My Weird Kids

Several evenings ago over dinner, P made a comment about how much we enjoy having our kids around to entertain us. But I'll be honest. It'd been a long day, and I could not for the life of me dredge up one feeling of "joy" when it came to being around those children. Instead my mind crowded with images of the messes they made and the arguments we'd had and consequences that seemed to be necessary on an all-too-frequent basis. Fending off little hands as I tried to download bank statements on the computer. Searching the cabinets desperately for a meal that would actually be eaten. Using every ounce of my creativity to get kids to potty, to eat vegetables, to get dressed, to load up in the car, to stay near the cart at Target, to not scream at each other, to stop asking me for the iPad... Don't get me wrong; I love them. But sometimes I have feelings that wouldn't qualify as "joy" when I'm around them.

But several days later, I was doing my best to wade through the masses of pictures I've snapped and uploaded (and then left for dead on my computer), and I began to see an interesting pattern to my photography choices. Sure, I had the requisite photos of special events as well as a few homemade "shoots" in the backyard, but aside from those, all of the pictures were ones I'd taken to remember moments that made me smile. Weird things the kids did or silly things they said. Times when they amazed me. Moments that - indeed - gave me joy.

And the truth is that there are lot of them. 

So in honor of my two rascals, who do indeed keep me entertained just as much as they keep me running ragged, I give you - My Weird Kids: A Brief Photo Montage.

"Mom, dis is you baby gwand."

Cowboy and Superhero-Pwincess-Bwide
(always on the ready to pwotect me from bad guys in the backyard)

"HIGHER!!! HIGHER!!! HIGHER!!! HIGHER!!! HIGHER!!!
HIGHER!!! HIGHER!!! HIGHER!!! HIGHER!!! HIGHER!!! HIGHER!!!
HIGHER!!! HIGHER!!! HIGHER!!! HIGHER!!! HIGHER!!! "

The best part of waking up is children in your bed....
who then proceed to giggle loudly and wrestle with each other
and are ultimately all-out jumping on the bed and on you
before you finally give up on sleep and desperately
escape to the shower.
Where they follow you and beg for breakfast.

Nice Weather = Lunches Outside
Egg sandwiches are the food of choice at our house right now.
It's driving me crazy. And yet.... oh the thrill of discovering
something they will eat!

After rest time, I am sometimes smothered
by a Christmas blanket holding a young boy.

They are "camping."
On the driveway.
In the middle of the day.
Using a single, cheap Princess Sofia sleeping roll.

"Don't mind me. Just makin' myself at home here at the library."

I can't get Sarah to stop changing (or all-out taking off) her clothes...
But on the upside, her skirts evidently make perfect sunshades!

This is the outfit she chose to wear to a birthday party.
(I guess she's expecting a flood?)

Until next time, my pretties...