School. A vacation from my summer

I have big hopes for next summer. This one has been challenging.

That a side. The kids have been so excited to start school. Burton starts Kinder. I just saw him at lunch and he was so happy. Has 3 new friends and is having a great time.

Here is our scholarly bunch.

Happy School Dayz to everyone.

Emmett is 1

The oldest and youngest boys are almost exactly 10 years apart. Little Emmett is 1 and walks like a champ. Has 1 tooth. Our boys are late bloomers when it comes to dentition. Just a happy kid.

YY just showers him with love and attention. And pushes him over and sits on him. But... THats what he's for.
THis picture cracks me up. Mitt dropped his pizza crust in the pool and they are both looking at it like. Oh dang it, now what? Don't worry, Nana scooped it out and gave it back to him.

Ok these next ones, I only had to take 200 pictures.


Smoosh smoosh smoosh. He didn't get much cake. There was so much frosting, Yuck.
Just love kissing this little man. All of his brothers just love him so much.

Camping with Good Friends

Ahh good friends. So fun. We found a place put down stakes. We actually didn't take the time to set the stakes. My dad will be appalled. Only stayed one night.

This first picture is one of my first attempts at HDR. I need to get a plugin for my Photoshop so I can do better. But it took 3 shots blended together to get this look. It is pretty bad compared to what is out there. Look it up. Here is one that I like. There are so many more. I don't like the ones that are really cartoony. But the others are breathtaking. If you see a picture that has dark colorful skys and the foreground is lit nicely. Sharp and colorful. It is HDR. it is not possible to get all of these things in a single shot.

Look at that look on his face. Pure happiness.....

Some night time shots. On a tripod. Shutter was open for 25-30 seconds. So so cool. Oscar had a stick that had an ember on it and was blowing repeatedly for the whole exposure. Pretty neat.

THis is Tyler whittling in the dark. Not Whistling> Who gets the reference.?
This is my friend Megan. She did some cool things in these exposures.

And of course YY was the picture of the campout. What a doll.

Tyler's Birthday

Tyler Tyler Tyler. Wow really 11? Really. THat just flew. Here is my biggest boy. He is so good and we are so grateful to have him in our family.

We took everybody to good ol PPP. Cousins and friends. Tyler was determined to win the 10,000 tickets hanging in this machine. I finally had to pull him aside and beg him to stop pumping tokens into the machine. I think it gave him the shock of his life when I told him the machine was rigged. "It can not be won!" I told him. He looked at me like I was crazy. I am telling you those tickets have been hanging in there for a year or two. Probably since it opened. Just stop wasting your time and money.

Oh I just love PPP.
Looks like Amanda and Allison do too!
Look at that Peter. Looks so much like our YY
Tyler got this hat. He LOVES it. So cute. He has his own style.
Happy Birthday my big boy.

Father's day

We have to go back a bit before we get to present day.

Our daddy gets the full treatment. Gets woken up by 6 boys and cards and breakfast.

Oh daddy, we love you so much.
This was such a sweet picture.
We went to Nana and Bumpas to wish them a happy fathers day also.

We are so grateful for parents that love us and help us with the kids. We enjoy spending time with our Nana and Bumpa. They are very special and good people. The best people. Helping us with our moves, working tirelessly. And they are just fun to hang out with. The kids love being with Nana and Bumpa. Thank you Nana and Bumpa.

YY ended up being the most photogenic of the day. He would fall out of the swing and I would have to say "oh no YY fell down!" " Are you ok?"

Another mouse over one for the effect.

YY was pointing to and yelling at the rocket. (airplane) Oh a Rocket!

My babies

YY was playing on the slide which was situated on the grass. When all of a sudden... the sprinklers came on. Panic. Let me tell you. He had quite a time trying to get out of the sprinklers of DEATH. At least thats what you would think they were. But he lived. We are so grateful.

It is quite pleasant in the evenings right now. So we usually head out side to enjoy the weather and the light. Now that I look at these, they seem dark. Umm

So cute. Love these babies.

Summer Photos

I wish I could take more pictures. But we are just so busy. These are about 2 weeks old as it is. But i need to do another post with Ty and Oscars Day camp stuff. So I gots to get it done.

This was at the Cowleys. Wesley discovered the Apricot Tree. I know the sequence is mixed up. I just did it fast and didn't want to fix it.
Emmett has discovered that he can at 11months, climb all over the play structure at the park near us. He thinks he is so big.
Oh my Tyler....
Babies
If I can get em I take em. Look at those eyes. So beautiful.
Burton was showing me his owie.
our improvised water feature in the back yard. Sprinkler under the tramp.
Mouse over this one. The editing is subtle but makes all the difference. Just did boost from Pioneer woman at about 30% and Sharpen From PW too. Then edge burn at 25%