I Get By....

Overall, it was a wonderful trip. Everyone was always smiles and good times. 

See? Everyone. 

This is called "trick photography" where Marin looks like the size he should be and Jude looks like the tiny peep cousin looking up to his older cousin for counsel.  

Just doing some quick mapquesting to figure out the best escape route to take when the moms and aunts aren't looking. 

I get by with a little help from my friend.

This might be where the mattress game took a turn for the worse. Even more importantly, I see a butt cheek. 

These Boys Cray

Marin liked to tell a story about this one time that he saw men working on a rooftop of their neighbors house. I think he saw another one this morning. I'm sure Easten is still hearing all about it. 

What whattttt??

Well, it's official- Marin has reached the age where he knows that he's cool and he's ready to ham it up for the ladies. Fortunately, he's hamming it up mostly for his aunties, so I guess that's okay. 

On this trip, Jude discovered a risky game that he enjoyed! Now he has expanded his risky repertoire into being tossed into the air. So yeah, if you are wondering, his adventurous side did bloom in California. 

But risky or not, what we did see on this trip was a Jude doing a really phenomenal job at his independent reading. 

This is a face that Marin makes for no reason. This boy cray. 

Helpful Rage

I'm not going to comment on who is stealing from who in this picture, though I think maybe Jude was stealing. But I don't know. I think also it is kind of easy to blame Marin. Okay, let's say it was Marin...

Look closely and you may see that it was MAYBE Jude stealing. You can tell by the rage on Marin's face. Jude was just trying to help, after all. 

It's fine though because Marin has some "cleaning" to do of his own. 

How wude. 

This is how Marin discovered that some of the fence was loose. First it enraged him, then he realized a perfectly acceptable escape route. It pays to be miniature. 

Bath Baby Shenanigans.

While we were in California the boys took nightly baths together. If I recall correctly, they always went swimmingly. 

But really, what could go wrong? When you have eyes like this, and a head circumference like that, the outcome is always sweet. 

Okay, but really. Is this real life? Sometimes people ask me if he is a girl. Can you believe that? With his masculine physique and muscular biceps- NOT TO MENTION his obvious boyish charm, what a ridiculous question. Once, someone even asked me if he was a girl while he was wearing camo shoes and clearing playing with a boys toy. Yes, that's my daughter wielding a life size sword. 

Gender mistaking woes aside, look how cute this melon head is. And his father can be happy about the strategically placed cup. Boom. 

This was a picture I snapped one morning outside of their window before Marin woke up. This was THROUGH A WINDOW. Isn't that crazy? Maybe I should include a picture of what I see through the window in the morning in Illinois. Let's just say that if you weren't suffering from seasonal depression before, you soon would be.

Buggin

Just peekin. And in the background it appears there is a pale little bug doing something that will cause 

A melon headed kid to start buggin. 

So much bug talk. How ironic. 

Stolen: yellow truck. Whenever Marin steals a toy he always checks back to ensure that the victim of his theft is left far behind in his miniature tracks. 

There are many things which bring my joy in this picture. First, look at that fat man in the background. He's so cute. I think he gets his physique from me. 

Second, can we take a minute to marvel at the outfit that is orange-on-orange? Yeah, I'm going to guess you've never seen that combination before. (Why that is, I'll never figure out because I for one think it brings out the anger-red in his cheeks)

Which brings me to point three, the anger red. Honestly, I'm beginning to think the anger is just a ploy to make sure he spends the day with a little anger red flush in his cheeks. It just looks SO good on him. I'm like, 99% sure I could market that color to NARS and get a new best seller. The other 1% says that showing this picture will just ensure that the world has more only children...

Hiding his teeth. Anger red and prune brown. Cha-ching, NARS. 

But seriously, if you want to pay me for the name titles or whatever, that's cool. 

Cha...ching.

HURRICANE MARIN

Here is the confusion in this picture. Jude didn't quite totally understand the calm before the storm. But the real problem is that I'm not sure he understood the storm either. But nonetheless, the storm came in. 

And it was a big one. 

I think here you can tell that Jude is beginning to get it. 

You know those animations of a little devil and little angel that stand on your shoulders to tell you what is right or wrong? 

I ask for no reason, just wondering if you know. 

The Calm Before the Storm

Hey, quit bugging him. He's playing there and he wants no part in adult supervision. Oh well, let him live his life I guess. 

Just a small peep in a big kitchen corner.

Yeah, I think I like him to stay in that corner. Make sure he stays in that corner. 

Okay, he left the corner. Come on Jude, let's just go back to our corner and stay there. Okay? good. 

Note the size non-difference between the year apart boys. 

I think that you can probably tell that the steam is about to come out of marin's angry little ears. Luckily for you, I have such steamed pictures coming tomorrow. 

Who me? Take a gooooood look at this face before tomorrow's post.