my appreciation for smart-alecks in all forms

I've been working on a poetry unit lesson on sonnets for when we go back to school (ugh!). As I was looking through some of Shakespeare's Sonnets, I ran across this one which I've always loved and thought that I would share it here with you!

"My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun"

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red:
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak,--yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go,
My mistress when she walks, treads on the ground;
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.

There is no real point in using it to demonstrate any aspect of the Shakespearean Sonnet to my students because they just wouldn't get it (ugh!), but I wanted to post it here in the believe that my average reader might be a little ahead of my dear repeater freshmen!

introducing Thomas Cooper Frey

Cooper was born around 2:00pm this afternoon to my dear friend Joni (Hanks) Frey. Cooper was originally due on March 11th, but he seems to be a laid-back guy who was in no hurry to arrive--but arrive he has! Cooper is Joni and Tommy's first child. As I thought it best not to alarm a 6-hour old infant with bright camera flashes, these pics were all taken without flash in a dim hospital room...so they're a little blurry.

Joni and Cooper

Tommy and Cooper

Awwwwhhhh!

Erica and Cooper

Me and Cooper

(Erica did not have the same qualms about using a flash...and Cooper didn't seem to mind!)

I think Erica pinched him or something...

I leave you with a foot! :)

I'm sure more pictures will follow in the days and weeks ahead! You know how I love taking pictures of babies!!

Easter, part one: the hunt!

Well, of course there was a great lunch and lots of Easter candy to be had, but we start the picture-taking fest with the two big events of the afternoon: The Easter Egg Hunt and Pocking Eggs! These are the pics of the hunt. Pocking follows in a separate post.

Warning: I've posted way too many pics, but I like them all!

Eva

Grayson and Mammie are inspecting his basket.

Can you see the Easter egg? Yeah, neither could Peyton!

Presley caught on eventually!



And where was Damon during the hunt, you might ask?! hmmmm...

Easter, part 2: pocking eggs!

I don't know what y'all do with a basket full of boiled eggs, but around here we pock 'em! Pocking eggs was always a part of our Easter family get-togethers, but I'm realizing more and more how strange and unfamiliar many of our South Louisiana traditions are to outsiders, so I'll explain: (actually, the person who wrote this blog will explain!)

It works like this. You take your hard-boiled egg, and your opponent would take his. Both of you would hold them with the pointy end exposed, and the two of you would rap them together until the point of one or the other broke. The broken egg became the property of the person with the intact egg. This would go on until nobody had an uncracked egg.

Here are some pics of this strange but really fun tradition!

Erica and Presley are really excited about their freshly dyed eggs!

Peyton and Presley are modeling with the eggs!

The girls are getting the hang of it!

Explaining to Pawpaw how it's done.

I just liked Presley's expression in this one.

The victorious pock!

Grayson and mom ditched the pocking for a serious conversation.

Erica with the last egg standing!

Presley with the victorious egg!

What do you do with a bunch of cracked, hard-boiled eggs? You peel them, of course!

Eva is saying "get off me!" You can tell that she has older siblings...and a pesky Pawpaw!

Me and my mom

Evidence of my mad photography skills!

Well, I don't know about all that...but these are some pics from our "Trahan family photo shoot" at Rip Van Winkle gardens in New Iberia, LA, last weekend. We never did get a good family pic--2-year-olds can be a bit temperamental--but we got some cute shots of Grayson.

Soap

"She hasn't blogged in a month and now she's writing about soap?!", you may say...but, I need to tell you, this soap is A-MAZ-ING! (And it's spring break and my randomness is in high-gear this morning!) I was shopping in TJ Maxx on Good Friday (because I had absolutely no idea what to do with myself on the first day of spring break, so I curled my hair, had a spontaneous lunch with a friend, and shopped! It was kinda fun, but I digress...) and while I didn't find the super-cute Easter outfit I wanted, I did find this amazing soap (along with the pretty new towels pictured with said soap, a sheet set that matches my bed set, and a great Slatkin candle which was WAY cheaper at TJ Maxx than at Bella Luna, which I had just been to before!) Oh, I WISH blogger had a 'scratch and sniff' function, because this soap smells great! And it's very aromatic--I can smell it when I'm standing in my kitchen! I want to take a shower every time I smell this soap! And do you see how big the tin is?! The soap is just as big--it's HUGE! I may never get to the end of this bar of soap...which is ok by me!

Ok, that's all I've got for this post. In summary: I have new soap and it smells great. Randomness has returned! :)