcoming events at the church. However, every time I see it I start to reminisce and think "I really want to go to Vegas again". Somehow, I'm not convinced that this is the reaction they were going for.

Progress in pictures

Anyone want to guess how we're spending Memorial Day weekend?