a bit of silliness

this is a picture of L from christmas in 2006 (i think) but i was looking thru old photos tonight and came across this one--a classic if you ask me--she has the costume nailed except for one crucial element... :)
so today was an off-the-charts grumpy crazy day...tired children are volatile at best, explosive and contagious at their worst...and they were at their worst today. so i did what any sane mother would do: i yelled, i cried, i loaded them up in the car and we went for ice cream (that's what the manual says to do, right???) amazingly, the most tired one who was causing all the problems today (TY) fell asleep the second we backed out of the driveway, so as we drove around for an hour, he caught a much-needed nap!!! i toured east gainesville and showed lily some of the sights from college--where i taught dance, the hippodrome theatre, norman hall...
we were attempting a picture with no blinking so i instead capture deer-in-headlights girl...
james playing with his rocket...he was smiling and carrying on until the camera snapped and then he went dead pan... those darn kids always fail to catch on to my vision!
miss bella and daddy-o, getting ready to pick out jammies--she HAS an opinion...
the girls before church last Sunday, in their matching dresses...after multiple shots, we really captured the moment but failed to capture a single shot of them posing still and smiling...c'est la vie, right?
although i guess this one qualifies, but i had envisioned them both standing straight (i think my visions need to just stay in my head where they belong...)

nights like tonight make this all worth it...the kids were 100% wound up before bed so we just took that out for a spin to see what it could do--turns out we got a huge laugh out of them and it was nice to have a few minutes where we weren't saying "no." when i watch these videos, i can see the time literally blowing by and i really do wish i could freeze it and just sit back as a spectator and enjoy. too often i am a major player and my lines seem uncharacteristic for someone who could hold it together only a few years ago...but tonight...tonight was awesome...cheers  (just had the video fail to upload after an hour--so i will try again tomorrow)