What I saw when I turned the corner...

Is it too much work to walk five steps inside and use the toilet? 

The glare off his white hiney is blinding.

Cousins

Not sure if this has occured at your house but cousins hold celebrity status in ours. My kids are far more interested in what their cousins are eating (I want some too!), wearing (instant cool factor!), and doing (me too!) than anything Justin Bieber or some other doomed child star might be. So when the grandparents offer to take the four oldest to Millican its pretty much guaranteed that the kids will have a great time (and sleep the next 24 hours solid when they get home). 

Happy happy happy

They are the cutest things!

"Should we touch it Wyatt?"

"Na. Let's just watch it slowly asphyxiate."

"Great idea....Good times."

Catfish: There theems to be thomthing in my noth.

Good eatin' tonight!

Mac Man

Passed out with a dirt-encrusted face. Must have been fun!

And we must save the best for last...

School Carnival 2013

When I think back to my school carnival growing up two images pop up: confetti eggs and the ping pong ball game where you could WIN A GOLDFISH! (Needless to say this was the parents' favorite game as well). 

I mean, think about it. You could find your best, most treasured friends and smash confetti-filled eggs on their head. It's the elementary version of "I love you man!" The more loved you were the more confetti you had plastered to your sweaty face (and the more Advil you needed later). And the goldfish game, well, I probably don't need to tell you why this caused frenzied excitement amongst us little people. Hello! It was a way to circumvent the parents! 

kid: I want a fish

parent: no

kid: I won a fish

parent: crap

As an animal-crazed child I was thrilled to have any sort of animal beneath my careful husbandry. Unfortunately, with a younger sibling, their long term survival rate waaaaas not so good. I never got to reach the point where my mom had to nag me to scrub the bowl. They were long gone to the big toilet in the sky by then. I simply rinsed out the bowl and awaited next year's victim...errr..fish.

Well, the fish game has been axed. (I heard vague whisperings of a parent uprising and some tank scum smeared on protestors bodies but these are all, of course, rumors...) I am glad so say that the annual ritual of attempting to concuss your very best friend still remains. Shelby might need a few more years to embrace this particular aspect of the carnival. Her bent is more towards the tamer entertainments of the carnival.

1. Sugar! (let's call it "dinner" kids)

2. The Petting Zoo 

The only way to pry my kids away from the animals was with more sugar. 

Vicious cyle.

It's a miracle he still has all five fingers...