Dirty Looks

I'm not sure how or why, but I believe Easton has mastered giving me the dirty look (especially when he's doing something cute and I want to take a picture) despite the fact that he's only 9 months old.  You don't have to take my word for it though, judge for yourself:

I get irritated, nervous, very tense or stressed, but never bored. ~Catherine Deneuve

Ready (or not)

I'm not sure where the past 4 1/2 years have gone, or how they went by so quickly, but in a couple weeks we'll be sending our little boy to his first day of preschool.  He was extremely excited at the mere thought of getting a backpack for preschool.  In true Xavier fashion, he informed me in May that he was ready to go to preschool and wanted a John Deere backpack...and of course thought we should get one right away.  He may have been ready, but Mama was/is not!  So, I put it off for as long as I could and let myself be in denial as long as possible about the fact that he is growing up so fast and will be starting preschool this year.  A couple weeks ago I decided we better get that crossed off our to-do list before it's too late, so I asked Xavier again what kind of backpack he wanted and he said, "A BACKHOE BACKPACK!!!!!!!"  I'm not going to lie, when he said that I remember thinking, "Oh crap, not only is my little boy growing up too fast, but now he also wants me to find him a backpack that probably doesn't even exist!"  I've never seen a backhoe backpack before, so I decided my best bet would be the internet.  I found about 4 that I figured were related enough to backhoes that Xavier might be okay with it, and I threw in one John Deere one just in case Xavier could be swayed.  The next morning I showed Xavier the pictures of the 5 backpacks that I found.  He quickly informed me that the John Deere one was NOT a backhoe and it certainly would not do.  He picked out one that has pictures of all kinds of machinery (backhoes, cranes, dump trucks, tractors, etc)...right up his alley.  This backpack, of course, also had to be the only one that is only available in LONDON, ENGLAND!  But he's spoiled, so of course we ordered the machinery backpack from overseas.

Xavier could barely contain his excitement every day at the post office, hoping the little yellow ticket would be in our mailbox indicating that we had a package - then that day finally arrived!  He wanted to rip it open to see it right away, but because he has such mean parents, we made him wait until we got home (that way Mama could get out the camera and video camera, of course).

 

He thought it was pretty cool and decided he better try it on "just to make sure it fits, Mom."  I had to admit that it looked pretty good on him, and was certainly in keeping with "Xavier fashion."  Then he wanted to wear it all day long.  Hopefully he doesn't wear it out before school starts!

Today we got all of his school supplies and Xavier will be carefully placing them in his backpack in the morning.  So, it's official now - Xavier is ready, and I am not, but I guess it's like they say - "Ready or not, here it comes!"



I am always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.  ~Winston Churchill

The cutest, most elusive little thing...

Most of the time when a kid sticks out their tongue they should have their mouth popped.  However, I think it is just the cutest thing to see Easton sticking out his tongue!  He absolutely loves to stick out his adorable little tongue, but I haven't been very successful at being able to catch the cute, elusive little thing on camera - until recently!

 

There are many things which can not be expressed by words.
There are many words which can not be spelled by human tongue.
There are many tongues which utter one single truth.
― Toba Beta

Brotherly Love

I know I've said it before, but I adore seeing my boys playing together, laughing, and having fun.  At our house it certainly is a boy's world...and I'm enjoying every second of it!

Sometimes I swear these boys are twins born almost four years apart!  It amazes me how two kids can look so much alike and have so many similarities and yet be so different all at the same time!

There's no other love like the love for a brother. There's no other love like the love from a brother. ~Terri Guillemets

My Shadow!

Easton was quietly playing on the floor the other afternoon, when we heard him start giggling.  He kept trying to grab something off the floor...when I looked a little more carefully I realized he was trying to catch his own shaddow! :)

I thought the most beautiful thing in the world must be shadow. -Sylvia Plath


Brothers

I LOVE watching my boys play together!  It is absolutely priceless!

Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero. ~Marc Brown

4 Generations

When Xavier was born I remember Grandma Rita telling Mike and I, "Now our family name will continue!"  She seemed so excited about something that I hadn't even thought about...and now 4 years later there are 3 little boys to help the family name continue.  If I'm not mistaken, there haven't been this many boys in the same generation since Grandpa Orville's generation!  So I think it's a beautiful thing to capture 4 generations in a picture (and all of them looking at the camera nonetheless!) - 3 generations of males and the incredible matriarch!

I always love seeing and or taking generational pictures...and a four generation picture is always impressive to me.  I'm probably referred to as the annoying lady that's always asking everyone to get close together for the photo opp, but maybe someday our kids will think this picture is as priceless as I do.

"The family is one of nature's masterpieces."  ~George Santayana