Aunt Stephanie Lies

The boys spent the day with Grandma yesterday while Chad and I were at work.  My sister in law and her little boy joined them for a playdate at the park.  Below is the text that I received from my "dear" sister in law.  I guess Nolan had to find out sometime that even those close to us lie...and tattle.  I have underlined the only important part of this message, because as I pointed out in the title "Aunt Stephanie Lies" and I KNOW my little angel would never say anything vulgar like this...

Brittany - Senior

Meet Brittany.  She is seriously one of the sweetest girls I have ever met.  The whole time I was with her I was just thinking, "I wonder if she babysits."  No seriously, Brittany do you babysit?  

I sometimes joke that Chad's family is so big that I am now more than likely related to most of St. Charles County.  Well…this was no exception.  Don't ask me how, I'm sure it's something awesome like she is Chad's second cousin once removed (yada yada yada) but whatever...she's related...and I'm claiming it...because she's cool.  Well Brittany is a Senior and about to embark on her final year in High School.  She's a student and dancer by day and a true Country Girl by night.  Thanks Brittany for spending the evening with me out in the country, the camera certainly does like you…

  

Synchronized Segways

This past weekend we took a little trip to Branson to celebrate my mom's 60th birthday.  I'll post more on the little trip later but I thought I would brighten everyone's Monday morning with a little comedy.  We spent the day at Dogwood Canyon in Branson.   It is a nature park with fishing, hiking, trails for bikes…you get the picture.  Well they offer Segway tours.  If you don't know what a Segway is, take a gander…

If you have never met my father I'll let you in on a little secret…getting to ride a Segway may or may not have been the most exciting thing in his life to date.  He was P-U-M-P-E-D.  He reads this blog so I will refrain from telling you how nerdy they all looked (although I bet it is evident in these pictures).   Anyway, they did a little "lesson" and then they were off for a little tour while us "women folk" tended to the children.  

Chad thought they were pretty neat, he was spinning around doing all sorts of "poses" for me.  I will spare you those pictures but assure you they are stellar.  However, I did want to share one.  This is Chad showing me how you could leisurely "walk the dog" on the Segway.  Not sure how many of you  have seen/met Cooper but I'm fairly certain Cooper would be walking that Segway as opposed to the other way around.

Well I promised you something that would brighten your Monday morning and I am here to deliver.  Below is a video of the boys doing a little "Synchronized Segwaying".  It is only 13 seconds, but I bet it's the best 13 seconds of your day.  Unless it's one of those "had to be there moments", and in that case I apologize for how much I have hyped it up.  Enjoy!

Friday Fun Day

We took another trip to Grants Farm recently, and I can't lie I think it's one of my favorite places to visit with the kiddos.  It's just big enough to wear them out, but not QUITE big enough to wear me out.  Win/Win, yes?  I fear that every time we go there my pictures will be the same old thing, but they are still cute so here's to another trip to Grants Farm…

I mean everyone loves feeding the goats, can't you tell.  I mean look at those smiles?...

Okay okay, maybe everyone loves feeding the goats from the OUTSIDE of the cage…

We moved up in the world and decided to feed the camels this time as well.  I want to point out that the boys thought it was pretty funny to throw the food into their mouths instead of letting them eat from their hands.  Please note my stellar photography skills as I actually caught the food flying in the air from Nolan's hand.  Awesome, yes?  Apparently I was pretty excited about Bennett meeting Mr. Camel for the first time as well, excited look/scary look...such a fine line.

Here are just some random pics of the day.  I love the one of all the kids peeking in at Spencer in the stroller.  The big kids are so sweet to the little ones, always trying to get a laugh.  Also please note our newest member to Friday Fun Day, in the top right is Ms. Emersyn.  She (and her mom) more than likely thinks this crew is nuts right now, but one day she will think they are awesome.  

Big kids actually posing for a picture (perhaps next time photo opportunities should be taken prior to snow cone consumption)…

Big kids doing what they do better…

And looky there, me with both boys.  One out of two looking at the camera is a win in my book.

Cake!

This first birthday seems to be lasting forever I realize, but you only turn one once right?  So we are totally living it up in this house (and we are dragging others down with us).  I have a few friends that all have kids around the same age as Bennett, meaning they all just turned one within the past two months.  What better way to celebrate than with a cake smashing party, am I right?  I'm not sure why I continue to torture myself with these big ideas I have, but then when I look at these pictures and laugh just thinking about the craziness of it all, I somehow think it's all worth it. 

Warning:  There are a lot of pictures in this post.  

Double Warning:  There will more than likely be another post with more pictures.

Deal with it.

It all started out with three simple cakes…

Add three adorable babies...

UH OH, babies on the loose.  Apparently cake was only appealing to one of them…

Well if they don't want it...

What?  

Approximately 20 seconds into the photoshoot Thomas stood up and butt-bombed his cake, so the rest of the pictures will truly be cake SMASHING pictures...

I stand corrected, they will be pictures of babies getting away from the cake smashing...

Thomas officially had enough, he was D-O-N-E (but this one is maybe my favorite picture)...

Violet and Bennett were on their own at this point...

Hmmm, what should we do with these?

I guess we should eat them?

Shhh, don't tell my Dad I ate this cake...

Well here we were with 3 cakes and only 2 babies to eat them, and that was unsat.  Thankfully Connor was there to sit in for Thomas in his time of need.  Although Connor is not quite 10 months yet, he held his own in the cake eating department...

Synchronized cake throwing, maybe if it catches on it will be a new Olympic sport.  

Connor might  have to try out for the team again AFTER he turns one…

Everyone enjoying their cake...

Bennett:  What are you laughing at?

Thomas decided he would come back for some more "fun", but realized his cake had been overtaken...

And finally, the MONEY shot!  All four kids were present.  Were they happy?  Eh…it's questionable!

And if you think this photoshoot was easy, please see the below "behind the scenes" video for proof that it most definitely WAS NOT!

Reality Check

I promised some bloopers of my little calendar project and I am here to deliver just that.  I can't lie, I think the outtakes are better than the actual shots I used…perhaps I should make them into a collage as well.  Not tonight though, I'm feeling lazy so you're just going to have to wade through the millions of pictures I am about to post.

This is just a little glimpse of some of my photo-shoots with Mr. B and everything I was dealing with (now you'll see why I should have run out and bought some stock in Deodorant prior to this little journey).

A crying baby…

A large animal…

A screaming baby…

A baby that wants to sit...

A baby that wants to crawl…

A teething baby…

A standing baby…

A confused baby (with large chicklets for teeth)... 

A curious baby...

A tired baby...

An assistant who didn't get out of the way in time…

A happy baby that is finally DONE with this project...