news from the home front..and a very bad photoshoot

With our first full week of school under our belts, we are getting into a bit of a rhythm around here. Cami is loving Kindergarten (we have an amazing teacher!), and it seems a full day of learning is good for her. The house is showing the effects of one less kid (basement storage is well-groomed instead of the jungle, er.."junk-le" that it used to be). And there's a little less scum everywhere. I'm feeling guilty for not picking up the camera much lately..but after an unsuccessful and frustrating photo session tonight I remembered why... For starters, they were all filthy dirty after a day of sidewalk chalk, running outside, and spaghetti sauce. Child 1 and 2 uncooperatively gave me just a few shots shots with Child 3 (perhaps due to Child 3 shoving them away with a mad squeal of claustrophobic rage). After being tortured with a few more hugs, Child 3 wanted desperately to swing in the baby swing that Child 2 had just gotten into..backwards and upside down. At Mom's prompting, Child 1 lured Child 3 into the bid kid swing only for another bout of rage and a mean boxing match with the unsatisfactory swing. What didn't make it any easier is that Child 3's mean molars and his inability to adequately express himself (although Mom would argue his nonverbal cues were perfectly articulate) bring him to the point of despair... ...and so ended our not-so-great photoshoot. I dropped the camera and got Crabby some milk, banana, and peanut butter. He was much better and will show more responsibility in the future maintaining his strict high-calorie food regimen during the day.)