Day 25: Hippopotamus Fart Jokes (aka: Photo Shoots With Little Boys)

First of all, everyone is healthy! That was the longest week in the history of ever. And now back to our regularly scheduled program. 

Calen's birthday is a week from tomorrow (:sobs: :wails: :wipes snot:), which means the priority of this week was to do our annual birthday-time photo shoot. 

Last year we did both boys' photo shoots at the beach, because, San Diego. This year I found a couple of rad locations within a block of each other in downtown Petaluma that I thought would be fun and a little different from what I normally do with either kid. So Calen and I got up super early (for a Saturday) and headed into town. 

First we took some shots in front (or back?) of some kind of old brick factory on the waterfront: 

Note: Want to know how to make six year old boys smile naturally for the camera? Fart jokes. A lot of them. So I shouted a lot of fart jokes. Loudly. And any poor unsuspecting tourist taking a break from winery touring by meandering through Petaluma within a block of me got the pleasure of hearing what happens when a hippopotamus eats too many burritos or how whales farts come out of their ears. Sorry tourists. Next time tour Napa. 

And who cares if my fart jokes were loud or stupid or had no content other than the words "Hippopotamus" and "butt" and "farts!". Calen laughed and smiled. Genuinely and naturally. 

My God boys are easy. 

And then we went up a block and a half to this super rad mural we found in an alleyway:

This mural, though. 

The best part was at one point in each location Calen got d-u-n "done" with taking pictures but his "I'm done and your fart jokes aren't funny anymore" face totally made for a great mini-model pose. 

Not to be biased, but my kids have incredible eye color. Calen's are blue with brown around the irises. (He was over pictures by this shot)

This was probably the easiest photo shoot I've ever done with my kids. Maybe because it was only one kid (without the other one even on location) or because they're getting older. 

Enjoy your last week of being six big man!

Day 24: Sterlize All The Things

This stomach bug is no joke. 

Calen fell victim first last weekend. Then Brad, who's had it for three days. Somewhere in there I felt sick as well, but I'm not sure if I caught the full force of it or not (praying I did already so that I'm immune to the really bad stuff that's in my house right now). I thought maybe, just maybe, Camden escaped unscathed. 

But then, we were in the grocery store today, and he starts to say "my tummy hurts!" I don't know if every parent feels this way, but immediately a wave of adrenaline hit me. Like, we need to get out of here, now. I mean what do parents actually do if their kid pukes in a store? It's never happened to me and I'm not excited to experience it first hand. So we made it home, Cam fell asleep, and slept for two hours. Cam doesn't nap....

I knew we were in for it then. 

And then he woke up and it was all over. Three outfits, two barf bowls and an entire change of bedding later, we were full force into the latest victim of this bug. 

Did you know that those Leapster game systems are completely fluid resistant? Even if a large amount of fluid completely covers it? They are. Ask me how I know. 

Thus the rest of my afternoon looked like this:

Stomach flus, to me, rest somewhere in between leprosy and bubonic plague in terms of germaphobe factor . I can't handle the barf. Or the anticipation of barf. Or the smell or the look or or or. So, I Lysol'd everything. I sprayed the door knobs. The door frames. The light switches. The counters, the stairwell banister, the floors. I sprayed everything that could be sprayed. If I could have bathed in Lysol, I would have. 

I changed everyone's bedding, all the towels, even considered burning the sofa. (Just kidding...kind of). And then Brad came home and said he wanted to lay down and without thinking I said "Can you NOT lay in our bed? Because I just changed the sheets and you're still sick." And he looked at me and I'm like "Shit, did I say that out loud?" 

He's laying down in our bed. I'm not actually that mean. 

I'm really, really hoping I already caught this and that weird day the other day where I didn't feel well was the extent of my share of this illness. I do not want to be the final victim in this house. Give me a cold any day over the stomach flu. 

Day 23: A Day In The Life

Are you ready for a serious photo overload??

A few days ago, one of my dear friends posted a "day in the life" photography journal. The content is self explanatory, down to the little details that someday when our kids are grown and gone, we may forget. She is far more gifted and talented as a photographer than I am so hers is more of a piece of art, but I thought it would be fun to walk around today with my camera (though I did use my cell phone a couple times once the kids started acting weird in front of the camera and I was losing the reality of the day). 

Let me say this is just as exhausting as she said in her blog that it was, half the time I forgot to snap a picture until it was too late, and I've come to realize I really, really, need a high aperture zoom lens for inside my house (mainly, to zoom OUT). 

It was a half day today which is the main reason I chose today to do this. I also chose today because Calen had a baseball game and then we planned on going out as a family after. But Brad was home sick all day and the baseball game was cancelled because the fields are still flooded from the Biblical amounts of rain we got last week. So I had to be creative to not only keep the kids busy for half the day, but also out of the house away from Brad. But all in all, it's a pretty typical day for our busy family. 

But here it is, Thursday, March 17th, 2016. 

Getting ready for school:

Once the kids are away at school I have 3 solid hours to myself: 

Facebook and coffee, uninterrupted. 

Having to get out of the car to chase the indifferent turkeys off the road so I can pick up Cam from school

dinosaur sandwiches (and eggs) for lunch on the patio

After lunch we walked over to the skate park on base and Cam ran over a baby lizard...

Then it got hot so we played in the garage for a while. The kids created ramps for their monster trucks, had a quick snack and then played some catch. 

Snack break. Calen called it "fast food"

I couldn't take a picture of us playing catch, because there were balls being thrown at me. 

Then the neighbor boys got home so the kids armed themselves (literally) and headed to the playground:

Calen informed me they were playing "Dino Power Rangers" and he was the green power ranger that turns into a velicorapter. 

Brad was home sick all day so we clearly tried to stay out of the house all day. Dinner rolled around so we headed to Costco for dinner, and sat by the window where we could watch them make the pizzas. 

And then headed down the road to the batting cages. 

Once we got home it was homework time, then stories and bed. 

Cam snuggles with a shark every night. A shark. 

And then he kissed Hulk Smash goodnight. 

Day 22: If It Sounds Good, Eat It

That yucky stomach bug that Calen had on Saturday seems to have spread to both Brad and I, at the same time.

And nothing says romance like him sleeping on the couch downstairs and me sleeping alone upstairs. So we can have our own bathroom, you know.

So I literally spent all afternoon (morning was filled with pesky adult obligations like driving around running errands that couldn't wait while suffering over soda crackers and ginger ale) on the sofa, with the curtains drawn, trying to NOT get sick.

Why is it, when nauseated, the only commercials being aired are food commercials? Specifically fast food commercials with the sounds and the people going "mmmm" and you can practically smell it through the tv.....

Well so much for not getting sick.

When involving nausea and not wanting anything to do with any kind of food ever again, my Mom has always given me the advice "If it sounds good, eat it." Because food even sounding enticing is really half the battle. And people like me that are hypoglycemic  (low blood sugar), not eating is bad.

So I took my mother's advice today. And it got kind of weird.

Today I ate (and kept down): a bowl of canned peaches, a tray of sushi  (veggie rolls), a can of corn, a Subway sandwich, and no more than four grapes. For lunch and dinner.

Hey, it was weird, but by God I kept it down, almost enjoyed it, and am starting to feel better.

And that is literally all the excitement I have for you today.

Day 21: Spring Training

It's baseball season, you guys!!

Spring Training is on TV and kids everywhere are suiting up for their spring season of youth baseball. Let's be honest, as a hardcore baseball person, it's my favorite time of year. 

Opening Day/Picture Day was cancelled last Saturday because of rain so I took the kids and their sparkly new uniforms out to the base field today and did my annual opening day photo shoot with them. 

Calen has now played four full seasons of baseball (2 springs, 1 summer, 1 fall) in two calendar years and is moving into his 5th season this spring. Being a lefty/lefty hitter/thrower, he's a natural standout in each team he's played, if not for his athletic ability, but for the unique advantage that being a lefty has in baseball, more than most (if not all) other sports. Last fall, we took the jump from Little League to Cal Ripken Youth Baseball, for it's season length and competitive edge (keeping score, outs and strikeouts are recorded in all non-tball divisions). This season, he's playing for the Rookie (8u) division Indians. He's #11, which I picked for none other than Mariner great Edgar Martinez (his usual #3 wasn't available and other M's favorite Ken Griffey Jr (#24) was too high a number for the roster). 

Camden, the poor kid, has been forced to sit behind the dugout and watch Calen play for two YEARS without being able to participate. This has been absolute misery for him as Camden has more of a competitive and athletic drive than Calen. And finally, finally, he's old enough to play tball! He has a unique advantage also, being a righty thrower but a lefty hitter (which means he can play basically any position on the field but still have the hitting advantage). He's playing for the Peewee (6u tball) division Orioles, and is wearing #8, obviously, because he's playing for the Orioles in the Cal Ripken league and Mr. Cal Ripken Jr. himself played for the Baltimore Orioles and wore #8. 

Sorry, but is there anything on this planet cuter than a not-quite 5 year old in a way too big for him baseball uniform? I don't think there is. 

He REFUSED to smile and INSISTED he needed to have his "GAMEFACE"

And then of course I HAD to get shots of both of them together.