How I feel

This is how I feel...

5 weeks left!

I took some maternity pics of myself two weeks ago with my wopping two dollar remote. The two second delay is so nice. Gives me just enough time to hide the remote in my hand. My sister in law also took some really cute ones earlier that she just posted on facebook. (She does the Lillyphotography) She did such a good job. If you get a chance to see them, my favorite is the one with the baby blocks on my tummy.

Anyway, I'm really starting to feel huge! I'm also running out of energy quicker. Two weeks ago, I was going going going and now I'm having a hard time getting out of bed and just doing simple tasks. I forgot how tired I get the last month. Some days I feel like I could just sleep all day. Today I felt like I could just cry just to cry, but I didn't let myself shed a tear because I couldn't think of a reason that I would cry for. and don't ya just love the rude awakenings at this stage from the good ol Charlie Horse! I don't know what the deal is with that horse but he keeps coming to visit every night! As if it's not hard enough to get out of bed when you're huge, getting out of bed in a hurry so you can stretch the cramp out of your leg is such a challenge! And then getting up 6 times a night to use the bathroom is another highlight I forgot about. Can you tell I'm starting to feel cranky now.

We aren't decided on a name but we are coming close...part of me wants to share what we're thinking about but the other part of me is afraid of peoples reactions which might make us start all over for a name search. so for now...i won't say what we're thinking about. :)

Meeting Santa

I told Ginger that we were going to see santa. She spent the following nap time writing a letter and drawing pictures for Santa. It was very important to her that she could give it to him. Santa did a good job playing his role and told her he would do his best to get her "those things" she wrote down. I just loved watching her visit with santa. so so cute! I wondered what she was thinking.

Gretchen wasn't too happy to see him. hhaahah

JAck was funny. He stared at the ground for the longest time and mumbled things and then he warmed up a bit.

I'm proud of my preschool wall. I like to just sit and stare at it. maybe because it's so colorful. :) I like this chore chart deal. I like making it the kids responsibility to get those things done and if they choose to not do it, then it's not my problem...no ticket for them!

They both caught on real quick to this ticket system. I have a prize box/ store that they can turn in their tickets to me and buy stuff. I got all this stuff at the dollar store. Even the gumball machine which is a big hit!

Here is our indoor park. Glen likes to move the cars out and let the kids play in the garage. They love it and Chester loves the attention. Glen makes it fun by having "cheers" time. We started keeping the mini fridge in the garage stocked with fun flavored diet sodas and he loves to give the kids a mini cup of soda and do the "cheers" with them and then back on the bikes they ride. Sometimes I'll bring out a bowl of chips or some snack to make it more special.

Jack and Gretchen are starting to play more and fight less. I love watching them play and hear them giggle together. so cute!....until gretchen decides to bop jack on the head with a toy. ..(hopefully she'll get the idea soon that he doesn't like that. hahahah)

puzzles for christmas

We made the kids each one puzzle last year and decided to make more so there is actually enough for them to sit for a while and work on them. Glen cut them out for me and then I went online looking for ideas of what to draw. The tangled one is for Ginger, Cookie Monster is for Gretchen (she loves sesame street) and the tractor of course is for Jack.

These long puzzles are to help teach big, bigger, biggest etc.

This is just a simple put the shape in the right spot puzzle. not my favorite colors, but it's what I had on hand.

This was just a little activity that JAck and Ginger worked on the other day. Counting the christmas balls on the tree and then finding the right numbered star to tape on the top of the tree.

Ginger turned 5!

Where did the 5 years go?!

We took Ginger to meet her cousins at McDonalds for playtime and a small party earlier in the day and then did the family party that evening. Thanks for all the nice gifts mom. The fairy sticker board is so cute. we worked on it last saturday and it turned out so pretty! The dress fits her perfectly too. She got lots of compliments on it.

I love this picture of her. She just treasures this necklace. :)

Family Home Evening

We took sugar cones and decorated them like christmas trees. The kids loved it. Then we ate them with ice cream and talked about why we have a christmas tree and what christmas is about.

just to compare

here are the same pics except i didn't use the lighting effects on them. which do you like better? oh and I just brushed the background black. it didn't take long and i don't think you can tell that i did,...or can you?

Time to Update the pics

I took the kids pictures a few days ago so I could update their frames on the walls. Ginger turns 5 on monday and Jack just turned 3 and Gretchen will be 2 in March. It was fun to play "photographer" with my kids and I love playing around on photoshop with the pics, but I don't know how some of you photographers have the energy and patience to take pics of other peoples kids. That just takes too much energy and patience.... for me anyway. don't think it's my thing. preschool craft activities is more appealing. anyway...

I played with lighting effects in the hopes to hide the wrinkles of the black fabric I used. Last year, I cut the fabric out and painted the background so it would look smooth. THis year I'm feeling a bit lazy and thought I would keep the wrinkled look but try to tone it down a little. I love the coloring in Jack's picture. It was hard to narrow it down to one that I like for each of them. They all did surprisingly well.

anway, for you pro and budding photographers, let me know if you think the background is tacky with the wrinkles showing or if the lighting effect makes it weird. hmmm. maybe I should post the pics without the lighting effect so you can see the difference.