Boys and Pictures

I should really title this "How to Not Lose Your Joy When taking Pictures of Boys."  Except, I actually have no tips.  I have learned (am learning...??)  to relax with the idea of taking the perfect picture and instead, embrace the reality.  These boys are a wonderful kind of crazy.  They cannot be contained in poses and pixels.  I'll still give it a shot though. 

Finally... they are all looking and the faces pretty much resemble normal.  I'll take it!

And because I am a glutton I had the big boys stop for one more.  Luke's face says it all.

Okay, okay, we're done... for now!

Family camping

I have been oh so absent from this little blog.  My other computer bit the dust and I have pictures on there (!!!!!).  Until we can take it into the shop to extract all the important stuff currently being held hostage, I am just going to pick up as if a several month gap is completely normal. 

We took our first family camping trip earlier this summer.  It was so much fun.   It was rainy when we got there so Jeff had us upgraded to a sheltered site.  I was thankful to have that so I could park Eli out of the rain while we got all the gear unloaded.  I did not like how verrrrry close we were to neighbors, though.  Guess there was a trade-off to not getting soaked!

roasting marshmallows

Jeff took the boys to look at the creek while I put Eli to bed.  I had 5 minutes of this:

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh

 Hiking the next day was the highlight for me.  It was so beautiful.

The stinka'

Pondering....

Some sweet passersby took our family picture.

I just love the looks on their faces.  

Overall, very good experience.  We are already planning our next trip!  

Last of the Easter Pics

The boys play endlessly with the plastic eggs.

Eli relaxing outside.

After our egg hunt at home (with empty plastic eggs).  They do it over and over and over...

Easter morning: each got a book (Sean got a weather encyclopedia and Luke got a book on numbers), a plastic spork for camping and a couple healthy treats.

"Can I eat this now?"

 Eli got a farm animal book.

 After church picture in our yard.  I forgot to get someone at church to do a family shot.  And then I forgot to get one of Jeff & the boys and one of me & the boys.  Oh well.  The spot was too shady, but the sun was super bright and, well, you do what you can with 3 wiggly boys.  Budreaux was creeping in the background.  His ears are down because Jeff is trying to get him to move (he was scratching himself unceremoniously in the background).

We cooked out steaks and then rested for a while.  Later we played outside and took a  nature walk.  

And not gonna lie- we had pie and ice cream for dinner.

Natural Egg Dye

A new thing for this year- dyeing eggs naturally.  So maybe I should have looked into it a little more and actually planned for it.  But we had fun experimenting.  

First we boiled the eggs.  Miraculously no eggs were broken during transport to the pot.

Then, off to the yard to find some stuff to color the eggs.  

Dandelions for yellow.

Holly berries... because they're red.

Random stuff from the ground.

Couldn't resist a photo op.

Just precious.

Some more stuff from the ground.

Inside we separated it all into glasses.  We had grass, dandelions, holly berries, some purple weeds and pulled blue berries from the freezer.  We poured hot water into each glass and added a dash of vinegar.

Checking out the progress.  They sure do take longer than commercial dye.

And waiting....

Finally, first batch is done.  They look... natural!

I actually love the different shades.  

Next year I will plan ahead and get the other natural dyeing materials in addition to foraging in the yard.

Thank you, God, for your beautiful world around us!

Resurrection Walk and Egg Hunt at church

For the past few years our church has a Resurrection Walk and Egg hunt w/ lunch and a craft.  We usually eat and do the craft then head out for the walk.  During several stops the kids get to hear different parts of the story leading up to Jesus' resurrection.  Then they hunt for eggs in the yard.

Sean listening intently during the first story.

Luke is picking various vegetation growing beside him.  I had to verify that is was not poison ivy.

 Since I was flying solo with the 3 boys (who were actually very good!) I did not get many pictures... thanks in part to this little guy strapped on to my person.

Who wouldn't love to peek down and see this?!?

 At an inside stop Eli was set free for a minute.  Of course he crawled all around and out the door.

Luke was adorable hunting eggs.  Sean was with the older kids so I didn't see him.  After Luke finished he said, "I will give my eggs to Jesus." 

 (insert heart melt here)

Obligatory ride on swing.

 At this point I was ready to go and did not feel like posing Eli on the side of the hill with the big boys.  So, here they are after the hunting.

Praising God for Jesus, the cross and his victory over death!

Around here...

We've been enjoying hanging out at home and working on little projects.

Luke loves to have "some work" to do while Sean does his table work.  

Sorting Cuisinaire rods by color on place mat. 

Sean is steadily working through his Explode the Code book.  

Luke wanted more work, so he practices tracing.

And the brothers have built a town.  The poor town is repeatedly hit by a tornado.

Here's a cutie playing with his treasury basket. 

I am determined to get some good shots of all 3... mommy will jump out with the camera anytime!

Sean's 1st Soccer game

Sean had his first soccer game.  His team is called the Rapids. Go #5!

Sean strikes the pose- he's a natural!

Jeff is tackled by the team during half time.  Why does this sort of thing always happen to him...?

Eli enjoyed the grass.

Sean and his favorite coach.

So, they didn't win the first game (or the second for that matter), 

but it has been fun (and entertaining!) to watch.