I came across this picture from December.  Um, like father like son?  Even their eyebrow shape is the same.  Crazy.

He was so so happy.

Hooray I finally figured out how to make a collage of pictures to use for this blog thing!!  I know, it took me long enough.  Here's Camers with his fun new jumping game.  And that's all.  

We are so very in the middle of the January slump.  When I was teaching school I remember the month of January seemed to just drag on forever, and with your own kids it is no different.  The lack of sun and the cold weather just make everything seem soooooo gloomy.  So one thing Jace has become obsessed with to pass the time is his Leapster that he got for Christmas last year. And this year he got a new game for it and so all he wants to do is play it.  He would play it all day if I let him.  And sometimes I really really really want to let him play it all day.  But then I looked at him hunched over with his neck basically at a right degree angle and think that maybe it might be permanently bent like that, so I have to take it away.  And then endure the crying fit.

So I get to see him slumped over all the time, while his Leapster gets to see his lovely contented face.  And then when the Leapster is put away I get to see his face contorted in rage.  Nice.

Camers loves watching Super Why, which has been his favorite show since he was barely able to sit up by himself.  So he watches that a lot. 

And he is content as long as he has his passy and his trusty blanky. 

If you feel bored while reading this post I apologize.  I'm bored while writing it.  And also bored while living it.  However, a fun thing that did happen a week ago was that Uncle Cody came home from his mission in California.  Notice the dreariness of the sky?  Yeah it was gloomy that day, too.  Jace and Cameron were very excited to see him.  I think their favorite part was going to the airport to wait. 

I really enjoy Cody's looking-at-little-kids-face.

And also, just to spice up this post a little, I give you a somewhat disturbing picture of a freakishly large belly.

In little Cameron's defense he had just finished eating a healthy and large dinner.  But doesn't that look crazy big?  Like he swallowed a bowling ball? 

The other day we were very bored and I didn't feel good and the kids were starting to feel better and had so much restless energy that I could actually see it glowing from their faces that I did what any desperate mother of boys would do.  I pulled out a spare mattress and refereed a wrestling match.  

Jace oohed and aahhed the spectators with a number of scary please-don't-break-your-neck moves.

Cameron fired right back wtih some smack-your-oponent-in-the-face whacks. 

Jace countered with a between the leg death grip.

To which Cameron responded with some face grabbing and eye poking.

I don't exactly know what's happening here, but I do think Cameron was in the lead at this point. . . as Jace looks like he is in some serious pain.

A double head lock.  Hard to tell who was in control.

And finally the winner was Cameron, who resorted to more pinching and clawing.  And then the match was over and it ended, as I knew it would, in tears. 

So my New Year's resolution is to do more blog updates.  Not really, although it's wishful thinking that perhaps in this year of 2012 I will have more blog updates.  For now though I might because my fun new toy for Christmas was a new camera and so now I want to be a photographer and takes lots of pictures.   And so my blog will now reap the benefits.  Jace got a camera too (and it doesn't work no matter how many clicky noises he makes or say, "This is a good one, Mommy!" But I'm glad for his imagination) and he tooks lots of pictures of me while I took pictures of him.  Mostly I think Jace just can't stand when I'm doing something that I enjoy without him right in the middle of it.  Every time I even sit at the computer to waste time on Pinterest, for example, he literally climbs circles around me.  And it usually ends with me saying, "Ugh forget IT!" and stomping out of the room angrily.

Also he gave me lots of annoyed looks like this one as I played with different buttons on the camera.  He was not a good poser.  Perhaps him being still in his pajamas at one in the afternoon didn't make him feel fancy enough to be a model.

So one fun thing we did sporadically on New Year's Eve day was go to the zoo!  The weather was surprsingly mild and sunny and we had some Groupons that were going to expire, so we just did it!  I was very proud of us for being so spontaneous!!  Our best luck with the animals was with the giraffe again.  This guy just loves the people I guess.  In fact he was even licking people's hands, and Jace, when not paying attention, almost got a good lick on the head.  I'm pretty sure he would have peed his pants had that happened, though.  So luckily the giraffe missed.  Or maybe Aunt Melanie pulled him quickly out of the way. 

And Camers really loved the zoo, especially when we finally let him out of his stroller. 

The zoo was the highlight of Cameron's week though, as he has been sick.  See him below with baggy eyes and snot stains on his face?  After so much snot removing, you just sometimes have to let it go a little bit.  Brice hates that I do that.  But seriously, I cannot just keep his nose area constantly clean when it's constantly running.  That in itself would be a full time job.  I cannot be a full time tissue holder.  Also sometimes the passy Cameron cannot live without leave a nasty ring around his mouth.  Poor little Cams.

 He has mostly been whining nonstop for the last week.  I finally took him to the doctor today, relenting that it's probaby not just teething.  And now he's on an antibiotic and so hopefully will begin cheering up soon.

And now two random pictures of Jace playing with his trains.  Just because I think they look cool.

He was a much better model for me this day.  And, to be honest, he's wearing the same pajama top as in the first picture.  But it's turned backwards (his favorite way of wearing it, or so he tells me).

And this is Cameron after he got his wisdom teeth out.  Wait-- oh no I'm sorry.  Those are just his cheeks.