pa-jammy
Inside because it rained all day. Hard to get this one because they were a tad tired after last night’s slumber party. (Finally went to sleep around 1, only to be up for the day by 6:30. When are they going to sleep like teenagers already?
But I had to use some hardcore emotional manipulation (and Minions on Netflix) to get them to “smile” for this picture. Whatever works.
The boys had their first race yesterday, and I’m so proud of them! Naturally, I took a ton of pictures.
Before we left the house:
When we got to the race:
Lined up, ready to start:
They’re off! Miles takes an early lead.
The race was half a mile, two laps around the track. I told them it was okay if they walked some of it, since they hadn’t run a half mile straight before. But they were having none of that.
Here comes Miles, first lap almost down! Linus is still right behind him.
Here’s Ollie! (Love that he’s airborne here.)
And at the finish! Miles first!
Followed closely by Linus!
And Ollie, bringing up the rear! His brothers were there waiting to high five him. Aw!
Just the order they should have been born in, actually. Random.
I was so proud of them for giving it their all. They didn’t stop, and they finished a heck of a lot faster than I expected them to. Miles is all ready to do another race, at least. I might sign the two of us up for a two mile race coming up next month. Hope I can keep up with him!
I did take this yesterday, but I didn’t post it because I took it on my new iPhone and while I liked the smiles, I wasn’t happy with the photo quality (it was still sorta darkish outside when I took it so it’s grainy because of low light) so I was going to try to take another picture with my big camera later, but we had a birthday party and I forgot my camera and we were late to the birthday party anyway and who wants a monthly picture outside of Laser Tag?
So, month 107, just 30 days from NINE YEARS OLD.
For funsies, a collage of the previous November 4 photos:
Got a new phone. That has a really nice camera.
After a few weeks of waiting and using my shattered phone, my shiny new rose gold iPhone 7+ arrived. I debated for a while between the 7 (ideal size) and 7+ (fancy fun camera) and the fancy fun camera won out.
And I’m so pleased! Look at these photos – the left photo is “normal”, the right has the “portrait” mode on (blurry background from a shallow depth of field but it’s all computer generated.) None of these have been edited, btw. Straight off the camera.
Oh, and Hank says CHEEEEEEEEESE:
My poor blog. It’s been so neglected.
Last week was kind of nuts – the boys were out of school and they were home with me all day. I think we all went a little stir-crazy. Then George went out of town over the weekend (the first time he’s been out of town without one of us since we first started dating) so I got even more quality time with the boys. But not a lot of time to blog.
Here’s what we’ve been up to:
Baking.
Sat through the Yo Kai Watch movie, and paid handsomely for the privilege.
Ziggy did cute things like lie there and chew on a stick.
We had a party while George was gone. The kids finally used the climber! I put up pretty lights!
Miles has crazy hair, Linus and Oliver on the climber.
Took them to the trampoline place.
It’s been really hot here, still. But we did go for another couple of runs.
Wait, did I ever post any pics from when we went bowling with Aunt Tee?
Speaking of, today is Aunt Tee’s birthday! Happy birthday Aunt Tee! We love you!
Next year, when the boys are in fourth grade (!!!) they’ll be able to join the cross country team. They’re pretty pumped about it, and wanted to start practicing now. They also want to do some races, but at $30/entry for a one mile race, well, that’s going to have to wait. (I have my eye on a half mile race that’s only $10/kid, but I wish it was longer. And I wish more races had multiple-kid-friendly pricing.)
Anyway, since they don’t have school today, and it’s cooled off slightly, I told them I’d take them for a run this morning on the levee.
Once we got up on the levee, we experimented with running two or three light poles and walking for one, and for our first run, stuck with a 2:1 light pole ratio of run:walk.
At the turnaround (sun in eyes!)
On the way back, the sun was behind us, which made it a bit more pleasant. And also made for cool shadow pics. Ziggy came too, as you can see.
When we made it back to the starting point, we’d gone 1.17 miles in 18:29. I was so proud of the boys, and they’re excited to go further and faster as time goes on.
Post-run selfie!
The boys and Zigster after the run. You can see the endorphins really kicked in for the human boys!
Ziggy wandered in this time.
Also, I made them all stand still for a portrait.
Four days in to their new obsession. Still going strong-ish. They even asked me to get them some Bicycle cards. Like, they know the brands now. So we went to Walmart after school yesterday so they could replace the free promotional decks I’d given them.
There was a sign. (At least now they’re combining their drawing and magic obsessions!)
And tickets. And a pass. Not sure what the difference is. (Dog hair optional.)
Oliver started the show with a card trick.
Then Miles wowed us with his.
Oliver then switched things up by REMOVING HIS THUMB! And then PUTTING IT BACK ON!!!! (there was no blood, thank goodness.)
Since he again had both thumbs, he was able to show us this card trick:
Next up was Linus! His trick had something to do with 10s?
Well, I don’t know about you, but I was thoroughly charmed. Bravo! (Linus declined to bow for his fans.)
In the midst of all the hair dying this weekend, I let the boys take a bath (instead of the usual shower.) And I ended up taking a sort of update to my favorite picture ever.
Now:
Then:
I want to say I’m sorry to all of the boys’ teachers, friends, grandparents, cousins, etc.
Spent the weekend doing a bit of a switcheroo on the ol’ hair colors. So now you need to remember:
– Miles is white-blond-pink-cotton candy
– Oliver is deep purply blue
– Linus is aqua blue
The main issue is that Linus’s hair is the exact color Oliver’s was before. We may end up adding some green to it at some point. I imagine after Linus comes home from school tomorrow after being called “Oliver” fifty jillion times, it’ll be sooner rather than later.
I have let so much time pass, and I haven’t finished blogging about our trip to Los Angeles, so I’m just going to drop a bunch of pics in here and consider it done.
Flying there, In n Out, visit to Uncle Evan and Aunt Jennifer’s office, monthly pic (with Ellie.)
Train to the beach! Santa Monica Pier, Ferris Wheel, playing in the water.
Dave & Busters, Oliver hits the jackpot, everyone gets stuffed animals, I got a Pikachu! Trip to the park Evan and Jennifer designed.
Only one kid wanted their picture taken. Guess who?
UNIVERSAL! HARRY POTTER WORLD! SO FUN! Even with a 2 hour wait in line for the HP ride. Butterbeer. Minions. Simpsons. Donuts. Good times.
Last day, boo! Lunch at Pink’s with my friend Robyn. Trip to the Grove for ice cream and a trolley ride. More cousin time, then back on the plane to go home on the redeye.
And finally, the traditional “Uncle Evan with Ellie and the boys.” See the others here.
Here we go again.
And in case you were wondering, they weren’t making the WordPress “w” with their fingers, but a 3 for third grade. Not sure why they didn’t want to use three fingers on one hand, but whatever. Cute.
And for funsies, the first day at their school, five years ago…
They’ve grown a teensy bit since then. (Look at the window, to compare.)
Relatedly, I wrote this post the other day for the New Orleans Moms Blog.
pyjammy dot blog 