Back to School!

Another summer gone and a new school year begun! First out the door are the mighty High Schoolers! Two of them at this house! Notice that Dad is really sad to have them go...

One slight difference this year... That is not a school bus...

 And who is that in the driver's seat? Watch out world!  Mom is only freaking out a little bit!

And off they go!

 Next round, and Mr. Sam is off to Junior High! Say it isn't so!

Off to catch the bus... which came about 40 minutes late or so...

 And round three!  Last, but not least, off to elementary school we go!

 Carter got to bring a "stuffed buddy" to school the first day...

So the best part of the day came when I walked these two down to the school and gave them hugs and kisses goodbye.  While giving Carter a hug I said, "I am going to be so lonely today!" And without missing a beat he said, "Then get a dog!"

And so it begins!

The Dukes of Hazard and A Paltry Week Four

My picture challenge keeps getting more and more paltry.  I am hanging on by a thread, but still hanging on.  We'll see how long I last.  On a positive note, I have, at least, posted much more on my blog in the last month than I did all last year!  So, if my picture a day isn't going so well, at least I am recording some memories, right?
So I am not even going to do a day by day of this last week because it would be pitiful.  But I will show what I have...
First off, meet Duke...

Duke was given to Carter this last Christmas by Sydney and quickly became a favorite friend. A couple of weeks ago Carter snuck Duke off to church with him in his scripture bag, and after that day we couldn't seem to find him anywhere.  I asked Carter if he was sure he brought him home that day from church and he assured me he had, remembering that he had buckled him into the car seat next to his to make sure he was safe.  He told me he brought him in and threw him down on the floor in the laundry room.
We searched the laundry room. Carter became concerned that maybe he had fallen in the garbage can that sits under his hook and I began to wonder too.
Two weeks went by and no trace of Duke.  Then, a couple of days ago, I went in to wake Carter up in the morning and in his sleepy little voice he asked me if I could hand Duke to him.  I said, "Carter, Duke is lost remember, we haven't found him yet."  Sad Carter eyes. "Oh, I was dreaming about him Mom."  Sad Mommy eyes.
That day I was at Walgreens and there on the shelf was a little Duke. Needless to say, he came home with me and waited anxiously on the table for Carter to home.
And, as you all predicted, a couple of days later Duke the first showed up in our basement (yes, I realize that says something about our basement) So now Carter has what we lovingly refer to as the "Dukes of Hazard".

Happy Birthday Dear Carter!

Birthday time has come around again for Carter, and this year is the big 6 for him!  We decided a Lego birthday party might be fun for a Lego loving boy!

Carter had a very distinct vision for his birthday cake.  He wanted a race track, but instead of cars, he wanted Lego people running a race.  He picked out the contestants for the race himself, and among them we had a Storm Trooper, a Ninja and, of course, Yoda!  Tyler was kind enough to build the stands for the spectators, a few of them even have ice cream!

Ah, what a smile!!

                                                    Just waiting for the party to start!!

One of the favorite activities of the day was Lego car building and racing.  My big boys were great helpers!  They were right there ready to help the little boys with wheels and design ideas!

Another fun activity was beating up on the Pinata!  Steve was super brave and actually came away unscathed.




Not the best picture, but I love Carter's face in this picture, and Jackson's in the background!

                                                     And then time to enjoy some cake!

                                                 Happy Birthday Carter! We Love You!!

Week Three

Week three was a really bad picture taking week.  We will just put that out there right at the start.  Steve's sister Ann came to visit, which was awesome and while it should have led to more picture taking, I seemed to get derailed instead. But, we will just work with what we have here and do our best...
Day One: Nada
Day Two: Zip
Day Three: For your viewing pleasure, a grainy phone camera picture of me and Sam first thing in the morning. Sam and I spend about 40 minutes alone in the morning as Spencer and Tyler have already left, and Syd and Carter are still sleeping. We have a bit of a routine we go through, and in the winter part of that routine includes sitting on the vents trying to get warm. (No judging here)  I used to do this when I was a little girl, and I would use my nightgown to make a warm, snuggly tent.  Seeing as I don't wear nightgowns anymore, I resort to a quilt.  Sometimes Sam and I share the vent and the quilt, sometimes we each take our own vent as in this picture...

Day Four: Family Game night with Ann...

Day Five: Um, no good
Day Six: Belgian Waffles baby! Just take a look at those pockets of sugar! Need I say more?

Just pile that sucker up with some berries and cream! Yum!

Ann helped me do a little project while she was here.  Saturday was gorgeous and sunny, so we spent a good deal of time out in the garage where I learned how to use a scroll saw.  So fun!

Day Seven: Sunday night I started to feel really yucky.  My throat was hurting and I was pretty certain I was getting sick. Steve was up and getting me some hot cranberry sipper before I knew it.  So, while it is another grainy cell phone pic, I offer it up as evidence of my sweet man.

Picture Challenge Week Two

So, I am not doing super great at my goal, but I am still trying! I haven't given up yet!!

Week Two, January 18- 24:

My kids didn't have school on Monday (Jan 18) so Tyler invited his friend Brian over and they had a "Chopped Challenge" Part two.  Part one is, as yet, undocumented, but perhaps I can get that up on the blog soon too.  The boys decided to do a dessert edition this go round and asked me to choose three ingredients that they had to use in their dish.  I chose Candy Canes, Crispix and chocolate chips.  I am super frustrated with myself because I didn't take any pictures of the two chefs themselves! What kind of photographer misses the two main characters!!! But I do have picture of their creations, and their judges.  Brian created a puppy chow/popcorn mix.  In the middle of his creation you can see his peppermint "stained glass" (made by melting his candy canes in the oven).

 Tyler attempted cookies (which is really hard without a recipe) and really ended up with more of a chocolate pancake.  In the face of that  derail he just went with it and created a chocolate sauce and sprinkled candy canes over top.  A little dollop of whipped cream can't hurt either!

 Sydney and Carter were brave enough to be the judges of this cooking challenge.  Carter's vote went to Brian and his "Puppy-corn" and Sydney's vote went to Tyler and his "Choco-cakes".  At the end of the day a tie isn't such a bad thing!

 Day two was a belated picture of Carter with his Birthday Banner.  Steve helped me make this and for the letter T he wrote:"TOP DOG".  When Carter was reading his banner he couldn't quite figure out how Top Dog was a good thing. :)

 Day Three: I was sitting working at my computer when I looked at my shamrock plant sitting in the window and thought how pretty the leaves were with the sun reflecting through them.  So this became the subject for my pic.  Didn't turn out looking like I imagined, but that is sadly often how it goes!

 Day four: Bombed that one!
Day five: Carter woke up that morning complaining of a stomach ache and while I tried to convince him that he should still go to school, his big eyes and sad countenance convinced me otherwise, especially when he expressed his concern about getting his friends at school sick.  I caved and Carter stayed home.  He laid on the couch for about an hour before he was up playing and feeling much better.  It actually turned out to be a very fun day for me! I loved having my little buddy back for the day! We spent some time playing, and reading, which I tried to capture here... (I read an article a woman wrote about taking pictures of moments in your day-with you in them- that you spend with your kids- not an easy task, but I tried)

Day Six: Flop!!

Day Seven: Sydney ended up with a song from her lessons that she LOVED!  So, of course, she has been playing it over and over again (which I love, just being clear that that wasn't a complaint).  It is kind of a fun, upbeat, repeating chord pattern that she likes to play around with, going slower, faster and even in different keys.  On Sunday night she sat down to play, and Steve decided to join her, doing a "Heart and Soul" kind of thing where he just made it up as he went.

And that is Week two.  The whole point of this challenge for me is to take pictures more, and especially to take more pictures of the moments I wouldn't normally capture. (I still need to get some of my bigger kids in these pictures!)

My Personal Photo Challenge- Week One

So here's my goal for the New Year, and just so you know it was a goal that was broken even before it was set (if that can be done).  For the year 2016 I would like to take one picture a day.  Now I know that this is not anything earth shattering, and that there are all kinds of "picture-a-day" challenges and so forth, but, I am going to go easy on myself and simply shoot (pardon the pun) for one picture a day.  My reasoning for this goal?  To continue using my camera and try to improve my photography, and more importantly, to focus each day on the little things that make life good.  I am going to try (oh how I am going to try) to post those pictures a week at a time on this blog (which no one really visits anymore, so it should be pretty safe:)).  As you can see, I am already behind, but not beaten yet!

 And the first week of my own picture taking challenge:

Day One, January 7

Day One actually gets two pictures.  I took these in the morning as I was getting my two little ones out the door.  I really wanted to capture Carter's cute, toothless grin!

I took this one because, well, how many times do we go through this little routine of getting reading each morning?   It may feel mundane now, but someday I may want to remember what this all looked like.  The backpacks, the coats, the buses and the "waiting for brother".

Day Three, January 9 (yes, I already missed a day, but I did have two pictures for the first day!) 

Mr. Carter took it all upon himself to shovel the driveway! He actually did a pretty great job too!  

Day Four, January 10

This was a bitter cold day here in Illinois. This was my attempt at showing that!

Day Five, picture two

Sydney and I tried to battle the cold by making hot, steamy rolls! YUM!

Day Six, January 12 (yes, another skipped day)

Had to capture the morning practice time, bedhead and all!

Day Six, Picture two (which will have to make up for the lack of a Day Seven)

I have always loved this little girl's long fingers and pretty hands.

Okay, there is week one.  Not perfect, but an effort.  I realized from looking through this first week that one might assume that I only have two children.  I am going to work on getting the others on film too! (Little ones are much more compliant where posing for pictures is concerned!)