Day 334

The Christmas lights are up! Tyler had a great time following Sam around and climbing partway up the ladder after him.

Day 333

I dragged everyone out to take some family photos for our Christmas card. Not bad for do-it-yourself photos. Seeing me running back and forth to the camera at least kept the kids in a good mood and happy to cooperate for a few minutes.
(this isn't the photo I plan to use in the card)

Day 332

Sam's Grandma Swapp (his mom's mom) just turned 80 and everyone got together to celebrate. We rented the hall here in town and almost everyone made the effort to be here. (we figure we are missing around 20 from the family photo)
Happy Birthday Ila Mae!

Day 331

Kaitlyn told me earlier this week that she was ready to learn how to ride a "2-wheeler." So the training wheels came off the bike today. I was wondering if she would change her mind or get scared, as she had the last time she made this announcement. But today she really was ready for it. We got her all outfitted with long pants and sleeves, helmet, elbow and knee pads just in case, but she didn't need the precautions. She was off and riding on her first try! Go Kaitlyn!

Day 330

Thanksgiving Day. Can you believe the only time I took out the camera was when Sam was making the pies. Oops.
It was a nice day. Very low key actually. Kaitlyn had spent the night with Grandma and Grandpa and ended up there most of the day. She got to ride horses with Wyatt too. Ty was picked up and spent some time with them as well. So Sam and I sat around the house on our own, gradually getting ready for the big dinner. Sam did the majority of the cooking. I was in charge of rolls, decor, and clean-up. Low stress, that's the way to go.
Mom, Dad, Wyatt and the kids showed up for dinner. We ate. We played a few games. Everyone went home happy.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Day 329

(no photo today. that'll balance out the 2 from Monday)
Went to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert today with Sam. So fun! They put on a great show. And the music puts me in such a holiday mood! I love Christmas! Then we finished up the night with dinner at Red Lobster MMMMMMM
Thankfuls include: a wonderful husband who was thoughtful enough to buy me the tickets, one I love spending time with. The opportunity for a date - those are few and far between for us. Music. Talented people who entertain and feed us :)

Day 328

(still need to get Katy to pose for a photo with her feather headband. she refused to earlier)
Today was the Kindergarten's Native American Day, which I helped out with all morning. And small as it may sound, I'm thankful it's over!
I'm also thankful for a mom that helps out with childcare whenever I need it (she had Ty all morning, then traded for Kaitlyn the rest of the day) and loves to spend time with the kids. For such a smart, energetic, friendly little girl who loves to go to school and gets so much out of her time there. And that I get to be a stay-at-home-mom and have the opportunity to do things like this with/for my kids (and all the other things that go along with being at home with them all the time).

Day 327

My kids - all they stand for and all they are. Heathy, happy, loving and lovable. Silly, imaginative, intelligent, unique. And even the stuff that drives me crazy. The toys all over the place (because it means they've been having fun). The little attitudes that show independance and thinking for themselves. The love I have for them, that they have for me, and for each other.
And on this particular day I'm also glad that they ate heartily without any prompting from us.

Day 326

Peace. Contentment. Cuddling. And they're oh so cute when they sleep.

Day 325

Project day with the girls. Yep, I'm very thankful for that - for my friends, for the "me time, for the creative outlet it usually provides. I'm also glad that my husband supports and enables my time with the girls - taking the kids out for the morning while I host. And on this particular Saturday, he took them Christmas shopping! So I'm also thankful for a husband that indulges my neurosis and tries to get his own Christmas shopping done well ahead of time

(because it knows it drives me crazy to have him out shopping at the last minute).

Day 324

One week to go before Thanksgiving and I'm incorporating a little theme for the week. Things I am thankful for:

Having my little family all together. Sam has been in TX for the past 2 weeks for training and it's so good to have him home. We picked him up from the airport this afternoon and have had the best afternoon just being together.

Day 323

She loves reading. And schoolwork of any kind. She even does random work books in her free time. How many kids do that?

Day 322

spilled the popcorn. again.

Day 321

Day 320

If Ty could stay in pjs all day every day, I think he would.

Day 319

Day 318

Brrr! It snowed last night. More snow today. The kids think it's fun, even the stuff we adults hate about it - like shoveling the driveway and cleaning it off the cars.

Day 317

Pouting? This little guy has that down very well. He does this cute little head hanging thing, which I was just too slow to catch today.

Day 316

My poor tired girl.
I came home from class last night to find that Mom and Dad, wanting to give me a break, had put the kids to bed at their house. When I called at 8:00 this morning to find out why they hadn't brought Kaitlyn home so she could on the bus, I found out that she had been up since 3AM with the stomach flu. Again? Already? And this one was much worse that last week. She couldn't keep anything down all morning but it finally backed off around noon or 1:00. She was able to eat some lunch then fell asleep on the couch.
Now I'm de-germing the house and hoping that the rest of us don't catch it.

Day 315

Final photography class tonight (bittersweet - I learned a lot and enjoyed learning but it was a bigger time commitment than I thought it would be). The kids are so sick of being my "models" so I didn't actually use the camera today. Took this one of Ty yesterday.

Day 314

Day 313

practicing taking photos in different lights. not an entirely successful photo but I wanted one of Ty for today

Day 312

Had to take Sam to the airport first thing this morning. Then we had a rough day from there. I don't think the fact that we dropped him off was the cause, but the kids were complaining, crying, moody, fighting, etc all day long.
(so this is a photo from 11/9)

Day 312

ooops - I burned the photos from today onto a CD and am too lazy to get up and get the CD. I had my photo class today - probably not a good idea to post photos of other people's kids on here anyway. But it was a great experience learning how to work with studio lights.

Day 311

Trucks, tractors and dirt. I'm so happy that we are having a mild Nov so far and Tyler can still get outside to play with his favorite things.

Day 310

Day 309

Day 308

Day 307

She loves her Kitty ears and tail. And I love that the Halloween costumes get more use than just a couple hours on Halloween night.

Day 306

photo practice. really concentrating on using my manual settings