The way she giggles…the way she tosses her blonde curls out of her face… the way she squinches her nose when she smiles…makes my heart smile.  Yesterday when I went to get her from her nap she jumped out of her closet wearing what else, but her little fairy wings complete with wand and headband.  She bounced all the way to school and back trying to fly.  “I flied!” She would exclaim as she jumped up and flapped her arms vigorously.

“Wow!  You did!”  I would say.

Did my wings do this?” (waving her wings up and down with her hand)

“They did!”

“Woooah, AWESOME!” (completely amazed at herself)

“It’s a great day for a fairy!”  More like, “faiwee.”  One of my favorite phrases from her thus far.  That it is little one.  That it is.

I’ve been pondering this idea around for a while now of somehow constructing a hot air balloon for Landry’s 8 month pics.  Basically, I’m obsessed with hot air balloons (and babies) so I couldn’t think of something more fun.  Since Landry just started sitting it’s the perfect time! We drove out to Mike’s hunting spot right before sunset on a Sunday in mid October, but the wind had picked up a little in the afternoon, and after getting every one dressed and ready and out to the country, we quickly realized that our poor little balloon was not going to fair very well, and was probably going to blow away.  So home we went (defeated, and sad).  Thankfully I have a very understanding and accommodating husband because by Monday, the very next day, our hot air balloon was losing it’s spunk and it had to be the day.  I had a very tiny window..the balloon was deflating (and that puppy cost $15 to inflate!), and seeing as it was mid October, it’s unlikely I’m going to get another day like this. Since daylight is limited (and we were losing it quickly), Mike left work 10 min early (gasp!) so we could do a TAKE 2!  The weather couldn’t have been more perfect or still, and while the balloon was, eh, I could think of a million things I could change with it…my kids were perfection.  We even chased a coyote away from our spot.   Couldn’t have done it without my mom and Mike, trying to make a baby smile and rounding up kids.  We got some “forever” shots, and it made for a memorable hour right before sunset! And to make the evening even more perfect, as we were loading up the cars we saw 2 REAL hot air balloons in the sky! Every day since the kids have asked me when we are going to go back to “the field” to take pictures! So glad they had fun, because that’s all that matters in the end! Still going through the 500 pics I took, but here are my favorites!    

UP, UP AND AWAY…

If you don’t understand my chosen title for this blog it’s okay, you wouldn’t unless you were here everytime Tanner tried to tell someone where he was going on vacation.  We’re going to the AZARKS (ponders the word that came out of his mouth)…ARZARKS…ORZORKS…wait for it…OZARKKS!! WE’RE GOING TO THE OZARKS!!  There it is.  It’s not his fault, he gets his confusion from his mother.  She booked this trip and the whole time thought she was taking everyone to her old home state of Arkansas (silly lady).  Oh, and in case you’re wondering, Lake of the Ozarks is NOT in Branson either.  I know, I was just as shocked.  With all this confusion it’s amazing we all made it here with no problems (Mike drove).

This is our last (and first) family hurrah before school starts for Tan man in 1 week!  1st GRADE…I’m not ready for this.  While I knew the kids would enjoy staying here on the lake in our somewhat cabin-like room, I’m going to be honest, the first night was not easy.  Landry did not settle down for more than an hour at a time until about 4am.  Once he finally fell asleep, a monsoon hit (not exaggerating) for the remainder of the dark morning hours so I think it’s safe to say Mike and I have had about 5 hours of combined sleep over the past 2 nights.  We’re tired.  But we’re not going to let that detour us.  The wasps and bees around this place are giving me a heart attack, and it’s a little too woodsy for my liking.  I like to see what I’m dealing with and the trees hide what may be lurking. Landry was screaming last night and we couldn’t just take him out of the room to walk him around in the dark woods (spiders, ticks, spiders, etc…), so it was really hard to get the kids to sleep and then stay asleep when he was crying all night.

Day1:

The kids were all excited to wake up and look out at the lake.  Sam went on the waterside at the pool about 100 times and Tanner went twice, and 0 if you count the times I carried him up the stairs and onto to slide kicking and crying.  He loved it both times but couldn’t push back his fears of the slide by going by himself.  Call me mean.  I call it, “prepping him for the real world.”  Sometimes in life someone’s going to gently nudge you down a slide.  You may not want to at first, but if you can push your fears aside and make the plunge, you might actually really enjoy it.  Oh, and I did go with him if that makes a difference.  Hoping he’ll do it again tomorrow…by himself.  The boys fished while the younger two napped and then Sam joined them.  The most excited I’ve seen them was when the ducks came over and they got to feed them honey nut cheerios.  I tried to snap as many pics as I could from our balcony so I didn’t get any close ups.

 Swimming all morning >>>

Look at all the boats!…hmmmm

Time to go fishing…

I noticed this after I was going through photos the next day.  Mike had fake teeth in and kept trying to get Sam’s attention…it didn’t work 🙂

Day 2:

We promised the kids we’d do the indoor water park at our resort today even though I think it may be chillier tomorrow and rainier too but we went anyway.  Nobody would go down the water slides.  I’m pretty sure I spotted the only wasp that happened to make it’s way indoors as well.  We took a break from the water park and went to the outside pool in the afternoon.  The bees and wasps were horrible.  Seriously, why can’t those things just leave me alone!!  My anxiety was at an all time high on this trip, but I think it’s safe to say we all managed to salvage some fun.   Sam fell asleep on our 5 minute drive to dinner. Then it was a couple of chapters from Charlotte’s Web before bed.

At least somebody’s safe from the bees..

In the car for 5 seconds..

Day 3:

Rain rain, go away!!  It rained most of the day.  We last minute decided to take the kids to see Planes movie on opening day.  Tanner was so excited, he brought his “planes” with him to the theater.  We finally got to the window only to find out that the guy in front of me bought the last 4 tickets!  Needless to say, Tanner was pretty disappointed.  Situation quickly diverted as we headed into the nearest ice cream shop.  We ran in the pouring rain to our cabin and the kids giggled and thought that was so fun!  We fished again, fed the ducks and geese again and swam…again.

Well, since I’m finally starting to come out of that “having a newborn” fog I wanted to post some pictures of our littlest peanut.  Wow, 5 months (this used to read, “3 months…and then 4 months) really flies when you’re sleep deprived.  I feel like by the time they’re 3 months old you start to ask yourself where the time goes because it was only seconds ago that they were born but the truth is, for me anyway, that I’ve been walking around in this fog for his entire life which is probably why I cant remember him being a newborn already (only kidding…sort of).

 Here are some pics of our sweet boy.  I’ve been working on this short little post for over two months so I’m  just going to post it because he would turn 1 by the time I finish it.  Coming to the realization that with 3 kids I will forever start things that most likely won’t ever get finished.  I’ll start with the birth day and a few hospital pics for now…#small victories

Introducing:

A few more of my favorite pics of the 500 I took (we had a lot of down time)

New Year’s resolutions that is.  I usually go all balls to the walls when it comes to New Years resolutions.  Normally I have a pluthera of ways I want to better and challenge myself.  This year however, I didn’t make any…yet.  Maybe because we have a baby coming soon and my goal as of now is to just survive the rest of the pregnancy, delivery and post surgical recovery that I can’t see past that to something that resembles more of normalcy in our everyday lives yet.  I do have one resolution though and that is to seriously learn how to use my dslr camera.  I mean to really get to know it, and not just in a ‘Hey, how you doin’, sort of way.  I’ve gotten slightly better over the past couple years since getting it, but there is so much that goes into capturing a moment and being the perfectionist that I am, I want to capture the BEST of each and every moment.  I would rather have 1 amazing, memorable photo from a day, than a bunch of mediocre, and most likely blurry and out of focus ones.  So, if there is anyone reading this who has some tips on capturing great photos, please do share.  I’m also in the market for a new lens.  Preferably one for taking portraits of some sort. I’ve researched some, but in this case I would just like the opinions and tips from my friends.  Reading about lenses and all the millions of details of camera settings is hard to contain in my small brain.  I feel like I’ve spent hours, even days reading blogs and tutorials on how to use my camera appropriately and I’ve gotten nowhere.  Probably taking a class would help a lot, but since I don’t know when I’ll get around to that, asking you all for tips is the next best thing right now.  So please, HELP!!!  Here are a few photos I’ve taken recently…

These photos are with my 75-300mm lens which I use for all things sports and far away outside stuff.  These are a few pics from Tanner’s first hockey tournament.

Here our a few with my 18-55mm lens that I use on a daily basis…

                                                                   Sam playing peek a boo

                                                       Christmas time at Lauritzen Gardens

Of course I did some minor editing in iphoto, but it would be nice to have another photo shop editing tool.  I don’t want to spend a lot of money on a program, especially before I can really start to understand my camera.

What photo editing tools is everyone using?  Am I the only camera dummy here?

Wow, it’s been awhile since I updated this thing, which means I’ll be working backwards to get posts up regarding summer birthdays, first day of Kindergarten and everything else I’ve neglected the past 6 months ;)…

Well fall break was full of pumpkin patches, visits from out of town family, trick or treating and how could we ever forget the rapid spreading of the flu throughout our household and beyond.  The kids and I finally got to meet the newest member of the family, their cousin and our nephew Triston.  What a sweet baby.  They couldn’t stop leaning over him, patting him, holding him and feeding him.  When they weren’t swooning over Triston, they were wrestling and playing football with Caiden.  The weekend visit went way too fast, but we couldn’t have had more fun.

Here are some pics of the crew…

                                                           
                                                Baby Triston 4 months old!

                                                               Tanner loves him!!

                                                             
                                       Dance class- “dress up in costume” day

                                             Me and my sweet baby girl 😉

                                 Watching her baby cousin very carefully…

                                               The men reading the Sunday paper

                  Skinny Bones Pumpkin Patch- Uncle Jim with the boys

                                            Sam holding still to get her face painted

                                                         
                                                             Going on a hayrack ride

                                  Love this photo of Tanner and Uncle Mike 🙂

                                                            Spooktacular at the Zoo

                                                              Neema with the oldest 3

                                                                 Sam and auntie Laura

                                                              Caiden with a skeleton

If they would have just called it “last day of school” I would have been fine, but of course they have to call it “Preschool Graduation” so naturally I was a crying mess.  I was pregnant with Sam when I took Tanner to his first day of preschool 2 1/2 years ago and I cried then.  We’ve been preparing for this day for 2 1/2 years and it’s still hard for me to stomach that he’s going to be a Kindergartener, and then the next thing you know he’s off to college or getting married. I said to myself last night that in 10 years (and 2 months) I’m going to have a 16 year old and I can’t handle it. The years fly by now and someone put it best when they said that at this age that the kids are the days are long but the years go by so fast. It’s completely true.

Anyway, so we have a graduate now and I feel confident that he is as ready as he’ll ever be for Kindergarten, and I’m so excited for his journey.

                           January 2010: First day of school-3 1/2 yrs old

                                                         Doesn’t even look back… *tear*

                                                                   
                                                                  Tanner and Owen

                                                                        Lot’s of snow!

                                                                   Me and my baby 😉

                        August 2011: First Day of last year of preschool

                                         Last day of preschool…gifts for the best teachers ever!

                                    Graduation ceremony…starts with the “Good Morning” song

                                                    Getting their class hats and certificates!

                                                                 Tanner and Carter

                                            Kait and Tanner (buds and future Kindergartners:)

                                            Tanner and Ms. Betsy and Ms. Jan (love them!)

                                                                    THE GRADUATE!!

                                                                     A proud family!

                                                                  Tanner and Grandpa

                                                                 Mommy and Tanner

                                                                   Daddy and Tanner

     We’ve made lots of progress in Tanner’s room.  We’ve been working on his room for 4 months now, and I don’t know if I’m happy or sad that it’s pretty much complete. I had so many fun projects with this room and it’s kind of sad that it’s coming to an end. Of course I’ve maxed out last month’s budget while trying to complete it, nothing new there of course, but I am waiting on a couple more items to make Tanner’s room more complete.  I purchased Tanner’s comforter, rug and curtains last summer so I’ve had a lot of time to ponder what else we wanted to do in his room.  The navy and white stripes were the best idea I’ve had so far in the new house (in my opinion).  Terrifying at first yes, but none the less the kid is absolutely ecstatic about them.  I opted not to paint the other walls with stripes for fear it might make the room appear smaller than it already is.  Plus, I’m actually really surprised at my decision to do navy and white stripes because of the dark trim and doors throughout the house.  I love, love, love white trim in homes, but since our house is new we are not going to change to trim quite yet 😉  The more I thought about it, I didn’t want the dark color of the wood to hold us back with how we wanted to decorate his room.  I felt limited with options, but decided to go against the grain (so to speak) and just go with my heart in choosing paint and furniture for the space.

I decided on a very light gray blue color for the other 3 walls and I think I lightens up the room a lot. 
    
 To save some money on furniture I painted the old dresser white and an old nightstand as well.  Tutorials here and here.

I wanted to keep it simple on the crazy striped walls so I just added some sweet photos of the kids together in white frames to break it up a bit. 

Tanner loves his books along with doing art 24/7 so I bought a black bookcase for book storage and a couple of lime green storage ottomans for him to keep his toys and art in. 

 We mounted Mike’s old snowboard that he doesn’t use anymore above his closet for some unique, funky, sporty (and free) decor.  Tanner has been giving his input and opinions all along the way so he was involved with most of the decisions.  I wanted him to feel like he was a part in his room remodel so he would really love it!

Last but not least, THE MAP, ahhh, yes the map.  It was an  idea I had a while back and while Mike wasn’t sold on the idea, I pulled one of my “trust me” phrases and sold or not he was onboard.  Thanks Mike!  And, thanks to my handy hubs-o-lot he helped me get the map on the wall and framed out with our homemade frame.  It’s a hit! Now the kids can see where all our family and friends live across the U.S., where daddy travels to on his trips, and pointing out different countries.
    
While the room isn’t finished, it’s pretty close.  

Things on my list to do still:

 Make a headboard
Get a couple fun throw pillows for his bed
Fix the broken old chair that belonged to me as a kid
Get a table lamp for his nightstand
Maybe paint the chair and table legs
Frame and hang some of his art work on the bare wall
Make C.D.’s of some of his favorite country songs for his CD player
Paint the inside of his closet (because I have nothing else to do)
Get some storage baskets for the top of his closet


The inspiration for the room was Tanner himself of course.  Fun, Creative, unique but also relaxing.  While, the stripes on the wall give the room a slightly nautical feel, there was no real theme in the room.  He is my little artist so I wanted to make sure I met all his creative instincts when piecing his room together.  He has more energy than any kid I’ve ever met, so I also wanted a room that he could relax in at night and just feel like it is special just like him.  

Come along for a tour…

I can’t believe it’s already been a week since Easter.  We had a really fun weekend with the kids.  Saturday we died Easter eggs and Sam ended up getting really mad because she couldn’t stick her whole hand + the egg in the coloring liquid…REALLY mad. 

None the less they had fun plopping them in different colors and putting stickers all over them.

                             I know there’s 2 almost identical pics here, but this one is good of Sam…

                                                       …And this one is good of Tanner.

I don’t have photos of the next activity because it was a little chaotic.  With a screaming toddler and 2 messy kids it was time for bath.  Since Sam recently had a scary experience in the tub during normal “rinse the shampoo out of your hair” time and inhaled a bunch of water, she’s now TERRIFIED of the bath and screams bloody murder every time.  I got creative this night…

“Who wants to go have beach party in the tub??”

Well of course they both thought the idea of everyone getting in their bathing suits and getting in the bath, including mom, sounded super fun!  So off we went, we laid out our towels, filled the tub with bubbles and turned on the music in the bathroom and had a beach party.  I must admit, it helped.  Sam did really and there were a couple of things that really helped her not to “freak out”.
                              1) the foaming shampoo that I let the kids use themselves
                              2) a squirt bottle I found that I gently squirted Sam’s hair with water so she could barely tell.

By the end of it, nobody wanted to get out of the tub, and Sam was actually the last one out!  Because I overestimate my children’s cleanliness it’s now a week later and I realize we haven’t had another bath, whoops!  I’m going to try for beach party again with just the kids this time and see how it goes.  Although Tanner takes mostly showers now, but loves to take baths and play with his toys.

EASTER MORNING:

Usually the Easter bunny hides eggs along with the kids’ Easter baskets around the house, but since he couldn’t find all of the extra plastic eggs he skipped that part.  So the kids found their baskets along with their goodies and it was all downhill from there…

                      Toby’s got her eyes on the cookies. She is always waiting for her opportunity.

Next we went to brunch at our favorite breakfast place with Matt and Cally and the kids and Grandpa Mike.  Everybody behaved (thanks to a couple IPads and some crayons).

EASTER AFTERNOON:

                                                                      Who ME??

                            It took an injury in the bounce house before we had our first break!

Till next year…

We’ve been preparing all day for the severe storms and tornadoes we were supposed to get tonight. We are and have been in a high risk since yesterday which is rare and really scary.  The kids helped us clear out under the stairs in the basement this morning and in doing so, we got to organize a little and found a bunch of stuff in boxes we haven’t even unpacked yet.  We’ve gathered our bottled waters and are getting ready to bring our snacks and make our little tent for the night downstairs.