Father's Day Photo

I couldn't post this picture at the time we took it as I didn't want to spoil my father-in-law's surprise. Is this not the perfect picture of relaxation and enjoyment? Dryden even has the classic glazed over look. Dryden was 7 months old.

The Rear View

My baby is an explorer. He is not content to sit in one place for too long. And so, this is the most common view of him--the rear view.


If you are lucky you might get this adorable face, but only if you happen to be sitting where he wants to stand.

Fish Fry Fryday

Well, we didn't really fry the fish, and we didn't have it on Friday, but every Friday during Lent we drove past this church and they had a huge banner hanging out front with that title. It seemed appropriate for our fish dinner tonight!
We are not a fish family, and I will freely admit that this is my fault. Brent loves fish. I hate fish, but knowing that it is good for us and that the kids really should learn to eat it, I have tried to incorporate it into our diet--without much success I might add. I have learned to tolerate it, and I had thought that the boys were starting to develop a taste for it. The girls on the other hand have to be bribed handsomely (or threatened severely) in order to get them to even eat a small piece. Tonight, however, was a different story. It didn't help things that I told them that we were eating flounder. The kids have been studying aquatic animals and have already studied about the flounder. Braden even got out the science book and turned to the page with the picture on it! They decided that it was ugly, might be poisonous, and wouldn't eat it under any circumstances--except Camden that is. He climbed up to the table, took no notice of the complaints of his brother and sisters and declared that he liked fish that it was yummy amid silent cheers from Mom and Dad. Now, lest you get your hopes up too much just take a look at the series of pictures to follow. Keep in mind that no one gets an ice cream treat until they have finished their possibly poisonous flounder.The face is priceless. Apparently this fish is not quite so "yummy" as he had thought!

Yes, he is gagging on his dinner. I have heard threats that their dinner was going to make them throw up, but no one actually ever came this close to it!

And this, with fish still in his mouth, is the victory laugh of "Ha Ha I did it!"

It was most entertaining.

It's Okay...

I don't know if you remember why it is okay if you die according to Camden. If you don't then it is definitely worth looking back at. Anyway, here is his latest "it's okay" moment.
Camden very nearly poked my eye out with a pair of scissors last night. I was a little perturbed to say the least and explained to him that if the scissors would have poked me in the eye then I would never be able to see again. Camden, always looking on the bright side of life happily responded, "It's okay if you only have on eye. You can still see out of the other one!" He then proceeded to demonstrate how if you close one eye you can still see out of the other eye. "See Mom! I can see out of this other eye so you could too!"

Always an optimist.
The picture has nothing to do with the story, but I just wanted to show how much Camden LOVES his church clothes. He will dress up in them in the middle of the week! Oh so different from his big brother!

The Ultimate "Man Bag"

This is Camden's latest creation. It is the ultimate in fashion. I decided to take a nap this week because my house was already a disaster. The kids really couldn't make it any worse than it already was so I wouldn't be waking up to more work than I went to sleep to. Anyway, I asked Camden to please get a sack and pick up all of the papers that he had cut into millions of minute little shards and scattered all over the school room floor. I awoke to Camden's little creation (and a million and a half minute little shards of paper scattered all over the school room floor!) It took a little explaining because you see it is a dress that he made for himself. After I gulped and explained very calmly that boys don't wear dresses, he confidently responded, "It's okay mom because it is a boy dress."

And there you have it.

The Pocket Knife

Braden can hardly wait until he turns 8 and the reason is simple. He can hardly wait to have his very own pocket knife! He is so incredibly excited to be a boy scout and in that respect cub scout qualifies. The other day he was trimming his nails and discovered the dirt picker on it (I honestly don't know what that little hook thing is called on the end of the file). Braden decided that until he could have a real pocket knife that this pocket knife would do. It hasn't left his side...errr...pocket since. Not only that, he has come up with these elaborate plans of ways he can protect the family with his pocket knife in the even that a bad guy should happen to break in. Needless to say all of our fears have been put to rest now that Braden is well armed. This little handy pocket knife is multi-functioning as well:
Yes, I discovered Braden giving Camden a pedicure, and Camden was enjoying it a little too much! Funny little boys!

Just a few pictures...

Just a few pictures of the kids from the past couple of weeks. We haven't done anything too exciting lately. We are trying to finish up school work for the year, and it looks like we will be done by the time my mom and sister come at the beginning of May--Hooray!

We did go to the Dallas Symphony this last week with our substitute Grandma, Pat Giroux. We surprisingly made it through without getting thrown out. Braden was determined that he didn't want to go and that he wasn't going to be good. He did a pretty good job and even recognized a couple of the pieces that were played. Pat brought two pairs of opera glasses and even though we were in the rear orchestra section, which were awesome seats, the boys had a great time examining everything and everyone up close. And, we only had to leave three times to go to the bathroom!

Dryden is crawling EVERYWHERE and getting into EVERYTHING. You never know where you will find him from under the piano to in the laundry room. It is really hard to have a child proof house when you have older children. Everything we own is a choking hazard! We have to be ever diligent in watching where he goes and what he is getting into. He is also pulling himself up on things. Of course all of this new found freedom and exercise hasn't done anything for his waistline!

The Comedian

Camden is a clown. He came to earth with a silly streak a mile wide in him. He is constantly chatting and in amongst all of those words spills out the funniest tid-bits of information. Maybe part of it to is the manner in which he says it all. He is very expressive and his facial expressions are constantly changing. It makes it very challenging to get a normal picture of the little kid. These are the best pictures over the past couple of weeks.

Did I mention that Camden is SUPER excited about growing up and being a garbage man. And, unlike most other things he isn't deterred by Braden's insistence that he should really choose something that makes more money.

You REALLY weren't meant for that JOB.

Have you ever met someone while running your errands that really just wasn't cut out for the occupation in which they were employed--the grumpy clown or the hairstylist with the awful haircut! Well, while those might be a little extreme, we have come upon a couple of our own candidates who really need to rethink their career choice.

The first was the grocery store clerk. I was purchasing our weekly allotment of fruits and vegetables which included a stalk of celery. The clerk who was checking us out was in his late teens--easily a senior, but I digress. He manages to fumble through the apples, bananas and oranges. He needed a little help with the cucumbers, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt and assumed that he had mistaken them for zucchini. Suddenly everything came to a screeching halt when he picked up this alien vegetable. It was green and skinny with funny leaves at the top. What could it be? His puzzled face quickly showed frustration as he flipped through his coded cheat sheet to no avail. Finally in desperation he turned to me and mumbled something. I'm telling you that whatever language he was speaking was probably a relative to the English language--a far far distant relative. (Did I mention that he was born and raised in the good Ol' US of A and that he did not appear to have any foreign blood in him at all.) After guessing at what he had asked twice and apparently giving the wrong answer, I managed to make out that he was asking what was this strange green vegetable. After recovering from the severe shock I had just received--who doesn't know what celery is?--I responded very calmly and surprisingly without too much emotion. Once again he returned to his coded cheat sheet--and once again without success. He then in his slang riddled incomprehensible English asked if that began with an "S". Seriously did he just ask if Celery begins with an S??? I had to bite my tongue to keep myself from giving him a grammar lesson on how C says its soft sound when followed by an E, but then I realized that I would have to explain what is a soft sound! The kid seriously needs to rethink his life choices. However, with the level of intelligence that I saw I'm not exactly sure for what he would be fit!!

The second little encounter was at the bank. Now, we don't frequent the lobby of the bank too often since we are quite the spectacle, and I get tired of being stared at. Anyway, today was the exception. The kids had Christmas checks and savings to deposit. Pretty simple transactions even though it does involve both checks, cash and change. Also, the kids were to receive a stamp towards earning rewards for each $10 deposited. We just overwhelmed the poor teller even handling only one child's account at a time. He didn't have the organizational skills or the counting skills for that matter to manage to get even one of their deposits correct!! It was a nightmare--a very long never ending nightmare! Even after it was finally all over and I had taken the kids out to the van, I had to go back in because he hadn't deposited Savanna's check. He also had the nerve to tell me that she hadn't given him a check. Hmmm...then what is this sitting upside down on your station!! He definitely needs to rethink his career choice. Oh, and did I mention that he was almost livid that there was a play penny mixed in with the kids' deposit. Yes, we were definitely out to scam the bank with that forged penny.

All in all it has been a very eye-opening experience as to the state of the general population--pretty scary!

Last but not least the laugh of the day. The kids begged to be taken to the dollar store. After their purchases were complete I took the boys out to the van while the girls searched the store for Dryden's missing shoe. Camden opened his toy, quickly assembled it and said, "Look, Mom! It isn't junk!!" He was so happy. Although, we have been home for less than thirty minutes and his toy is already in multiple pieces in the garbage.

Our Three Boys

Everyone always says that our kids are carbon copies of each other. Let's just see how the boys match up at 6 months old.

Here are their vital statistics at that age:
Braden: 21.9lbs and 26"
Camden: 20.10lbs and 28.5"
Dryden: 21.3lbs and 28.75"