wonderful baby I'll watch while you grow

Remember these four cousins? {Beck, William, Hank, George}

They are all grown up now.
Well, you know what I mean. 3-ish is light-years away from newborn. {Moms of Beck and William looked fantastic post partum. And their babies were so big compared to mine. Beck is 6 months older. William, only 10 days older. Crazy.}

This is as good as we could get them to pose together. George was especially uncooperative. What a shocker. {L to R: William, Beck, Hank, George}

Beck loved wearing these flippers. What a cute boy!

boys and family pictures

Sometimes family pictures are just too much when you are a) a boy and b) surrounded by mud and sticks and rocks.

 Too much.

Our friend, Aimee, took our family pictures this year and she worked her magic. When we finished the shoot, I was certain there wouldn't be one decent shot. 3 boys (I won't name names) WOULD NOT behave/resist the mud/smile/look at the camera. And yet, somehow we ended up with lots of great images; ones I couldn't have imagined from my vantage point. I don't know how she did it, but I am most grateful. We are trading the photo shoot for a quilt. I can't wait to get started.

redemption in a car

Jonah has redeemed himself.  Last year at the annual cub scout pinewood derby, his car came in last almost every race.

This year, his car was fast.  He won race after race and out of 50+ boys, came in 2nd overall.  He was thrilled.

Mark cannot explain the win, as he thinks they did everything about the same both years. Hopefully he will figure out what he did differently because we have 10 more pine wood derbies to look forward to.  He is very happy for Jonah this year. It is almost redemption for his own cub scout days when his mom tole painted flames on his first car and they didn't know they could use weights and graphite.

#22, second from left.

The difference between 1st, 2nd and 3rd places was 1/100th of a second.

Cool winner's trophy: his car mounted atop a wrench.

pull my flag

According to Jonah, Saturday is for football. Specifically, Colts flag football. Everything else is secondary. He loves it.    

These boys really get into this.  And they are all going pro.  Jonah's worried about someday having to play against his friends in the NFL because what are the chances they will ALL end up on the same team?  I mean, that would be awesome, but probably some will be on the Cardinals, some will be on the Colts, and some will be on the Steelers, right mom?

 The other team looks pretty intimidating, no?

 Actually, the other team did win this game, but Jonah's team played really well.

In this picture, the quarterback threw the ball to Jonah and he ran it in for a touchdown.  I was too busy cheering to get that shot. 

Now if the weather would just cool down a bit.  

I think Arizona's football season should be in the winter.

love these boys

womb for two

I am going to let this photo speak for itself. Because there are no other words. Really.Except maybe these: overwhelmed, excited, shocked, WHAT?, huh?, help! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?, boys!, and most of all ELATED! {my mom totally called it.}

tough guys

mustaches = sunday afternoon fun.

Owen the Big Boy

Today is Owen's birthday. The big 3. Owen is the best helper! He pulls a chair up next to me whenever I am cooking. He spouts off the ingredients to rolls and waffles by heart. He loves to wash dishes. He is getting better at potty training consistency, sort of. He loves to act like a cat while giving kisses and licks. He told me this morning, "I have good moves," after showing me how Kung Fu Panda kicks. He loves dinosaurs and Star Wars and loves to sing. He loves short sleeves. Will. not. wear. long. sleeves. (above photo was a fluke).

He corrects me anytime I call him "babe" or "buddy" or "honey" and says, "I'm not a honey, I'm Owen the Big Boy!" He loves his older brother and sisters. He loves to wrestle with dad and Jonah and wear Molly and Grace's contraband lip gloss.

Happy Birthday Owen! I'm head over heels for you!