Year In Review

Okay, maybe not the whole year. But it has been a long time since I uploaded pictures, and here are some of my favorites in random order:

Sometimes we call him "Joyseph."

Falling asleep in the car. I think this was after Bryan's grandpa's funeral.

Patriot

On the way to Utah for the funeral.

Dear friend,
You never returned my phone calls and caused me a lot of frustration before you moved away.
But I forgive you, because you gave me this recipe. Oh, and the freezer raspberry jam that you couldn't take with you. Mmm boy.

Patriot and parade.

This is when we went camping. Yes, it was actually as bad as I expected. The kids did just fine and slept through the night. It was the multiple trips (for me) to the bathroom and the territorial hawk that kept me up most of the night.

Joseph is this helpful every day.

In which our friends came at the end of April, and we didn't feel like making dinner. Instead we got a pizza the size of a car.

Just, awesome.

In which we got to the end of a very long day with no fun for the kids, and then we stopped to visit Grandpa. All was right with the world.

See? More help!

Camping, building memories. Caleb, Savanna, Joseph? You better remember this because I went through a lot to make this memory.

Savanna's first haircut, which somehow gave her permission (in her mind) to then cut it some more. And then some more. I don't have a picture of the current hairstyle unless you look really hard at the previous picture.

Why do kids love boxes?

Our friends that came in April.

My haircut. Which now I'm trying to grow out again because I just can't stand to have hair in my face or on my neck. I should either go super-short, or long.

Savanna as Buzz Lightyear.

Please? More?

Two holes in one

This happened today.

Pause

You want an update, do you? Well, just pause for a second while I get Joseph up from his nap. (I get that from my kids: they are convinced that you can pause life and push the backspace if things aren't going your way.)

Where was I? Oh, yes. Let's start with Joseph. Walking. Getting more and more stable every day. Likes to show off how talented he is at walking. He also talks a lot. We can only understand a few words, and his inflections sometimes clarify the gibberish. He is still always into everything. He makes lots of messes and only occasionally finds enjoyment with putting things back. He also loves to amuse other people. Making people laugh is in his genetic makeup, I guess (not from me). He is also very picky. You'd think that a kid who seems to be a people-pleaser would find great encouragement in words of praise, but no. I'm having a hard time getting him to eat a balanced diet. Even though he doesn't like to eat food, he likes to sink his 12 teeth into bare flesh. Clothed flesh will also do just fine. Still smiley as ever. He comes to give me hugs frequently throughout the day, but spends most of his time being independent and exploring any non-babyproofed spot in the house. I will make it a goal to download some videos and pictures tonight. Wish me luck.

Savanna. Still changes her clothes five times a day. She thinks she can sneak her wet-in pants into the laundry without me knowing, but unfortunately she can't distinguish between a basket of clean laundry and a basket of dirty laundry. Recently she also sneaked into my room, found some scissors, and cut her hair (for the second time). We found the evidence all over the floor. I will also try to post pictures of this later. My friend fixed her hair, sort of. The snipped spot is not really salvageable, just disguiseable. I don't really like the hair cut, but it is better than shaving her head.

Caleb is creative. He is always making projects and drawing pictures and anything else to entertain himself and me. Today he made a reusable scavenger hunt that I tried out three times. Caleb loves to play outside in our cul-de-sac with Bryan. They play all the sports. It really is a good set-up. Even though the south side of our house is right next to a fairly busy road, the cul-de-sac goes downhill away from the road into a flat-ish surface. And since our driveway is a pretty good hill, all the balls roll back into the middle of the cul-de-sac, ready for more play. Caleb takes Savanna on adventures in our house and in the backyard, but more often then not they end up in screaming matches and "I'm gonna tell mom!"s. Oh, well. I didn't get along with my brother until I was 17 and he was 18 and we finally had some of the same friends. Teaching them to get along is going to take a loooooong time, I think.

Not much is new with Bryan and me. We're just trying to figure out how to pass the time this summer in a small town with few options.