The One With All The Pictures

I initially want to apologize for a lack of pictures being posted lately. I've been doing most of my blogging from my work laptop (not during work time!) and it doesn't have any pictures on it. So now I need to apologize for the inundation of pictures on this post. It covers the last couple of months, briefly.

Back in July, we celebrated Keith's birthday. Nothing fancy, just broiled steaks and ranch-style beans the day of his birthday (on which he didn't get home until 10:30 pm) and then the following weekend we had cake and icecream. So here are "the boys" about to sing Happy Birthday.

This was Cooper's first time to have cake after his birthday party in June. He was thrilled and gobbled up every bit of the piece I gave him. Though he did offer to share a crumb with Daddy. It was his birthday and all.

This summer, we've had quite a few preschool playdates with other preschool families at our church. A different outing has been planned every week. We missed some and made some. Juggling both boys didn't allow me to take many pictures at the outings, but here's one from our bowling trip. It was Garrett's first time bowling outside of the Wii. As you can see from the picture, his technique still needs a lot of work. He looked more like a basketball player throwing a chest pass than he did a bowler bowling a ball. And the racket from the ball being lofted was not pleasant, but he enjoyed bowling. He actually bowled 2 spares. Though they did have pads in the gutters for the kids so that helped.

This is very common around our house. Garrett enjoying Cooper's toys whenever he can. And asking me to take a picture of him while doing so. (Sorry the flash washed him out here. He's not really this pale in real life.)

Cooper found Mr. Potato Head's glasses and had a lot of fun wearing them. I took quite a few pictures of this, but this one is one of my favorites.

A new favorite pasttime around here. Cooper has decided that he needs to color when Garrett does. So far he has actually kept the crayon on the paper and he really likes it. Garrett gets annoyed when Cooper continually tries to flip pages when he's in the middle of an intricate picture. But for the most part he's an extremely patient brother.

Garrett loves playing dress-up with his action hero costumes. Sometimes his ensemble requires a belt, so every now and then one will be laying around in the living room. Cooper decided to do his own dressing up, but figured the belt works better as a scarf. He loves draping things behind his neck like this.

And just to prove that our days are not all fun and games. We see this face a lot. I don't know what he was mad about here, but we've already entered the beginnings of terrible two's at 14 months old. He hits, he throws fits, he throws toys, it's lots of fun.

Easter Pics: Take One

Yesterday, I attempted to take pictures of the boys in their Easter outfits. It would probably be easier to get a picture of Big Foot than a picture of both of my boys smiling and looking cute. These 2 are really the best of the bunch that I took. And that's obviously not saying much.

Like brother like brother. This picture makes me laugh because they both have the same look on their faces.

I thought maybe I would have more success if I got Cooper upright and away from all the weeds he was trying in vain to grab and eat. So I stood him on his feet and had Garrett grab his hands. For some reason, this entire portion of the photo shoot totally cracked me up. Garrett kept making these "This isn't working, but I'm still attempting to smile" faces. And Cooper kept trying to sit down while doing his "I refuse to look at you and no matter how many times you call my name or how many different octaves you say it in, I will not look, nor will I smile" face.

I really wish I could say that on Sunday, I'll be able to take better pics than this, but honestly, I doubt that will happen. I would have better luck with the Yeti.

Give Me Your Input Please

In a few weeks we will be having family pictures taken and I need some help in figuring out what we should wear. I've requested of the photographer that these pictures be taken outside because I love outdoor shots when you have the right photographer and the right lighting and the guy who is doing this is awesome, so I'm already excited to see our pictures. What would you recommend we wear? I don't want to be too dressed up because that's not who we are. So we're definitely going to be wearing jeans (Cooper might be the exception to this, not sure yet). But what color should we go with for our shirts? While it is fall outside, I don't know that we'll have the ultimate fall background. This is Texas afterall. So we don't necessarily have to go with orange or brown or red to match the leaves, but if you think those colors would be good... Living in a house of boys, we have plenty of blue, but I don't know if we should do that or not. Or should we go basic and stick with everyone wearing white?

The last time we had a family picture taken professionally was when Garrett was about 14 months old and our church took pictures for a new directory. Since the background for that was going to be blue, we all wore a light shade of green (mostly because that was the only thing we all had that matched). While I love the picture because it was our first (and only so far) family picture, I kind of kick myself everytime I walk past that picture because the color just wasn't the best choice. I know this upcoming picture will hang in our house for a long time so I don't want to be kicking myself with this one.

Thoughts?

Pictures, Pictures

I've been promising pictures for a few posts now, so I thought I should deliver.

First off, since I complained about our picture session from last week, I had to include a couple of shots to prove that Cooper does and can smile. I actually took these the same day as the professional pictures were taken. They aren't professional quality obviously, just proof that my child is capable of producing a smile.

Awhile back, we bought a swingset off of Craigslist. I promised my mom that I would post a picture of it now that it's basically complete. We still need to get some sand to put around it and the tarp covering the fort needs to be replaced because it has a couple of small, worn spots in it, but it was a GREAT deal and Garrett loves it!Now for the birthday pictures. Every year, my parents send money for us to buy Garrett a balloon bouquet for his party, so here he is with it. The top balloon has Spiderman on it, of course.

The birthday cake.
Opening presents

First day of School

Now a couple of miscellaneous pictures. This one is pretty self-explanatory. The pre-requisite picture of the baby falling asleep in the exersaucer. Garrett actually never did this. He wanted me to think he was incapable of sleeping during the day.

The boys playing with the trains.

Professional Pictures

For those of you who aren't my friends on Facebook (or never check your account), I took the boys to have their pictures taken yesterday at JC Penney's.  I've been taking Garrett there for the past couple of years and really liked the way his pictures turned out, so I was looking forward to what they would do with both boys this time.

I was not impressed.  

Maybe they're not trained to work with small babies.  Or maybe we just got a bad photographer.  Either way, I was somewhat disappointed in the results, but I went ahead and ordered some shots because I'm not going through all the hassle of getting both boys ready and there on time (despite someone having a dirty diaper in the mall parking lot and getting to change yet another one in the car.  I might as well move my changing station out there as often as I'm changing diapers in the seat of the SUV.  I changed another one just today!).  Not to mention just the general hassle of scheduling the appointment and going through all the poses and the breakdowns.  Last year's picture taking was perfect.  Garrett was terrific.  This year's photographer totally intimidated him and he cried several times.  He's much past the age of just crying without being hurt or totally tired (and this was at 11am, so he was NOT tired nor was he physically hurt.)  

Anyway, here are a few of the decent shots that I ordered.  

The best shot of the boys together.  Not wonderful imo, but it's cute.  Cooper's totally in the smiling stage right now, yet this photographer couldn't seem to get him to smile to save her life.  Not that she tried very hard...

For this picture, the photographer kept trying to get Garrett to cradle Cooper like a newborn.  Cooper weighs, at the very least, 12 pounds.  I can barely cradle him without something supporting my arm, there is no way Garrett could hold him that way.  That's why he looks awkward in this picture.  

Literally the best picture of Cooper.  Pathetic.  Yes, it's cute, but I capture pictures that are, in my opinion, 10x's cuter than this at my house.  And he's typically smiling.  She kept insisting that he lay on his stomach initially, but she had a bunch of weird pillows under him which made him slide down and he wasn't comfortable.  So she moved him to his side and did not attempt another position after that.  

A strange pose for a boy, but I love his long eyelashes, so I like it.

You can tell that his eyes are shinier in this picture.  He had been crying because he didn't understand what she was saying when she kept telling him to look through the hole.  Rather than SHOWING him (hello, he's 3!!), she just kept repeating herself over and over until he started crying and I had to go to him and show him how to do it.  While I was holding Cooper.  Ugh!  I would have complained to someone, but she was the only employee working that day.

I'm surprised she actually took this picture.  She kept telling him over and over to stop smiling like that and keep his fingers down.  But this is totally Garrett.  So I do love it!

Tomorrow is the big birthday and the big birthday party!!!  I'll be sharing pictures from that as soon as I can.

Pictures

My parents sent Garrett a little package in the mail for Valentine's Day and one of the items was this sign that my mom made for Garrett to hang on his door. He was very anxious to get it hung right away and then wanted a picture taken so we could send it to Nana as proof that he got the gift.

Garrett is currently very interested in baseball. We play almost daily, sometimes in the house. Of course a nerf ball is used during those games along with a short bat that wouldn't do much damage. If any contact is made with the ball, whether it is with the bat or a body part, he immediately drops the bat and runs a circle through the kitchen and dining room. How do kids know these sorts of rules? I never told him to run "the bases" and Keith does not watch baseball.

I've started giving Garrett little chores where he can help out around the house. Here he is taking his clean clothes to his bedroom. He's much more compliant about assisting with the laundry or dishes than he is about picking up his toys. I wonder why that is? (And this is "what not to do" when taking a picture. I should have gotten down on his level. Now I know.)

Garrett the fireman with his dalmatian puppy.

And the last one for now. This is Garrett with the wild hog that Keith killed awhile back. (Taken in the back of Keith's truck.) I promise it's dead. And I can also guarantee you that this is a good picture in comparison to some of the others that were on the camera. Let's just call them disgusting and stop right there.