hair today, gone tomorrow

This is MAJOR news people!  Elijah cut his hair off!!  

Those curls were beautiful but the last thing a 14 year old boy kid wants to worry about is hair care  and well...it was just becoming too much.  Plus, that's a LOT of hair to fit under a football helmet.

He has been planning this for a few months now and frankly I was skeptical that he would go through with it.  Maybe I was hoping (a little) that he wouldn't.  Honestly, those curls have become his identity and I was nervous about how he would feel when they were gone.

But, I'm over thinking...

It's just a haircut and it will grow back right? right!!??

Apparently, the sun shines brighter when you don't have hair hanging in your eyes.

Gramma in a box...

We Skype with my mom on the regular.  She lives in Montana so it's kinda awesome that she can spy check in on us whenever she wants. 
We always joke that the babies will think their gramma lives in a box.  They used to just sleep or stare out the window but they are starting to interact with her and it's pretty funny.  Actually, it's most funny watching her trying to make them laugh.  She has these little stuffed animals she waves in front of the camera like a puppet show or she sings "Wheels on the Bus".  They are probably thinking "what's this crazy lady doing in there".  They will probably jump out of their diapers when they see her in real life later this summer.

It's pretty much the best free entertainment around....

p.s.  These are the most horrible shots of my mom (and me!) but who looks good on a webcam anyways?

I guess Kaden got a little bored...(actually none of us look too entertained)

School's Ooouuuuuuuut!!

Even if mother nature hasn’t gotten the memo yet…it’s summer break!!

And guess who is most excited?  Well the kids of course.  Nope!  Meeeeeeeeeeeee!

Wait, you say….doesn’t this mean that you have about a bajillion kids hanging around your house all day?  (I’m a poet and didn’t even know it)

Well yes, but…

1.  I work (ahem..."outside the home" as well) so I’m not around said kids all the live long day.

2.   Older kids are easy peasy.

So why am I sooo freakin’ excited?

Laziness.

No more bedtime hassle

No more schedules

No more “crap, just bring down your school clothes you need for tomorrow because I didn’t get to your laundry yet”

Summer break means…

*Just throw something on the grill sometime before dark.

*oh, you only feel like taking a shower every third day? gross, but go for it!

*What? You stayed up until 2 a.m. texting and now you can't pull yourself out of bed?  What-ever!

They get to be lazy, I get to be lazy…everybody wins!

All this won't get me my very own chapter in The Bad Parent Handbook (not yet anyways) because it's short lived.  Isaiah has a grueling football practice schedule ahead of him and Elijah is off to Montana and will promptly be put to work in the hay field.

Sorry, no pictures...I'm too busy jumping for joy.

Man I love summer!

birthday season...

• Birthday Season [burth-dey see-zuhn]
• noun

1. The thirty-one day period in June and July when all the brothers have a birthday
2. The season directly preceding football season

ELIJAH

6/11 (that's today folks!)

Ya, he's has always been this handsome...

Sooo....happy FOURTEENTH b-day to my smart, witty and all around pretty fantastic offspring.

This is about the time in their lives when you start counting the opposite direction; down. 
The years until they become adults...
And {hopefully} move out.
Well I think hopefully.... on one hand you pray you've do a good enough job that they can become productive members of society but really you just want to bawl your eyes out.
....I'll probably do the latter.

(although I do find the thought of less laundry intriguing)

pictures...

I met Angie a couple years ago, she is a friend of a friend and I instantly fell in love with her work when she took these pictures of Elijah in 2009...

And I could barely stand to wait another year to have her take these pictures of him in 2010...

So you can only imagine that I was biting at the bit to get her out here to take pictures of the babies. 

And as always she left me nearly speechless (imagine that!!)

She somehow has the ability to capture personality traits on film that maybe only a mother sees.  Not only does she effortlessly handcraft precious memories of my children but she is a genuinely nice person and an all around good gal.

To view the complete set go here! Go now!(wait...finish reading my post, then go!)

Here of some of my favorites...

And because I © her so darn much I don't mind sharing her.

You can email her HERE or visit her blog HERE or email me and I can pass along her digits.