Ups and downs and all-arounds ...

Ok, maybe that title doesn't make a whole lot of sense if taken strictly literally, but it is really a fitting description to our week and weekend. First off, my boys are like farm animals, however this time I'm not referring to them being little piggys or being born in a barn. I liken them to farm animals as I swear, they can foretell the changing of weather patterns days in advance. They have been absolutely insane the past few days. They have been constantly wanting to go outside and basically bouncing off of the walls (or furniture, or cabinets, or parents, or each other ... you get the idea.) I suppose it didn't help that there was also a full moon involved as well. Anyhow, they have sure kept life interesting.

Riley seriously seems to be learning a new word every other minute and he is doing so well with putting sentences together. I am so proud of him! Of course, the English language geek that I am, it is all I can do to not jump in and correct each little grammatical mistake. I just need to remember that the important thing is that he is talking and learning constantly and the rest will come. The big thing right now is confusing the pronouns I and my. For example, "Mommy, my do it." Do you think it's too much for me to be giving my 2.5 year old grammar lessons already? I mean, he has to learn sometime, why not get a jump start on it? Well, I'm doing my best and so is he ... so I guess, that's just going to have to do -- for now = )

Gage is also learning new words on a consistent basis, but mostly he is following the monkey see, monkey do pattern. He loves to repeat 2-3 word phrases ... unless, of course, you ask him to. Then you get his patented answer for most any scenario, "No." However, he has recently added, "I don't want to" to his arsenal of favorites. The funny thing is, he will usually go ahead and say what you want him to or do whatever task you request almost immediately after uttering this. He is a funny fellow.

Saturday we headed out to have new family pictures taken. I figured maybe all of you who read this blog might like a different set of mugs to greet you at the top of the page = )~ The morning was a breeze. Everyone ate well, took care of their digestive matters, and didn't put up any fights about getting dressed in the clothes mom picked out or getting their hair brushed out. I should've known that things were going too easy. As we arrived 10 minutes early for our appointment, we were informed they were running about 45 minutes behind schedule. Excuse me? That is like an eternity for a 1.5 & 2.5 year old. Luckily, this was at Sears, so instead of hanging out in the waiting room, we decided to peruse the store. Riley and Gage (well, and Corey, too to be honest) fell in love with a couple of $3000 riding mowers. Keep dreaming boys! Anyhow, "driving" all of the different mowers kept all my boys occupied for the majority of the wait time. I'm sure none of the salesmen in that department were sad to see us go, though. So, as we finally were able to start our session, 1 full hour and 15 minutes after we arrived, the kids had just about had enough and were ready to get the heck out of Dodge. The girl that was taking our pics was nice enough, but she was very young and you could definitely tell that she did not have kids. Corey and I were feeling pretty frustrated when we left, not to mention the kids were about to have a meltdown as it was now past lunchtime and pretty much naptime. We grabbed some fast food and the kids ate chicken nuggets and fries on the way home. Yeah, yeah, real healthy, I know. Gage was asleep in his seat by the time we pulled into the drive and Riley not much after. Then, our sweet neighbor girl, Sara, came over to watch the kids so Corey and I could finish up our shopping. Well, you know how much we loved that! But, thankfully, that chore is now complete.

Oh, so back to the pictures. Well, we obviously didn't have time to view the portraits before we left on Saturday, so I set an appointment up for Sunday afternoon to take care of that. I was really dreading it, because I was worried that none of them would be any good. Thankfully, I was wrong. There were several of the boys that turned out super cute and a couple of Corey and I together that we really liked. However, in each of the family pics, there's always a little something that is just too off for me to really be proud of them. However, there are a couple that Corey and I had some fairly hearty chuckles over! Here's a couple that have been cropped that should make you smile. I'll post the good ones later. I'm using some of them for our Christmas card, so I don't want to spoil the surprise!

Nice gums - you can see the light reflecting off of them! Oh and the lovely half-open eyes - I look like I'm half lit! What a wiener =)

The lovely one-eyed stare. The half-smirk with curled lip. That is hot! What's not to love? = )~

Ok, on to something truely cute. Sunday afternoon, Riley, Gage, and I prepared some holiday treats for family and friends. Here are a couple of our Rice Krispie masterpieces. It was all Gage could do to not stick his finger in the yummy confection - just look at that ornery smile = )

Well, I know there's a lot more I wanted to say, but that's about as much fun as I can recollect for now. Have a great week!