Tag Archives: movies

Life, Monthly List, Parenting, Photo Journal

22 Month Photo Session + Posing As The 7 Dwarfs

09/18/2015 R.C. Liley 4 Comments

This month’s photo session was more rushed than most of the previous ones, so our picture count was minimal in comparison. Luckily, Avery graced the camera with several expressions earlier in the day that I felt compelled to share.

Okay, so I always feel compelled to share, but these pictures aren’t just like the random photos I always take. Fine, you got me again, they are, but after looking through them, I noticed a close semblance to The Seven Dwarfs. Some more than others, but close nonetheless.

All I was doing was snapping photos and never asked her to make any of the faces. This makes it even more astonishing (at least to me) that she hit mimicked the munchkin Snow White characters without having ever seen the movie. See for yourself and tell me if I’m just crazy or if you can see it too.

Doc – It’s like she’s listening with a stethoscope, and she’s obviously wearing a look of concern for others.

Happy – That smug look may not be an ear-to-ear grin, but you certainly can’t say she’s not happy here.

Sneezy – If “Scaredy” was the name, this would be more appropriate, but I would argue she’s gearing up for a big sneeze here!

Bashful – She even has those cute cheeks fluffed up from holding everything in.

Dopey – If you were to pose as Dopey, wouldn’t you do something like this too?

Sleepy – Spot. On.

Grumpy – Her face might say “Happy”, but just read the sign language for her true feelings…..

My first thought, when going through these pictures, was of the Three Wise Monkeys who “Hear no evil, see no evil, and speak no evil”, but then the dwarfs came to mind. The pictures for Doc (Hear no evil), Bashful (Speak no evil) and Sleepy (See no evil) were the ones I felt fit best. Yes?

Now for the 22 month photo session. I only have a few to share this month, hence my dwarf pose pictures above to fulfill the multi-pictures I usually do. First, we took her by surprise with a quick snap of the camera…

Avery quickly caught on and flashed us a grin as she raised her super flexible leg. She seriously puts her feet to face with ease, and does so quite often.

Then my wife and I both spouted out several pose commands at once while I waved my arms like a crazy ape in order to get her to smile. The result?

Not impressed, not the slightest. But, the mention of cheese (the actual food) made her smile and say it out loud. Going Mom was quick with the camera and caught the quick showing of her pearly whites which marked the end of our session.

Really, that pic should be her Happy dwarf pic. There you have it, our 22 month old posing as characters she’s never seen and giving one big grin for her monthly photo session.

Ack! I just thought of how we’ll soon be saying her age in years! Isn’t 2 the norm for when you do that? Or is it still acceptable to go by months? If so, for how long?

Do you have any pictures of your kids that bear semblance to movie (cartoon or real) characters?

Life, Parenting

3D Avengers and Our Next Date Will Be Different

05/04/2015 R.C. Liley 4 Comments

The Avengers: Age of Ultron was not only the first movie we’ve seen in almost a year, but also the first time to ever get the 3D “experience”. I put that in quotes because it really doesn’t seem that special.

Here I am rocking a new belt I received from Kore Essentials before heading out on our date. I’ll post a review of the belt soon.

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Don’t worry, I quickly un-tucked my shirt after the pic (per my wife’s request), I just needed to show off that fine Evolve Buckle and Belt!

At first, 3D is cool because, well, 3D, but then it’s just like any other movie but you have to wear glasses. And as a guy who already wears glasses (I try not to as much as possible), that meant I had to double up my eye-wear. So yeah, I was looking pretty Rico Suave for sure!

If we didn’t have a $25 gift card to use, the 3D thing wouldn’t of happened. Come to think of it, going to see a movie wouldn’t of happened if we had to pay for it with our own money. Hell, we didn’t even have enough to cover the $4 bottle of Dasani water after purchasing the tickets. Stupid Coca-Cola company, I don’t like you getting our money!

I’m done complaining, for now at least. The movie was good, but not out-of-this-world-slap-you-in-face-fantastic. I found myself laughing at the intended jokes, but in retrospect, they seemed to joke too much and during times of immense stress. My wife noticed this right off the bat, but it took a while to set in for me. Plenty of action though, and as a boy who loves his comics, I was thrilled to see the superheroes in action.

The move was rather long, and the trailers beforehand didn’t help. I found my leg getting fidgety early into the movie and didn’t stop until the end. Basically, sitting is not a strong suit for either my wife or I, we’d much rather be moving or at least standing.

Which is what I did when we went to the pub afterward for a beer. And a beer is all we had. Weak, I know, but we just stood there, drinking, and couldn’t find much to discuss. We picked apart the movie we just watched, Kelley brought up the fact that we could have watched 3 episodes of The Walking Dead in the time it took to see the move, and we talked about Avery (of course).

We talk so much about our freedom away from our kid, but then end up missing her while we’re out. We can never win! Actually, I take that back, we just need to do something different next time. By different, I mean nothing that involves sitting, not even beer. Well, maybe beer afterward, when it feels more deserved.

For instance, on our 7th anniversary, we seemed to have the most fun when we went on an impromptu kayaking trip. So, next time we agreed that going hiking, rock climbing, or even bowling will be the activity of choice. Movies are cool, but sitting is not, and $4 water from Coca-Cola definitely IS NOT!

Meanwhile, Aunt Stef and Avery seemed to have a great time and played hard while we were out. Avery gobbled up the steamed carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower with wild salmon I left, and kept taking her Aunt inside and outside multiple times.

Big thanks to my sister-in-law for watching our crazy toddler for the day! I know her daughter, Cousin Taylor, really wanted to be there but had a soccer conflict, so they plan to come back next weekend. Now, Going Mom and I just need to plan out our next date and what adventure we should go on.

Are you good at sitting through movies?

Have you ever seen a movie in 3D? Like, dislike, or don’t care?

Any thoughts on a fun adventure date to take my wife on next?

Life, Parenting

The Avengers, Beer, and That Loathsome Lip

05/02/2015 R.C. Liley 6 Comments

Did you know The Avengers: Age of Ultron movie just came out yesterday? It’s a little know fact that I’m a die-hard comic fan, especially anything from Marvel and DC Comics. So when a movie comes out, the giddy kid in me comes out as well.

That said, we hardly ever go to a movie, much less an obviously popular one that just came out. Crowds, people, public? Ugh. Yeah, introvert is my middle name, there’s no use trying to hide it.

Anyway, Going Mom and I are getting crazy and going to see an early afternoon showing of the awesome Marvel superhero team in action while Aunt Stef watches Avery for us. Afterward, we’re heading to The Gingerman where they have a vast selection of local craft beer for us to enjoy. It’s the same place we went to before, so hopefully they have some new beer for us to try!

After a few rounds of beer (it doesn’t take much), we plan on walking around the town square in which the pub is located until we feel good enough to drive home. Aren’t we grand, being responsible and all? Once home, we have something we haven’t done in a while that needs to be addressed.

Hey, get your mind out of the gutter, it’s watch The Walking Dead! We haven’t seen a single episode since last weekend, so we’re eager to “catch up”. Seriously, binge watching a show is so much better than watching one at time. Thank you, Netflix!!

Nothing extremely romantic, but time away with just the wife doesn’t happen enough anymore, so it’s become a little luxury for us both. Thanks to G-Ma (my mom) and Aunt Stef (Kelley’s sister), we are able to get away every now and then which, from what I’m told, is good for relationships! 🙂

Speaking of relationships, Avery’s bottom lip was still being headstrong even after my second plea to knock off the evil cuteness power it beholds. Coincidence or not, the same day I posted about her rogue bottom lip, Avery busted it, hard!

I’ll apologize to you now, Avery, I know this picture isn’t the most glamorous. Sorry. It doesn’t help having remnants of the spinach, banana, and black bean puree I made on her mouth.

She was playing with Mommy’s sweater and tripped over it making her bite the ground. Lots of thick blood and a screaming toddler later, you get the picture above. She actually handled it better than I would expect, but the rest of the night was not the most fun.

Despite the swelling, she seemed to handle whatever pain she had the next day, Friday, pretty well.

It hasn’t turned the yellowish purple I figure will eventually appear, but there’s still plenty of time. Hopefully that bottom lip has learned its lesson and will think twice before showing itself again.

I’m actually amazed at how well she was eating. She chowed down the NuttZo and banana combo like a champ, as referenced by the leftovers on her lips.

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Oh, and speaking of champ, the “champ”agne I brought home for my wife apparently grew arms to write this note. And then lost the arms…

Weird, it has crappy handwriting just like me! Small world.

Just figured it would be nice to have a good beverage while watching The Walking Dead. My drink of choice will be this potato vodka I picked up with a Zevia Tonic Water.