New Years Resolution -- Check

My resolution for 2010 was to get picture of my kids on my wall, and it finally is done. It only took me to, oh, about November to do it, but hey, who's counting?

So here goes:















I had to get pictures done fast, Brayden's braces come off next month, and Keeley's two front teeth will start growing in soon. Two mile markers I wanted to capture for both of them.

So here is what made these pictures so exciting. While we were down on the greenbelt (yeah, right, they can call it that, I guess) taking pictures, I was doing my best to not be yelling at kids to settle down and not get dirty, etc.

Craig had ran up to the car because I forgot something, we had just finished up 1 set of family pictures, and I was taking Caitlin's pictures. The other three yahoos were running around being psycho and I was ignoring them, focusing on Caitlin, when I heard screaming behind me. I turn around to find Brayden yelling and rolling on the ground holding his head.

Turns out he had been chasing Keeley when she ran under a tree. Brayden didn't realize that a 6 year old might be able to fit places he couldn't, and tried to follow her, smashing his head into a broken off limb. Blood and stitches followed.

Well, I wasn't going to pass up finishing our family pictures since everyone was dressed and the girls hair was done, so after the dr. stitched up the boy, we went back and finished. Some fancy photoshopping to take out the blood (notice the gel look on the left side of his head...nah thats matted blood, not gel), and there ya go...Family Pictures.

I got a new camera!

It's here! I got my new camera! Caitlin is my lucky guinea pig, and this is one of the first shots I got of her with it. I love, love, love it. She turned 10 in February and I really want to take her out to do some pictures, and actually get them printed and put on my wall. That is my goal for this year, to get some pictures of my kids on the wall. Good pictures. Great pictures. Pictures that make my heart sing. Okay, so I'll probably have to settle for just getting pictures on the wall, but a girl can dream.

So please forgive this mommy who has her "mommy goggles" on and thinks my daughter is beautiful and this picture is pretty darn good. (Except for the crummy background, I'm working on it though.)

Now to find new victims...err subjects I mean.

Have a good day, and if you see some psycho lady making her kids stand in the cold wind while she tries to get just one more shot, its probably me so don't judge too harshly.

This thing called Life

School has started. My baby goes to kindergarten. She didn't even hesitate when I dropped her off the first day. Just like all the rest of them. Okay, so some parents would be thrilled if their kids went to class the first day without any drama, but I would have just liked one child, just one, to at least be a little clingy. I don't want them to cry and throw a fit, but maybe just need mom a little bit. Not to be. I'll just tell myself that I did something right in parenting to make such secure and well adjusted children. Yeah.

As if having the baby start school wasn't bad enough, Brayden started middle school. I'm not old enough for this! Well, maybe I am. Brayden seems to be really enjoying the change of pace, it's made him excited for school again. Caitlin is in 4th grade, and Aaron is in 1st.

For Labor Day weekend we went to Portland to my brother's wedding. It was a fast and furious trip, but well worth it to see Russel and Esther married.

Just to make this post a bit more interesting, here is a picture of my handsome boy Aaron.

A thumbsuckers thumb

Poor Keeley went to the dr. this morning to have a wart removed from her thumb. Being the evil parent that I am I chose the painful way of taking it off, good old freezing. He had another alternative to take it off that would have been less painful, but would have been stretched out over a number of weeks. I'm cheap. What can I say. I chose her discomfort instead of spending hundreds of dollars to take it off with less pain. So sign me up for the evil mean parent i.d. card, because today, I qualify.

You can see her poor little thumb there, all wrapped in duct tape. Yes, duct tape. That is what my expensive dermatologist told me to do. On the bright side, maybe she'll stop sucking her thumb. Unfortunately, the one on her other hand still is very suckable.

Beautiful Iniside and Out

I have been blessed with a beautiful daughter. Caitlin is so amazing in so many ways. She turned 9 a few weeks ago and I didn't mention it on my blog then, so I'm gonna talk about her now. This child is the funnest person I know. She loves to have fun and is always having a good time. She is also our social butterfly and has more friends than I can keep track of. Her first two years in school about bankrupted us with all the birthday invitations she received every week. She's very smart and works really hard in school. Shes also a fighter, which in my book is a good thing. We knew from day one that our lives would never be the same after she was born, but we had no idea what a huge blessing she would be.

Cleanliness is next to Godliness

Or so someone once said. Here is something not many people know about me. I LOVE the idea of being organized and time managed and having a clean house. Notice I said the idea of it. The actual doing is a bit different. I can sit and make beautiful cleaning charts that are wonderfully organized, and I love doing that. I print them out, sometimes on pretty paper, sometimes I am going for the utilitarian look and its just plain white, and I never ever follow them. But I love making them. I love looking on a piece of paper and seeing my day divided up into little half hour increments showing where everyone should be and what they should be doing. It gives me shivers up my spine. I love the idea of knowing that at 8:00 I jump in the shower, dressed and ready by 9. At noon its lunch with it cleaned up at 12:30, and at 4:00 every day I start dinner. At least thats how it looks on paper.

Reality is, I shower whenever I can find the will to do it, we eat lunch when my kids are complaining about starving to death (their words, not mine), and I start dinner about 10 minutes before a hungry child is do at an activity. Oh, and the cleaning up part? Well, thats why it takes me so long to start dinner, because I'm cleaning up from dinner last night and lunch before I can cook tonight. I know I'm not the only one that lives this way, but I am the only one that will probably be brave enough to tell the truth about it. Other people can have their dream worlds where dinners at 5, kids baths at 6, bed by 7, and mom and dad have a nice relaxing evening before drifting off into uninterrupted sleep for 8 hours at 10:00.

Maybe someday, I'll live in that dream world too. Until then, I'll keep sending hungry kids to gymnastics, laundry won't always be done on Monday, and I will keep making my beautiful schedules. But this is who I am, and you can either love me or not. Judge me if you want to, but in the end I'm pretty happy with me.

Cause I Stink At Titles

I'm not gonna give one. So there. Nothing witty, nothing brilliant. Really. Nothing.

The kids have their Valentines Day parties tomorrow, so tonight we had the mad rush getting Valentines made. Caitlin, the smart one, made hers about a week ago. She got out her scrapbook paper and cut out paper hearts for everyone in her class. Very sweet. She never even asked for me to go buy her some, she just knew how she wanted them done, and she did it. Brayden on the other hand comes home from school today and doesn't say a word. He sits on the computer for 3!! hours. (This is a big no-no in our house, they only get one hour a day.) And then we tell him to get off, and then the panic sets in. Tomorrow he has to have Valentines! He hasn't given them a thought, so it must be an emergency situation! Now imagine this...Craig has been painting the pantry doors in my kitchen, so its layered in black plastic and paint drips everywhere. Caitlin has to be at gymnastics at 6:00, Craig has band practice at 6:30, and I'm trying to start dinner, which will take 55 minutes to cook instead of the 15 I head originally thought (read your recipes all the way through, not just the first line). And Brayden is in the kitchen having a fit about going to the store and buying Valentines at 5:47. Needless to say I lost my temper a bit and yelled at him. Ugh. Kids do not get that while mom is cooking dinner, its really not a good idea to approach her with your demands. So he went downstairs deflated, thinking his mom is evil. But alas, I redeem myself and whip him up some really cool Valentines in Photoshop, and made Aaron a set while I was at it. I must say, I really like their Valentines better than anything from a store.

Yesterday I made a self-binding baby quilt. This is pretty fast, and I like the result quite a bit. My corners on this first one aren't perfect, but now I know how to make them better next time. I just need someone to have a baby girl so I can give it to them! I have a nephew on the way, but no girls. And since my mom has already made like 10 of these for him, there is no reason for me to.

Aaron is a hard kid to photograph. Nothing I take of him ever looks that great. Needless to say I was surprised when he made me take a picture of him on his 100th day of school and it came out pretty cute! I like it because he doesn't have some goofy grin, his eyes aren't bugging out, he isn't doing a stupid pose, its just Aaron. Oh, and just so ya know, he made me Photoshop out the 2 sores that are about the size of a freckle he had on his face. He said they made him look icky. So yeah, hes 6 and we are already airbrushing his photos. Insert Eye Roll here.

Getting the Mojo Back...maybe

Last night I actually had a desire to go into my sewing room. I cleaned it up a bit and then I started and finished a little pencil pouch for my church bag. I also made a twirly skirt for Keeley. I've had the fabric to do this for like ever. I've been such a lazy mom I hadn't started it. I got Caitlins made, but never Keeleys. I got it all done except for the elastic and she was already asleep when I went down to measure her waist, so this morning I jumped up and finished it. Here is the Squealy in her new skirt, and yeah, she's really that cute.

Craigs birthday was on Saturday, and lucky for me his mom makes his cake! Yeah! He always gets worried that I'm gonna be upset that he asks her instead of me, but hello! Why would I want more to do? Here he is with his parents. We have been playing Pinochle with them for about a year now, and his mom and I thorougly whooped the boys' butts that night! Go us!

And last but not least, we were finally able to get a picture of Caitlin doing her back handspring. Proof that they are actually teaching her something at gymnastics.

Hopefully I can start feeling better and get back to myself. I came down with a bit of a cold about a week and a half ago, and I've just been yucky since then. I am still running a low grade fever, so I think I might need to make a dr. appointment. I hate going to the dr. Not to mention our new insurance Sucks, with a capital S.

Craig is home all week, our first week of unpaid vacation. 1 down 3 to go. As badly as it sucks to have to take 4 weeks without pay the first half of the year, I'm extremely grateful he has a job. Our family has everything we need. Not everything we want, but need. And really, thats enough. Times like this really make you re-evaluate whats important. Being able to stay home and play a game of Clue with the kids is more important than Craig and I going out and seeing the latest movie in the theatre. My husband and kids are whats important, having a new outfit, getting my nails done, having the kids in 20 different activities, it all takes away from what matters. Family. I'm grateful for my family. Although I may gripe about it, I am grateful for my husbands job. I'm grateful that because of him and his hard work, I am able to be home with my children, where I'm supposed to be. And if that means having ratty fingernails and un-trendy clothes, well, thats a sacrifice thats pretty easy to make.