Josephine's First Haircut

Joey got her first official haircut this weekend. She wasted no time making the ladies at the local Great Clips gush.

This is JJ before the cut.

Holman grease with a side of hillbilly or a reality show fashion designer? Tough call.

Joey is that you? Fabulous!

Anyway, back to the cut. The stylist started Jo-Jo on Mom's lap and fitted her with an apron.

Needless to say, Joey was pissed.

But, as it ever is with Josephine. She soon found her Hoffman tonic and settled in for another ridiculously adorable Joey-Mommy moment.

It will be so disheartening when Joey goes through her Goth phase.

I picture it being something like this.

(Josephine "Azreal" Holman?)

Back to the cut. Joey tried valiantly to one-handedly stop the trim, but her other hand was obviously stuck in her mouth, so she gave in.

Quite an effort.



Joey did great.

Here's the finished product.

She sucked that thumb all the way out of the building. Amazing what a little ambivalence and some quality thumb-sucking can get you through.

It was adorable to watch.

The Ledges

On Saturday, we made our annual pilgrimage to our favorite spot in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park -- the Ledges.




Henry was the leader. This year, he sported some cool Superman shades and (strangely) a pair of gloves. It was 60 degrees outside.

He insisted on the gloves. Don't ask.

It's not the first time he's had a questionable wardrobe choice on the Ledges trail.

Here he is back in May of 2006 on the same trail sporting his then-favorite Gilligan hat.



We also kept with our Baby Bjorn tradition of strapping a child to Erica's chest and forcing poor Mom to march two miles over rugged terrain in the Ledges.

In 2006, it was Caroline.



This year, it was JJ. We were digging on the strawberry hat.

Here's the crew right before commencing with a barrage of rock throwing.

After convincing Henry that the Boogeyman lives in one of the cracks between the huge rock formations, he insisted on making sure that I went with him when we set up the following picture.

Being a smart-ass has its moments of backfire.



Henry also wanted to use his tacky-grip gloves to climb wet sandstone.

Chalk that one down in the bad idea book.

Spring is for Baseball

While Henry's Tee Ball team, the Carolina Mudcats, brace for their April arrival, I thought I would share a video from Conan O'Brien to hold you over.

Conan O'Brien 1864 Baseball
Uploaded by Youpinadi

The Plague Hits the Holman House

So we've established that March sucks, right?

Okay, it does. Here's more proof for us. If you have a weak stomach, stop reading and go look at our other posts.

This one is not for you.

Not you, eh? Tough guy, huh?

Okay then, can't say I didn't warn you.

We started keeping an injury list like the National Football League. Bill, Jim and Joey Porter would appreciate this.

Sunday, JJ goes on the Holman Family Injury List ("HFIL") as "Doubtful (stomach flu)". There's really no reason an 11-month old should barf on the floor, then look up at you and smile. It's not right, but that's Joey. She freaks me out with her good nature.

On to Monday. Got the call from Erica at work that Caroline was next up. Caroline had to be placed on the HFIL as "Questionable (stomach flu)". I counted six "confessionals" for Caroline with the porcelain God. She was not happy about any of them.

(Caroline in better times)

I feel bad for the sorority sister who has to nurse Caroline to health on the night of her 21st birthday. Best of luck with that one, sweetie. Yikes!

We were cool from there. However, then came 4:30am on Tuesday.

Henry went on the HFIL listed as "Doubtful (stomach flu)". He didn't like the color pattern on his sheets so he "rearranged" it.

His artwork smells bad.

I'm surprised barf is not a better artistic medium, though. Maybe that's how Picasso got his start? I mean, have you seen that cubist crap?

Anyway, H-Man dropped a street pizza and then happily went down stairs. He's weird like his baby sister.

That's a Holman kid hat trick if you are keeping score at home. But we're not done.

Erica's story is better in person, but here's what I think I'm able to tell you without too much disclosure.

As I was cleaning up Henry's mess, Erica wanted a word or two with one of our toilets. It was a harsh exchange. She beat the hell out of that thing. The toilet had no chance.

Erica added her name to the HFIL as "Questionable (stomach flu)".

Erica's encounter was the first time I felt truly sorry for a toilet since the event depicted below.

Pretty bad, eh?

So far, the only Holman to avoid the stomach flu plague currently gripping our house is yours truly.

Yeah, I know. I could get sick at any moment. In fact....

Just kidding.

Not grossed out? Okay then, I'll leave you with a classic picture of Henry's attempt to be the first boy in America to fly in a booger balloon.

Zoom in, if you dare.




I promise we'll clean it up next time. It's just a little overwhelming to live in a hospital with no one to laugh with.

March Geography Lessons

March in NE Ohio sucks.

For the past two years, we've had massive snow storms followed by seemingly endless rains, and random 60 degree flirts of sunshine.

Did I mention that our weather sucks in March?

This is a picture of the newly formed Holman River. The Holman River has its headwaters in the middle of Drew Carey's backyard.

It used to collect in our basement before our builder "remembered" to attach the drain tiles to the sump crock. Our builder is now out of business. Surprised?

Anyway, instead of creating fishing holes in my basement, the water now flows downstream to Jim & Adriana's backyard, where it forms into "Lake Rickon."

This was the scene on Sunday at Lake Rickon.

Unfortunately, the fish were not biting. However, I did spot a pig's hoof and a crushed can of PBR. As the Germans say, "goot times".

Don't ask.

Joey Van Halen

Henry snapped some of his trademark "random" photos on Sunday.

JJ obliged him with an homage to the classic Van Halen - 1984 album cover.

(Easy folks...that's a graham stick)

Ringer!