Eric gets bugged

One of the boys' favorite things to do lately is collect the bugs (mostly beetles and pill bugs) in the backyard. At first they would only pick them up with sand shovels, but now they've gotten more brave and pick them right up with their hands. Eric was collecting bugs the other day, but didn't realize one had stuck to his shirt, so I caught the discovery with the camera. I've always called Eric that boy of a million faces, and this is just one example. 

Day 4: Fun

Day 2: Skyline

We love living on a culdesac. This is my skyline view out the front of our home where the boys spend a lot of time riding bikes, collecting "treasures" (old pieces of wood, rocks, etc.). I have trained them to keep out of the greenspace in the back I not so lovingly call the "snake pit".

Photo a Day...Peace

I'm starting the Photo a Day challenge with my new camera and today is Day 1...I'm gonna give it my best shot (pun intended)! Here's a link to the list if you'd like to join...

Every single morning, I get up early, make myself a healthy breakfast, read my bible and pray. It's such a peaceful way to start the morning, and...it's not true. I should, but I don't always. I do get up early and have breakfast before the kids because it's game on time after those four are out of bed. But, now I will purpose to relish the peace before the kids are up over the word of God (as long as the kids stick to the "no kids before 7 am" rule).

New obsession

Got a new toy this week we've been looking at for a long while. I was still expecting to wait a few more weeks, but my dear husband came home with a new camera for us (...me) to capture these precious days with the boys. My old camera was so slow and the boys would be off to the next activity by the time it took the picture. Not even my boys can be took quick for this guy and we've already gotten some fun shots. I still know very, very little about the camera, much less photography, but it's a start! Here's one of each boy from our visit to the new Lake Kyle park today. Maybe this will kick start my weekly blog posts again?? Don't hold your breath, but I'll try!

Bluebonnets

One thing I’ve learned since moving to Texas is that Texans love Texas and take their state and traditions seriously. One tradition that I loved hearing about was taking your children to fields of bluebonnets that sprout up this time of year and have their picture taken. Sounds nice, huh? I’ve been a mom of four boys 5 and under long enough to know that a picture with them all smiling is impossible and a picture of them all looking in the same direction is a rarity. So, I set my bar for this adventure very low and made it my goal to get one wide shot just with them in it somewhere. After taking about 70 pictures, I have two or three with all four boys in it. I have quite a few more with Greg in them chasing one twin or another to “re-set” them. 

What makes attempting to take a picture with your four precious boys more fun?… making sure you keep an eye out for rattlesnakes while you do it (seriously, you are warned by veteran parents about this around here).

Without further adieu, here is the picture of our boys in the bluebonnets 2012 and some other just for kicks…

Stop laughing, this is seriously the best picture of them all! I know, I should have hired a professional…

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Our bluebonnet pictures from this same spot two years ago. Aaron is wearing the same shirt that Eric wore today.

Aaron’s room re-do!

Before

We’ve been doing lots of moving around of stuff with the start of home-schooling and the twins’ moving to big beds. So, I thought we’d go ahead and give Aaron’s room a make-over. Before now it’s been a hodge-podge of furniture things we’ve had around and a strange mix of Cars, baseball and dinosaurs. He’s grown out of the Cars things and now it’s just a strange mix of dinosaurs and baseball.

After

Thank you IKEA for some decent quality and cheap solutions to a little boy’s room. And, also thank to my husband for watching all the boys and baby Lance for actually taking a bottle so I could spend the afternoon at IKEA by myself!  The desk was $20, bookcase $25 and the red little shelves were $12. We’ve had all kinds of baseball décor sitting in closets that I was able to  bring out. We got an awesome deal at $50 for a used bunkbed and two twin mattresses (the twin boys are now in the bed that used to be in). I just put a request on our neighborhood’s facebook page and a family was just looking to get it out of their house. Love when it all comes together like that! Add a can of paint for $20 and we have a look that can last a long time!