Christmas - Part 1

I'm not quite sure how we're already to New Year's Eve!  The much anticipated week at Bumpa and Grammy's is already past but they were fun-filled days.  Of course we took billions of pictures and since my hubby gave me a new camera (yay!!!!) we seem to have even more than usual.  Funny how that happens! 

Here's a few ...

These two cousins kept us entertained as they interacted with each other.

Isn't she just the sweetest!?!

Uncles and Aunties are the best!

My little wiggle worm actually snuggled with me.  Quick - snap a picture!

'Twas the night before Christmas ... but does it look like these kiddos are ready for bed?  They may be in their jammies but don't let them fool you!

Time to open a few gifts:

And then play with them:

 I'd say it was a good Christmas! 

Thank you Bumpa and Grammy for a wonderful time! 

Part 2 coming soon...



Pictures

It's that time of year again!  Time to round up the troops for another attempt at the Family Picture.  All done with our little point and shoot camera that invariably has Daddy mumbling something about this 'stupid camera'.  Only loud enough that his son can hear.  And pipe up, "we don't say 'stupid' Daddy!"  I'm not sure that helped!(:

This year giggles were assured because Daddy set up the camera on the fence which meant that he had to sprint around the fence, past the gate and through the tall grass to join us.  All in his Sunday best.  It was pretty funny.

Our family - December 2011.

When we were done, I mentioned that lunch was probably ready ...

and the mad scramble was on! 

Have a lovely week!

The Shirt Dress

Morgan is really getting into dressing all her dolls and stuffed animals and she'll even wrap them up in her own pajamas.  So recently I did a search for doll clothes patterns and ran across a very fun website Dana-Made-It.  It was full of all sorts of fun ideas and tutorials for making all sorts of great things from kids clothes to crafts to food.  Not only did I find a couple posts on clothes for Bitty Babies, I found some very fun, fairly quick projects for little girls.  So I drug out my mom's old sewing machine and, using the shirt-dress tutorial, transformed an old shirt of mine into a little dress for Morgan. 

Since Morgan is always buzzing around (sitting still is still a struggle), I gave up trying to get a posed shot.  Here's her new dress in the only way I could convince her to allow me to take a 'posed' picture ...

running!  That's my girl!

 Of course, Lane had to get in on the fun too.

All the while, Ryan was wondering why on earth I was getting them all wound up before meeting.  Oh the things mothers do to get pictures!

Does she like the dress?  I think so.  Does she like posing for pictures while running?  That grin says it all!  Did she settle down in time for meeting?  Let's just say she sat quietly, sitting still is still a work in progress.(:

Reality Check

Lately I've had a few people (who follow this blog) tell me that my kids always seem so happy.  In general, they are happy kids.  But just in case a skewed perception is occurring out there, this also happens:

Awww... what kind of mother takes a picture of her crying baby?! 

Apparently, this kind of mother. 

For the record, we do have our moments around here and there are days I feel just like Logan - I promise to spare you the picture of that!  My intention isn't to mislead you into thinking our lives are perfectly wonderful all the time, but to use this blog as a place to record life (emphasis on the positive) as it happens. Nothing like trying to see the humor in things to keep one (relatively) sane! 

Thanks for following our blog!

More Funny Sayings

Another episode of the things coming out of our kiddos mouths...

Lane:  "Mommy, I had a question.  Ummm.....  Mommy, I lost the question."  Shaking his head, "It's not up in my forehead anymore." 

Lane, in complete frustration:  "Daddy, my tongue is not listening!" 

Daddy, doing his best not to laugh: "Your tongue?" 

Lane: "YES!  My tongue."  And points to his shoe where the tongue was indeed bunched up.

  

Morgan:  "Moooom!  I'm getting shivery!"

Mom:  "Oh, you're getting cold."

Morgan:  "NO!  I'm getting SHI-ver-y!"

When she wants to make sure we've noticed that she's made a good choice she'll announce with great gusto:  "I'm making good listeners!" 

And yes, Logan is saying a few words too.  "Mom-ma," "Da-da" and his favorites, "No" and "Uh-oh."  That ought to make it obvious what words get said most around here!

By Request

This post is for Ken (and anyone else who might be interested) who recently requested photos of the books I made from my blog.  I apologize Ken, the photos aren't exceptional but they should give you an idea. 

I used Blurb.com as they 'slurp' the blog right into the book and then you can create new page layouts to your heart's content.  Of the options out there that I tried that automatically 'slurp' the blog (their term, not mine), this is the one I found to be most user friendly and allow you the most editorial control over page layouts.  Maybe someone out there has found another option for use with blogs?  Aunt Linda just did a great post on some different photo books she has created.  We have one of the books she made of our family reunion and it is lovely.

  

I have done a book for each year of my blog and it is definitely taking the place of scrapbooking.  It's much quicker and I like that it's easier to stay up to date.  I have chosen the Hardcover Image Wrap option and the standard paper (although I'd be curious to feel the higher quality paper).  I've been happy with the end product. 

A few pictures of different layouts:

You really can do anything, from full text to full page photos and every possible combination in between. 

I hope this helps Ken - Good luck creating yours!

Thankful for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is always a special time and this year was no exception.  We look forward to it for weeks and then it feels like in a blink of the eye we're home again.  So it's a good thing fond memories have been made!

So, here is a short list of things we're thankful for:

1.  Older cousins ...

who entertain you ...

 

cuddle you ...

take you for rides ...

 and teach you the finer points in exploration.

2.  Younger cousins...

who can be cuddled ...

 and make the perfect playmates!

3.  Aunties...

who have infinite patience with you...

and read stacks of bedtime stories to large audiences.

4.  Great-Grandmas ...

 who love being surrounded by their grand children's children...

and who listen with rapt attention to all sorts of crazy stories. 

And last but not least:

5.  Grandpas ... 

who make the best storytellers of all.

Time with Mommy

When Big Brother is off having a high ol' time with Daddy, it is necessary to have a high ol' time with Mommy.  So out came the mixer and we whipped up a batch of oatmeal cookies.  Is there any better way to spend time with Mommy?   There might be, but warm cookies are hard to beat!

  Morgan enjoyed helping Mommy until ...

 Mommy pulled out the pot and spoon for Logan.

Then it was time to get down to the serious business of pretend cooking! 

Buster Brown

The youngest amongst us has a few nicknames - Buster Brown (courtesy of Lane) and Logan Ba-dogan (courtesy of Morgan) being the favorites.  It has been fun to watch our three kids and see three distinct personalities developing.  So here's a glimpse of our 1 year old and his emerging personality.   

I thought our house was child proof.  I thought wrong.  I don't remember Lane and Morgan being so enthralled with things like outlets, plug-ins, toilet paper rolls, flushing the toilet...all the good stuff.  (Although maybe they were and my mommy brain has forgotten.)  He's curious and inquisitive.  It's a tad bit exhausting trying to stay one step ahead of him.  The fact that I've had to re-childproof the house gives me hope.  The older ones learned.  Logan will too.

Did I mention he's into everything?  Closets and laundry piles are so much fun. 

He cruises all around the walls of the house and has even strung a few baby steps together to loud applause and cheering.  Logan's got four very excitable family members that he loves getting a response from.  Even funnier is when he cheers for himself, clapping and grinning.  However, learning to walk comes with a downside.  He's been sporting several bruises on his forehead.  Poor kid - it's tough being top heavy! 

For the most part he's a happy little guy.  I think he'll be happier when he can get past the teething business. At 13 months, he still only has 2 teeth with some red swollen gums where stubborn teeth are lurking.  Often he's gnawing on something stuffed in his mouth - a toothbrush being his new favorite.

Logan is especially fascinated with the dishwasher.  He makes a beeline for it after dinner. This time was a bit disappointing.  Where are the dishes?!  I'm beginning to suspect we've got a climber on our hands.  Logan definitely keeps us on our toes but his sweet grin and sparkling eyes keep melting our hearts! 



Regarding Fishing

Lane just received a little note from my aunt wondering if he's gotten to fish lately.  She figured it was too cold and the season must be done.  Any normal person would agree with her.  I chuckled.  Fishermen are not normal.  They like the windy days (big water = big fish, if the locals around here can be believed), the freezing cold days (ice fishing anyone?), early mornings (why isn't the sun up yet?!) ... the list goes on.  If you've been following this blog a while, you might have figured out that my husband is a fisherman.  My eldest child too.  Maybe you even wonder, she's busy documenting the fishing but does she enjoy it? 

On our first 'official' date, we spent the day at the coast and finished up at a chowder house for dinner.  When the waitress came to take our order, Ryan ordered the slumgullion chowder and then got a surprise when I ordered the clucks and fries.  Ryan the fisherman just found out that his girlfriend/future wife avoids seafood whenever possible.  Instead of being dismayed, he just decided to view it as a challenge.  He'd help me learn to enjoy fish. 

When we married, we came to an agreement.  I'd fish with him as long as I didn't have to bait the hook, remove the fish from the hook or clean the fish.  I'd even cook it for him, although not nearly as often as he'd prefer I'm sure.  So far the agreement has stood.  Although the other night Morgan announced that she didn't have to eat the fish since Mommy didn't either.  Sigh ... I really am going to have to work on that.  

I do enjoy the fishing part.  What's not to love about watching my children's excitement when a fish lands in the boat?  Or seeing the wide grin on my husband's face just because he's on the water?  Or reading a good book when the catching's slow (although that worked better before the kids came along)?  Or even (dare I admit it?) the excitement of reeling in a feisty one?

Seeing as I am the main photographer around here and also the editor of this blog, not too many pictures get taken of Mommy and even less get published.  Like this one from late summer:

Ryan wondered why I hadn't posted it.  Ummm....I'm grimacing?  "Yeah but you're HOLDING that fish!" he replied.  In my mind I look at this picture and remember the "quick take the picture, I'm going to drop this thing!" feeling, whereas Ryan sees progress.  Sorry honey - I still draw the line at baiting hooks!  And ice fishing ... and super early mornings ... and especially windy days ... I guess you could call me a fair weather fisher lady. 

In other words ... normal.

Trick or Treat!

We got to practice Trick-or-Treating last week at the assisted living home.  This Mommy is all about indoor trick-or-treating!

Nothing scary this year - unless of course you're a jack-o-lantern who has an older brother for a firefighter who keeps threatening to put out your candle.  Brothers!  They're rascals!

Lane and Morgan didn't really care about whether their jack-o-lanterns were scary or not.  Their only stipulation was that they had the same number of teeth as their age.

Have a Happy Halloween!

Enjoying the Leaves

This fall, the leaves have been especially vibrant. 

With the sun out and the blue sky for a background, I wanted to try and capture the beauty of the leaves.

 

This is the fourth autumn we've spent in this home and neither one of us remember the colors being so bright in past years.

Bright enough to hurt your eyes!  It has been such a beautiful fall.

Of course, as far as the kids are concerned, beauty takes a back seat to fun.

So much fun it's hard to contain one's self. 

Or maybe you could describe it as having some 'serious' fun? 

Thankfully, the grass catcher works as a leaf sweeper so even Daddy gets to enjoy the leaves!