Yeah, sorry I could never get that working in the post below- I ran out of time to fool with it yesterday- but it's on the SNL website and totally worth checking out for the laugh...

Also!! I am soooo happy because after spending much of my weekend on it, my website homepage is restocked with new images from 2008.  Check it out at www.howiwonderphotography.com if you have a minute!!  (I still have to restock the galleries... but I'm on my way...)

Have a great day, peeps!!

Labels: business, How I Wonder, photography, pics

Evan has begged me to cook in the kitchen for some time.  You might remember this:

I told him (this note was from about a year ago,) that come his 6th birthday he could have a chance to cook in the kitchen.  A cooking party it would be.

But a cooking party takes a lot of planning.  There were chef hats to buy, utensils, and lots of ingredients.  Not to mention- cookbooks to make!  This was the table the night before, when Evan slowly moved his way into the kitchen to see what I was doing. 

The anticipation was too much.  He started off lying with his pillow at the foot of the bed and listening... then before I knew it he had his comforter and pillow on the floor at the foot of his bed... then in the hall... with a square tub for a bedside table.  (He needed somewhere to put his cup of water, naturally.)

I had to be so "on it" the night before with prepping ingredients and such that I over-organized and found myself with time on my hands... taking pictures of random things.  Like this one, of his presents from us.

He recently watched Superman when it came on tv (a newer one) and was way impressed.  He did, however, remind me that this was a Ratatouille party when he saw the Superman paper.  (Forgive me for diverging from the theme.)

This is Charlie after his bath that night, wondering why I am standing on the kitchen counter taking pictures...

and whether or not he would be able to catch me if I were to fall. (He would not.)

This is proof that the top of my fridge is not getting dusted.  Oh, and these people are the employees at my printing company.  Sigh, we're like family...

These are light bulbs that burn too short and cost too much...

This is why there are light bulbs on the counter.  Part of Shaun's checklist, not mine... so let's move on.

This is the cookbook Evan designed for his party.  He is cooking with his chef hat on at the stove and he tore out notebook paper and taped it on the front to indicate who each book belonged to.

I meant to change the egg amount to more before having him write this, and the cheese, but I didn't.

Did they follow the recipes anyway?  No.  So did it matter?  No.  Can you really mess up cheese and noodles and butter?  No.  Do 6 year olds do major improvising on their recipes?  YES.      

This is the next morning, what Evan came out to when he declared "my party is going to be just perfect!"

Madalyn came out of her room that morning, holding her blankie, and sang, "Good morning, birthday boy."

We always put on their first year or birth video while people are arriving.  Reminds us what we are celebrating.

This is my cake that was tilting like the leaning tower of Pisa. 

This is where they were to decorate their aprons and chef hats while waiting for their masterpieces to cook.

This is Evan's goofy six year old smile.

This is Jacob's. 

This is Ethan's.

This is Corbin's.

This is not a goofy smile.

This is three generations.

These are the aprons my mother-in-law gave us last Christmas.

This is Jennifer and Jacob making the yogurt parfait.

It was a dark, rainy day and actually really nice that way.  It kind of set the mood.  Shaun found French Bistro music for me.  It was cozy and surprisingly peaceful.

Decorating their aprons while...

the food cooked.  They made the macaroni on the bottom shelf there, but the tomato tarts I made ahead of time.  They are super yummy- my mom's recipe.  You just use a Pillsbury, ready-made pie crust and top it with mozzarella, fresh torn basil, fresh sliced tomatoes (I used Plum tomatoes,) and then a touch more basil, drizzle with olive oil, and bake for about 20 minutes at whatever the crust bakes at- or maybe 400, 425.  There's not an exact recipe, I'm sorry.  That's just how it is. 

I'm also sorry I forgot to take any pictures of the bread or macaroni when finished.  Here is the parfait, though.

Then, it was onto the cake decorating. 

That is Jack's chubby arm helping.  Don't think he would miss out, although I'm not sure if he's adding candy, or taking it off.

Did you just throw up a little in your mouth?  Your gag reflux get the best of you?  It's okay.  It's admittedly pretty bad in the way of sugar shock (and color shock.)  And see that dark spot, that is where Jack started eating the cake and the older kids tried to patch it up with M&M's.

I wonder why daddy had to have a root canal this week?

Evan being shy while we sang.

He is outgrowing his baby teeth.  Boo hoo!

They got to take home their aprons and hats and measuring cups/spoons and whisks to play with outside or in the tub.  It was a fun day.  And our bathtub has A LOT of cooking utensils in it now.

The fun didn't end with the party.  The next day, daddy took Evan to a Chef Mickey dinner at Disney at the Contemporary Resort with Ethan and Mr. Wattles.  (Even with a major toothache, in need of a triple root canal, daddy took him.)  Now that's love. 

He got to play in the cool pool with the slide, too.

And then, as if that wasn't enough, we went to my cousin's wedding this weekend where one of the family members was a real chef and I introduced them.      

Very fitting that this is what he was doing when I brought her to the table to meet him.  She found it interesting how he was keeping his food sorted by types after he chopped it.  Who would've thought that the kid once scared of the texture of cake and macaroni and cheese would turn chef one day?  Just goes to show life is entirely unpredictable. 

Keep cooking, Little Chef, and if we're all lucky, one day you can cook for us.

Labels: birthdays, Evan, kids, let there be butter and sour cream, mealtime, milestones, pics

Okay, I'm not gonna lie.  Starting Kindergarten has been rough.  Maybe that's because I didn't expect it to be.  I expected it to be like Preschool, and it's not.

Like when Shaun ended up in the middle school drop-off line and a teacher left Evan standing in the POURING RAIN of Fay without any direction... like when Shaun looked in his rearview mirror and saw him chasing the car, crying, with his arms stretched out and running his duck-footed run.  That wasn't like preschool.  Not at all.

Nor was it like preschool when Shaun got out of the car to console him and the pitiful excuse of a teacher manning the car-line led Evan away by the hand, scolding him while he sobbed his way to class.

In preschool, there was no early dismissal day of the week.  It was always the same time.

Which is why when he was in preschool, his pitiful excuse of a mother never forgot what time to pick him up.

He never cried because all the children had been picked up except for him- never felt that moment of panic and isolation, when he couldn't see his white car anywhere.

At preschool there was no such thing as "extended care" with unfamiliar teachers and students.  In preschool, someone he knew would've sat with him till they found me.

But he's a big boy now and preschool is far behind him. 

No more fire drills by manual whistle blows.

He's onto the real thing, with flashing blue lights and screaming sirens. 

The other kids cried.

But not him, because he's a big boy now.  He saves the tears for bigger issues.  Like abandonment.  

Labels: beach, bittersweet, dumbhead parenting, Evan, milestones, pics, summer

Shaun went into the garage this morning to find this.  (Only this picture doesn't show the true peculiarity of the situation because you can't see the height at which it hangs...) so I took this: 

So yeah...  apparently, there was a riding toy in the way when our garage tried to close last night, so the door went back up. So did the toy. 

It reminded me of that classic children's book, Wacky Wednesday. 

Labels: dumbhead parenting, humor, parenting, pics

...that my husband just informed me was never an actual hurricane.               

I've told you she's senseless before, haven't I?

And okay, maybe so am I for letting her do this.

It was pretty chilly and pelting down on her... not to mention the WIND!  But she's a daredevil.

In a few more years, she might be that one you see on the news, surfing or kite boarding while the hurricane sweeps onshore, and while the reporters from The Weather Channel and every local station grip onto palm trees and promise you in dramatic, breathless tones that it really is very windy, and did you see how their hood just lifted with that last gust of wind, lions and tigers and bears- oh my!

And I might be the woman in a moo-moo with a bottle of booze and barefoot from having an out of control teenager who likes to kite board in hurricanes.

Or maybe I'll just shrug my shoulders and join her.  That sure sounds better than a moo-moo.

(Her poor big brother had a collision with the dog right when we got outside and skinned his ankle very badly.)  It took about 6 Sponge Bob Band-Aids to mend him, and we left him dressed in warm clothes on the couch to heal.  We left the dog on the back porch.  To think about what he did.

Speaking of the dog, he got so scared last night when we made him go into the storm to pee that he hid underneath the deck.  Where there were surely roaches and rats and snakes. 

Shaun pulled him inside the house while he whimpered LOUD-LY.  We thought the neighbors might call the Humane Society, it was such a fight to get him back in.  Then he smelled like dead animals and had a black stomach, so he spent most of the night on the porch. 

(Just in case you were wondering what we did last night.)

Random side note: water droplets are very fun to photograph.

So is wet hair.

It adds a kind of ethereal quality, don't you think?

I feel like I can glimpse what she will look like when she's older in these.

I love polka dots.  They compliment her little white teeth, don't you think?

I love umbrellas, too.

Hm.  Maybe that's why I bought a polka dot umbrella.  (This isn't it.)

Of course, umbrellas have their vices.

Unless you're Mary Poppins.  She might, like Mary Poppins, go kite boarding now if a strong enough wind comes along.  Which is fitting, because in the first post I ever wrote I described her as being like Mary Poppins, "practically perfect in every way."

I took these yesterday and it has rained right up until now... while I was posting these pictures it stopped. 

What I should post is a shot of our pool.  It needs to be drained some- it is over-flowing.  Shaun read that we had more rain during this storm than we've had in the last 6 months.  Usually, we have a brief thunderstorm in the afternoon, if anything.

No school for three days- that's how this first week of school started out.  One mother said to me, "My house is worse than a Catergory One Hurricane, come on!" 

Three days of canceled school, all this rain and no lightening??  How could we resist playing in it?      

Labels: boo boos, Madalyn, photography, pics, summer, when hurricanes strike

Okay, look.  I know this might be the most BORING post you've ever read (or skimmed... or just closed altogether,) but this is for me.  This is me archiving the pieces of paper that have sat in my office for an entire year, collecting dust and fading.  This is only one one-thousandth of the papers that circulate around my car, house, and Evan's desk in one year.  These are my favorites that have now been put into a Tupperware container.  So, if you're a better friend than I deserve, humor me and let's enter the gallery-

This is the cast of The Little Mermaid, by Evan.  (I guess I should preface this by saying ALL of these were completely done on his own without prompting.  He spends much of his quiet times "creating.")

This is the cast of Peter Pan.  These were both done about a year ago, actually. 

This is a beach scene.  His babysitter drew something similar and he copied her really well.  He copied her over and over again, actually, until he had it perfectly matched.

Fruit Salad, by Evan

The United States, by Evan

Evan, Madalyn, and Jack, by Evan

And then it was really weird to start finding papers with writing on them all over the house:

Days of the week.

"Vanilla, Pink Ice Cream, Chocolate"

"Sun, Spider web, Grass, Sky."

Months of the Year.

Shapes of the states of our country.      

Clocks.  When he taught himself how to tell time.  I think he might be bored in K-5 as this is the lesson on page 90 in his math book... he gets this hunger to learn from his father, by the way.  I remember my dad taking the clock off the wall where we lived in Augusta, GA, and I wanted to run and hide under my bed.  I remember thinking, 'okay, I almost get this, I am close, I can feel it... but I ain't there yet...'       

Pictures of him with his siblings and how much they love each other is a favorite topic of his...

He even made a catechism book:

"God loves me.  God loves all of the people."

"Adam and Eve both..."  I can't make out the rest, I think it was something about listening (or not listening) to God.  Then the pink paper: "I love God, do you?"

"God made the whole world."

When we got back from Universal Studios last December, I found the following papers in his room.  Let's play a game, try to guess what they say.  I'll give you a hint- they are activities or rides we did at Universal, we'll start with the easier ones:

1 2 

3     4

5 6 

7 8

9

1) Shrek4D 2)ET 3)Lunch 4)Cat in the Hat 5)Barney and Evan (character sighting) 6) Carousel 7) Sponge Bob 8) Water Ride 9) Dinner

This explained to me why he pronounced things the way he did.

Now the papers I find around the house look more like this:

"Please, I really, really, really can cook!  Just trust me!"

And the drawings I find are lately of Spongebob characters like Patrick here:

And he draws a mean Sponge Bob, I can't believe I forgot to take a Sponge Bob picture.

He also makes lots of charts and maps and such (I'm not always sure what they are):

My best guess on this would be a map.  To church or school?  Or maybe Jerusalem... from the temple to the cross...

This is definitely a recipe.  Although I'm not sure what the color code is about, I will have to ask him.

This is most likely a board game.

This is a sequence of events of how he wants his day to unfold after school, he wants friends to get in the car and come over.

Okay, I know, you need an intermission if you're still with me... we're winding down now... I'm to the end of the year papers...

This is what Madalyn brought home the last day of Mom's Morning Out last year.

Evan's teachers made him a whole year book... these are the teachers from the post below.

Yep... somebody needed a haircut.  What?  It grows REALLY fast, don't look at me like that.

His teacher made that quilt and prayed over her students while she worked on it.  :(  So sweet.

All the kids had fun signing their autographs in each other's books. :)

This is a sample of what his homework assignments looked like.

This is what they looked like when we lost the official paper and I made my own lines for him.  I got an N in handwriting in first grade and thought I was going to die.  I haven't improved much since then, so why on earth would you think I could draw a straight line?

See how he wrote "bumblebee?"  I'm not sure if this means he's Dyslexic or just really bright?  Don't answer that.

His teacher gave his picture a caption after asking him what the dots were on this assignment.

He liked to make notes for all his classmates.  They all did this and left notes in cubbies.  They thought they were sooooo cool.

On the first day of school last year he told me about a boy who has lots of dots on his face.  I told him those were freckles.  You can imagine that I nearly died when I walked into his room after his quiet time and found pictures of every classmate... and Brett.  Complete with freckles.

We were also all forced to comply to a behavior chart at home, just as he was at school.  He made this completely by himself.

I had no idea he had become a redhead by the end of last school year.  He changes completely... goes from dark hair and light skin to light hair and dark skin every summer.  Don't worry, I didn't pay MONEY for these.  I just stole the proofs.  Wow, that is SO unethical of a photographer.  But, they didn't ask me for them, so whatever.  I'm KEEPING THEM.

And hers.

Her coloring has come a REALLY long way... even further this summer but I didn't take any pics of her recent stuff.  She is very into the details, and using many colors, and staying inside the lines now.  I LOVE watching her color, and her patience that has come with it.

Evan's coloring has come a long way, too.  But Madalyn about has him beat out now with staying inside the lines.  I'm just happy they can do that at all considering I am so fine-motor-challenged.

Madalyn would come home with a paper like this,

or this...

or this...

Or this.  And I would be all 'you know how to do this??'  Because she SO wouldn't act able if I were the one showing her.  That's why it's good someone else is.  Then we can just play and be silly together.  It's better that way.  (Don't you like her mini-pattern on the pattern... I was amused by that.)

This was my favorite thing she brought home all year.  I don't know why.  Maybe because she doesn't know any Joshua's and I have no idea where she got that name.  Or maybe it's her drawing of the giraffe.  Or that she said a giraffe was most decidedly her favorite animal.  I don't know.  I just like it.

She brought home this cross she had made during free coloring time.  I thought the sticker choice was very appropriate to the picture.

And she has her name down pretty well.  Sometimes she writes it perfectly, sometimes she leaves out the "l".  Why she leaves the easiest letter out, I have no idea.  I think it's cute she started writing it by herself next to the one she was asked to trace... she decided to go above and beyond, take the extra mile.  That's encouraging... considering a year ago she spent all of clean-up time in time-out for not cleaning.

But almost better than the actual work they brought home, were the cards and handmade gifts:

It kind of surprised me about myself to find out that I could tear up over something the teacher printed out that my child never actually thought or said... what in the ??? 

But even better than the ones that come home from school, are the ones that come from their bedroom, without prompting:

Evan drew this of Jack and wrote the words.  I found it later and said, "who is this a picture of?" 

"Jack."

A placemat Evan made me, all on his own.  He made one for everyone in the family.

Shew!  If you got this far, you are SOME kind of wonderful.  Thanks for hanging in there with me, doing life with me.  Thanks for visiting the McDonnell Art Gallery.  Now, take a few deep breaths and move along to another blog... and I assure you, you don't have to do the art work again for another year.

Labels: bittersweet, Evan, kids art, Madalyn, milestones, nostalgia, phases, pics, school, school work

It has been an emotional few days.  To say the least.  And I feel like I just wrote this yesterday.

It started with a letter from his teacher.  It was sweet and all, but nothing in it made me cry- it was just the sight of it.  The fact that I was opening a letter from his kindergarten teacher.  I had the same experience when I looked at the cafeteria menu.  The tension built on this night when we went to his Open House.  These were taken with my camera phone because I forgot my camera.  Thank goodness for technology or I might've missed these confused scowls and this balding parking lot.  Phew.

But the reason I took these are because of his backpack.  LOOK at that backpack on him.  That is nothing big or fancy, it's a standard sized backpack from Target.

He's the oldest in his class, and the smallest.  This is his fake smile at its best.

We had to clear up that he would not be teaching the class.  Just kidding.  He knew that.  He just liked the teacher's chair.  It gave him an ego trip.

This is his desk, front and center.  Actually, no.  Just center and center.  He is in the middle of the middle row.  Perfect for someone who has trouble paying attention and likes to make his own way.  I'm just saying.  If I knew a certain 5 year old who was like that.

His teacher told him his number should be easy to remember because it rhymed with his name.  He liked that.  He found that to be very thoughtful of her.

These are the frantic parents, desperately trying to figure out how to fit entire packs of pencils, markers, and crayons in one supply box as though they were being timed.

This is Shaun making a weird face and Jack laughing because Shaun's making a weird face.

This is what "Little Shaun" did.  That's a cookie in his hand.  He licked the icing out and handed us the rest- all done.  He did that with about 6 cookies.  What?  Who cares, it kept him quiet.

This is Madalyn on the way to get ice cream afterwards.  She is demonstrating how NOT to wear your seatbelt straps.  

So all was fine and we felt good about things.  Especially Evan.  He spent his weekend counting down the minutes until he would go.  This morning he woke up at about 5:45 and came in our room talking to himself, "today I get to go."  He was so excited reminding us of this that his whole body would clench and his voice would get shaky whenever he got to the name of his school... "today I get to go to..." shake, clench, voice cracks...      

It was funny to look back on my preschool post because he was excited about the playground then, and still excited about yet another new playground this morning.  This is what he looked like at about 7:20 this morning, when the whole family took him to school to walk him in and drop him off...

But let's back up a minute.  To last night, when I had a complete and total nervous breakdown.  And I didn't even see it comin'! 

I had had a nap Sunday afternoon, so I was wide awake when we were trying to fall asleep that night.  I feel sad.  I feel lonely.  I feel nostalgic.  Why can't I shake that feeling?  I said to Shaun.  I can usually pull myself out of the funk or ask Someone else to pull me out, but I can't seem to shake it.

Well, sending your firstborn to kindergarten is a big deal.

It hadn't even occurred to me that perhaps that was the trigger.  As soon as the sentence left his mouth, though, I was bawling.  Not tearing up, not sniffling, BAWLING. 

And that was the way I fell asleep; remembering that scene from Father of the Bride when he replays all his daughters milestones leading up to that day while Today I Met the Boy I'm Going to Marry serenades all his nostalgic emotions.  I mean, talk about NOT helping.  I was picturing his wedding day, I was re-living his birth and his toddlerhood.  I was a WRECK.  A complete and total MESS.  A mell of a hess, and seriously concerned about whether I would ever survive graduation... college... marriage... menopause... 

Because it's all about me.

Actually, that was what snapped me out of it this morning.  When I realized it wasn't about me and I was fixating on my emotions and not his. 

As I watched him in all his excitement, rush to his desk, go through his school supplies again, observe the other students and start following suit... I realized he would be just fine. 

Fake smile and all.

And if he was fine, I could be fine, too.

(Gosh, though.  I still can't look at these right here without tearing up again.) 

It's not that he's in school and I will miss him during the day, per say. 

It's that he's gotten SO BIG.  He is so big.

And he is so kind-hearted.  He is so naive and pure.  Not in a cheesy way, in a wholesome, refreshing way.  I know that sounds biased, but mother or not, I am insisting, he's just a good kid- a good person.  And I am better for knowing him.

So we left him, were the last parents in the room, (yes, my teacher-friends, we were those parents,) and went to a boo hoo brunch.  Then we said bye to daddy.  When we drove away from campus Madalyn said to me, "I'm sad, mommy.  I miss Evan."

"Me, too, baby," I said.

Then we pulled ourselves together and went to Target, where we ran into two other moms we had just seen.  Ahh, Target.  The meeting grounds for moms everywhere.  It's like the modern day choice prairie for hunting and gathering. 

Then we had Madalyn's preschool Open House- this is her in her spot at the table.

I can't believe I have to take her to Kindergarten next year!  AHHH.  One thing at a time.

This is her with Ms. Jan and Mrs. Larra.  Below is Mrs. Christine.  Jan and Christine were Evan's teachers last year and Larra is the director of the preschool.  I have come to really appreciate these people!  They have been true blessings. 

Evan told Madalyn earlier in the weekend, "Madalyn, you're really going to like Ms. Jan, you know why?  Because she has your favorite kind of hair.  It's light white and curly.  Like wavy.  Isn't that your favorite kind of hair?"

Madalyn nodded emphatically like she had certainly shared this preference with him before.

Now, Madalyn had seen them before, nearly every day when we picked up Evan.  She talked Mrs. Christine's EAR OFF.  Mrs. Christine was most charmed by her, and went out of her way to engage her.  She loved Madalyn's view on fashion and why she chose this particular outfit this particular day and all the things she was thinking about in that moment.  I'm sure they will enjoy each other this year, especially seeing as how the class dropped from like 12 students last year when Evan was in it, to FIVE this year, including Madalyn.  Which is awesome because they will get lots of one and one.  There are four girls- she knows them all from last year- and one boy.  Poor boy.

This is not him.  This is her first love (well, after her daddy and Evan and Jack.)  Meet Andrew.

I believe I wrote about him long ago, here.

Madalyn and Andrew have a special thing.  They get downright giddy and flirty around each other.  They dream about each other, actual dreams, yes.  And they have asked to go on dates.  Madalyn asked just this weekend, "Can I go to a restaurant sometime?  At night?  With Andrew?"  You should SEE the eyes she makes at this boy.  I am glad she picked a good one.  Yes, maybe we should be concerned... but his parents are golden, so instead we are taking pictures and planning their wedding slideshow.  Very appropriate of us, I think. 

Don't you just love what his shirt says?  HA!

So after she had a moment with the Big Man on Campus, we headed to Chuck E Cheese with her little girlfriends in her class.  It was really fun for her, and for me to get to know their moms better, even though I saw them all year last year.

Before we knew it we were headed back to get Evan.

When he got in the car he teased me and pretended like he wasn't going to tell me anything about his day.

But I already knew a little because we had arrived early enough to see him not come off the playground when his teacher called and she didn't notice and almost left him!  I bit my lip and waited to try and not interfere.  He finally realized and ran over to the gate and said, "hey!"  And she spun around and I could tell- felt terrible- KNOWING I was watching.  THEN she did a head count.  She won't make that mistake again.

Neither will Goofy Grin.  I hope.

So, when he finally quit teasing me, the first two things he told me- and everyone else who called him to chat about his day later that afternoon- were that his teacher almost left him on the playground, and that there was a girl in his class named, Charlie, and wasn't that ridiculous because that was a boys' name!

And then I tickle-tortured him till he told me more. 

And that was one therapeutic tickle session.  Boy, was I glad to see him.      

It was all pretty anti-climatic, though, as Hurricane Fey has put a big cancellation cloud over tomorrow.  It's like we're on a Monopoly board.  Stop, Go, stop! Can we just get these new changes going, already?  Because I think everyone is going to have a great year.

Labels: bittersweet, boys will be boys, dumbhead parenting, Evan, Madalyn, milestones, nostalgia, parenthood, parenting, pics, school, siblings

Yesterday, I asked him to go to time out and HE WENT.  And stayed there.

I told him no bath until he at his green beans, and he ATE THEM.

I think we're making progress. 

On a side note, does he look like Brangelina's older baby girl here to anyone?  I thought so.  (I think it's the swollen Angelina mouth from the sunburn.)

Hot dog, I love that smile. 

Hot dog, hot dog, hot diggety dog...  (He loves that Mickey Mouse Song.)  He also loves the Thomas song and rides his Thomas car around the house humming hm hm hm hm- hmhmhm, hm hm hm hm- hmhmhm...

This morning he picked up a small plastic bag from my jewelry box that had blue buttons in it. 

Those are buttons, I said.

He tried to open them.  Candy, he said.

No, they're for your clothes, see, (I held them to my shirt.)

Oh, maaan, he said.

Okay, I know I said we were leaving the dunes last post, so let's leave already.

We will have to come back once more for Evan, (I'm just warning you now, you're not clear out of the dunes yet.)

Like any other two year old boy, he hated the chair.

Why, oh WHY would I make him sit on a sinking green chair when there is so much wide-open space to run in? 

Oh the injustice!  The inhumanity!

But he doesn't understand that THIS...

is very difficult to keep in focus.

Freedom makes him happy.  So I treat him like any other client and suck it up, I do what makes him happy.

And happy is good.  So what if my quads hurt from running in a bent stoop to catch this.

I do it for other kids all year long, why not do it for him?

THIS frozen moment makes it all worth it; totally worth feeling like I actually went to a gym and did the stair master. 

And I guess can make that sacrifice.  

Labels: baby, beach, boys will be boys, conversation, Jack, national lampoon family vacations, photography, pics, summer

I hope you don't get sick of hanging out at the beach with us this week. 

I, for one, am tired of the dunes.  So come on- let's go to the water!

Ahhh, there.  Her sunburned body up close.  Much better.

But I love that scraped knee, I really do.  Let me tell you how she got it.

All day, the day before we left, she begged me to take her on a walk with Charlie.  ALL DAY.  So I finally consented even though I was trying to pack.  We put him on a leash with her on the other end, headed out the door, and can you guess the rest?  Yes you can- two seconds later Charlie was walking her... dragging her, actually, down the sidewalk. On her face. 

She was lucky to come away with only a scraped knee.  We turned right back around and went inside to bandage her up before starting all over again.  With Evan holding the leash.

But all is well now because the salty ocean worked its magic.

Now she is busy making new boo boo's to keep count of.

Childhood is good like that...

You don't dwell on yesterday's wounds.

You wallow in the present. 

Labels: beach, boo boos, Madalyn, national lampoon family vacations, photography, pics, sugar and spice