The Swarrell Life

It's always funny to start with a picture of a toilet, I don't care WHAT you're writing! It seems like this year we have taken an all time low number of photographs. Blame it on the rain, whatever, we're not snapping like we used to. I also haven't posted much here either. Coincidence? Not likely. In all honesty though, we still take plenty of pictures, many of them blurry, many of them off center, too dark, too light, you name it. We also have our share of endearing shots as well. But I tried to not post any of those here. Mainly these are shots that make me say, "hmm, that's funny!". Please keep in mind that the word "funny" has many meanings, so don't criticize the photo that didn't make you laugh. Or do. Go on with your bad self! Yeah, bathroom humor is the best! Outdoor bathroom humor is even better! Take me to your leader! Trinity was playing with a toy mermaid. She has two of them. She likes to play wit...

This might be habit forming. After discovering that I can discover things while writing the last update, I decided to do it again. Writing that is. I am not sure about the discovering part. Speaking of discovering, I discovered over the last week exactly how grumpy I can get without meaning too (lose). I also discovered how great it can be to spend the holidays with family (win), how easy it is to hurt the people you love the most (lose) and also how easy it is to go to NYC (win-more on that at a later time). The nice thing is that I can learn and grow from each of those discoveries. Okay, that's probably a stretch on the trip to NYC.  It must be fall It could be winter though, given all the snow. Time to warm up! With Trin turning 7 last month, it was time for family photos. Ain't they cute? The other two members of the family... Notice anything missing? Me too! Where's that gal? She's mowing the yard? Ha! Just kiddin...

Well, I think my last post was about Trinity's birthday and here we are again! I told Autumn that it had been a year, but looking at the date of the last post proves me wrong yet again! So here we are a year (sort of) later and a year wiser (maybe). Certainly I am a year older (I got one right!). But that also means that, you guessed it: my kids are also certainly a year older! Being that it is November, I suppose this post had better be about Trinity. So it is. My little girl is seven years old?!?!?! I will say that each year the reality of how fast time flies by hits a little harder. I distinctly remember thinking about time when Trin was born, about how long 18 years seemed. Well, I blinked and seven of those blips have disappeared into folders of digital pictures that remind me that a) I didn't take enough pictures and b) I took too many pictures. You could add in c) I need to organize them and delete all the bad ones, but I'll leave that one out for the sake...

Hmm, if you were to tell me that I have a 6 year old daughter and a 4 year old son, I would, at any time 6.75 years ago and earlier, tell you that you are crazy. That you don't know what you're talking about. I would also have you escorted out by security. So it goes. And here I am. I have a daughter that just turned six. Okay, in all procrastinating fairness, her birthday was three months ago. I simply haven't written about it. Some of that is the day to day routine that seems to discourage creativity. Wait. That's an excuse. Sometimes the day to day routine allows me an excuse to not write about things that are important. That's better. Here's my daughter, my first child: Trin is really about joy. Sure there's moments where that's not completely true. I know that. But when I zoom out and take it all in, there's not many people I know, adult or otherwise, who have lives that are as joy-filled as hers. The truth is that most of the joy sim...

How's that for a great title? I thought about writing on here again and found this jumble of photos. I don't think I had a them or anything for this, just wanted to document the Fall activities around Halloween and maybe a bit after that. Enjoy! Teagan and his preschool class on a field trip to the corn maze and pumpkin patch! Clean out pumpkins to carve. I love roasting the seeds! I don't know, but it's a cute smile Trick or Treat! They picked out their own costumes this year, both were pretty happy. I think Teagan wore his the entire month leading up to the big event! Come to think of it, he STILL wears it whenever he gets the chance! Candy S'more sugar please! Sticky sweetness, TWO TIMES! Making the rounds Filling those candy buckets! Yup, more candy! Posing for a picture with the dog. I do think Max is about to abscond with all the candy. He's got that sneaky loo...