Simon and family pictures

So, in December (yes, December 2011) my brother Lee and his wife Katherine and their three darling children came to visit all together for the first time in a few years.  It was a week or so full of Christmas festivities and lots of sleepovers and rollerskating and park trips and tired kids.  But we had so much fun I forgot to take any pictures.  Not one.  Yes, I am that lame.

But we did gather for a family photo, which turned out rather well in spite of the fact that we were freezing our tails off.  So...we're a bunch of wimps.  Well, Lee and Katherine were fine as they live in Indianapolis.  The spent the hour smiling sympathetically at the rest of us as we shivered between photos.

The picture was great, except for Simon crying.  He would just not cooperate.

Our little boy can be so darling as he pilfers the carbs cabinet and carries boxes of cereal or crackers all over the house.

But family photo time comes and we get this... 

It finally took a great toss from Dad to get a smile out of him.

 Always...it's always on his own terms

Some day, this will maybe be a good thing. Maybe.

Catching up, as usual

Seriously, this is from November.  It's an updated family picture for the Rogers and so far, no one is announcing any more babies.  I think we've hit a lull or maybe an end.  

So as it stands, everyone is represented for the most part as they currently appear, save the babies, who seem to change daily.

Also from November, a Child Study Lab party for Dylan.  I have to say that it was really an awesome school year for him.  Fabulous curriculum and close to home...exactly what we needed!

Simon protested pretty much every time we dropped off Dylan because he wanted to stay and play.

Soon, enough little man... 

 Dylan was rockin' out.

So was Simon...timidly.

Oh my goodness...Dare I say it? 

I actually took some pictures on Christmas morning and they are making an appearance on our blog?  

Okay, so it's admittedly June, but this is quite an achievement for me.  

I won't provide commentary...just savor the puffy eyes and footie jammies.  

Winter grass

Sort of visible through Dylan's very cool cup pyramid is our barren back yard.  The dead summer grass is shaved bald each autumn to make way for fun things like winter grass seed and manure.

Dylan eventually knocks down his pyramids only to build them up again.  He was practicing playing inside, since while the winter grass grows we have to stay off of it for a few weeks.  This is incredibly annoying at times for both parent and child, so we search for all sorts of indoor amusement.  And so the plastic cup pyramid was born.

Because there was not yet any stinky manure (which Dylan calls the poop that grows the grass--entirely  true) we ventured outside.

Simon was "playing" golf and getting his last pass through under the trees before the seeds and poop arrive.

Then he practiced sitting against the wall, watching the grass grow.

Not Easter

Right.  So this is not Amelia dressed as the Easter Bunny.  It's actually her Halloween costume because I am that slow with my blogging. 

She was a darling rabbit this year--er, last year.  She planned the whole costume and was convinced that she needed to have white booties of some sort to make rabbit feet.  I tried to gently discourage this notion as it seemed to me highly unlikely that we would find any sort of footwear.  But she was determined.  So on a whim when we were at the mall together, we decided to look in Marshall's, a store known to carry all sorts of random apparel. 

And lo and behold, there hanging amongst the glitter flip flops from last season and sundry slippers from this season were white fluffy booties in size two.  Who knew?  I will never doubt Amelia again.  She has, without a doubt, inherited the shopping radar gene.

 Simon was a ninja.  And here he is, somewhat grumpy, standing in front of a pile of unfolded laundry.  Not the most picturesque back drop I realize, but I have to catch this kid when I can get him or the photos might quickly become...

...this.  He was in a mood that day.

I didn't even put on a costume this year.  Well, check that, I wore an ASU sundevils t-shirt because it was game day.  So I guess I was a Devils fan.

Dylan and Evan recycled costumes from years past.  Evan was Clark Kent complete with the Daily Planet badge and glasses that everyone says are too cool for Mr. Kent.  Dylan was Batman because he loves the costume and it still fits, thankfully.  (That kid has grown about 4 inches in the last year, so pretty much nothing from the prior season fits any more!)

Ah yes, and jack o' lanterns...

 I just write this stuff and take all the pictures, so who really cares what I look like?

But in the event that you are somehow wondering because you never see me pictured in most of the blog posts, or you just forgot: this is what I look like-- kneeling behind two grinning jack o' lanterns, next to my daughter, on my driveway. 

Camping in the Fall

For what seemed like months Dylan asked to go camping in the mountains.  And finally a day off of school in September gave us the three-day weekend we were looking for.  We towed the camper up north near Woods Canyon Lake and stayed for two nights and three days.  And I was reminded that this is my limit for days in the woods without a shower. 

It was also the limit for the toilet on the camper, a good indicator that it is time to go home.

The kids had a blast digging in dirt with sticks, hiking, riding their scooters around the campsite and being generally dirty.

Amelia busied herself putting together brightly colored ensembles and making sculptures out of natural things. 

This is a deer:

Dylan was all smiles.

This was especially true as he sat in his Lightning McQueen chair and wore his Lightning McQueen boots.

And Simon was constantly running into other people's campsites.  Our space was apparently way less interesting than everyone else's.

Here are a few shots of him staying put.  These are moments few and far between with this kid.

A final image of the sculptor at work...



Dylan's b-day bash in September

Optimus Prime has nothing on this cute face. 

This was one of Dylan's transformer-themed presents. He's never seen the movie, or a Transformer cartoon for that matter (mostly because he doesn't seem to care much about either), but he loves the merchandise. Go figure.

Bumblebee also made an appearance.

In September, Dylan was crazy about Star Wars.  This came right after a Toy Story craze that was preceded by Transformers and Disney Cars. Green Lantern and Captain America made brief obsessive appearances and a little Star Wars and Transformers worked their way in the mix.  

He has now returned his focus to Cars.  Clearly, his obsessions are cyclical and I wouldn't be surprised in the least if they correlate with the latest movie release and accompanying merchandise. 

Lo the power of advertising.



the favorite present that he can't quite figure out how to ride...

patience Little D, patience

On Dylan's actual birthday we invited over grandparents who we figured really didn't want to go to the Tempe Beach Splash Park and sweat with the rest of us who had to be there.

This was Amelia's impromptu birthday game for the grandmas and grandpas to play.  We didn't pin the tail on Amelia, by the way.  She drew a donkey for us to use.  But when the excitement over that version fizzled out, she snuck around the room and taped donkey tails to the pants of unsuspecting adults.



On Labor Day weekend, Dylan's party was silly and wet, full of kids spraying each other and parents shooing away the pigeons.

(We didn't invite the pigeons, but they crashed the party anyway, and Evan was wishing that we had brought our b.b. gun along with the ice cream sandwiches.) 

Here's to one year older, one year cuter, one year smarter, and one year cooler!