My New Toy

I was given a new camera lens for my birthday. I was pretty excited about my new toy, but C was disappointed by its apparent lack of 'fun-ness.' 

"But what does it do?"

Well, I've had fun trying to answer that question. Here's some pics from an extemporaneous photo shoot (hence the messy hair and unmatched clothes):

And he's off...

B's first haircut

I had requests for pics of B's new haircut. So only a month after the fact, here they are...

BEFORE:

 

 DURING: (Yes, I distracted him with candy, it's better that way).

 

AFTER:

  
Here are some pictures after he was all cleaned up and ready for bed:

I always feel so sad when I cut my boys' hair for the first time. It always takes about a week before I feel like I didn't completely butcher their hair. B looks a lot different with shorter hair, and he's a bit more blonde now. R's happy that he now looks like a boy, and I'm getting used to the new 'do.
 

Why we only use washable ink

'Cause we're young, we're related, and we're boys...

Sometimes the resemblance between brothers is uncanny:

 

Both boys managed to injure the same toe on the same day that I was out of band-aids.

The best toy ever

I made this shelf thing out of a cube storage system that broke, and it ended up being one of the best toys ever. B spent hours placing and removing different toys on the shelves. Even the older boys got into it. When they got bored with it, I would just turn it on its back and it would become a whole new thing. Sadly, I had to put it away when the boys started jumping off of it. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

We are okay

After all the crazy storms that came through on Wednesday, we are fine. The first storm that came through at 5 a.m. knocked down a lot of trees and power lines, so we were greeted with sights like this on our morning commute:

We lost our power around 5:30 a.m. (the boys had a great time getting ready for school by flashlight). I knew that another storm system was coming through, but with no T.V. or internet, I had no idea about the severity that was predicted. That was probably good in some ways, since I didn't get worked up with worry.

V and R both came home early and we prepared things as best we could. Through all of this, I had a peaceful feeling and I knew we would be okay.

Of course this feeling faltered a bit while listening to live radio reports of a mile wide F-4 tornado destroying Tuscaloosa and heading straight for us. The storm ended up shifting northward and we went out on our balcony and watched as it went by. We stood in eerie stillness, thankful that it missed us and praying for those not so lucky.

It's strange to think how hit and miss a storm like this is; how people living so near to us are experiencing utter devastation while we are relatively unaffected. Our prayers are with those that are suffering at this time.