Photo Friday: Endings!

October 17, 20146 Comments

endcorn Who doesn’t love endings? Well, okay, if it’s the end of a fantastic book, or if it’s the end of a particularly beloved character (still bitter), or if a relationship is ending, then I don’t like them. As the great Jane Austen once said, “If a book is well-written, I always find it too short.”

But today’s ending is more in tune with the circle of life. While it’s true that a circle really has no beginning and has no ending, life does (which makes “the circle of life” something of an oxymoron, doesn’t it?), and now that we’re well into fall, you can see endings everywhere.

Over the summer, my aunt took a picture of the kids standing in front of the corn that grows at the edge of our yard. She wanted me to get another picture of the boys in front of the corn this fall, but I kept putting it off, and the weather recently didn’t help.

I came home from work one day and discovered that…

Photo 365 #69

October 15, 2014October 15, 201416 Comments

Apparently, the front step has become the place to go for kitty pictures. Every morning, the boys dart outside and capture the kitties, usually Opal and sometimes Socks, too. Then it’s off to the front step, with shouts of, “Mommy, you should take my picture! Mommy, take a picture!”

Of course, when we get home in the evenings, it’s the same story – they dash out of the car, grab a kitty, and run off to pose for a picture. Opal seems to have resigned herself to the boys manhandling her, but Socks and Shadow are usually less than thrilled with these forced modeling sessions.

Still, they make some darn cute pictures. 🙂

Photo 365 #63

October 9, 20146 Comments

Every time I leave the house, say for work in the mornings, I have to chase Opal out of the garage. Cricket has gotten quite good at wrangling her (and she’s gotten quite good about letting him). But today it was Thumper’s turn:

Opal’s gotten pretty good about letting Thumper manhandle her, too. And it’s a good thing, because apparently he doesn’t mind getting scratched. He just wants to hold them and love them and pet them and hug them and never let them go (although he doesn’t seem to care one way or another about naming them George). 🙂

Photo 365 #61

October 7, 2014October 7, 20142 Comments

As usual on my day off, I’ve been busy trying to get more than my normal 45 minutes of writing time squeezed in. I’m hard at work on my revision of The Price of Mercy, and I wanted to get some extra work done today.

But the boys had other ideas. They wanted to spend lots of time with me, as Cricket put it. The two goals weren’t incompatible, or at least that’s what I thought. So I sat Cricket and Thumper down with some crayons and paper and told them tk color some pictures for Daddy while I worked on my story.

I spent the next ten minutes drawing “beautiful butterflies” for Thumper (who is very into The Very Hungry Caterpillar at the moment) and another five recording him as he read Little Blue Truck to me. It was too darn cute, and I love that he knows the story by heart.

Books are important, and I can’t imagine life without them. I’m glad that, even though he’s only three, my favorite little bunny shares my literary love. All my boys do, and I couldn’t be more proud. We are a family of bibliophiles here at Casa Kauffman, and nothing could make me happier.

Except, of course, for more bookshelves. One can never have too many bookshelves. 🙂

Photo 365 #59

October 5, 2014October 6, 2014Leave a comment

Went to an anniversary party last night for Seymour’s godmother and her husband (who are also one of his many aunts and uncles). They’ve been married 25 years.

sarahcricket

Twenty-five years of togetherness has given them two children, one of whom is Cricket’s beloved godmother. She’s expecting her first child soon. Everyone is very excited, though I suspect Cricket will be in for a rude awakening when baby arrives, as he recently proclaimed that his godmother and hubby are his other mommy and daddy.

Photo 365 #56

October 2, 20145 Comments

Miss Tadpole brought home her home ec. project tonight:

pillow

She was pretty excited.

pillow2

I don’t blame her – it turned out very well. It looks even sharper in person. 🙂

Photo 365 #46

September 22, 2014September 23, 20146 Comments

Bubbles has to be at his football games an hour early to practice beforehand. If I was attending by myself, it would be a great time to get some reading done, or some writing, or even that strange new thing the kids these days call socializing. You know, actually interacting with other actual people.

shoulders

But I don’t get to do that. I go everywhere accompanied by kids – sometimes two, sometimes three, sometimes four. And while I was waiting for Bubbles’ game to start Sunday afternoon, Cricket and Miss Tadpole had fun entertaining each other, which was lots of fun to watch (more fun than the game, even, since I’m clueless when it comes to football).

Photo 365 #45

September 21, 2014September 21, 20148 Comments

Since Bubbles was gone last weekend, we let him have a few friends over last night to help him celebrate his birthday. They had a blast playing football in the yard, staying up late watching movies, and generally eating us out of house and home.

“Let’s tell ghost stories!”

But I have to admit I felt a little bad for Cricket. He adores his big brother, and he wants nothing more than to hang out with the big boys. But Bubbles needs time away from being the big brother now and then, and there’s no explaining that to a four-year-old.

Something tells me this is going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better.

Photo 365 #43

September 19, 2014September 19, 20144 Comments

Cricket and I were looking through some of my Instagram pictures tonight. He kept asking who the people were in the pictures on my feed, so finally I flipped over to my pictures and asked him who the people were in the pictures I’d posted. He did pretty well, though I think sometimes he answered wrong just to be silly.

Cricket’s nothing if not silly.

But then we came to this picture:

And when I asked him who was in this picture, without missing a beat, he said, “Um, that’s my godfather and his princess.” 🙂

Photo 365 #41

September 17, 2014September 18, 2014Leave a comment

Cricket always yells for me to save him when Daddy starts tickling him, but this time, our roles were reversed:

daddy's boy

I was the one doing the tickling and Daddy was the one doing the saving. Apparently, though, Daddy was also supposed to save him from having his picture taken.

So much for that idea. 🙂