Hannah's 8th Birthday!

I'm doing this in reverse order-- but it doesn't really matter. For Hannah's birthday this year, she decided to forego the crazy whole class celebration at Chuck E. Cheese, Pump It Up, or one of the Little Gyms for a sleepover. This was hard to plan (kids today have busy schedules)... but we made it work. I allowed her to invite 2 of her friends-- I figured that including Ashley, that would make 4 girls and if I've learned anything about girls through growing up and raising my own, it is that an even number of them is the best way to go. That way, nobody gets left out. So our agenda was to get nails done after school, eat pizza, and then head to the movies to see The Tale of Desperaux. Keeping them busy up until bedtime was my goal-- and it worked! They were so tired by the end of the night that they zonked out to old school American Gladiators! BTW - Check out Ashley's combination of a girly little make-up case, freshly painted nails, and her New York Rangers Hockey jersey! Isn't that a hoot? It actually was jersey day for their school, but I did ask her if she wanted to change!




For Hannah's actual birthday, we were at my Mom's house in Tennessee. We had cake and she opened her most favorite present of all time-- a Ninetendo DS! Who knew there could be such peace in a chaotic house?





And we made another stop on Thanksgiving to my Grandparent's house in Kentucky! Busy trip! Here are the kids with Papa Eddie, Paw Phil, and Granny Lucy! My dad was able to get off work early to surprise us-- we didn't think we'd get to see him since the day after Thanksgiving is the busiest day of the year for Wal-Mart!



And one more of the kids with Papa Eddie and Nonna!

A rare occasion

It is rare that I have a photo that has one of the kids with Marc or myself, let alone Marc and I together. Two huge reasons... this time of year, I draw a firm line between work and home. The camera is work so it doesn't come out much for personal reasons. The other, I (and Marc, too) like to be behind the camera, not in front. For me, it reminds me of how old I look... people tell me often that I do not look old enough to have 3 children (I think they really mean not old enough to have an 8 year old), but I disagree. Just like Hannah, my immediate response to a camera used to be a huge ear to ear grin. Now that smile makes the wrinkled area around my eyes show that much more. So if you see me with a serious look in photos-- it isn't because I'm sad or mad... just avoiding the wrinkles. Wonder how long that will work? Aging SUCKS!

BTW-- we can thank Hannah, future photographer, for the lovely photos :)

PINCH ME!

I feel like I'm living in a dream-- ok maybe not since there is no cleaning service involved. I did not think that I would have an actual studio space. Sure it was in my longer term plans-- but now? Terribly excited, a little scared, but charging full speed ahead! Mark your calendar, I'm planning to have a little get together on Friday, December 5th to celebrate! More information and, most importantly, photos to come very soon! For now, here's my little nut posing for a little test shot!

I Made It!

While I have zero time for big projects this time of year... I still need time for myself sometimes. I found this quick and easy hat pattern-- took me about 4 hours (even though, the pattern said it took about 2). Hannah and Ashley were actually the ones that suggested they model the hat for photos. I guess I hadn't asked them to sit for a picture in a while!

Happy Halloween!

This year, Halloween was a blur! We realized at the last minute that Hannah needed boots for her costume so at 4:30 on Halloween eve, we set off to find a pair of boots. Luckily the first store we checked out had some that she liked in her size...and they were even on sale! Driving home at 5:15, Friday, and Halloween...was another story. The girls quickly got dressed and we spray painted their hair... this was their favorite part of their costume! Jacob didn't really know what was going on, but was enjoying the show. Our neighbors had a front yard bbq trick-or-treating pre-party. It was such a great night to be outside, thank goodness. The kids ran and played for a hour and then it was time to trick-or-treat. This year Hannah and Ashley went with our neighbor, Emmie and her mom. Jacob, Marc, and I followed close behind. Jacob thought it was fun to ring the doorbell and say "TEAT". He got 4 packs of M&Ms and a lollipop and was ready to call it a night :) He was happier just running around in the street. He did get a little scared at one of the houses when a creepy decoration with glowing eyes popped up out of the ground and started laughing. They all had fun, which was the most important.

I know a little monkey!

He climbs to the top of ladders, he stands on top of toys, he falls, no throws himself head first out of his crib (another post, another day), he tries to eat the girls' little beads (which sends me into a panic)-- truth be told-- he does some pretty crazy things lately. 75% are pretty funny after the fact when we know he's ok. Here's a little antic that he pulled last night that was funny all around! He insisted on wearing this little girl's bicycle helmet. He watched tv in it, he ran around the house in it, he rode his tricycle in it. Now I'm thinking that this is the smartest thing he's done in a long time! Maybe he'll wear it to bed tonight!

Hannah's New Room -- A work in progress

So we aren't done yet. Its just not in the budget to finish it right now...but we'll get there. We turned this lilac room upside down last weekend. Marc painted it a beautiful shade of pale blue-green (it was supposed to be that old-timey vintage color). Eventually I'm hoping to retire the reds and browns that she chose and go with white...but for now I let her do the pickin'. I think we did a pretty good job. We got a desk today to match the bookshelf. So we just need to get an off-white night stand, dresser/mirror, and possibly a headboard for the bed. In the meantime, I'll be painting the oak ones that we have in there now to match :) So if anybody wants to make me a deal that I can't refuse on any of these pieces... I'm all ears! I will have to make the dust ruffle for the bed as this is a storage bed from ikea and you can't use a standard dust ruffle on it.

Back to school!

Away they go... off to school. I was talking to them last week-- sarcastically saying, "I just don't know what I'll do with all my time while you girls are in school. I'll miss you being here with me all day long (which of course was true-- but it was getting old with me trying to work 3 days a week, and them wanting to do activities 24/7). What will I do with my days?" Ashley, being the little smarty pants that she is, replied "Hmmm, maybe you could clean the house?" Well, I didn't do that today! Maybe Friday! I have a ton to catch up on before then!

So Ashley is off to the 1st grade. Her first year going to school for the entire day. We met her teacher on Friday and I think they'll hit it off. She memorized her lunch number so she's all set!


Hannah is an old pro and is very excited this year about 2nd grade. She is hoping to learn cursive handwriting and was already looking at the class schedule to see what new subjects she would have.

Toothless!

My baby girl is toothless-- well not really, but she's got a very large vacancy!

Happy Birthday Brit!

Today is my lil sis's 25th birthday! Happy Birthday!

After two girls...

Two things about these pictures never happened with either of my girls. I always heard stories about little girls (or boys) sneaking off, being too quiet, and mom or dad discovering a child covered in lipstick, eyeshadow.... or magic marker. Through raising two girls, none of this happened. Monday-- today is a day off from photography for me-- so I try to spend the day with the kids. Jacob didn't nap today, so I was trying to catch up on some email while he was sitting quietly reading in a chair. He was very quiet, but I kept checking on him and all was well. The last time I checked on him, I saw him quickly toss something and when he turned to look at me-- I didn't know whether to laugh or scream. Here's what I saw:



And this was the culprit:



As you can see, I took him out to the deck to take these pictures... but the only way I got them was to let him bring his favorite toy and most prized possession, his metal Disney Cars backpack lunchbox full of his favorite cars. I have never seen a child so completely in love with something with wheels. His latest is to line them up in a row and make them crash off of whatever they are on-- in the picture above it was the grill ledge. He went to bed tonight in his cars pajamas with cars in the pockets of them!

Playdate at the park

Last week we joined some friends for a play date at a park in Great Falls. This was the first time the kids had seen a Merry Go Round. They spent over an hour running and jumping on the big metal catastrophe in motion. Both of them ended up with banged up shins from running as hard as they could to get it going and then jumping on but not quite judging the distance and speed correctly. I tried to sit with Jacob in the middle, but only lasted a couple rides. My stomach is a bit weaker than when I was a kid! As you can tell in the pictures, they had a blast. However, a tired little guy took a tumble off the edge of one of the pieces of equipment and gave me quite a scare. It was no taller than a bed and he landed in mulch, but I wasn't quite sure whether he hit his head/neck on the pole on his descent. All was well, thank goodness!

Hiking on the Appalachian Trail...

We've planned to take the girls for a nice hike for the past month. Marc actually took them to the C&O canal a couple weeks ago for a nice flat hike... but we wanted something a little more scenic this weekend. Marc had found some information about a great hike with beautiful waterfalls and waterholes for swimming on the Cedar Run Trail in Shenandoah National Park, but we both agreed that it might be a little difficult for us with the girls. So after seeing my friend Trace-Ann's post about her recent hike to Weverton Cliff near Harpers Ferry, we decided to give it a try. It was perfect for us. We ate lunch, hiked up to the top to see the view, and then back down to the Potomac for a swim. It took us a few hours and the girls, while tired, had a lot of fun. We all slept well last night!

What, you have time to digiscrap again?

Well, not really! But since I do take a ton of pictures, I have been determined to find a way to use them more than just on a blog... and I only have so many walls :) So... over the past few weeks I've been researching book vendors for my photography business. Obviously these books are nice, but too expensive for me to print several copies for family or do books of every event.  Anyway, in doing research I found some really nice templates available at a site called Oscraps. In particular, these two scrapping designers have quickly become a favorite: Taylor Made Designs and Paislee Press. I love the classic, clean, and simple designs that they create. So I made my first Shutterfly Book using some pictures I took from the Outer Banks and a Dream template. When I get it next week, I'll let you know how it turned out.... but for now here's a look.

Click here to view this photo book.

Looth Tooth turns snaggletooth...

Last weekend Ashley announced that she had a loose tooth. I didn't really believe her, but when she showed me, sure enough one of her top teeth was loose. She wiggled and wiggled it over the weekend and by Sunday it was pretty loose... but not quite ready to come out. We went to pump-it-up on Wednesday evening and Ashley banged into Hannah's head. She was crying, her mouth was bleeding, I was just sure that the tooth was gone... but nope it was still in there. She had a bloody lip, but nothing serious enough to keep her from playing. Then last night she was eating a tootsie pop and again she came running to me crying that her tooth got stuck in the lollipop... but it was still in there. Finally this morning I looked at it and it was just barely hanging on. I barely touched it and it came out. Wow! That's the first tooth I've pulled since I was a kid! I usually leave that to Marc! She looks pretty cute as a snaggletooth, soon to be first grader!

I can't make a post of Ashley without including pictures of Hannah and Jacob! Here's a couple from today.

Blast from the past!

Some friends might remember way back when Marc and I first got Copper (our 10 year old dog), we had a small problem with our first baby. Pugsley, the fluffball cat didn't adjust well to having a crazy puppy in the house. We thought that time would change that, but day after day Pugsley slept in the sink. We felt really bad for Pugs, so my mom took him for a while... but that didn't work out after he started messing up her rugs. Our good friends Grant and Shannon adopted him. Little did they know that his issue with going to the bathroom on my mom's rug would continue... the rest of his life! Sorry guys :( So when I visited last week, who should I meet? Mr. Pugs, of course. I don't know if he remembered me, but he did let me pet him for a while and he even posed for a couple pictures. This one was my favorite!

BEACH OR BUST!

We made it and are really enjoying the Outer Banks. Other than a slight sunburn for me, we're all having fun in the sun, the pool, the house... and we even got to hang out with some friends from home yesterday!