sweet decisions

So I just got Colsen & Keane's proofs back today from some pictures they had taken this week. My mom runs a preschool in town and gets me a "family" discount with the school photographer. I have an amazing camera, but I really don't know what I'm doing with it. I need to go to the photography (oh! snap) bloc @ watershed (my sis lauren leads it!), take a class, do more...but in the meantime I'll just let other people take them while I stand on my head behind the photographer to try to get keane to smile. I'll post all the proofs in a facebook album if you'd like to see. Here's some of my faves. I'd love your thoughts on which ones you like best. I have to pick one of Colsen, one of Keane , and one of them together. If you've ever been in our house you'll see that we're running out of wall space due to our affection for gigantic b & w pics of our kids/fam/friends. It's hilarious. Can't afford art? Overdue the whole picture thing. Every time I take a new picture of the boys and decide to put it up in the house, I fret over making the decision which picture should come down so that I can reuse the frame. I can't bear to take down the 4 month old Colsen to put up the 4 year old Colsen and at this rate, we'll look like crazy people if we keep buying and hanging this many frames. I'll keep Ikea in Charlotte in business for years to come. And Scott, my minimalist husband, surprisingly, is worse than I am in the whole picture dept. Each time a school picture comes home or we take a nice shot, he wants to order 10 in every size and have them blown up and hang them everywhere. We're crazy. But I guess it's a good crazy. 

Colsen is just becoming such a little independent smart guy. His constantly churning mind keeps me on my toes.

..the questions are incessant and adorable. Tonight

 we read the Last Supper story out of his Kids StoryBook Bible (thanks to my buddy Sarah Caton for telling us about it! (btw if you have or know a kid, you have to get them this bible...it makes me cry..the

 illustrations are awesome, not cheesy, and they theologically GET IT when tying the OT & NT together)- it's called "THE JESUS STORYBOOK BIBLE: EVERY STORY WHISPERS HIS NAME" 

It's just amazing watching him take it all in...ask the questions

 he asks. Then there's Keane, my little jolly Bean & chunk. He's

 really starting to talk more...he laughs at everything and 

makes a lot of faces involving a scrunchy nose. His vocab is limited to pretty much "ma

ma, dada, chocolate (that's my boy), col-col, grandpa, papa, cookie, uhoh,etc. " - but the other night when I was rocking him to sleep, I was singing "Silent Night" (I run out of tunes and go for the carols) and every time 

I said "NIGHT" he said "Night-Night" - I could bite him. I do bite him.  He belly laughs all day. Here's a sample. It's awesome. Here's some of his pics w/ Colsen 

and his on his own. He's not as big on smiling for 

the camera yet..  The other day on twitter, one of my friends from Watershed, Maybelline, listed 

a bunch of people she follows on "follow friday". Not sure if you're

 familiar with how that works, but people will list a bunch of people who they follow on "follow friday" and then list a one or two word description of them. I met Maybelline through our book club @ Watershed and she is just an amazing woman. She's inspired me to one day make the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage and her depth of thought and writing floors me. ANYWAY, I am so new 

to Twitter and still wet behind the ears as to how it all works, but somehow I made it on her "Follow Friday" list. And next to "@TarynHofert" there was my 2 word description ..."cool mom". I chuckled as I read it in my Red Sox hat and food stained shirt. I haven't felt cool since the 80's..and why I did

 back then is still foggy when I look at pictures. But I told Scott

 that "Follow Friday" night, I've had a lot of titles in my life...but I think that one was one of the sweetest. So, thanks, Maybelline

. I'm far from cool, but even you saying that my kids give you "infanticipation" makes me smile ear to ear. 

I feel like moving to Charlotte has allowed me to take on some new roles, new opportunities...

 and in all the chaos of starting Watershed, figuring out how to help/serve and balance a "home life" I can't get over how much t motherhood fits more than any role I've had before. Who knew. I sure didn't. So, help me pic a picture (I have to narrow it down to three!).