Do you?

Do you play with play doh? We do.

Do you cut it and make fun shapes and trees? We do.

Do you make play doh tacos? Do you pretend to eat them? Do they have a truck as the filling? We do that, too.

Do you do silly things and have fun all day long? We definitely do that, too.

smile!

{flowers from my front yard}

I think that you should always take the time to smell the flowers. Roses, more specifically in this case. It might make the days like this seem a little less daunting.

{The scene from yesterday}

{one should fear jelly while bathing}

{harry's account of what happened as it unfolded. like his momma, he grabbed the camera for action shots}

Trying to make today a good one

Today is smashed in between a whole bunch of busy ones...two busy ones before it and about 100 busy ones after it. But, it's all good...except for the passage of time. You know, that little thing. And how, before you even stop you look at it, your little tiny baby is now over 2 years old.

It just sort of happens. Scary, isn't it?

Supposed to be

I'm not sure about much. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be. I take that back -- I'm supposed to be a good mom, a good wife, a good human being. Harrison is also supposed to be sleeping. I don't think he is. He fell asleep in the car, not good. I put him in bed. He's awake in there. I can see where this is going...

That is who he is right now. Not doing much of what I want him to do. Not doing much of what he's supposed to be doing. He spits, he yells, he calls names. Not to mention that he scratches and pinches, he runs away and he hits. He's a model 2 year old.

{but isn't he cute?}

{even when he's a wee bit sassy}

{and he can't quite do what he's told}

{he's really lucky cute works for him}

He's lucky because he never did go to sleep in there. Now, i have to go get him up. Grr....

It doesn't get much better than this

This past week, a couple of my boy cousins (Eric and Luke) came to visit from Iowa. I knew going into it that this would be fun. What I didn't expect was how full my heart would feel and what a wonderful day I would truly have with them and my aunt Gini from San Diego.

We hit the ground running early. Like 645 and made our trek to Hollywood. We were headed to the Price is Right. Unfortunately for us, luck wasn't with us and we wouldn't be the next contestants on the Price is Right! Instead, we figured a bit of touring the area would be a good way to spend our now empty day.

{you can't hide the prizes from us, Drew Carey}


{luke, mickey and eric}

After the boys settled on a trip to Hollywood, we made the short drive over to the stars, sunshine and freaks. Surprisingly, we weren't the biggest oddballs there...

And, for my grandma because she used to love to watch Judge Wapner on the People's Court so...


After our people watching, we had some more free time before I had to return back to reality. Santa Monica and the pier were beckoning us on this fine, and very warm, almost spring day.

We stood upon the pier gazing at the waves and creatures that were around...we soaked up the sunshing and pondered our next move.

Here's where I would have liked to have been, lying on a towel, soaking up the warmth the sun was offering that day:

Eric decided he needed to ride the ferris wheel and we simply couldn't let him do it alone. It wouldn't have been right. He needed us. So, even though Gini doesn't do rides and I don't do ferris wheels, we went up. And, you know what? We were all pleasantly suprised. It was the perfect thing to do.

{eric and I}

At the end of our stay I forced us all to get into a cheesy photobooth at the end of the pier. You know what? I'm so glad I did. We crammed ourselves into the tight space, changed up our expressions as much as we could and laughed the whole time.

And I returned home to Cam's 2010 pitching debut. The perfect way to end a perfect day.

Well, I'm trying.

I'm trying to stick one toe in the bloggin' waters. Does that count? I want to be here with updates regularly, but then I feel guilty for not and I give up.

Instead of dwell on that, though - I'm going to accentuate the positive. A few new photos and a quick update. Never mind that this was slated for last week and that the photos are a wee bit outdated. It's going to have to do.

Harrison is still his usual self. His vocabulary increases daily and he continues to think that he's at least 7 years old. He has commandeered Sawyer's little bike/car and made it his own. Luckily for all of us, Sawyer doesn't care! He makes a mess where ever he goes and usually has something to say about EVERYTHING. He doesn't make life easy, but he does make it rewarding!

The big boys are still doing fantastic -- they've had their first baseball games of the season and are both doing well at school. Including all of the fun activities, like Crazy Hair day!

We're busy but having fun and enjoying our days. I'll be around more. Promise.

I'm bring blogging back.

Just sayin' ... it's comin' back.

The demise of a mullet

For quite a few months, Harrison was sporting a full on mullet. There was no mistaking it - business in the front and party in the back.

While my entire goal was to let his bright blonde hair grow longer (think shaggy surfer hair) a mullet was never my intent. The problem is that I never could decide when to trim the moo-lay.

Finally, it became evident that the party had to go. He did really well...I was quite surprised. (After all, this is the kid that is afraid of characters at Disneyland and literally had assaulted Woody not that many days before)

And, just because, Sawyer.

AFTER:

While I'm on the topic..

After I'd written the last post about all the things I'm thankful for any my shortcomings as a person/parent, Cam presented us with his thankful list. This was prepared in class and presented to us on Thanksgiving after we asked him what he was thankful for.

He was quite happy he didn't have to tell us - merely hand us this!

Having all of these written works of his (and I'm sure the other two will prove as amusing) are going to be such a kick someday. (Someday? They already are!) Thank goodness for projects that really stretch his brain!

I'm also sure that someday I'm going to be glad to have pictures of my kids that I'm really happy with. Otherwise, how would I remember this wonderful face to go with that list of things he's thankful for?

Very thankful

While I'm no on top of it blogger, I still wanted to talk about being thankful. It's still Thanksgiving weekend, am I right? Yes. So, it's okay to still do this...

I'm super thankful for the life that I have. It's by no means perfect, and I'm as far from it as they come. (HUGELY flawed, I am) Despite my shortcomings, I still have a life that is unbelievable. I am lucky in so very many ways...but the most amazing?

These 3 boys. I am so very lucky to get to watch them grow and get to shape them into the men they will become. (Did I just say men? They will never become men. Period. They are always going to be little boys!) I see the mistakes I'm making in these formative years...but I hope I'm doing a few things right, too.

{sawyer, 6.5/harrison, 2/campbell 8}

So, I give thanks for a full heart, happy home and a healthy family. Those are the things that are truly important. The rest is just...extra.