Around the corner...

is Gardner Village. I love to shop there and my kids love to go and feed the ducks... oh, and get candy from the candy store. So it works out perfectly for those days when I just need to get out of the house for a half hour. Sometimes we head over on Sundays to enjoy the peacefulness of it and as a family activity. This last Sunday, we did just that. We grabbed our bag of bread and headed out the door. I, of course, grabbed my camera.

Charming beyond belief!

This picture deserved a post all on it's own... my little Brookey Brooke winking! My husband can do eye tricks and we've found out that Sky can too. Jett thinks he can and it's adorable but will Brooke be able to? We'll see... for now she can wink and it's so stinkin' cute.

This little girl warms my heart in so many ways. She can make me smile when I'm in the worst of moods. She charms the pants off of everyone! This summer my little sister Megan has been around a lot. When she says "Megan" it sounds like she says "bacon" so now we all call Megan, "Bacon." I don't think Megan was too thrilled at first, bacon... pig. But then I told her it's cause she's a long, lean, piece of meat. :) She is... she's a gorgeous girl. At age 11 when most are starting to look awkward, she looks like she should be starring in a tweenybop Disney show. I'll be sure to do a back to school photo session with her in her amazing back to school clothes so you can see for yourself.

What happens when I say no.

My little Brookey Brooke came up to me and asked for some "yellows" (translation... marshmallows) to which I said, "no, you can't have marshmallows for breakfast." So... this is what soon followed. She being the smart girl that she is, figured out that she can reach the Lucky Charms out of the cupboard and there's marshmallows in there... what a great solution to moms answer, right? See for yourself. What a smart cookie!

She first hid, afraid of what I might do when I saw the mess...

But then mom broke out the camera, so that had to be an okay to go fish through the cereal for the oh so desired "yellows".


Then of course there's my crazy, cleaning lady named Sky who immediately came to the rescue!

Notice there's NO "yellows" left? That's because she managed to grab them all before I put my camera down to stop her. But I couldn't resist getting pictures to go with the story!

I get teary-eyed thinking about it...

No this isn't any sort of "back to school" picture, but it's one of my little girl who's about to officially start school this year. I know, I know it's still 23 days away (who's counting), but it's August and school starts this month so I've been thinking about it a lot.
I remember my first day of kindergarten.
I remember my teacher.
I remember my friends.
I remember crying while my mom tried taking a picture of me in front of the Sonoma Elementary school sign.
I remember the blue dress I wore.
It's hard for me to imagine, I have my very own little girl who is going to soon make these same memories that will last a lifetime. So what does this mean for me... tears!
I can't even look at this picture for some reason. It just makes me tear up. It's so genuine and so my little Sky Hannah Banana! You're growing up way too fast sweet girl. Will you stop it already?

"Super fassss..."

My little Brookey has caught onto the idea of a "superhero" and that they can go "super fasss..." This week she noticed Jett's superhero underwear and insisted I put them on over her swimsuit so she could be "super fasss." I allowed it cause it was so stinkin' cute of a request! This morning, she found a hat and Jett's superman cape. I heard her begin to chase the kids around the house saying "I super fasss, I get you." The kids laughed and began a whole game of Super Heroes out to save Care bear, T-Rex and Puppy (the stuffed animals they sleep with).

4th of July part 1

I want to post something from the 4th of July weekend, cause it was SUPER FAB! My dear friend Suzanne has made it a tradition for her family to go up to Park City every year and stay in a condo to watch the fireworks. The condo is right in front of where they let them off so it's an incredible view. I have always been sad when it comes time for fireworks. My husband, just doesn't like to go out in the dark and hang out in a large crowd of people. He thinks it's just too unsafe with little ones. One year we did go, my sister had her purse stolen just as the fireworks were beginning and everyone was looking up, someone came and snatched it. This has always confirmed his feeling that it's just not something to participate in. I love fireworks so it's always been a bummer of a night. This year was different. Suzanne invited my family to come hang out with them and spend the weekend in Park City. She's the best... and so was the weekend!
I took a few pictures of us at the parade, and hanging out which I will go through and post next, but for now I'll leave you with some Suzanne took of me and my family (like I said, she's the best)! The night of the 4th we had planned to just cook a Costco Lasagna and have salad and bread to go with it. We got some ho's and hums from the men who thought that was wrong to eat as a 4th of July dinner. Okay, so we headed out, but by the time we left we found that places were closed (for the 4th of course). So we ended up getting burgers and fries at Wendy's. On the way back to our condo, I saw an awesome little rundown house/barn like thing and asked Suzanne's family to pull over there so we could take a few pictures in our outfits. Here are a few she took of my family... Note: I wasn't planning on having pictures taken thus the reason my hair is in a pony tail... but what the heck! I still love that I have a family picture with all three of my kids in it.
Thanks Suzanne!!!

Priceless story! Pun intended!

The other night I was becoming frustrated with the fact that bedtime just isn't going as smoothly now that it's summertime. The kids want to stay up later or after they've been put in bed they come down ten minutes later and ask if they can stay up "just a few more minutes?" On the occasion that we've given in, we've regretted every second of it. The kids just can't make it past a certain hour and although we'd like to be nice parents, it just doesn't work to let them stay up. So, dealing with frustration I said to the kids, "If you don't get in bed and stay in bed the first time I ask I will take away your dinosaur and puppy (the stuffed animals the kids have to sleep with). They continued to play and ignore the requests to get pajamas on and brush their teeth. So, I quietly went and grabbed T-Rex and Puppy. About a half hour later after the requests had turned to grumbling and I was handed this piece of paper. Sky noticed that I had taken the animals away and handed me "money" to "buy them back." I was told "You and Daddy have lots of money and I have to make my own."

Backtracking... (just one month though).

I never mentioned anything about my birthday this year. How dare I do that when I had such a great birthday. I don't like birthdays really. I don't care to do anything terribly exciting. I just like to know that I can drop my kids off at my parents so I can go out to eat and to a movie with my husband. That's all I really care for. I don't expect or want any presents, I just want to enjoy the night with my husband. Don't take me wrong, I love my kids but I see them EVERY DAY and a lot of the times in the MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT! So, for my birthday that's all I really care to get out of it... a night out.

This year my husband surprised me with something so thoughtful and full of love. You may not think it's a big deal, but for me it meant more than getting even my most desired item on my wish list. The last couple years we've planted tomatoes in our backyard. I LOVE homegrown tomatoes! I can eat them whole, plain and enjoy putting them on my sandwiches and hamburgers during the summer months. There's also nothing like yummy, fresh, homemade salsa with homegrown tomatoes. Neils said over and over that this year we WEREN'T going to plant tomatoes, they were a lot of work and he didn't want to do all the work again to have 3 weeks worth of tomatoes. I was bummed, but understood his decision. He was always the one to plant them and then take care of them for several months by making sure they were watered. So, thinking I'd have to steal a few here and there from friends who plant tomatoes every year, my husband goes and surprises me. He went and bought tomato plants (when, I don't know cause he's always working) and then came home and planted them (in the middle of the night I'm guessing) to surprise me on my birthday. Here they are a few weeks later as I anxiously await the first tomato to grow! I can't wait. I know call me crazy, but I seriously LOVE tomatoes! Isn't my husband sweet? I sure thought so. Thank you honey!

Color Queen!

My little Sky can be found coloring or drawing 95% of the time. She LOVES to draw. Sometimes if I ask her a question, she runs over to draw the answer. Kinda nutty, but so cute! Here she is doing what she does best...

Yesterday while I had her in the bathroom doing her hair she said to me, "Mom did you know Spray and Wash MAX gets out 100 stains?" I went along with it... "no really?" I said. "Yes, and you should get some because you don't have the MAX kind, you only have regular." Such a funny little conversation. Things like this make me smile inside. The wonder of a child, their perspective on life, what they internalize and take in from what's going on around them... I love to watch them watch the world. I love you Sky Hannah Banana!

Oh what do you do in the summertime...

when it's raining and cold outside?
You play Hullabaloo with your friends.
What is up with this weather? Let's just say, I'm not a fan! I have normally taken the kids to the pool a couple of times and have gotten a good base tan! :) I'm so sad, my kids LOVE the pool. I really am crossing my fingers that this coming week will be much warmer and we can at least run through the sprinklers or do some summer activity. In the meantime, indoor activities to keep us from going stir crazy!

Hanging out with Suzanne... (what's new?)

Yesterday, I spent the day at Suzannes. Our kids love to play together which makes it nice cause then Suzanne and I get to hang out and talk photography (or whatever else). Suzanne bought a new chair and was showing it to me. My little Brookey jumped right up in it and was kickin' back lovin' it! Suzannes little girl, Lu noticed Brooke and realized she wanted a turn to sit in it. Brooke would not have it. She wanted it all to herself. Lu tried squeezing in and this is what happened. Oh, so sad!
So Brookey walked away and the little Lu that NEVER allows anyone to take her picture sat there for me, staring right at me...


But then, she climbed out and Brooke climbed back in claiming her spot, tears and all. I went to say something to her about how she wasn't being nice and she turned her head to the side and wouldn't even look at me. What attitude.... over a chair!

This is more for me than it is for anyone else...

I use this blog as a way to keep track of things that happen in my life, so that I can either "slurp" it up and put it in a book, or use the stories as reminders when I am making my kids photo books. So sometimes there's not always a picture to go with my post, which is the case today.

This week was an eventful week for me. Jett has decided he's ready to go pee-pee in the toilet. I was so afraid to potty train him. He's been so terribly (more like deathly) afraid of the toilet and I was afraid it was going to take drastic measures to get to this point. Over the last couple of weeks he started staying dry at night. That was a huge step for him in itself cause it used to be that he would soak his diaper so much at night that it would often leak through and get even his bed wet. So, we praised him and told him how great that was. He did it about half the time over a the last two weeks. I was telling my mom this and she said she thinks he might be ready. I have tried along the way (every possible idea/trick but it would just make the process worse and I'd have to back off.) I told her I was afraid to try but I decided to take her advice and go for it, so boxer briefs it was. And success came too! I really couldn't believe how easy it went. Only a couple little leaks here and there but he always caught it and ran into finish. Day three and things are going pretty smooth and he feels so big! The funniest part is that a few weeks ago we were all at Walmart together as a family walking around, looking at toys. Jett really wanted some sword or lightsaber and begged his dad to get it. Neils said, "Jett, I'm so sorry I can't buy this for you. I have to spend a bunch of money on diapers so there's none left to buy toys. Just as soon as we can stop buying diapers I can buy you stuff." As soon as Jett was done going in the toilet that first time he rejoiced and said, "Now Dad can buy me stuff!!"

Brooke is adorable! That's nothing new. I just wanted to remember some of her little things, the things she's going to stop doing in time and if I don't write them down, I'll forget.
Ever since her birthday (and mine a week after hers) she's been walking around singing "Ha-ee, er day to you cha-cha-cha over and over again." Just this week, she's been drawing little things on paper, bringing the paper to me as if it's a card or present and singing that little song. It's so cute!

She also has this little head knod. If you ask her a question, she doesn't usually answer verbally with a yes or an uh-huh, she knods her head up and down in the cutest way. I love it so much that after she does it once, I usually find myself asking her other questions I know she'll say yes to, like "are you adorable?" and "are you my sweet girl?" She knods yes of course and it makes my heart melt. It's just so cute. When she does verbally answer me it's always, "sure" and not yes or uh-huh but "sure." When I think about it, that's usually how I say yes, "sure" so that must be why she does it. In any case, it's cute!

I'm so sad I could cry. I went to Sky's Spring Sing at Challenger this year to watch her perform her songs. I took pictures of her and pictures after of her with her best little friends and her teacher. They're gone. I don't know what happened to them. I didn't upload them to my computer and I can't find them on any of my cards. I'm devastated. Somehow in the mix of being busy, I've lost them and I'm crushed. I can imagine images of her and some with her friends that I wanted so bad to have in her photobook but they're gone. I'm so sad.

Sky is amazingly bright! She starts Kindergarten in the fall and she's so far ahead of the game, I just hope she's not SO totally bored. It's my biggest worry about her right now. I want her to fit in, I want her to be bright, but not awkward. I had such amazing friends growing up, some are still my good friends, I want her to have the same. I just want her to be able to look back at her childhood and have good memories like I do. It's just the beginning for her and it scares me. We talk at night before she goes to bed and often I get teary eyed listening to her sweet little voice. It's a good thing it's dark or she'd see me crying . I always ask her what the best thing about her day was and she tells me and ALWAYS follows it up with the most sincere "I love you mom." In my head, I think "even though I'm not always nice, and sometimes I get upset for no reason" but I know she still loves me.

This week I started working on Photo Books again of my kids. I realized in this last year of working on photography, I focused more on learning and getting the perfect image rather than taking the "every day life / point and shoot" pictures. I have made a vow to now mix the two. I used to be an awesome point and shooter (meaning I took millions of pictures even of uneventful things happening around the house) and now I feel like I've gotten to be a pretty good professional photograper (one that set up a pose, subject and background and get a great image). So now it's time I figure out how to mix the two so my kids can have great every day life professional pictures. My goal going forward is to share those every day life pictures on this family blog of mine.

Family photo shoot...

Yesterday, on the way home from the gym, my little Brookey Brooke was being so stinkin' cute in the car. I thought she'd be tired and fall asleep on the way home, but just the opposite. She was full of it. Saying little words, laughing, giggling and making us all smile. I had a spur of a moment idea to run her home, switch her into her Matilda Jane outfit (cause the Blue Raspberry Ruffles just came) and take her out and do some more pictures. Sky and Jett thought it sounded great and asked if they could bring their cameras too. OF COURSE!!! What nubies. I melted when they asked. So here are a couple of them doing their shoot of Brooke and then a few favorites from what I got.