short stories

Taking a whole month off of blogging means I have so many lose ends to to type out in a grand catch up post/trilogy/dramatic TV mini series. There are far too many photos on my phone that I refuse to part with...mamarazzi needs her memory bank. SO while the little men nap...into a post they go.

Read on if you're not swamped with life.

Look at this fine art masterpiece.

It's OK if you bust a chuckle. I do eeeeevery time I see it. If you wanted to know what kind of 80s mom hair I'd be rocking back then- question no more. Bouffant hair all the way.

My poor kids. When it comes to anything remotely crafty or creative or art-oriented...I'm what you might politely call, "challenged." I swear there was a glitch in the old brain building system in utero with me because try as I might, beyond coloring books and crayons...I just can't.

Rhett however, art masterpiece creator. Latest creation: the vampire sloth.

He said he felt "lots of inspiring" while making it.

Jake found this ominous warning when he drank the milk out of his cereal bowl courtesy of Godfather Rad. 

Every year we've been married Jake has had a garden of some variety in the summer. And every summer we've yielded a big fat zero in produce despite Jake's best plant wooing skills.  But this year! This year was the year of the carrots. 

Lots of carrots!

And even more miraculous bunny food bounty, romaine lettuce and a handful or snow peas. 

If Rhett and Rad had their way they would subsist solely on chicken nuggets, peanut butter with apples/pretzels/toast, goldfish crackers, taquitios, and the latest additions of black olives (Rad) and raspberries (Rhett). So, I guess I have to admit that they are kind of a picky eaters -- minus the kind of.

So when they both excitedly dug into the lettuce (dipped in ranch) and snow peas it was a jaw dropping moment in our house.  So gardening.  It's is the best! Who knew?!

Lately when we go outside to play - the big boys usually race bikes and scooters ("tooters" from Rad's mouth) down the driveway over and over and over again while Beck makes and samples rock + grass + sidewalk chalk + dirt casseroles in his lap over and over and over again. To each their exotic own.

Our neighborhood backs up to this stretch of desert scenery and flowering cacti. We've loved trailblazing the clearly marked paths with our fellow outdoorsy friends. One Saturday we we went on a walk (some might call it a hike due to the hill situation but we won't get into the nitty) and had a good time with many snack breaks.

Rhett and Rad decided to change up the dress code toward the end. They like half-naked, casual hikes.

And no desert hike would be complete without a snake meet-n-greet. All the boys made BFFs with the creature like he was a fluffy puppy or Pixar woodland creature.

When the snake loving children of mine got the idea that I might want to also touch the snake, my insides died a little. My current fearset goes a little something like this: predators, people not liking me, snakes, chapped lips with no chapstick around, and running out of diapers. So snakes are my bronze medal fear.

And for right now the boys think I'm a decently cool mom but I'm confident that reign is coming to an end. So if touching a snake keeps me in their cool graces then I'll do it.

Heebie-jeebies the whole time. Cringe.

Rhett's school had their biggest fundraiser a few weekends ago, their Spring Spectacular.  We had a limited amount of post Beck's afternoon nap/pre-bedtime time but we made the most of it and even with the perfect evening weather and all the school's families in attendance, we didn't have to wait in any significant lines (minus the roller coaster line. That was fun.).

I'm fairly certain that Rad died and ascended straight to heaven because the boy loves a good ride.
Rhett might have had a touch of kiddie ride PTSD  after a very tame kiddie roller coaster fiasco of 18 months ago so he took a little bit longer to warm up to the idea of risking the merry-go-round.

                                                                                                                       

Rad marched right up to the (very tame) kiddy "roller coaster" and got himself all set in one of the cars and insisted and insisted and insisted and insisted that he wanted to ride it.

And the little dare devil loved it. And so did Rhett. Which literally made my heart so happy because I love all roller coasters and have many grand dreams of us hitting up the mega coasters over the years. (Note: Jake likes some roller coasters but is much more particular about which he deems not too extreme.)

And one last short story.

Jake's work had a family day and we felt like we couldn't not go because socailzing and free family fun and so...we went! It was such a fun time and they had pony rides led by humans set up for the kids. The boys were so excited and happily waited in line for their turns in the saddle.

First up...

No issues, happy as a clam on a horse. Kentucky Derby here he comes.

Rad was slightly less enthused once he got on stage but managed to ride around with no tears and flirted with smiling for the briefest of seconds.

And that's all.

For now! ;)

Happy Monday.