The kids grew up while you weren't looking

Okay, maybe it wasn't "while you weren't looking."

Maybe it was more like "while I wasn't posting pictures."

At any rate, it's been waaaaaaay too long since I took any "real" pictures of the kids and posted them. And I know that doesn't bother some of you. Maybe even most of you. But the people that I started this blog for? Our family? It bothers them.

So.

The other day after I'd gotten my bag packed for Vegas, I dragged them all out to the front porch and asked them to smile.

Forced smiles are the best, are they not?

Since I went to all this effort and endured their gnashing of teeth, I'm just gonna post practically every picture of them that I took and make you S C R O L L your little hearts out.

Amelia never used to want me to take her picture when it was "Picture Time."

But actually, now she's decided that it's not all that bad. I mean, she wouldn't have sat there all day or anything, but she was up for five minutes or so.

That being the case, I kept clicking.

I figured you guys wouldn't mind.

Then, when I said she was done and it was Jake's turn, she said, "I TAKE PITCHERS WIFF JAKE!"

And Jake, who can NEVER get enough Amelia Time, wasn't about to turn that down.

My heart will break into a thousand tiny pieces when these two are separated for college or whatever. They are just Too Much.

My sweet Jakey.

My participator and most enthusiastic everything.

His profile slays me. Especially that nose.

Nathaniel has changed so much since he started middle school last fall.

His voice is getting lower, and he's such a young man now.

He's almost as tall as I am. Which -- I know -- isn't saying much, but still.

Nick has grown by leaps and bounds, too.

He's tall, strong and only getting more of both.

After I'd finished their individual pictures, I told them I wanted to take a few pictures of them together. You would've thought I'd told them I wanted to shoot each of their big toes off. But we carried on.

Some of us faked a good attitude better than others.

But I really did love these last two that I'm sharing ... one with the boys' arms around each other and Amelia ...

And one where she insisted on switching it up and putting HER arms around THEM. Because SHE'S NO BABY.

For the record, I do realize that one of the boys is in his PJs and one of them is in a free 5K T-shirt. For the first pictures I've shared of them in probably months. But I took the roughly five minutes of sunshine and smiles that I had between the flu, work on the other house and leaving on this business trip to Vegas and decided PJs and 5K shirt be darned, IT WAS PICTURE TIME.

Bygones.