Sequins are a Girl's Best Friend

While helping Ellie to get changed into her bathing suit for some backyard sprinkler fun yesterday, she was listing all of the wonderful reasons that this bathing suit is her favorite of all of the numerous hand-me-downs.

"It has butterflies and a tutu (ruffly skirt) and pink and even these little circles!"
(Doesn't it sound just...gorgeous?!?)
"Those are called sequins. See how they shine? They're pretty neat, aren't they?"
"Oh. We have that game!"

Moment of silence for Super Mommy Brain Translation...
"No. That game is called Se-quence. These are se-quins."
"Oh! That's the company that made it."

Repeat explanation with slightly different wording...
Repeat response...with slightly different wording...
"Yeah, that must be the name of the company!"

Okay............abort! Abort! No possible good could come from pushing this explanation further, only mere frustration to all parties.

"We better hurry up! Daddy and Ben are waiting for you!"

My B-O-Y

Before I had Benjamin, I was definitely much more on the "nurture" side of the "Nature vs. Nurture" debate. I knew that I would raise my children in a well-rounded setting and expose them to both "boy" and "girl" toys and situations. I wanted my son (if I had one) to be comfortable dancing and playing with dolls and my daughters (that I was positive I would have) to enjoy playing in the mud and driving trucks...and whatever else it is that boys do.

Having grown up with one sister, I felt confident in my ability to raise a daughter and a bit nervous about my odds to positively rear a son. And that, I believe, is exactly why God gave us Benjamin. I can't quite remember how we discovered his affinity for trucks. I know that around 8 months or so, he would just YELL at trucks on the highway... And by the age of 10 months, it was so evident that his infatuation would be long-lasting that I bought him a construction quilt for his big boy bed (that we didn't move him into for another year)!

Now years later, I know more about construction than I ever thought humanly possible. I know the detailed names of probably over 100 different types of machinery and exactly what they are able to do. I have seen every children's construction video ever produced...at least twice. I have had in depth conversations about such things as how the space shuttle blasts off, how electricity gets to our homes, and even how the crusher blade of a trash truck works.

Although I will admit to "nurturing" his interests as any parent would do, it is now quite evident to me that "nature" may just have a tiny hand in "the way kids turn out." :-)

Now that Spring has finally sprung, I find it necessary again to have clothes (and shoes!) reserved especially for play. Here are some of his current "boy interests..."

Worms. We have a cup FULL of worms (dead, I'm sure) and dirt on our porch. Every few days, Ben thinks to drown, I mean give them a little water...

Tools, especially Poppy's, Pop-Pop's, or Daddy's. Here he is testing out Poppy's post hole digger. Just what every 5-year-old should know how to use!

Holes. The poor little chipmunk that lived here didn't stand a chance! Ben saw a hole AND a pile of stuff to shove down it. This was "hours" of entertainment.

Mud. I bet all mothers of boys in Mechanicsburg know where THIS mud is. This would be the run off from Friendship Park. Ben and Henry snuck over while they thought we weren't paying attention. I climbed up the play equipment to get this and many other incriminating photos. :-) They spent a long while testing the jump-a-bility of every inch of mud. Sometimes, they'd merely hop over it. Other times, they'd back waaaaaay up and take a nice long running start. Thus far, this year I've let him play there for a little bit each time. His ability to stay out of the mud has been much refined since last year...so far, so good.

Did I mention worms? I missed the HUGE one he found at my parents' yesterday, but here's Ben showing me how long it supposedly was. Poppy, who helped him put it back in the soil, claims that Ben "will be a great fisherman someday!" :-)

BOY, have I learned a lot of "boy stuff" in the past five years! 'Can't wait to see what the next five hold...I think.

CRAZY Friday!

Today was one of those crazy Fridays to which I've alluded before.

9:30 - Ellie's first trip to the dentist...oh, and Ben's 5th? too

Ellie was super excited, mainly because I said she could wear a gown! I actually had to get stern with her last night at bedtime when she kept wanting to get back out of bed, so the two of us could discuss what, in her closet, she would like to wear to go to the dentist. I'm not kidding!

Ben was a great big brother this morning, being a model patient and demonstrating exactly how it's all done. The hygienist even let him push the buttons on the chair when it was Ellie's turn. Here he is waiting (with his button-pushing finger) out while the hygienist enters Ellie's info into the computer.

Ben's big news from this morning is that 2 of his 6-year molars are already in, and the other two are very much on their way. He's quite proud of this - he's not even 5 1/2 yet, BUT he has some 6-year-old teeth!!! :-) The dentist says that some of his bottom teeth are starting to get loose, too. Where has my little baby gone?!?

10:20 - After our dental visit, we made a "quick" trip to the grocery store. I'm not even going to elaborate...wasn't our worst trip ever by far, but it absolutely amazes me that even "quick" trips can take some 15 minutes or more with two children in tow!!!!!

Then we headed home to change into park clothes, pack a lunch, and throw the bikes in the van.

11:30 - We met some friends at Friendship Park and ate, played, biked for about 2 hours. This is my most favorite picture from the afternoon! Morgan was paying peek-a-boo between her mommy's legs with another mommy. She kept saying, in that cute little "just-becoming-fluent" voice, "I see you." She's just too cute!

1:30 - We headed home again after the park to do Ben's second nebulization of the day for his Asthma. We always do one each morning ( only 1 med; very fast), but at this time of year we have to do more. His Asthma is triggered by the pollen, so we're currently up to 3 neb.s a day with 2 med.s each time. It takes 20 minutes for the med.s to be nebulized each time! Talk about taking a chunk out of the day!!! But we sorta consider being able to breathe a good cause... :-)

This was followed by another quick wardrobe change back into the "nice" clothes from this morning. Then another quick (and mandatory) potty break and back into the van.

2:15 - This time we were racing the clock to get to the middle school in time to see the second assembly that Daddy's percussion ensemble and the two high school indoor guards did for the middle school kids. You can tell I thought we were pressed for time b/c I actually abandoned my camera in the van for this one. It makes it easier to pick up Ellie (all 38? lbs.) and RUN while coaxing/yelling at Ben to keep up. We actually made it in plenty of time and enjoyed the performances greatly. We hadn't seen the guards yet this year, and they were wonderful! Ellie of course LOVED them - dancing, fancy costumes, pretty music, twirling flags...what's not to love?!?

As a side note, the top guard (there are three) is considered a World Class guard. They competed in Ohio at Nationals three weeks ago and placed FOURTH in the country! Pretty cool, eh?!? It's seriously a different beast than the indoor guard that was around when I was in high school! I digress...

3:20 - So after the performances, we rushed to beat the buses out but stopped long enough for the kids to climb onto one of the empty buses and have a quick look around. We returned home for about an hour and a half of quiet play time while I answered a mere 1500 questions from the mortgage company about refinancing.

5:00 - Off to meet Daddy for pizza at our favorite little joint, Brothers Pizza. I could have kicked myself for suggesting that Benjamin wear his flip-flops. It seemed like a good idea at the time, since Ellie had apparently taken his socks off (don't ask!), and I wasn't up for the struggle of getting him to put them back on, untie his shoes and re-tie his shoes. The only problem is that when your feet don't touch the floor, say while you're sitting in a booth at a restaurant, your flip-flops perpetually FALL OFF! This of course, requires that you repeatedly dive head first under the the table to retrieve them...and well, you can see where this tale is going...

6:15 - Home for showers and a third 20 minute nebulization and books (read loudly enough that they can be heard over the whir of the nebulizer).

7:22 - Prayers, good night kisses, promises of a skirt tomorrow...Everyone's in bed and down at least until 6:00 a.m. God willing. Let's pray that the three neb.s today will keep Ben comfortable until morning. We haven't been so lucky the last three nights.

You know what just struck me about that last paragraph? After you have kids, "everyone" doesn't mean "everyone" anymore. It sort of becomes "everyone that I am responsible for." :-)

Happy weekend to All! I'm heading to bed!!!!!

Huh! The word "nebulizer" is not in the spellcheck! (It has mobilizer and nebulous...and even suggested Belize...ha!) You can imagine how nuts I made it with all of my abbreviations and conjugations... :-)

A Nice Quiet Sunday Morning...

So Jim has been teaching the percussionists at Mechanicsburg High School for almost 13 years now. He spends countless hours at rehearsals, meetings, competitions, and attached to the computer writing music. It truly is a passion for him. He loves working with "his kids," and the kids "love" him back. They choose to demonstrate their affection (in a more visual way) once or twice a year...in our front yard. Traditionally, we know to expect an "attack" around the beginning of band camp and/or Memorial Day weekend. This past Sunday, however, we woke up to quite a surprise...

Our close neighbors are so used to it, that they just shake their heads and laugh. Many times, various neighbors have actually come upon the kids decorating late at night and allow them to continue. This year, the kids asked our neighbor to take their picture while they were working at 11:45 p.m....and he obliged!

This year had a more dramatic twist, though. A neighbor further down the street, whom we do not know as well, noticed our yard while out cycling at 6:30 a.m. (We already knew by this point.) He decided that he needed to alert us immediately. However, I wasn't able to get to the door (as he rang the bell and knocked repeatedly!) since I was had just gotten out of the shower, Jim was in the shower, and Ellie was screaming because she had just dropped a wooden stool on her foot. (You know, typical morning stuff...) When I finally did get to the door, the neighbor explained that he had decided we must not be home and called the POLICE! Yep, not kidding. Sooooo, I hurried back upstairs to put on more than a bathrobe to great the SUV and cruiser that pulled up at about 7:10 on a Sunday morning.

I explained the situation and that we did not want to file a report. The neighbor was very apologetic, but it's certainly nice to have neighbors who care! :-) As soon as the police left, our next door neighbor popped out to see what all the excitement was about. You can see her admiring our beautiful tree below. Other neighbors came out during the next hour or so, some even brought their cameras. I really did like the tree...would've been great to take pics of the kids in the streamers with just a bit more sun. :-)

Here's a close-up of the Jim's car...and our friendly neighborhood cycling watchdog. He was most concerned about the paint job on the car being ruined, but what he didn't know is that these kids are professionals. They had almost every bit of the messy stuff sandwiched between layers of plastic wrap - ketchup, mustard, relish, chocolate, and cool whip. Just lovely...

...but pretty convenient for clean-up. When "the boys" got all the plastic off, there was only a little bit of mess left.

Yum!

Ben was a big help in the tree. He's gotten pretty good at climbing and was able to help Jim get down almost all of the streamers. There were only 4 pieces left for Jim's students to get later. :-) Yep, they always come back to tell us exactly how the plan came together and help us clean up.

Ahhhhh, nothing like a quiet Sunday morning... Needless to say, we didn't make it to Mass this week.

Happy Birthday, Lily!

The baby of the family, Lily Mae Weaver, is ONE today! It hardly seems possible! Her mommy and daddy threw her quite the bash yesterday to celebrate. You know me, any time there's a gathering - large or small - is a good time to take pictures!!

Look at my Big Boy off doin' his own thing. He could almost pass for 6 or 7 in this picture... He was in Independent Mode yesterday afternoon, bopping around visiting with "strangers" and working the crowd. He made a point of stopping off to mention to one of Uncle Dave's friends (whom he probably hasn't seen in three years) that he just got a new basketball net. Apparently, he thought this "random man" needed to know that! Every now and then the "social bug" hits...

Corey is the unlucky subject of many of my experimental shots, since she is old enough to take a bit more direction than the other cousins. I only took three shots of her in the arbor, and you should have heard the huffing and puffing! :-)

Here's the Birthday Girl, all business in the back yard. To date, I believe Lily has taken three steps on her own. So she's in that lovely phase where WALKING consumes her every thought. I bet not a single Smith will need more than a second to know whose hands she's holding... Hmmmm, well-manicured nails, stylish jewelry, trendy shoes...this is a hard one! Could it be? Yes, it's Aunt Dottie, of course!!! :-)

Ellie attended her very first ballet class earlier in the afternoon. She was SO excited that I believe the "post-ballet-let-down" contributed to her fatigue and slight crankiness at the party. Every so often, she would perk up when she realized there was someone else that she hadn't filled in on the details of her dance class, and she'd scurry off to find them. Here, she's sitting with Pop-Pop telling him all about rolling like a pencil and learning to curtsy.

And THIS shot just takes the cake...ha! Nikki's mom made this cake for Lily just as she had for Nikki and her brother when they each turned one. Lily picked at some of the chocolate chips and kissed the bear but never got too into the cake-eating. I just think this picture is absolutely adorable - nothing like being the center of your parents' world! I wonder how old Lily will be when she looks over at the camera for the first time, rolls her eyes, and says,"Daaaaad! Get that thing out of my face!" :-)

Having Kids is Like Tripping...not that I would know!

One of Ellie's current favorite things to do is to list and discuss homophones. Like every other 3 year old, right? :-) It always starts something like this.

"Mommy, there's 'sore' and there's 'soar.' You can have a sore on your body, but fairies can also sore through the air...like in Tinkerbell!" (You should see the looks we get when she starts this in the grocery store...)

Huh...And as I'm typing this, I realize that I must just tune her out after 'soar' and 'sore,' because I can't for the life of me come up with any other examples! But I know for certain that once she gets started, this topic of one-sided conversation goes on for a long while. OH! I know another one that she does - 'bear' and 'bare.'

So today at lunch, she pulls out a new one (or at least, new to me). She begins explaining to her brother and me the different meanings of 'hair' and 'hare.' I stopped to correct her after she explained that a bunny is white or brown or black and a hare is pink or purple.

After we got that all straightened out (I think), Benjamin then launched into an explanation about how he wished he had a hare, because if he did, he would climb on it's back. He would hold on tight while it bounced him super high all the way up to the moon, and then he and the hare could dance on the moon rocks.

I didn't know what to say. It didn't even seem appropriate to use the patented mommy "wide eyes, slight smile, slow nod, and say 'mmmm!'" response. I could only sit and ponder the whole scenario with a blank stare. Where did that come from? Why had NONE of those thoughts EVER crossed my mind at the same time before...much less in the same breath?

This very type of CRAZY day dream, when coupled with general sleep deprivation over an extended period of time, MUST be quite similar to tripping on drugs! Is anyone going to refute me?!?!? And maybe, just maybe, I could blame Ben for my munchies?????

Disney on Ice!

Wednesday evening, we went to see Disney on Ice with our friends, the Sobers. It was a super fun way to celebrate Morgan's second birthday! I was MOST excited about being able to just tag along with the Sobers, who have gone to many more shows at Hershey than we have! This took so much of the stress out of the evening for me; I didn't have to worry about what time to leave or anything else. All we had to do was follow! What a gift!!!! :-)

Shauna, Ken and the girls came over for pizza before we left. We rounded up the rather excited troops for one last potty run before heading out. Somehow, I got princess duty, and let me tell ya, Lauren's dress is no picnic in the bathroom!!! I felt like a true Lady in Waiting! :-)

Lauren has been to see Disney on Ice before, and Shauna had never agreed to let her dress up. This time, she gave in. Luckily she gave me a heads up a week or two ago, and I was able to round up some borrowed costumes for Ben and Ellie. Thanks, Corey and Sam!

"Woody" used his holster to carry his harmonica instead of a pistol. He was in rare form on the 30 minute trip to the Giant Center. We listened to a Disney CD on the way there to "get in the mood." Ben was either asking questions incessantly or playing his harmonica along to the music. :-) "Who is that singing? Why did he say that? Why does he like her? Who is that now? Why? What are guys laughing about?" On and on and on... Did I mention it is a 30 minute drive?

About 10 minutes down the road, Jim proclaimed that I would be sitting next to Benjamin for the show. :-)

LOVE this picture of Lauren and Morgan! We met Ken and Shauna in our prenatal class before Ben and Lauren were born...it's funny the places in life that you meet good friends...

A RARE photo with the whole Weaver family! Any photography friends have some tricks to pass along about getting rid of the glasses glare? I tried burning it out, but that just made him look like someone had shot him in the eye! :-) It seems like there should be something I can do, since it's in such isolated places and not a close-up... Suggestions welcomed!!!

Could this hat (or the boy wearing it) be any cuter????

Ben was noticed and pointed at relentlessly while we were at the show. There were many princesses in attendance, but he was the only Woody we saw. Kids and parents, alike, would say to each other, "Look! There's Woody!" By intermission, when one little boy dragged his daddy over to see Woody up close, Ben was feeling comfortable enough in his role that he actually took his hat off, smiled, and waved to the boy! I'm not kidding!!! A performer in the making...

Ellie's favorite moment of the entire show...Jim said that she squeezed his hand VERY tightly when Belle skated out. :-)

We changed the kids into their jammies in the van before heading home. Ellie was asleep before we got home (a few minutes after 10), and Ben fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow...as did Jim and I.

Ellie wants to know if we can go again today...

Jones Easter Pics

Easter morning...after finding all the eggs, the next official step is to carefully sort, count, and COMPARE all candy.

Once all treasures were deemed equal, we QUICKLY ate breakfast, got ready for church, packed for the day and jumped in the van. We headed down to Gram and Poppy's after Mass. I was really hoping to get some good pictures of my parents with all four grandchildren...but that didn't happen. :-) Maybe when they're all over the age of, say...8. I'll keep trying!

Ben spent a lot of time FLYING around the house on Caroline's new tricycle...that she doesn't yet know how to pedal. When we finally told him he HAD to slow down, Ellie piped in with, "But Colin is chasing him!" (Colin would be their 8 mo. old cousin...)

Here's Ben with his new little friend Chompy, the Alligator.

After lunch the cousins (minus Colin) headed outside for an egg hunt. That was hysterical! Ben was rather good at it, but the girls acted as if they were blindfolded! :-) They would be within two feet of an egg, then suddenly turn and run the other way. I think they weren't completely grasping the "look down" concept... I dunno, but it made for good entertainment!

Here they are surveying their loot...

"Look, Mommy! I got a poin!"

Caroline decided that her loot was best kept on a rock...perhaps b/c it was out of the reach of her cousins. It took her a long time to open all of her eggs, since each egg was narrated something like this. "I got a coin(or choc-o-late egg). I will put it on this nice coin (or egg) rock." Rather neat and orderly, this one! :-)

What a fun day! Now all we have to do is survive the chocolate rush for the next month!!!

Weaver Easter Pics

This is going to be a very quick post in attempts to get "caught up." We have a "big day" coming up tomorrow, and it just dawned on me that I'll never get to share my Easter pics if I don't do it soon! So here are some of the semi-decent ones of the Weaver Cousins at Nana and Pop-Pop's Saturday evening. We went, we had a great time, we ate a lot (dinner was terrific), there was lots of candy given out, the kids bounced and ran and danced...we went home.

Don't you just love Little Lily eyeing up Corey's Peep?

I LOVE Ben's expression here! Is anyone the least bit surprised that Louden is the one holding his Peep upside down?!? ...and NO, Amy and I did not buy the boys the same vest on purpose. I'm serious, Uncle Bill!!! :-)

This is what I got when I asked the boys to give me their "We're always VERY good in church" smiles. Too funny!

I love this one of Corey and Lily. I think Corey LOVES being the only one who gets to hold Lily for EVERY photo op!!!

More to come...I'll post pics from the Jones Family Easter a.s.a.p.

Hippity Hoppity Easter's On Its Way!

Ellie got up after we put her to bed this evening. She was sitting on the top step when I found her. As I escorted her back to her room, she said,"Wouldn't it be helpful for us to hide the eggs for the Easter bunny?" She's always thinking...

Happy Easter to All!

"I'll take 'Geography and Eggs' for 800, Alex."

Geography...
This morning at breakfast, Benjamin was asking about Italy. He had seen the article on the morning news about the recent earthquake there, and this is a watered down version of the conversation that followed.
"Mommy, someday can we go to Italy?"
"Sure, someday. We'll have to take a plane. It's pretty far away."

Then we looked at the globe together that just happened to be sitting on the floor next to the kitchen table (don't ask...I have NO idea why!)

"See? This is where Italy is."
"Mommy, now can you show me where the country Side is?"

I had to have him repeat that, and then I took a moment to compose myself while choking on my cereal. I took a deep breath and launched into an attempted explanation of what "the countryside" actually is. No one can say our breakfast conversation is dull!



Eggs...
A few weeks ago, Benjamin started talking about how we always go to Nana and Pop-Pop's to dye eggs. (We haven't done that since he was four months old!) So, of course, this afternoon we went to Nana and Pop-Pop's to dye Easter eggs..."just like always!" The kids had fun with the plain old dye, but they LOVED the glitter paint that was to be applied after the initial dying. Of course the idea was to embellish with the glitter. Yeah, right. Not when you're in pre-school!!!! I'm not quite sure why we even bothered to dye the eggs initially... Hopefully they'll dry by Sunday!

After the globbing of the glitter, Ben stayed briefly to put face stickers on an egg. Ellie, however, stuck around for a loooong time "dressing up" her eggs. One pack of dye that Nana got came with face and sunglasses stickers, little felt hats, and cardboard stands that looked like outfits. Ellie was in pre-school girl heaven! I'm a little concerned about how she'll take it when it's time to crack them!

Everyone Loves a Parade!

Yesterday was our pre-school's Easter Hat Parade. Of course, due to morning temp.s around Easter time in south-central PA, the parade is ALWAYS held in the gym. Ben's class came in first. The girls were thrilled to be showing off their Easter hats and festive attire. The boys pretty much could have cared less! :-) It never ceases to amaze me, having grown up with only a sister, what a difference there is between girls and boys from such and early age!!!! In this picture, Ben was momentarily excited merely to have found Mommy, Nana, Pop-Pop and "Granny" Kay in the hoard of parents.
THIS was the expression that he wore for most of the event. It was Ben's idea to wear his tie, but we had to make a deal. In order to wear it, he had to let me take it with me after the parade. It's his Easter tie for this weekend, and I was not at all comfortable with him crafting and snacking in it!

Some of you may recognize the hat from last year when I was frantically soliciting creative ideas. Yep, we got two years out of the it...even though I had to hot glue the ears again during breakfast. :-)
See what I mean?!? It's not just him! It's the testosterone taking over. Is it just me or could these be the same exact expressions of four men waiting for their wives or girlfriends to try on clothing?!?!?
Then came Ellie's class. In this picture, you can see some of her classmates bailing on the "single file line parade thing" just as they come in the door! :-) Not Ellie, though. She was commanding chuckles from around the room as she was the only student to continuously do her "princess wave." (I don't she had quite gotten her waving hand warmed up yet in this shot...)
This is most of her class minus one...I think that's his elbow on the left. Oops! ...and she's still waving after two laps around the gym and then lining up for a photo op.
The little boy standing next to Ellie seems to be the object of her affection. His family goes to our church, and she likes to sing about seeing him at church and how it makes her happy! I'm not kidding. At least she has good taste... For the parade, he wore what Ellie calls a "train ducker" hat. :-)After the parade my neighbor friend, Kay, and I went to breakfast. We go out together once a month, and I greatly enjoy hearing her tales of her adventure-packed 82 years! I always tell her that when I grow up I want to be her. What an amazing lady! I wish I had thought to have someone take our picture together... Next time!

Public Service Announcement: Elaine tells me that anyone can enlarge the posted pictures simply by clicking on them. I still have to figure out how to get them to post slightly larger...again, don't hold your breath. :-)

Super Glue Day

So as I'm sure most other parents of pre-schoolers have from time to time, today was a Super Glue Day. We accrue pieces of toys, decorations, and other things that are in need of a visit by the Super Glue Fairy in the sacred location on the kitchen counter next to the microwave. Usually the pile includes a broken airplane wing, toy truck parts, tiny trash can/dumpster pieces...that sort of thing.

Among this week's casualties was this lovely Willowtree statue. When I saw it lying in this position, it made me laugh out loud! I can almost hear the child's sobs and the mommy angel saying, "Huh. He was holding my hands a second ago..." It's not quite the serene pose that Willowtree intended, but I think there just may be a market for this sort of thing...

Ahh, the things that get me through my day!

Oh! And quick Ben quote from Sunday:

The set-up, first...The kids have been working on befriending our cat, who only cares for me. They get so excited when he allows them to get close to him or seems to give them the time of day. We've been working on not "cornering" him so that he gets nervous when they both descend upon him with affection.

Sunday, Timmy (the cat) was pawing at the front door when we were outside. The kids decided to try to let him out, which we do sometimes. They were both standing in front of him coaxing him incessantly while I held the door open. Ben then abruptly moved to the other side of the porch and said, "Ellie, I think Timmy feels angled. Come over here."

When I asked, he agreed that he meant "cornered." :-)

Two Months!

It's hard to believe that our little boy has had his glasses for almost two months now! This (getting glasses) was our only new medical adventure this winter. And as far as medical adventures go, it has been a piece of cake!

Everything from making the first appointment to adjusting to the glasses was smooth. This is certainly a welcomed change of pace in our household!

I obviously knew that the glasses would change the look of his little face, but I didn't expect all of the variations that they provide. When he wears them properly and his hair is in place, the glasses give him quite a studious, mature, and handsome air. When he pulls them down his nose, his hair is tussled, and the lenses are smeared he gets an "absent-minded professor" thing going on. This is the look he frequently demonstrates when I pick him up from pre-school. :-)

Since he has to wear his glasses full time, we opted to get the Transitions lenses instead of having to juggle sun glasses too. We still haven't decided if we'll do it again next year or not. I'm sure the summer will help us figure it out.

From a photography point of view, the Transitions are a real bummer, since I can never get a good outside picture of him with his glasses on. Here's a semi-decent one I stumbled upon from a quick trip to our park a few weeks ago. I like it because it's a genuine Ben smile (augmented by the embedded zipper "scar" on his cheek), and you can sort of make out his eyes through the darkened lenses.

Apple Froggies

I have a VERY soft spot for "food art." I've been known to make all sorts of wacky things for the kids to eat at lunch and snack time. When we have lots of different kinds of fruit, I make "face sandwiches" on a slice of peanut butter bread using slices and pieces of different fruit. This is an old standard for us. An extreme example of my craziness would be American flag sandwiches using American cheese and bologna (for the stripes) and dots of mustard (for the stars). Yes, I'm serious. I've actually done this on more than one occasion.

I found this idea (below) in a magazine and immediately tore it out. It's TOTALLY up my alley!!! The kids loved them. It's just a Granny Smith apple, green grapes, cream cheese, and two chocolate chips.

Of course, they both ate the eyes first...

I think I have a problem. Looking at these photos from today's lunch just solidifies it for me. Admitting you have a problem is the first step, right?

Easter Pictures

Last week, we went over to Elaine's for an Easter shoot. As soon as we headed outside, Ben, in his Easter clothes and Gabby, in her witch costume from Halloween, went to find a good tree to climb. Ellie was happy to be the center of attention and had Elaine is stitches with her girlie/princess "run." Meanwhile I was in front of the house trying to reason with my son in his brand new dress clothes and Gabby, the witch. :-) All things considered, Elaine got some really good stuff as always!

If you wanna see some of her work, go to www.elainegates.com/blog/. Scroll down a few entries to see some pics from our Easter shoot. If you wanna see ALL of the kids' pics, go to www.elainegates.com then portfolio then clients. Enter the password "eggs."

Ben's hair makes me laugh! The shoot was two days before his haircut. To me, it looks like he's wearing a wig! My favorite of the entire shoot is the one where he's leaning against a fence with his hands in his pockets. He looks like he's on his way to an interview. It cracks me up!!!

If I figure out how to upload some of the shots, I'll post them here...don't hold your breath.