We ♥ JB

Madeline and my nephews, James and Finn, all have major cases of Bieber Fever. James insists on blasting his music on the stereo while they simultaneously watch Never Say Never on their minivan's DVD player. And although Maddie still has a very limited vocabulary, lyrics to "One Time" and "Baby" make up a good chunk of it.

And don't get me wrong-- I also like the Beebs. I think he's adorable, talented, and his songs are catchy as hell. But as a dancer? Meh, he's ok. And as a family that knows the value of a good dance party, my brother-in-law Andy is determined to get his kids hooked on whole-package entertainers like James Brown. Then of course there are the people he influenced like Michael Jackson, or more recently, Janelle Monae.

The kids were pretty into this video (especially the amazing moves at 2:15), but I'm also pretty sure it doesn't change how anyone feels about this little dude.

Photo Ghosts

I recently bought a point-and-shoot camera at Value Village. It had a roll of film that was still in it, but I could swear that I used that roll up and developed it already. I was using it as a tester, to make sure the camera actually worked, and I fully expected there to be some double exposure. But the result was a whole roll of perfectly clear test shots of badly framed buildings and strangers with their dogs. So I was pretty surprised when my next roll came back with the images of photos I had taken of Madeline sharing space with... well, strangers and their dogs. I'm slightly disappointed because it looks like there would have been some pretty good shots of Mads if they had turned out, but at least a few of them did. And as for the others, they have a spooky charm about them too.