New trick

I learned a new trick in photoshop today. Look below...
I know you've already seen this shot. But I had to redo it after I learned this awesome trick! People are always commenting on how beautiful my boys' eyes are. I happen to agree. This picture shows just how blue they really are!

Laundry Day

Ok, today marked laundry day. It starts as soon as I wake up, and doesn't end until I go to bed. Thats if I get it all done in one day. It sucks. But I really would rather do laundry all day than do the dishes. Thats just the way I am.

Anyway... back to the point of this post. On one of my trips down stairs (I get my exercise for the day just from hauling laundry up and down two flights of stairs - I have a three story house...) I heard the stirrings of Kieran waking up from his nap. So I figured I would grab him and haul the next load down the stairs. However, that is a bit trickier than it sounds so after a bit of contemplating I put Kieran in the basket and hauled them both down the stairs.

That gave me an idea...

This one is my super duper favorite. I love the expression.

This kid definitely ties for first in the cutest boy ever contest!

If you know my husband...

This is for those of you who are aquainted with Mark and his... brain. Yeah, that's what we'll call it.

Mark has been gone since Saturday night and will be gone until Thursday night. He's 20,000 leagues under the sea. Ok, not really that far but the actual depth is classified so I can't tell you how far down he is. :) Anyway, He's been on my mind. No more so than today while I was watching the show "Clean House".

After the reveal in the end the lead designer (who's name happens to be Mark) says "How do you spell genius? M-A-R-K!"

Yeah. That's my husband. I love him and his... brain.

T - 10 and counting!

Ok, for all you crazies out there who don't care - There are only 10 more days 'til opening ceremonies for the Olympics!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love love love love love love love watching the Olympics. Summer especially.
So you should definitely tune in and watch. Its going to be great!

One more

Here is another picture that I took at the park yesterday. I love this one.
Yes, that is my little boy at the end of that long line of ladies.

Burke Lake Park

Today when I did my morning check of my email there was an invite to accompany some of the other moms and their kids to a park that has a mini-train and a carousel. Along with an ice cream parlor, and some pretty wicked play structures. We haven't had naps (bed time will hopefully be early tonight...) but we did have a blast!

Braxton was intent on "watching the road" not looking at the camera. Owell.

Oh yes. He's a mess. In case your wondering he loved it. He's also still wearing that outfit. I have enough laundry to do.

Braxton's motto is "waste not, want more". He spilled some of his ice cream and then made sure he picked up every m&m and clump of ice cream. He even asked if he could lick it. That is where I drew the line.

He had about 8 helpers to get off of the slide. Even though he could have done it himself. He went along with it though. Such a good kid.

We'll get pics of the train next time we go visit!

In the clear

Just an update:
Braxton had his follow up blood work done today. He's good to go. NO lupus or leukemia. Phew. Maybe I'll be able to sleep tonight instead of spending all night worrying and praying. Anyway. YAY, my kid is ok. Thank you God.

Surfing the - rolls!

Braxton decided to "ho daddy" on me the other day. Braxton thinks "ho daddy" means surfing. Thank you Backyardigans. So anyway, I was lying on the floor reading my book and drinking my coke when Braxton decided to surf my rolls. This is the first time Mark used my new camera... He doesn't even come close enough for this to be painful. Its only painful when he wipes out.

Apparently the tales of Anita Blake were more interesting than catching the next big one.

I love this boy.

Aesop's Fables

This morning we went to a puppet show at the local park's ampitheater. The show put on today was Aesop's fables. We were mostly in the shade until the very end. Good thing too. There was no way I was going to sit in direct sunlight! Someday I will get them all to look at the camera, at the same time! Even if I have to put them all in halo's to do it. Jeesh.

These two are always a little more cooperative than Braxton is... Kieran watched the show intently, probably because he was only a horizontal position away from sacking out...

I don't remember what he was doing, but when mark stopped him (note the hand) he thought it was hilarious.

You all know this story, the grasshopper and the ant. The grasshopper is apparently an elvis impersonator. Raised the ick factor a little!
You know this story too! The tortoise and the hare starring Shelley, and Hare Jordan. HJ was my favorite.

The schedule

So about six weeks ago I started running. To get into shape, and do something physical where my kids can see Mark and I actually doing it. That isn't possible when I just drop them off at the gym daycare. At the end of each run we let Braxton out of our really cool stroller (nope, the coolness hasn't worn off. Even though it did manage to break my face a little...) and he runs the last leg while Mark and I "try to keep up". Its great.

I'm gonna step up on my soap box here and say that every family should do some sort of physical activity together. The childhood obesity rate is astronomical, and a lot of it is solely the parents fault. Poor diet, and poor activity levels. Kids aren't born knowing that McD's every night is bad for you and too much video game time can turn you into a sloth. Parents - Kids emulate YOU! I'm not saying you have to do anything huge, take a walk in the evenings after work, and maybe try to work a few more veggies into your diet. I can't ever get Braxton to eat his veggies, but he does see Mark and I chow down on them -all the time. You don't have to be Lance Armstrong or completely swear off all things unhealthy (what fun would life be then?) But a little bit can go a long way, and your kids learn from you. So just set the example! Alright, I'm stepping down.

So anyway, this is what the schedule of my first month of running was like.

The boxes that were Xed out were the days I didn't complete. I know lame right. Well, we had alot of visitors in that week and I just didn't seem to be able to make time. Mondays and Fridays are my favorite days of the week. Yes, the R.D. Stands for Rest day. Saturdays are my least favorite days since those are my "endurance lengthening days". If you're thinking this is a pitiful schedule, you're probably right and didn't just pop out a kid seven months ago. But it was kind of a struggle to start out. I'm loving it now. I'm losing that baby weight at a fairly steady rate, and I sleep better at night. Running, who would have thought its the cure to insomnia?

Fort-tastic!

So, in case you lovely blog-stalkers out there don't know what the east coast summers are like, I'll explain it in three words: BIG FAT SUCK! The heat I can handle, but the humidity is always awful. Like an average of a bajillion percent or something like that. So, because of this I keep the boys and myself holed up in the house during the worst of it. Yes, I know some will be horrified at the thought of me keeping my kids inside during the summer. But one, its for their own good. They're too little to have to deal with those heat conditions. Two, if I do let them outside, they can only be out there for a little teensy while before they've sweated everything out and have to come inside to cool down. So, because of this big fat suck weather, I try to come up with fun ways to entertain ourselves inside the house until evening when we can go out side and only sort of die. Yesterday, I built Braxton a fort in the living room. For those who know of the fort that exists inside the playroom, I'm sure you're wondering why. The answer is simple. This, is a different, non-permanent, super cool fort. Saweet huh?

He doesn't model for the camera much anymore...

isn't he adorable. Of course lunch absolutely had to be eaten inside the fort.

I made this fabulous peice of fort accoutrements. Yeah, I know, Its fabulous!

Small oversight

So, I realized that I never posted some of my pictures from the fourth of July. I have a pretty good excuse. That would be my boys all becoming festering virus pots. Anyway, we went to the celebration at Fort Belvoir. Much easier to go to than trying to get onto the National Mall for the celebration actually in the district. (there are something like 13 security checkpoints, and you have to get there super early!) So anyway, here they are.

I don't know who these people are. I generally make it a point to not take pictures of strangers, and especially not take pictures and then publish them on my blog. But, there were a couple of moments/shots that I absolutely loved. This was one of them. This dad had three sons. (I fear pregnancy again cuz I KNOW Mark would give me another boy.) I loved that all three of them were sitting or resting on him. They all seemed pretty cozy, and sat like this for about an hour. (in case you missed it the third son's head is resting under dad's chin)This army guy was totally hitting on this girl. If you can't tell from her face she wasn't having any of that. She walked away and did the silly girl thing where she titters with her girlfriends. (I would have called her stupid if she had turned down a navy boy...)

I'm not quite sure why, but I really like this shot. She's not watching anything exciting. The music was loud and the performer dull.

alright, there is a familiar face. It was a rainy, dreary evening and it started to rain so we covered Kieran in one of the blankets. Braxton thought it was funny, so he tried to completely hide kenny. Bj and Amanda to the rescue!

Barrett and Kieran sharing a moment.

What is the fourth without an Elvis impersonator? He creeped me out actually. He started walking through the crowd and just before he got to our blanket he stopped and turned around. Thank goodness.

What is the fourth without fireworks?

alright, folks thats a wrap!

Signs of Life

So, my house has been pretty dead this week. All three of the boys came down with whatever affliction Braxton had at the beginning of the week. Still don't know what it is, but we did discover that Braxton has almost a zero white blood cell count. That, apparently, is not good. More testing to come. Anyway, Braxton and Kieran's fever has broken, and I think Mark is nearing the end of it also. So, I am looking forward to a new week that entails sleep, and not sick and cranky boys. The perfect sign of this new beginning is the sprouts that have come up in a couple of the jars we planted seeds in! This is the jar with the Blue Bell Chrysanthemums.

This is the jar with the Morning Glories.

We can't wait for the flowers to bloom!

My son, the pin cushion

So, Sunday night Braxton started running a fever of 105.2. Along with that came some throwing up (this is in the middle of the night of course) and midnight movie watching. Yesterday we went to see a doctor because aside from the small bit of ralphing, he wasn't showing any symptoms as to why he was running a fever. In case you don't know, when a kid is running a high fever and is showing no other symptoms doctors tend to freak out. Especially when said kid has done this once before, and it turned out to be sepsis. SO anyway, they run a battery of tests to try and find a point of infection. The tests were a blood draw and a catheter for urinalysis. Well, apparently braxton was bone dry on the pee front so that was bust, and the blood clotted on the way to the lab, so that was bust also. So we got called back in to repeat these tests. Big fat suck there. Well, Braxton passed out during the second catheter which was bad enough. Then the nurses seemed to have forgotten ALL of their training and poked him six or seven times before they decided that they couldn't get an adequate sample and he had to go to a phlebotomist. Who, thankfully, got the sample in one quick prick. We're still waiting for results on what is wrong with him. Other than being traumatized by it all of course.

This is arm one. There is a sticker for each poke they gave him today. (note the one on his chest too) And for once, the band-aids aren't purely decoration.

This is the second arm. There are acutally two stickers in that hand...

This is the face I got when I asked him how he felt about it. This morning when I told him we had to go back to the doctors, he didn't freak out, he just said. "oh, the doctor lay down on the table and get shots today???" While it made me giggle that the kid already has a head for vengeance, it also broke my heart to have to tell him that he was the one that would be laying down on the table.

BJ and Amanda

My big brother came up for the Fourth of July yesterday, and while he and his fiancee were here I did some pictures of them together. Some of them turned out adorable (not hard with these two). And then I messed around in photoshop and made some of them not adorable, but cool none the less. This one is my favorite picture from photoshop. It is an actual picture, but the wonderfullness that is photoshop can make it look drawn. awww.

I made Barrett a tree hugger. Only for a minute, but I do have picture proof! I am upset with myself because I managed to cut their hands out of the picture. ERGH.

I call this one "love in a ditch". Because believe it or not those rocks in the background are a part of a drainage ditch.

Yup, they're laughing at me being stupid. Most people do.

This is "love in a ditch dos". The hat covers his face, unfortunately. However, he had a pretty bad case of hat hair, and the hat seemed to be the lesser of the two evils.

Bj, apparently, doesn't like to smile for pictures. I either had to threaten him, or be stupid. The latter is easier than the former.

Good luck to a long and happy life together you two!

Funny Face

Kieran happens to be one of the most expressive babies I've ever met. Truly. Here is a little sample.

I don't even know what to call this one....

This one says "ta da!!!!!"

I stopped feeding him to take a picture. He wasn't really mad. He just wanted to let me know I wouldn't like him when he's mad.

Braxton took one of the trucks. He was not happy with his brother.
OK, this isn't Kieran. These are egg yolks. I was separating eggs to make creme brulee, and I looked down and had a pretty, sunny, little flower. So, I took a picture. Well, actually Mark took the picture. My hands were all eggy.