Another modeling session for the craft blog.

Sometimes, the posing gets a little out of control.

Oh, now this is very nice.

Lovely, lovely....

Yeah, this just jumped the shark.  A hand on the head?  Geesh.

Would you look at this hot kid?

And this one? 

Quick - back home for popsicles!

August was brutally hot.

We averaged 2 giant ice creams, each, per day.

Other heat-beaters...

The "squirty bottle",

and the frozen lemonade.

Never leave home without them.

I :heart: Summer.

Uh, Jonas?  Have you been in Mommy's make-up bag?

I HAVE!  I'm so PRETTY!

Jonas wandered out from his nap like this.

Post-nap stupor.

Always more entertaining with the proper accessories.

I know how to maximize a quarter.

Find the one ride that you can fit three kids on at once.  Bargain!

You gotta love a spacious, tiled living room.

Especially when it's 4000 degrees outside.  Who needs the skate park?

Why, yes - those *are* pink princess pads.  Whatever - his helmet is very manly.

What?  Red shirt, red shorts, red shoes...  it all matches!

"Ridiculous outfit"?  Mommy - this is a GREAT outfit.  Sheesh.

Aaaah.  Daddy's back, and it's time to show him what good little swimmers the kids became this summer.

C'mon, Buddy!  Jump in!

Pulling himself up for another belly flop.

With a belly like this, you displace a lot of water.

My family. I'm a lucky, lucky woman. :)

Who is this big kid?

Climbing a ladder?  That can't be right.

And this!  What is this? Monkey bars?  Are you freaking kidding me?

Oh, wait. 

THERE'S my baby.

There's a trick to this thing.

It's *all* about the swing.

Once you figure out how to swing your legs, you'll be zipping along in no time.

Interesting.

Slide bowling?

What?  You've never seen this before?  Ok, watch carefully...

You ROLL the ball down and hit the pins!

Or, if that doesn't' work, there's always plan B...

What is this a picture of?  Why did I select it to be here?  Life is full of mysteries.

This one is easier to figure out.  Would you LOOK at how looong this boy is?

Um.  Who dressed Jonas up as Ariel?

Of course.

I guess Aurora here needed a playmate.

Jonas?

Oh!  Hi, Mom!

What?  Hahaha!  No, of course I'm not waiting here to throw shoes at anybody!

Where would you even get an idea like that?

Now, could you maybe go away?  And not tell Daddy that I'm around this corner?  Thanks.

Violet demonstrates the twirliness of her newest skirt.

It gets a 10 out of 10!  Score one for Mommy!

Oh, Joe!  I'm taking a picture of you in a tank top - better flex for the camera!

Nice job.

Appropriate protective gear is very important for park visits.

I mean, does this look safe?

What about this?  Good thing he has that helmet! A sweaty head is a small price to pay for safety!

Speaking of safety.

Just when I'm getting used to her climbing all these crazy ladders on her own - now she's doing it on the wrong side? 

Kid!  You make me crazy!

Who, me?  Chill out, Mom.  Check out the soft, bouncy floor.  It's almost impossible for me to concuss myself on it (Lord knows, I've tried.)

Don't worry about me, mom. I'm covered.

This kid is just all long arms and legs.

Long TAN arms and legs.

I couldn't decide which of these was my favorite.

Love V's smile in this one...

and I don't know what Jonas is doing here, but he's cute.

Marathon training + learning to ride a bike.

The perfect combination.

Violet's looking less than thrilled that we had to leave the pool here.

Nothing her brother can't fix.

He's hysterical!

A regular laugh riot!

If I recall correctly, all this laughing was because Jonas was refusing to show me his smile.  When he couldn't keep looking away any longer (stiff neck?) he resorted to covering it up with his cute little hand.  The kid is entertaining, I'll give him that.

There was a fund-raising car wash at the fire station.

So the boys put on their fireman outfits and headed on over.

Joe let Jonas play on the truck, took 47 pictures, went out to find that they hadn't gotten to his car yet, and left.  Way to save five bucks, honey.

Honestly, is there anything cuter than a two-year-old in bowling shoes?

Getting the ball...

watching it roll (very very veeery slowly) down the lane.

V did not feel like bowling, so we played Old Maid and cheered on the boys.  What?  You're wondering what she's wearing?

This.  This is what she wore to the bowling alley.  We made a deal that if I let her wear this this time, she wouldn't argue with me about wearing appropriate clothes to school.  Yeah, she totally welched.

After the bowling alley, we came home to try our luck at a little Wii bowling.  this was one of our first games (I'm happy to say that Joe and I have gotten a lot better.  Don't judge.)

Observe who the winner is.  That kid CREAMED us, over and over again.  Look at the scoreboard - four strikes!  He's unstoppable.  An idiot bowling savant.  We call him The Dude.