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Slowing Down

I have decided it's time for me to slow down. I don't want to miss the sweet moments of my kids growing up and being so busy that I don't even remember these stages of their lives. As glamorous as I wish my life were, this is the real, everyday life that I live. Here's to a new year of slowing down and appreciating each moment now, instead of letting it all pass me by.

love

Updated Pictures

I am finally getting around to updating the blog.  Here are some pictures of the kids that I recently took.  We're working on getting a decent family picture...it's a lot harder now with a baby!

4 Weeks Old

This little guy is four weeks old already!  I know it’s so cliché to say, but time really has gone by so fast.  It’s hard to keep up with how fast he’s changing.  He is starting to fill out and we love his little chipmunk cheeks.  He is such a fun little baby and is usually pretty happy unless he’s hungry or over tired.  We’re surviving on the little amount of sleep we’re getting and are gearing up for summer vacation starting in just a couple of days.

I was finally able to get some of the sleepy newborn pictures that I wanted with him the other day.  Caleb was my little helper through the whole process and I think we were able to get a few good ones.  Don’t you just want to kiss him all over?!

Spring Has Sprung

I went around our yard to take some pictures of the new blossoms and flowers that were just emerging.  I love this time of year, especially when the weather is nice and the kids can play outside.  I love watching everything come back to life again after a long, cold winter. 

And, yes, for those of you who are wondering, I am ready to have this baby.  Caleb told me today that he wouldn’t push on my stomach so the baby wouldn’t pop out.  Maybe I should go ahead and let him.  It might get things started!  This is about as good as it is going to get of me while pregnant.  Enjoy.

Happy Easter!

 

Speak up, please!

I lost my voice today.  I don’t remember ever losing my voice before now.  My kids didn’t know what to think of me this morning as I was trying to get everyone out the door to school on time.  There was a lot of “what?” and “what’s wrong with your voice?” going on.  I couldn’t even explain to them why because they couldn’t hear or understand me anyway.  I don’t think it would be so bad either, except I had my doctor’s appointment today and had some questions for him about my upcoming glucose test.  That was an interesting conversation, to say the least!  The only time I ever remember losing my voice was in junior high when I didn’t actually lose it, I just pretended to because I didn’t want the teacher to call on me.  It didn’t take long for me to forget about it and get caught by the teacher 20 minutes into the class.  That is all the (fake) experience I have on the subject.  Any advice in this regard would be greatly appreciated!

As far as the picture goes, I did a practice photo shoot with Caleb yesterday for his birthday coming up next week.  I thought this one was funny because I had to bribe him with skittles to smile.  I got the smile, for sure.  Green teeth and all!

Have a happy weekend!

Promised Pictures

Remember when we had Easter like 2 months ago?  Well, I am finally getting around to posting these pictures of my kids.  Here they are sporting the coordinating ties and skirt I made for them. 

 I think these pictures might actually make it up on the wall—if I ever get over the love/hate relationship I have with the hammer.

New Pictures of the Kids

I decided that it is about time to get some pictures up on my walls since we have now lived here for more than half the year. (I'm so bad at decorating...any tips would be welcome!) I'm trying to decide what I think of these. I was kind of going for the timeless, classic feel. What do you think?

Here's another one...

Aside from my kids being super cute (which they are), what do you think of this one?

Opinions, please?

I was going through some pictures last night and really liked this one. What do you think? I know it's not the happy, go-lucky picture, but let's face it, he's not happy all the time (just most of the time). I really like the moodiness of it. Does it work for you?

Our Sweet Boy

I just wanted to share this picture that I took of our youngest. I have been practicing a lot with my camera and trying different things out in photoshop and really liked how this one turned out. I posted the color and b/w just for comparison. Thanks for looking!

Lake Michigan

We decided to venture out this weekend since the sun was out and the temperature was above 20 degrees (32 to be exact!) We went out for lunch to Wendy's, a family favorite, and then drove the kids over to Lake Michigan. It is a lot bigger than I thought it would be, but I guess that is why it is one of the great lakes. It is so big, in fact, that Brandon decided we should "dig for crabs at the beach" since we were at the ocean! Needless to say, there weren't any crabs but there was plenty of ice and snow all over the beach and all across the lake. We thought it was pretty funny when we saw someone throwing pieces of ice across the lake (just like you would if you were skipping rocks) and it just slid across until it hit some more ice.

There was a really fun park on the other side of the beach which didn't take Brandon and Kelsie very long to find. They had so much fun pretending to be pirates on their pirate ship and fighting off all the "bad guys". Caleb had fun swinging on the swings and it was just nice for all of us to get out of the house and to get some fresh air! We could also see the Chicago skyline from the park. I keep forgetting how close we are to the city, so it was really cool to see it from that angle.


As always, here are some pictures to document our outing. I am having lots of fun with my new camera and (for now) my willing subjects!

Kelsie loves the tire swing, especially when Dad spins her around super fast!

Caleb and Dad enjoying a nice ride on the swing.

Brandon zipping up his coat after deciding that it was still cold outside.

I think I'm in love...

With my NEW camera!

After months and months of saving and waiting (and a little help from our tax return) I finally upgraded our point-and-shoot digital camera to the dSLR Canon Rebel XTi. I have been studying and reading just about everything I can get my hands on about digital photography for the last year and practicing so much that my kids already hate the camera. Too bad for them, because nothing is stopping me now!

Here's one of the first pictures I took with my 50mm lens and am just amazed at how sharp it is! This is straight out of the camera without any editing done except for resizing for the blog. Isn't it so exciting?!?!