Life in Color

Meet Oh & Onyx

2009-06-14T19:25:00.000-07:00

The newest additions to our family, aren't they cute?! It's been exactly 22 days and one hatched yesterday...one this morning, there is still plenty more to hatch and plenty more names we get to think of! Here is Oh and Onyx so far!! I wanted to pick them up so badly, and so did the boys but we're going to wait a few days at least!

15mths and a string bean!

2009-06-05T08:32:00.000-07:00

Jacob turned 15mths yesterday, we had happened to take his two older brothers to the ped. the day before and so they worked him in for a well baby checkup. He's so little, I didn't really realize it until they told me his height he was 60% which is good but his weight is in the 20%. He's 22lbs. He's a string bean!

What makes it funnier, is Isaac only weighs 8lbs less then Brayden (he's 3yrs younger) and he is off the charts for height and weight, Lol I guess he takes more after Mark's side. And our other two more after mine. I can picture them when they get older and Isaac is towering over his other brothers.

Kaylee--8mths

2009-06-03T18:22:00.000-07:00

I started taking her pictures I think she was not even 2wks old yet, she was and still is a complete doll, I always have fun photographing her. I'm going to start babysitting for her mom now, and so it should be alot more often! We quickly had some time to go outside and let them play before it started storming out, she loved the grass and Jacob absolutely loved her, he was obsessed!! (I guess that's what girls do to the guys from the very beginning, hey?!)
Kaylee is a busy body, she tries her best to crawl and wants to stand up all the time. It certainly was a bit more hectic around here today with her plus my two. We had to make a emergency run to the Ped's office all the way in Destin about 45min though too, thankfully they all passed out on the way there. Anyhoo, here are some shots I got for the day. She was dressed so cute.

Jacob just tickled pink:

And without the hat to show her pretty curls ;)

For comparison, I think it was 11 days old:

Yvonne & baby

2009-06-02T07:38:00.000-07:00

Here's a few photos of the shoot from yesterday, baby Benny is due in about 10wks and his mommy is looking great, I love preggo bellies. Here's a peek, I'm still not finished editing but these are some of my favorites. Big brother Trevor is such a ham! I hope you enjoy them.

Sweetness

2009-05-31T09:50:00.001-07:00

Jacob and I have the house to ourselves today, he's just been acting so sweet. I've enjoyed the day just cuddling & playing with him, so of course the morning called for picture taking before nap time. He's such a sweetie :)

Peek into Gulfworld

2009-05-30T13:43:00.000-07:00

We seriously had the best time Friday with Brayden, it's nearly never that we get to spend the day with just him and it was much enjoyed. We got to watch most of the shows twice, lol...and enjoyed all the animals. He was on a field trip with his class, and since Mark and I both went we got to chaperone his little friend Sam who was a joy to have around. We didn't have to follow along with his class, but just be at every show with them. They had to leave at a certain time to make it back to school but we got to check Brayden out and stay the rest of the day. And so even though it was a class field trip, it didn't feel like it. His teacher is such a sweetie too.
I had a blast taking pictures of all the different birds expecially, I'm so facinated with them! I guess it's the colors, or how neat they are to talk with you but I so want one! Brayden would say, "take a picture of that mama" Mark bought him alot of magic trick stuff and he has become a little magician, Lol. (No fun when you find a worm in your water!!!)
So here's a picture overload...mostly of parrots! I couldn't help it though, and at one point I could tell I was getting on the blue parrots nerves. His name was Rowdy, and he hissed at me. I said, "ok, ok Rowdy I'll stop now" and left that poor birdy alone. He was my favorite though despite his crankiness.

Brayden & Sam

Rowdy

Yes, the boa constrictor was in his cage! He looks mad!

Pretty Flamingo

And this guy is crazy, he took a dive off of an 80FT platform...yes, 80ft!

recents :)

2009-05-28T17:48:00.000-07:00

Here's some recent pictures of our boys I took today, we always go outside to play after I pick Brayden up & today I got that urge to try and take some of them together...I did get a couple good ones which = success to me! Isaac is the hardest to get byfar though ;) I know there are alot of Jacob, but he was just looking so inquistive today.

Oh, and I didn't ever update here on my blog that our next baby is going to be another BOY! That's right we're going to have 4 handsome men one day :)

Happy Mother's Day!

2009-05-10T08:44:00.000-07:00

To all the wonderful mother's out there--I hope you have a beautiful day! I woke up to 3 cute little boys in my bed with a sweet card that everyone had attempted to sign ;) It was cute. Mark got me a nice pillow that I had been hinting about, (I can't wait to try it out tonight!) and a summer dress (that he actually did a great job picking out, it's even the right size :))

The rest of the day is going to be about working on the bedroom though, which is totally fine with me because I can't wait for it to get finished! My grandfather is down for a few days, him along with Mark's brother & uncle maybe they will have a productive day ;)

I hope everyone has a blessed day! I hope to edit in a nice Mother's day pic. later, what good is a post with no picture!?

My neice Kaylee

2009-05-07T09:11:00.000-07:00

She came over to spend the morning with us while her papa got some things finished up around the house, Kaylee's big sister had a unfortunate accident last Saturday night and it has been one hour driving back and forth trips for them (Please pray for them!) Our whole community has lifted them up, and God has just poured his grace out on Nevaeh because she has been in the hospital for under a week and is off the ventilator, out of ICU and free of all IV's and tubes except for leg casts where both femurs broke. She is doing amazing, praise Him!
Anyway, I got the pleasure of keeping her little sis this morning...I just love her curls :)

All 3 of them playing in the garden

Fun at the lakeyard...

2009-05-06T14:46:00.000-07:00

I didn't take pictures of ducks this time, because for one I didn't want to get pooped on again! I did get some cute ones of Dylan who is 3mths and is such a cute little chunk. I had a fun time chatting, and the kids had a great time playing. It was a pretty day :)

Ashley always on the phone!

And my two..Jacob starting walking pretty much non stop two days ago, everyday he would walk more and more and now he hardly has to do his monkey crawl at all!

family vacation

2009-04-18T18:45:00.000-07:00

We had a much needed, super nice vacation over our spring break this past week. We stayed in Orlando in a 2 bedroom condo that was just the best most comfortable ever! I sure did not want to leave, and when I did SO wanted to pack that bed into our truck :)
We got there Sunday night and got up Monday morning ready for Epcot. They have a really neat way of showcasing all of the different countries--the best ride was Soarin which I got to do too (yea!) You *soar* around all these different landscapes, it's really beautiful! It was really alot of fun--our boys had a blast doing everything.
There was so much to do around the condo, and since we didn't all want to get wore out fast we stayed around there on Tues. & Thurs. We grilled out, took the boys swimming and playing at the gigantic park. I had a great time just laying in bed and watching tv, Lol and since our granny came with us, I got to do that!

Wed. we went to Magic Kindgom--which is the greatest for the fantasy and seeing all of the characters....we got to see alot for just a second as they were walking threw. But the lines to meet and greet them were so long that we decided not to do that this year. They had the best parades and fireworks show there--the park didn't close until 1am and we had to ride a ferry boat back to the car ports. Let me just say by the end of that early morning everyone was super super tired. But at the same time it was super fun :) There was this one ride called splash mountain, where your on a log and at one point you drop down kind of deep and Isaac was *just* on the line to ride it and he wanted too so we let him. Well, let me tell you that was his thing for the rest of the trip. He still can't stop talking about splash mountain and how he wants to ride it again...we bought the picture from the park where there going down and the look on his face is PRICELESS!!

Friday morning we had to check out, and I wasen't ready to! After getting everything loaded we went to Animal Kingdom and unfortunately we got there alittle late. They closed at 7 and so we didn't get to do everything. We did get to go on a fun safari ride threw there "jungle" and got to see some beautiful animals. They just don't stop long enough to take a picture at all! The boys loved the bumpiness of it, and riding on that big safari truck. They had super neat shows there--and all of the parks were just really awesome. We got to see some other animals and watch a few shows.

Since they closed early, it has been kind of a tradition to get the boys a face animation drawing when we go to disney. We have one of Brayden and Isaac and that was my only mission this time to get one of Jacob. Well, we kept putting it off. And everytime I went to take him something would come up. The last time I saw one of the stands we was going to eat and I said to Mark just let me take him now...when we get out they will be closing. And he told me to wait. So, yea, after we finished eating we went straight over there and I asked to sign up. When he told me there list was full my heart sank (seriously, I was so upset!) Lol! My pregnant emotions got the best of me and I had to find a bathroom to go cry in. I had to sit in the stall for a few minutes to regain my compuure and come to grips that it wasen't going to happen that trip. It was depressing!

So besides that we had a great time & I just had to blog and share! The boys had great attitudes, we did have a few meltdowns. And one accident. Brayden was chasing Isaac threw the condo and he fell on the egde of a table right above his cheek bone but under his eye. It really hit in a good spot b/c otherwise he could have hurt either or. It's still swollen and bruised but nothing like it was. Isaac is our accident prone kid thats for sure! They rode in the car well, and it was all in all very nice :)

And I'm *pretty* sure but can't *for sure* tell that I've been feeling some baby flutters!! I'm really ready to meet our baby already! We'll find out in 3wks if it's another boy or a girl, I can't wait. I got lucky and didn't get sick once, I felt nauseaus some but it was mostly b/c I was getting hungry. I really forgot about being pregnant b/c there was so much other stuff to think about.

Here is us at magic kingdom:

And a couple cute ones of the boys:

Time to share....

2009-03-11T15:14:00.000-07:00

That we are expecting our fourth little one late Oct. The 29th is the due date--but of course hopefully I won't make it to then! (With my history, yea I probably will!) Anyhoo, I had just weaned Jacob and I won't go into all the nitty details but I'll just say that under the circumstances this baby is meant to be and is strong! I found out so early, I was not even 4wks (like 3.5) and was literally feeling awful--I had/have every preggo symptom in the worst way and I think now I was in denial. Lol We got home from shopping that night and I took a test, and right away it was dark. I went on to take two more after that and that line just kept getting darker! So then it set in. We were shocked of course, Mark didn't want me buying any tests. He said, there's no way, your just wasting money...blah blah.... but praise God for putting this fruit in my womb and now we are thrilled!
I get the question all the time, so just in case your wondering, yes we would love a girl but we would be just as excited with our 4th little boy! This IS going to be our last, either way! We're done with this part, and ready to move on to that next chapter in life with our boys!
The last few weeks have been a blur, I stay so sick and nauseated. I hate to throw up, and only have a handful of times with all 3 of my pregnancies but this one I just can't help it. So, it's tough. And it's been like this since I found out, so I'm ready to get into that second trimester and start feeling better.
We call the baby small fry because it just looked so small! He/she measured 93cm and had a nice strong heartbeat. I had a U/S with Isaac in the same week and he looks so much bigger in it (he was already 1.25cm...which he's always been a big boy anyway!)..I think it's fun to compare. You can actually see his little face and body form, but this one literally looks like a small fry! Lol

So if anyone was wondering where I have been---here at home nauseated, and tired but I wouldn't change it for the world!

All smiles

2009-03-05T09:21:00.001-08:00

We had cupcakes last night to celebrate Jacob's turning one year, we plan to have alittle party this weekend but we had to treat him to something last night. He was so happy, just literally all smiles, he really enjoyed his cupcake and strawberries plus everyone cooing over him :)

Happy one year to Jacob!!!

2009-03-04T08:51:00.000-08:00

Today Jacob turned one year! This morning at 8:59 to be exact, this time last year I was enjoying my baby moon...he was 2hrs old. Time goes by so fast!! I'll share the good news first, which he is doing great. We are so so blessed to have 3 healthy boys. He's cruising around on furniture and going to take off any day now. Babbles up a storm and says a handful of words, is a terrific sleeper and eater. Just another blessing from God added to our batch :)
The bad news: He had gotten an abscess on his bottom, and our ped. who usually is wonderful and I have been very pleased with her up until recently...well, she kind of blew it off. It kept getting bigger, and harder. So last night when Mark's brother got here to watch our boys Mark and I took him to the ER. They said it's a form of MRSA and they had to go in a cut it and drain it. Mark said he did really well and only cried when they had to numb it all around, after that he couldn't feel anything. I dressed it today and it's looking good. I know though he does not make for a fun birthday :( And no he never really goes anywhere, not daycare, just to the church nursery. They said it's so contagious he could have gotten it from a shopping cart or something...so just a reminder, remember to wash those kids hands :)
I'm going to bake him a cake later and we'll have him alittle party. We love you Jacob, happy one year little man! :)

This is a post for his one year, so I'll just briefly say that we have had alot of other things going on. If anyone was wondering, I checked into the ER myself last night for a UTI/dehydration and I thought more problems but those were the biggest (Praise God). So while Jacob was in the next room with Mark, I was getting what I needed in the other. (Lol) I'm trying to rest per doctors orders but it's not easy. Please lift us up in your prayers when you get the time.

Happy Wednesday everyone

love to love our boys

2009-02-26T13:07:00.000-08:00

There so loveable, cuddly and just downright adorable. I had to make time for Mark to take some updated pictures of us today, I'm always the one behind the camara...I forget alot of times to flip that switch :)

2 great events coming up

2009-02-25T13:00:00.000-08:00

I'm so glad I got a email with the dates for these events coming up from a friend, otherwise we never would have known! So I'm passing them on. If your in this area you don't want to miss them, great family fun here.

THOMAS the Tank Engine will be in Calera, Alabama the end of this month, beginning of April and the end of March. March 27th-29th & April 3rd-5th. March 27th happens to be Braydens b-day (he will be 6!!!) so this is what we're doing :)
Link for details:
www.thomasandfriends.com/dowt
The whole day they have fun filled activities for the kids!

Disney On Ice presents Worlds of Fantasy
Come experience a magical Disney fantasy on ice!
Rev up for non-stop fun with four of your favorite Disney stories at Disney On Ice presents Worlds of Fantasy. Thrill to high-speed stunts as Lightning McQueen, Mater and the crew of Disney/Pixar's CARS race across the ice. Dive into The Little Mermaid's enchanting undersea kingdom and experience the 'Circle of Life' with The Lion King. Then enter into the magical world of Pixie Hollow with Tinker Bell and all her fairy friends as they make their world premiere on ice! From wheels to waves, Pride Lands to pixie dust, your family's favorite Disney moments come to life at Disney On Ice presents Worlds of Fantasy with dazzling skating, special effects and beloved characters certain to create a lifetime of memories

This is at the Pensacola Civic center...here is the link for more info on show times, ect.
www.pensacolaciviccenter.com

Isaac's first sleepover & some rant

2009-02-19T15:32:00.000-08:00

Our 2.5yr old is growing up on us, today he actually went threw with going home and spending the night with his granny. He's such a mama's boy, and still falls asleep with us in our bed so it shocked me when he said "I go with Granny" got right in her truck and didn't think twice about it! He gave me a kiss, and said "I love you so much" in his little cute voice....awww, he's becoming more and more independant. Me? I can use the break.

Ran out of gas today--*check*
Waiting for Granny to come help me, (with the three kids in tow) Meanwhile, some thug comes up my car and looks in the window. For what? Beats the crap outta me. He parks behind me, a friend in the passenger seat, and another car is parked directly in front of me, so there is no getting out. I immediately lock my doors and literally if felt like I went into panic mode. I felt like I couldn't breathe. She pulls up, just as he gets in the car and pulls out and I just start letting emotions fly. I didn't stop until I got home!

Oh, and after that I had to go get a TB skin test for work, in tears. Which my appoint. was at 3, I got there late *check*

can't-wait-to-crawl-into-bed-and-go-to-sleep

Pretty Lily

2009-02-15T15:30:00.000-08:00

Valentines Day is also our anniversary--yesterday we celebrated 6yrs! Mark totally spoiled me threwout the day, yesterday morning I woke up to fresh lily's, that smell sweetly amazing. This one in particular had bloomed out by the end of today, so pretty. And for hubby not being so photogenic, he totally did a good job with this capture!
I hope everyone else had a great V-day as well :)

For the love of nature

2009-02-13T13:21:00.000-08:00

It's been so nice lately, so today I decided to take the boys to the lakeyard to feed the ducks. There's a first time for everything right? Well, today was my first time to have a duck "go" on my head. It felt just like a warm rain drop--although I knew it wasen't about to rain, and when it happened I instinctly put my hand up there to "see" what it was (even though I knew, just didn't want to realize it!) and there was yucky brown-slimy stuff. It was so nasty.
I really didn't have any time to get disgusted about it then, wiping it out the best I could with a babywipe...I had to keep on playing with our 2.5yr & 11mth old. They had a blast, thankfully, not afraid of the ducks :) Isaac got sniped at by one while feeding it, they are super friendly.

Sorry for the pic. overload, we had a fun time!

85mm

For the love of babies

2009-02-12T15:44:00.001-08:00

Nothing sweeter then a peaceful sleeping baby, I had to quietly sneak around our bedroom to go about getting these, I was successful though. ;)

Jacob has a scratch on his nose, it wouldn't really even fade out with the skin smoother. Any tips on how to lighten things like that up? TIA

50mm w/ natural lighting

That number 5 bothers me...lol, I can't relate it to anything either!

In color,

For the love of pancakes

2009-02-11T19:32:00.000-08:00

I love them....they are my favorite thing to eat, not only in the mornings but anytime! Definately a fav around here!
Oh my, for the love of pancakes :)

LoVe

2009-02-10T13:11:00.000-08:00

After seeing other wonderful pictures of love, I've been inspired to try it out myself...so many other ideas came to me after asking Brayden to cut out his version of a heart. I should be on theme for the rest of the week :) I love our boys dearly--this is our oldest, the two babies are sick right now...it never fails though, you can never get all 3 in one shot!

XOXO, Shauna

Beautiful beach

2009-02-09T19:16:00.000-08:00

There is no greater place to sneak in some shots other than the beach, it's the perfect setting. We made it just before sunset, it was really beautiful. I didn't have our other two boys, but I did have Jacob, even though we didn't get to stay long at least we got to enjoy the waves and sand for alittle bit! Can I just say I'm so glad it has warmed up?!

What are those?!

Happy Monday!
XO, Shauna

Out with the woolies...In comes a new lens

2009-02-05T11:11:00.000-08:00

For anyone who cloth diapers, *maybe* you can understand the wool obsession that comes with it. They make the cutest covers, instead of using the PUL material, and they can be used as pants too that match just about everything. Not to mention, there very easy to deal with as for washing and such. Well, I feel in love with them anyhow ;) Knitting to me is beautiful. For now, knit soakers and PUL we'll have.
I recently bought myself a new lens, the 85mm 1/4, and *heart* it dearly. I didn't think you could make such a difference in photos by the lens, but clearly you can. And so, I got to thinking. Knit longies for Jacob..VS..another lens.
You know where this is going?! I sold my only 3 pair of beautiful knits to half way fund a 50mm 1/4. I *dreaded* mailing them out to get love from another baby, but at least they will be loved. Like anyone gets attached to things they are passionate about, I'm attached to my CD's and was the wool *sigh* (as silly as that sounds ;))

I showed Mark which one I was going to get, I get paid today and was going to buy it tonight, well..my sweet husband went ahead and got it for me last night after I had went to bed...so sweet! It will be here tommorrow, yay!

And a photo for today, Isaac..our sweet 2.5yr old! CC welcomed ;)

Brayden busted his lip at school on the slide, poor thing!

Happy Thursday! It's BSRB stocking day...w00t!
XO, Shauna

happenings around our place ;)

2009-02-04T14:01:00.000-08:00

First crazy happening is, it's turned c-o-l-d again...brrrr!!! Please weather, warm up soon for me! Since we've gotten back, I've done nothing much besides trying to stay warm, getting the house back straight, and laundry...oh my, I can never get caught up! Fun stuff!

However, I did get r-e-a-l-l-y lucky. I'll share. We have been planning a vacation to Disney in Orlando for a few mths. now. We knew that we wanted to go during spring break, but was not exactly sure when Brayden's week off was. After getting the days straight, Mark called to book our week. And much disbelief came over me, when the guy spits out there is nothing available that week. What? I think, no way. He tells us, from now on book your reservation 10mths in advance! Seriously?! See, we have to stay at a place that will take our timeshare points. That makes it a bit more difficult. Somehow they got disconnected. And so, I called back and got another Rep. Going threw the process again, telling him which mth/days he starts to tell me the same thing. Nothing available. And then he's like, wait, I'm getting something else up here...it's like a fluke, and I ask him..well is it a fluke? LOL He says no, they just got a cancellation...wait for it, for the week that we had planned to go!!! God is good! It's a super nice, 5 star resort. I'm so so excited! Disney is always so much fun, not only for the kids, but for us too! Our Granny is going, along with Mark's brother...and so there will be plenty of us to go around ;) The resort:

Also, I have Brayden's honor roll assembly pics. to post. I put the camara in Auto and only got to take a couple. I didn't want to miss seeing it, or mess around with settings. These are going in the baby books! Who are the other two? I have no idea. I wasen't even paying attention to zooming, I do find it interesting how short he is compared to other kindergarteners. No kidding he was one of the shortest up there, and in his class. He's our smart little peanut with cute dimples! :)

Another biggie around here, Jacob has decided to take off and crawl. *Sigh* I knew it was coming, and certainly didn't rush him. Our boys are like clones of each other, not only looks but there so similiar in alot of ways. For one, Jacob is crawling just like our others. He really kind of scoots on his bottom, or if he does decide to put in the extra effort he'll put one leg down and keep the other up. They have all crawled that way! They have followed the same pattern: Sit up early, crawl late, and walk on time. Jacob has been pulling up for a couple of weeks now, I feel like he'll be walking in no time. He is more content being able to get around now, there is not near as much whining and wanting to be held. I guess he's getting more independant! Color balance is everywhere with these it seems to me, I'm still trying to figure out CWB with our horrible lighting in this house!
Going after a book, he loves to sit and look at books. Or better, have them read to him.

Last but not least, my chocolate-chocolate bundt cake. I asked Mark to pick me up a pan, to try out my skills. For my first one, it's not so bad. The cake itself is really yummy. The icing now, not sure where I went wrong. It's not *bad* persay, but I don't think it turned out the best. I will definately try at it again soon. Looking at these now, I wish I had more of it in focus.

Happy Wednesday!
XO, Shauna

Biloxi, MS

2009-02-02T12:43:00.000-08:00

The view from our jacuzzi suite ;)

We had alot to do, and only the weekend and so this is just a few..of the few..pictures I got to take. It was so nice to have the weekend away, (and to just ride, I love to travel anywhere!) we went with some friends and so Mark and I got some time alone without the kiddos!:) Which, they had alot of fun...seeing alot of new things! The view from our balcony was beautiful, (and nauseating to me looking down 12 stories!) although there is still a lot of building...and alot of unfinished building being put off still going on. We rode around a bit to look for any hurricane Katrina damage. Mostly everything has been cleaned up, there is just alot of damaged places exp. houses. I have to say I love love our beaches, there they did not hold a candle to ours! *brag*
Anyhoo, hope you enjoy the pictures even though there are only a few!

Happy Monday everyone!

So proud

2009-01-30T15:21:00.000-08:00

This is just a quick blog to gloat about our kindergartener, *ahem*, our A honor roll kindergartener! His honor roll assembly was today, and I was one of the many moms there who also had a big glowing smile and a mamarazzi camara just snapping away. I thought I would be the oddball out, but nope, glad to say I fit right in! Mark couldn't make it, but his granny was there for the special time...along with little brothers ;) Isaac only made me chase him off the stage twice before all the kids came in onto the stage, yea, picture that. After they got seated though he sat in his seat and watched along with everyone else.

Every morning before getting dropped off (ok, so not every b/c alot of the time we're running late but most!) we'll tell Brayden to try his best, that's our "motto"...always try your best. Really, that's our only expectation. He'll give the thumbs up, walking into the door, turning around to look at Mark one last time before walking in for the day...Mark waving bye..and the days go on ;) Brayden, we are so so proud of you! ( I know, I know, he's only in kindergarten and it's as if he's graduating college or something!)

I would love to post some pictures from the day but we are going out of town for the weekend and my camara is all ready and packed. I will catch up and have alot to post when we get back and settled next week!

Have a great weekend!

XO, Shauna

3mths--Kaylee

2009-01-28T16:28:00.000-08:00

I have a good friend that is willing and kind enough to let me photograph her little one whenever I get the urge :) Which is often! Here she is now at 3mths, the first one is my favorite. I love her smile, and the tongue is so cute! It's always a pleasure, I can't wait to try for some more soon!
CC welcomed and wanted to help with the next shoot! :0)
Taken with Canon 40D;85mm 1/4;natural lighting

Fire!

2009-01-27T20:07:00.000-08:00

Mark has been burning all of his scraps from work, he will have his truck piled down with stuff when he gets home. Our boys love to go out and help, we make s'mores and tonight I had the idea to snap some pics. I'm really glad I did, because they turned out super neat!
It really was not that big at all, the camara definately magnifies it!

CWB--attempt 1

2009-01-27T10:25:00.000-08:00

This is something that was rather confusing to me, after getting to try it out this afternoon, it's not so bad! I used a white piece of paper, with natural lighting. It looks to be right on as for his skin tones to me, let me know what you think. The only thing I edited was up on the contrast. :)

Love this.

2009-01-25T20:53:00.000-08:00

I took this picture a few days ago, and I still like to gaze at it. :) Here is my baby boy with some baby blues!

Drool

2009-01-21T16:39:00.000-08:00

I love it!

Picture for the day

2009-01-20T17:01:00.000-08:00

Aperture 1/4 SS 1/125 ISO 200~~Vintage :)

I know my pictures explode off of the page, if anyone has any 1 column templates to recommend or others that will fit the big pics. I would love to know of them! (And how to get them downloaded, my big problem here, I have found some but they are not HTML code and I can't figure out how to get them on here :)

CC welcomed

Back to posting :)

2009-01-19T18:52:00.000-08:00

I seriously missed my blog and my blogging friends...so with that said, just a heads up, I'm back to posting (and reading!)

I hope everyone enjoyed there Monday off...! We had a fun time staying around the house and playing the WII. Mark just got it and seriously it's addicting! We love it around here. The horrible horrible thing is, I can't get anything done around here *blush* Here comes another addiction I guess

I also thought I would change the template up again, I love the colors and the layout.

Until next time...

new action.. test test

2009-01-10T14:09:00.000-08:00

Just testing in full view..I honestly can't decide which ones to post! ha!
Vintage

cute or scary?

2009-01-08T14:26:00.000-08:00

Jacob seriously looks like he's about to take a chunk out of something! I don't know if it's cute or alittle scary! :)

And, maybe this one is worthy of winning another BSRB freebie :)

Last but not least...brotherly love >>><<< Can't you see it in Isaac's face?

Jacob is 10mths...and some :)

2009-01-07T18:04:00.000-08:00

I'm posting this a few days late, we've been busy and it gets hard to keep up. So here is our big boy! He's chunkened up since eating more table foods and drinking whole milk. He's showing so much similiarties as Isaac did, he's pretty much weaning hisself and will probably be by his 1st birthday. Which is fine with me, I've always felt that a year is long enough although I'm a big advocate on extended breastfeeding..it's so much easier when its mutual!
Nowadays Jacob loves--
snuggling(such a snuggler!)
playing patty cake...and does it over and over if I keep singing it
waving bye bye
saying dada and sometimes mama...and we swear he says Isaac!
playing in his exasaucer
going for bikerides
eating spaghetti and lasagna (just like mommy!)
he loves whole milk and the transition over was a breeze!
He has 8 teeth and is such a babbler! When the boys get loud, so does he, and we always say...ok Jacob, put in your 2cents!
So he's going to be loud too :)
And standing, he's standing really well. And trying to pull up. Not crawling yet, which I didn't expect. That must be a brotherly similiarity...all of our boys never really crawled. Rather like scooting backwards, and then just straight walking. He'll be walking soon enough, I'm still not ready!
As you can see in the pic...still no hair! It's ok though, here in FL it dosen't get that cold anyway. :)

ewes not fat...ewes fluffy!

2009-01-01T18:54:00.000-08:00

fluffy+mismatched=how cute!

My prayers for YOU in 2009...

2008-12-31T17:17:00.000-08:00

Got this from a sweet friend in a email, wanted to pass it on :)

May peace break into your house and may thieves come to steal your debts.

May the pockets of your jeans become a magnet of $100.00 bills.

May love stick to your face like Vaseline and laughter assault your lips!

May happiness slap you across the face and may your tears be that of joy.

May the problems you had forget your home address!

May GOD always be at your side, and protect you and your loved ones.

In simple words, may 2009 be the best year of your life!!!

Flower pot pics & other CuTeNeSs...

2008-12-31T10:27:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile since I've taken some pictures, and today couldn't have been more perfect! Everyone was in a good mood, and cooperative. I got some more of Jacob in his flower pot, I'll post a comparison pic. from when he was 6mths...he has gotten so much taller! Look at how his legs dangle over the edge now :) They are just so cUtE! I also had fun playing with a new sepia action, can you tell?

And Jacob in the flower pot when he was 5-6mths

must see movie...

2008-12-28T16:43:00.000-08:00

IS..."The adventures of Benjamin Button" We got to go see this the day after Christmas (It came out on Christmas day) and even the 2:45 showing was packed. Shocked us! We don't go to the movies often, partly b/c we don't have a babysitter often, but I'm so glad we went to see this one..it was a really good movie, with a wonderful meaning behind it :)
I cried like a baby at the end, I would love to tell parts of it, but I won't spoil :) And all the way home just about, and my husband is looking at me funny, saying "whats wrong with you?" "it's just a movie" blah blah

I can't wait until it comes out on video! If you haven't all ready, or your the type to wait until video release make sure you watch it! You won't be disappointed :)

*and brad pitt is in it ladies!*

Sunday message--Reconciled Relationships

2008-12-22T11:48:00.000-08:00

I want to share this message from our Pastor this past Sunday, it was such a blessing for me, and I want to pass it on. There could never be a more perfect time to reconcile a relationship, then right now, right before the holidays.
Of course, reconciliation has to be an exchange from both people, but if that can't be done...we always need to have reconciliation in our hearts.

This hit home for me, because for years now my fathers side family has been in a feud. Not having anything to do with me really. My father moved nearly 6yrs ago and up until recently I had no idea of his whereabouts, he had been with me my entire life. I was so very bitter for awhile, hurt because of all the things he did, just picked up and left, missed out on so much with me...our boys, our family. And yes, it still hurts. But I can say I have reconciled my heart, and would be willing to make the exchange with him, but he has no initiative. I have talked to him since a few mths ago, the first time in years since he left, and while I apologized for things that I really didn't feel like I needed too, just to take the lead-way, he did not. By doing that, I got the closure that I was needing. And can fully whole heartedly say, I have the reconciliation in my heart that I was needing.

Luke 2 "Peace on Earth, Good will toward men."

2 COR 5:18-21 "Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministery of reconciliation.
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as through God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

The process:
1) Reconciliation takes Initiative

Matthew 5:9
"Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God"

2) Reconciliation takes unselfishness; it's about letting go.

Rev. 13:8
"All who dwell on the Earth will worship Him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."

3) Reconciliation takes Faith

4) Reconciliation comes before resolution
Reconcile your Heart 1st
Resolution---problem 2nd

5) Reconciliation is the spirit of Christmas

**Key thoughts**
Human nature is reactive, divine nature is proactive.
Maximise your future by reconciling your relationships.

I hope someone else can get out of this, what I did.

Happy holidays :)

what's better than a cookie?

2008-12-20T20:33:00.000-08:00

Deer sausage! To Jacob anyway. He tore this stuff up tonight, I say yuck, he absolutely loved it more then anything! He had such a grip, Mark had to pry it out of his hand. Here's our little deer sausage lover! Remember, he does have 8 teeth and is able to gobble his food down :)

Out of school..can you see the excitement?

2008-12-20T07:43:00.000-08:00

LOL, here is Braydens "I'm out of school for 2wks, and so happy smile!" Isn't he cute?! We got to meet up with my friend yesterday, who has a little one his age b/c they are out for Christmas break...he says, I need to miss school more so I can play with my friends :)

Hopefully we'll have puppies!

2008-12-19T17:38:00.000-08:00

Our girly golden retriever, Katie is in heat..and we "borrowed" Brandon, our friends male for a few days. I took him home today, and Katie is acting all sad :( Brandon we will miss you! Maybe we'll see you soon, and have some puppies :)
This will be her first liter, I'm so excited that she will hopefully get to experience mommy-hood!! I'm looking forward to raising our first litter, and hopefully get into breeding Golden Retrievers more.
We'll keep a girl out of this litter, this will put us at 2 girls to our one boy. (He's to young, right now, 8mths)
I love Goldens, they are so beautiful, the best family dogs ever!

daily dose of CuTEnEsS...

2008-12-18T11:39:00.000-08:00

From each of the boys :) Well, two of Isaac b/c he was being extra cute today. And, I looked all around the tree and this is the oldest ornament...lol. I made this ugly glitter ball when I was in high school ya'll...that's old! Suprised it's still hanging in there with us!!

toys toys everywhere...

2008-12-17T16:11:00.000-08:00

All in the house, and of course out in the yard... today when leaving to pick Brayden up I didn't see the little red tricycle in front of my car, which btw never actually gets rode on but just pushed around and ended up smack dab in front of the car. I start to leave, until I hear "crunch" and so I hit reverse and try to back out of what it was (didn't know what it was!) Apparently, there was Isaac's green NEW bicycle behind my Tahoe. And so, I reverse to get the first tryke out only to back into and jam the other bike. Oh my. I seriously have mommy brain!
Now, the Tahoe won't move and makes an awful sound when trying to go forward, or backwards and so I get out and try to unjam the bikes. Crawling up under the car, and yea.
They were stuck though, which I figured. 15min late from picking Brayden up, I call Mark...he's meeting with someone about a job so nope, I call my uncle and thank goodness he was available and only lives about 5min away.
At this point, it's late and poor Brayden is waiting in the office :(

The bikes, they are both destroyed :( :( I'm expecially sad about Isaac's, he just started riding a bike and it was new....and no, we didn't let him see it under the weather! Hmm, maybe I can find the exact same one and he'll never know this happened.
Mark had to jack up the car to get them out. Yea, so it was one of those days.
-----------------------------------
Life, directions not included.

dearest santa...

2008-12-15T13:31:00.000-08:00

I really really need a magic wand, you know, the kind I can wave in front of the boys during picture time and they sit and pose like little angel babies? Do you have those?? At the least, I need the magic dust that comes from the wand to be effective on them for a minimum of 10min. Thanks!

So, this was attempt #2 for Christmas pictures with there santa hats on, it went better then the last...I didn't even want to share those...so better than last time I suppose :) I'll be so happy when that wand gets to me! Orginally, I had wanted to take them on the beach but something always comes up, it's windy and blah blah...

I've procastinated so badly on taking there pictures that I have no time to design our cards this year, so snapfish here I come.

At first, trying to get all of them together, and quickly figured out that was not going to work...

So, I can usually get a good one of Isaac & Brayden, this one totally cracks me up...

What is this on my head?

And, look ma I found grass!!

Cute

And cute

and cute cute

Now, I'm going to work the best two, probaby the first of Brayden & Isaac and one of Jacob in a christmasy christmas card!

11 more days!!!

holiday edition survey...

2008-12-10T13:07:00.000-08:00

I'm bored, my tooth hurts and surverys are always fun right? :) So heres a Christmasy one.

Welcome to the Holiday edition of 25 Things About Me. Okay, here's what you're supposed to do, and try not to be a SCROOGE!!! Just copy this entire post and paste into a new post. Then change all the answers so that they apply to you.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper! I love wrapping presents!
2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial
3. When do you put up the tree? Usually the day after Thanksgiving, this year not until this past weekend.
4. When do you take the tree down? Weekend after New Years day
5. Do you like eggnog? Yep, yum!
6. Favorite gift received as a child? Not sure of a favorite...my big doll house maybe. That was a fun one.
7. Hardest person to buy for? Um, noone really. Mark I guess, but he's really not that hard, he would like anything.
8. Easiest person to buy for? Any kids, our kids I guess
9. Do you have a nativity scene? We do, I didn't put it up this year though
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Not sure really, a tiny shirt from a relative? Like they expected me to fit into it, LOL
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Rudolph
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Nov. or so
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I don't think so, no.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Pumpkin pie!
16. Lights on the tree? Yes, white ones that blink
17. Favorite Christmas Song? Drummer Boy, love it.
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay home
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Yup.
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel
21. Open presents on Christmas Eve or morning? One or two Christmas Eve, the rest Christmas morning
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? The greedy that comes out of people, when it should be the opposite.
23. Favorite Ornament theme or color? All of the ornaments have special meaning, well most of them, There are somem I made in school and some Brayden & Isaac have made. There first time ornaments, so really no theme but has lots of meaning.
24. Favorite thing for Christmas dinner? All of it!!
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? A new wallet, lol...Seriously, I can't think of anything else. My wallet is falling apart though.

If you do this be sure to leave a comment so we can all stop by and check out your list! :)

100 things

2008-12-09T13:18:00.000-08:00

RULES: There are 100 statements and you bold the ones you have done. Grab it and play for yourself!!

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity.
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain. (small mountains, but yes, nonetheless!)
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning (from Captain D's, yuck!)
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept in an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse (solar)
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo's David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Pari
s51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten cavier.
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chicken pox
89. Saved someone's life
90. Sat on a jury...always got out of it! LOL
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a lawsuit
98. Owned a cell phone99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day*

Go ahead and give it a try! :)

roughen it today..

2008-12-09T11:59:00.000-08:00

Today is rough, I had my top wisdom tooth pulled yesterday and it hurts today. Of course I have pain meds but cannot take them with the kiddos to care for. Mark had to stay here late this morning for me to snap out of the sleepy daze I was in, I have no tolerance whatsoever.
So yea, today=rough. The boys are having a good day though, Me, I just want to crawl in bed and go to sleep.
Brayden has his Christmas show tonight at school too, joy!

The tooth getting pulled though, was a breeze. When he finished and said that's it, I said, really? I didn't even feel it. And for my Xray AND extraction, it was $85. You can't beat that, everywhere around us wanted double that. And so we went into AL, everything is cheaper there it seems like!

So anyhoo, I just feel like blah. Feel better soon I hope :) Until next time..

weekend pics at the beach...

2008-12-08T08:26:00.000-08:00

I took some pictures for my friend Yvonne, and her son Trevor this weekend at the beach. I think they all turned out beautifully :) It was so windy though, sand was blowing everywhere. Here are a few of my favorites.
I love the first one with the seagulls in the background.

a picture for the day...

2008-12-05T12:58:00.000-08:00

Is of me. Mark took this nice one this morning before I left to run errands.
Thanks hubby :)

Btw, after picking up my check today I got to get him his Christmas gifts, it's so relieving to be all finished up! *Sigh*

Happy 9mths to Jacob!

2008-12-04T14:25:00.000-08:00

Happy 9mths to you baby boy, we are the luckiest parents in the world to have 3 terrific boys!
We've been on the go all day and so I didn't get a chance to take any pictures, I do have weight stats though, Jacob is 19.5lbs....and Isaac is 33.5lbs! Jacob is in the 50% and Isaac 80%. So, they are two healthy happy boys :)

I had an appoint too...and weighed in at 120 on the dot. My prepreggo weight was 125lbs and so it's great that I'm 5lbs under that! Bf'ing does that with me though, and then when Jacob weans I tend to put on a few lbs. However, I do want to tone up more and get in better shape.

You know how little sisters follow big sisters? LOL...Well, my big sister Jen recently got herself a bike and buggy to ride the kids in (to school even!) I know, she's awesome. Well, Brayden's school is too far away for that BUT as our Christmas gifts to each other (Mark, and I) we're *thinking* and *hopefully* will be able to get 2 bikes with a buggy. And then we can start bike riding with the boys, they would LOVE that, and it's great exercise for us. Mark says, "Meh, I rode bikes too much when I was growing up" And so he's not totally convinced, we rode bikes alot too...and it's not so much that I *love* to do it now, but I know the kids would love it. I totally think I can get him convinced though :)

And so my point, with our bike riding daily & a daily workout routine, I hope we can get toned up!

Until next time...

good morning sunshine...

2008-12-03T08:03:00.000-08:00

I love waking up to smiley boys, I don't feel smiley at all when I wake up until seeing the happiness from them, here is Jacob this morning eating his breakfast & Mark stealing his kisses before leaving for work. :) Check out all of his teeth! He has 8 total, including the ones that are still making there way threw. He got all of them pretty much back to back, the last few weeks have been rough!

you MUST try this...

2008-12-02T16:11:00.000-08:00

I made this for the first time tonight, OMG it is so so yummy AND simple! The boys loved it too. Thanks to the Duggars, I was watching there show and they had the "boys" make this for lunch, it really is that easy, lol.

Tater tot casserole
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 bag tater tots
shredded cheese
1 lb of ground hamburger meat
serves: 6 or 7

Brown hamburger meat. Add cream of mushroom soup and stir together continuously.
Let simmer on low heat for 15 minutes.

Place mixture in the bottom of a casserole dish. Lay tater tots neatly on top of the mixture.

Place in oven on 350' and let the tater tots brown.

Sprinkle with cheese; melt it in the oven and ENJOY.

pictures for today...

2008-12-02T13:31:00.000-08:00

It was so nice today and so we went out to play for a bit, it's just been to cold for me lately and I've been like a hermit not wanting to go out.
Jacob loves to play in the dirt, and Isaac loves to ride his bicycle. Which btw, he can do it with NO training wheels now!! I came home from work this past weekend and Mark had him riding only on his two wheels! Suprised the heck out of me, he actually does not look right since he's still so little...or maybe I'm not used to it, he's growing up to fast!!
Anyway, pictures of the cuties now :)

My black Friday deals...

2008-11-28T15:48:00.000-08:00

We had such a great black Friday, we got everything that we had our eyes on and found some more great bargains too. We even got there later then usual, and since staying home this year I didn't feel so lost! Even better, Mark's parents are here and so we had sitters! Jacob came with though.
First we went to Walmart and got the best deals on toys, we really can't think of anything big that they would want and so we mostly just got little things. Isaac is still into cars and boats and Brayden is too, that and playing his nintendos.
So anyhoo...
2 10 pack hot wheels for $5 each
2 Mack from Cars semi with cars in trailor for $10 each
memory game for $5
Giant board of Cars glitter markers $10
Brayden camo winter jacket $8
3, 3 piece outfits for $4 each
7 DVD's for $2 each
I even got to buy my angel from church a Hannah Montano outfit and doll :) The shirt was $3 and so were the capris..the doll $5!

KB Toys:
2 Gamecube games for Brayden and get one free...total $20
2 Fisher price toys for the littlest babies and get one free...total $27

Payless shoes:
BOGO .5 off=2 pair for Isaac, $7.50!!

And then, on the way home we stopped at a yardsale. Just my luck, the lady there was selling her old jeans that were not old at all AND just my size!! I ended up with 6 pair of blue jeans/1 pair church pants and 1 pair of Tommy shorts..all named brands for $15!! I really needed some too!

We stopped at the Goodwill after that to look for Mark some jeans and he found 3 pair that are nice as well...everything was 50% off. SO, I got 5 or 6 cashmere sweaters to send in for some wool longies for Jacob :) :)

I'm so thrilled, gotta love bargain shopping!! I wanted to get pictures of it all and post, but too much to do..so little time. I have to get things ready for work this weekend, I hope everyone else had a great black Friday as well! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T17:10:00.000-08:00

Now that all of the frenzy is over from cooking and getting the house ready for company I get some down time to tell everyone happy Thanksgiving! I truly hope everyone had a blessed day being with family, having good conversation and of course eating good food!!! We stayed home this year and had a great time visiting, after traveling to Alabama for the past 5yrs it was so very nice to just stay home and relax! You can tell too that I was relaxed b/c my pictures look rough. LOL
Anyhoo, happy turkey day everyone! Here are a few pictures, I was too busy and didn't take that many, at least I got some though :)

Jacob has starting giving kisses! He was kissing all over his cousin Kaylee!

saturday funday at the beach...

2008-11-22T20:06:00.000-08:00

We went to the beach for a couple of hours today, the plan was to try and get a good picture of the boys together for Christmas cards, but that didn't go over so well. And so mostly, we just played and hung out there for alittle while enjoying the outside nice weather. Which, btw it was windy! I might have to try again for another picture of them, I got a few decent ones but I'm hoping to next time get my hands on some santa hats and see if they will wear them, that would be so cute IMO! I can dream right? Brayden & Isaac love playing at the beach, Jacob on the otherhand did not like it so much. I thought he might like to sit and play in the sand like he has before, but nope, even that didn't do it he just wanted to be held. I got some cute pictures of him fussing though :) Afterwards everyone one was so hungry, we went to Cracker Barrel to have dinner which was nice because we have not been out to eat in forever! Its nice to have that as a "treat", I enjoy it so much more. We also went to church and the message was just awesome, I say it alot but I can't help it, we are just so blessed to have such a wonderful church family! In a nutshell, service was about "Expect your Miracle" We are ALL worthy of God's miracles!! He knows exactly what we are praying for, our needs and wants..Our expectations, what a great Father we serve!!
Here are a few pictures anyhoo...

Elf yourself!

2008-11-21T15:09:00.001-08:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

friday photo...

2008-11-21T14:19:00.000-08:00

Brayden :)

award for worst mother of the day goes to me :(

2008-11-20T10:14:00.001-08:00

Jacob is fussy today, as usual, and I put him in his swing so I could *gasp* actually get something done. I had to hang out diapers, and so he's swinging and I go outside. He was fussing to begin with, and so when he really started crying I just thought he had down right had it. I come back in, to see him face down on the floor. UGH, I still feel so bad. I had hurried putting him in the swing and forgot to snap in the cover part. Which I always do, because he will scoot right on out.
He's ok, there was a blanket down there that he landed half way on. I think mostly he was just extra mad, he nursed, and went to sleep.
His constant fussing and whining, gets me in a frenzy.

The trade off for his all day fussiness, is, he sleeps threw the night 8-9hrs in his crib. I think, however, if he could take just one decent nap and NOT be so whiney during the day I could deal with him waking up once or twice threw the night.

And then we have Isaac, my 2yr old who thinks its funny to always be getting into something...we'll save that for another blog though.

Until next time...

my brave warriors...

2008-11-19T12:48:00.000-08:00

"My 2 Brave Warriors"
Don't they look fierce?

Brayden also made a baby boy Indian today in school, he's too cool to take pictures with him though.

And an activity sheet from today says this, with Brayden filling in the blanks:

This is the way we cook our Thanksgiving turkey...

First, Put the turkey in a large pan

Next, Add salt and pepper

Last, Some mustard and ketchup before baking.

We cook our turkey for 6minutes at 9 degrees.

LOL, kids say the darndest things!

pictures for today...

2008-11-18T18:48:00.001-08:00

I got to take some pictures today, it was fun, I tried but our boys were just not being cooperative at ALL! In the first and second pictures there personalities really show. We have Brayden, the giggly always happy and spunky. Isaac, the sneaky-mischevious, always into something. And Jacob, and I hope this changes soon, but the whiney kid! LOL
In all of the pictures, you can see, he is whining. He has just cut two teeth this week, and getting over a viral infection so I understand but I can't lie and say it's not exhausting, it is!

What I'm Thankful For...

2008-11-18T13:47:00.001-08:00

I got this in a email today, and it really touched me, so just sharing! And with Thanksgiving just right around the corner, let's think of what we're thankful for and give thanks! :)

I'm Thankful For...

The mess to clean up after a party because it means I have been surrounded by friends.

The taxes I pay because it means that I'm employed.

The clothes that fit a little too snug because it means I have enough to eat.

My shadow who watches me work because it means I am out in the sunshine.

The spot I find at the far end of the parking lot because it means I am capable of walking.

All the complaining I hear about our government because it means we have freedom of speech.

That lady behind me in church who sings off key because it means that I can hear.

The piles of laundry and ironing because it means my loved ones are nearby.

The lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning, and gutters that need fixing because it means I have a home.

My huge heating bill because it means that I am warm.

Weariness and aching muscles at the end of the day because it means that I have been productive.

The alarm that goes off in the early morning hours because it means that I am alive.

fun with my boys

2008-11-13T18:17:00.000-08:00

So who says boys can't use facial cleansers too? I was giving them a bath, and for some reason my face has been breaking out something awful and so I decided to pull out my 3min facial mask cleansing and they just had to have some too. See how cute we were?! I'm putting this one in the babybooks.

And then nice clean, faces!

white chocolate anyone???

2008-11-12T11:43:00.000-08:00

This past week we bought some white chocolate chips for cookies, and the extras I put in a bowl to keep on the counter. Yea, uh oh. I have found myself sneaking over to the bowl for a secret sweet treat threwout the days...I have a new obsession, white chocolate! LOL

Love them, just a few is all it takes, but over a period of the whole day...I wonder how much I've eaten so far?? I was browsing for sweet treats using white chocolate and found this one...I'm so making this when I can get some bars of it, and this Thanksgiving!!!

A receipe for the day...if you decide to try them, let me know what you think!!

White Chocolate Blondies

Prep time:20min
Cook time:25min
Ready in:45min

Servings:12

Ingredients:
8 ounces white chocolate, chopped
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 eggs
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup white sugar
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x9 inch baking pan. Melt white chocolate and butter in the top of a double boiler, over barely simmering water. Stir occasionally until smooth. Set aside to cool.
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat eggs until foamy. With the mixer still running, gradually add the sugar and vanilla. Drizzle in the melted white chocolate mixture. Combine the flour and salt; fold into the white chocolate mixture using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon. Fold in chocolate chips. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan.
Bake for 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool pan on a wire rack before cutting into bars.

5 star review! **Must make these soon**

school update...

2008-11-07T11:41:00.000-08:00

Brayden brought home his 1st term report card today, I know its kindergarten, and we think how hard can it be? But going from no school, to a 6.5hr day filled with various activities and subjects can't be all that easy for a 5yr old. As a kindergartener, he is learning to sound out words, and read words together. He also has learned 20 site words, and is tested in all different subjects. His handwriting has gotten so much better. Somedays I feel bad for the little guy, because within 30min of being home he puts hisself to bed and wakes up an hour or two later, and still goes to bed at 8. I do love his school, and he is doing great.
He made A's in all subjects except for math he made a B. I guess he takes after me, I stink at match! ha! We are proud of him! So just sharing my proudness:)

Just for kicks, he sat down the other day in Jacobs swing to watch noggin and this is what happenend:

WE WON!!! YAY!

2008-11-06T16:05:00.001-08:00

I really was NOT expecting to win this week, with just getting my pic. in today last minute, Jacob being fussy and our ghetto planted tree limbs in the background...but we did! YAY! I get a free, even shipping, custom BSRB diaper...our stash consists of only these. LOVE them..they are one size dipes, made up of all bamboo, so buttery soft!
Here is the linky:http://hyenacart.com/BagshotRowBamboo/index.php?c=0&p=45949

Joyce is awesome, she stocks every Thurs. night at 7. You have to stalk, but her dipes and customer service are so worth it! There reasonably priced as well:)

GOOOOOOOO JACOB! Your such a cutie:)

sick update..and 8mth pics

2008-11-06T13:45:00.000-08:00

Mark and I decided today that since Isaac has been sick since the end of last week, he's not showing any signs of getting better and today seemed worse that we would take him on to the ped. So glad we did, and they were too. She tested him for the flu, it was negative. Thank God. But he does have a very bad cold, his temp was 102 and he has double ear infections. They gave him antibiotic injections at the office, and he has a 10 day prescription with ear drop medicine. We could tell he was in awful pain this morning, this is the first case of an ear ache for us, I've never had one myself and it was so awful to watch him scream out in pain nonstop not being able to help. Since getting home, it seems better. Jacob has started to get a cough as well, we're going to watch him, and pray that he does not get worse...and for me, I'm starting to feel better and getting my voice back. Yesterday I couldn't hardly get out of bed, which is ok, because Isaac didn't want to get up either and Jacob is just fine lying down beside me playing or nursing :) Thankfully, Mark was able to stay at home with me today.

And speaking of, I LOVE love my husband. I submit a picture in every Thurs. to a WAHM who makes my favorite diaper to hopefully win a freebie. We needed some fall colors for the background, and so Mark goes into the woods and pulls some tree limbs with pretty leaves on it :) And plants them in the ground, for my backdrop. What a sweetie. Jacobs not feeling his best, and was not very cooporative but we did get a few nice ones. It's still very nice weather here too, just stinky we never have a "real" fall or winter.

He was technically 8mths 2 days ago, but with the sick kids I haven't been able to use my camera...so here is my littlest guy! :)

case of the yuckies...

2008-11-03T12:28:00.000-08:00

The past week or so has been awful, Brayden brought home the yuckies from school starting last Wed. He missed Thurs., Fri, and today...Isaac has been sick too, AND got a black eye on Friday from landing on the corner of our stone living room table, I feel so bad for them :( I had to work the weekend, and last night after getting home started feeling bad myself and this morning awful...ACK. So far Jacob and Mark are not sick, so we'll see..this flu has been like dominos..it's the worst the boys have had yet...pray for them to get well soon! (and myself too) Today has been rough, with 2 whiney kids, jacob to tend too and all I want to do is go to sleep somewhere...anywhere. Hmmm, I could try to escape, but I'm sure they would find me.

Halloween was no fun, we didn't do anything...at least we got to go to the pumpkin patch a few days before, hopefully next year will be better.

Ok, whine fest over.

Jacob's 8mth checkup and other stuff...

2008-10-30T15:16:00.000-07:00

Jacob had a checkup today, this was his 3rd since birth and we started the vaxing. He got 2 today, and will have 2 more at 10mths ect. With MMR and Varicella being held off until he is 2. I love my ped. because even though she does not delay vax she supports my decisions and lets me make the decisions for MY child...LOVE that!
Everything is on track, Jacob is doing great. His height is off of the charts, so over 100%..he is 29.5in. His weight is border, so 50%, 17lbs5oz she encouraged me to play with solids more to get him more interested. He's still not showing "excellent" signs of interest but nonetheless if I sit for 30-45min with him he'll eat 2 cubes of babyfood or his cereal bowl. I guess I needed to hear that to encourage him more, I'm quick to just put him back on the breast...and he is just as happy with it too. Although, not every baby is going to go right along with the "chart"...Mark is tall and skinny, and I'm short and semi-skinny (haha) and so we can't expect chunky kids I guess.
I've also noticed that he's lots more interested in our table foods then his babyfoods, he's a smart baby:)

Tooth biz: His two bottom teeth are all the way threw, instead of the top two coming in next his "fang" teeth are, LOL...they are already threw, and so it's like he's snaggle tooth or something! It's funny, and different from our other two..but hey, God created everyone different :)

Brayden stayed home today sick, poor thing was up alot of last night with an ear ache..he also has a sore throat and cough, it's been a busy day with all three home & us out and about that is for sure. I had forgotten what it was like, but today brought it back to my memory quick! Pray for wellness, and quick recovery for Brayden..he's so smiley and happy all of the time, it's tough to see him sick :(

oh no he did not..oh no he did not...OH NO HE DID NOT

2008-10-27T15:31:00.000-07:00

ugh, ugh, UGH...Isaac was being unusually quiet while I was cooking dinner and so I go to find him..yea, i knew something was up. LOL
it was, he had went poop on the potty and aftewards decided to take a dive into it..no not literally, but he had poop all the way up to his elbows...mushing and smushing it in his hands.....EWWWWWWWW
it stunk so bad, i so do not want any dinner now, gross.

off to finish cooking, i needed to blog really fast to regain my composure.

better now.

brayden and his cuteness..

2008-10-24T08:31:00.000-07:00

Every day when I pick Brayden up he has something cute to say about the day, or in general him talking about his day is just so cute to me. When I picked him up yesterday, he had a sticker on his shirt that said, "I voted".
Me-"So you voted today?"
Brayden-"Yep, I voted for McCain"
Me-"Oh yea, why is that?"
Brayden-"Because I hear you & daddy talking about him, I wanted to vote for him like you"
AWWWWWWWWW
Brayden-"But my friend Vance, he is voting for Obama, because he thinks McCain is fat!"
LOL

This is coming from a 5 yr old!!! He sounded like a grown boy talking like that! He suprises me each day with his knowledge, and how he is listening even when we might not realize it! I realize also, he probably hears talk of the candidates at school...but it just made me think AWWW!!!

my first day back...

2008-10-19T17:48:00.000-07:00

went smoothly:)they had me orientate again for today since it's been nearly a year since last working, it's always better with two nurses on the floor. i think we should protest to have two nurses to every floor instead off just one all of the time, lol. from here on out it will be me with the 17 patients we have, unless more are admitted or discharged. i'm so tired though, i barely have energy to post this and here shortly heading to bed, my feet hurt most of all but with time i'll get used to it again.

my duh moment today at work: i had to unlock the office door to make copies, grabbing the copies and hurrying off i forgot to shut the door behind me. a few later, i'm needing my keys to unlock the med cart. can't find them, ask the other nurse, go look back in the room with the door standing wide open. LOL. and come to find out the whole time they were in my POCKET! DUH!!

babyfood bonanza...

2008-10-18T13:28:00.000-07:00

Today I made Jacob's first batch of babyfood, I started doing this with Isaac and I remember this time last year (or was it two years ago?) Isaac was just starting his too, and going to the produce market for his *sigh, they grow too fast* I guess we started late, since Jacob is going on 7.5mths but up until recently he was not showing any interest so I had the thought, why mess up what we had going? A few weeks ago I started him on whole grain cereal with breastmilk and the past two weeks started adding fruits in it and he is finally showing interest in it, he will eat his entire breakfast bowl:)

So today I baked 4 sweet potatoes to freeze. And steamed, butternut squash; carrots; zucchini; green beans; & butter peas. It doesn't look like alot typed out but really it is! I've been busy in the kitchen, thank God for Mark entertaining the boys today!! After steaming them, I add alittle water if needed and puree it in the blender. Pour into ice cub trays, let the trays cool off. Put them in the freezer, and when froze pop out the cubs into freezer bags. Label, and date.

I will start making him intermediate foods after he eats this batch up, starting to mix fruits and foods around together. But I will add on, cabbage; cauliflower; broccoli; different beans & rice.

I strongly believe in making homemade babyfoods, it is important to me for our babies to have healthy foods from the start and also establish good eating habits early on. I have read, and we all know, that infants grow more rapidly than they will at any other period in their lives, and so, nutrition is very important. Alot of babies are being fed food from boxes or jars..over processed foods contain chemicals, preservatives, pesticide residue and genetically engineered ingredients. This was the biggest deciding factor for me, on top of this looking back we used jarred foods with Brayden not giving him a lot of variety he is a very picky eater now. On the otherhand, we went homemade route with Isaac and he eats it all. Not even scared to taste test Jacobs foods today!:)

On another note, I'm starting back to work tomorrow at my old job. I haven't worked since Nov. of last year. Every year to keep up our license we have to have a certain amount of hours, and CEU's. On top of this, we could use the extra money and I could use some out of the house time!:) I will be working every other weekend, 7-3p on a Rehab hall. Which is working with rehabilitation patients, giving them there therapy, treatments and meds. I really enjoy it! My biggest concern was how this would interfere with my nursing Jacob. But I think these hours will work well for us, since he is a late sleeper. So I will nurse him good before leaving and from there he can have his table foods and breastmilk from the freezer. If Mark has too, he can always bring him to me, and give me a alittle break:) I'm excited about it, but tomorrow when I get home I might tell you something different. LOL

Isaac & his new haircut...

2008-10-17T15:32:00.000-07:00

We took Isaac to get his 3rd or 4th haircut today, he was so cute, and then riding his bicycle when home he would not keep his tounge in! It was either hanging out to the left or right, and had me cracking up. He is just too cute for words:)
Front of the cut:

Back, he cut it really short but all it can do is grow back anyway I guess:

Smile:)

Tongue shot:

riding his bike:

ready, set, go!

the simplest thing..was yet so powerful.

2008-10-16T11:01:00.001-07:00

Mark and I had just finished reading our bible for the night, and was talking about how/ways God had revealed hisself to us in the past. And I got to thinking, He has answered many of my prayers within time, along with Mark's. Although, I've never had any *major* big deal problems, or have been supernaturally healed thinking back alot of my prayers have eventually been answered.
Well, after laying down for the night I realized I had a splinter in my baby toe that stung like all get out when I would rub it against the sheets. I turned on the side lamp and started trying to pull it out with my fingers, I stink at getting out any kind of splinters and Mark usually is the one to get them out of the boys or me when I get them, which is not that often.
So go figure, I couldn't get it and so Mark goes into the living room to get the tweezers. As he is looking for them, I decide to ask God for help rubbing on the splinter at the same time. My exact prayer was, Please God help me to get this splinter out, and not even a whole second after seeking him it was out.
Now, I don't know if he a) supernaturally got my splinter out or b) by my rubbing on it at the same time of praying to him it fell out or whatever. But I do know, He totally had me taken care of in his hands, and He indeed hears our prayers! I didn't see the splinter after that, I'm not sure what happened to it.
As I sat there in shock, still rubbing my toe trying to find it again, Mark comes back in the bedroom. Not wanting to tell him because honestly, I thought he wouldn't believe me. He asked what was wrong, and I told him, of course he believed me and we were both near tears because something so awesome had just happened, even though it was so small. :) :)

I'm sharing this because, even though I don't think I could ever forget what happened...blogging about it, I can always recall the exact details. And also, too send the message "seek and you will find" "call and He will answer" It's so true!

A powerful email I recieved from a friend not too long ago:
When We Pray, God Works!
Bishop Donald Hilliard
Two things about prayer are truly amazing: (1) God listens when we pray. "If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." (See Mk 11:24). You may not have much clout anywhere else, but when you pray God listens. (2) We seldom pray. We've the greatest privilege imaginable - access to the control center of the Universe -- yet we rarely use it. And our lack of prayer surprises God.

Through the prophet Ezekiel He lamented: "I sought for a man among them who would...stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one" (Eze 22:30 NKJV). Upon learning that Sodom and Gomorrah were going to be destroyed, Abraham didn't rush to warn the cities. No, he chose to "[remain] standing before the Lord" (Ge 18:22 NIV). When God said the golden calf warranted a nationwide death penalty for Israel, Moses interceded and saved them. One translation of Exodus 32:11 says, "Moses soothed the face of his God." An obscure priest by the name of Phinehas begged God not to send the plague, and it was checked. (See Ps 106:30 NIV).

You say "Why place such a premium on prayer?" Simple. Because when we work, we work. But when we pray, God works! Scripture attaches breathtaking power to prayer. "When two of you get together on anything...and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action" (Mt 18:19 TM). Does any other activity promise such results? Did God call us to preach without ceasing? Or have committee meetings without ceasing? No, but He did call us to "pray without ceasing."

pictures from a fun filled weekend...

2008-10-13T15:15:00.000-07:00

We had a great weekend, it was nice to get out with the kids and enjoy the great weather! Saturday we went to a seafood festival, Mark had his car in the car show and so we got to get in free, *thumbs up*! There were some rides, litte shops set up & lots of good carnival food:) The boys had a blast, and we had fun ourselves! The band, Blues Travelers played that night, they sounded pretty good we couldn't really see them that well. I managed to get a few pictures, the kids were busy bodies though so not alot. Oh, and we all rode in Marks car to the festival, it was about 45min away and the first time Jacob had rode in it, he loved it (of course!) the loudness he was not for sure of at first but sitting in between his brothers they made sure he was ok!:)
Sunday we had church and "Christ For the Nations" came from Dallas, TX that night to worship with us. Our church is so blessed! They were just awesome, and the night of worship was one of the best yet...I love our church family, we are so blessed.

And today was not the weekend, but I'll share what we did anyway. Which is not much, just went to the park and for a walk. Again, can't resist the wonderful weather!

Pictures now:
First up, the cool car that got us there, :)

Mark d-r-a-g-g-i-n-g Isaac threw this glass house, that he had got lost in following the bigger kids and we heard him in there whaling..Mark went to get him, and after that he did NOT want to go threw it the rest of the way, LOL

artsy fartsy pictureI took of Mark in front of the glass house

Mark sliding with Brayden

Mark and I, just too cute for words:)

Brayden and his girly friend on the teacups

Brayden and I on the bumper cars, we totally bumped on some cars that round!

Jacob and his cute cheesy self :)

And another, not taken at the festival but for a daily dose of cuteness with the pouty lip!

I've been tagged...

2008-10-09T09:02:00.000-07:00

I've been tagged to share 6 things about me you may not know.

1)I love to travel, to go see different & new sites/history, and in general just do different things. My favorite, and dream place to travel would be to Italy. There are so many beautiful towns there, tons to see and do I would imagine, since it's more of a "romantic" place I hope that when our kids are grown Mark and I can go. And not only Italy, maybe we will have the time and money to travel around the world. Also, my mother is Italian, I don't think full but I can definately tell it because my favorite of all foods are Italian foods. We literally have at least spagetti, lasagna, or manicotti once a week. Not only do I like to eat it, but I enjoy making them.

2)Growing up I was in gymnastics, and was pretty good at it! I used to get out in our front yard and practice away, in my own little world. I could do back handsprings, 2 or 3 in a row. Back tucks, front tucks and almost but not quite had mastered the *ariel* which is a cartwheel using no hands:) I was in competitions, and come in first place either once or twice. My dad had built me a balance beam at one time, did you know that the width of the beam is the size of a video tape? I still enjoyed watching the gymnasts in the olympics this past time. And, I'm still pretty flexible too! Standing on my head and balancing is still something that I can do pretty well. I need to get Mark to take a picture, seriously, I'll try to do that tonight and post it :) I also ran track, and cross country...looking back I was pretty athletic and need to start doing more now.

3) "The how I know I'm pregnant drink" All three pregnancies, with Brayden I started craving vanilla coke after we had found out but with Isaac and Jacob we did not know yet, were suspicious but did not know for sure, I had started craving me some vanilla coke and sure enough we were pregnant:) Btw, I don't drink it very much otherwise but the whole pregnanices this was my biggest craving. Even now, lol...when I get one, Mark will give me that look...but no no no, don't get any ideas!

4) I graduated nursing school in 05', LPN, and whenever I get a chance to go back I'm going to go onto RN school and would also love to become a doula after that. I have a big passion for wanting to educate/help women achieve natural childbirth, accomplish breastfeeding & educating about attachment parenting. Alot of moms really just don't know they have a choice, and I would love to let them know that they do. Aside from this, ever since I was little I knew that nursing was my calling. I didn't know what field then, but I have an idea now. And will even moreso with time. I used to sit and read medical books (boring ones, LOL) and watch disgusting shows:) Threwout school, my favorite subject was always science.

5) I love to take baths. And try to squeeze one in once a day, I don't always accomplish this but most of the time I do. It's my favorite most relaxing me time of the day!

6) My favorite holiday is Christmas, I love everything about it. The meaning of it, the giving, the singing, being with family, the eating, the anticipation of the kids (we don't do Santa, but they still love to get gifts!) the lights, we always have the hardest time getting all of ours up!! Maybe this year will be easier, I say that every year. LOL Putting the tree up, and of course taking pictures! Here are a few old school pictures I dug out of photobucket of our past Christmas'

Now I tag: Jen, Lisa, & Kelly

cute in suits...

2008-10-07T15:34:00.000-07:00

Today I'm sharing some (more) pictures of our boys, we went out of town for Mark's grandmothers funeral this past weekend, and I couldn't think of a more perfect occasion for them to get some usage. A friend of mine gave them to Brayden awhile back, they were too big, but now they fit perfectly...Isaac too! (So thanks friend!) They were more interested playing in the big dirt pile, so I only got one decent picture of all three, and Brayden was pouting in it. LOL
So, here is some daily cuteness:

itty bitty baby photos..

2008-10-06T19:43:00.000-07:00

I had the privilege to take pictures of a friends 10 day old today, she was so good and sweet, not to mention a complete doll. Newborns are so easy to take pictures of. I had a great time, and will definately be getting more as she grows up! Here are some of my favorites, I had a hard time narrowing it down, I was really happy with alot of them!

fall colors...or not

2008-10-01T19:49:00.000-07:00

When I picked Brayden up from school today he was telling me about his fall colors, and how when we got home he wanted to go around the yard and look for his fall colors. I thought, "ok, and we can take pictures of all the colors too!". And then it dawned on me, when we started to look for things that we are in FL and really never have any pretty fall colors, for instance, how pretty is this? I wish we had trees, leaves, and colors like in this picture! So, going around the yard looking we came across this giant toad frog And the boys did find some leaves, they thought the leaves was pretty, LOL, I guess that's what matters! And I happened to run across this pretty orange butterfly
And so, even though we really didn't find anything "fall" we had alot of fun adventuring around the yard and running across all of God's perfect creations!! (And snapping pictures of them too!)
Here are two I took tonight also of the boys in the tub, playing around with settings.

Isaac is PL'ing

2008-09-30T19:31:00.000-07:00

And just like that, Isaac is potty learning. It has been a process, but for the past week and a half he has refused to wear his pullups and even has to pick out his own clothes AND put them on. We have had our share of messes in this mix, but honestly every day has gotten better and actually now that I think of it we did not have any accidents today. And yesterday we only had one, and I believe it was because his cousins came over and he was having to much fun playing outside. So our 2.5yr old is becoming very independent, he gets frustrated when we have to help him put his clothes on, and he would rather go around with them on backwards or inside out...of course, this is fine unless we're going somewhere. lol
I've been hesitant to think that this is it, but *sigh* it is, he's growing up on us. For the past two nights he has wore his underwear to bed and woke up dry both times and then in the morning he says "i go potty mama". He's so cute!
Here is our big boy in his undies just like his big brother! :)

i got creative!

2008-09-29T15:20:00.000-07:00

I hung me a black backdrop, and went from there. I found a cute little basket in Jacob's room that a bunch of old baby stuff was in so I dumped it out and he fit perfecty in it! I also tried some of him lying down in a bigger basket (the boys' shoe basket) but he did not go for that at all :O I did get one of him screaming in it, LOL
Here are my favorites: And yet again, I thought I had not gotten any good ones and there were quite a few that I was happy with:)

and one of my isaac :)

soccer game saturday...

2008-09-27T11:22:00.000-07:00

This morning Brayden had his first soccer game of the season, he was fired up, and played really well. He has 12 team members, and only 7 can play at one time (supposed to) but they go on and off of the field as they want too and at one point there was only 3 blue team kids on the field, LOL It's so cute to watch, really they just all run around in a circle trying to get the ball, and when one kid falls it's like dominos and the rest go down too! Our team lost today, for some reason they have 4-7yr olds playing on the same teams. So too bad for us that the other team has more bigger kids then ours, Brayden doesn't care though, he just enjoys playing...and we like to watch it! :)
When we got home, Brayden and I played against Mark and Isaac...we totally lost that game too. Jacob needs to start walking to help us out:)
Here are some pictures for the day:

color selection

2008-09-26T18:18:00.001-07:00

I played around with color selection today, I love the look of b&w photos with alittle color. We went to the homecoming parade, and Brayden got a bulldog tatooed on his cheek so the second one is of that. And the 1st is of Jacob in his flower pot, it was hard to get around the tall grass though!

The boys had a blast at the parade, they got alot of candy and enjoyed the sirens and lights. Jacob didn't even cry! I was holding him so I'm sure that made a world of difference, he liked looking too!

photo shoot with miss anslie...

2008-09-25T20:29:00.000-07:00

I got to take pictures of the most adorable little girl today, Anslie, and her mommy Heather. We went to the Lakeyard, it was a beautiful day and the kids had a blast playing in the water and chasing the ducks. Well, except for Anslie, she's deathly afraid of ducks and would cry everytime they got near her! Or not even near her, she would cry just looking at them, LOL.
At the end of the day, I didn't think I had any good shots just because she was kind of fussy, and Jacob was very fussy. (Isn't that the usual?!) But it turns out I did get a few, here are my two favorites, it was a hard pick for me though. I can't wait to take some more pictures of this cutie another time :)

Tooth biz...

2008-09-24T19:24:00.001-07:00

Jacob's cutting one..or two teeth, you can feel the tip of it! How exciting! I now know why he has been extra fussy, his teethers are bothering him. Last night was rough, he was up and down until 2 this morning. Nurse, fall asleep, nurse fall asleep until finally he fell asleep in our bed until 9 this morning. I do know one thing, we have been blessed with great sleepers!

I also tried to introduce some cereal mixed with breastmilk, it went I guess, but not so well. He didn't have that much interest, so I will keep trying. He shows interest in food, as we eat, he grasps and jumps to try and get some but once I tried to give him something he didn't know what to do. Maybe I should try something better. LOL
Perhaps tomorrow, I will give him some banana.

So he's getting teeth and starting on solids soon, *sigh*, I wish they would stay little forever. Oh, and I guess this means I need to invest in a diaper sprayer now! LOL

Flower pot pictures!

2008-09-23T19:08:00.000-07:00

I've seen some cute pictures taken with these big pretty flower pots, that you put baby in and it actually makes them look small but really the pot is big! I got one the other day, and tried it out today. Our grass is up high and Jacob was fussy (as usual, lol) and so I will be trying this out again! I'm supposed to take some pics. of a friend and her little girl this week sometime at the lakeyard, and I'm going to try taking some there also, I also want to do some color selection on these when I get some better ones of just the pot and not grass coming up. They are cute to me though, and so I just wanted to share some of my favorites!

Sunday Sep. 21, 08 pictures

2008-09-23T19:04:00.000-07:00

We went out of town for the weekend, and I got the chance to take some pictures of some of Mark's family. Here is a few of his cousins wife, Carey and her two kids. We got kind of rushed threw these, babies were crying, and her little girl (which btw, is named Shauna too!) did not want to sit still for picture taking! But I'm pretty happy with them, glad I got the practice, and her kids are just adorable.
My favorites:

some shots for the day...

2008-09-18T19:11:00.000-07:00

I had said yesterday that I wouldn't be blogging in awhile because we're going out of town, well, I just can't help myself. I'm addicted to not only blogging, but my camera..I just can't resist my camera.LOL I love it, and then playing with the pictures afterwards..it's what like to do in my "me" time:)
I totally procrastinated packing today, along with other things, and got some pretty good shots of Brayden. I figured I take pictures of Jacob and Isaac all the time, because we're here all day together. So when Brayden got home today, and we went outside to play I took my camera along and these are my favorites:

The second picture just cracks me up, here Brayden is looking so cool with his arm around little bro..and Isaac looking like he is up to something SO good with that cheesy grin!

Ok, well the second picture is not wanting to resize. But you get the drift, see the up-to-no-good look on Isaac's face?!

something sweet...

2008-09-17T11:17:00.002-07:00

They are just too cute not to take pictures of. I was nursing Jacob on the couch, getting ready to put him down for his nap in his crib. And Isaac was so tired that he fell asleep on my arm, I layed Jacob down on the couch, and Isaac right next to him and this is how cute they were:

pics for the day..

2008-09-17T11:17:00.001-07:00

I felt like playing around today for a bit with my camera, like every other day, lol. These are my favorites, I love baby feet and head shots :)

We're leaving tomorrow to go out of town, so I won't be blogging for awhile. Just in case anyone reads my blogs, lol.

get out the butter..

2008-09-16T11:32:00.000-07:00

Almost, but not quite. If his legs were any where near chunky they would have gotten stuck! Luckily, they didn't...and it made for some cute pictures:)

And one of a favorite toy around here.

Diapers on the line...

2008-09-13T18:14:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to post a blog about my diapers for awhile now, and finally got around to taking some pictures today of them on the line. I *heart* my diapers, aren't they just beautiful?!

I also tried my camara out today in manual, it was the first time I actually got decent pictures that were not whited out, blacked out or blurry. I did get some blurry, and bad ones but I got some good ones too. Here is one that I like, and then another that turned out blurry but it's cute because it just shows how much poor Jacob gets picked on. Seriously, his brothers like to dress him up and put stuff on him all the time, they never hurt him but think it's funny I guess. Well, Jacob likes it too :)
Brayden teasing, putting snakes on his head (don't worry, it's not real..hehe)

And then a car, which btw, Jacob already likes to hold these little hot wheels!

And then a decent one :O

thyroid results

2008-09-12T20:33:00.000-07:00

I had my 2nd follow up appoint. today with my endocrinologist, we reviewed my labs that I had taken at the beginning of this week. And I'm glad to say they went down alot! 6wks ago, for my first blood test my TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) was 72. The normal range is 0.3-2, so it was very high. He prescribed synthroid and since taking it these past 6wks it's went down to 4. So still abit high, but lots better then it was. He upped the medicine and I'll follow up again in January. I think this will be the right dosage though, and I'm very happy to have it more in check.
Your thyroid produces alot of important hormones, it's kind of like your equilibrium and when it's off everything is. So it's important, needless to say :) My main symptom was fatigue and in general just very tired, I can tell I'm starting to feel better. I guess I'm lucky because you can have alot of more severe symptoms, and mine was pretty high so I feel blessed to only have the few that I do.

After the appoint. we took the kids to the park and let them feed the ducks. They had alot of fun! I also got a haircut today, I guess you can't always have those perfect haircuts and today was one of those times. I'm not that unhappy with it, but she sure did cut my bangs too short and I'm not happy about that, or the layering. That women is lucky I'm a laid back kind of gal because I could have been a real jerk about it. LOL Also, afterwards she was trying to style it so funny..like, giving me the "up poof" in the back hairspraying it, I guess it's in these days but it's not for me. Being the outspoken person I am, I straight out said, without really thinking I guess.... I don't like that style and it's not for me.... not in a mean way, kind of a joking way, but I was serious. LOL
She started to comb it back down, and at that point I told her I would just do it and styled it my normal way. I know, I'm a conservatist, me+change=does not go very well.

mr.potato head...

2008-09-04T14:46:00.000-07:00

came to live with us! isn't he so cute?! and shamefully, this was not brayden's nor isaac's idea...it was mark's and i was quick to jump in on the fun too. the glasses fit perfectly to just stay on, i know doesn't look like it but they would stay on just not the hat, lol. and everytime we would get it all back situated the boys (and us too!) would crack up. jacob didn't even know what all of the humor was about, and it was him..hehe.

btw, no new keypad yet. so no long posts, and i'm getting very very far behind on my blogs. sheez.

messed up keyboard

2008-08-29T20:51:00.000-07:00

thanks to our 2yr old the keyboard has letters either off of coming off. yea, he decided to take the majority of them off. mark popped them back on, but some of them have not stayed and just come right back off. most, we've just left off. but the ones that are on you have to press extra hard to get it too type.
frustrating....i'll tell you.
we're taking it in to best buy tomorrow for a new keypad...exactly the reason we get a warranty or is it insurance with these type of things.

i'll have to catch up with my blogs soon, it's too hard to type something that long with missing keys :(