When you give a 5 year old a camera...

...this happens. Below is a photo-documentary of our weekend (again this was two Saturday's ago, I'm not keeping up with this very well!) sleepover with Will and Jake. Will got ahold of the camera to capture the moments of shrieking cousin fun and life at Aunt Amy and Uncle John's. It's pretty cute. His favorite things are us, Luke, his tent, the dirty laundry pile that went down the shoot, and his cartoons!







And then when that got boring they all moved on to learning how a piano works and making up songs with Uncle John.

Is it really spring?

A medley of Easter Sunday family pictures playing Wii (notice John in the background trying to sit upright and not pass out from his fever. Good times.), posing with cousins, and hunting for Easter eggs. Note Will in his bike helmet, it was his idea to protect himself as he duked it out with his older brother, such torment for a 5 year old! I also included our backyard "spring stick" that impailed our yard a few weekends ago. We are convinced it will officially be spring (we just took these pictures today, so sick of the snow!) when the stick falls. Here's hoping! Of course I couldn't leave out the prince, he's once again cute as ever hanging in his high chair. *sigh*

3 out of 4 ain't bad

In 2007 there were 4 boys born to the Stevens clan. Milo arrived on the Seattle scene in March (he is also brother to Liam) followed by our guy Luke in June. Little Leo joined them along with his two brothers Henry and Jack in November and Owen rounded out the bunch in December, both born in Saratoga. We're blessed with all boys on both sides of our family. Get-togethers are going to be crazy, loud affairs with all the boys in tow chasing each other, games of whiffleball and touch football to follow. The summer of 2025 (that seems like lightyears away!) will be filled with high school graduation celebrations and 4 very dashing gents to see off at senior proms. If only Seattle wasn't as far away as Seattle is. We missed the Lowry's today and can't wait for the day when all the boys of 2007 along with Liam, Henry, and Jack will meet and play and run around like hooligans.

PS Is Luke a little giant or what?! OMG!















John's sisters Kim (Owen), Hannah (Leo), and moi





























Uncle John with Henry, Luke, and Jack-Jack

Snow Days

I feel like I haven't been here in awhile. Our ditch-day was wonderful, although we don't recommend watching The Bucket List if you're out for a silly afternoon of unplanned fun and/or if you've lost a loved one to cancer. We were in tears from beginning to end with a few comic-relief quips here and there. Ugh. Maybe it's because Jack Nicholson resembled Jack Stevens in a way, it was just too close to home for us. And then there was the line he uttered as he was in the throws of chemo-induced sickness, "some lucky stiff just died of a heart attack". Ugh, we've been on both sides of the coin and either way it sucks. We walked away holding hands, both knowing what the other was thinking. If only we could protect Luke from death and heart-ache. But we upped the ante and strolled through the beloved Apple store...drool! Then we popped in the iPod, cranked the radio, opened the sunroof and headed for Saratoga. Lunch was yum-tastic, the sky was clear blue, and we didn't want the afternoon to end...as you can see in my classic self-portrait!

















In true upstate winter fashion, the next day was full of slush and snow and apparent ice-inducing temperatures which closed every school in the tri-county region. It wasn't the worst weather day, but I suppose if the temps had dipped further down the thermostat then it would have been nothing but nasty. Needless to say, John volunteered to watch the nephews on his last day of ditching. They love Luke and Luke loves them. They played ping-pong, Wii, and Ninja Turtles. Banged on the piano, entertained Luke, and ate Ramen noodles. The museum closed at 1pm and I was welcomed home to a ransaked house full of joy and shrieks and laughter. How we would miss this if we were to have miles between us, thankfully we only have streets.


















I couldn't resist this...check out his Elvis lip! I can't stand his cuteness, it is too much!