Snippets~A Photo Shoot

One goal that I have had for a few weeks now is to take pictures of each kid, for their 2011-2012 school year, no easy task when you have five. I had to do Laney on one day, the older girls on another and then the boys. I would like to get pictures of all of them together, but Laney is NOT cooperative with pics these days and Heath just wants to ham it up. So I will do what this pregnant body can do for now because my ever changing hormones can't handle it! :)

I can't believe that in about a week I will have added another child to my already crazy bunch of kids. They sure are a lot of work, but so worth every minute of it.

Now be prepared for a lot of pictures! I had too much fun! :)

First I wanted to start with these. I LOVE how it turned out! I don't get pictures like this with Chad often (he isn't big on PDA...boys!) and this is just one of my faves now. I can't decide which I like best. In color or B&W? 

They were having fun together and I wanted more cooperation on poses, but had to just go with it. In the end I think its cute and fun to see their personalities not only shining through, but that they enjoy each other (for the most part).

Heath loves to try and get people to laugh. He LOVES life so much and I wish I could be more like him. Life about does me in and then I am done with it, but he isn't usually down for very long. :)

Heath lost his first tooth and he is the youngest one in our family to have lost a tooth! Most of my kids were at least 7 going on 8 when they lost their first.

Chad has been hitting some of that teen 'tude, but overall is a good kid. One day when we were visiting my sister, Laney hit Chad and kept on messing with him. My sister told him to stop her, but he simply said, "She's too cute to scold!" Now if she has him wrapped around her pinky, I am wondering what our newest little one could get away with on his watch. :) 

He has even babysat a couple of times for another family and has done really well. Their kids want him over a lot! We are pretty proud of our boy who won't be boy for much longer! I can't believe we have about 6 more years with him before he ventures out into the world on his own.

It was hard to get Laney to be in some of these pictures, but the girls loved posing for the camera. Unfortunately for some reason, Alyssa isn't happy with her teeth and doesn't smile much, but I still was able to get some good pictures of her.

Ring around the rosies and other games were the only things that worked for Laney-bug. At least they had fun together.

Alyssa is still the little mama. She really is such a big help to me especially when I have been sick with this pregnancy.

She also LOVES to sew and go to fabric stores. I think that is going to be a weakness of hers cause she LOVES fabric! :) 

I admire her giving heart too. She truly has a love for people. Another trait a child of mine has that I wish I had too. I sometimes allow myself to get annoyed more than I should.

Bria has also lost several teeth as of late. She and Chad have both lost 3-4 at a time. I wouldn't be too surprised if the tooth fairy goes bankrupt anytime soon with these two. :) 

Bria has been doing really well with her piano. She can play left and right hand by ear so long as she practices, but after a few tries or so and then she pretty much has the song down. She loves it too. So that really helps. Now she wants to play flute, but I think with her good ears she should do strings, but I will be a good mom and let her try things out before she makes a final decision. :)

What can I say about bug-bug? She needs NAPS! She is now in a big girl bed and it is hard to get her to nap, but because she isn't getting them she isn't the same child. She spits, hits and gets into EVERYTHING much, much more than she used to. Of course it could be the fact that she is 2!!! :) I can NOT keep up. So we are trying to make her take naps. I am hoping that we can get into a groove soon. I am so tempted to just put her back in the crib for nap time until the baby is old enough to be out of the bassinet.

Other than that she is very snuggly and lovable when she wants to be. :) 

She also loves to learn phonics with Heath, so I have been doing alphabet flash cards with her and we let her think she is doing what Heath is. I think I may have an early reader on my hands though. She sure gets it quickly.

And Laney STILL loves her bellybutton! :)

Ranger's Apprentice-BIGGEST Fan

If you are thinking that I was Cah-ray-zee for taking that shot so close to an arrow drawn back ready to meet its victim...you'd be right, but it was fun and neat to see my kid with his new hobby! :) And it helps that I trust him.

Now lets get to the point! Get it? Point! Baha ha haha!

K, I'm done. For now. :)

Chad has been reading a book series called "Ranger's Apprentice". Written by John Flanagan, who grew up in Sydney, Australia. I am a bad mom and haven't read it yet before I let my child, but it is on the list. Maybe after the long awaited and much anticipated "Mockingjay" comes out? *Squeal*

My son who is obsessed passionate, about the things he is interested in, pretty much eats, sleeps and breathes these books. He even bugged me for a long time about making him a cloak and since I didn't rise to the occasion as quickly as he would have liked, he went to his Grandma. Along with his cousin, Brenna, they made their coveted cloaks. I lost my mom-of-the-year award to Grandma in the process, but I am ok with that. :)

Photos of cloak will be coming soon since he won't let me forget.




Chad saved for a good part of the summer and paid for his own bow, arrows, arm guard and target. Heath calls them ow and barrows! ha! Not sure that I EVER want Heath to grow out of things being said not-quite-right. It always makes me smile, but he will be an adult one day and it might not be that cute anymore. So, I, being the good mommy that I am, correct him.

This is the second big thing that he has saved for this summer. The first was a skateboard with safety gear. He amazes me with his saving skills and determination. Now if he can get some mad cleaning and organizing skills we'd be good to go! :)

Next on his list...an X-box 360 Elite. I dared to call it "Extreme" instead of "Elite" and my son who was on the phone with a friend just laughed and laughed.

I was not amused.

He explained to his friend and he joined in on the laughter too.

Still not amused. Well, maybe a little tiny speck of me was.

Glad I could be a great subject of amusement for them. I am sure that it won't be the last time either. In my defense I said, "Hey! At least it started with an "E"!" *hands on hips*

Then they laughed some more and went on to a new subject. Boys! :)

Chad

11 years ago, I was MIS-ER-A-BLE!!! I was 10 days overdue and huge, with the kid who first made me a mother. We didn't know if he was going to be a he or a she at the time, but we did know that we were going to be parents soon and that if this was a boy (which I thought he was) then he would be named Chad after my older brother who had passed away at 6 months of age from spinal meningitis. He had caught it in the birth canal.

Chad is very proud of  being my brother's name sake.

This is Chad Joseph. He was 6 months when he passed away.

I knew that I was in for it when in the first grade my lovely boy came up to me and said, "Mom, I like it when you call me baby, but not in front of my friends". Then right as he was about to run off he turned right around and added "Oh and no kisses in font of 'em either."

Yes, this guy is well aware of his surroundings, but is definitely a mama's boy!

Recently Chad has completed his requirements for his Arrow of Light award and competed in his last pinewood derby race.

One thing that Chad and I enjoy doing is introducing each other to different books. I got him started on the Fablehaven series, The Spiderwick Chronicles, Lord of the Rings and The Hunger Games series. Now we are excitedly and impatiently awaiting the 3rd book in The Hunger Game series!

We also love to watch movies together and while I was on the computer I found the new Iron Man trailer. He and I squealed with excitement and commented on how we HAD to see that movie, when Tyson turned around and said, "Sometimes you two are exactly alike"! Of course we laughed and continued with our excitement. It is true that we are a lot alike, but this boy also adores his father and has some great and admirable qualities from him. They are two peas in a pod when it comes to outdoorsy stuff. Camping, rock climbing, backpacking, BB shooting...and the list could go on. Oh how we love this boy who will forever be my baby...just can't say it around the friends! :)

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHAD-MAN!

Point of View

These are what I found when I uploaded my camera pictures the other day. Apparently Chad was having fun with the camera.

This is how Heath plays doll house and farm with the girls! This would also be why he gets yelled at when playing with the girls...it's a destroying robot! :)

A view from under the girls bed...interesting! Bria is totally working it!

A nice Sunday afternoon! I don't think Tys knows we have this one of him! Shhhh! ;)

Say Cheese!!!

It's almost that time of year again when you wake up early to get your kids all prettied up to say cheese, hoping and praying that the picture is snapped when your kid is bright eyed and smiling!

Here are all the kids pics from the previous years of school and I have to say that it makes me sad to see them growing up so quickly and realize that I am NOT and will NOT be getting any younger even though many of my school memories are fresh in my mind! I would also like to add that my school pictures, especially from High School, are not that great! I would personally hunt down anyone that ever posted mine...

...So, my kids can kill me later, but I decided to show the world their pics before they get to the "want to burn these things" stage of their lives! :) Though I think that over all these pics turned out pretty good (for school pics anyways)!

He is sporting a designer hair cut by my hubby! hee hee! Chad doesn't like the clippers so we can only use scissors or else this kid FREAKS! We needed to use the clippers! :)

Another sporty designer daddy do! They didn't even wait for him to smile! But he is still a cutie!

Despite the lack of a toothy smile, I think he is quite the Rhett Butler!

I was pregnant and very sick in bed so I had no say in the hair do...I don't even think I knew what day it was to tell you the truth!

I had fun doing her hair! We woke up VERY early and it hasn't happened since! ;) I wish they would've helped bring out her best smile!

Not too shabby!

My pretty green eyed gal! Hey! I didn't realize this was the same shirt she wore the year before...ha ha! I guess we LOVED it that much! :)

Ok so what on earth is THAT background and I had no clue what she was holding onto until I figured out that THAT background silo looking thing was supposed to be a lighthouse on the beach! And in my defense I was still sick and pregnant during all of this and only managed to pull their hair back. They dressed themselves...can't u tell?

I was sick with pregnancy, but managed to lay her clothes out the night before and actually get her hair looking cute, but they had these pics right after recess...not a good idea!

At least her hair is out of her face! ;)

And here we have Dennis the Menace my friends!