I love my kids.

I haven't taken a lot of pictures of kids this month. I have been planning a "back to school" shoot but it has never been the right time..... I did snap a few this month though.


 I woke up on a Saturday to find Connor in the midst of a Lego battle. His lego adventures are epic...lasting days sometimes! He and Maddy asked for Legos for Christmas. She is hoping for a huge Lego Pyramid and Connor is wavering between the Lego Millennium Falcon or a huge pirate ship...

Maddy decided to take a break from Legos this morning because she discovered that she could turn her puppy into "China Puppy" with a pair of chopsticks. While she wavers on the whole baby doll phase, stuffed animals are constantly being put in clothing and used as actors in plays. The plays are a way for me to show me I love her. They are sometimes grueling battles with my urge to run away, but usually I can sit still and focus as her 30 minute play about a bear at work winds to a breaking point. She loves putting them on but still needs to work on the idea of developing a story line BEFORE the play starts.

We have been struggling with Maddy and her lack of creativity in school.   She was struggling for the first few weeks.   Second Grade is full of worksheets and (her words) "Boring Math" Her teacher is a big fan of math...not art. It's strange because she has a number of art pieces around the school! So we are trying to encourage Maddy to do her homework in a more creative fashion. I get fewer complaints about homework when she does it outside! Sometimes it just takes a nice snack to motivate her, but she loves art and I'm trying to help her find that part of herself. 

Just a quick shot of the view from our front door...The clouds during and right after monsoons are nice to see. I miss clouds 90% of the year! 

Connor joined Matt on the POW/MIA walk last week. He had to get up, dressed and out the door in time for a 5:30am formation. (I slept in with Maddy....and loved every minute of it.) I was actually a little worried about him making it home in time to get to school on time. I feel bad for his teacher. He got back with enough time to eat breakfast but NOT enough to shower. I sprayed him down with some anti-stink and hoped it would last till school got out. I think he is almost at the stage where he needs deodorant....but I know he would just lose it or forget to use it. I'm still bugging him about brushing his teeth. He is growing up, that is for sure, that is MY old PT shirt that he has on in the pictures.

 Last night he and Maddy discovered the joy of playing on the wall around the backyard. Matt's initial reaction to Connor on the wall was, "Cool, go out and get some pictures!" When Maddy grabbed her shoes so she could climb up (by herself no less!), he freaked out and insisted that she NEVER be allowed to climb the wall. Needless to say, I won that round. She managed to climb up by herself but was too scared to do anything except sit. I was fine with that. I was not fine with Matt teasing her because she was stuck and too scared to jump down. But at least it was just a little teasing....