Family Photos

So this FALL I took some family photos but apparently never posted them as I must have forgotten I had a blog or something.

In any case here are a few of my favorites but certainly not all of them.











If you do nothing else check out this last photo of my in-laws and their grandchildren. This is absolutely the best picture of all the ones we took. Having said that please check out MY younger daughter there on the left.

Yes. It truly is the best picture.

Playing in the snow

This winter in Colorado has been mild to say the least. We've had, until recently, very little snow and weather that never got below freezing. Our Christmas was pretty brown and un-holiday like.

Luckily the end of January came and FINALLY Colorado remembered that it's Colorado and not, say, Florida and we got some snow.

Of course we had to run outside and play in it.

Needed to bring a drink with him. Does not care that that it will freeze out here.

I love that picture. The children are in mid-stride running from the evil snow blower. Which they chased and then ran away from multiple times that day.

Couldn't get out of the way fast enough.

Drive way snow angel's are the easiest ones to photograph.

Snot's going on?

While we are not a particularly religious household we do subscribe to the idea of Proverbs 22:6 "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it."

Which is to say we broke out snow shoveling equipment and set them to it.

Taking a moment for a little snow shovel guitar.

This is how you clean off Mommy's car - pay attention!

In all we had fun playing in the long awaited snow which melted a few days later. By then we were over that whole below freezing and warming up the cars thing anyways.



It sure was fun having our snow days though. Even Micah enjoyed it.


Don't tell him I posted that.

When Kylie was a year and a half, she loved to watch Quasimodo on TV which was a VHS copy we had of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". The Disney version.

When Lizzie was a year and a half old she knew some colors and could sing some nursery songs.

Will is a year and a half. The following photos should explain why he knows no songs, watches almost no TV and has no interest in reciting colors for me.

Trying to climb the penny horse at the grocery store. Half of his shirt is under his armpit because he struggled to get away from me so hard.

This image is from the video camera we have set up in his room. We have it as a safety precaution, I think you can see why. This first image shows that Will has throw his favorite blanket on the roof of his toddler bed "fort" and is now attempting to climb up after it.

This image shows that he got up there, the canopy was strong enough to hold him and he sat up there. For almost 20 minutes.

Not shown: Pictures of Will climbing into his high chair while my back was turned cooking dinner. Also not shown: Pictures of him scaling the dinner table, patio table and various other household furniture.

Anyone taking bets on how many bones he'll break before he gets to Kindergarten?

Does anyone know how many near heart attacks a mother can have because in 20 months I'm pretty sure I've reached the 3 digit mark.

Baby's Day Out

While my brother in law Andy and his wife Sara were in town they decided it would be fun to take Will to the zoo for the first time. Sadly I had to work but Micah and his mom Leslie were able to join the fun.

Upon entering the zoo Will behaves like a good boy and holds Daddy and Grandma's hands. Any Monkey backpacks tail.

At some point Uncle Andy ends up carrying Will. He also admires Monkey's tail

Will rides in style. My understanding is that he wasn't all that impressed with most of the animals at the zoo. Probably because really he's only tall enough to see everyone's rear ends and feet.

There is a wonderful carousel at the zoo and it appears that Will and Grandma had fun.

Uncle Andy and Aunt Sara also joined in on the fun.

After a long, hot day everyone was tired, sweaty and over it. Will and he Monkey backpack said "bubye" to the zoo.

Is it me or does Monkey seem to be looking back a little wistfully?

Outside

Will is a man of limited words. He gets his message across with cuteness for the most part and so I was pretty happy with Mama, Daddy, Ba and the occasional word that sounds like Good Girl (for the dogs and cat and most animals), Sizzy (or is it Lizzy) and Uh oh.

Saturday though we added a word to his vocabulary that makes all other words meaningless, at least to him.

Friday night we drove to Micah's parent's house in the mountains. It's a 2 hour drive and Will and the dogs were over it by the time we got there. It was dark, we put him to bed and he was happy. Saturday morning he woke up and experienced his first morning camping. Grandma made hashbrowns, bacon and scrambled eggs. He had orange juice and eggs, potatoes, fruit. Then, he played. Outside. All Day. Between naps he ran around, navigated up and down hills, helped grandpa build a retaining wall, helped grandma haul stone, walked to the neighbors, played with dogs, chased birds and rode on a 4 Wheeler. (New vocab words also now include WHEEEEEEEEEEEEE!)

Since we got home Saturday night all I've heard from him is "outside". From the moment he wakes up until he goes to sleep it's "Outside".

So desperate was he to get outside that yesterday he climbed out of his crib during nap time, scaled the spare bed in his room, opened the crack in his window into something big enough for an 18 month to get out of and stepped out into my window boxes. Once out there however, he realized that he couldn't slide down and couldn't figure out how to get back in the house.

Luckily Micah heard his terrified screams from the backyard and came running.

Even after all that though, I'll I've heard from the boy is "Mama. Outside."

It's going to be a long 18 years.

Third child

"I think your son just ate something. Well he put it in his mouth anyways."

I look at him under the play structure bridge. I look around him and assess the possibilities.

"Hmm. Well, whatever it was, it probably won't kill him. Right?" I ask her.

"Probably not." She says to me.

I shrug and for a split second wonder if she's judging me. Then I decide I don't care.

Later on Will wanders over to her "side" of the playground. Her little boy is standing by the stroller digging goldfish out of a giant silver bag. In my son's mind I can hear him think "I didn't think this day could get any better and then it DID!" He loves goldfish. Especially other peoples. I lazily job over to intercede in the theft of goldfish but when I get there she says to me "He's welcome to them."

I smile and thank her and point out that we have some over on our "side". I offer her kids, via her, some juice drinks. She thanks me and lets me know she has some too.

Two moms, smiling, bonding at the park over stolen goldfish and children eating debris.

"Is he your second?" she asks looking around at the other children. I can tell she's trying to figure out if any others are mine.

"My third."

She grins "That explains it."

I'm not sure if she means the eating of strange objects or the stolen goldfish. I know it's because I'm far too relaxed about either to really care though.

"The leaves, I hear, are a good source of fiber." I say.

"My boys have been eating them for years" she replies.

Some days I really love the park.

A boy and his car

Everyday I am confronted with the fact that boys are different than girls. Not just in the usual ways but in the energy level and utter disregard for safety. Or his life. I struggle to navigate which parts are "boys are different than girls" and his own personality traits.

This week, since I've been home due to losing my job (Yes, I lost it and I don't have another one and it's depressing and I don't want to talk about it just yet.) I've gotten to see more and more of the daredevil, high energy boy.

Thursday he was just unhappy. All day he was an unhappy little guy, nothing I did was right. He wanted up then he wanted down then he wanted a bottle then he didn't want a bottle, etc.

Friday I decided that maybe he was too cooped up and to let him run free might help his mood. Boy did it.

When he first saw the car he got excited but didn't really "get it". He thought, like most things with wheels, he should just push it around.


Then he discovered the door. With a little help from Momma.



Soon enough he was inside and living the joy of everyman and his first car.




Even the yucky stuff. I gave up trying to divert his attention from the fact that there was a little water, dirt and old leaves in the back area because it seemed like the more I tried to refocus him the more enamored of the dirty he became.

Besides, I find that children tend to wash off pretty easy.

Will quickly found his inner driver and I'm afraid at one point he was channeling a New York City cabbie.


But there is no mistaking the joy he had in driving his first car. Even if it was his sisters hand me down.

Like his father

He's squawking in his high chair. Micah's already fed him his pureed baby food but he's still hungry, demanding more. We are all sitting around the dinner table and are dishing up our plates so I separate 2 noodles of macaroni and cheese and place them on his tray.

He settles back into his seat and quickly picks up the noodles and places them into his tiny pink mouth. He's quiet and makes quick work of it so I hand him 2 more noodles. He shoves them into his mouth and you can see him visibly relax as his munches his new food.

I place 3 more separated noodles on his tray along with about half an inch of half of a green bean since we are having those for dinner as well. He shoves the noodles into his mouth and gums them for awhile.

Then he turns his attention to the green bean. He pokes it with his pointer finger and then picks it up with his chubby pincher grip.

He settles back into his seat and with eyes focused on mine he moves his arm to the side and drops the green bean to the floor.

As the dogs swoop in for this tiny morsel he looks and me and says "Gah". My tiny dictator wants more. It just better not be green beans.

I know I know....

It's been forever since i posted. I'm sorry. I keep meaning to but life seems to be getting in my way.

Short news:

I was laid off on November 11th. I have to work for the next 30 days and then I get 6 weeks of severance. I'm bitter that I have to show up to work when everyone else laid off on the same day has been sent home, paid, to look for work. I'm not bitter about losing my jobs. Thems the breaks as my mother used to say.

Will had a birthday. How on earth did he turn one? Didn't I just come back from maternity leave last week?

I got into a fight with my marriage counselor. I don't think it bodes well for things to come. From her anyways. I'm fairly certain Micah wanted to scream "See what I'm talking about?!" The fight was over the word "stuff" as opposed to "miscellaneous". Yes, really.

Micah hung Christmas lights over the weekend. We skipped it last year due to the new baby but this year he was ready to go. He's been plotting it for weeks. He did promise me he would not put out any inflatable Christmas decorations in the front yard.

More on Will's unbirthday party (his real party is next weekend) later. For now, I gotta fly.

What little brothers are good for

According to Lizzie they are good for all sorts of things like being the "prince" when she is the princess:

Or sharing their Gerber baby snacks.

But Saturday revealed something else little brothers are good for:

Apparently they also make a really good footrest.

William

Williams pictures were fairly easy. Micah held him for a few and then we put him by the bird seed. Easy peasy.

The bird seed idea was actually Micah's mothers idea. Will and I had gone to Fairplay the weekend before to visit and she had taken him to hang out in the bird seed area.

To her amazement he became very quiet and still which is unusual for him since he currently is practicing his pterodactyl impression FREQUENTLY. And climbing. He is determined to learn how to climb things even before he can walk.

Yet, for the birds and chipmunks that hang out in the secluded area behind the cabins Will had no problem being still and silent. It was as though he suddenly decided he wanted to be a Ninja and this was his big rehearsal.

Most of his pictures are from the Birdseed Bench but I think they turned out pretty awesome.

Mr. Serious

My blue-eyed boy in the Aspen's. Micah is of course holding him while I crouch to take the picture. It wasn't easy but it was totally worth it.

Oh look! A Bird!

Refusing to look at Mommy.

I love this picture. The bird is SO close and Will is just focused on him like a missile. I love it more in black and white but then you can't see the bird.

Overall I gotta say, Will did pretty good for a 10 month old who sat in a car seat for almost 3 hours.

Of course on the way back he screamed ALMOST the entire way. Almost.

Fairplay photos

Fairplay is a city in Colorado, not just good sportsmanship!

Micah's parents have property in the area between Fairplay and BuenaVista (known as Ranch of the Rockies) and so we went up there Sunday for birthday pictures, family pictures.

I tell people such detailed information about where we went because they ask. A lot. I'm killing birds with stones people.

We took a little over 500 pictures. They are not all winners. In fact, a large majority of them are not.

But the odds are in your favor when you take that many picture that a few will turn out well.

We got a LOT of good ones so for the next few days I'm just going to post one subject (aka child) and their photos and maybe tell a story or two about them.

It's not calling it in because I have to upload pictures.

I now present...the jump photo's.

I had this great idea to take pictures of all of us jumping in the air separately and then framing them in a mat.

Coaxing Kylie to jump was like begging a bull to give milk. It was tough. Unlike the bull scenario however, it was not impossible. There are probably 50 photo's leading up to this one and when Kylie sees that I've posted it on the Internet she'll likely freak out. Oh well. It's a cute photo.

Unlike her sister Lizzie needed no prodding and could not WAIT to do the jump picture. Sadly, because she is so light and tiny she didn't get much height but if you look you can JUST see her little pink feet emerging from the scrub brush.



Don't tell Micah I posted this picture. It's not his proudest moment. He says. I think it's awesome. He's holding The Boy and jumping in the air...no small feat for an adult.

Even Will got in on the jumping action...and LOVED it. Dad's throw babies better than Mom's that's for sure.

So I'm sure now you're ready for my picture. Except, here's the thing. I forgot to take a picture of myself jumping. Or even to have Micah take a picture of the jumping that I would have done. Just, plain forgot.

So I may still frame those jump shots for this year and redo the theme next year, we'll see.

All in all though, the picture taking up in Fairplay made me very, very, Hoppy. (Ha! Couldn't resist!)