Hanson Party of Five

TGIF

It's Friday.  By the end of the day, I'll feel like this:

Abby sandwich

Know what makes me smile? Watching this crew play soccer. I have no idea who won this game. Fortunately Abby and Harper were only in at the same time once.

 

One thing leads to another

Do you ever start doing something, and then 20 or 30 minutes later end up doing something totally different, still not having accomplished what you originally set out to do?

Me neither.

It started with putting away the inflatable pool that was still out on our patio.  That meant I had to make room in the outside chest for it.  So I took out the pads for the chairs that we no longer have.  Those should go up in the attic, I thought.

Out to the garage.  Hmm.  We should probably check the filter in the attic.  And that extra car seat could go up in the attic, too.

After getting up in the attic, I saw my old box of Barbies.

So, now we can't see the floor in the playroom.  

Thank the vegetable gods

In general I feel like I haven't done the greatest job at getting my kids to eat well.  Just another thing to feel guilty about, right?  

I've heard many, many times that exposure is everything, that kids need to be exposed to new foods 10 or more times before they'll take an interest in it.  I've done really well with carrots and cucumbers.  And Ranch.  They know what Ranch dressing is, for sure.  And ketchup.

We have a pasta dish that uses grape tomatoes, so I had some on hand recently.  ABBY ASKED FOR THEM.  I was putting them on my pasta, and she asked for them.  WHAT?

I tried not to start jumping up and down.  I mean, I'm totally cool with this.  Not shocked at all.  

Our friend Nebby

Will's first winter he had an AeroChamber with an inhaler that we had to hold onto his face.  Last year we went ahead and invested in a nebulizer for him.  I had just started to wonder about when we should begin treatments for him when his cold got out of control and he started wheezing.

He's such a trooper with this.  He'll sit and turn it on, and hold it up to his face for as long as it takes to get the medicine out.  This time around, he was put on steroids for 4 days to help knock this out of his system.  A friend had warned me about kids on steroids, so thankfully, I was prepared a little bit.  Not fun times to have a kid on steroids.

He's all better now -- we just have to give him treatments regularly (note to self) so he doesn't have another flare up.

It was fun and all, what with me sleeping on the floor in his room for 3 nights, but I think I'd prefer to do a few treatments a week than risk the Roid Rage again.

 

I'm baaaaa-aaacck!

I just blinked and two months have gone by.  Sheesh.  Time really does fly when you're having . . . well, there's been some fun worked in there, along with a bunch of work, family visits, and activities.

I'm going to have to work my way backwards to catch up.  I'm fresh off of a photography workshop in Atlanta, so we'll see how long my enthusiasm lasts.  

We've entered Josh's last year in his twenties.  He says he feels old.  Ha.  That kid will just never catch up with me.  I suppose the shoulder injury is helping his cause . . . did I tell you about that?  Oh, yeah.  Back in March, he was playing softball and hurt his shoulder.  So, now he's got a big old permanent bump.  

That was before Abby fell and cracked the back of her head open on the monkey bars.  Did you miss that too?  I'm not so great on details, I guess.  I am doing a FABULOUS job working my way up to the maximum out of pocked on our medical deductible for the year, though.

ANYWAY . . . Josh's folks just came for a visit.  Ethan got to come down for the first time, since his big sister had to stay home to go to 1st grade.

So, this image isn't so great.  I intended to take a group shot outside, in natural light, but that didn't happen.  So, my only light source is the overhead light in our den, which is why everything looks so yellow.  I didn't take the time to put the flash on my camera to even out the light, so I had to slow my shutter speed way down.  Which explains the blur.  

I'm trying to be better about taking photos with family when we're together.  I really want the kids to have photos to look back on.  Not sure how that's going to happen, considering all these images are just sitting on my hard drive.  

I seriously have the best intentions to put together a yearbook with our images from the year.  You can imagine how that is going.

Happy Wednesday!
 

Sneak Peek

Last weekend was a busy one . . . I got to shoot a wedding, which was really fun, despite the heat.

PLUS we had some visitors in town, so we've had the chance to go out (WHAT?  On a MONDAY night?), so I am a little behind.

I haven't even seen most of the shots from the day, but I was able to put together a slideshow of the images of the couple together for the reception.  Here's one of my favorites.

Let me know what you think!  I am so very interested in feedback from people who are not somehow related to me (sorry, Mom).  We're tossing around the idea of putting together a website just for my photography gigs, but I'm honestly not sure if it's worth it.

Someone recently told me that I couldn't succeed if I didn't try, so maybe we'll go for it.  

Interview with a Preschooler

What's your favorite food?  Marshmallows.

What's your favorite drink?  Spicy.  (That's what she calls Coke.)

What do you want to be when you grow up?  A princess.

What do princesses do all day?  They dance.

What's your favorite number?  Zero.

Why? Because I want to be the line leader.

What's your favorite song?  Row your boat.

Below she is trying to decide which marker to use first.

Thursday Theatrics

Mr. Blue himself.

At the snack bar.

The highs and lows of being 2.  Not happy:

And 6 seconds later, fully recovered:

Just going for a ride

And just for fun, here's Redneck Baby.