All of a sudden....

My sweet little boy has turned into a tacklin' fool. Within the past week he's developed this new move where he runs up to Katherine and hugs her around the waist and then lifts his legs and wraps them around her. After a few seconds of her trying to hold up his dead weight, she lowers him to the floor as gently as she can and then collapses on top of him. At this point it's all giggles, but come on.... it's only a matter of time before she drops him right on his head. And the more I make of it, the more he does it! So there's a fine line....

Today was picture day, so the kids and I made the hike to Ankeny to meet up with Holly. It was for Caleb's 21 month pictures, and let's just say he was in rare form.... He pretty much did everything BUT pose for the camera...

He ran in and out of the studio no less than 10 times, and then broke into hysterics when we had to tackle him and drag him back in front of the camera. Gotta love the deep belly laugh -- only wish it was in front of the camera, not as he was running away from it!! Our initial response was to ignore him and take some pictures of Katherine alone. He could have cared less until Holly laid her on her tummy with the hopes that he'd warm up to the idea and come back into the studio room. Sure enough, as soon as he saw this, he did come running -- and belly flopped right on top of Katherine. He quickly got up, kicking her right in the side of the head, and found a ginormous square furry pillow which was perfect for nose diving -- until he banged his head on the wall.... Oh and then, he noticed that Katherine was standing in front of the camera and he decided to try out his new tackle move (see first paragraph), and he stumbled over his own feet and about ripped the backdrop from the ceiling. Nothing short of pure chaos. At this point, I'm sweating and praying for miracle, and Caleb is using the studio as his personal jungle gym. Ay-yi-yi!! Oh, and Holly.... patient doesn't even BEGIN to describe her!

But in the end, I think we got a few great pictures, so that's what matters most. Holly is going to edit them and then email them to me.

Danyel is in New York all week for work, so we had Rick and the kids over for dinner and little pool party. I originally thought we'd eat inside and then head to the pool after dinner, but the kids had other plans. As I was making the salad dressing, I heard screaming and laughing in the backyard. Rick was out there with the kids and they were in the pool already. So we ate outside. After dinner, Andrea brought Max and Isaac over and Tiffany & Justin brought Grant over. The kids had a blast!! They played their little hearts out until bedtime and then crashed.

On a totally different note...

I know it's only Wednesday, but I'm already looking forward to this weekend. We're having the annual neighborhood Smokefest (BBQ) on Saturday night, and then on Sunday, Brian and Val (and Will) are coming to stay the night with us. Fun times!! I love weekends. I love summer. And there's nothing better than the weekends around here in the summer.