in no particular order

Still no camera cord - where did we pack it?!?!  However, Derek found our card reader (or something like that - I have no idea what things are called) so we now have pictures.  Let's all shout Yippee!

I'm not even going to attempt to post things in order so sit back and enjoy the random postings that will be going on for the next while.

Let's start with this great shot...

This picture is from our old house where the boys had bunk beds.  For whatever reason the boys didn't like sleeping on the top bunk so they always ended up together on the bottom bunk. I can't imagine that it was ever very comfortable.  Would you want to sleep with your little brothers stinky foot on your mouth and nose?

Since moving we have separated their bunk bed into two twin beds.  They are both thrilled to be in their own bed and now that I think about it they hardly ever come into our bed in the middle of the night to sleep with us - hallelujah!  I bet they were sleeping with us because they were getting tired of feet in the mouth.

mom, i'm bored

I'm sure I am not the only parent hearing this phrase at the moment.  Some days I am tempted to run away from home if I hear "i'm bored" one more time.  It hasn't been a constant whine but we have had a few days that were worse then others.

On one particular day we headed over to Michael's to try and beat the boredom.  We were met with success.  

Nathan got a kit explaining all about the virtues of marshmallow shooters.  The kit came with everything necessary to make a small shooter.  Couple that with the 3 bags of mini marshmallows we got at the store and Nate was set for a good few hours of entertainment.

Luke's purchase was a Superhero kit.  I actually didn't think that this would be a successful activity for curing his boredom but I couldn't have been more wrong.  Who am I to mess with the power of America's superheroes?

The kit came with a fantastic red cape, a superhero i.d. card (all good superheroes carry an i.d.), face masks, wristbands (that contained powers to control the universe) and a bunch of stickers. The end result...Luke saving the world for hour upon hours.  He managed to fight the villain Boredom for the whole day and continued to battle evil up until bedtime.  

Yes, this was a highly successful kit from Michael's and worth every penny.

Protecting the universe...Super Zap!

Stinging evil with his bare, dirty hands...it's Captain Buzz

it's a bird, it's a plane, it's a Star Boy!

the latest photo booth installment

one fish, two fish how will we do this?

We don't do Halloween at our school but they do let the kids dress up for literary character day ?!?!  Go figure.  Anyway, I got a call from a neighbor (thanks Aimee) and she reminded me that the next day was dress up day (bad mom forgot yet one more thing)  The boys had a few ideas of what they wanted to be, none of which we could pull together from our costume box so Derek and I were off to Costume Castle.

We started by looking at the Thing 1 & 2 costumes because that is what Luke wanted to be. Derek was not keen on the $30-40 costume so we bought some blue hair spray and a cat in the hat hat (Nate had mentioned he wanted to be that) and called it good.    After a quick stop to pick up a red tshirt we headed home.

The boys were asleep so I couldn't get kid approval on the costumes.  I made the thing 1 sign on the computer and decided at the last minute that I better make thing 2 because I had a feeling that Nate would be diggin' the blue hairspray and would want to be the same thing.  Let's just say that I'm getting good after all these years of being a mom.  Nate wanted to be thing 2 so we cut up a red sweatshirt so that it would look like Luke's shirt and ironed on the sign.  Score one for Mom!

This was the aftermath during Nate's bath after school.  

where's the scissors?

I'm thinking that pony tails are a sure sign that it's time for the boys to get their hair cut. I wanted the boys to get a haircut this weekend but with Derek out of town it wasn't going to happen. This picture was my insurance shot...I knew when Derek got home and saw this picture he would pull out the scissors immediately. Luckily, I didn't have to use it...Derek got home yesterday afternoon and before the day was through he had the boys looking cleaned up and sporting nice new do's. There was no denying it, both boys looked like little rag-a-muffins. On that note...what is a rag-a-muffin? My grandparents used to call me that.

fathers and sons

It's time to play catch up with posts - we got behind a bit.

Last Friday was our Fathers and Sons campout with church. Every year the men take their boys camping over night at a local campground. Nathan and Luke love going and always come home filthy and happy. I spend the whole night worrying that the dads aren't watching their boys well enough and I am always sure that boys will be lost and never found. It doesn't help when Derek says to me, as we are packing them up, "make sure the boys each have a flashlight and then one for me so I'll be able to find them when it gets dark" What?

We never get any pictures from the actual camping trip so I took a "before" of the boys as they loaded up the car.
This shot is of Luke before leaving on the campout. See how excited he is to be going camping?
This is the after! Nothing like coming home after playing in the dirt for hours and getting no sleep. Luke came home so dirty and so tired. It made for a fun Saturday.

I wouldn't trade it though. The boys love their yearly adventure with dad, especially since I am not there hovering. If I was there, there would be no chance of them getting lost but where is the fun in that? I know they love just being with Dad.

photography 2

I started my photography 2 class a few weeks ago. We are working on portraits and lighting. Each week we turn in one photo for our homework assignment - the one of Nate is what I turned in last night. I'm learning a lot but am still finding it hard to convey in the photo what I'm picturing in my mind. I'm trying to observe more and to be aware of light, distractions, etc. when shooting but sometimes it all seems like a lot to remember. I am enjoying myself though and it is nice to have a hobby, especially one that allows me to create.

special request

I had a request to post this picture of the boys in their Easter garb. I realized that I did not get a picture of all the kids together - what was I thinking?

a Snizzard?

I really shouldn't be taking time out of my day to post to the blog but my stress level is rising and I need to take a break from my long to do list for the day. So here are the latest happenings for the past few days.

The boys were out playing in the backyard the other day trying to catch lizards (that is a favorite activity at the moment) I went out to take a look at the little guy they were trying to catch and realized the thing wasn't so small and didn't look like the lizards we normally find in our yard. I ran inside got the camera and then stood on the wall in the backyard so the monster wouldn't charge me and swallow me whole.

Megan named our evil looking friend snizzard since he looks like a snake and a lizard. Derek googled "ugly, gross reptile that scares kids and wimpy moms" and we now think the little guy is an alligator lizard. All I know is that I hope he finds someone elses yard to take up residence in.