Day 332

He's almost ten, but he still wants to be tucked in at night, with his stuffed bunny and his pile of books at his head. I'm so glad that I'm home to do this now, and that he didn't outgrow it while I was out traveling for work. The good-night tuck is a ruse - he ends up staying awake later than he should reading anything he can get his hands on, not unlike I did as a child. And that's OK.

Day 279

I realized this afternoon that I haven't taken any photographs of my mom with the boys since she's been here visiting the last week. Since Sandro leaves for his Scout trek early tomorrow, tonight was the only chance we had to get a snapshot of the three of them together.

Day 278

always love to see smiling faces, especially right after one-leg pushing drills!!

Day 276

Brotherly love... ok, brotherly tolerance. They got into a fight on the way home from speedskating so I made them sit next to each other & smile when we got home.

Day 273

Ben-jamming helped us clean up the garage some, found Sandro's floppy campout hat in a box & decided to appropriate it for himself. I think he wears it well, don't you?

Day 265

Blue is not a flavor. We've had this discussion before...

Day 258

Much like Thursday nights are reserved for speedskating practice, Friday nights have become gymnastics nights. Boys Gold class is on Friday night, and Ben's group works on the same type of things that the boys' competitive team works on. He's almost ready to move up to Team, which means our lives and schedules are about to get all kinds of crazy!

Day 255

Ben-jammin' & I, done with gymnastics, headed home.

Day 252

Dad's working, Sandro's at a Scout campout and Ben-jammin' & I had not a whole lot to do today. So we ended up at the only logical place to be when it's a freakin' hot day in Texas.

Day 249

This is very often his preferred position for watching television. Such is life with a boy that is part monkey.

Day 248

The Three Musketeers before gymnastics class. They always have a great time together.

Day 230

It's the last day of school for Ben-jamming, so he stopped by the shop for his summer haircut on the way home. Between being promoted to fourth grade & the new 'do, he suddenly seems very grown up.

Day 228

Ben's gymnastics coach had a birthday last week, but we weren't able to get together with his classmates to celebrate properly until tonight. The three of them really push each other and have a great time working out together, and hopefully will have time to see each other outside of class this summer, figuring out ways to torture their coach! Happy Belated Birthday, Josh!

Day 216

One of the best parts of our inline speed skating experience the first time around was all the friendships we formed and the fun we had at the rink, even when they were off the floor. I'm pretty sure Ben has already discovered that aspect of the team.

Day 203

Friday night @ gymnastics, trying to master the back handspring. Not quite there yet...

Day 199

Just a pic of the boy today. It was this or the swollen ankle & nobody needs to see that.

Day 195

Third-grade music program. Ben's in the back row, of course, so naturally I left the battery to the big camera on the kitchen counter.

Day 190

This is probably a total cheat, but I don't really care. Our running/walking team participated in the Zoo Run Run 5K today, and a teammate snapped this photo of most of the group before the start. No, I didn't actually take the photo, but I did take one that is similar a few minutes afterward, just not on my camera, so I don't have it. This will do quite nicely.

Day 177

After church today we went in search of a location for the boys' annual photos. We ended up at the bandshell downtown so we stayed out of the drizzle and mist. The only challenge then was get a shot of the two of them looking at the camera at the same time while not either blinking, scowling, or fake-smiling. Mission accomplished.

Day 168

Finally remembered to take the camera with me to gymnastics tonight. Sadly I couldn't get very many shots of the monkey in motion, or at least not many that I was happy about. Thankfully, the boy's skills on the apparatus are improving faster than my photography skills!