So NOT Camera Shy

Love that pirate-grinned girl.

That's What He Said

Jack: Mommy! Can you put my dress on and take a picture of me with my gun?

So pretty and so fierce.

Let me see, graduation or wedding...

I'm going to get some mileage out of these.

Happy Birthday to Me

Despite still feeling less than normal with baby in tow, I had a wonderful birthday! Scott surprised me with a fantastic new camera that I was planning to save my every penny to buy. My Project Life scrapbooking kit arrived just in time as well. I am so excited to use this picture of the day format to keep things simple, but give my kids the albums they love to peruse. This picture was Scott's idea: Showcasing our own little Project Life!

Whistle while you work

She'd fit right in with a houseful of dwarves...

Abby's checklist for housework:

Heels, preferably red.
Gown. Nightgowns definitely qualify.

Purple necklace, an original design.
Stool, because who wants all that standing around.
Baby on hip, just 'cause.

What do you do all day?

The beauty of homeschooling is that it takes a fraction of the time that other kids spend in brick and mortar schools. So what does Kaden do with all that free time? Legos. More legos. Some Wii. Drawing. More Legos. Some more Legos. Think about Legos. Legos. One day he is going to really appreciate what I've done for him.

Peek-A-Boo

I see you!

Six

Sam was pretty much in seventh heaven to be able to dictate a whole day to his liking! He certainly deserves a wonderful birthday, our little comedian and noise machine! Here he is blowing out his six tie-dye candles on his fudge-chocolate cake. He insisted on homemade strawberry ice-cream... I'm sure his dad didn't influence him one bit!

There really must be a recession going on because Target, Walmart and Amazon were out of toys! Usually we take the non-birthday kids to Target and let them shop, but this year... nothing was left on the shelves. So we drove the 40 minutes to the uber-trendy mall and the boys picked out gifts from the Lego Store, which very wisely was stocked to the ceiling and busy as always! Both Kaden and Sam thought it was pretty wonderful!

Sam's cool Phoenix Zoo t-shirt from Grandma and Grandpa. He proudly wore it over his clothes and thought it was the best shirt ever!

The thrill of cash when you are six is really beyond words!

Lego Indiana Jones for Wii. Happy boy. Happy, happy boy. And I resisted the urge to buy him the Indiana Jones costume to play in... memories of his last "cowboy" birthday were still a bit fresh!

My Girls in a Nutshell

One's a frilly princess and one needs redirection. Oy.

Book Report

A month of colds and baby-nausea are good for one thing: all the books in my pile are now read! There were no real losers. The Memory Keeper's Daughter had a lot of hype, but I just couldn't get into it. I never connected with the story, but it was an interesting, if disturbing, idea. I read two mystery-crime novels, The Likeness and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and realized that this is just not my genre of choice. They were just too twisted to sit right with me. Stories like this certainly drew me in to the bitter end, but I wished I hadn't gone there, you know. Well written, just not my cuppa. The other four I loved! The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, The Kite Rider and The Elegance of the Hedgehog were all books I would not fail to recommend. I hope I can savor a list of new winners as the year marches on.

Nine

That's right, man, you are nine!

The traditional Phoenix Zoo T-shirt from Grandma and Grandpa.

Just in case you wondered if he likes money...

Two Star Wars Wii games and Wii light sabers. Let the fun begin.

And this year, no cake. Kaden went for the pumpkin pie with homemade whipped cream. He is one happy boy, and now quite wealthy to boot! It was fun to remember the day he was born. It just seems impossible that he is another year older already. As he reminded us, this is his last year in single digits and he is half way to becoming an adult. Say it isn't so.

Jack Really Likes to Color

He's very serious about his coloring. No scribbling here. It's almost a national emergency if we can't find his Star Wars coloring book. I don't think I've ever seen a two year old who colors so much, or so well! And chubby baby crayons, no way. This boy is premium Prismacolors the whole way! Good work, Little Guy!

Everything Is More Fun In Heels

Since she was compelled to vacuum on New Year's Day, she did it with style! Fixed up her hair with a ribbon and slipped into some pink Barbie heels! This girl knows how to clean up!

On the Eve of a New Decade, A Look Back

Who are those young people?

The kids pegged Scott right away.

They all thought they were the baby featured.

Nobody knew who the girl was!!!

Well, that's Scott and me and the day we became parents, so that's Baby Kaden, who will turn nine in a few days. Thinking back over this first decade of the new millenium, I can hardly believe how our lives have been transformed. That selfish girl who thought the world revolved around her, had five kids and moved cross country four times. That tennis/golf obsessed boy who waited tables, graduated from medical school, deployed to the middle east, and became a board certified dermatologist. There hasn't been much "me" time, no golf or tennis time, and we can count the number of dates we've had on one hand. But... what a decade it has been!

Kaden turned our world inside out and then, only a year later, our family was complete when we welcomed Chloe. We went home to visit family the next year (from Andrews AFB, MD) and brought home a stowaway, Sam, who would be born during a rather nasty blizzard our first winter in Spokane (Fairchild AFB, WA). Our family felt huge, but somehow our hearts had grown accordingly, and so our family was complete. Until something got in the water and it seemed everyone we knew at church and our neighbors all got pregnant and we experienced the worst three weeks of our lives while Abby was saved and then recovered in the NICU. Our little blonde, dimpled beauty completed our rather larger than anticipated family. It wasn't even a month into our move to San Antonio (Lackland AFB, TX) and Scott's dermatology residency that we discovered just how mistaken we were. And so, Jack became the exclamation point to our family picture and we would never venture outside of the house without hearing someone comment on the size of our family again, but at least we were done. This last summer, we moved back to the DC area, living just up the parkway from Mount Vernon in Alexandria, VA. Scott is the staff dermatologist at Andrews AFB and once again, I find myself in the all too familiar predicament of growing another little miracle. I won't tempt fate by declaring this is our last...

It's been a decade of sleepless nights, of giggles and first steps, of babies who seem to grow up overnight. I might have started out as a mother counting the days until the kids went to preschool and then kindergarten, but somehow I found my greatest joy in educating them at home. I've made so many mistakes, dropped the ball so many times, and really failed to protect my little ones (Sam falling out the second story window stands out to me), but God has His hand on them. He fills the gaps I've neglected. He heals the hearts I've carelessly wounded. He has bound our family with an inexpressible love that is anything but invisible. I have such hope for the new year, for the new decade. I don't expect much of it will be easy. I don't expect I'll get anymore sleep. But I've got a feeling I'm going to stand amazed in another ten years at how the loves of my life have changed and at how they've changed me.

God's blessing on you in the year to come.

Absence Makes the Blog Grow Dull

We are moving soon, as in next Thursday the movers will be here and put all our stuff in boxes and wrap all our furniture in bubble wrap and blankets and we will live in  a hotel for 19 days or so (but who's counting) and I will probably lose my mind before or after my patience... 

Or, I will morph into a new version of my former self.  This is the daydream I have with every move.  I always feel like a move is a chance to start over, a chance to not be the wacky screw-up who acts like a three year old, but instead become the "better me", the uber-mom, the lovely wife... in other words, NICE. The mother who doesn't get frustrated or roll her eyes or tune out the children, but instead suggests playing at the park before going to a movie before swimming in the afternoon before crafts all the live-long day before reading loads of storybooks or the same story over and over and over at bedtime without wishing you would just go away.  Her. That's the one I want to be.  The friend who doesn't forget to call, the wife who not only makes dinner (on time) but sets a fabulous table and wouldn't think of forgetting a super-fun dessert, the hostess with the mostess, the thoughtful and prepared person who never forgets a birthday and makes everyone feel special and appreciated.  She's really something.  My list of her fabulous attributes is really quite something, too.  She is everything I hope I'll be... someday. And when this blog belongs to her, she will write charming and humorous and inspiring posts each and every day complete with awesome photos, but for now...  Well, we are moving.  Soon. And I need to hide from the children while I still can.

Sam and Abby, a photographic disaster

I asked them to put their arms around one another.  I should have been more specific with Sam apparently.  You notice that Abby is trying her darnedest to make photo magic happen, but... Maybe I should have tied him up... or used duck tape... you know it's gonna come down to that one of these days!

Finally, they got haircuts

Kaden has been asking me for three weeks to take him in for a haircut.  This morning I finally remembered to call for appointments.  The boys look all clean cut once more, and wow, they have ears!  Chloe cut five inches off her long locks.  She says she looks more like Nancy Drew now!  I'm so glad that's who she looks up to!  She's been carrying around a little notebook and jotting down random clues to the next big mystery!

Kaden's latest exhibit

I'm sure he would tell me what dinosaurs these are if I worked up the courage to ask (and had half an hour to spare)!  I love these skeletal remains he cuts out.  Where did he ever come up with that talent?  I can't even cut out a circle!

Kaden and Chloe's Photography - A Different Angle

Sam, tilted neighborhood

Kaden, swing in motion

Helping?

Mama, up close

a note to my children:

Choose to make a mess of a closet around here,

Be prepared to lose a lot!

And what you don't lose, 

you might find you also can't reach!

One day they'll move out learn.

As for today, that closet looks simply smashing!

I am really going to miss all these closets...

but they probably won't ever notice what's missing!

Where could that battery charger have gone?

I cannot find the battery charger for the camera!

I have looked all week, but I must finally conclude that:

A:  Enemy forces are onto me.... my battery has been stolen!  (Highly unlikely seeing as I am only a Super Secret Super Spy to my kids who will believe anything!)

B:  My husband wants to buy me a new camera and so he has hidden the battery, thereby inducing in me a state of near hysteria so that he can enjoy the ultimate heroic moment and save the day!

C:  The baby, who shall remain nameless, has thrown it away, put it somewhere, or buried it. Bad Jack!  Bad, bad baby!

I'm hoping for B!!!  So, here's the last little bit my camera had to give before it started beeping in a kind of creepy manner and then eerily fell silent...

This has got to be the cutest swimsuit, evah!

Sam's Zoo - Pedestrians Beware

All out love-fest with Baby Selah!

You'll never guess what the girls want for Christmas..

What, a baby, you say?

Man, however did you guess?

Lil' Dude in underpants!

And no, he won't let go.  Every picture looks like that.

And now... 

Life Without a Camera, otherwise referred to as, 

 How I Lost My Ever-Lovin' Mind, A Mom in Crisis