Photography Math!

My friend, who happens to be a photographer, graciously spent time and took some family photos a couple of weeks ago. I was playing around with them today and this is what I discovered. Of course, with 4 people it's almost impossible to get everyone to look great all at the same time! Amplify this with a finicky almost 3 year old and you get this.....

But, I found this photo where he was cooperating (sort of!).....

So, if I take the first one, and add little brother from the 2nd one (and subtract my huge zit), I got this......

Amazing! I got a new editing book and am learning tons! (Also, staying up way late and grouchy all day....)

By the way, you can find Lindsey here!

Harvest time!

So our two huge pumpkin vines started many different little pumpkins, all of which wilted away except this one! We went to check on it and found some animal had been gnawing away at it! (Maybe our neighborhood foxes?) So, we figured it was harvest time. The boys and I enjoyed cutting it off the vine and checking out our first pumpkin masterpiece. It was fun to show the kids the process from seed to pumpkin and hoping to carve it later this week. The kids and I enjoyed our little gardening project!

We also did some initial decorating for fall and Halloween. The kids loved the new cling-on bats and bugs and had fun sticking them all over. I made these little BOO letters! Of course, what's Halloween without spider webs? With all this decorating, I'm thinking it's time to plan a Halloween party!

Fall is here!

Finally, it felt like fall today. It was the first day the boys wore pants and long sleeve shirts. It was the first morning we needed a thin jacket. It was the first time it felt like we weren't sweating on our walk to school!

While running errands, I noticed this street filled with trees beginning to change color. When I realized they had cute matching outfits, I couldn't resist to stop and take a couple of photos. Little brother loves to dress up just like his big brother!

(This collage came out pretty small. You can click on it to see more details.)

As you can see, the kids are not easy to get to stand still. I actually think the "action" ones are cuter anyways!

Now, if it would only stay "Fall" for a while. Not ready for the snow to start flying!

Friday Favorites

 Well, my goal in this whole blogging thing is two part:
     1. To update family on the happenings of our boys.
     2. To print out and keep as a memory book of our family memories.

That said, I thought I'd start a recap of my favorite things from each week and call it Friday Favorites!

Let me honest and say that my days are not all filled with picture moments and memories I want to cherish forever. I have my piles of laundry, sibling rivalry (plus some), my to-do list a mile long, just like everyone else. I thought this would be a good way to head into the weekend focusing on the positives!

So, here goes--- My First Friday Favorites:
1. I found a new place to work out and can bring my youngest with me (w/o childcare)! WOOOHOOO! (Doing this with a few mom's from school. It's been fun to make new friends!)

2. I had a great day reconnecting with old friends at a "New Home Brunch" yesterday.

3. A favorite funny moment this week: While studying for Bible Blast with big brother, I asked, "What is the white stuff that fell from heaven to feed the Israelites?" His answer... "Mayonnaise!" (should have been manna!)

Action shot from his last intro Tae Kwon Do class

4. I started chemistry tutoring again this week. I love working with kids and using my brain in ways it hasn't been used in quite some time!

5. My hubby isn't scheduled travel at all this month (yet) and gets to take a free day off of work before the end of October!

6. The signs of fall, despite the heat! We added this to our house this week... Ours is the "thankful" one.
The other was a house warming gift for the above mentioned New Home Brunch!

(Ours is now empty and will remain that way, unless I can think of an easy and healthy treat that will stay without being refrigerated. What's the point of working out if I eat bags of candy corn all week?)

7. This little guy loves his new Yoda Costume. He's worn it around the house daily since buying it. The other morning, I warned him not to poop while wearing it. His response? "Yoda doesn't poop, mommy!"

8. Had $5 free to spend at Ace. Bought the boys their own pack of silly bands. Now, they don't have to fight over the 8 we used to have. Can you feel the love?

9. Found 2 new favorite websites:

     http://blog.fossil.com/   This is a fun one, with clothing, diy projects, inspirations, etc! I love Fossil     

        stuff!

     http://cleanmama.blogspot.com/  This one has a lot of organizational and cleaning tips. I am looking         

        forward to searching around her blog and steal some ideas! My house could use a good deep 

        cleaning. I saw a series on deep cleaning, step by step!

10. Looking forward to some family photos this weekend and inspired by this Halloween display from Pottery Barn Kids

This is next week's project!

Happy Weekend!

Half way there...

Well, he's officially potty-trained, half-way at least!

While that probably doesn't make a whole lot of sense to some of you, to others you've been there! He's wearing his "unnerwears" every where- to the stores, school, zoo, pool, etc. He isn't having accidents. He's running to his potty and even going all by himself. Half-way there!

We are not changing wet diapers anymore. (Are you starting to get it yet?) However, we are still changing the bad stuff! Whenever it's time for that, he asks, "Am I wearing unnerwears?" To which I reply, "YES!" Then, he proceeds to get his pull-ups and refuse to use the potty!

So, as I said before, he's officially potty trained, but only half-way!

Any advice to get him all the way there? (I've already tried bribery and shameless begging- to no avail!

And since it's no fun to just read, here's a picture of my cutie! I had to crop it at his waist because he ran out from using the potty and forgot to get dressed below! I guess the half way thing is just his style!

I guess even Darth Vader himself has to pee sometimes!

A day in the mountains

After seeing beautiful photos on my friend's blog, we decided to head up to Burning Bear Creek. It's about an hour away and was rated as an easy hike for kids. We were hoping to see some of the beautiful fall leaves, but we were a little late as most had blown off. We did see a few. Even without the leaves, it was a beautiful hike along a creek and in and out of the trees. We hiked about an hour in and an hour out. The kids really liked our adventure. There was constant commentary on the cow poop that lined the path and at one point, we actually had to move out of the way for a small herd of cows! It was the closest my kids have been to cows before! We found a teepee and had to explore. Took at snack break by the river and the kids enjoyed throwing sticks and rocks. All in all, I'm glad we copied our friends and spent the day in the fresh fall air! We'll be doing this more often for sure!

At the trailhead

 After about an hour in, I finally found my fall leaves!

The teepee we found

 Throwing sticks into the river.

 We explored a little waterfall. I'll have to admit that the little guy makes me a little nervous around water and rocks!

 Big brother took this!

One of the cows that crossed our path! 

6 going on 16!

This boy, this one here.....

is breaking my heart! He's growing up faster by the day.

I am not ready for all the changes and growing up that is happening each day around here! I'm used to picking his friends, knowing their parents, dropping him off (or staying!) for playdates with people I know well. I'm used to knowing many (probably too many) of the details of his day. I'm used to wishing I had a little more time to myself. 

But, as I sit here and write, this boy was picked up by a mom I barely know to play with a boy that I barely know at a house I have never been to before. It's killing me! But, he was so excited, so proud, so responsible (even packed himself a snack to take!) 

And, to top it off, he'd rather go to his friend's house than with me to the zoo tomorrow. What is happening?!?

He did make my heart smile when he told me he was "so lucky to come home every day for lunch and to be with me, instead of go to enrichment like the other kids." 

I guess I'll take him when I can get him! And, to be honest, I am proud of the boy he's becoming, proud of his reaching out and making friends, proud of his hard work learning at school and proud of the caring  brother and son he is.

Pictures Galore!

Here are a few of my favorites from my attempt to get updated photos. I didn't intend to do family ones, but we set up the timer and shot a few anyways! We are having a friend/photographer do some family ones in a couple of weeks. These were cute enough though!

Little Brother had just fallen and scraped his knee- thus, the weird pose in the photo above!

Love this one!

One of my faves!

(Family- if you want any copies, let me know what size and which photo. I'll be happy to order some for you! I already have some printed and ready to hang around here!

Preview

This is a quick preview of a "photoshoot" I did with the boys tonight! More to come later this week...

"See" 3PO and a funny cake story...

This really shouldn't be another Star Wars Post, but I couldn't help but share what little brother said to make us all laugh today.  Big brother was doing his "Sight Words Flashcards" and correctly read "See" and little brother immediately said "3-P-O". Sometimes he's hilarious without even trying!

In other news, I got a new lens for my camera. It's called a "nifty fifty". Anyways, it's a low cost fun little lens that can get up close and give those fun blurry backgrounds. Here's a trial I did of little brother the other night while resting from riding his bike...

I did a little editing. Here was the original...

Besides removing the leaves from his face, you can probably see a difference in the tone of his skin. I warmed it up, softened the skin in some areas, and sharpened his eyes and lips and hair. I don't edit all my photos, but this one was way better for doing a quick edit. Thought I'd share...

I promised a quick story about the Death Star Cake from last weekend's Star Wars Bash. So, here goes! 

I woke up was awakened by a sweet little boy before the sun rose. By 6:30am, I had already baked 1/2 of the cake. Feeling pretty productive, you know! Took big brother to school, rushed home to work on the surprise bedroom for the few hours I had. I put little brother on my bed to watch a show (well, a few shows). I was amazed at how good he was while I was preoccupied with my project. About 5 minutes before we had to leave to pick up brother from school, he came in, mouth full of chocolate, mumbling "I found birthday treats". I said calmly, "Is that Brother's birthday cake?" 

(Okay- I freaked out- not really a time of calmness!)

To which he cried and screamed and dripped chocolate saliva-covered chunks all over my bathroom. After getting him cleaned up, we came downstairs to leave and I found this:

and this:

and many more crumbs mashed into chairs, couches, and carpeting. We ran out the door and headed straight to Chick-fil-A for lunch. I couldn't bare another mess. Once I got home and could see the humor in it all, I snapped the above pictures. If only I'd seen the humor sooner, I could have shared the chocolate mess that occurred upstairs! 

It's a good thing he's so cute!

This was taken helping me bake the new cake!

So, lesson learned, TV is not a good babysitter!