belly pics

I want to be a really good photographer. Of course, I want this to happen on its own. I want to be naturally good at it...yeah, pretty sure that is not going to happen. Now that my kids are older, I've let myself spend more time with my camera. I'm on a mission to find new subjects that will let me take up their time in hopes that they'll get one or two decent pictures out of it, and I'll get some good practice. I hope Jamie and Kevin find something they are happy with after today's shoot. It wasn't nearly as terrifying as I thought it would be. It was fun! I learned a lot, and I'm so appreciative of their time. (And thanks Joe for building the backdrop for me!)

How cute are they?!?

Less than a month to go!

Some peoples say it's cheesy, but we just had to do the heart...I like it :)

By the way if you need pictures taken of yourself or your kids, give me a call...I still need A LOT of practice!

let's find a Christmas tree!

About 12 or so years ago I had the brilliant idea that we should cut our own Christmas tree. Not go pay to cut a nice tree, but a good ole fashion Charlie Brown tree. We live on 13 acres, how hard can it be to find a decent tree? Let me tell you, it's hard. It's really hard. After the fiasco last year (the thing was so spindly it actually fell over), I said enough. Of course this meant breaking the "tradition" that I somehow created. The kids were sad. And I was a little sad too. I grew to like those hikes and snowmobile rides through the woods. Even if they resulted in a not even close to perfect tree.

After I convinced the kids that getting all the ornaments on the tree without it toppling over was a good thing, we decided we would go buy one from our church this year. Then we had an idea, tree farm? Gabe shouts, "Yes! Everybody wins!"

And everyone did win! A nice hike on a gorgeous day through stands of way closer to perfect Christmas trees. We have a tree with more than 5 branches! Life is good.

look who got her ears pierced

Her dad finally said "I think you're ready to take care of your ears if you want to get them pierced..." and that's all it took. I promptly took Ava to the mall on Saturday. Without a second thought she hopped in the chair and the rest is history. She never cried or freaked out in the slightest. That is saying a lot for Ava! She's taking great care of them, and she is really, really proud :)

15 minutes of fame

Our niece Holly works in marketing and decided Ava was cuter than the stock photos she had at her disposal. She did a photo shoot with her over the weekend and has already created this banner to put in one of their stores. So what if nobody in that town knows us and we'll never be at that store. It was still fun!

happy birthday tara!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear TTTTTTTARA!!!!! Happy Birthday to you! Hope you catch a big one on your special day!

ava's in kindergarten!

I know for a lot of parents it's bittersweet when their baby goes to kindergarten. That's how I felt when Gabe started at least. With Ava, I did not have this feeling. Not one bit. She is ready. She has been ready for almost a year now in my opinion. She is so anxious to learn. She is mad she doesn't know how to read or tie a shoe yet. She gets frustrated when she can't make her little 'g' just right. She brings her "homework" to the before/after school program and works on it before she plays. She wears her "glasses" to school when she's feeling extra studious. (she doesn't really wear glasses by the way) She's a teachers pet, social butterfly, class clown all wrapped into one. I love it! Ava starting school has been so much fun. She raises her hand at dinner now when she wants to say something, and she shows off a new skill or tells at least one story about what she did each day. When I asked her the first week of school who she sat by at lunch, here's what she told me.

Ava: "I sat by Pavo"
Me: "Pablo?"
Ava: "NO....PAVO"
Me: "Pavo?"
Ava: "Yes, but he told me to call him avocado because his name is hard to say. And he calls me banana. Well, I call him Mr. Avocado and he calls me Mrs. Banana."

Now that is something I need to remember!

back to school

I am so far behind with blogging, that I don't even know where to begin. I'm imagining the next several posts to be extremely random and haphazard. A whole last half of the summer, including Gabe's birthday, summer camping, soccer games and so much more has gone on. I guess we were having too much fun for me to stop and blog. For now, I'll start in the middle. Gabe's first day of school. Not such a big deal under normal circumstances. He's in 3rd grade now, he knows the ropes...right? Except this year, less than one week before school started, we found out Gabe was accepted to a local charter school. Great! Except we had to switch gears, return school clothes, try to find uniforms (who knew tan pants without cargo pockets were that tough to find), and, oh yeah, sell Gabe on leaving his friends and starting over at a new school.

We did it! I still am not sure how we got Gabe from "No. No thank you. Absolutely not." to "Yes, mom please, I want to go..." in less than a one hour conversation. But we did, and we are so thankful for it. Gabe has been a real trooper. He misses his friends while he slowly makes new ones. The longer school days and more specialized time have already made a difference. He's been proud of his progress and improvements. We are so proud of him! And really, he looks so good in the uniform.