the gang's all here

My older brother and his family have lived in Prague for the past decade or so, and my younger brother and his family have lived all over: California, Oklahoma, and now Mobile, Alabama. It's rare that we're all together, but this weekend we were, and I got to meet my striking red-headed nephew for the very first time! He's the little one on the far right. His older sister is next to him in white. My kids are on the left, and the remaining three belong to my younger brother and his wife:

Striking red-headed nephew is also known as "the dude." Here are the dude's parents, his mom* explaining to me why she doesn't like having her picture taken:

What's one of the neatest things about family gatherings at my mom's house? The horseshoe pit.



Lee: 21, Josh: 3. Not exactly regulation play. BURN! says Lee to Josh, nevertheless.

* SIL has an actual camera and knows how to use it, as opposed to my crapass cell phone and hasty clicks. Check out her blog for beautiful shots of all kinds of interesting things.

judge not

There's a fine line between being opinionated and being judgmental. I tend to be both, but I consider the judgmental leaning a weakness that I try hard to control. It definitely improved after I got pregnant the second time around. Kid #2 -- you're just not as uptight about some things. We still have our rules, most of which fit quite nicely with the Waldorf crowd back in Birmingham, but some of which cause more mainstream parents to look at us kind of funny, or to assume that we will judge them in some way.

Our kids don't drink soda, they don't watch television during the week (Lee and I watch after they go to bed, though -- come on, there's a House marathon on! -- and the Daily Show and Colbert Report!), they don't watch some of the same shows and movies that many of the other kids watch, they eat relatively healthy food most of the time, they go to bed between 7:30 and 8:00, etc. This is what works for us. We have beliefs that form the foundation for these rules, but we also try to be open-minded and accept that every family has its own beliefs, and sometimes it can be difficult to always live by your beliefs. My kids have eaten chicken nuggets and hot dogs with the best of them. Although I never once gave Leah a lollipop just to keep her from making a ruckus in the doctor's office waiting room, god knows I gave Neal a few.

What got me thinking about this is that I finally agreed to let the kids watch the original Star Wars today. I know, I know. What's the big deal? I dunno. So they're watching it now. Neal keeps wanting to know when Chewbacca is going to make an appearance. Leah, upon examining the packaging, asked why there was only one girl. I told her that was a good question and she should keep asking questions like that. I can't believe I thought Luke was the cute one.