So my photo for Thursday is our homegroup. since it is such a part of my life I thought I would show you our little group. We meet every Thursday from 6:30 to about 8-8:30. We talk about our troubles, or walks with God, the good, the funny. We need to work at sharing more and going deeper into what is the root of our problems but we are getting closer.
I haven't taken a photo yet today but I did do my homework for my 12 week photo course.
I'm half way done with all the little V-day gift bags for Kelly's class. I know I will post a photo when they are all done.



So I'm going to have one of "those" boys. The ones who don't listen to their teachers, that are running around and whopping it up. Yep that's my boy. I got to his class Wednesday and I get the line," we need to talk to you before you leave". Dread hit fast and I wondered what Wyatt had done this time. It seems he wouldn't settle down at snack time, he wanted to go outside, he didn't like the snack. when they said no to his going outside he pushed his teacher and told them to let him go outside. So when it was time to go out they wouldn't let him go until he apologized which he did. For this disobedience he wasn't allowed to watch any t.v., no Yohoo's or friut snacks. We had several talks and reminders throughout the day about doing what you are told etc. when we picked up Kelly he tells her that I'm mad at him. He just doesn't fully get it. I keep hearing from both of them that I am mad at them when I'm not, they just aren't listening to anything I say, so when I get ignored they lose a priviledge. Reality discipline you gotta love it.

Hoping to have a productive weekend, I hope yours is lovely. I'll edit later with Fridays picture.

It's almost done!!!! Tonight Rob will put in the shower head and lever and for the most part (we still need a medicine cabinet and light fixture) the bathroom is complete. It is a full sized bath but the room is so small I can't get a wide view. In a month or so we will get the last two fixtures but to be able to take a shower again in MY bath is freakin fantastic. I haven't been able to use this shower since June 2007! Right before I left for Paris. Yeah how's them apples?




Picture from last night of Chelsea and Kelly. Chelsea is getting teeth and Kelly is about to lose one of her top teeth at any time. Love my cantankerous girls.

How is it in one evening my living room and kitchen can get destroyed? I have been trying hard to keep things picked up but yeesh. I'm going to reestablish some order before I pick up Wyatt from Busy Bodies.

Chelsea has figured out that a walker can actually move forward. Now I just need to clear a path for her to get around.

I have added another project for myself to work on. I'm working on project 365 and an online 12 week photo course and my new project is the 2peas weekly photo challenge. This week is texture so I uplaoded a couple of frost photos from a couple of weeks ago.

I'm going to do my best NOT to fall off the wagon but I really need to take some time out and convert all my RAW photos. There are more pictures I would post but I'm usually in a hurry and only get out the important ones.

So off to clean for 40 minutes before I get Wyatt.

So almost every Sunday, on our way to chrch we pass this spot where the cows come to feed. Some days the are around, some days they have headed back into their desert pasture. Ol' Red here was giving me some serious attitude. He kept sticking his tongue out at me. Then he would diss me by looking away. Uh..hello, I'm taking your picture, look my way. I truly wished I could have stayed longer, I wanted to get some nicer shots but we were already late for church. The fault for that is mine alone. I asked Rob to pull over twice. Once for a roadrunner sitting on a rock, and second time to get a hawk on a telephone pole. It wasn't till after the hawk flew away I realize that I didn't put my memory card back in my camera. Thankfully I keep my extras in my bag otherwise I wouldn't have been able to get this big guy.

He is really hard to see and Rob was the one who saw it and pulled over. I had to run across the street to get even near him. I wish I had the time to pull out the tripod cause he never moved, he was still sitting there when we came home from church. And yes he is real, his head moved a couple of times.

This is from tonight. Just hanging around after dinner. Having fun just taking normal, everyday shots of my family.

Kelly is selling Girl Scout cookies so if anybody wants any, yes I can ship, just give me a holler.

Kelly is really enjoying her troop. She runs to her class when we arrive, she does her work granted she doesn't participate in all the songs but she enjoys watching.

I come home from scouts and Chelsea is sitting in her high chair, without falling over, and Rob showed me where Wyatt started writing "F"'s. I think that boy is sandbagging me. I truly do.

Dang kids are growing up way too fast.

So I really don't plan on showing every photo but right now it keeps me on track and I'm recording my thoughts as I go along. Cause you know I still have momnesia. This is a totally random shot, handheld. Chelsea loves mommy nuzzles.

I haven't done photos like these with the other two in quite a while. Food for thought.

This bottom shot is one I did about half and hour ago. Since the moon is suppose to be bigger I wanted to try the whole reflections and silhouette thing.

I might go out later and try again. I wish the mission wasn't so far away. They took down the scaffolding before they move to the other tower for renovations. A white mission bathed in moonlight. Breathtakingly beautiful in my mind.
Unfortunately the mission is about 45 minutes away and in a not so safe area, right Mom? Granted I'm sure there will be other shutterbugs out there but...

Oh and by the way, food photography is considered the hardest and if you can do it successfully, they say you can shoot anything. I'll give it a go.
Have a great weekend. Go Cardinals!!

Now you really need to double click on this image to really see it. I haven't done much tweeking cause I'm not really sure what to tweek.

This is my photo for last night. We lost power for about and hour and all of a sudden I thought that this would be the perfect time to try this since no one in a least a quarter mile had power.

I learned two things. Which I hoping to try later tonight. I really need a wide angle lens and I should have tried this earlier in the evening and get the moon when it is in a different position.

The moon was almost directly overhead and I wanted to get the moon in with the silhouette of our fat palm tree. Well it was just cold enough and I was doing 30sec exposures that I didn't want to lay on the ground. Plus I really don't have the right tripod. So cool, I used and learned with what I have. I do think in the summer I will get one of those kinder sleeping mats so that these old knees can get down and be more comfy.

**Chelsea had a 6 month check up on Wednesday- she weighs 16lb and 4oz and is 25 inches long. She is darn near perfect but mommy already knew that. Poor thing got 4 shots, two in each leg and has had a fever for about 24 hours. Chelsea has been miserable and a total bear from it.

I have downloaded a 12 week photo class from 2Peas and I'm enjoying. Most of this I know but it's refreshing and I like the challenges and excercises.

Now I'm off. I'm wanting to learn more about food photography. My plan is to take my own and use it in our kitchen. If all else fails I will download from istock photo gallery for a fee and then I know I will have great images. But I really would like to try and learn on my own.

Off to learn.

I have always wanted to wear funky socks but they usually didn't come in my bigfoot size.

It all started with Kelly wanting this one pair of socks a couple of years ago and the obsession has taken over. Most of the time the socks are striped, polka-dotted, flowers, anything. But today it is Disney characters.

Now Wyatt is my whitey-tighty boy, but for X-Mas he received Lightning McQueen and Mater socks. So when I was at Target this morning they had finished their Dollar Spot setup and I found some cute new socks for ALL the kids.

Wyatt received Buzz and Mr. Incredible, Kelly got red pom, multi colored hearts, and purple and white with multi colored polka dots. Chelsea received two different multi colored striped socks.

So my picture of the day is all about our crazy socks and Mommy's secret wish that she could wear them too.

This is my rough prototype of Kelly's Valentines day card.

The actual one will be in either red or pink, with a small square of v-day patterened paper. I will cut out the love in a different color and glue that on. I also plan on cutting out a heart that will say from Kelly, and use fiber or ribbon to attach to the handle. I will let Kelly pick out some candy to put in the bag. The bag is only 3 1/2 inches tall and 1 inch wide. Perfect for her class. Now I just need to get busy and make about 20 of them! Oh and find more v-day paper, the one thing I don't have an abundance off.

I must thank my Cricut machine for doing most of the work. ;)

So yesterday I entered an ugky kitchen contest. Today I received my confirmation along with the other 33 applicants so far. Honestly after looking at some of the others kitchens I bow in defeat. Some people didn't even have cabinets. What is funny is that almost al of us have those nasty 1970's cabinets. So this is my photo for sunday/day 4
Today's photo is of Wyatt on his way to Busy Bodies Preschool. I hope he is doing well and listening. I sure do miss today. I think I'm already dreading him going to kindergarten and how quiet the house will be. Granted by then Chelsea will be making plenty of noise but I think it's just how much things change. And I'm not always good with change.

I have been doing some planning and I'm going to make a prototype of Kelly's school Valentines Day card. Yes I know I have more than a month but I don't want to do it last minute and stress out about it. I have actually written down what months and what kind of projects that I want to work on, wether it is for scrappin, holiday or home decor.

It's sounds in some ways that I am micro managing my life but in reality I always seem to put things off or wait to the last minute. Well if I work on a project say a month in advance then when the holiday comes I'm ready, right?? ;)

I just want to be creative and have fun being creative. I'm tired of talking about doing things, now I'm writing them down and setting goals for myself. This photo a day project has already taken me out of my box and seeing my life and how not boring it can be.

So while Kelly is at Girl scouts tonight I will make some plans, organize and find some fun project that I can do and some project the kids can do themselves and with me.

Do you have and fun projects in mind??

I'll post a photo of my projects as I complete them.

First of all,

Happy Birthday Mikey! If my calculations are correct you are 31 this year. BWAAAAA. I just realized that I have no current pictures of Mikey. Add that to my list.

I have been scouring the interent for more ideas of pictures to take. I have also been working on making my calender. Now I did take a picture yesterday but I haven't uploaded it yet. Rob and I were at Home Depot and I saw this vibrant purple ice plant. I have been thinking of redoing our garden and this would be fantastic. Of course in redoing the garden I first have to dig out all the grass and reset it all up. That project has been in the back of my head last month. It's not really the hard work that I keep putting off, it's the constant interruptions I get from my children. Love them though I do, I hate getting into a groove and having to stop for feeding, and crying/I'm bored jags.

But there are so many beautiful flowers I would love to look at every day, that maybe starting this week I will break it down into bite size pieces and start working on it. Now this it not a resolution, don't go there, this is just a task. Maybe I'll take pictures as I go, IF I do it.

enjoy your weekend!

A new day, a new year.
It feels promising. A bunch of scrappers are starting a Project 365. How this works is that you take a picture a day. A picture of whatever you want. Well I'm not going to buy their kit, I'm going to do my own project. My goal is to be a better photographer. so I've been making a list of photos that I want to take throughout the year and also doing a photo idea calender where I list photos I want to take each month. For example on the calender I would take Mothers day. ideas would be to take a picture of mom, any flowers, a hug, whatever makes that holiday come alive. For my everyday shots that would include taking pictures of our street, a wreath on a door, my computer, doing the dishes etc. Got the idea?
My first photo is of my new TV with my favorite program, Good Morning America, with the news ticker documenting it's new years day. I have started a new folder labeled project 365 in my My Pictures folder.

Last night Rob set up the jumperoo. Chelsea was content in that for a bit as big bro and sis kept setting off the lights and music and making it bounce. Why is it that big kids like to play with little kids toys??
So I'm late as usual in posting Chelsea's monthly Mr.Bear photo. Those two are getting along better these days but if Mr. Bear gets to pushy Chelsea will not hesitate to shove him off the couch.

Chelsea has beautiful blue eyes. with an inner ring of light blue and an outer ring of dark blue, but I'm finding it very hard to get a shot highlighting those eyes. I tried for awhile to capture them but they come out dark. I should take her outside.

At six months sleeps later than my other kids. This morning she awoke at 6:30a, I picked her up and she went right back to sleep, so I laid her in my bed with Rob where she didn't wake up until 8am.

Is eating very well, and enjoys watered down pear juice. Wants to sit up and almost rolls over but doesn't try very hard. Chelsea really wants to follow her brother and sister. Loves playing in the bathtub, like to be swung like a pendulum (shake off the baby), we have done this with all our kids. Chels is laughing and smiling more. She is starting to recognize her name when called. Loves Braxton our dog.

So as not to exclude my other heathens I'm compiling a list of funny things they have been saying lately. Wyatt's favorite thing to do is mimicking or repeating commercials. Right now whenever a Christmas commercial comes on he turns to us to say Christmas is over. He can do this several times in a hour. Kelly lately keeps saying that she never gets, or never has had something like eggs or chicken. She says this instead of saying its been a long time. I've started telling her to take the word never from her vocabulary.

Again Happy New Year.

The End of 2008

It's hard to believe that this year is over. So much has happened. I didn't really realize it until the news programs started doing their year in review programs. We had a real nice Christmas day. We spent the morning opening up presents and then we headed to Grandma Ross' to open more and to have lunch. The kids were very happy with all their gifts and have barely asked to even watch any movies.

The next morning it started SNOWING!! Yes we even had snow at our house, but it didn't stick. Rob and I ditched the kids at Grandmoms and he took me up to Oracle where the snow was a few inches thick on the ground. I had a absolute blast.That is where this photo came from. I really wish now that I had taken shots of Rob cause he played my assistant and oh what an assistant he was. As I was trying to get certain shots the snow was blowing towards me. Rob came to my rescue by using our big umbrella and providing me some protection. I took tons of shots and most have even more snow in them but this is one of my favorites.

On Sunday after church we took the kids and headed up to Mt. Lemmon to play in the snow. Wyatt had never played in the snow before and did he take to it like a duck to water. As soon as his feet hit the snow he climbed up a hill and took off on a hike. We found a pristine patch that hadn't been played in and we had snow ball fights, tried to make a snowman(my skills are rusty) and Kelly and I made snow angels. Except for Rob the kids and I were wet from the snow but we had fun. The mountain was PACKED. You could barely get turned around and the sides of the road were bumper to bumper. We didn't even try to go to the top. Once again Rob became my assistant and he would pull over and wait for me as I would sometimes have to back track to get some cool pictures.

One of the coolest spots that we stopped at was nothing but a wall of ice and icicles. It was soo gorgeous.

As we headed down we made stops so that I could take more shots. I plan to go up again on a slightly cloudy day to get other shots that were too hard to try that day.

By the time we came down the mountain the police had closed the road going up for safety and were still turning cars away.

So that night Sunday/Monday we had a hard freeze and the next morning I went out again to take more photos. This is a bougainvilla from my neighbors house that was so pretty with the color of the flower and the frost and the sun shining down. I got a couple of other cool shots but this is one of my faves.

On our trip to Mt.Lemmon I exceeded 10,000 pictures that I have taken with my camera! I can't believe it. I have learned so much in the time that I have had it and this year I plan to learn even more.

So Rob and I want to start this new year off right and so we have been very busy this week. Rob has finished tiling and grouting our bathroom shower. Next is to seal the grout and any caulking this weekend. I have been working on cleaning up the scraproom so that I can set up the cricut permanetley and actually be productive this year. Also we took down the tree and all the decorations today. I swept, mopped and my living room has returned to normal.

We are starting the year clean and fresh. I will not be making any resolutions so to speak but a promise to myself. To be happy, and to work on making myself the person I want to be.

May this coming year be all that you want it to be.

Happy New Year, with love C

From our home to yours we wish you a very lovely Merry Christmas.

(One of many awful attempts for a xmas card photo)

So I'm screaming mad. So mad I could kick or beat up someone.
Why?
Last month I signed up Wyatt for the busy bodies preschool at Clements Center Tucson Parks and Rec. It used to be you only signed one month at a time and when I signed Wyatt up only January was available. I went on tonight and the F**king preschool classes are filled to the end of MAY!! Wyatt is only going to get to go one month. I'm so damn mad. I have no idea when they opened up the rest of the spring sessions, and to sign up for all the spring classes would have cost me $270. Monthly payments I could handle but not all at once.
Now I won't get to see Wyatt in his little cap and gown like Kelly. He won't be getting to experience some of the fun that Kelly did. After his month is up Wyatt will be asking me everyday when can he go to school. This just sucks. And worse is there isn't a damn thing I can do.
Just trying to keep up is right.
I constantly feel a day late and a dollar short.
I just want to yell at someone.
In Febuary I want to show up and make them take him. (I won't but it's a thought)
Sad part is they only have 20 openings(10 per class) between the Mon-Wed + Tues-Thurs classes. And I know some of those kids go to both sessions. I'm just venting now but I am calming down. I'm half tempted to call and find out when the opened the rest of the spring sessions.

Here it is in all it's glory!
Chelsea @ 5 months. She smiled, she sat nicely with Mr. Bear, she's adorable, she's all mine.
At five months we are consistently sleeping through the night. We have started baby food and will enjoy applesause, pears, carrots, sweet potatoes, squash and bananas. Doing very well in the eating department. Growing like a weed. Chelsea is starting to outgrow some of her 3-6 month clothes. Chelsea loves to laugh at anything Kelly does to amuse her but Chelsea really just wants people to be around her.



So last night Inez came over for dinner. As she was leaving she made a comment to Kelly that Grandmom would sure like it if Kelly, Wyatt and Chelsea would be good for mama and let mommy take a Christmas picture of them. So I decided to attempt again. We didn't even get one shot off before Rob sat down and said, "set your timer". Ummm....no makeup, my hair had been up. Rob said he didn't care let's just get this shot done. ;]
So we turned it into a game and this is our most clear shot. So I uploaded to Wally world and should be able to pick up our cards today.
One thing to check off the list.
Now that Chelsea is down for her morning nap I'm gonna go clean up Wyatt room (and maybe get rid of some toys). he he he.
Carrie

So I took Chelsea's five month photo the other day and I decided to do it in RAW. Well when I saved it I saved it as a Tiff file. Blogger doesn't recognize tiff files and now I'm having a hard time changing it to a jpeg. So I can't upload any photos yet. I will figure this out.
Otherwise it's the typical holiday season, so much to do and so little time. I sometimes just want to hole up in the house and be a hermit.
I'm struggling on getting a christmas photo of the kids to do our christmas cards. Tried yesterday and it was a disaster with me in tears and ready to beat my children. All the complaining and they won't even look in my general direction. I just got sick of it. I'm going to try and do each child individually and then make a card.
So I'm sorry that this post has no pictures I'll try to get some ready later.
Carrie

Okay, please stop throwing tomatoes. I realized yesterday that I haven't blogged since the beginning of the month. So a fast monthly recap.

week 1- election, you all know that one. on the 8th Mom, Chelsea and I went to Phoenix for the MS Walk.

Here is the Ren gang. there was also Stars Wars characters, the Ghostbusters, Marines, etc. I really like the zoo and we are planning to go back before it gets hot. I really liked the zoos Tiger. the dude CLIMBED the tree.

week 2- came back from Phoenix and was really out with a cold/sinus infection. To this day I am still struggling with the mucus family which does NOT want to leave. I'm not sure what week it was but Pop (Kim's dad) has asked Rob to be his best man when he gets married in April, and asked me to be his photographer. Cool! I asked him if he would buy me a new camera. HEHE At first he was like easy, "how much?" when I said about four grand he choked and sputtered, but he didn't say no. ;)

week 3- Kelly had half days and conferences. She is doing great and her teacher Mrs. Watt says she has grown so much in the last year. I'm very proud of her. Inez came back from her vacation. Struggling and trying to get back on track with my Artists Way stuff. Rob came home from homegroup leaders meeting saying that the church wants a cd copy of all my nature photos to be used for back drops for songs and meditation. How cool is that?

So I have been spending more time outside working and planning shots. I can confidently say that I like nature photography better than any other. I'm sure my kids would approve and agree.

I rearranged my living room to prepare for the tree which will go up next weekend.

Chelsea rolled over for the first time this week and has also started to eat solid foods. We have tried applesause and bananas besides the rice cereal.

we are now entering week 4.

I'm fairly ready for the gang to invade on turkey day.

Playing at the park, need to lighten up photo, when I was taking sunset pictures. So now that we are in week 4, I'm more on track and I'm hoping to get some xmas photo shots done because I want to send out photo cards this year.

So my apologies to Julie, Mom, Kristie, and whoever is looking from Grand Rapids, Dad and anyone else for me not posting much this month.

Hugs and K's, Carrie

This is so typical of Chelsea, her and Mr. Bear just don't like to share the camera. This is also the best shot of her and Mr. Bear. I might try again later.
Oh her shirt says, Yes I'm cute, it's okay to look.
The rest of the pictures were taken outside in front of my black sheet, which now needs to be washed again.
I couldn't get the kids to really cooperate but they had fun for about 30seconds before they both decided to play in the yard.

Congrats to President Elect Barack Obama. May you be the Change we want to see in our country. May you unite us like no other has before.

It's going to be an interesting four years. I'm still nervous and excited.

Election Day

Today one of these two men will be named our next President.

To be truthful, I'm very nervous. Someone wrote that they feel we are at an amazing point in our history and she feels amazed to be a part of it. In that I totally agree. That is why I have pushed to scrapbook my thoughts about this election.

Today either the first black man will be named President or we will have the first woman Vice President.
But back to why I am nervous. My nervousness is based on many things: One, on certain people in this country who will stop at nothing to kill a person because of his race(if he wins). Two, national security, terrorism and.. war. Three, this depression we are in now and what the future holds.

As a voter I'm tired of all the mudslinging, give me accurate facts when you accuse the other candidate and give me what you stand for and let me decide.

The news showed this morning that these two men have been campaigning for almost 2 years. That is insane. Do you realize that by this Presidents second year he would have to start campaigning all over just to be renominated for his party? Wow.

No matter what, we are on the brink. Another page in history is about to be written.

What do you have to say?

Let your voice be heard for future generations.

C

Three little monkey's all dressed up, to fill there bags with candy and later puke it up.

Bad rhyme, I know and no, no one got sick. All candy has been in moderation except for mommy's consumption. Damn fun sized Snickers bars.

I'm thinking of having the kids dress up again so that I can get better pictures. Don't judge me( :) ), they happen to like their costumes. Last year both kids would put on their outfits just for the heck of it.

We had a good haul and the kids did real well. Kelly's elegant witch costume seemed to get bigger as the night wore on but she liked it.

Wyatt as Mr. Incredible was a trip and do ya know he wore that mask ALL night long.

Chelsea was a cute little cat. She did just the best, she loves going for walks in the stroller and was game to go along with no complaints.
We have been slacking the last few years, we usually have decorations up weeks in advance but the last couple of years we seem to get all the work done in one night and I must say it's not our best. Hopefully next year we can get back on track.

That is me holding Chelsea, I was trying for my version of Jason. I can't even watch those movies anymore.

Mom was done as her usual witch and all the kids seem to like it. Unfortunately Mom had a paper that had to be done that night so she couldn't hang for long, but I hope she had fun

Friday morning I had to take Chelsea back to the doctor to get a shot and while we were there the older kids got their flu shots, now Rob and I have to get ours. We all hate shots. The older two didn't know they were getting shots so it wasn't lots of carring on.

Chelsea is weighing in at 13lbs and 4 ozs and 24 inches long. Right in the middle of the growth chart for her age at 4 months. Chels is already teething and I'm about to start her on cereal any day now.

I plan on taking her monthly bear picture in the next couple of days.

Well, tomorrow is the big day, finally. I am so ready for this election to be over. Good luck to both candidates. I do feel sorry for Obama though, his grandmother passing away the night before the election. It will be bittersweet if he wins, and his grandmother didn't live to see it. I'm sure either way,win or lose, she was very proud of him.

I better get going, I want to watch the SNL presidential bash tonight and I printed out photos of both candidates to do my scrapbook page.

Happy election day tomorrow! I wonder how President Bush feels right now?

C

So every picture taken at the pumpkin patch is a little blurry, what's up with that?

Kelly has ring around the mouth, chapped lip style, and Chelsea got some of her shots that day. All of us are having allergy issues except Chelsea, so we are not the most fun loving people to be around. We sound awful but feel okay.

I got a backdrop stand from ebay that arrived today. I can't wait to have enough patience to really try it out. I don't have it fully extended but it is a 10'x12'. Now I need to slowly buy muslin backdrops to use with it. hehe.

Yeah, Braxton was real thrilled to pose for me. Course a few minutes later the dog was laid out asleep on the fabric.

I'm working on a layout idea that showcases both presidential candidates and how this election has changed our country and that no matter what history is about to be made.

This is the story for our grandchildren, this is what scrapbooks are about.

How many times have we heard from our g-parents about WWII or living through the Great Depression? Vietnam?

Yes, everyday is important, but I think we are missing some points. We not only need to document everyday life but what's making history around us and how its effecting us.

Off my soap box.