flower girl

We didn't bring the camera into my sister's wedding or reception since both Henry and I had our hands pretty full. Henry with boys and me with bridesmaid duties (and Solana). But Henry snapped a few shots of Solana all dolled up; this one is the cutest in my humble opinion.



A good time was had by all. If you are really interested or just slightly masochistic, head here for a look at all (almost) 700 pictures.

Or if not, here are a couple of the beautiful bride and groom and our family:

Solana getting fancied up with my sister Tara in the background

Tara and my 90-year old grandfather (who walked her down the aisle and gave her away)

bridal party (I'm the 5th one from the left, figured some of you might need the hint since I'm dressed up and all ;) Unfortunately, the typing is right over most of Solana's head.

at our dad's grave

Tara and her girls (minus Solana)

And not to leave out Superman Mike. . .

Solana dancing with her archenemy Tim

my siblings

Solana and me

my siblings with my mom

Okay, so that was a lot more than a couple, but there are just too many to choose from. There are a couple I remember seeing when I paged through them all one night that I can't find now. I'm not sure if they got removed or I'm just blurry-eyed from looking through them all again. I'll have to post if I find them. One was of my family after the wedding and the other was of the 2 boys on the dance floor at the reception.

One important lesson learned: it sucks to not have your own camera because you're then stuck relying on other people's pictures when posting on your blog.

lucky shot

I took the kiddos down to the beach yesterday to get some super secret shots for a Father's Day thing I'm working on for Henry. I'll show that after the day since he does check in here and at least looks at the pictures (although I'm not sure how much he actually reads. . . Dear?). Anyway, I happened to catch this shot of Jude somewhere in the middle of our little photo shoot and it is classic.



And no, he wasn't crying. I have no idea what was going on at the time in all honesty. I got it blown up into an 8 x 10 today and every time I showed it to Jude, he'd look at it and grin. He knows he's cute.

getting ready

Things have been quiet around here (on the blog), but not here (in our home). We're gearing up for my sister Tara's wedding this Saturday; my kids will then have 3 they can call Uncle. That word looks weird to me spelled out right now: uncle. I'm a bridesmaid and Solana is the flower girl, so extra preparations need to be done.

We've been busy the last few weeks, just going a lot of places it seems. Trying to decide on what to do with Solana and school next year. Henry is now on summer break and has had a bad something (sinus related) for the last 4-5 days (Happy summer!). Jude is going from army crawling to rocking on hands and knees to pulling himself up to sitting position (new trick in the last week). Henry's sister just graduated from nursing school, which was really exciting. And it's Father's Day this weekend, which always brings up emotions. Ones that I feel like I need to squelch in order to celebrate the day in this family, with my kids and their father.

So yeah, busy.

Here's a picture Henry took of the older 2 right before heading to his sister's graduation last weekend:

mis razones de ser

new tooth

For the record, Jude's third tooth popped through yesterday. Finally. He was a bit more cranky with these top two, but still nothing compared to the other kids when teething. The other middle top one should be coming through any day now.

And now it's time for number three to get to bed. His sleep is all off right now and so he's up late. At least I finally got the mountain of laundry folded while he played on the floor, just in time to bring in more from the drying rack and diapers tomorrow. Neverending. . .

monarch program

::click the butterfly for the whole set of photos::

Yesterday we went to a local monarch program with some homeschooling friends. They spent some time learning about the life cycle of the caterpillar/butterfly; Solana and Jonas were both very vocal about their knowledge. While we were talking, one of the caterpillars in the room transformed into a chrysalis and our guide noticed right afterward as it was moving. It was so neat to know this spectacular event had happened right under our noses.



::jonas::



::this is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. . . No, just a bad joke since this photo reminds me of the priest at Catholic mass. Solana showing me "her" butterfly::



::caterpillar::

The kids had a wonderful time. I am so grateful to be able to share these experiences with them.

31 on 31 or happy birthday to me

I turned 31 yesterday so I'm now officially in my 30's. As opposed to just being 30.

We had a low-key day, hanging out with Henry's parents in the morning since they were still in town staying with us. Jude actually gave me the present of taking a 1.5 hour nap in the morning without waking once. Jonas chose a watermelon as my present.



We went for a walk in the late afternoon, then out to dinner. I made a kick-ass (if I do say so myself) gluten-free, dairy-free red velvet cake with "cream cheese" frosting that we feasted on when we got home. Not bad for my first gluten-free, from scratch, baking experiment. I actually am not a huge fan of cake and much prefer brownies, but a cake is just more birthday-ish, you know?



After the kids went to sleep, Henry and I watched Mulholland Drive. A day later, I'm still wondering on earth was going on there. Anyone want to enlighten me? Those kinds of movies where you never really get what's going on drive me crazy. Which I suppose is the point.

jonas' stoplight jokes

What did the red light say to the car?
HEY! You need to stop!

What did the green light say to the car?
Time to go, please.

What did the yellow light say to the car?
You need to slow down, please.

I like how the red light comes across very rude and demanding, but the green and yellow lights are polite.

And? Think he'll remember these rules 12 or 13 years when he starts driving?