Summer 2011

As most of you know - The kids and I went on a very LONG trip to visit family in Arkansas and we even spent a few days in Texas.  We were gone for almost 6 weeks and I have to shamefully admit - I hardly touched my camera!!! Shame on me....

BUT - I did get a few pictures of a hiking trip we took ...

This summer, our trip was off to a rocky start.  My first week, everyone got sick (really sick!), we had to go to urgent care, Eli had to have a tooth pulled and busted his head open a few days later. But - it got much better (I dont know why this is bolded all of a sudden?) Noah learned how to swim! He resisted us pretty much the entire time - but we kept taking him to the pool almost every day and FINALLY after us teaching, showing, begging, reteaching, begging some more, finally he plunged in and just did it!  He saw a little girl (a much younger girl) in the pool swimming and having a great time - he looked at me and asked how she did that and I told him that the only difference between him and her was that he was too scared to let go and just do it....he said "Go get my goggles, Mommy!" and off we went - swimming like he knew how to all along. And then he was even brave enough to swim without goggles or anything!  

Monkey See, Monkey Do!  Now Eli thinks that he should be able to swim like that...but he just doesnt have the understanding of the rules and 'how to' yet so we have to watch and be mindful of where and what Eli is up to while at the pool!

So thanks to MEME and PEARPAW for helping show (almost) both the boys how to swim and love the water. :0)

Jonah on the other hand is part fish...he just has no fear whatsoever.....and LOVES the water. Any water in fact! Water in a glass, in the tub, in a dog bowl, or in the toilet - he doesnt care where it comes from! To him, water was meant to be played in.

Happy Birthday Noah

He's 4!!!!!  I cant believe how quickly the time has gone by!  I also can believe how much my life has changed in the past 5 or 6 years - WHEW!!! Praise God for change! :0)

Here are a few pictures of the little mans bday party....

HAPPY HEART DAY!!!!!

What a great day it has been already - and its only 2:30! (crossing my fingers.....)

I woke up to a sweet little boy kissing me on my forhead and saying "Will You Be My Valentime, Mommy?" it was so cute........

Then Jonah graduated from his cranial helmet! NO MORE HELMET!!!!  He's free at last! And his head looks FANTASTIC! He's turned out to be well rounded already. lol

Then I went to pick up Noah from preschool - and he sees me as his entire class is returning from the bathrooms - so he runs down the hall and screams "MOMMY!!!! I thought you were in jail!!!!"

nice

I think I heard crickets...so I stammer and look at the teacher and say (trying to explain) "Oh, we talk about jail all the time at home..."  what???  first of all -we dont...and that sounds horrible! I panicked - what could I say?  lol

oh well

Here are some pictures - ENJOY!

Noah and I made these to pass out to all of his little friends at school - and he really helped! He cut, glued and stuffed right along beside me! He was very excited to pass them out. :0)

KISSES!!!

Jonah sat up for a few minutes today!

And then he does this...

It makes him tired - lol

But he's still my little Q-T-Pi!

BYE BYE HELMET!

Someone is crying now - I gotta run

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY EVERYONE!!! WE LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU ALL TERRIBLY!!!!

Breakfast in the Batcave

We had a very special guest join us for Breakfast this morning

Just so everyone knows - Batman will eat anything when bribed with more bacon.

Robin came along too but refused to be photographed while in costume

And the Jonah just hangs out waiting for attention. :0) Actually he loves this bouncy!

 What a great way to discover the greasy kid handprints on your doors.....ew

Just hanging around!

MY BABY CAN READ!

Over the last few weeks - Noah has really started showing interest in what letters 'say'.  Could this be because he started school a few weeks ago?  I dunno....but Im amazed at the change in Noah already. The other day I heard him in the play room singing the ABC's and then he went through each letter and said "Big A little a - A says aaaaaa   as in APPLE!" for every single letter he did this - and I walked into his play room and he had a set of his flash cards scattered all around him.

So we have been talking about what sounds certain letters make when they are put together like - "oo" and "ou" and "ch" and things like that.  He seems to be soaking it all up!

Then last night, I was working from home in front of the computer and Daddy was on the floor in the playroom with the boys drawing simple words on a drawing board and having Noah make the sounds of the letters and putting them all together......it dawned on me..Noah was reading! READING!  He really did do most of it himself - Kev would point to the letter, Noah would make the sound, and we had him put the sounds all together quicker and he would shout the word! He read, DOG, CAT, JONAH, BOOK, NOAH, ELI, BANDIT, and then at my request BOOGER. Just to make him laugh.

Reading.....sheesh...

Now, I know he is no genius - thats not what I am saying....but he is growing up so quickly!!!

Eli has really been showing interest in letters too - today we went to a Dr appt and then to the "BLUE" hardware store and he pointed out every letter "S" he saw...I think he likes it because he can say it really well.  He's a cutie...

This is the last week Jonah has to wear his helmet - YEAH!!!!!!! 

Well, I gotta run and pick up #1 from school. More later! :0)  

Love old photos

Well - you all know I have fallen in love with Lightroom.  I have been searching my computer for some old photos that I can maybe make better or more interesting just by getting creative with them....that and the fact that I have NO pictures of my kids hanging in my house - seriously - NONE!  So I thought I would try and gather some to print and put in some frames...one of these days.

But I found a set of pictures that I love - I love them for their imperfections and stories they tell....and the memories that I hope to never forget. The below set of pictures was my INSANE attempt to get ONE good picture of the three boys together right after Jonah was born -  mission failed.

Yes - thats Eli with his finger down our newborns mouth....and thats Noah for being goofy while trying to take the pictures - and then me getting grumpy with everyone for having fun instead of taking a perfect family photo.......oh well - I sort of love the results like only the Mom would.
This is my crazy family

Then I found some pictures of Jonah as a brand new baby - some are before his trip to the hospital, one is during, and some are after - but the poor thing was so orange from jaundice that I needed to do some playing around with color.

Isnt he a sweet big brother!?!?!   Noah is the lover....Eli is the "finger in the mouth'er"
Anyway - so there is my special find for the week.  Old pictures can make you smile - or make you laugh out loud so hard the other people in the house come check on you.

Hopefully I can find more to share soon....

$8 haircut

After Eli's tooth incident - I had an especially irritable day and decided to take the plunge and take advantage of the GreatClips haircut sale.  $7.99 for a haircut, cant beat that!  I called them to make sure it included womens cuts too - no matter the original length because I planned on going pretty short. I needed a change - badly. All these babies have really left their mark on my hair! What used to be thick super curly long hair is now whispy, thinning, frizzy, not curly at all hair...so off it goes.

I was terrified to go to GreatClips to be perfectly honest. Like I said, I called before hand and asked if there was anyone there who had a lot of experience cutting short hair for women - I was assured there was a manager on duty who knew her stuff.

rrriiiiight...

Well I show up and get seated almost right away with an asian woman who seemed really nice - really she was very nice, I couldnt understand a word she was saying but she was all smiles! As soon as I have about 5 inches cut off my left side she starts to get a little crazy and nervous about how many people just walked in the door after me. At this point she's just wacking away at my poor hair and loading on some gloppy stuff to show me how to style my hair by teasing, blowdrying the hair up and then spraying with hairspray - and then she said she was done and I looked beautiful and that I should tell my husband that I was going out for the day to show off my hair! I even tried to tell her that it wasnt what I was expecting and that I wanted more cut from the sides - she looked annoyed, looked into the waiting room, and I could almost hear her saying "YOU $8 HAIRCUT OVUH NOW, YOU GO HOME! NEXT!!!" My hair was clearly 2 inches longer on my right side....I looked like a chicken dipped in grease and then electricuted. I wish I were joking....but im not. I could hardly get out of there fast enough - I didnt care if people were looking at me like I was a crazy person to pay for that kind of service - but I was in flight mode...

I went straight to another GreatClips to have some else fix my hair - and now Im in love. His name is Brandon and he is David Copperfield with Sciccors. My hair still isnt what I had in mind - but Im completely ok with it - I love it actually. And I will definately be going back to BRANDON again!

Here's the reveal - its a phone picture so sorry its a crappy one..

I asked Noah if he liked my new hair - he said no. (love the honesty though) He said that I should go back to the store and get my ponytail back.

Mommies are supposed to have LONG hair mommy....

crazy kid

No Tooth fairy for Eli

So far so good with Eli's tooth! He fell in the bathtub and chipped his front tooth pretty badly. It bled, bruised, was loose, and got all swollen for more than a week. But then all of a sudden it got better - it actually turned a little gray looking but other than it seems to be just fine.

PRAISE JESUS!!!!!  I was so afraid he would have to have it pulled or it would fall out and I would have to look at his adorable face with a big gaping HOLE in is mouth....for YEARS before his adult tooth came in! An everyday reminder of not being the perfect mom. lol

Speaking of teeth - Jonah has TWO bottom teeth now. I think that is why he is currently crying in his crib - so I better cut this short!

More on the crazy life later! :0)

Last week - Noah started school...LOVES IT. In fact, he didnt want to come home last Friday. "Well, FINE then!! I secretly said to myself.....

SO of course, he got sick. Fever, snotty, snotty nose too, horrible cough and all around just a really uncomfortable little guy. Couldnt breath, couldnt sleep, didnt want to eat - all that stuff. Which means that I got NO sleep for almost 2 nights in a row and my poor kids watched an alarming amount of TV while I was a zombie on the couch....

Its bad when you know what time it is through out the day by what show is on TV.....

Yeah - Im THAT mom.

Horrible I know....but now Eli and Jonah are both sick so I continue to get no sleep and the hours of TV watching are building at a shameful rate and I find myself in this LAZY couch dozing rut....

Enter: 5 Hour Energy drinks

Now, Im pretty much still a vegetable until around Super Why aka 10am - some mornings I dont even have enough energy to finish my coffee for crying out loud - and I do...I cry! But after Word World aka naptime, I down one of these saviors in a bottle and I soon find myself able to cook dinner and even clean a bathroom or two.

Case in point - I just realized its 11:30 and Im not in bed yet.....not good.

 Maybe I will wake up and feel like this....unlikely

Im having an affair...

It must be love - what else could it be?  Im staying up late - pining for those secret moments when we can be together.  Daydreaming about the possibilities.  So focused on the moment that I cant hear the chaos around me. Theres guilt, passion, and infatuation along with the little white lies about exactly how much time we are spending together....

I want to shout out my love from the top of someplace very high - I LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU, ADOBE LIGHTROOM 2.0!!!!!

I have spent my time rummaging through my old digital photos from the past 6 or so years and pulled out my favorites - some from pre-children days, some recent ones too. I have been so hooked on this photo shop program that I even started editing Kevins collection of AIR SHOW photo's...now thats saying something!

Before I show you my very amature results let me just remind everyone that I am an absolute beginner - both at taking a photo and properly editing it. I really have no idea what I am doing - I point and shoot and hope for the best! So far, I chalk it up to luck. :0)

Before Lightroom:

After Lightroom:

This picture of Eli was my very first Lightroom project - not perfect...but better than the original.

Before Lightroom:

There are SO many problems with this picture, I know. But for some reason I absolutely love it - I love the luck involved that made his face even a little bit in focus, and I love the fuzziness showing the action...and of course that great big smile.. I love it!

After Lightroom - even better!

I wish I had the worlds biggest wall to frame every favorite picture I have.....

Before Lightroom:

From our trip to Big Bear Lake back in 2004

After Lightroom

Before Lightroom

After Lightroom

This was my shout out to Kevin - for allowing me to spend a few hours on the computer and leaving him in charge of the kiddos!  THANKS BEBE!

Anyway - I KNOW these are NOT perfect pictures...but they are definately impoved! It makes me want to take pictures of everything!

yikes - I better go....that sounded like something breaking....

We are still alive!

Hey everyone - yes, are still alive. FOUR MONTHS since my last post...that is just terrible. I should be ashamed of myself.

But even now, as I force myself to just pop online for a quick little post - its already 10 pm and the baby is about to wake up to be fed AGAIN so I have to make this short and sweet.....

We had family pictures taken and I adore them. Especially now since we captured Eli's beautiful smile BEFORE he fell in the bathrub and chipped his front tooth - on a friday night no less so now I have to wait through the weekend praying he doesnt lose his tooth completely and swallow the stupid thing....

ANYWAY - back to the pictures - They are great. THANKS TO OUR FRIENDS AT SHUFF PHOTOGRAPHY for such a great time at the park despite the toddler meltdowns!  This was Noah "NO!! I DONT WANT TO DO IT!! I DONT WANT TO SIT!! I DONT WANT TO SMILE!!!!"

But you would never know it from the photos....lol

They turned out great guys - thanks!

Here are a feew of the kids - and let me know if any of you want any copies! I will mail some out hopefully before next Christmas....HA!