Random Scenes

 Uh. Those superheroes be mine.

 Grocery shopping is exhausting.

 Grapefruit be growing.

 Everyday LEGO battles are a necessity.

 O. My. Word. The cutes.

 We go on dates and eat tiny cones of gelato.

 My family.

 13 years since we started dating. We still like each other very much. 

 To celebrate, I bought myself four new pair of shoes.

Libby loves to brush my hair. I let her. We both win.

I hope you enjoyed this installment of randomness.

On The Trail

 Rather than cheat and drag these pictures out into 5 different posts (which I would totally do), I am opting to just dump them all here. 

He doesn't find us nearly as humorous as we find him.

 Oy. Growing up way too fast there, Abbie.

 Bahahahaha! Also not amused.

Despite being the skinniest child possibly in the history of ever, he's so freaking cute. And devilish.  

 No words. Just love.

I'm channeling my inner fashionista. Apparently.

 No, she doesn't ever want to hold my hand. I spend most of my time chasing her. 

 I have a feeling he is going to be a powerful force someday. For good or evil... it is yet to be determined. 

We really should have put this one in modeling.

Thanks for taking that walk with us!

What I Got For Mother's Day...

 Well, I asked for a LOT of things for Mother's Day.  To be specific: These and maybe one of these. Or perhaps something perhaps maybe a little bit like this. I could go on.  But ya know, sometimes the money just isn't there. Which is fine. Really. Especially since we just booked a cruise (I know!!!) for June.

So in the end, what I told the husband I would like was some pictures of me with the kids. Simple enough, right? Ha. Ha. Haa...

Uh, Libby... over here. At the camera. Not the squirrels. Also, I require children to cover up my roly poly midsection, thanks.

 Um. Miles? Dude. And really Abbie? The book???

 Can we just pretend I only have four kids and Photoshop Abbie out of this one? Matt wondered if she might be turning into one of those weird EMO kids with their Harry Potter and non-showering. We can't let this happen.

 So, we let loose a little. Make a funny face. Sure. Great. According to the husband I look Nazi deathcamp skinny in this one (so I went and ate some cookies).

 I finally took Abbie's book away and made her actually join the rest of us (she looks thrilled). Shout out to Anna for looking perfectly posed in every picture. She gets it from me.

Then Lucas decided to stick his hand down my shirt and tickle me in the er... cleavage? Yeah, photoshoot over.

P.S. Check out my hair!!!?!?!

Finally

Abbie loves to read. Loves it. However, she has this tendency to balk when I encourage her to read a specific book, as if my recommendation seals its fate as a terrible book. And by balk, I mean, throw an insane hissy fit. So, for years (literally at least two years) I've been trying to get her to read Harry Potter. She even read about 1/2 of the first book last year. But, for whatever reason, she put it down and claimed it was boring.

So, because I don't want to seem a pushy mom (I totally am), I laid off. A couple of weeks ago, both Anna and Miles started showing interest in reading the books. I suggested we read them together, as a family.

I think I got about four chapters into the first book before Abbie commandeered it, finishing it in under a day. She is now about to start the seventh book. On Saturday, we attended Universal Studios (with free tickets from the husband's employer) and purchased for her, her very own wand. These are not toys. They are uh... expensive($35). And they break easily (or so we are told.) Abbie picked out the Luna Lovegood wand.

The promise is that when she finishes the books, the wand is hers. I don't think we needed to incentivize her, but it doesn't hurt. In the meantime, she can't get her nose out of the books for anything. Things could be worse.

This picture is worth 1000 words

I won't use all 1000. Promise.

After school the kids are required to get their homework and their chores done and then if there's time left (which there is often not due to feet-dragging) we can go outside and "play."

Apparently, "play" at our house includes popsicles. It must. There is hell to pay on my part if I suggest we go outside to play without having an ample supply of popsicles on hand. Perhaps this is due, in part, to the incredibly warm weather we are already experiencing.

Items to note in the above picture:
1. Lucas has no shoes on. Never does. Recently we went on a run as a family on the bike trail that runs behind our home. Lucas failed to wear shoes. He also ran most of the way. It was nearly 2 miles. Get that boy some FiveFingers!
2. He also just dropped the remainder of his popsicle on the ground. He proceeded to eat it off the ground. At least until the ants got to it.
3. Anna's a poser.
4. Also Abbie with the posing. Geez.
5. Miles is looking so very GQ. I'm sure it's because his brain can finally breathe again. That boy has the thickest most insane hair. SO MUCH HAIR. And he detests haircuts. It takes me weeks to convince him.
6. I'm sure at this point Libby is scavenging for whatever popsicles are left, having finished her own. In fact, I can see that Abbie has already given Libby half of what she had left. That child can eat! And also, scarf popsicles with the best of them.

See? Much less than a thousand words.

Skillz I've Not Got

 Oh yay! It's an ice cream. Though, not really. It's actually a cupcake. Have you ever tried to make these? I did once a couple of years ago. Made a HUGE mess. Fortunately, my neighbor is much more skilled in this area. She brought over a tray of them for my kids.  They were quite tasty. 

I only know this because once Libby had removed the frosting portion, she handed it to me. 

Yay me!

Strange

 It's totally normal to eat bubbles. I know I did it when I was a kid. You did too. I'm sure of it.

Though, I am fairly certain there are no pictures of me that are quite so incriminating and frankly, strange.