11 years, 2 months

February 5, 2019February 5, 2019 | Pam Kocke

Because the fourth fell on a Monday, the boys (especially one in particular) were especially not excited about taking the monthly picture. So they said, “can’t we just keep it real for once and not smile?” In the end I got one with fake smiles and one “real” one. In the afternoon, in better moods, they said we should use the smiley one. So here you go. But of course I will post the “real” one too.

I know! They look so enthused, don’t they? Maybe overly enthused in Linus’s case.

That’s more how Oliver really felt. I can’t really blame him, really. Who wants to force a smile when it’s gray outside and you have to go to school?

Next month it’s on Lundi Gras so they’ll be out of school, so the smiles should be bigger and real!

11 years, 1 month

January 4, 2019 | Pam Kocke

THE SUN IS OUT! THE SUN IS OUT! I don’t know how long it’s been since we’ve seen the sun – a long, long time. Weeks. Way longer than I’m used to. But today it was gloriously cool and cloud-free and desperately needed.

That’s not really related to this month’s picture, which we took when the sun was about to go down, because I wanted to wait until after Oliver and Linus’s haircut. But anyway. YAY FOR THE SUN!

11 years = 132 months

December 4, 2018December 4, 2018 | Pam Kocke

My shaggy-haired, soccer-obsessed, goofy, sweet boys turn 11 today!

11 years ago (give or take a few days) they looked like this:

Safe to say they’ve grown a bit.

Happy birthday, my sweet bunnies!

10 years, 11 months {131}

November 4, 2018November 28, 2018 | Pam Kocke

It was about to rain/get dark so I used my external flash and it sure did give a weird look to the picture, but better than nothing.

Here’s the hard part – I had to prioritize Linus’s cute smile over Miles’s annoyed look, but I feel like it can pass as “moody” rather than “irritated.” Fine line.

Now this one of Miles is perfection, but his brothers, well, alas. Hee hee!

This one would have been okay if the lighting had been better. Oh well.

I am not ashamed to admit, when they were younger, I did my share of swapping the boys into pics to get a good one. If the lighting had been even, I could have put Miles from picture 2 into the first picture, but it wouldn’t have matched. But I used to do that all the time when they were babies. (No, I never tried to substitute one kid for another. I’m not evil.)

One month til 11! Ack!

129 months {it’s a breeze}

September 4, 2018 | Pam Kocke

No school today, thanks to the threat of Tropical Storm Gordon.

Yeah, we’re hilarious. (And not really in much danger, thankfully.)

See the previous 128 monthly pics here.

10 years, 8 months

August 5, 2018 | Pam Kocke

Not an easy one, 128 months. Three shots in was this. (Titled, COME ON MOM HOW MANY PICTURES DO YOU ACTUALLY NEED TO TAKE WE SMILED ALREADY GEEZ COME ON CAN WE JUST GO TO THE PARK ALREADY?!?!??!?!)

So this is the best of the lot. You can see Oliver’s signature furrowed brow, as referenced in this video from four years ago.

One twenty seven

July 5, 2018August 28, 2018 | Pam Kocke

Soccer and flossing. This is 10 years and seven months.

The last ten July 4 pictures, just for fun.

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And bonus: I made these culottes/shorts for myself for the 4th.

The picture keeps freaking me out because the wood floor looks like my right leg, which is really behind my left leg. Anyway, you might not be able to see, but the fabric is navy with white stars. This was taken at my friend Steph’s house and I love how warm and New Orleans-y her kitchen is.

10.5 years old!

June 4, 2018 | Pam Kocke

Happy half birthday, LOMZ!

(Okay, we don’t know Ziggy’s birthday exactly, but the vet says he was about 1 when we got him, which was around the boys’ birthday, so we pretend they have the same birthday.)

The 125 previous months can be seen here.

Month 125

May 5, 2018 | Pam Kocke

Don’t worry, I took this on the right day, just didn’t have time to post until now.

The smiles were purchased with pastries from Gracious Bakery on the way to school on the last day of LEAP testing. It’s been a grueling week, so they needed a little treat for getting through it. (Not riding the bus was an added bonus.)

Only 3.5 weeks of fourth grade left! I can’t believe it! Those memes about the end of the school year are so, so true.

Flowers in Singapore

April 13, 2018April 13, 2018 | Pam Kocke

Yesterday we had our team activity day and one of the things we did was go to Gardens by the Bay. If this place was in the US I’d probably think it was super touristy and be sniffy about it. But the fact is, it was gorgeous and amazing and I don’t care if it is considered touristy.

I took a bunch of pictures (shocker) but the surprising thing is that I didn’t bring my DSLR on this trip. 😬 And I didn’t even regret it! I did have the lenses for my phone that George gave me for Christmas though and I especially had fun with the macro lens. Oh, and none of these photos were edited!

Behold:

And some non-macro shots of the flowers and the Cloud Forest dome that we visited next, which was lush and jaw-droppingly gorgeous:

Okay, maybe I took too many pictures of flowers.

The other thing about this beautiful setting is that we couldn’t resist taking a bunch of selfies and pictures of each other. So many nice backgrounds!

Okay, I suppose that’s enough photos for today. Tomorrow (well, to be honest, some other time) I will blog about the other adventures we had yesterday!

Oh, and in these pictures I’m wearing a dress I made by elongating a Seamwork Akita. Not perfect (in fact, definitely too big, and the pattern on the fabric not bold enough so the overall effect is a bit hospital gown, but it’s comfy and cool and soft, so whatever.)

One hundred twenty four

April 4, 2018 | Pam Kocke

To make them smile for real, all you have to do is tell them something about soccer that you thought was right (but you know is wrong) and they’ll laugh at how dumb you are.

Outdoorsy stuff

April 3, 2018April 4, 2018 | Pam Kocke

Last week I went on a field trip with Oliver’s class and brought a camera. Here are some pictures I took of things besides 10-year-olds (except my own, of course.)

The program is called Earthkeepers and they teach it at the Jean Lafitte National Park (the Barataria Preserve in particular, I think) and it’s quite pretty. This all is sounding familiar. Did I blog about it already? When I went with Miles? Well, at least this time I have good pics.