Family pictures 2013.

This year our photographer (Renee Massingham) came to our house.

We were excited because that means we get to take pictures

in our new addition & in our beautiful backyard.

Summer of 2013...

Adler is 5 1/2 

Brock is 3 1/2

Vance is 1

I love being able to capture our whole family each year...

She's so good & reasonable, that how do you not?!

Sweet picture of our little guy.

 Vance was at the age of not wanting to sit still for any picture,

hence him crawling around on this one!

We excited to finally have Olivia in a couple pictures,

but all she did was bark the entire time!

My 3 sons.

This is what our family is typically doing in most pictures!

It's funny how she captured that...somehow she gets a few where we're all looking

in the same direction & maybe smiling! 

 Dad & his pals.

Adler just recently learned how to ride his bike without training wheels,

so he had to make sure Renee saw him & took a picture!

Ohh she did not disappoint! 

Day-to-day.

Here's our our days typically roll...

Brock wakes up first (at 7am) & yells, "Can I come out?"

In which we reply, "Yes you can!"

He walks out & sits in the living room.

I shortly follow & he informs me (almost immediately!) that he's hungry.

A few minutes later we start to hear little noises come from Vance's room.

We go get Vance out of bed & bring him to the living room too.

Then between Vance wanting milk right away 

& Brock proclaiming he's hungry again,

Luke or I start to make them breakfast.

Vance always has a banana & devours it in a second!

Brock usually always wants to know his options

& end up picking toast or eggo or both.

Then Adler yells out from his room, "Can I come out yet?"

(As if he's been up & waiting to be summoned to join the family?!)

He comes out & wants to know if cartoons can be put on.

It's almost always, "NO!"

(but sometimes it's yes, if he's lucky).

Adler eats breakfast.

All the boys get dressed.

We decide if we want to run around the lake or go to the Y

& sometimes we do neither & we have a fun day planned with friends,

but about 90% of the time it's some form of 'healthy exercise' 

as the boys will now tell you!

Before & after our 'healthy exercise'

the boys all play & play & play. 

And then there's the occasional bickering.

Vance decided to hop in this baby sleeper/bouncer thing

& he quickly realized he can bounce up & down & have lots of fun!

Dad comes home for lunch & then it's 'rest time'.

Wording in our house is crucial!  Resting is NOT napping,

because they're too old for that of course...so it's now cleverly renamed, 'rest time'.

Because as BIG boys know...to have fun all night long, you must rest.

Ohh yeah, and once you turn 5.5 years old you no longer need to 'rest'.

So poor Brock stomps back to his room just about every day,

but he falls asleep in about a minute or less!

Vance decided to take a nap in the living room the other day.

This picture reminds me that so much happens before 'rest time'

that we're typically in our second set of clothes (or pj's) by noon.

This is how I caught Brock resting!  Man he's funny.

Once Brock & Vance wake up it's time to play again

& get supper started.

Having Vance at the table is a bit of a hazard,

he insists on using silverware & at times food gets thrown!

After supper it's time for a quick bath or a good wash at the least.

See what I'm talking about?

  Look at those spaghetti fingers!

And you can only imagine what's in his lap at this point.

After a full day & night of playing they usually come inside to wind down a bit.

We watch part of a movie or read books

& call it a night.

Vance called it a night before he even got to his crib.

I caught Adler rubbing his back though...so that probably did it for him!

I LOVE summer days.

We have NO commitments & we have as much fun as we can!