In a Nutshell: Bean and the Lack of Pictures

This week we have done a lot. The week was a weird mix of trying to enjoy the last bits of Summer and being tired of Summer and trying to get back some normalcy before school starts. 

We played outside. We went to the pool. We got more stuff for school. We cleaned. The boys had a couple of late nights. I sewed. I canned green beans. I organized a bit.

None of this was photographically documented. Nope. None of it.

Another area of photography that I feel I am slacking in, is capturing all of the sweet moments we are having with Bean.

With Oldest, every, and I mean EV-AH-REE thing was captured on film. 

Capturing the kiddos has digressed with each new Little Man.

So my sweet Bean hardly has any proof of his baby existence.

Which is such a terrible, terrible shame. 

He is lovely and sweet. Smiley and giggles abound from him. 

From now on I have every intention of  just snapping photos like a crazy woman...well crazier woman...

I am going to not care if the shot is inside or at night with no natural light. I am not going to care if the moment can't be captured all professional photog like. After all, not every photo can be uber great, and I am tired of missing parts of their lives because it won't make a awe-inspiring photo.

So Bean's photo files on the computer should be bustin' soon. I might even share some with you.

For now, here is a little video of my unbelievably cute Bean. Enjoy Grandmas and Grandpas, this is for you. Notice the Little Men noise in the background!

VIDEO fixed...SORRY EVERYONE.

So cute.

In a Nutshell Part 1: Happy Campers

Did that just say "In a Nutshell Part 1"?

Why yes, yes it did. Humor me. There will be only 2 In a Nutshell posts.

We had a busy week. Hubby had the week off and we took full advantage of the fact. So there is lots of stuff to report.

We went to a water park. We saw out of town friends. We welcomed family. We went hiking.

We went CAMPING.

One of the reasons we were excited to move where we did was because it is way closer to some awesome places for outdoor adventures.

I was excited to give my boys some camping experience. It was debated as to how much of a camper I could be. Last year between just moving here and the fact that I was pregnant and sick, we did not really go visit anywhere.

A year later, some planning, and a brave decision to camp with a four month old, we headed out for a simple over night camping trip. I think I proved I could cam!

There was quite a lot of excitement.

Some of us were a little unsure of the great outdoors.

He got over it and ended up quite enjoying himself.

We shared out camping with Aunt K. It was nice to have an extra set of hands.

One of the highlights of the trip was a lazy and leisurely float down the river at the camp grounds.

Little was excited at first. Then he actually got into the boat. His excitement quickly faded and he decided being in a little boat was not for him. So he hung around at the camp ground with me, Bean, and Aunt K.

The river float was slow and easy. The boys loved it. About an hour later I drove down and picked them up at our meeting point. They were all a buzz about their river float.

Camping brought out the sillies and the hungries. Does camping make anyone unbelievable hungry??

We had hot dogs and foil dinners...not to mention some extra tasty food that may or may not fall into the junk food category. Shhh don't tell.

Hubby and I were worried about nighttime.

Overall, everything went better then expected.

Bean slept well once he got all snuggled up with me. The deflating air mattress only put a slight cramp in my style.

Little had the roughest night. He was up quite often.

Which is why when everyone else was up with crack of dawn he kept sleeping.

Everyone woke up happy. These two were back in silly  mode by the sunrise.

Yup, we had a good camping trip.

 

We made a camping trip with a four month old. We were fairly prepared and organized. I did a good job at letting them just be boys and enjoying

We are a pretty lovely group of happy campers. 

Good times.

In a Nutshell: Swimming, Neighborhood, The 4th

Caution: photo heavy post straight ahead.

Sorry.

Indulge me.

Our Summer has been too fun and exciting to limit my In a Nutshell post to one topic. In fact our Summer has so much fun in it, I didn't even get this post up yesterday...or early this morning for that matter.

Here are some of the activities filling our days/nights this past week.

Swimming lessons.

Our boys have been quite anxious about the water. In the past, playing at the pool consists of us cajoling and bribing to get them to jump in/put face in/float. They were not comfortable in the water and were not enjoying all that playing in a pool had to offer.

Swimming lessons are changing that for sure.

We now have a front swimmer and a starfish floater. Not only that, but Oldest can now officially say that he has jumped off the diving board. So much fun.

Totally worth signing them up. Wish we had done it sooner.

Our neighborhood is the absolute best. BEST.

There are lot of friends for our Little Men.

To my utter delight, the other night I came out to a neighborhood baseball game going on.

Do you notice Hubby's feet in the above picture? I guess it is more fun to play street baseball with no shoes on. All of their feet were that shade of black by the end.

Little decided it was more fun to draw with chalk in the garage with his friend.

Our neighborhood doesn't just stop at baseball games.

The other day our neighbor put together this backyard slip and slide. Tarps, hoses, baby oil, soap, and some  toys and immediate fun was had by all.

Yeah, we feel really blessed to live by so many wonderful people.

We also had a great 4th of July with our little family. This was our first one here and we kind of just winged it.

We hit the parade.

We may have gotten out a little late due to my late arrival back home after running a 5k. Hence why at the parade I was still decked out in my running gear. I looked pretty sweet for sure.

After the parade we came back home. We freshened up (mostly me). We had a lunch cook out at my SIL's parents house.

Later that day we headed downtown to get ready to watch the fireworks.

I was pretty proud of our little family. We survived the six hours of hanging out without too much whining. We loved the 30 minute firework show. Bean slept through it in my arms. Little fell asleep traumatized after he remembered that he doesn't care too much for fireworks.

We then swiftly hauled everyone back to our car, thinking we would make a quick and strategic getaway.

False.

After some bumper to bumper, and some redirecting we finally made it home just before midnight.

Eventually we got everyone into bed and congratulated ourselves for a successful 4th of July.

Whew what a week.

Thanks for reading this little blog of mine.

I appreciate all of you so much.

In a Nutshell: Baseball Season

Baseball season has started. Oldest is playing after a long hiatus from the sport. Middle is playing for the first time. Oldest is playing machine pitch and Middle is rocking the tee.

The league is pretty low-key. As you can see my boys don't even have baseball pants or hats...although I probably should invest in a baseball cap for those sunny days.

Baseball is always a fun thing to do in the Summer. Hopefully they will continue to learn a thing or two about the sport.

And maybe Oldest will start to open his eyes while batting. His method does work part of the time though.

We are also hoping that the weather will attempt to feel like Summer and that blankets will not always have to be worn in the dug out.

However, no matter what I am pretty sure both boys will have a good time.

Hitting.

Running.

And running some more.

All of course while this one looks on and waits for his day at bat.

In a Nutshell: Shades of Summer

Shades are always good in the Summer.

Ultra cool shades are especially good.

Ultra cool shades on some of the coolest kids I know, well that is just ridiculously awesome.

Shades for everyone! Thanks to Children's Place we only spent $6 on all three pair.

Check out Littlest's face...hilarious.

Pretty sure he is a member of the neighborhood bike gang.

Here we have our own mini Top Gun...

Then there is this fella...swoon, so cute.

Our first week of Summer break went well. Now thanks to our new shades we are ready to roll out the rest of the Summa' in style.