Simon wanted to hold Ian, so of course I grabbed my camera.  The impromptu little photoshoot only lasted a couple of minutes (if that) and still I ended up with fifty-seven shots of the boys—and it would have been many, many more if I hadn’t paused to pull Simon’s fingers out of Ian’s mouth and to make sure he wasn’t twisting his little brother’s neck. When I loaded the pictures into iPhoto, I quickly, and relatively painlessly, ditched twenty-four of them—some were obviously too blurry, some were nearly identical to the ones before or after, and in some both of the boys had a dippy expression or their eyes closed. But that still left me with thirty-three, and even though there were several different Simon-handling-Ian configurations and even a prop thrown in there, in the end those thirty-three shots were all pretty similar to one another. I really did like each one for various reasons—a cute expression on Simon’s face in one or on Ian’s in the next, Simon sniffing Ian (and declaring him “stneetnchy” [stinky]) even though years from now I won’t remember that and I’ll think he’s just kissing him, the normalness of a random Wednesday morning in June. I ended up narrowing it down a bit more, but even though I put (just) five on Flickr, I kept eighteen on my computer. I just couldn’t part with one more.

Researching homemade baby food again – it’s almost time! To be honest, I’m kind of dreading the whole solid foods thing. I was so excited with Simon, but it was harder than I thought, and this time I’m perfectly content to wait until Ian is fully and officially six months old (but that’s at the end of this month!).
Not believing that my little blue-eyed, smiling squeezer is almost half a year old already.
Being totally inspired by these lunch ideas (HT: Rebecca). I’m thinking since all four of us will be eating solids soon, it’s a good time to regroup and renew my efforts to feed my family, and especially the kids, healthful foods.
Listening to A Thousand Splendid Suns on CD whenever I’m in the car. Excellent.
Drinking Toddys with vanilla soy milk. At least one a day.
Marveling at Rebecca’s photo, and fully expecting the Pioneer Woman to pick it for her bugs assignment. If she doesn’t, I’ll lose all hope of ever knowing what she (Ree) is looking for.
Loving Charity’s and Andy’s posts about their recent travels (More! More!).
Laughing at my kids. Many times every single day. Before I had kids, I really didn’t think a whole lot beyond I hope they love Jesus and I hope they’re funny. I do hope they love Jesus, and, dang, they are funny.
Looking for recommends for a good series to watch (Hulu, DVD, or Netflix Streaming) during naptime—not that the boys ever sleep at the same time, but I can hope.
Stopping here so I can read for the remainder of Simon’s nap (and, actually, Ian is crashed out too).
Breaking my newly implemented “no blog post without a picture” rule—already.

At the Lincoln Children’s Zoo this morning, I told Simon “no” on something (I can’t remember the exact circumstance). He had to work it through a little, but he actually did avoid an all-out tantrum.

He almost came to terms with it . . . but then, no, it was still too much.

Phew! 

Simon guitar

Ian piano

And the crazy thing is he’s completely self-taught.

1. Making the bed every day
2. Butter on pancakes
3. Staying mad
4. $9 for a movie in the theater (there are, of course, rare exceptions)
5. Cable TV (we’re loving Netflix streaming, Hulu, and TV on DVDs)
6. Checking the latest blogs or Facebook updates or Tweets at the expense of spending quality time with my kids (HT: Karen)
7. Trying to reason with a two-year-old,especially at bedtime
8. Cheese on sandwiches, unless it’s melted
9. Having a garage sale
10. Worrying about most things you worry about
11. Feeling guilty about most things you feel guilty about
12. Substituting applesauce for oil in brownies to cut fat (it works well in most baked goods, but not the browns)
13. Bottled water
14. Speeding
15. Fishing for a compliment (not that I would ever do that)

...Things That Totally Are ...
1. Reading (instead of watching TV or being on the Internet)
2. Getting up earlier than everybody else
3. Paying for a babysitter
4. A weekend with friends, even if it’s short
5. The Market Meal at Bread & Cup (we can only afford to do this about once a year)
6. Getting the books back to the library on time
7. Homemade bread
8. Finding a pediatrician you love
9. Taking family vacations
10. A good haircut
11. Planting a garden
12. Letting Jason have a day to himself now and again
13. Air conditioning

... and Things I Can’t Decide About
1. Coupons
2. A coffee maker (I love my French press, but it only makes one cup at a time)
3. Changing the kids’ (especially Simon’s) bedtime routine
4. Homemade fruit roll-ups/fruit leather (I made a batch out of our strawberries, which was admittedly delicious; I’m just not sure they were enough better than Archer Farms or Trader Joe’s to make it worth it)
5. Leasing a car (it used to make great sense for us, but we drive more now)

When Jason and I married and combined our book collections, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay was one of only five or six that we both had copies of. To his credit, he claims that he saw it on my bookshelf when we were dating and got a copy to impress me. Why he didn’t just borrow it is a good question. Anyway, I’ve picked up but not finished Kavalier and Clay several times. The first time I just didn’t get it, and other times I just got busy or whatever and by the time I got back to it I had to start over because I couldn’t remember what was happening. I’ve been reading it off and on again lately. This morning, though, I had one of those all-too-rare reading moments that left me literally smiling as I closed the book, really, really wanting to know what happens next (tempted to skip ahead but enjoying the story as it unfolds too much to “ruin” it), and wishing that I had a long, rainy day with no responsibilities so I could lose myself in the world. I’m always surprised at how much I like superhero tales (Kavalier and Clay is the story of cousins in the late 1930s who create a comic book, so the comic book is woven into the main plot, or maybe it is the main plot). I suppose I’m somewhat of a closet comic book geek—or I could be if I knew where to start.

My sister, Rhonda (aka Aunt Fun or Aunt Da), came to spend some time with us, and we spent this morning (her birthday—Happy Birthday, Da!) at Roca Berry Farm.

We did pretty well with the 1-to-1 adult-to-child ratio, although I think 1.5:1 might have been even better. To think I considered trying 1:2. Insane.

We did a little picking.

And a little eating.

And, oh my, they were good. Seriously. I don’t think I’ll be able to do storebought strawberries for a good long while. Plus, we got about eight pounds for $8. Pretty great.

And then my dear mom, who was passing through town today and stopped to take us out for Rhonda’s birthday, said, “Would you like me to clean your strawberries for you?”  Yes, please!

She totally saved the berries because I know I wouldn’t have gotten to them until at least tomorrow, and they really did need to be attended to today. Oh how I love my mom.

So we ate a few, shared a few, froze a few, and measured out a few to be used for pie and a few more to make homemade fruit rollups. And now, sadly, they are all gone (or at least accounted for and will soon be gone).

More pics here.

Realizing that I didn’t take a photo today, but choosing not to take one just for the sake of taking one. This has happened a bit more often since the six-week hiatus I had after Ian was born when our camera was being repaired.
Accepting a less than perfect record.
Wondering if I should have hyphenated “less than perfect.” 
Brushing up on my copyediting skills and hoping these decisions start coming more easily again.
Packing for Peoria. Tomorrow morning Ian and I are headed east to celebrate Kate’s residency graduation.
Trying not to worry about all that needs to happen between now and then or about how Ian will travel or about being away from Simon for longer than I ever have been (for perspective, we will be back on the ground in Lincoln less than forty-eight hours after we take off).
Worrying about all those things anyway.
Hoping Ian will sleep better tonight than he did last night (and Simon too, for that matter).
Going to bed.

I looked at my iPhoto archives to see what was going on a year ago. The catalpas were blooming then too.