spring is here!

I am one tired momma.  No blog posts in a while - that is because in the last two weeks I have had about 25 sessions.  I have been an editing fool! I have taken a little time out to finally get my own kids spring pictures done and I am very happy with them.  Happy isn't the word - ecstatic! I have this first one with all 3 of them on my desk top and I find myself starring at it - my kids are that beautiful.  How did we do that??

Again - oh my goodness I could stare at them all day! You guys have no idea...this is a MIRACLE shot!  It was the very first shot of the day - and I have NEVER had a single picture with Avery sitting still and smiling and all 3 kids smiling.  I am over the moon.  This is how the rest of the session went....all 10 minutes of it because that's about all my kids will give me.

                                    oh how they love their little brother - and he loves it.  

one tiny bathroom

mommy lesson of the day :  sometimes one tiny little bathroom isn't so bad after all.  

I love my house. We worked, prayed, cried and fought to get it and I am so glad we finally have a place for our kids to grow up in.  But, if there was one thing I could change it would be that my lovely home only has one bathroom - and we are a family of 5...for now.  Nothing will remind you quicker that you need an additional bathroom like a Mexican food night.....

But sometimes having one tiny little bathroom isn't so bad after all.  The girls are totally into brushing their teeth and having mint smelling breath, as they say.  I am all for it! Yes, please brush your teeth before you come huggin' on me!  So in the mornings we all pile in there.  Ella stands next to me and Avery stands on the toilet.  Ella has got it down now so she doesn't really need help anymore but Avery is just getting the hang of it.  She stands on the toilet and plays copy cat while I brush my teeth.  Its the cutest thing ever.  Then when we are all finished they usually stay in the bathroom with me, Ella still next to me and Avery is still almost falling off the top of the toilet, and they talk to me the whole time I am getting ready.  We laugh using the hair dryer and make funny faces in the mirror while I put on my makeup.  And then I am off to work after lots of hugs and kisses.  I love these little moments in the morning that start my day.  

Keys....

Mommy (wife) lesson for the day :  always ask if someone has the keys before shutting the door.

I take it for granted that my husband always drives the car.  He always drives and always has the keys.  So last night while on our way out the door with 3 hungry little ones I shut the front door and panic hits - I didn't ask if he had the keys.  He didn't.

We start checking all the doors - as if I would leave with one unlocked.  Then all the windows - but last year he went around and secured the ones that didn't lock well.  Awesome.  Then we started trying to break into our own house....

First - the doggy door.  Of course we bought the smallest dog door known to man and our kids can't fit through it.  Yep, we sure did try both the girls heads - don't judge.  Our backdoor has window panes and Craig has the idea to pop the trim off with a shovel and take the glass out.  Nope.  Finally, and not in agreeance from both of us!, he hits the glass with the shovel! AH! Still - didn't budge.  Not even a scratch.  We are still not in our house - but I feel much better about someone not being able to break  in - geez!

Now its time to call the locksmith before my husband takes out an entire window.  I reason with him that calling a pro is cheaper than replacing a window!  In about 7 minutes the nicest locksmith I'm sure exists drove up to our door and chatted with us for about 2 minutes while he broke into our home.  2 minutes and $60 later we had the keys.

Snacks

Mommy lesson of the day : my son will do anything to get snacks....

Recently Owen has started eating snacks...yay! No more crazy baby at the dinner table.  He was horrible at it at first but is really starting to get the hang of it and we are really seeing him use his right hand a lot - righty, maybe?

Well the other night, at our normal trip to the Pizza Inn buffet - I watch him start grabbing his puffs...eating some....dropping some....then - I watch my son put his whole mouth on the edge of the table and push the puffs into his wide open mouth! ON THE EDGE OF THIS NASTY, NASTY TABLE!  

AHHHH!

My AHHH! moment quickly turned into a, well, whatcha gonna do about it now?, moment.  Wow.  I was both totally grossed out and super impressed by my son's reasoning skills all at the same time.

I guess this lesson of the day could also be to invest in some disposable table mats.....

Shopping and the Paci....

Mommy lesson #1 : Do not neglect to bring a pacifier unless your baby is full weaned.  

So...we got the great idea to buy 1 thing for ourselves with our tax money....no, my camera does not count because STP is paying us back....and our options were a dryer, a stove or a dishwasher.  Our stove is fine - we would just like a new, fancy one.  Our dishwasher is okay.  Our dryer sucks.  

We head to Best Buy - make a quick lap - and leave.  No thanks.

Off to Lowes.  Aaahhhh.  I think when we pull up to Lowes the clouds part and the sun shines brighter.  Oh how I love a home improvement store! This is when it hit - we did not bring a paci.  

Owen starts whining....try the whole rockin the stroller thing thinking he is going to go to sleep.  Nope.  Craig : where's the paci?  At home.  Craig : Why???????  Because I want him to stop using it before he turns 1.  

5 minutes later I am rolling around the store looking like a crazy person while I am pushing the stroller with my stomach and playing peek a boo with my son who is crying his eyes out. Yep - that was me.  

There are now 3 pacis in the diaper bag.....

ps....we got home....all tried to pile on our sad little love seat....and Craig decided tomorrow we were looking for a couch....

My sweet darling daughter turns 5!

Born 8 days late...we thought she would never arrive! 

 She filled out hearts with more joy than we ever thought was possible.

how quickly time flew to her first birthday!

she has always been a quick learner.  she loves to read and could speak in sentences long before she ever took her first step.  we stated a birthday tradition this year to go to the zoo every year for her birthday

she is full of life and personality.  not a moment goes by without laughter

she is an amazing big sister and has been since day 1.  

my sweet little ballerina should have been born in a tutu.  her life is lived in a constant dance

she has a gift of praise.  she is always praising and uplifting others for their accomplishments 

she is all girl 

she is a girl after my own heart - always time for learning and stopping to capture the moment

daddy's little golfer

mommy's little princess

praying as a family for her brother and embracing new siblings

I have enjoyed watching her become the little lady she is and look forward to every year ahead.  She is my first born. My first munchkin...and I cannot believe it has already been 5 years since we were blessed to be called her mom and dad. 

Happy Birthday, Ella

#5 birthday cake fun!

As my little munchkin's BIG 5th BIRTHDAY arrives - eeekkk! - I wanted to share my cute #5 cake! She and I will venture out soon for her birthday pictures, no one is surprised by this, Im sure.

Here is her surprise cake we made! Now, I am not the best cake decorator - nope - but I do love to bake and even though its not always pretty it tastes great!  I thought me and the hubs were pretty crafty with this one though.

we started with 2 loaf cakes 

and a round cake.  I got home from the store and realized that I should have gotten a bunt pan to make the circle inside - oops.  Here is what we came up with....we ran a soup can through the dishwasher and baked the cake around it - worked like a charm! 

and I even forgot to spray the soup can with baking spray but it pulled out super easy and didn't crack the cake at all! I did let it sit over night with the can in so it was super cooled down.

here we are after being all trimmed up.

and here after decorated! twislers line the sides and polka dotted with skittles!

February Mini Vaca

I took the luxury of planning out a long weekend every month till Christmas. My March one is in 2 weeks for my little big girls birthday! I think everyone needs 4-5 days off in a row once a month, don't you??

Here is a little of what went down in my house.  We didn't finish everything, but that is okay.  And I started working on some really cute props that I still have to keep under-wraps until the sessions :)

we rearragned the girls room and this big open space will be the home of their new ballet bar this week! 

of course, there was lots of playing.  

playing all together! 

the best part about this...no one told her to do it! sweet love for her bother. 

we got a timer for the kids room - this is when it went off! - and it seems to be working like a charm.  timer goes off and we clean up and go to bed.  wonderful! 

when sisters turn their backs on their brother....he eats their tutus.

then we started on painting the new studio! 

the kids like the desk moved now - it has turned into a tunnel

I always do a horrible job at taking before pictures so you can tell the difference in the afters. So here is my last minute before - the original color of our office before it went very, very white. 

going white.  Did you know it takes a lot of paint to go white??? we do now. 

does this happen to anyone else when they repaint/move/etc? everything in the entire room goes in one corner?

we can finally sit up! 

Next months mini vaca will hopefully include hours of setting up lighting equipment, refinishing furniture in the kitchen and more playing :)