You Are the Sunshine of My Life

5 Little Turkeys...

2011-11-21T16:03:00.000-08:00

Here's a little something to brighten your day, five little ~~turkeys~~ monkeys...

Shutterfly Giveaway Winners Announced!

2011-11-20T13:07:00.000-08:00

Thank you to all who shared their favorite holiday tradition, I loved reading through them and have gotten a few ideas of new ideas that maybe we should adopt for our family!

One of my favorite holiday traditions is going up the hill a bit with some good family friends to cut down our Christmas trees. We bring along hot chocolate, coffee and cookies and enjoy our treats tailgate or picnic style once we have our trees selected and cut. The trees are affordable but the memories are priceless!

And now onto our winners! I used Random.org to select the winners out of the 6 comments left and the winners are....

#3 -

Farmer's said...: Our favorite holiday tradition is going to "Wake Up Santa" at our mall...then we have hot chocolate and breakfast after the kids tell Santa their gift list!!!~Natalie; November 19, 2011 12:52 PM

#7 -

alanda said...: Yay! What a fun giveaway!! Woohoo Mindy!! Our favorite holiday tradition is assembling the Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes together. Each of the kids get to put together a box full of fun things for another child their same age in a different country. We help them understand that this gift could possibly be the only present their child will get for the whole year. We make it into a really fun family night and the kids get so excited about it. It helps them remember that it is just as fun, if not more, to give rather than to receive!; November 19, 2011 9:59 PM

Congratulations Natalie and Alanda - I'll email you with your codes for 25 free cards from Shutterfly.

It's Time for Christmas Cards...and a GIVEAWAY!

2011-11-16T18:19:00.000-08:00

Every year around the middle of November I start feeling the pressure to put together that perfect Christmas card, complete with amazing family pictures and well written verse. Each year I think I probably fail at perfection, but wind up with nothing less than high-quality cards thanks to the wonderful people at Shutterfly. With their enormous selection of Christmas cards, it's impossible not to find one to suit your family's personality and style. They use premium cardstock and I've never once had a problem with their ink running or smudging. Plus their shipping is fast so you can turn around and mail them out right after Thanksgiving or Shutterfly even offers to send your cards out directly!

I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but I LOVE photography and taking pictures of my family is just an extension of who I am. Shutterfly makes it super easy for me to treasure those memories by making holiday photo gifts, calendars and photobooks. Each year they come out with new styles and layouts for their photobooks and I've found their quality to be very good and affordable.

Shutterfly's card selection includes folded cards, flat stationary cards as well as flat photo cards. My favorite is usually the flat stationary cards, but I'm actually considering a folded card for our family this year. Take a look at some of these great designs then head on over to find YOUR perfect card this year!

And now the giveaway...As a blogger and big fan of Shutterfly I'm excited to be giving away 2 sets of 25 FREE cards from Shutterfly. Just post a comment below (on the blog, FB comments don't count) along with your name and your favorite holiday tradition and I'll be choosing the two lucky winners on Sunday November 20th.

Pumpkin Patch Fun

2011-10-26T08:52:00.000-07:00

We had a great time on McGee's first official school field trip! They went to the pumpkin patch and it was his first time riding a school bus. I was really excited about joining him on the bus and experiencing this "first" with him, but I didn't have anyone to watch Miss Em and then McGee went ahead and pierced me in the heart when he told me, "Mom, I don't want you to go on the bus with me, I just want to go with my friends." Well you can bet Miss Em and I followed right behind that school bus all the way there and back!

This was his surprised face when I hopped on the bus to take a quick pic of him. Right after he said incredulously, "But I thought you weren't going to ride the bus!"

We ran into our friend Noah as his class was having their field trip that same day!

The class picture

Miss Em jumped in line with big brother

Love this sweet shot of the two of them sitting together on the hayride

Searching for the perfect pumpkin!

McGee and cousin Brady at home with their new pumpkins

A Letter to My Preschooler

2011-09-05T20:38:00.000-07:00

My Dearest Miss Em,

What a little girl you are becoming, growing up and leaving Mommy's baby behind! You're three years old and just started preschool a couple of weeks ago. I wasn't sure how it was all going to turn out because you wouldn't let go of me during the "Meet the Teacher" and wasn't the friendliest to your new teachers or classmates either, but the next day when it was time to drop you off you did just fine and when I picked you up your were SO full of joy from all the fun you had! Drop-offs haven't always been that easy thus far, but I know you are loving preschool and am so thankful you are having the opportunity to go. Your friends Jackson, Corden and Brooklyn are in your class and I'm excited that you're getting a chance to make new friends with the rest of your classmates. I love seeing how excited and proud you are when you tell someone you're going to preschool - it's adorable and makes me so glad we decided to send you!

First Day of School:

Here are some tidbits about you I don't want to forget:

Favorite.....

Book - "The Mommy Book", "The More We Get Together", and one of mommy's old books, "Dos & Don'ts"

Cartoon - "Olivia", "The Wonder Pets", "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse"

Movie - "Strawberry Shortcake", "Beauty & the Beast", "The Little Mermaid"

Past time - anything involving music - singing and dancing especially!, playing in water - you love floating in the bathtub, rocking with mommy in the glider, cuddling with your Baby Monkey, playing with play-doh, putting together puzzles, playing with your new shopping cart and Princess cash register, you absolutely LOVE swinging and taught yourself how to do it all by yourself just a month or so ago and boy do you get high!

Food - fruit (blueberries, strawberries, peaches, pineapple...you love it all!), pizza, peanut butter & jelly, broccoli, and unfortunately you've inherited your mother's sweet tooth so anything with chocolate you LOVE and pretty much anything else that's sweet.

Lovies - Baby Monkey (the blue-clothed monkey Grandpa John gave you after you lost "Baby" the blue puppy he also gave you), a hot pink/brown/green/turquoise striped fleece blanket and a pink/yellow striped blanket from Auntie Michelle. You are fully attached to Baby Monkey, but are happy with any of your many cuddly blankets.

Some of our favorite things about you...
- your goofy and hilarious sense of humor, you keep us cracking up with your physical comedy and off the wall comments
- your cuddly side, you are such a wonderful snuggler and mommy really appreciates you allowing me extra cuddles with my baby
- I love that you are such a fantastic sleeper and can sleep in well just like me! Last week you woke up early, came and climbed in bed with me and went back to sleep for a couple more hours and I loved every minute of it! Now we'll see how great this turns out this next week as we start having to wake up earlier to get McGee to kindergarten...
- your loving and tender side, this is sometimes outweighed by your spunky side, but you can be so tender and compassionate towards others and especially so with animals
- we LOVE your sweet singing voice and watching you dance when you don't think anyone is looking, it's so innocent and carefree - just beautiful!

We love you so much our little Miss Em! Thank you for being you - I can't wait to see all that you do this year.

Love Always,
Mommy

Heart Shots - Part 1

2011-08-19T23:42:00.000-07:00

Remember when I used to post "Heart Shots"? Those shots that may not have been technically correct or mean much to anyone else but that speak directly to my heart and I love? Well I was going through some older files tonight and found a few more I needed to share:

After getting herself dressed Miss Em walked into my room where I was getting dressed and said, "Aww dude, your shirt matches me!"

At the park after the last day of preschool, McGee and big cousin Brady.

Dinner out at Rubio's to celebrate the last day of school for my boys!

Remember Us???

2011-08-14T22:23:00.000-07:00

Wow it has been awhile since we've been around this blog! So, so much has happened I'm a little overwhelmed in thinking about catching you all up so I probably will just have to skip that and do my best to take baby steps in keeping this blog up and hopefully somewhat current.

Lightning fast update?

We have a 5 year old about to start kindergarten after Labor Day, a 3 year old a week away from beginning preschool, a unemployed educator still hoping for a miracle to be rehired in the next few weeks, a part-time photographer momma contemplating the life of becoming a full-time business woman again and hearts full of thankfulness and joy at the fun (and fast) summer we've been enjoying as a family!

Today we enjoyed our church's annual baptism potluck and thanks to rough waters our normal river baptism was held at a local pool and park and I think the kids had even more fun because they were able to enjoy the pool too! Here are a few pics from our day:

McGee was having a blast being a "hero" - something he learned all about at Summer Blast (Vacation Bible School)!

The kids loved hanging out in the beach entry pool and we couldn't have asked for better weather!

I love this shot of them together

The pool wore Miss Em out! Daddy had to hold her while we waited in line for food.

Our McGee trying to cut up his hot dog with a plastic fork

It feels great being back here on our blog - I hope you've all had a wonderful summer too!

Helpful Hearts

2011-06-03T23:23:00.000-07:00

Young children love to be helpful. As a busy mom I am often running around the house being productive wherever I can. Throw a load of laundry in, put the dishes in the dishwasher, pick-up a handful of the kids' shoes/toy/clothes in the dining room to drop off in their rooms on my way to the bathroom, wipe down the sink and toilet while I'm there, pick up the garbage to take out then back inside the house. Rinse and repeat. Now if all of that gets done without one, if not five, interruptions from the kids then a true miracle for mommies has occurred. :)

Frequently we mommies are in a hurry to get everything done (or maybe it's just me) so when those little eyes look up at us expectantly and say, "Mommy can I help?" it's tempting to say, "Not right now," knowing their "helping" hands will slow us down, probably make a much bigger mess for us to clean up later and quite possibly alter the intended outcome of whatever it is you're working on. However, I encourage you to resist that urge to turn down their help and instead accept it, encouraging their helpful hearts and teaching them valuable life skills that will lead them toward becoming responsible members of society. Yes accepting their help may mean doing the job over again yourself or having to add "mopping" to your never-ending "to do" list, but I guarantee you the huge smile you will see on their face and sense of pride and accomplishment will be well worth the extra effort.

I don't claim to be that fantastic mom who always encourages the help. In fact, I'd probably rate myself near more 50/50 on how frequently I accept their help and wish I could tell you differently. Tonight though I was making meatballs (my husband's favorite) and while Daddy and Em were playing a game together, McGee was excited to help me with the meatballs. He has always shown such an eagerness to help in the kitchen and I'm hoping that means he takes after his father with mad cooking skills and a passion for creating delectable meals.

McGee actually decided to teach me a thing or two about forming meatballs. McGee: "See, when you squish it all together it makes it get bigger and make a better round ball when you roll it. See mom, do it like this..."

After we put the meatballs in the oven I pulled out a laundry basket full of Miss Em's clean clothes to fold and Miss Em came walking into the dining room asking, "Mommy can I help?" I said, "Sure," and attempted to teach her how to pull her shirt right side out and fold her clothes and towels. Like I mentioned above, more work was created when she filled a bag full of clean and already folded towels from the cupboard and brought them out for us to fold, but the proud face she brought with her was so worth the extra folding. :)

See that proud smile??? (taken w/ my new P&S that will be going back to Costco soon, just not loving it)

Mommy's Laundry Helper

Not the Best, but Not the Worst

2011-05-23T22:07:00.000-07:00

It started out with us all over-sleeping, not a bad thing at all for a Saturday, but Monday morning on the last week of preschool is not optimal for extra winks of sleep. Then when trying to put a Pull-Up on Miss Em she adamantly declared, "No! I'm not a girl, I'm a baby and want a diaper." Now don't you think if she's old enough to understand those differences she is old enough to get OUT of those diapers??? This ended in a wrestling match as I explained we were all out of diapers and she MUST wear the Pull-Up, oh and let me get her dressed and into the car in 2 seconds because we are late for preschool! Cheese-stick in my purse for her breakfast (please don't judge) and we arrived to school only about 11 minutes late.

During preschool we had some friends join us to run errands. First up, Old Navy, the store I have 2 bags of things to return/exchange/price adjust...sitting in my bedroom at home. Then we head to Costco where I hop out to get gas and realize my Costco card/credit card are not in my purse. Hmmm...makes it a little tricky, but thankfully my friend was willing to share her card so I could buy the gas and must-have dog food and (hopefully) last box of diapers. Oh and I had something to return at Costco too....in a bag in our hallway at home. :)

Arrived for preschool pick-up smelling Miss Em had yet another of the AWFUL (and painful) antibiotic induced-filled diaper. Yuck!

Then the day really headed downhill a bit...

After around 5 months of my car smelling musty, mildewy and all-around sour, and many failed attempts (including carpet cleaning) to get rid of the smell, we pulled back various parts of the carpet and found the padding to be extremely wet despite the carpet not being wet at all. After a call to the dealer, it appears possible our A/C vent may be plugged and we could be looking at spending anywhere from $600 to thousands of dollars to fix it or suffer the foul smelling (and probably not too healthy) mildewy air. Ugh.

While pulling out the awesome Little Green Clean Machine to try and suck out some of the moisture, I realized I mistakenly unplugged our outdoor freezer last Wednesday and all of the food (including meat) was thawed and had to be thrown out. Yep - it was a bit difficult throwing all of that food (aka $$$$) in the trash while looking at spending tons of money on our car for a problem that doesn't even affect it's driving ability and oh did I mention Friday will be Kyle's last day of work as he was pink-slipped and laid off again???

Now don't fear, we all have our days and I haven't lost my faith. I'm still believing strongly that God has great plans for us and will provide for us as he always has. But today was not the best, but so far from the worst.

My cure? A good run, fresh air with the family and a little time in the Word and my Bible study. Oh and blogging of course! :)

Have you been missing these faces lately?

(You can click on them to see them larger )

Hello...

2011-05-03T23:30:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how quickly this last month has flown by and how little I've been keeping updated on my journaling. I miss my writing. I miss knowing our memories are being recorded. I miss my readers (are there any left??). What I don't miss? My kids. My husband. Spending time with them. We've been having some good 'ole fun together and FYI, my newly turned 3yo is a pretty fierce competitor at "Hungry, Hungry Hippos".

My photography business has pleasantly surprised me in that despite my own harsh, critical views of myself and what I think so many of my images are lacking, my phone has been ringing, my inbox enlivened by inquiries and I've kept busier than I would have expected for this time of year. With my computer time being eaten up with editing images, FB posts and correspondence, I apologize and am saddened I haven't been better about keeping my blog updated and our family memories recorded. Soon I hope to spring a TON of new posts on you celebrating Miss Em's 3rd birthday, Easter and our daily living. Until then, know that our family is doing well and have been having a wonderful Spring...well except for these awful allergies the kids and I seem to be suffering.

Just to prove the kids are doing well, here's a picture I took of them last week while dragging them along on a location scouting expedition:

FIVE

2011-04-12T00:18:00.000-07:00

Psst...McGee! This is what your room looks like right now...

Tomorrow when you wake I hope you'll be as excited and happy to celebrate the day as we are that God blessed us with a son as wonderful as YOU!

FIVE REASONS YOU ARE AMAZING:

1) You have a heart filled with love for others (although it's not always apparent in your preschool age love of fighting and swords - boys will be boys...). Truly from a very early age you have shown great care, concern and compassion for others and I adore the way you stroke my cheek gently and tell me, "God will heal you mommy because I prayed for you!" when I'm sick.

2) Your sense of adventure and fun! You can be cautious at times (and that's not a bad thing), but you are also very creative in your play and putting together things that you think would be fun to do. Last night you found making a HUGE mud puddle and playing in it and the sprinklers such a fun way to spend an evening! You kept saying about the mud, "It's so sticky! I love mud, it's so sticky!" in your sing-song voice.

That sing-song voice brings me to #3...

3) Your love of music and ability to remember lyrics, stay on key and in tune and sing your little heart out brings joy to all those around you! Daddy (and I) LOVE when you sing and especially when you and Daddy have special music time singing and playing the guitar.

4) You are one smart cookie! From birth you have had a "furrowed brow" and we'd be millionaires probably if I had a dollar for every time someone (strangers at the mall even) have said what a "thinker" you are and how you "don't miss a thing!". It's true of course and you constantly keep us on our toes and amaze us at the things you remember and how you put logic together to figure things out.

5) You are driven (some may say obsessed) - which I'm sure will lead you to great things in your life. When something interests you there is no half-way about it, you go all out full throttle! Examples include cars/wheels (a couple of your first words being "lawnmower" and "wheelbarrow"), swords, bows and arrows, keys (oh the key obsession including losing mommy's car keys for nearly 9 months!) and your latest obsession which is paper airplanes. I've been told by your preschool teacher that you taught her how to make a paper airplane for the first time in her life and that you provide paper airplanes to most of your classmates each day as well. Our home (and recycle bin) are littered with paper airplanes you've made.

Above all though, YOU are AMAZING because you were created by God and given to us as a precious gift who we hope we can be Godly parents to. We know we make mistakes sometimes but we love you SO very much and want the very best for you! After a miscarriage, a year of trying to get pregnant and then 41 hours of labor, you are our most wanted and waited for gift and we thank the Lord daily for you!

We love you McGee - Happy 5th Birthday!!!

Not My Children! Monday

2011-04-04T07:00:00.000-07:00

A new version of "Not Me! Monday" for the record books (aka blog):

- Miss Em is did NOT start surprising us with her presence after learning to climb out of the crib. She is NOT now moved into a nice little toddler bed!

- It WASN'T my son who I found at 6 am in the dining room eating the last of the chocolate silk pie straight out of the pie plate! His response when I walked half-asleep into the room wasn't an excited, "Hey mom guess what?! This chocolate cake is making my coughing ALL better!" Nope, it WOULDN'T be my kid who would wake up when everyone else is still asleep, sneak out to the fridge and eat the last of that delicious pie! And the tell-tale sign that woke me up? It couldn't have been just the fact that I heard his very loud humidifer get just a notch louder when his door opened and it took me a few minutes to actually get myself out of bed to see what he was up to when I didn't hear him going to the bathroom.

- Only about 45 minutes later it WASN'T my two children whom Daddy found munching on cold leftover piggie-in-a-blankets and donut holes and sitting in front of the television. NOPE, our kids DON'T sometimes act like they own this place and can do whatever they want. In fact, McGee HASN'T been overheard saying, "You know, God says we should do whatever we want to do." Uh-uh, NOT my child!

- Miss Em has NOT moved from her crib to a toddler bed and immediately exploited her freedom doing the above and going into her brother's room early in the morning to wake him. What is this I've heard about kids who won't get out of bed until their mother comes to get them??? NOT here, and I seriously mean NOT here. :( When I tried to tell her not to wake her brother up McGee's response to me WASN'T, "But mom, I like when she comes and wakes me up, I want her to do it!"

- This image is NOT what I saw as I peeked in at Miss Em last night:

- And yes, she has already fallen out of bed a couple of times, but it hasn't woken her yet. :)

- Miss Em was NOT found hauling water in a plastic toy shovel from the bathroom outside. There were NOT drips of water everywhere to the point that not a drop of water ever actually made it outside. I WASN'T at least a tiny bit glad that at least she'd obeyed me when I said not to turn on the hose.

- My poor fair little Miss Em did NOT get a sunburn on her face thanks to her mommy forgetting to think about any sunscreen and having her spending a few hours out in the sun. Mommy did NOT just think it was a red face from the heat of running around...and was super sad/guilty when the red face stuck around overnight.

- These are NOT a few of my new favorite images taken that day we had fun in the sun:

I Heart Faces: Best Face for March

2011-04-03T21:09:00.000-07:00

This recent shot definitely portrays McGee's attitude toward having his picture taken...

I Heart Faces│Slice of Life

2011-03-27T13:13:00.000-07:00

The theme this week at I Heart Faces is "Slice of Life" and I've been wanting to share this picture with you all for awhile and haven't found the time to do a proper blog post, but I think it fits the theme perfectly this week. We were out on a walk during Grandma's 89th birthday celebration and through the trees I spied Daddy & Miss Em having a little fun. However, I submitted a picture already for this challenge on my business photography blog so I won't be "officially" submitting this one to IHF.

Project Simplify - Hot Spot #3: Kids Toys/Closets

2011-03-24T22:32:00.000-07:00

Last week the Hot Spot for Simple Mom's "Project Simplify" was "Paper Clutter" and I did tackle that was the result being lots of recycle, shred and garbage boxes full, but the paper clutter made me really want to tackle my office overall and that is a much bigger job than I could accomplish in one week. I do hope to show you an "after" in the next month or so, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to get it done by then or not.

Moving on...this week the Hot Spot is Kids Toys/Closets. Despite having already cleaned out their closets pretty thoroughly a couple of months ago, there was still plenty to clear out and there are always toys to pass along. A great friend was here today and helped me get started with sorting toys (her boys were our second set of friends over today to play and let's just say most all of the toys in the house were out and ready to be sorted). Here are a couple of before pictures from Miss Em's room - I think we've just been tossing everything in that closet for the last month and closing the door as best we can!

BEFORE:

AFTER (big basket for Miss Em's dress-up clothes and little basket, aka Huggies box, is her baby dolls and their accessories):

McGee's Room After (toys separated and organized in those baskets/tubs in the closet cubes, dress-up clothes in the trunk by the dresser):

A Trip for the White Stuff

2011-03-16T08:22:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we made our annual trip with some great friends up to play in the snow. Unfortunately, like last year, Miss Em wanted nothing to do with the snow so Daddy had to spend most of the time sitting in the car with her. However, after lunch and some yummy hot chocolate, she was ready to sled and we enjoyed a good time getting cover in that wonderful white stuff. :)

McGee LOVES to sled - he had such a blast!

The adults - we always have a great time whenever we can get together.

The kiddos - don't you love McGee's pb&j mouth?

Dear me, could that be a real smile on McGee?

Daddy brushing off some snow after McGee took a snowball to the head.

Hard to believe just an hour or so earlier she was crying in the back of the van refusing to play in the snow.

We found a private little area for lots of snowball fun!

It was a beautiful day - perfect for fun with friends!

Project Simplify - Hot Spot #1: Closet & Wardrobe

2011-03-11T22:45:00.000-08:00

I'm hoping to participate these next few week's with Simple Mom's "Project: Simplify". This week our hot spot to tackle was our Master Closet and Wardrobe. As instructed, I took EVERY. SINGLE. ITEM out of the closet and my drawers, wiped them down and vacuumed the floor. Then it began. The tedious and not very fun task of trying on EVERY. SINGLE. PIECE. of clothing (except the sock and underclothes - who tries those on???). It took me a night with expected interruptions from the kiddos, but I finally finished and was SO happy with my results! I even decided to re-arrange my closet a bit too. :)

My Closet Before:

During:

Notice my little helper there on the bottom right? She decided those shoes were keepers.

And After:

I moved a wicker trunk that used to sit outside my closet and hold piles of clothes on top of it that I had worn throughout the week or decided not to wear - now it sits inside the closet and holds toiletry items that I don't need access to very often.

At 4'11" (and that's stretching it a smidge), I was often frustrated as I would pull down one pair of jeans from the shelf in my closet (up above - they used to sit near that nice basket) and be covered in an avalanche of all the jeans that were sitting on top of it. Rarely could I reach to put them back and thus, my big pile of items that often occurred on the wicker trunk. To remedy this, I took two drawers out of my lightweight IKEA dresser and stacked my jeans at a much more accessible height and filled the drawers with other items I don't wear as often and found suitable spots for them. I can't tell you how nice it was pulling out the exact jeans, and ONLY those jeans, this morning. :)

With all that was purged, extra space opened up that I quickly filled by moving extra pillows and all of our extra bedding into the closet so now we have more space for the children's art supplies and such in the hall closet. Seriously - genius!

The Result?

I had too many clothes! After two children and a plethora of body shapes these last 4 1/2 years to go along with that, I had clothes that were too big, clothes that were too small, clothes that were tattered and clothes that were just plain OUT OF STYLE & UGLY!

Many of my old "professional" clothes were dispensed with, I mean how often am I wearing a suit and button down shirts while chasing a preschooler and toddler around? Um...NEVER. Hopefully these clothes will be useful to someone as I donated them all today at our church's clothes closet.

I'm so excited about my paired down wardrobe and really hope to keep it organized and clutter free! Also cleaning it out helped me realize those things I am missing and need to be on the lookout for when a good deal is spotted. Example: New black flats because my old ones are scuffed beyond repair. :(

Surprise Snow & Birthday Fun!

2011-03-08T11:47:00.000-08:00

We went up to my parents' a couple of weeks ago to celebrate my niece Skye's first birthday. We picked my sister and niece up at the train station and headed up a day early to stay over and get things ready for the party. Saturday morning when we woke up we were happily surprised to see it had snowed in the night! Snow is not a usual occurrence at their elevation, it wasn't a lot and it quickly melted, but we enjoyed the wonder of it anyways.

McGee ran out front, bare feet and all! He inspected the snowflakes he and grandma had made and compared them to the snow he saw on the ground. Then he patiently (or not) waited from Grandma & Grandpa to wake up so they could see it all too! That's him peeking under their door hoping he could see some signs of life. :)

I loved McGee looking out the window completely enamored with the snow!

As it neared time for the party the three cousins enjoyed a bath together.

There she is - the birthday girl!

Uncle Trevor and his little Hannah girl

Instead of little bags of candy for party favors - Skye (and her parents) gave each one of the four kids an individual present. You can see Miss Em was happy about her very own Strawberry Shortcake doll! McGee, Grandpa and Hannah went right to work putting his new Lego set together!

There were party games - one of which involved guessing Skye's current weight! I was way off.

The there were the many presents...clothes and toys and hats oh my!

And finally, the cake. Skye was interested in checking it out, put her hands in it and then decided she really didn't like having messy fingers!

Happy 1st Birthday Skye Lynn - we love you!

Not Me! (or my kids) Monday

2011-02-21T11:00:00.000-08:00

Oh boy. It's been awhile since I've done a Not Me! Monday and it's not for lack of subject matter. I think it's been for fear of people thinking what a complete failure I must be as a mom and as a wife. Fear that people are tired of reading about the trouble my kids can and do get into on a regular basis. Fear they'll lose all respect for me and consider me a flaky brained gal for some of my mishaps. Fear that CPS may eventually be called. Okay maybe that last one is a bit of a stretch, but you never know.

Oh well. It's me, it's my kids and this is our life. I still want to document these moments so my kids know what some of the days were like when they were little and also as proof of their less than angelic behavior on occasion, in case I suddenly have a case of completely rose colored glasses like my mother has and can't remember a single bad thing they did. :)

Let's see, where shall I start?

- This past week my kids (most often Miss Em, but possibly with McGee's assistance on some) did NOT:

- get the Simple Green from under the counter and use it to clean their own little play kitchen (thankfully it is non-toxic, but still a no-no in this house)
- attempt to make chocolate milk in the microwave with a plastic cup, milk and chocolate syrup (fortunately I was walking down the hall when I heard the beeps and stopped her before she pressed "start")
      - squeeze out half her toothpaste into a cup and then squeeze another 1/3 of it all over the bathroom sink
      - wave her spoon of yogurt around in the air like a wand, successfully flinging yogurt all over the dining room including the floor, walls and on the dogs' heads
      - empty two containers of red cookie decorating sprinkles all over the counter and floor with just a smidgen that made it into a little bowl she wanted to "mix" them in
      - rip up 2 of Mommy's "Anne of Green Gables" books while supposedly taking a nap in her crib (they are kept in a bookshelf next to her crib)
      - take a newly opened tube of Aveeno Lavender cream and pour globs of it all over her brother's bedspread and a huge glob in her friend Jackson's hands as he was sitting on her brother's bed (at least everything smelled nice one it was wiped up, maybe the calming aroma soothed my temper a bit??? Hmm....)
      - tear apart a piece of styrofoam padding into "snow" all over his room and this was NOT a specific piece of packaging Mommy needed to ship back a camera lens with
      - complain for an hour before leaving for church and on the 25 minute drive to church about how much he didn't want to go to church and how much he doesn't like church and why he shouldn't have to go (yes this was 4 yo McGee)
      - take out of the box, open and squeeze out a large portion of Mommy's BRAND NEW Lancome Juicy Tubes lip gloss all over the bathroom counter and her face and hair (yes this was Miss Em and yes, this stuff is ultra thick and had to wipe off)
      - fight against nearly every outfit Mommy tried to put on her each day this week (and yes I could have let her where something of her own choosing, unfortunately none of it was weather appropriate and she refused jackets or sweaters too)
      - stay up 2 1/2 hrs. past their bedtime refusing every attempt to put them to bed at Grandma & Grandpa's house
      - break a framed picture on an adjoining room's wall after it fell down when Miss Em rolled out of bed and hit the wall on one of the above mentioned attempts for slumber
      - stand on the couch and jump up with his sword hitting the large family wall hanging (that Mommy just finally put up a few months ago) causing it to fall and break the frame
- honestly I'm pretty sure I could go on with a few more things but each disaster and mess kept running into the other that I think some of them may have been forgotten.

- I DIDN'T wear the same jeans 3 days in a row

- There's NO WAY I stayed up until 1am again waiting for a load of clothes to dry so I could fold them. Nope, I'm definitely NOT that particular about letting my clothes sit in the dryer and wrinkle. Oh and that load of clothes was NOT put in the dryer at about 9:45pm taking 3 hours to dry! We are NOT most likely in the market for a new clothes dryer. :(

- After a mentally exhausting week (see all listed above), I did NOT laugh hysterically, to the point of crying, during a car chase scene in the movie "Date Night" that I watched with my SIL

- While in line with about 7 other people at the only register open at Target, I did NOT realize Miss Em had the bag of Peanut Butter M&Ms (my weakness) and when I reached to grab them from her she did NOT yank them away causing the bag to break completely open and M&Ms to fly (literally) up into the air and all over the cart and ground around us! The people all around me did NOT laugh and I do NOT fear that Target may soon ban us after Miss Em's past 10 minute screaming fit there a couple of weeks ago and this most recent M&M mess. On the up side, my embarrassment and flustered state kept me from getting another bag of M&Ms and the whole debacle kept me from eating that delicious but calorie laden treat.

Since I like to always include a photo in my posts, but was too busy jumping from mess to mess cleaning up that I didn't photograph any of the above, I'll leave you with this low-quality picture of Miss Em at the train museum in the sleeveless dress she wanted to wear. Fortunately I was able to get some jeans on her under the dress and a sweatshirt from the car to the entrance, but then she wanted to just wear her "pretty dress". Oh what a little diva I have!

I did also enjoy some wonderful cuddle time this week with my babies in between the chaos and we had an awesome time with my sister and niece when they came up to celebrate my niece's 1st birthday! I'll have a post on that soon I'm sure.

A Boy and His Dog

2011-02-16T14:00:00.000-08:00

We are a family of dog lovers. It's funny actually that growing up we only had 1 dog, a miniature Dachshund named Bandit, but now as grown adults Daddy and I have 2 dogs, my brother and his wife have 3 and my sister and her husband have 1. We just love dogs. I believe I remember one Christmas at my aunt and uncles a few years back where there were about 25 people and 10 dogs. :)

Nearing 5 years old McGee has adopted Ben (or "Bun" as he calls him) as his dog. He declares his love for Ben, plays with Ben, cuddles with Ben and most times Ben is quite content to have all the attention. He often tells me Callie is my dog and Ben is his (but we all know that Ben is really MY cuddlebug boy). Isn't it grand for a boy to have a dog?

Tumble Fun!

2011-02-15T23:03:00.000-08:00

I just browsed through my blog and realized how little I've posted lately! I guess by posting daily on my 365 blog (you can find the link on the sidebar), I've felt like memories were shared even though they weren't shared here. Well here is one of my 365 posts of Miss Em's first day in gymnastics last Wednesday. Her friend Luke was going so this was a trial run to see how she'd like it, but she's going to go back tomorrow and seems super excited about it!

She was really shy at first during the warm-up, but slowly began to follow along:

2011-02-14T23:00:00.000-08:00

I put together some little Valentine gift bags for the kids. I told McGee that after nap and quiet time they would have a goodie bag from Mommy. The bags were on the kitchen counter all ready to go. Neither child seemed cooperative with nap/quiet time but both were supposed to be in their rooms reading their TAG books quietly. I was working in the office and somehow missed McGee sneaking past me, but I did hear when he said, "Mommy I'm going to put my new dinosaurs with my old ones." I went in to find he was in Miss Em's room, had gotten both of their gifts bags and passed hers out to her. They had both opened theirs and were quickly opening everything in sight. Good, obedient and patient little children? Not so much. Cute and fun to be around? Absolutely!

Valentine's has never been a huge holiday for Daddy and I. I mean who really needs one specific day to declare their true love? Shouldn't it be done daily, through word and deed? Despite putting together the bags for the kids, I didn't get a single thing for Daddy and didn't even make him a card this year! After hanging out with his friends this afternoon he brought me in a Valentine gift - this pink bag filled with hand soap in the scents I love from Bath & Bodyworks. This may not seem romantic, but the fact he noticed I haven't had any of these in quite a long time and then picked out the scents I love (even though he doesn't like them), meant a lot to me.

Here's to my Valentine, my best friend, my love.

You've made me laugh from day one.

Your kind eyes and smile have made me feel loved and adored for the last 16 years. Your mad skills in the kitchen don't hurt much either. :)

Your love for our children shines through in the amazing dad that you are.

Our children are blessed by the strong example you are setting. Your son thinks you are the greatest person to wrestle with...EVER.

He giggles like CRAZY and BEGS you to tickle him!

But it's the BIG bear hugs he loves the most! We love you and wish you a very happy Valentine's Day!

Later in the evening Miss Em and I enjoyed some pre-dinner dancing in the kitchen. It was a blast and made me realize how much I love having a daughter!

12 on Thursday

2011-02-10T16:15:00.000-08:00

I've been MIA from this blog a bit lately as I've wrapped up a month long photography workshop with Brooke Snow and have been busy living life, but I thought I'd share with you my top 12 photos of the week:

Always making faces

She wanted to play WAY over here by herself, I thought this depicted her independent attitude perfectly.

Goofy girl!

Cheese!

I turned around from the stove and found her on the countertop trying to get more crackers! She wasn't very happy when I made her get down, but I love her legs stretched out behind her - and don't miss she's wearing new mermaid panties. :)

We had some Jesus music on and she was really getting into her praising with hands lifted high!

My handsome Mr. Thoughtful...

I love this one of him, wish it was sharper (in focus)!

"Mommy what's this???"

"It's a dead worm Em!" - McGee

"Oh - cool!" - Em

Hope you've enjoyed a glimpse of our week - more posts to come soon!

I Heart Faces │ Best Face Photo from January

2011-02-03T08:42:00.000-08:00

If you like this photo (it's totally our goofy Miss Em) - please go vote for it (#26) on I Heart Faces for their Best January Face photo contest. Just click on the "Vote" under the image. Thanks a bunch!

Chipped Perfection

2011-01-25T14:24:00.000-08:00

We have had a fabulous day starting with early morning blueberry pancakes with the cousins and midday bike riding and play.

At one point while riding her bike Miss Em went off the sidewalk and crashed her bike bracing herself with her hands but unfortunately not enough to hold back her face which hit the ground too. I was across the street and wasn't sure if she'd cry at first (she has the highest pain tolerance I've seen in a child) but cry she did and Mommy ran right over and gave her some cuddles. I didn't spot any blood and minutes later she was up riding again.

It wasn't until changing her for nap that I noticed her front tooth was chipped. Yes, chipped, permanently (well as permanent as baby teeth are). Here is a little before/after for you:

A couple more before:

And after...

Is it just me or does this chipped tooth actual go perfectly with her personality? Even with a chipped tooth that face is just absolute perfection to me.

Good Day Sunshine

2011-01-24T23:15:00.000-08:00

I posted today on my 365 blog about our foggy mornings and sunny afternoons. Did you notice I now have a link on the right sidebar that will take you to my 365 blog?

After coming home from preschool and having lunch, we enjoyed some racing and hide-n-seek in the backyard before moving inside and the kids decided to wad up old grocery ads and make a "fire" in the fireplace. McGee has actually been quite intrigued lately with fire as he's been asking to take his friend Jared up to his Papa's so they can help him burn (he burns brush and such in the back property) and now he's building a fire in our house. They were quite disappointed when Mommy refused to actually light their fire though. I explained it would be pretty dangerous, especially considering we have never once had a fire in our fireplace in the 8 1/2 years we have lived here. I think, in fact, that we have had a number of birds that live in our chimney as we hear random tweets now and then.

Guess who played in the sandbox at preschool today?

I'm trying to give McGee a day a week out of quiet time where we can have some one-on-one time while Miss Em naps. I had a sink FULL of dishes I needed to do so he colored and drew a fabulous rocket and bow and arrow while I cleaned up the dishes (and took pictures) then we put together a small Lego set and finished by working on a dinosaur puzzle.

My little ham!

I helped him start the puzzle with about 10 pieces then left him to finish it up (which he said he couldn't do) - boy was he proud when he called to me to come see he had finished the puzzle all by himself!

On a side note I just have to tell you, I LOVE the song "One More Day" by Diamond Rio. I remember crying every time I heard it on the radio after 9/11 (unfortunately that was often on the 5 fwy on my way to work when we lived in Southern CA - had to do a little make-up touch-up before heading up to the office). This song touches me as I think of the ones I love and the possibility of ever being separated from them. If you haven't heard it before, I suggest to have some tissues handy. Also this is the first time I've ever imbedded a video on my blog so hopefully it works.

Moms & Muffins/Dads & Donuts...plus a miracle!

2011-01-14T23:47:00.000-08:00

Back in October Daddy was able to take off work and enjoy a special "Dads and Donuts" day at preschool. He said it was the greatest thing to be there with McGee and have McGee introduce him to his teachers and show him around. Daddy loved it!

Well today was "Moms & Muffins" so Miss Em and I joined McGee to some OJ and pastries before class started. This was the "I don't want my picture taken" face but he gave it his best smile while refusing to look near the camera.

And then a miracle happened...he took an amazing picture showing us his true, happy smile!

And then he did it AGAIN!!! He was just so happy sitting there with his preschool buddy Ty and was quite obliging to be in pics with him.

Then of course I asked for a quick class picture. The kiddos are all so cute but why oh why does my camera take such terrible pictures on "Auto"??? That big green box has everyone fooled that it is the guaranteed, best performing setting for the camera and then you get this blurry, out-of-focus class photo. Argh!

Miss Em is always quite at home in McGee's preschool class and Miss Karen and Miss Laura do a great job of loving on her.

Flying airplanes...

Just in case you forgot what pictures of McGee usually look like...we have these from this afternoon. Yep, without Ty he was back to his usual anti-picture self. :)

Love this...

Drawn Together

2011-01-11T23:58:00.000-08:00

Tonight I came out to the dining room to find Daddy and McGee drawing together. Doodling really, something I know Daddy used to love to do as a boy. In high school when we were dating Daddy would doodle on the church notes, school notes, or blank paper and I loved collecting them. It was so fun to hear them discussing back and forth what to draw and how to draw it. McGee was actually quite good at drawing swords and even a bow and arrow! I couldn't pass up the opportunity to take a few pictures to remember it all:

Daddy showing him how to draw a rocket

McGee working on a creation

I love the concentration from both of them and especially how McGee has his tongue sticking out when he's really thinking hard.

I just love this one of the two of them doodling together.

Yep, I Did It Again

2011-01-03T23:50:00.000-08:00

I committed to another project! Something I probably don't have time for (but plan to make time for) but something I think I'll really grow from and treasure. I've decided to do a Project 365 - which means taking and posting a photo a day. I started up a new blog dedicated to this new project and it's called 365 Rays of Sunshine and I would love it if you stopped by to visit or added it to your blog reader.

As a little teaser, I just posted my entry there for the most recent I Heart Faces photo contest "Best Face of 2010" and I guarantee you'll enjoy it! Head on over now to http://www.365raysofsunshine.blogspot.com/ to see a photo I LOVE (although I could never choose just ONE photo as a favorite)!

On another note, I left the house at 5:45 this morning for a consulting job, returned at 5 pm tonight and left abruptly about 40 minutes later not to return home until after the kids were in bed around 9pm and boy am I thankful I don't work full-time and I'm able to stay home with the kids! While it was nice being a professional again for a little while today, I had to keep myself from pulling out my cell phone every 10 minutes to see what was going on at home! I missed the kids and cannot wait to hug and kiss them first thing tomorrow morning.

If you're wondering why I had to leave abruptly, take a look at this gaping hole Ben received in his shoulder tonight when another dog ran out from his garage and attacked Ben while Daddy and he were running. Yep, not good. It doesn't really look like it here but it was at least the size of a half dollar and was super deep. The vet just called about 10:15 tonight and said Ben was doing fine after surgery but that the bite really pulled the skin away from his body and left a big pocket between skin and body. We'll pick him up tomorrow - what a trooper he was the vet techs all fell in love with him and the vet too! Okay I'm exhausted now and off to bed. Night!

Sweet Requests

2011-01-02T22:37:00.000-08:00

Tonight Miss Em came up to me before dinner and said, "Mommy can you take a picture of me and Ben?" Happy to oblige her sweet request I ran and grabbed my camera and came back to take this first shot of she and Ben (our dog). He wasn't feeling too photographic so she said, "How about me and Callie?" then ran over to Callie for a kiss and a pic.

Then our hippie child started twirling...and hopping....and twirling...and dancing...so I slowed my shutter speed and tried to capture some of her free-flowing movement:

In other news, McGee heads back to preschool tomorrow which is sad because our Christmas break went by so fast and the last part was spent at home sick, but I know he will be glad to be out and about beyond these walls of our home. :) He's very excited that Daddy gets to take him and pick him up from school since Daddy is still on vacation and Mommy has a consulting job all day tomorrow.

1-11-11

2011-01-01T17:45:00.000-08:00

1-1-11, I'm seeing this all over Facebook and the blog world and I'm surprised I didn't think of the numeric significance of this day before. Happy New Year everyone - I hope you had a fantastic and safe evening last night!

Miss Em and I have been sick so we ended up staying home this year. We had pizza for dinner picnic style while watching some very old Disney short cartoons. The kids giggle like crazy watching the old clips. Then we put the kids to bed and Daddy and I watched the first Lord of the Rings movie, watched NKOTB with a very depressing looking Dick Clark as the ball dropped and then I took some Nyquil and headed to bed.

My 2011 started off with very early (around 6:30am) soft singing from McGee. I ended up sleeping until 11 am despite McGee coming in and waking me up a couple of times. One time in fact he told me breakfast was ready so I came out expecting one of Daddy's delicious breakfasts only to find out Daddy had thought I was still sleeping and McGee just decided it was time for me to get up and eat. I headed back to bed and slept for another hour. That's what Nyquil does for me, it helps me sleep after getting very little sleep the last few nights thanks to coughing. So when I did finally wake for the day I asked McGee if he was in his room singing early this morning (I wasn't sure if I dreamed it b/c it was so soft) and he said he was. Apparently he was singing the Lightning McQueen racing song to himself in his room. He's such a happy morning person, bright and early he is ready to start having fun and it was sweet knowing he stayed in his room an extra 1/2 hour this morning singing to himself before deciding it was time to wake up the rest of the family.

What kind of a start has 2011 had for you?

A Sad Day, A Happy Day

2010-12-28T07:00:00.000-08:00

Today is sad because we are burying a wonderful man, Daddy's great-uncle Evo who passed away from cancer on the 18th. We are thankful his body is now whole and pain-free with the angels, but sad that we will no longer see him this side of heaven.

Here celebrating his 87th birthday this past July:

A day spent with Evo and Zia in August 2009

Playing peek-a-boo with Miss Em

I loved how his eyes lit up with such joy

We love you Evo and will miss you!

On a happier note, today is my dad's birthday and we will get to spend it with him!

Merry Christmas Eve!

2010-12-24T12:35:00.000-08:00

Christmastime is Here...

2010-12-15T00:09:00.000-08:00

It seems like Christmas and all of the hustle and bustle that goes along with it has hit us like a ton of bricks this year! Just the day after Thanksgiving the Internet was bogged down with everyone posting pictures of their Christmas trees all decorated and put up and I couldn't help but get a little stressed out thinking I was behind and needed to catch up. Then I realized it wasn't even December yet so what was the rush? Well once December hit, time has just flown by!

Here is a quick peek at our weekend:

The Children's Christmas performance on stage at church:

With one year of singing "Away In A Manger" under his belt, McGee was much more confident this year and did a terrific job singing front and center in front of the large audience. However, in her first stage debut, Miss Em was excited and happy at first, then decided to pout her way through the song. I wish I could upload video because I have a hilarious 15 second clip of Miss Em, turned sideways from the audience, head down in her pout and she's pulling her arm away from her teacher completely filled with ATTITUDE!

Mommy with her two entertainers - unfortunately Daddy came down with a second case of strep throat (he and I both had horrible cases Thanksgiving week) and didn't get to join us at church. I later found out that Mr. Sickie wasn't about to miss his kids' performance on stage, so he used his key and snuck onto the balcony armed with some binoculars and didn't miss a thing! McGee gave him a quizzical look when he stopped by his class afterward to congratulate him on a job well done. Daddy said it was really special being able to see his children on stage and meant a lot to him so I'm very glad he made it work without infecting anyone.

This collage of these wonderful hugs from my kiddos will be treasured by me always. Both of them are such wonderful huggers - my heart is deeply touched each time I receive one of their tight, love infused hugs and I don't want to let go.

Gingerbread Houses - we decorate them just so we can eat them right?? :

Saturday night I found Miss Em under the dining table with my point & shoot camera. The middle picture she snapped of me as I was bending down looking for her and then she and I enjoyed some of those awesome hugs as she clung to me and yelled, "Cheeeeesssseeeee!" for our mother/daughter picture. I love her full, exuberant and care-free smile!

Monday a friend watched Miss Em so I could work in McGee's preschool class. It was fun watching the dress rehearsal for Thursday night's Christmas carols show! We've been practicing the songs, but as I overheard one teacher say hopefully, "A bad rehearsal means a great performance, right?"

Well there is more to share to our December so far, but I need to head to bed as another full day is ahead tomorrow and I want to be awake enough to remember these precious memories.

Just like his mama...

2010-12-08T10:33:00.000-08:00

This morning while fixing breakfast I looked up and caught a glimpse of myself, or actually it was McGee, but he was sitting there reading a book while eating breakfast and it reminded me so much of myself. I remember always needing something to read while I ate breakfast. Mostly I think it was reading the back of the cereal box, but as I got older I was a bit of a book worm and am pretty sure I was found deep in the pages of a mystery many a breakfasts.

McGee looking through the classic "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" while eating his yogurt

I was out last night at Bible study but when I came home I asked how the kids went down and Daddy told me he found McGee reading a book "by nightlight" and again I was reminded of my reading tendencies pre-children and photography. I've been craving a good book lately and hope when I finish up my last photo client of the year I'll have a chance to curl up with a good read.

A little late...the Pumpkin Patch!

2010-12-07T14:57:00.000-08:00

I'm sure you are expecting to be seeing posts about picking out Christmas trees...not pumpkins! However I just realized I never posted about McGee's first preschool field trip - a trip to the pumpkin farm!

McGee took awhile to warm up and was a little shy and grouchy to start, but eventually he was enjoying learning about all of the different animals, how hay bales are made, taking a hay ride and playing on the very fun playground.

Miss Em loved meeting all of the animals!

Picking out their pumpkins!

The hayride sitting by Miss Karen, making mini hay bales, feeding the animals, bouncing on the giant hay jump and sliding in the playground - the kids had a blast!

Our Little Miss Independent 2 yo decided she wanted to go off on her own and climb the giant haybale mountain - ALL BY HERSELF! Anyone surprised to hear she didn't want any help from mom??? The middle picture is of our adventurer on the top of her mountain.

We couldn't leave without trying some of their fudgilicious treats - ice cream cones filled with fudge and sprinkles anyone?

It was a great first field trip and I'm so glad Grandma could come along and enjoy the fun and provide an extra set of hands when they were needed! Looking forward to the pumpkin patch again next year!

I Heart Faces - Self Portrait

2010-12-06T17:14:00.000-08:00

It's another photo challenge this week at I Heart Faces and this week the theme is "Self-Portrait". Not accustomed to taking pictures of myself, I decided this would be a good chance to document my FIRST night of working out in, well, let's just say a VERY LONG time! It seems photography and weight gain go hand-in-hand with lots of time spent sitting at the computer. This fact helped me decide I better get a little bit of exercise (and healthier eating) going on to counter all of the peppermint mochas and hot chocolates I've been enjoying, not to mention all of the holiday food to be consumed (in moderation of course). No judging please - the photo yes, but not me. :)

Toddler Thoughts

2010-12-04T22:15:00.000-08:00

I truly adore some of the conversations I have with my children. Like this one tonight while I was putting Miss Em to bed:

Mommy to Miss Em as we were rocking in the glider: "What do you think you would like for Christmas?"
Miss Em, hemming and hawing with mischievious and hopeful grin: "A.....bike." Big grin!
Mommy: "And what do you think you would like to give to others this Christmas?"
Miss Em: "A sword for McGee, because I broke his sword so I want to give him a new sword."
Mommy: "That's very sweet of you. What else do you want to give to others?"
Miss Em: "I want to give Daddy a....a babydoll! No, maybe I'll give Daddy a sword too so he can play with McGee. Hey - did you know I'm Maid Marian?!" (from Robin Hood)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

While outside today with Miss Em it started to rain. I was holding her trying to get her in her car seat (which she wasn't interested in doing) and she says to me, "Hey mama, you need to put on your jacket." I replied: "Mama doesn't have her jacket with me." Then she took first one hand, and then the other and placed them on top of my head and said, "There, you're all better now Mommy," as though her hands were keeping me dry. Then she leaned in and gave me a sweet, soft kiss on the nose and said, "I love you Mommy," and all was perfect with my world. :)

Christmas Card 2010 Possibility

2010-12-02T21:48:00.001-08:00

With Love Chartreuse Christmas Card

Shop Shutterfly for elegant custom Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-30T13:09:00.000-08:00

**THIS SHOULD HAVE POSTED ON THANKSGIVING, NOT SURE WHY IT DIDN'T**

Last Friday McGee's preschool had their annual Thanksgiving Feast and it was so exciting to participate in our first big preschool event! Of course I didn't realize until I was there and saw all of the adorable costumes and orchestrated program just how big a deal it was and how sad I was I didn't have a video camera to capture it fully. I tried to record video with my point and shoot camera, but working that in my left hand and my "big camera" in my right hand wasn't so easy and resulted in a terrible video mostly of the wall behind McGee's head.

McGee's class sang the Thanksgiving Turkey Dance song which I googled and could not find the lyrics for so I'm assuming the fabulous Miss Kathy made it up. McGee had lots of fun practicing leading up to the big day and did a terrific job of it, but according to Miss Kathy, McGee's class peaked about an hour BEFORE the show during dress rehearsal, so during the actual performance you could barely hear most of the class. I think McGee had a touch of stage shyness so he held back his belting voice, but it was fun watching him do all of the hand motions. After the program each class had brought in foods to serve at their table and we all "feasted" together then toured McGee's class.

"Let's have a turkey dance, a Thanksgiving turkey dance, let's have a turkey dance and let's have it now..."

I think this is where they were singing about their feathers and strutting around...

Miss Em and cousin Addie watching the program

We were so blessed to have both of McGee's grandma's there to cheer him on!

I loved his turkey headband he made and his turkey shirt made with his handprint.

McGee and his friend Jed, who is in a different class but they still have fun ruling the playground at recess

McGee and big cousin Brady!

Not Me! Monday│The SIL & Miss Em Edition

2010-11-29T18:09:00.000-08:00

"Not Me! Monday" was originally started by MckMama, but I don't think she's doing it anymore and I haven't had much time to post them either. This week however my kids have given me lots of fodder so I thought I'd do a quick post for posterity. :)

- My daughter did NOT stand in the corner of my SIL's garage pouting because she didn't have a big girl bike to ride and her cousin Addie wasn't letting Em ride hers. Nope, NOT my girl!

- My SIL Alanda and I do NOT often find ourselves wearing the same matching gray sweatershirts that were designed by my husband when we were in college and I was an RA. My SIL was one of the 40 girls on my floor when I was the Resident Assistant and we were VH2 (Vanguard Hall - 2nd floor). I honestly think those sweatshirts might last us a lifetime as it's already been 10+ years and they still seem barely worn even though we both wear them near daily during the winter. Or NOT. :)

(forgive the poor, non-makeup photo)

- Miss Em did NOT end up stealing her cousin Addie's big girl bike and riding around the court while Addie came walking back.

- On the subject of bikes, Miss Em has NOT been telling everyone she sees, "I'm getting a bike for Christmas!" with a giant smile on her face! I'm not sure where exactly she got this idea because I never told her that, but she actually will indeed be getting a bike this year from Santa I think.

- While putting clean clothes away in Miss Em's room, I did NOT hear a slight sound and when I opened her closet door I did NOT see Miss Em hiding in there eating a pear she had taken from the kitchen. Uh, uh, NOT her!

- Daddy and Mommy did NOT both come down with a horrible case of strep throat this last week during our Thanksgiving vacation. This is NOT the 2nd Thanksgiving in a row that Daddy has been sick.

- I did NOT completely konk out and fall asleep at the dining table for about 15 minutes after dinner last night. Nope, I WASN'T out to the world with my head on my arms while the kids played all around and Daddy looked on amused. :)

- After admiring his sister's binoculars from Sunday School made from two old toilet paper rolls, I did NOT tell McGee I would make him one when we had a couple of empty rolls available. This (I assume) is NOT what made him within 10 minutes come running out from the bathroom to us all excited and he was NOT shouting, "Come quick, come quick, the toilet is leaking, you need to call our neighbor to come fix it!" (our neighbor is a plumber who fixed the toilet when Myles put one of his McQueen cars deep inside the toilet pipes). We did NOT go see that the bathroom floor was flooded an inch deep and Daddy especially did NOT find a giant, man-sized fist size ball of toilet paper wadded up tightly and shoved down inside the toilet pipe. Wonder who could have done that??? After soaking a dozen towels I did NOT spend the next 20 minutes using a blow dryer attempting to dry out all around the unsealed baseboards and along the vanity and tub.

- When I was talking on the phone with my SIL and getting ready to put the kids down for nap and "quiet time", I did NOT find them both hiding together in their lego cabinet. They did NOT claim they were taking their nap in there, complete with blankies, dolls and their eyes closed.

A Night for Them

2010-11-23T23:27:00.000-08:00

It has been a rough last few days around the Sunshine House. Mommy has had a horrible case of strep throat that feels like it was combined with some form of the flu (stomach and cold type). Daddy step up and totally ran everything (including keeping dishes/counters cleaned and the rest of the house too - so much better than I'm doing now that I'm back on duty). He is an amazing man and always so nurturing and caring when I'm under the weather. I started feeling a bit like doing more than laying down yesterday and his comment was, "You're alive! It's SO nice to get Mommy smiling again." I really think that adage about "when mom isn't happy, nobody is happy" is probably very true around our house and most across the country.

I couldn't believe how tough it was on the kids to be separated from me even for just a few hours while Daddy was trying to let me get some extra sleep! In one morning when I was supposed to be "sleeping in", McGee busted into our room (the door was closed) 4 times asking me if I was ready to get up! Now I know they were having fun, I could hear the giggles from playing with Daddy, but I guess they're just not used to me not being around. It was very sweet one morning when McGee came in, purposely placed his hand on top of mine and his other hand over his eyes and immediately started praying, "Dear God, please heal mommy and make her feel better. Amen." The first morning after I started getting sick he had asked, "Are you all better Mommy, because God can heal you!"

Anyways, all this to say I'm happy after 3 days of Penicillin to be feeling up to about 75% normal again, but sad to say that Daddy came down with strep today. Fortunately he was able to get a doctor to call in the Penicillin order with just a phone consult so I about a day and a half he should start to be feeling a bit better too. We're still praying hard neither of the kids get it and so far they seem fine. We had planned to go to Chick-fil-A tonight with my brother and sister-in-law and their 3 kids, but with Daddy sick he wasn't going to go and it was probably best not to have all of the kids in such close quarters together sharing germs. McGee was incredibly sad and was crying when I told him his cousins couldn't go, I decided the kids just needed a night for them.

So the 3 of us went to Chick-fil-A and sat at a table away from everyone else, enjoyed our family night meal then splurged and split one of their holiday Peppermint Chocolate Chip milkshakes. With a weak stomach still I actually didn't eat too much, but the kids sure enjoyed it all! Next we went to Target and for 45 minutes we browsed and played up and down every single toy aisle. Never have they had the chance to look at all of the toys for more than a mere glance as we rushed off to get whatever it was we came for, so walking into Target just to browse and walking out without buying anything was a huge treat and they ended up having such a great night. In addition, it was fun for me to see what toys they were drawn to most as I was already pondering Christmas shopping ideas.

No pictures today, but I wanted to blog about our night and hopefully soon I'll be blogging more regularly again.

Oh and can I just say that we have the COOLEST kids ever?! Seriously, I'm sure all the other kids in the world are incredible, but my two are just completely amazing and Daddy and I love them to pieces! Despite the sickness in the household, we've been enjoying the extra family time and it was such a sweet memory Sunday night watching the kids both sitting on Daddy's lap giggling their heads off while watching Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving (VHS of course). Although it would have been nice to have my camera handy to capture it, I was still a zombie and zonked out minutes later on the couch with the vision of their smiles in my dreams.

More Words from my Babes

2010-11-12T15:14:00.000-08:00

I just found this unpublished post of some of the kids' sayings from back in June! Enjoy!

McGee: "Um Mommy? When are you going to get married? I mean you have to get married and are you and Daddy married yet?"
...............................................................................................................................

Mommy to McGee when I was getting ready to make a business phone call and didn't want Em awoken from her nap:

"Okay I have a proposition for you. Will you be very quite if I let you watch a cartoon?"

"Or paint? Those are our portions."

"Our portions huh?" "Yes." Hold on a second I need to write that down. "Oh Mommy, we don't need any pictures."
................................................................................................................................

"Mommy, I'm ready to get up!" "Mommy, I'm ready to see you again!" "Can you come get me up?" - Miss Em first thing in the morning (aka Mommy's alarm clock).

Are You Ready?

2010-11-09T14:06:00.000-08:00

I have a friend on Facebook that has been reminding all of her "friends" daily how many days we have until Christmas. Currently we are at 46 days 'til Christmas! Can you believe it?! I'm not sure that I can and I'm not sure I'm quite ready for all the Christmas season entails.

Sure there's the Christmas music and decorations that I love, but please can't I wait until after Thanksgiving? The one thing I DO like to try and plan ahead for are our family's Christmas cards. As a lover of photography, design and writing - what can better combine my passions than a well designed Christmas card?

For the last two years we have had friends that are photographer's take our family photos and I of course had the intention of using these lovely pictures for our card, but Daddy, well he's a little more traditional and he prefers using a shot from when we go cut the tree down and a card that is full of Christmas spirit and festivity. Last year I ended up designing and printing 2 different cards - one of my choice and one of Daddy's! This year I have not had any time to do designing and am so thankful for Shutterfly who has an AMAZING selection of cards and designs to choose from!

I have used Shutterfly for years for my photobooks and make annual calendars through Shutterfly as Christmas gifts for the family - so I know their quality is top notch! In addition to the photobooks and calendars, I have used Shutterfly to make many birthday, anniversary and thank you cards to share with friends and family and have received numerous compliments on them.

Shutterfly offers a variety of options for their card sizes: 5x7 folded, 5x7 flat, 4x8 flat and fun 5x5 square cards. Their design selection also includes a wide variety of designs for single photo cards and multi-photo cards. As a photo lover, I tend to gravitate towards the multi-photo designs most often. A little more BANG for my BUCK I guess photo-wise.

Take for example these fantastic designs - all multi-photo but pulled together and classy:

They also has holiday gift tags available and address labels so you can coordinate your entire holiday! If you are really on top of your game you could even hurry and get some heartfelt Thanksgiving cards to send out.

So if you are NOT ready for Christmas yet - hopefully you are now encouraged and motivated to at least start thinking about those very special Christmas cards and head to Shutterfly to see all of their fabulous designs! I will be having a VERY difficult time this year deciding which card to choose for our family.

Disclosure: As a blogger, I am receiving 50 free cards from Shutterfly for this post. You can too - Bloggers get 50 free cards from Shutterfly, find out how!

I Heart Faces - Orange

2010-11-08T21:00:00.000-08:00

The theme this week at I Heart Faces is "Orange" so I'm submitting this pouty pic of my boy from our trip to the pumpkin patch with his preschool class. Does anyone else get this look when the camera is pointed at their 4-year old??? :)

UPDATE: FYI - I won 7th place out of 487 entries!

40 Years Together

2010-11-08T07:00:00.000-08:00

Happy 40th Anniversary to my wonderful in-laws!

This past Saturday we hosted a celebration in honor of Gary and Linda (Mom & Dad) and their 40 years of marriage.

{THEN}

{NOW}

We invited the nearest family and a few friends who have been close throughout most of their marriage (we're missing the Vogeli's in this photo - and myself, the photographer, although please forgive this snapshot photo).

Their sons and their families - think they might have been overwhelmed at receiving 5 grandbabies in 5 years?!

Miss Em loving on Joshie

It was such a nice time of being together and hearing stories from people about Gary and Linda and testimonies about the impact they, their relationship with Christ and their marriage to one another have made on those around them. In their 40 years of marriage they have endured MANY ups and downs, seasons of joy and seasons of sorrow, health struggles for each of them, the near death of my father-in-law 15 years ago and near death of my brother-in-law 13 years ago. I'm blessed to say I have felt a part of their family from my first Italian dinner at their home in January 1995 and have seen firsthand their steady, unwavering faith and strength in Christ and love for each other. Their marriage is an inspiration and a shining example of lifelong commitment and I am so thankful the Lord blessed me with such amazing 2nd parents!

Happy 40th Anniversary Mom & Dad!

Love, Me :)

Little Loves and The Things They Say {Friday Funnies}

2010-11-05T09:30:00.000-07:00

I came across my pile of scratch paper with scribblings of different things the kids have said that I thought were sweet or cute or funny. So here is a nice long post to share them all (and now I can decrease my clutter by throwing all the notes away!):

"Dear Jesus,
Thank you for your wonderful grace and thank you for Mommy and Daddy, Grandma and Grandpa, Grammy and Papa, McGee and Miss Em. Please help McGee to get clean and to feel better and be happy and thank you for all you do. Amen." - Miss Em
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
McGee was getting dressed in his pajamas while Miss Em was cuddling with her "baby" (soft blue puppy w/ pull string that plays music) on the floor watching him. I was putting away some of his clean clothes and heard Miss Em say, "He is SO handsome. McGee you are SO handsome!"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
While getting ready to head to a birthday party for a preschool classmate McGee grabbed his yellow striped tie and said, "I need to wear my tie today because that's his name - Ty!". Then he proceeded to clip his yellow striped tie on and wear it to the party!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Coming home from a birthday party McGee was invited to he was going through his goodie bag and found a box of animal crackers. Mommy was starving (hadn't eaten ALL day) and asked for a couple crackers. McGee said, "Well you can have one Mommy but I'm saving the rest for Miss Em because I think she's probably sad she didn't get to go to Ty's birthday party and I want to bring her these because I know she likes them."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Mommy I got a little pee on the floor. I was watching what I was doing, but my pee pee wasn't watching what IT was doing and so it went on the floor." - McGee
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Miss Em, "Ow! He bit my finger."
Mommy, "You want me to give it a kiss?"
Miss Em, "Yes please. Thank you!"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Part of McGee's prayer the other night, "Please watch over all of the super heroes and help them save the people who are not safe."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mommy was editing pictures for a client one day and had this exchange with McGee"

McGee: "Mommy what are you doing?"
Mommy: "Working on pictures. Trying to make them look good so the people will like them."
McGee: "But Mommy, they already look really good!"

Then I found a note from a month ago recording this exchange:

Mommy: "Pray for Mommy okay?"
McGee: "Why?"
Mommy: "Pray for Mommy to do a good job."
McGee: "Oh but Mommy you always do a great job."

I love my sweet little encourager!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Breakfast time is always interesting as the kids have their own ideas about what they want to eat. Here is what McGee said one morning as he pointed at the cereal shelf in the pantry: "I want that one, the chicken rooster cereal." (Cornflakes)

An exchange with Miss Em:
Mommy: "Do you want this one (pointing to a box)?"
Miss Em: "No (with a big, confident smile)."
Mommy: "Do you want this one (pointing to another box)?"
Miss Em: "No (same big, confident smile)."
Mommy: "Oh you want this one (pointing to Cookie Crisps, the only sugar cereal on the shelf)?"
Miss Em: "Yes! (with BIG, BIG smile and big eyes)"

The Big Cheese

2010-11-02T11:11:00.000-07:00

McGee and I had our first experience at Chuck E. Cheese a couple of weeks ago and boy was it fun! So many games, so many people, so much noise - it was actually a bit overwhelming! We went to attend his friend Ty's birthday party. Ty is a friend from preschool that McGee has really hit it off with.

Here he is with arms held high as he enjoyed a simulated roller coaster. He kept referring back to the awesome time he had on the roller coaster at Disneyland with Papa last April.

Ty is his friend in the middle

Ty and McGee playing a dinosaur racing game

What a fun afternoon!

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T23:34:00.001-07:00

We're not really Halloween people here, but we did dress the kids up and attend our church's harvest party tonight where they enjoyed playing lots of games, filling their bags with candy, munching on nachos and ending it all with a delectable cupcake from the cupcake walk (which really was a "walk-up-and-take-a-cupcake-because-we-don't-have-any-music-to-play-to-make-it-a-game walk"). I remember the cake walk being my favorite part of the Halloween festival when I was a kid, guess the sweet-tooth doesn't fall far from the tree. :)

Miss Em utilized a newly acquired via hand-me-down Princess gown and a new tiara Mommy bought on clearance for $2 for a very economical costume. She could not have been more precious!

McGee was originally going to be a cowboy, then a cowboy superhero, then a pirate, until he finally decided to be a knight after receiving this cool helmet, breastplate and sword that Grandma found at the dollar store. Add in a new black turtleneck Grandma picked up and we had a very galiant and courageous Knight protecting our Princess.

Mommy & her munchkins

A sweet little boy gave Miss Em this adorable little froggy with a tie on that he had just won. She was so excited she even gave it a big hug and kiss! Our own little Princess and the Frog!

One of her many faces that keep us laughing!

McGee was pretty mellow throughout the evening, just taking all of the chaos and fun in I think. He did great with all of the games though and scored high on this ring toss!

Now this was a game I hadn't seen before - catapulting the rubber chicken into the pot. McGee and Daddy had fun with this one and McGee made a hole in one too!

Miss Em enjoyed "fishing"

McGee and Daddy waited to get some scrumptious nachos

Daddy and Em

Mommy & McGee

Miss Em was so happy to see her sweet friend who blessed her with her little Princess dress

Selecting the cupcakes...an important task!

Mm, mm...good!

Night!

3-2...

2010-10-28T16:14:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday to YOU!

Today my beloved turns 32 years old - yet he still looks like the teenager I fell in love with!

We're heading out to PF Changs tonight with friends to celebrate, but the kids and I baked and frosted cupcakes for his class and took them in today. It's always fun visiting his school and meeting his students and they get a big kick out of McGee and Miss Em.

At 5 am this morning I have a vague recollection of Daddy kissing me goodbye as I slumbered and asking me to put Miss Em's hair in pigtails today. We adore her in pigtails and I adore them even more with these cute new flower hair bands I just found at Target.

Daddy and his kiddos LAST year on his birthday...

...and here they are in 2010!

Miss Em completely loves swinging. When we're at a park that's what she will want to do the entire time. After swinging for a few minutes she was inevitably start leaning her head back with this serene, filled to the brim full of joy look like this is the most enjoyable thing she has ever done and she doesn't want to miss a moment of it. Usually her eyes close, like it's just she, the swing and the breeze on her face, but I wasn't able to capture the full essence of her swinging bliss.

We love you Daddy and thank you for all that you do for us and the way you love us so. Happy 32nd Birthday!

Living the Dream???

2010-10-27T23:15:00.000-07:00

Many dream of a successful career, a high-powered position with a corner office and sure, after visiting the FBI office in Washington D.C. in 8th grade, I had dreams of being a strong and courageous, tough as nails, booty kicking FBI agent (this may explain most of my tv viewing choices), but really my dream has been to be a stay-at-home-mom (SAHM). In April of 2006 I was able to realize that dream and for months I basked in the joy of being a new mom (and suffered the typical sleep deprivation - don't worry, I didn't forget). Some of my best sleep (and savored moments) were from the hours of 7-9am when McGee would sleep curled up on my chest after his morning nursing. Then we would get up, go for a walk and do whatever we wanted. Some days I showered, some days I didn't, and yet...this was the dream and it truly was!

However, it didn't take long for this definition of SAHM to quickly morph into something a little different. I was introduced to an amazing mom's group I began attending weekly, I started going back to Bible study every Thursday night, playdates were planned during weekday mornings, meals were made for new mom's or ill church members, I went back to working in the nursery at church, continued volunteering at the animal shelter, on and on it went and all of a sudden those care-free days of being a SAHM nearly vanished. I had commitments, I had responsibilities, I had obligations...and I signed myself up for EACH and EVERY one of them! I WANTED them! I remember during that first year my husband making the statement, "You're supposed to be a stay-at-home-mom, but you're never at home." I laughed it off at the time, but I see he was onto something.

Not long after came our dear Miss Em and did I slow it down? Yes, a little. The animal shelter rarely sees me anymore and I stepped down from some leadership roles, but wanting to contribute financially to our family I decided to throw in another part-time job of selling Pampered Chef. It was fantastic - until Miss Em decided to refuse a bottle and cry at each and everyone of my cooking shows.

Oh and then I finally figured out what this whole thing was about blogging - I couldn't even figure out for awhile what a "blog" was, but then I realized I could create one for free and use it to document our family and my thoughts, something I'd been doing for years with pen and paper, but I type much faster then I write. Well what else could I do but sign up and start writing?!

Then another lifelong dream was fulfilled...I finally had a single lens reflex camera! Now I could really take my photography to the next level. I became consumed with reading and learning more about photography and how to take the pictures I could see in my head. After practicing, and practicing, and practicing, this past summer I decided to start up my own photography business. It had been true for a couple of years, but I was finally willing to call myself a stay-at-home-working-mom (SAHWM) now that I had a job others actually knew about.

You see my entire life I've had a problem with wanting to DO everything, be a PART of everything and get INVOLVED with everything. You can read more about that here. Busy was typical and busy was ME. Eventually this led to my eating disorder which you can learn more about here.

The problem with all this busyness is not in the activities themselves (who can argue that a Bible study is a bad use of time?), but in who I am and what makes up a good balance in my life. I know there are plenty of women out there who do WAY more than I do, who have twice as many kids as I do and somehow they pull it all off and make it look so easy. Comparing myself to these superwomen is what makes me feel inadequate, it's what makes ME want to make those Martha-Stewart-perfect little cupcakes or snacks for McGee's preschool class, want to be on time for everything, want to have the house clean and dinner planned, and want to be involved in everything under the sun. Too bad I fail at all of these.

You see I've been trying to do that for awhile, I've been juggling things oh so carefully, trying to keep my head above the water, but today I dropped a ball. Today the water came crashing over my head. In hindsight it wasn't the biggest mistake ever. I didn't forget to pick McGee up from school, I didn't leave Miss Em in the car while running an errand, but in my filled-to-the-brim-with-"to dos"-mind, I did forget something and it devastated my afternoon. It shook me up a bit and although I've known it for quite some time, it became clear to me again part of what keeps me going when I know I shouldn't.

Some people fear spiders, the thought of flying may paralyze others, but my lifelong fear? Disappointment. I don't want to let other people down, I don't want to disappoint them. I wasn't the most rebellious teen, but I do remember that making my parents mad wasn't as big a deal to me, but disappointing them? That was devastating.

It's silly that at the age of 31 I still think I can go through life without disappointing people. It's outrageous even to think that is possible! I know I've said it before (and I'm saddened and embarrassed to see I've already written a post on this and not learned from my mistake), but I truly am going to try and get a little balance in my life and find what works for ME and MY family and not let myself get caught up in comparing myself to what others do. I know God gives us seasons in our lives for everything and I don't want to look back on this time in my life as a SAHM and regret the way I spent my time.

This dream I had of being a stay-at-home-mom has snowballed into something so much more than I think it should be - and I'm yearning to go back to the basics a bit, back to that time with just my child/children and letting a little busyness be an addition to our life rather than taking it over. I don't know how I'm going to get back there exactly, but I'm going to try, and I hope that anyone affected by this journey will not be disappointed.

Missed us?

2010-10-24T22:40:00.001-07:00

Have you missed these guys?

I've missed posting about them, really I have, but we've been super busy and now that I'm in the busy season with my photography business, most computer time is spent editing client photos and such. Good, but bad because I miss my little blog and recording all the fun we're having this Fall.

The Pumpkin Patch, Apple Hill, daily life...many posts I hope to get to soon. So tonight I'm just going to give you a few little tidbits...

- Did you know that clothes hangers make excellent bows for little boys who are intent on playing with bows and arrows? McGee loves Robin Hood and has been obsessed with bows and arrows, swords and shields since seeing the classic movie and reading the story... over and over and over again. :)

- Is there anything cuter than a little girl with pigtails? I mean Miss Em is adorable no matter what her hair looks like, but whenever I put her in piggies (half or full), I just can't get enough of her! Add to that cuteness an encouraging heart. Last night McGee was getting dressed in his pajamas and Miss Em was just laying on the ground in his room cuddling with her "baby" (her soft blue puppy dog with a pull-cord for music that Grandpa gave her). She looked up at McGee and said, "He is SO handsome! You're SO handsome McGee!" It was the sweetest thing!

- Saturday McGee went to a birthday party for his friend Ty from preschool. For weeks he's been wrapping up his books as Ty's "birthday present" and he LOVES writing Ty's name - it's exciting to him that he only has 2 letters in his name and he's filled up papers with Ty's name written all over it for us to give to him. Needless to say he was happy to write Ty's name on the gift bag.

While getting dressed for the party, McGee insisted he wear his yellow striped tie, "Because that's his name, Ty, so I need to wear my tie!" I decided to let him have his fashion freedom, as long as I could take some pictures of it. :)

Ah..I love these two blessings of mine!

Little Helpers

2010-10-13T18:27:00.000-07:00

I am blessed with very helpful children. At 2 & 4 years old they find it exciting to help Mommy or Daddy with whatever task we're working on. I'm praying this enthusiasm for help around the house doesn't wane in the preteen and teenage years. While the helpful attitude is much appreciated, the actual "help" provided is not always so helpful and can sometimes really slow us down when we have things we need to get done. Therefore, there are occasions where we encourage their busy little hands in helping us and other times where we think of some different task they can help with so we can finish what needs doing.

Tonight was a night I was happy to encourage McGee when he asked if he could cut up the vegetables for our vegetable soup. Initially I didn't see how he could help cut the carrots or the onion, but then he grabbed hold of the broccoli, asked for a dinner knife and away he went cutting it all perfectly for our soup! Thank you McGee for your contribution to our dinner, your careful attention to safety and thoroughness did not go unnoticed and Mommy is very proud of you and the little man you are becoming. I love you my little broccoli cutter!

I should write...

2010-10-11T21:44:00.000-07:00

I should write, I know I should, but I don't have the energy tonight and my heart is too heavy processing a friend's loss. There are many things I should be doing right now, but instead I think I may go veg in front of the tv or maybe just head to bed.

Tonight is Miss Em's first time going to Grandma and Grandpa's for an overnighter all by herself. I feared (and selfishly hoped - just a tad) that my baby would cling to me, but she was so, so excited to go and I'm thankful she has this opportunity. I actually just got off the phone with my mom and Miss Em has been blessed to enjoy the evening with all FOUR of her grandparents loving on her and her alone. She was in bed asleep, but the grandparents were just getting ready to enjoy some ice cream. Daddy and I are so blessed our parents not only get along with one another, they are friends and family through and through.

I had fun with the kiddos and my camera one night last week before dinner and here is what we came up with:

Man I love my kids!

All Aboard!

2010-10-07T23:59:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we had a fun family morning taking a train ride using our free passes with our museum membership. McGee loves trains (as most toddler/preschool boys do) and has ridden on light rail/BART, but never a real steam engine train. We arrived early (I was the first in line!) and were excited to board when they called for passengers.

Waiting to board

I LOVE this image - my husband's eyes light up and sparkle when he's really happy and I love that I was able to capture that here when he was enjoying a moment with his son!

The train ride was 6 miles up, then we stopped, the engine detached from the train, drove up a ways and then came back on another track to hitch itself to the opposite side of the train and drive us back where we began. Confusing explanation? Well the kids enjoyed being able to go up to the front and watch it all from out the door!

The train ride was great, but we thought we top the day off with some lunch and ice cream at Gunthers!

I love days like this with my family!

Favorite Faces

2010-10-06T10:02:00.000-07:00

"Love That Shot" is having a link-up with "I Heart Faces" featuring our "favorite faces". I took some pictures of the kids this week that I absolutely LOVE so this was perfect for me to participate in! I'll be sharing more pictures of the kids individually in a later post, but for now, here is one with both of their faces that I hope you'll love as much as I do! I liked this image in color, but really fell in love with it when I created the black and white conversion.

Friday Funnies

2010-10-01T15:23:00.000-07:00

Linking up to "Friday Funnies" again today. I'm not sure really how funny each of these are, but they were quotes from my children that stood out to me this week so even if they're not that funny I'm glad I have this opportunity to document them.
*********************************************************************

McGee: "I found an octagon and a sexagon! See here, let me count the sides, one, two...seven, eight. See it has 8 sides so it's an octagon. Here let me count these sides, one, two, three, four, five. See it has 5 sides so it's a sexagon."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Myles can you please bring your plate to the sink? "Here Emily (loading her arms with his dishes) can you please take this to the sink?" "McGee I asked YOU to bring your dishes over." "It's okay Mommy I'm teaching her to be a great helper."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mommy to McGee and Miss Em (who were busy whispering to one another conspiratorially): "What are you two whispering about?"
McGee: "We're talking about you."
Mommy: "Why?"
McGee: "Because we like you. Yeah, we like you so we were talking about you. Uh-huh." Sounds like a good save don't you think? :)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This morning Miss Em said to me: "Mommy you need to look at me when I'm talking to you." I wonder where she's ever heard that?!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mommy to McGee: "Be careful honey, I don't want you to fall down."
McGee: "I NEVER fall down because heroes NEVER fall down and I'm a hero!"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And finally because I'm a visual person - here is McGee giving himself Mickey Mouse ears with crackers on his head:

I Heart Faces - Chalk

2010-09-28T18:48:00.000-07:00

I couldn't find a single picture involving chalk in my archives. I took this one today while the kids were outside painting and playing with chalk, but seriously, this was the only picture I had with chalk in it. She thought it was more fun to color the "trunk" of her Mickey Mouse bike rather than draw all over the ground. Go figure. Our Miss Independent. :)

Family Campout

2010-09-28T12:08:00.000-07:00

**Another catch-up post from the summer**

Our family used to have an annual campout every summer. When I say family I don't just mean my parents and siblings, no I mean everyone, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandma...you get the idea. I think it may have actually started for my birthday as I usually wanted to go camping for my birthday - so we ended up celebrating all of the July birthdays camping (there were 3-4 of us).

This year we celebrated my two baby cousins' birthday with a campout the first weekend in August. Our camping used to consist of tents, but now my brother and my cousin Joel have upgraded to nice trailers which seems to make things so much easier. The kids and I still slept in our tent and they did really well.

Campfires are the best! Uncle Mike put McGee and Hannah to work collecting stick and taught them how to make a proper fire. Grandma got some snuggles in with baby Skye.

Smores...the ultimate campfire tradition. This top left photo is Em's taste of her first smore. Mmm.... I love campfires!

The days were spent with wiffle ball games, fun in the dirt, and all the joys of camping.

Time with family was the best part!

Miss Hannah and Miss Ashlee celebrated their 4th and 1st birthdays!

Grandma and Grandpa bought McGee his first fishing pole - a Lightning McQueen one with a great rubber tire weight which was perfect for practicing his casting. Uncle Mike took him out to try casting and fishing in the water.

Daddy ended up not being able to join us since he found out he had a job the day before we were to leave and he only had the weekend to set his new class up. We were disappointed he would have to miss out on our first camping trip with the kids, but were thankful he had a job.

Saturday night while we were out fishing my cousin Joel said, "Hey!" to someone and I expected it was another friend of his he knew. When McGee and I turned around we were happily surprised to see Daddy who drove a couple of hours to come see us for an hour or two and then turn around to drive home as he was playing for worship the next morning at church. I just love surprises - don't you?

It really meant a lot to have Daddy be there for McGee's first "fishing" experience (no fish were actually caught).

Had to sneak in a family shot before Daddy headed home.

Sunday morning we were blessed to enjoy a church service in the quaint little chapel on the lake. The pastor who married Daddy and I gave the message and although I enjoyed what I could, it was hard to hear it all since Miss Em had me running around outside with her.

Camping = Dirt. Plain and simple, and I love it! I love cousins too.

Not Me! Monday

2010-09-27T14:04:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile since I've written a Not Me! Monday post and I've missed it! This blog carnival was started by MckMama and has been a great chance to share all of the embarrassing little things that happen in our everyday.

- Being the grown woman that I am I did NOT run from leaving a store through the parking lot to my car because I was in a hurry and was trying to save time. I do NOT routinely run like a two year old when I'm in a hurry instead of walking like the mature, sophisticated woman that I am. Hee, hee.

- It WASN'T me who sang Flashdance's "She's A Maniac" while watching my daughter rolling around on the living room floor throwing one of her temper tantrums. Uh, uh, NOT ME!

- I did NOT begin baking Apple Hill Cake for a playdate and then realize when our friends arrived that I had neither good apples or vegetable oil to complete the cake. I did NOT call my SIL who thankfully lives only a few doors down and beg a few apples off her. I DID however substitute cinnamon applesauce for the oil and was very grateful for the delicious flavor as well as reduced calories and fat.

- It WASN'T me who composed and published an entire blog post about my hair dryer. I mean, that would be plain silly!

- Oh and unlike these women pictured, I definitely did NOT forget to call my friends up and coordinate our super stylin' little black mommy dresses for our playdate at the park. I mean don't YOU always plan ahead and dress to match your friends? :)

- I did NOT wait on hold for Canon for about 10 minutes, put it on speakerphone and then accidentally hang up on them when trying to switch off speakerphone! This did NOT require me to call back and wait on hold AGAIN. :(

- It WASN'T me who told my husband when trying to convince him to approve some spending that I really wanted and he had already said "No" to 3 times, "I don't mean to be a disrespectful wife." To which he replied, "I know, you're just very tenacious." Hmmm...tenacious? Yep, I guess that fits. :)

RIP My Dear

2010-09-26T22:12:00.000-07:00

Eight years, eight terrific years you have been with me. Almost as long we I've been married. We've had some ups as well as some dreadful downs (remember that Paige from "Trading Spaces" haircut in 2004? Really, what was I thinking??). You've been good to me most of the time. You've only let your temper get the best of you once or twice and cut out on me, but generally your loyalty day in and day out has been commendable. You've saved me from my terrible kinky wave near my face and helped straighten out many problems. You've even provided my dog Callie some luxurious moments of pampering.

I've known it was coming for a couple of months now. The high pitched whirring you started to make was not a good sign, but I cleaned out your lint same as always and yet the whirring continued. Finally Friday night you had given it your all and decided to make a grande finale by nearly exploding and shooting sparks as I dried my just washed hair. Thank you kindly for not killing me. RIP little hair dryer, I hope I will be able to find a suitable replacement soon.

Everyday Moments

2010-09-25T23:57:00.000-07:00

It's the everyday, routine moments that make up our life and I don't want to forget them, no matter how small. This blog is all about recording our life so we can look back and remember these moments, so tonight I took lots of picture of Miss Em during bath because I don't want to forget the sound of her giggles as she pours bucket after bucket of water over herself getting clean or her pudgy little hands and baby fat that is quickly disappearing. Her runny nose, so common to childhood, and the fact that she talks in her sleep (okay this is a little random but she just said, "Mommy don't stop doing that." in her sleep while I'm typing this). :) So with technically imperfect, but life-capturing perfection, here is Miss Em during bath time tonight:

Oh and in this bottom left image, Miss Em is sitting on her little potty, where she got out and went pee twice and #2 once during her bath. Thank goodness she didn't go in the bath!

Friday Funnies

2010-09-24T19:42:00.000-07:00

Linking up to "Friday Funnies" again at Triple Blessings. Here is another week of conversation recaps and/or "funnies" from the Sunshine House:

McGee to Mommy: "I have two names. Stink 1 and Stink 2."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Miss Em: "Mommy can you please hold me because I like to laugh." Awww, I'm so glad holding my daughter makes her laugh. :)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
McGee: "I thought it would be cute for me to wear this today." (Red and blue striped shirt and blue cargo shorts it did look very cute...until he got it soaked playing outside with the hose.) :)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Miss Em: "Mommy we were washing dishes so we could help you and but I got myself all bubbly."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mommy to McGee: "McGee can you please put the chairs away?"
McGee to Mommy: "I am really busy right now so I can't do that."

About 45 seconds later -
McGee to Mommy: "Mommy can you PLEASE put batteries in this for me?"
Mommy to McGee: "I am really busy right now so no, I can't do that."

I'm not sure this was the right way to handle this, but it worked for this morning.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Last night Daddy was heading to bed and said, "Did you see McGee yet?" I said, "No." and quickly ran down the hall to have a look. I dashed back to grab my camera and capture THIS:

Whatever keeps him asleep works for me!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Guess who learned how to pedal her bike tonight? Yep - Miss Em! I had let the dogs out back into their run then came back inside. Next thing I know I heard something in the backyard, turned on the light and found Miss Em pedaling her bike around the patio in the dark. She was having a blast! I sat outside and watched her for awhile then said, "Okay Em, one more ride around and the it's time for night, night." She said, "That's right! Righty tighty, lefty loosie, oh Mommy you're a silly goosie!" Ha!

I hope you have had a great week - it's been fun and busy here! Miss Em is currently sick though with a nasty cough and runny nose, but I'm hoping a good night sleep will help her feel better for the morning. She's currently laying in bed singing, "Happy Birthday" to herself followed by, "Amen!".

I Heart Faces - Smirk

2010-09-21T09:24:00.000-07:00

I'm joining in at "I Heart Faces" again this week and the theme is "smirk":

A smirk refers to a smile evoking insolence, scorn, or offensive smugness.

Here's one of many of our little girl's "smirks":

They're listening...

2010-09-19T22:45:00.000-07:00

While sitting in my office working on some paperwork today I overheard the following from McGee's room (I'm guessing he was "reading" a book - or giving a sermon):

"Always be good and listen to your parents. And always obey Jesus and your parents, because they just want you to be happy. Be good to others too, not just yourself, but be good to ALL (his emphasis) people everywhere. Trust God and be thankful for all you have."

It did my heart a world of good to hear these words from his mouth. As a mom you try to teach them, discipline them, hoping truth and goodness will sink in and take hold for the long haul in their hearts. After many moments of frustration over sibling bickering lately, it was so nice to think that maybe, just maybe, some of what I've said has been sinking in. Like maybe my points about some children in the world not having any food and thus, he should be grateful for the turkey and cheese sandwich on whole wheat with watermelon for lunch instead of complaining he "doesn't want that". :) Sound familiar to anyone else?

My rambunctious, but listening, boy

Friday Funnies

2010-09-17T16:11:00.000-07:00

I'm linking up today to my friend MomBrose's "Friday Funnies"...

- Rhyming has been lots of fun for McGee lately. On our way to preschool McGee this week he said, "Hey Mommy - princess, rincess." Although "rincess" is not really a word I said, "Uh huh, they rhyme don't they?" Then he said, "Truck, *uck (insert my most detested of all curse words)." I didn't know what to say, or do. So I said and did nothing. A moment passed and he continued on with his rhyming, "Car, far. Pink, rink, sink, link, drink...." and on it went. My son's first curse word...and he didn't even know it! :)

Here are some funnies from the past that I found written down on various scraps of paper from this last year:

June 2010
McGee with hands COVERED in marker:

McGee: "It's okay, I feel comfortable. I just look like a clown because I have this all over me."
Mommy: "You know that's not okay right?"
McGee: "Yes I do, but sometimes we can do it and sometimes it's not good. Today it's okay though."

May 2010
McGee to Miss Em:
"Do you like my new train I got for my birthday? Do you love it or do you NOT love it? Do you like it or do you LOVE it?"

McGee: "Mommy tomorrow you can be really funny and make good choices. Maybe you can paint with your paints." Well okay son. :)

July 2009 (I know, these are OLD!)
Papa watching Miss Em eat, "She is getting a mustache under her nose."
McGee: "When I get to be a Papa I will have a mustache too." (Both Papa's have mustaches).

Miss Em praying: "Mommy, Dada, grandma, myl, ball, dog, whessis? (what's this?), all done, thank you, amen."

Cousins First Sleepover...Kinda

2010-09-16T09:30:00.000-07:00

I'm not even sure kinda is a word, but that's okay, it's my blog and it's going to be a word here today.

We watched our niece and two nephew a few weeks back so their mom and dad could have a night out and put Brady to bed in McGee's room. Brady has been asking for McGee to stay over for months now so they were so excited to have a mini-sleepover. We were surprised at how well they did and that they actually went to sleep. McGee was sad to wake-up in the morning and find Brady had been picked up in the night, but it was a nice preview of the fun they will have with future sleepovers.

Wild Thing, You Make My Heart Sing (and tremble)

2010-09-15T13:00:00.000-07:00

Oh Miss Em how I love you! I love your independent, confident nature, your goofy, entertaining quirkiness and your fun-loving spirit keeps us all completely wrapped around your little fingers. But oh my dear, your rebellious, wild spirit also makes me tremble in fear a bit as I look toward your tween and teenage years. Please be kind, please be obedient and please, please, please have a heart after God and be led by Godly wisdom and not your own desires (however fun and exciting they may seem!).

At the State Fair this series of pictures tell the story of our wild and rebellious little girl, the little girl who wanted desperately to play in the fenced off tractor yard:

Sitting cute with the boys

Slyly sliding one leg over the fence...

Flashing your little "who me" grin, the one that says, "It's okay, I can do it, right mom?!"...

And then she's off!

Making a run for it...

...and boldly hopping a second fence! I love how the boys are awestruck as they look on. "What a wild girl!" they must be thinking.

Don't worry - moments after I snapped this last pick Mommy was hopping fences as well and grab her little sneaky girl. Be thankful I didn't have my friend snap pictures of the thrashing of legs and torso, pulling and grabbing of arms that went along with trying to bring Miss Em back with the boys. Strong willed? Check! Love you my girl.

Summer Fair Fun

2010-09-14T23:34:00.000-07:00

*another overdue post from summer - lots of pictures*

Summer = fair time, right?

This summer the kids and I went to the State Fair with some friends and my hometown's County fair with family. Both were fun and many memories were created.

The State fair had a great deal on their corn dogs - $3.50 for a jumbo dog! Miss Em ate hers as well as some of mine. The animals were a HUGE hit for Miss Em - in this top right picture she grabbed onto the fence of a sheep and wouldn't let go. She may only be 2 years old, but she is strong! I had to pry her away. The days old piglets in the bottom picture were adorable and caught her eye as well.

The kids and I by the beautiful gardens

Look at those sunflowers!

My friend Alicia and I decided to let the kids each go on 1 ride. McGee had been talking about the "Lightning McQueen" ride and how we had to walk up and around this one building and over a bridge to get to it. I thought he was making it up but he said it was from when he came last year with Daddy and Uncle Matt and Papa. We went to find this ride and I was skeptical, but sure enough, there was a CARs movie ride with little Jeeps and Mater that the kids could "drive" around a track. McGee and Jed were so excited to go on it!

An excited McGee exiting from his ride. We had trouble finding a ride that the little ones could go on, but finally found this boat ride that accepted their height. Miss Em and Jackson had so much fun "driving" this boat round and round! Funnel cake and fireworks (not pictured) completed our State Fair experience for 2010.

A week later we headed up to Mommy's hometown and joined Grandma and our cousins at the County Fair. Little Ashlee was in the diaper derby but didn't really find herself wanting to crawl at all. McGee - Mr. Need for Speed - won the diaper derby a few years ago as a crawler with his strange but speedy little gorilla crawl. Miss Em was in it last year too, but didn't really feel like crawling much.

After the diaper derby we searched the exhibits to find a picture of McGee that Grandma & Grandpa's friend had taken and submitted- looks a little grouchy huh?

Next came the rides! McGee, Hannah and Miss Em enjoyed an exhilarating car ride. In fact, I think they may have gone on it a couple of times.

Next Hannah and McGee went flying in the airplanes, but McGee ended up being less than thrilled with being high above the ground.

We ran into some more cousins - Lori, Kim and Sydney - it was such a nice surprise!

I love this of the three little ones looking on at the bumper cars with such fascination! We told them they had to wait a few years for that ride.

What's a fair without ice cream and cotton candy?!

A free ride on the carousel. Miss Em kept saying, "Grandma look, I'm riding a horsey!"

So much fun was had this day! Smiles, giggles, goofy and grumpy faces and boy do I always love sunflare!

I loved processing these two in one of my favorite bright processing styles!

This final image is a favorite of mine - Hannah and Miss Em enjoyed their first fair together!

Reasons to Love Being a Mom

2010-09-13T14:46:00.000-07:00

I have been terrible about blogging lately and I apologize. I've even tried to take a break these last few days from long term sitting at the computer thinking it might help get rid of the migraines I've been getting, but here I sit for the first time in a week trying to blog and I have yet another migraine headache ruining my concentration. :( So instead of trying to think of something fun, interesting or enlightening to share, I'm just going to borrow from American Baby magazine and give you "12 Reasons to Love Being a Mom":

1. You receive a reception worthy of the next American Idol even though you'd only left the room for a minute to get more wipes.

2. There's no better exercise program than chasing a toddler through a good-size mall - except maybe chasing two of them.

3. When was the last time a grown-up hugged you simply for buying cookies?

4. You can't very well put videos of your husband dancing to Beyonce's "Single Ladies" on YouTube. But the baby? Upload away! (Is it sad I don't even know what song this is?)

5. Babies don't accidentally butt-call your cell phone and they never hog the remote. (I'm guessing this is something the magazine thinks guys do??)

6. Nothing's sexier than a man holding a baby - except for a man changing a diaper. Definitely!

7. The 100th reading of Goodnight Moon is every bit as good as the first. Don't forget The Big Red Barn too!

8. You no longer look quite as silly dressing up for Halloween. In fact, not dressing up might make you odd mom out.

9. You've got a built-in excuse for RSVP-ing "no" whenever you feel like it. (I'm not so sure about this one. Often I feel more pressure that I have to attend something because everyone will be disappointed if the baby/kids aren't there.)

10. Somebody loves you no matter what you're wearing (strained peas on your shirt), what you're doing (prepping yet another birthday party), or how long it's been since you showered (Uh, Tuesday? Nah, Monday!).

11. Naptime.

12. Alarm clocks are more appealing when they're wearing footie pajamas. Absolutely!

Oh and MY top reason to love being a mom??? These two and their fun loving personalities and smiles!

(photo courtesy of my friend and fellow photographer Lisa Smiley)

Forty-Eight

2010-09-07T09:03:00.000-07:00

They met as high schoolers and began dating, were engaged on the beach in Santa Cruz on the 4th of July and were married...48 years ago today!

Happy 48th Anniversary to two of the greatest people I know - my parents!

Week One

2010-09-03T21:03:00.000-07:00

Well Week One of preschool is behind us and McGee had a fantastic time! Can it be that he seems light years older all of sudden after 3 days in school? His favorite time still seems to be the outdoor playtime, but what little boy doesn't love playing outdoors?

Unfortunately this week has also been full of illness for the Sunshine House. Monday night Miss Em began throwing up with a 24-hr. stomach flu bug, then Wednesday night it hit McGee and last night it hit Mommy - HARD! I know the kids didn't get half as sick as I did (try throwing up about every 1/2 hour to 45 minutes from 10:30pm - 3:30am), but I pray they didn't feel as miserable as I did either. Thankfully it is only a 24-hr bug so I've been feeling much better today, although still weak and tired. We're hoping it won't hit Daddy tonight or tomorrow night. Also tonight it seems a faucet has been turned on inside my nose...the coughs and sneezes make me believe it's an early Fall allergy attack. Very annoying I must say.

McGee still seems extremely tired, I even thought about keeping him home from preschool today but he was not about to have it! I pray my little ones will get a good night's rest tonight because tomorrow we are having a garage sale! I took everything over and set it up at my friend Alicia's tonight so hopefully when I arrive there around 6:30am tomorrow we can just move the tables and stuff out into the driveway.

It was a very busy week and I don't really have many photos to share, but here is a little collage of Miss Em and one of her dolls. She kept posing with her doll and saying, "Mommy - come take a picture of my baby and me!" Naturally I obliged her. :)

It Has Begun - Preschool that is!

2010-08-31T14:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was McGee's first day of preschool! I have anticipated this day for months and am so excited for him as he begins this new chapter in his life: school. I was/am a little sad that these past 4 years have flown by so quickly and from this point on McGee will most likely be away from me several days each week in school. He was not the most cooperative for those first day of school pictures (big SHOCK!) but drop off went off without a hitch and he seemed to have a great time.

The best smile he could muster

A Brave Bluebird - listening like a good boy during storytime

Apparently McGee made a big impression during playtime outside. His one teacher Miss Sonja told me how full of boy energy he was and how he was one of the "guards" (aka knight w/ a sword). She wished her batteries hadn't run out on her camera because she wanted to record it for me. Then as we were heading out two other teachers mentioned what a fun little boy he was and how much they enjoyed watching him on the playground. It's killing me not getting to be a fly-on-the-wall and seeing how he is when Mommy's not around! Fortunately so far all of the reports are positive. :)

After pick-up they allow the preschool kids to play in the yard as long as the parents supervise them and McGee had fun playing with his friends (J) and (N). (N) and McGee are in the same class, but (J) is in a different class so McGee enjoyed getting the extra time to play with him.

All smiles once at school!

Growing up my mom had a tradition of taking me out for an ice cream sundae after the first day of school. I want to keep that tradition with my children, but we were invited to join a few other moms and kids for "Happy Meals" and combined a "Happy Meal" with the ice cream sundae (they were only $1!). Definitely a rare junk food day for us.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

2010-08-29T22:12:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we went to our first baseball game with the kids. It was the local minor league team and we enjoyed $1 hot dogs and baseball helmet ice cream sundaes - mmm! We were invited to go and celebrate my cousin Nick's birthday, but can you believe the only picture I got of him was this profile shot and no other pics of the rest of the family. Shame on me!

I LOVE these first couple of pictures - you may not see their faces but these timeless captures pull at my heart. Remember when I used to post "Heart Shots"? I may need to start that up again....let me think about that.

The $1 hot dogs were great, Dinger the mascot came up to us with his ukelele (it was Hawaiian theme night) and have I told you how much I love Miss Em's Keen sandals? We bought them on clearance 2 summers ago at REI and she is just now able to wear them.

My two serious, focused boys - 27 years difference in age yet so similar sometimes in personality.

Miss Em sure enjoyed her helmet ice cream sundae...down to the last drop!

First Baseball Game Joy (thanks to my blogger friend Shannon Joy each time I post a photo I want to follow it's description with the word "Joy")

Kicking Back to Celebrate

2010-08-27T12:39:00.000-07:00

We were able to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary this summer at a friend's beautiful home in Lake Tahoe. Grandma and Grandpa watched the kids for a few days while Daddy and I just kicked back and relaxed...it was wonderful!

We both read, Daddy cooked us some delicious meals and played the guitar and I enjoyed some afternoon naps with a lakeside breeze. The walks were so nice with the fresh mountain air and the scenery couldn't have been more lovely. Thank you to all who helped us have such a terrific anniversary getaway! As always - here is a visual tour of our vacation:

The House - checkout the neat loft with the ladder tucked into the cabinets on the left

The Food - I LOVE that my husband is a fabulous cook and we didn't have to go out to dinner

Did you know that I am only 4' 10 1/2" tall? It makes taking pictures of us together a little difficult sometimes...often one of our heads gets a little chopped off the image. We didn't do too bad this time once Daddy squatted down a bit next to me. :)

The Beach

Meaningful Reminders

Summer Blast Recap

2010-08-26T14:27:00.000-07:00

**I have realized I missed out on posting much about this summer! Therefore the next few posts are some that should have been posted a month ago, but never got published.**

Some may have read about my tearful drop off when McGee went to his first vacation Bible school last month, but I didn't get a chance to come back and tell you what a fantastic week he had at Summer Blast! It was Australian Outback themed and my little Joey had such a great time singing, playing and learning. I heard from a few friends who volunteered that McGee was quite the cut-up during the singing time. :) They provided a cd on the first day with the music from the week and that cd has played almost non-stop in our car (and house) ever since! It starts with an awesome "Good Morning" song that can't help but get you in a good mood and the rest of the cd is just as great. Needless to say, McGee had LOTS of practice with his music.

On Friday of Summer Blast week they had a final bbq party for all of the families with one last send-off. McGee and Miss Em found they preferred playing in a puddle around a tree rather than surrounded by all the other kids on the bouncy water slide or in the bounce house.

It was a HOT night!

McGee listening intently

Giving a good 'ole Aussie yell!

Somehow our McGee has a tendency to find himself BEHIND others on-stage despite being on the shorter side where he needs to be up front. Oh well - I still caught him. :)

He snuck in front of his Auntie Alanda (a genuine Aussie) for the final song

Back out in the crowd - he had a great time being a part Summer Blast!

He made a small one on the first day, but here he is playing a real didgeridoo. These can actually be hard to play but our boys strong lungs did pretty well!

I Heart Faces - Beach Fun

2010-08-24T15:01:00.000-07:00

Here I am participating in another I Heart Faces challenge. How could I not participate when the theme this week is "Beach Fun" and we just returned from some fun on the beach with our Auntie M, Grandma and cousin Skye?

It was super difficult to choose which picture to enter this week as I had numerous beach pics of the kids that I loved. Ultimately I decided to take the opportunity to submit a photo NOT of my kids. While we were relaxing at the beach a high school dance team came up and had a photo shoot not far from where we were sitting. I was amazed at these girls - their bubbly joy, their grace and their jumps - oh my! I was lucky enough to capture some of their jumps and chose this one for this weeks I Heart Faces - Beach Fun challenge.

Last Summer Vacation

2010-08-23T22:00:00.000-07:00

I feel like my blog posts as of late have just been me joining in on other blog challenges and carnivals. That is all well and good, but we have had LOTS going on here too that I do so wish to share with you all!

First up, the kids and I just returned from a trip to my sister's with my mom. It was our last vacation of the summer as McGee will start pre-school next Monday. We enjoyed a great few days hanging out with my sister, brother-in-law, nephew and our little sweet niece. On Friday we headed over to Santa Cruz and had the BEST time! The weather was perfect (although a bit windy and cold on the pier) and it was wonderful not to have any agenda other than relaxing and having fun.

McGee LOVE, LOVE, LOVED playing in the waves and sand and Miss Em enjoyed staying close to her Grandma and digging in the sand. McGee practiced writing his letters in the sand and Baby Skye took a beachside nap. A highlight for sure was feeding (and being swarmed by) the seagulls with our leftover rolls from lunch. Grandma was heard saying she didn't think she had heard McGee laugh and giggle so much before! How to top off that kind of a day? Enjoying ice cream for dinner of course, at a local dive called Marianne's we were referred to by my friend Tina. When she mentioned we might have to wait in line I didn't truly believe her, but indeed we had to wait almost a 1/2 hour! It was good though and I couldn't believe all of the many flavor options!

Well there's plenty more to say about our trip, but I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves (and there are TONS more where these came from)! I had such a hard time choosing which pics to post as there were so many that I loved! Which of these is YOUR favorite?

Throwing the bread for the birds...

Skye's first trip to the beach...she thought she'd see what sand tastes like

A Call Out

2010-08-17T22:08:00.000-07:00

This blog began as a way for me to document my family's life, our memories and important thoughts I wanted to share with my kiddos. This is still it's primary purpose but it has also been a place to share photos, random thoughts of mine and an avenue for connecting with other moms and bloggers all across the world. Thus, I have plenty of readers that I do not know personally. This I do not mind, I especially love when my loyal readers comment, it's a way to get to know one another in this big 'ole blogosphere.

I do however have one reader that I am calling out tonight. This reader is from Bangalore, Karnataka and I know he/she checks my blog daily and comes directly to this site (not from a link up or random google search). I do not, however, recall receiving any comments by this reader. Who are you? What is it about my little blog that you like? I'd love to hear from you and get to know more.

As a mom and a blogger, there are plenty of concerns regarding how much information I put out "here" and the pictures I have of my children. I would never want to endanger my children nor have their photos be used in anyway other than intended on MY blog, but I have also wanted this blog to be open, to be a place to encourage others and share with others. I'd hate to make this blog a private blog, where only invited users could view it after providing a password, that just isn't me and to tell you the truth I'm not sure people would care enough to jump through the hoops just to see our little blog if it were to go private. However I AM interested in WHO my readers are and what they like about my blog. If you are a regular reader (or just passing through), would you mind leaving me a little comment telling me a bit about yourself (anything really) and what it is you enjoy from this blog?

And just because I don't care for posts without pictures - have you seen this one before? I just came across it tonight and it made me laugh:

Thanks & Blessings,

I Heart Faces - Shades

2010-08-16T23:21:00.000-07:00

I'm entering this photo of Miss Em in this weeks I Heart Faces Photo Contest. The theme is "Got to Wear Shades'' and you must have sunglasses and a face in the photo. Does this look like a typical "Not Me! Monday" post or what? My girl dumped over the garbage and grabbed the rest of her chocolate snack to finish off...good to the last lick! Goof!

I was going to enter a different photo (that I'll post later...one word...sunflare!), but decided the top photo represents Miss Em and her mischievous personality and wacky fashion flair a bit better.