Happy Father's Day!

We think we have the best Dad there is...

Mommy loves how selfless, hard-working, patient, and fun you are.

Delaney loves to go shopping for church clothes with you.

Keaton loves to go camping with you (especially for Father's and Sons).

Addy loves to play Hungry Hippos with you.

We love you, Daddy!

Lost...

...in her own little world. These pictures speak volumes to me and scream "classic Delaney." They capture the essence of her personality, all because she had no idea I was watching her.

Exhibit A: Intense concentration on items she finds fascinating. (ADHD never made sense to me with Delaney, because if that girl is interested, her attention span is incredibly long!)

Exhibit B: Did you notice that outfit? Hawaiian dress, topped with a fleece hoodie, a scarf and winter boots. (It's the middle of June, and over 85 degrees outside. Need I say more?)

Exhibit C: Supreme satisfaction. She is genuinely happy in this moment. No one is around to bug her (no pun intended), she got what she wanted, and she is utterly lost to the joy of catching her rolly-poly bug at long last. Gotta love her.

Makin' Mischief

Thank heaven for little boys, to keep us young at heart--and to keep us on our toes! Here is Mason in his top form:

"Helping" Daddy paint the house.

This kid never met a ladder he didn't like. I swear he could climb before he could walk.

Putting anything and everything into his mouth.

Showing me what he's eating that he knows he shouldn't be. At least he's honest!

Preschool Graduation

My little man graduated from preschool today. I can't say that he was excited about that, though. He loves school so much that he did not want it to end! He was bummed when he figured out that he would not have school during the summer. He's had fun with the friends that he made--especially Mikey, Carson, and Sierra (who he claims he's going to marry when he grows up!)

Not only has Keaton had a ton of fun in preschool, he's also learned loads of stuff. According to this end of the year progress report, his teacher, Mrs. Bradshaw reports that he recognizes and can write all of his upper and lowercase letters, recognizes and writes from 0-20, counts to 30, reads all the color words and recognizes all the shapes. What his progress report doesn't mention, however, is that he finished three whole series of phonics readers--in otherwise, he is reading as well as or better than most kindergarteners! For some reason, reading just really clicked for him, and he just took off last fall.

We are all so proud of Keaton's accomplishments. Addy, especially, was proud to cheer him on. She has been very supportive of him this whole year, and a very good sport, too. She could have felt really sad and left out that he got to go to school and she didn't, but for the most part she remained cheerful--reminding me frequently that it would be her turn next year and she can't wait!

Way to go, Keats!

I Love America

The kids' awesome school--that we love so much--just put on a patriotic program in honor of all our current and past military, police and fire service men and women. The kids worked so hard, rehearsing nearly every day for weeks. And there was quite a bit to rehearse, I tell you, with over an hour's worth of songs, narration, choreography. Those kids recited from memory the Declaration of Independence, the Gettysburg Address, and all 50 states in alphabetical order. It was quite impressive. Not only was it moving to hear the patriotic songs, it was also very touching to see Delaney and Keaton united in a common cause. They were both so excited for their special night!

Here is Delaney making her "grand" entrance. She's still just bursting with excitement--it was early in the program, after all!

One of the cutest parts of the program was "The March of the Wee Americans"--all of the preschoolers came marching in waving stars and flags singing the Freedom song ("Freedom, freedom, I am free. I'm American!"). Keaton looked so proud!

Not only were we proud of our American heritage that night, we were also proud of our little munchkins. It's hard to believe that Delaney is nearing the end of 1st grade, and Keaton is done with preschool. We won't be able to call them our "little" munchkins for much longer!

No such thing as a candid...

Without fail, every time I break out the camera to try to catch something cute that the kids are doing, Addy drops whatever she's doing to strike a pose. She's quite good at it, actually. She's got those deep brown eyes and a sweet little smile that makes her quite photogenic, if I do say so myself.

Her "standard" pose is as follows: head tilted slightly to the side (okay, usually it's way more than slightly), hands folded and tucked neatly under her chin, with a demure little smile. Don't ask me where she learned this. I swear I did not coach her.

She even attempts to do it one-handed while swinging. Is this girl talented, or what?

Her other favorite trick is to beg me to photograph her with her favorite "props." This could be anything that she's carrying around with her: a favorite toy she's latched onto that particular day, an outfit she thinks is especially cute, or anything else she considers "camera worthy."

It's gotten to the point that anytime she snuggles up to one of the babies, or does something equally cute, she instructs me, "You should take a picture of this, Mom."

This is one of my very favorite pictures of Addy, and I think it's because it's the real, unguarded, natural Addison--caught relaxing with her usual method of self-soothing (sucking her tongue, which she has done since she was a baby, but only when she's got her blanket up to her mouth). This picture probably isn't that remarkabl;e to anyone else, but to me it's a perfect likeness of a part of Addy that is not usually caught with the camera. Her cute little poses are great, but this one is just so real to me. Guess that's why I love it.

Spontaneous shots like this are rare, but that's okay. I guess it's obvious she is the product of a camera-crazy mama! I hope she never grows out of being a willing subject of my photos.