Sunday Snapshot: {Say Cheese (Touch)}

I have spent the entire week of vacation trying to get a decent shot of all three kids.

You know. One where their eyes are open.

Or where they aren't yawning.

Or moving.

Or just being plain silly.

One where everyone is looking at the camera.

And this is what I came up with.

And I had to say, "Cheese touch," to get it. (If you don't know what that means, ask your nearest Wimpy Kid fan.)

I don't know how you photographers out there do it. I'm exhausted.

Sunday Snapshot: {Ben}

I can't believe how fast my kids are growing up. It seems like Ben should still be my sweet little toddler, learning to walk, but next week he will finish up the first grade.

This has been a year of changes for him. A year of growth. A year of creativity. He has had an amazing teacher who has worked hard to challenge him, which is a challenge in itself.

He has dreamed big dreams.
He writes me poems that melt my heart.
He writes funny short stories, inspired (ok, required) by his weekly spelling homework. *See bottom of post if you can't make out the words...*

In typical little boy fashion, his papers always come home crumpled like this:) He is also working on a new Star Wars story and a Captain Underpants comic book. It's hard to believe this is the same child who swore he could never do it the first time he had to write sentences for homework.

Occasionally he comes home with some.... interesting projects. Including this monster he created on Earth Day.

He was so proud, but thankfully understood when I explained that we would be recycling those water bottles and LJS box. As long as I took a picture first, of course.

He has grown from a sweet little baby, into a sweet almost-eight-year-old boy. I am so proud of who he is, and who he is becoming.

**For those of you having trouble reading the above stories:

• One day in Spring, in the month of march, a bug climbed up a tree to look for his missing gloves and saw some frogs drinking out of cups. When they were done, the frogs read books about trains. So the Bug turned around saw some birds in the tree, and said, "Have you seen my gloves?"
• Once I met a mean sheep with big feet. He said, "Maybe I should destroy Earth." I said, "I can see you want to destroy the planet, but you won't." Then he decided to be friends with me and invited me to eat pizza.

Sunday Snapshot: Kate NaNa

It's been awhile since I have written a Kate NaNa post, so I am well overdue.

She is still her adorable, giggly, sharp-as-a-tack self, constantly changing and growing and surprising me. This week she counted to thirteen. I had no idea she could count to ten, much less thirteen. Last time I asked she only got to three.

She loves to carry around her Daddy's old cell phone, telling me, "I have to check my email."

She still loves preschool, her teachers, all of her friends, and lunch. Lunch is now her favorite topic of conversation when I pick her up. She'll say, "I had ih-in (chicken)," or "ah-ee-o-ee (ravioli)" or some other yummy school food. But she was most excited the day she came home to tell me she drank chocolate milk. From A Straw, Thankyouverymuch! She still can't do the straw thing 100% of the time, but she is making progress that we are seriously proud of.

Another of her new favorite pastimes is telling jokes. But let's face it, she is only three, so you probably have a good idea of how bad these jokes are, even if they make sense, which they usually do not. But what she really wants to do is to make us laugh, so she will find a way to do it.

The other night I was putting her to bed, and she told me not to let Mrs. Claus get her.

Let me back this story up a bit.

All throughout Christmas, she kept telling me not to let Santa get her. Thankfully we never saw the big guy, but she kept saying this. So finally, one day while the boys were at school, I sat her down, and we had the talk. You know, the one about you-know-who and who really brings the presents. We went over the details several times to make sure she understood she was safe, and then I told her that the boys didn't know this yet, and it was a secret. I asked her if she could pretend with me. She nodded yes. I figured, hey, what have I got to lose? If she spills the beans, they aren't going to understand her anyway, and if they do, they probably won't believe her. (And even if they do, I am so ready to be done with Santa. I never told my kids about him in the first place. But that is a topic for another post.)

So fast forward back to the story.

Kate: Don't let Mrs. Claus get me.

Me: Now, you know that Santa and Mrs. Claus aren't real, don't you?

Kate: (Head nod)

Me: And who brings the presents?

Kate: Mommy and Daddy

Me: That's right. But we pretend for Ben and Will don't we?

Kate: No, I told them.

Me: You told Ben and Will that Santa isn't real?

Kate: Yes.

Me: Did they believe you?

Kate: Yes.

Me: REALLY?

Kate: (Hysterical laughing)NO!!! I joking!

See what I mean? I have quite the comedian living here.

More Ben...

Can I just tell you that I l-o-v-e getting comments? For my last post, I did a Sunday Snapshot. These are the brainchild of Stephanie at Ni Hao Y'all. If you post a Sunday Snapshot, she will post the link on her blog (which is v-e-r-y popular), and so I got lots of visitors I don't usually get. And they left comments, which is very fun because 1) I know people are reading this, and 2) I get to discover new blogs.

Anyway, since my last post, I got the pictures that Tara took weekend before last, and I thought I would share his handsomeness with y'all. (Don't worry, I have cute shots of the other two too, but you're going to have to wait;)

Sweet Ben

A month or two ago, Ben had the flu. The only thing that sounded good to him was chicken noodle soup. After all, what else do you want when you are sick? Being the culinary genius that I am, I pulled out the Campbell's condensed. Ben liked the soup, quite a bit in fact, but it started a conversation about the world's best chicken noodle soup. My grandmother, Ninnie, makes the best chicken noodle soup. Ever.
So the next time Ben saw Ninnie, he started in on her about wanting to learn to make it. Now, I had been trying to get her to teach me for awhile, but Ben has a certain charm that I just do not have.

This past weekend, he went and stayed with my aunt, and while there he visited Ninnie. Of course, she taught him to make chicken noodle soup. And of course, he took notes, just like his mama told him to.

And how cool is it that my son loves hanging out with his great-grandmother?

For lunch today, we had the world's best chicken noodle soup, while Ben explained to us everything he and Ninnie did to make it. He told me that eating this soup was even better than watching Ben 10. He must really like this soup.

Ben has had us all charmed for the past seven years, but he has put no effort into it at all. He is kind, and considerate, and a complete joy. He loves to snuggle and cuddle. He just loves spending time with the people he loves.

He is crazy about his brother and sister (even if he does get a bit jealous from time to time), and honestly tries to be fair and kind with them. He reads them stories, makes them handmade gifts, and helps them with things that only big brothers can do.

Ben, you are a treasure. I love you more every day, and I look forward to going on more "dates" with you.

PS. Pictures are courtesy of Daddy John, who spent Friday at Ben's school helping him make the gingerbread house. Well done, by the way:)