My little anchors

Right up there on my list of things I'm most thankful for in life is that we get to eat dinner together as a family every night. Ryan works the late afternoon/evening shift but has it worked out so that he can come home for a quick dinner break.

And while I appreciate the whole eating together around the kitchen table part, that's not the only reason I'm thankful. The fact that Ryan's there to help me with bed time (i.e. do everything while I cuddle the baby) has a LOT to do with it.

A couple times a year, though, we break from our routine, and I load the kids in the van, hit a drive thru, and we visit daddy at work.

I decided yesterday was going to be one of those days after realizing Essie had never been to the station (good old TV news doesn't take a holiday, so Memorial Day is always a regular work day around here).

Every time we visit, I like to take a picture of the kids (and sometimes us) on the set. Yes, my husband does this every day and I even did it for a few years, but now that we have kids, sitting them up there for a few photos never gets old. Who doesn't love mini news anchors?

Here was our first one, taken just a few weeks after Clara came home...

Clara and I both got bigger

And one from 2011...

They are BABIES!

And then last night... I think Essie kind of liked the bright lights and cameras. Then again, this baby is happy anywhere.

The funny thing is Clara and Luke have great memories, but for some reason they act like every time they visit the studio it's the first time they've been there. They were beyond excited yesterday, running around, yelling, "cool!", and touching the anchor desk with one finger like they were getting away with something.

And, of course, there's always fun with the green screen...

Glued to her image on the monitor

Luke got to practice doing the weather with daddy...

There's a warm front moving in from the west...

And you know what's coming next with that green shirt...

That girl is just smitten with herself

Floating Lukie! 

Essie got a chance to look over her scripts before the newscast...

Soon you'll see big bows on all the female anchors

 

Of course, all three had to sit for a shot at the desk. I think these kids may have a future in broadcasting.

Here's the same shot, pre-editing. Because I'm tricky like that...

Thank goodness for Photoshop

And the fun doesn't stop with the studio. The newsroom became their playground for a little while because, after all, what's not fun about rows of cubicles?

The adventures of Luke

Of course, their fun was had at the expense of bed-time help for me. And it was a very late night. But I'm a sucker for those anchor desk shots so we'll probably do it all over again on Labor Day.