no shortage of love

Pucker

flip flops

Friends of ours from Michigan, Sarah and Jason, are in the process of adopting a girl from Africa. Sarah's mom is making flip flops to help raise money for their adoption. You can find the flip flops on her blog here. Such a cute idea - thanks for the shoes (she loves them!)

it aint easy being green...

baby feet

I posted this along with my Five for Friday over on my photo blog when you're maintaining more than one blog, it's ok to post a photo in more than one place, right?



I also found this blog post with great ideas for a photo a day. I especially liked this - 365 ideas for photos. I may print that out and hang it above my computer. And speaking of ideas, I'll post my green collage tomorrow, I promise. ;)

snow, snow, go away
come again some other...winter.

I think I'm in need of a creative exercise to get motivated. Two Photogs had a contest a while back on color, and even had a collage you could download to go with it. I never entered the contest, but filed it away in one of my mental lists of things to do later (along with clean the house and sleep). So I think I'll pick a color and post a collage at the end of the week. Anyone else want to try?

Tutu and Santa Hat

She loves to dress up, and I love her combinations. Last week it was a pirate with cowboy boots. And I think she's more in tune with the weather than I am - this about sums up NM right now - Santa hat one day, spring tutu the next...

"when you wake up in the morning...

...it's a quarter to one, and you want to have a little fun, you brush your teeth." Silly song, but I sing it through quarter to five to get my kids to brush their teeth long enough. I have horrible teeth, so I'm always paranoid about my kids.



I thought about posting my Five for Friday here, but decided to post it on my photo blog, since the crickets were chirping over there a little! ;) Too many blogs!!

Blocks

We've gotten some really sweet gifts for our last baby, including several handmade ones. Here's a set of knitted stacking blocks my friend Michele made, who's a fellow beginning knitter (not that you can tell at all!) Maybe it's the sentiment of this being our last baby, but I feel like I just want to document every single moment, every part of his nursery, every outfit and expression...I promise not to post all of them here, just most of them! ;)

Preschool Projects

His first year of preschool, and he comes home with the cutest projects. But I can't keep them all - the igloo made of sugar cubes? Hmmmm...where can I put that so his sister won't eat the whole thing, glue and all? So I've been taking photos of him holding his larger projects, including the snack calendars that come home once a month. Which seems to be a more reasonable way of holding on to those precious memories without having to dedicate a room to them (and the baby is sleeping in the dining room, so we obviously don't have a room to spare)!

spring fever

Normally I enjoy winter more. We don't get much here, so I relish chilly days or snow flurries. This year with a newborn and sick kids, though, I'm ready for spring. Today we spent the entire afternoon in the backyard, and it was wonderful! We broke out the sidewalk chalk, played some hopscotch (well, the preschool version anyway) and the cardboard box you may remember from earlier made its way outside to get decorated with chalk as well (my apologies to our childless neighbors who probably think they live next to the Beverly Hillbillies).

Even the lilacs are starting to show signs of spring...



And now for the afterschool special message for the day: just say "no" to crack...










(I couldn't resist. I'm sure he'll hate me later for this photo, but it may come in handy when I need to blackmail him to get his grades up in school) ;)

Just hanging out...

Ramen with chopsticks

This is probably completely sacreligious, but my four-year-old calls them "Jesus Hair Noodles." And I really can't argue, because I've never thought if it, but that is what they look like...

sometimes they're actually nice to each other

The older two, that is. Big brother is reading the brown bear book he made at school to his little sister. In his chair (with some encouragement). And the baby is always nice to the older two. For now.

in mommy's shoes

Things are looking up...

Cupcakes

We had a guest speaker at my MOMS group today teach us how to decorate cupcakes. What little I caught while pacing with a crying baby was encouraging. After my first attempt at a birthday cake (a story for another time), I've resorted to buying cakes at the store. I might just attempt to decorate some cupcakes for our next birthday party...


Taste-test approved! ;)


The fine art of cupcake decorating was clearly lost on the youngest, however. I guess it isn't as exciting when you don't get to eat them!

Don't look now...

...but I think we may have another thumb-sucker on our hands.

Feeding the Ducks

Thank you to the nice people at the zoo who gave us bread to feed the ducks (after my children started them down at the duck pond...I guess it would be kinda hard not to, but still! ;)

sweet girl

3 months old

Just the boys

February Family Self Portrait

It was taken in February, even though I'm just now getting around to posting it. I'm so spoiled having Kim do our family portraits. We went to the aquarium for a brief getaway this weekend and had time for two quick snaps with the self-timer before getting rained out.

February, oh February. I hope March isn't a repeat, although we aren't off to a great start. We spent the entire month sick. It went from one child to the other with a cough that wouldn't end, a visit to the ER with the baby and then later nebulizer treatments. I'm so ready for cold & flu season to be over. I really wish I had more to post, but really, that was our month. Sick. And now that I'm looking at it, I really should have photoshopped the bags under my eyes...

Ok, so this is cheating. These aren't actually my photos - they're my four-year-olds, taken with his camera he got from Papa in Georgia. They really need to have the minimum shutter speed for kids' cameras set at 500. Anyway, it was fun to download his photos and see life through his eyes in a small way. And you can see what our last two days have been like (see bottom right photo of baby brother on a nebulizer). I actually appreciate him documenting it, because I'm holding the face mask and haven't taken photos...not the three month photos I had in mind, but that's our life right now. I can't wait for spring!!

and one from today

of my messy girl (I'm not even sure what's smeared on her chin...)

one from yesterday

New jellies at the aquarium (well, new since I've been there last)...