picking the perfect pumpkins

we had a lovely time on our trip to the Oregon coast. i am in shock that this was the 11th year that the four couples have taken this trip together. we went from one baby to 9 kids. sunny weather, beach olympics, pool, kites, wood forts, and loads of good old fashioned hang-out time. it doesn't get any better then this.

remember me?

been neglecting the old blog........(bad me!)..........but I had to come back and share a cool website about a lady that makes bento style lunches for her kindergardener. Looks like she posts every day (photos and descriptions.) LUNCH NUGGET

and in the interest in keepin' it real (and lest you think I have changed my ways) I will most likely not prepare any of her lunches. but hopefully some of you will get some ideas!

so excited for this baby to arrive............. my brother and his wife are expecting the little guy to make his appearance at the end of the month. so glad i could be here to document this journey for them. love you guys!!







(more on my photography site on the left <----- )

{c} lost his front tooth the morning we left! just so exciting for him.......


{n} liked jumping the little waves and sitting at the water's edge.


{c} boogie boarding for the first time..........it was a hit!!


Legoland!!!!!!!

the Blue Angels

we did an impromptu visit to a park in Medina to see the Blue Angels on Saturday.







they flew right over us!!!


the rest will be on my photo site (link on the left.)

{S} sent this along to me, and I couldn't stop smiling!! So I had to share. (love the music they picked.........lol.)

lion reunion

Oh my............
i found this on Pioneer Woman's blog, and boy is it just......well......informative?? Scary?? I just wonder how many wives were actually scored by this.

(((remember to double click on the chart so you can actually read it.)))

Just updated the blog with some photos of the boys since April. boy was I behind!!

I also have 4 new sessions on my photography blog ( link over <--- ) 3 boys (2,3, and 1) and a 14 month old girl. You know I whipped out my tutus for the girly-girl shoot!!

I love my hobby. ;)

swimming lessons

*******as with all of the collages, if you double click on the image it will show larger***************

So summer is here and so is swimming. The boys take lessons at the local pool, and we just finished up 4 straight weeks of M-Th night lessons. whew. I am so happy that {n} is *finally* is doing bobs, and we discovered that {c} sinks. It really is comical to see him start out on the top of the water doing the backstoke, and about 2 yards out he is a foot under the water with the teacher pulling him up. lol. Poor guy. I think he gets that from {C} because I was a fish when I was little. Sinking is good when you want to retreive things from the bottom of the pool...........he got down to 7' to pick up a pool toy during class!! He is loving to do flips and handstands and dive for toys. He is gearing up for our trip south..........I think he will be in the pool daily!!

school's out!, june bubbles, and the 4th

tulips

We made our annual trek to the tulips when my mom was visiting. She had never been up there before, and she loved it! The flowers bloomed a bit late this year, but the show was magnificent!! This was the first time in 4 years we didn't have the {M}s with us....*sniff*....but we enjoyed our day trip just the same.

birthday party week in April

So {n} had his birthday first, and he had a Cars party at home. (Yes, that is a cake with no icing...........his choice lol.) His little buddies came over and they "fished" using Mater's tow-hook, and decorated frames. {c}'s was 3 days later, and we had his party at Chuck-E-Cheese. Man was that overstimulating!! I thought he would freak out because of the noise (he wears earplugs at the movies!) but he did just fine. He loooooves ski-ball, and he even boogied with Chuck. ;) His was a Star Wars theme, and he got a few new SW lego sets which he was thrilled about.

so i am trying a new eating program, outlined in the book Heal Your Headache. i am determined to find something that will work......so sick of the weekly headaches and occasional straight-to-bed migraine. i love the premise of the book, and i so hope it helps..........the only downside is that some of my favorites are off limits!!!! ugh. like chocolate, most cheeses, nuts (including peanut butter,) banananas, raisins, and all citrus fruits---pretty much my go-to foods recently. i can have ice cream and cookies and strawberries, so i shouldn't feel too sorry for myself. and if it helps?? so totally worth it!

............i'll keep you posted............... ;)

A good friend of mine {S} sent along the following essay. She has a beautiful, precious 3 year old girl with a diagnosis of autism. I was really touched by the words, and thought I would share it here. As many of you know, before I had kids I was a preschool teacher of children with special needs. I loved these kiddos. My heart ached for the parents, but the scope of what they went through did not hit me until I was a mother. Then I understood. And when I read this today, I got all teary again.......thinking of those moms I knew then, and the moms I know now, all with unique, beautiful, extra special little ones.


Happy Mother's Day: Mothers Lie



By Lori Borgman



Expectant mothers waiting for a newborn's arrival say they don't care what sex the baby is. They just want to have ten fingers and ten toes.



Mothers lie.



Every mother wants so much more.

She wants a perfectly healthy baby with a round head, rosebud lips, button nose, beautiful eyes and satin skin.

She wants a baby so gorgeous that people will pity the Gerber baby for being flat-out ugly.



She wants a baby that will roll over, sit up and take those first steps right on schedule (according to the baby development chart on page 57, column two).

Every mother wants a baby that can see, hear, run, jump and fire neurons by the billions.

She wants a kid that can smack the ball out of the park and do toe points that are the envy of the entire ballet class.

Call it greed if you want, but a mother wants what a mother wants.



Some mothers get babies with something more.



Maybe you're one who got a baby with a condition you couldn't pronounce, a spine that didn't fuse, a missing chromosome or a palate that didn't close.

The doctor's words took your breath away.

It was just like the time at recess in the fourth grade when you didn't see the kick ball coming, and it knocked the wind right out of you.



Some of you left the hospital with a healthy bundle, then, months, even years later, took him in for a routine visit, or scheduled him for a checkup, and crashed head first into a brick wall as you bore the brunt of devastating news.

It didn't seem possible.

That didn't run in your family.

Could this really be happening in your lifetime?



There's no such thing as a perfect body.

Everybody will bear something at some time or another.

Maybe the affliction will be apparent to curious eyes, or maybe it will be unseen, quietly treated with trips to the doctor, therapy or surgery.

Mothers of children with disabilities live the limitations with them.



Frankly, I don't know how you do it.

Sometimes you mothers scare me.

How you lift that kid in and out of the wheelchair twenty times a day.

How you monitor tests, track medications, and serve as the gatekeeper to a hundred specialists yammering in your ear.



I wonder how you endure the clichés and the platitudes, the well-intentioned souls explaining how God is at work when you've occasionally questioned if God is on strike.

I even wonder how you endure schmaltzy columns like this one-saluting you, painting you as hero and saint, when you know you're ordinary.

You snap, you bark, you bite.

You didn't volunteer for this, you didn't jump up and down in the motherhood line yelling, "Choose me, God. Choose me! I've got what it takes."



You're a woman who doesn't have time to step back and put things in perspective, so let me do it for you. From where I sit, you're way ahead of the pack.

You've developed the strength of the draft horse while holding onto the delicacy of a daffodil.

You have a heart that melts like chocolate in a glove box in July, counter-balanced against the stubbornness of an Ozark mule.



You are the mother, advocate and protector of a child with a disability.

You're a neighbor, a friend, a woman I pass at church and my sister-in-law.

You're a wonder.



Lori Borgman is a syndicated columnist and author of All Stressed Up and No Place To Go, her latest humor book now available wherever books are sold. Web reference unavailable. (Thanks to Andera K. on the EOHarm discussion list.) -ed.

happy mommy day!

i am up waaaay too late working on some overdue photos. but i do believe they are some of my very favorites! they are of the tulip fields in La Conner. we usually go with our dear friends, but they are in England so we took nana instead.

you can see them here , but be forewarned....there are loads of photos!! ;) I also watermarked them since they are floating around in cyberspace. the watermark won't show up if you order any (ahem...nana...) :) because you all need a huge photo of a muddy tulip in your living room.


more to come tomorrow (today?) of birthday celebrations!!!!!!

just curious......................

do any of you facebook?? hmmmmm???? you should. (then you can add me as a friend......always looking for more of those!)


:)

mommy: what do you see out the window?
{c}: snow. but it looks like a hundred white feathers falling off 3,000 birds.

and all of this at the end of March. who would have thought??

budding scientist?

{c} took part in his school's science fair this year. He tried to grow a stalagmite from baking soda and water. It didn't work..........but he had fun anyway, and he got a ribbon. (And I had fun taking photos!!)

all set to start growing!


talking with the judge


the display (i think this is the only year I can help...) ;)


so proud! (and giggly)


he said they look like snowflakes. yep, I'd agree! :)

My baby will turn 4 in a few weeks. 4. I just can't wrap my mind around it. He is our little music man....always singing, dancing (he walks in circles), and listening to his music cds. One of them is his Thank You Bible, which has songs and verses. One night he brought the book down to daddy, and proceeded to read all the words on the first two pages (because he had memorized the song, but still! My heart was singing.....) His memorization skills are pretty amazing. (Can you sing the alphabet song backwards?? I can't.)




Love this one, love that he is so different then his brother. That he could care less about building Legos, but wants to play with Cars and build letters out of Magnetix pieces. That he still loves his papis and ball and "Harold and the Purple Crayon" stories. That he is still carrying a toy in his hand at all times...... and he calls me into his room when he spells new words. Important words, like breakfast (because this one can eat!!)