You know your puppy is spoiled when...

...she gets her own blog post.

The Pumpkin Patch

I took my boys to the pumpkin patch on Friday after school. We had a good time but I mistakingly told them that after we had all our fun, we could go get donuts. After we finished anything, Joshua would announce "now we can go get donuts!!" Ryan had a great time going down the big slide, pulling the wagon and looking at the bunnies. And yes, Joshua ended up getting his donut. He inhaled it so fast and then said he wanted more. I told him he just ate one and he acted like he didn't remember doing it. They were super delicious.




He looks so sweet and innocent : )
The boys looked at the big field of orange and I think their philosophy was: if it is orange, we put it in the wagon to bring home. I guess I forgot to explain that we were only going to get a few pumpkins, and that we had to be choosy about which ones we put in the wagon. While I was busy snapping photos, the wagon filled to beyond capacity with dented, bruised, and rotting pumpkins. I informed the boys that if they wanted their pumpkins to last until halloween, they needed to choose only pumpkins that were free of spots. Joshua, who just turned 3, then found a bunch of little pumpkins and proceeded to catapault them into the wagon from as far away as possible. The concept of "gentle" hasn't really caught on yet with him. We weeded out the yucky ones and put them back. Hopefully these will last after the bumps and bruises sustained from their bumpy trip to the parking lot (see below). If not, we'll come back for more pupkins...and donuts.



After our picking excursion, the wagon was full of pumpkins and Ryan was pulling it up the hill and then he let go. yea...bad idea. The wagon picked up speed and flew down the hill toward the parking lot with two little boys waving thier arms yelling close behind. I was shouting "Watch for cars!!!" while hoping the wagon wouldn't take out a Cadillac on its trip across the parking lot. Of course my kids never thought to look before running after their beloved pumpkins---and a woman driving an SUV had to quickly halt to miss the boys on a mission. When she got out of her vehicle I thanked her for stopping and she opened her van door and got her little boy out---she flashed a certain smile and I knew right then that mothers of boys understand each other.

4th of July, family style!

We went to my uncle's house on the fourth and he has the most beautiful landscaping. There are photo opportunites everywhere! I needed a little separation from my camera so I didn't get it out until the last hour or so, but then I couldn't stop taking photos. The white fence, rustic barns, huge trees, hills...it is just gorgeous. If I lived anywhere near him I ask if I could bring clients there for photo shoots all the time. It is a picture of an all-american countryside. I saw some extended family that I don't see very often and since my cousin has a little girl and there are NO girls in my family or my near family, I had fun with little Bethany. She is adorable!

Bethany, being cute (of course!)

My uncle has (well...had) a remote control airplane. Unfortunately the plane could only stand about a dozen crashes---afer that it hit the fence head on and pretty much disintegrated.

RED, WHITE, and BLUE!

My cousin, Lisa (Twit) and her daughter Bethany

Brendon

Ryan, Joshua, and Luke

Oops, Mommy...I spilled

Ryan and his cousin Luke.

A few of MY Joys!

This blog wouldn't feel complete without me sharing some of my most personal joys! My family is wonderful and we have so much fun together. My boys are so full of energy and there really is never a dull moment at my house. ever. But we have lots of memories and fun times so I will occasionally post a few to share. : )

Slip and Slide!

He always looks so innocent!

Doesn't ever sleep in bed ; )


My boys with their cousin and uncle, or "funcle" as they call him.

Fall Photo Ambitions

I recently attended a seminar by a very accomplished photographer and remember her saying that she loves taking pictures...but hates taking pictures of her own children. I thought of her today as I dressed my two sons in nice fall shirts and prepped them for thier fall photos outdoors. Ryan, my oldest doddled around the house, obviously not too excited about the upcoming event. Joshua, my two year old didn't understand, or perhaps he did and simply didn't care. We eventually got outside and I reminded Ryan about his reward (bribe) of a penny for each good smile. Well....Ryan loves pennies, he loves to put them in his bank but I think he is starting to catch on that a penny isn't a super big deal. Come on, mom...how about some folding money?!? So he flashed his fake smile while his eyes were looking somewhere else and I snapped the cheesiest pictures ever. "You get your penny when you smile and look at the camera," I repeated. I ended up with a few good ones but within minutes, his patience was up and I had two orange-shirted boys throwing a tantrum in the grass. Overtired from preschool, Ryan had had enough. The cries and tantrums coming from my yard had me guessing which neighbor was going to be the first to call the Supernanny on my children's terrible behavior. I wondered what in the world I was thinking, trying to do the boys' photos while my husband was out of town and not here to help. I ended up carrying my youngest in kicking and screaming while the other was crying and stomping. My quest for good photos became a quest to get the kids in bed and maintain my hearing in the process. While I was tending to Ryan, my youngest who is a very michevious little boy, got into some of my Burt's Bees lotions, and found the most strong-smelling stuff he could find, the Almond Milk hand creme. I smelled it from the other room and when I walked into my bedroom and saw him with shiny, spikey, goopy, and offensively smelly hair along with that naughty little grin, I knew I had arrived a few seconds too late. As I ran for a wet towel to rub some of the excess out of his hair, he had already rolled like a dog all over my new non-washable comforter. After a long day, I felt like screaming but a laugh came out. Some day soon I will think of these days and laugh, so why not start now? After all, this is just another day in paradise.