Is this better?

original:

The lightened version. At least you can see their faces!

Out of time

I have exactly 12 minutes until I have to leave to pick up Campbell at school. Harrison is sleeping and I'm sitting amongst the largest pile of laundry I've ever seen. And, here I am.

I was waiting to blog until I edited a few photos to share. Then, I decided that I was probably not going to get to those photos until I was at least 33, so I should share underexposed photos and photos that need to be cropped. What will you see? Photos that need to be lightened, tweaked, and cropped. Eyes that need to be popped, color that needs to be saturated and images that need to be sharpened. Ah well...another day, okay?

In the mean time... Sunday we took 3 boys to see Speed Racer in the theater. Harrison was perfect, as usual. He sat quietly, ate and slept in his carseat. The 3 biggest boys and I were totally enthralled by the movie and the overall story line. I *LOVE* stories where good prevails over evil. LOVE it.

Monday was yet another HOT (100*+ degrees!) day and we had a little evening swim. When we arrived at the pool we were delighted to find Sawyer's friend from school, Grace there. The two boys had a delightful time playing with Grace while Andy, Harrison and I watched. Good times.

Cutie at the pool

How fun is that?

Same photo, different focus. So, the bokeh is in different spots. In the first photo I'm focused on Campbell and Harrison is out of focus. In the second, I'm focused on Harrison and Campbell is out of focus. I think it tells the same story but maybe with a bit of a different language.

Sawyer is paying homage to his Papa Tom, who loves to wave in photos. (This is one of those pictures where I would lighten it up, some!)

The cutest baby in the world. 'Nough said.

The best things in the world include a sleeping baby.

Time's up! gotta run.

brothers

Now we have pictures of both little brothers eating Cam's face. Cute, huh?

big and fun

Today was a pretty big day and I'm not talking about the temperatures. (The high today here in the Temescal Valley was 100.6*) Sawyer and Campbell both had a baseball game today -- only one more left! (May 31!!)

We sat through Sawyer's game and then after the game Andy wanted to drive by/through a couple of car shows that he'd read about in the newspaper. One was at the Glen Eden Sun Club. So, into the nudist colony we went. Okay, I'm joking about that last part. We didn't actually go in. BUT, that was where one of the car shows was.

Campbell's game was later this afternoon and it was still blazing and we were still sweating. He still played really well and had a lot of fun. Sawyer still enjoyed his friends on the sidelines and still enjoyed being bat boy. (There were several spray bottles involved and I think that might have kept Sawyer cooler than us)

We had big plans for tonight. With the new Indiana Jones movie coming out next weekend we decided to get the first three movies from Netflix. So, the first one came yesterday and we planned to watch the movie tonight after dinner and that the boys could have their favorite movie snack with it. (Popcorn and M&M's) So, we had a pizza picnic on the floor in front of the TV and started the movie. (I'd never seen any of them either! How exciting for me, as well) Sadly, we only made it through 45 minutes of the movie before we realized the DVD was damaged. How sad.

That is the big and the small and all of the news that is fit to print.

You're going to have to take my word for it

I had some cute photos that I wanted to share. I even had a story to tell with them. Unfortunately, you're going to have to take my word for it - as blogger is NOT cooperating with my plans. (My plans included uploading some pictures) Come to think of it, photoshop is not cooperating either and I'm not able to open any photos to edit. Perhaps it's a sign. Maybe, but a sign of what? Let's ponder that.

It's a hot one here today and Thing 1 and Thing 2 are topless playing Wii Sports. My air conditioner is also running on high as it's 100*. It's supposed to be 100* again tomorrow and let me tell you, I don't want to sit and watch baseball games in that kind of weather. Really, that should come as NO surprise.

Anyway, it's day 8 of cloth diapering and let me express my excitement about it. Order number two of diapers came and I'm waiting for the next batch tomorrow. That should be it for a while -- and hopefully will get me through 3 days before I have to wash diapers again. (While it's not a big deal, washing daily is for the birds!) I should also express my disappointment that I didn't start cloth diapering sooner. It's EASY and quite addicting. I know that washing the diapers takes resources (water and energy) but I feel good not contributing 6-7 diapers per day to the landfill. Now, I do 7 a week (night time) versus the 42-49 we did before. Small steps to being more green and reducing our footprint. Good things.

Good times

Last week (or was it the beginning of this week? It's neither here nor there, really) Campbell received a letter from his cousin *K*. *K* is 7 years old and is also in first grade. We were all very excited to open the letter and read what it had to say. It contained a family picture of *K* her brother *F*, her mom, and her dad, (Her dad is my darling husband's brother) a picture of her and her brother and the card.

Here is what the card says:

Dear Camel, (a little joke of sorts)

Are you excited for school to get out? I am. Only 17 more by the time you get this it will be even less. Love, *K*

I absolutely loved the letter. So, Aunt Kara, if you're reading -- please tell *K* a very big thank you - it's wonderful that she was thinking of Campbell!

**All of the pictures from today are straight out of the camera, not at all edited, Although they really need to be!!**

Today was a fun day for us. It started with Harrison receiving his DTaP immunization. The nurse gave him the shot he paused for a minute and then smiled at her. He didn't cry, didn't flinch - nothing. The nurse, however, made sure that her position was known that she's against breaking up the shots. Too bad I didn't ask for her opinion.

Then, Sawyer and I washed our van in the driveway. Now the van is reasonably clean and we had some fun. Sawyer was, of course, drenched after the affair and he blames that all on me. Couldn't have been that he was already soaked through before I got my hands on the hose!

After we picked Campbell up from school we headed to the new pool for a quick swim. It was a very hot day so it was quite a treat for the boys. Harrsion was decked out in pool gear but he didn't get in, he was quite content in the stroller. (Even though bigger and bigger bigger brother really wanted him to get in!)

For cousin *K*, a picture of Campbell without blue hair so she can recognize him! I hope she likes it better!

All in all, good times had by all! Looking forward to another good one tomorrow.

Video

Just wanted to share a quick video from Cam's Mother Goose performance a couple of weeks ago. Sawyer and I just watched it and I had forgotten how cute it is. ENJOY!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yesterday Sawyer looked at Harrison while he was blowing raspberries and said "Aren't we so lucky to have Harrison?" I agreed because we are so very lucky to have him. He's just wonderful and we all are crazy about him.

Today, Sawyer woke up and wanted to make cookies to take for snack to share with his friends. So, in between loads of laundry on laundry day - we made our new favorite oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Sawyer did almost all of the dumping of ingredients and he licked the beater. YUM! (Added bonus, they only contain 1/4 cup white sugar!)

Adding the eggs:

The oats go in!

The best part!

Checking out the final dough:

Aren't we so lucky to have Sawyer? YES! he loves his brothers, he loves to hug, kiss and cuddle. He's a wonderful little man - we are SO lucky. Now, I have to go pick him up from school! (Only 8 more school days until he's a kindergardner!)

Here are a couple of photos of Thing 1. It seems like there are few pictures of him unless he has his baseball uniform (or whatever sport he's currently participating in) on. And, I do have a few of those that are interesting, but I digress. He likes to occasionally wear his hair spiked up with blue gel.

Playing catcher on Monday night against the Braves:

This concludes todays photo montage of our day/week. Hopefully you've enjoyed it - I did! (It's only taken me 8 hours to actually finish this -- and now I must switch load number 9 of laundry)

Luckiest mom around

After a good mothers day - i have come to the conclusion that I'm the luckiest mom there is. I've got a fabulous husband, and three healthy and happy kids. Harrison is sweet, growing like a weed and HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY. Sawyer is smart, fun and really really funny! Cam is beyond smart, always challenging and just a nut! (Yesterday, that 6.5 year old boy read 100 + pages in the car while driving to and from Anaheim! This is, of course, normal for him -- but how proud am I??) What else could I ask for? I thank my lucky stars every day.

Yesterday we had a fantastic brunch at El Torito and then headed over to Disneyland. We rode a few rides (Pirates of the Caribbean, Big Thunder, Splash Mountain, Mr. Toad's, and PETER PAN!!!!) walked around and just had a fun low key day. We had lovely weather in Seven California (the descriptor of Seven is courtesy of Sawyer, of course!) that added to our wonderful afternoon.

No day for me would be complete without something being off. After Disneyland I took us on a wild goose chase looking for Whole Foods. (I love Whole Foods -- they have fantastic baby wipes, the frozen baby food cubes that Harry J. loves and a huge selection of California Baby products AND local produce -- very important!) I go there very rarely, however, because it's not quite responsible for me to drive all that way. But, since we were alledgedly (according to GPS!) only a few miles from there, it seemed like a good idea. The route goddess was way off and we never got there. (Never mind that I've totally been there before!) OH well...

And that was our day. Hopefully all of my favorite mommies had a good one too -- or at least not a bad one.

Update

Harrison had his 6 month check up today. He is 20 pounds and 27.5 inches. Around 75 ish percentile for both. I know this is how much Cam and Sawyer weighed at 6 months, but I'll have to check the height.

I deferred any immunizations, again. The doctor in the office wasn't upset but wanted to let me know it was all on my head if my baby caught polio. I'll take the risk, thanks. Actually, I was all prepared to give the DTaP, but he's still got a cold and I'd rather not add to his misery. (HA HA, this baby miserable - never! ) so, I scheduled a nurses visit for next Thursday. Anyone putting any money on if I take him in? I'm not a wagering type of gal so I'll sit that one out. But, it's really anyones guess.