Whatever it Takes!

The whole reading thing is finally starting to click. She's gaining confidence. She's testing at the level she should be. She's like it! Im a happy mama!

Tonight I am Thankful For...

• My Sweet Little Boy who stayed Brave and calm even when his mama was in a puddle of tears.
• Neighbors who will take my kids at a seconds notice.
• Friends who show up at the hospital for support...even when I didnt know I needed it. But I really did.
• A Hospital that is so close to our house.
• The fact that what wardrobe you are wearing doesn't really matter when you show up to the ER at 9pm. Good things since I was wearing my super cute Modbe cap-sleeve with my pink and grey flannel pj pants and my metallic silver flats. Lovely.
• That all the gory ER drama happened when Ty and I were in the back being seen by the Doc. But apparently David & Suzanne got a good show.
• That this time it was just a local allergic reaction.
• That I will be prepared next time with Epi-Pens on the chance it progresses to something worse.
• That we are now home in our cozy home waiting for Daddy who is trying to get home from Pullman as fast as he can.
• That we all have the sense of humor to someday be able to tease Ty relentlessly for how HUGINORMOUS his lips are right now! He keeps asking me why I have to take pictures of it ;).

See below post if you are wondering what this is all about.

Damn Wasp!

Excuse my french, but I hate them. I hate how many there are here. I hate how aggressive they are at this time of year. And I hate how they hurt my baby boy....right on the inside of his lip. Just an innocent little drink out of his orange pop...and the wasp sent this house into a few moments of intense panic. I have never heard that kind of scream and fear out of this little mans mouth...in turn sending me into a mama freak-out. However, my need to get him to calm down fast in turn calmed me down as well. Although, I will be watching him like a hawk until this lip gets down to a reasonable size again.

The fingers in his mouth, I'm thinking, is a coping mechanism. Thank God the bugger didn't make it down his mouth. And thank God he is not allergic to them. Or I would have used a stronger word than Damn! (eta: okay so apparently he is allergic...see above post)

GROSS!!!!

I'm not one to forward on emails...especially ones that generally are false and out there just as a scare tactic and to bog down the Internet...just like a virus would. But this one is just needing to be stated!!! Especially to mama's with little girls. With all the crap coming out of China I will be looking closely at everything purchase from now one. No offence to my Chinese brother's and sister's....but seriously...why is this country not checking every single thing that comes in?!!

Yup ladies....that is a condom!!!! Which normally I would think, hey they are multi-purpose. Go Green. Nope...they are possibly used!!!!!!!

SNOPES LINK

Cleaning Out My Links

Just wanted to give fair warning. I will soon be taking down the links on my sidebar for all my friends blogs. Not that I dont love them dearly...but the list keeps growing and I can not keep up with it. Also, it's a small effort to keep some of my friends who want to remain a little more private, do just that.

So if you visit some of my friends blogs often and want to continue to do so...Please Save Them To Your Favorites! It's easy to do. Click on the link to take you to their blog. Then click on the Favorites Link up near the tool bar and Add To Favorites.

Thanks!

Rainy Game

What do you do when you drive 3 hours with 5 children only to find yourself sitting in a rainy, uncovered stadium? Drop a pretty penny on sweatshirts, fill their little hands with candy, stick on poncho's, send the toddler off to the car with his grandma...And then there's peace & happiness. Go Cougs!


Now if only I had bought a cougar clip for Emery's hair....ugg, nothing drives me more crazy then bangs in the face!! It apparently doesnt bother her one bit!

Tired & Lame

those are the new descriptive words about me. Feeling guilt for not blogging. Im sure there is something facinating to blog about...but Im too tired to think of it.

Off to bed now...i love fresh clean sheets!

Frisky

That would be the word I was thinking of in my One Word, One Drink post.

A word my husband used to describe me to his brother after he fell for me ;).

Calling All Wild Life Experts...

Please help me identify this print. If it is what I would guess it is...then I will not longer shoot at a new favorite location of mine. Dang it! I should have taken more pictures of the other hundreds of prints. There were Deer, Elk...and other large creatures I wouldn't even know what to guess were. It would have made a great field trip for biology students.

ETA: Mystery Solved in Comments. Someone has one Mother of a Dog. Who by the way needs a pedicure!

Cheap Entertainment!

If your ever looking for something cheap that will keep your children's attention for long periods of time. Invest in a $1 spiral bound notebook. Im telling you...they're the hottest new toy! I got one for each of my children. Gave them one rule: You can do with them whatever you want, but you must not rip the pages out otherwise I will throw the loose papers away!

Emery comes home straight after school, finds a quiet spot and writes stories. This is not her homework mind you...just some relaxing time for her.

Ty draws pictures of anything and everything. It is especially his favorite on long car rides, like today to Costco.

Piper goes around feeling all grown up and takes every ones food orders, then brings back a "pee-tend" meal.

So there's my tip for the day!

This post was really just intended to make sure you all knew I was still alive. I've just been busy, and blogging has been on the back burner. We enjoyed a relaxing weekend of football, swimming and cousins. My oldest sister and her family came down for their first visit. We had tons of fun. We also had time for their family photoshoot. I'll be putting up a sneak peek on the photo blog in a few days. And now here is where I request visits from my other two sister's and their families!

Well, tonight's the start of Wednesday night Church. Looking forward to getting back in the routine of it again. Hope to see some of you there. Im excited to dive into another Beth Moore study again. Love her!

ta ta...till i have another random post for you.

One Word. One Drink

Okay, I am following the lead of some of my other blogger friends and doing the One Word Post...but adding to it a little more.

Please reply with a comment. In the comment line, please leave one word that comes to your mind that describes me.

(and here is my add on) Please also leave your coffee of choice, be specific! (or other drink.)
(crystal I know your laughing at this right now ;)

Here is my answer for myself:

Blessed
Grande Americano with Cream

*oh and to make it more interesting. I have another word in mind that someone has once discribled me as. If anyone guesses it you get your drink!

What Wedding Photographers Do In The Down Time...

...Snap each other...or one's own self in the long bathroom mirror.

Celebrating...with Art, Excersize & Friends

Mike and I stressed all summer long over what to do for the Kid's birthday celebrations this year. Okay, I probably stressed...but neither of us could decide what to do until about a week before invites needed to go out. Every year we have done a joint party for them. A big old thang that pretty much the whole town is invited to. We love to celebrate and have always enjoyed the big event. But this year we felt it was time for them to have individual celebration. I am so glad we went this route. I can tell they both felt special on their big day.
However, doing two parties meant cutting way back on the invite list. We chose activities that had requirements on the maximum amount of kids we could take. This was harder for Mike and I than the kids I think. But it had to be done. Im totally babbling...

Ty's Rock Climbing Party.
We took Ty, his sisters and a handful of little men to climb at the Rock Wall. So fun! And I highly recommend it because the place does everything for you. We just had to show up!


Emery was loving it! She surprised us with her mad climbing skills. Pip on the other hand preferred the squishy floor.


Some of the Big Boys had to try it. We had a talk before to Ty about how the climbing wasnt a competition. He didnt have to go high if he didnt want to. We didnt want him to feel bad on his special day if some of his buddies climbed higher than he...and some did. But there was no convincing these guys that it wasnt a competition. I think BJ will be taking Darrin to lunch some time this week :)

Even Mama and Shoshana made it up a few feet. I actually want to go back and try it for myself. Dilly Boy was a natural spiderman.

Emery's Celebration:

We took Emery and her friends to Artsy Fartsy to paint pottery. The girls loved it and took it quite seriously. Another thing I would recommend. We took them to ice cream afterwards where there were lot's of giggles. And Emery is now loaded with enough make-up to last her to when she's 15 and can wear it out in public :)

So cute to see these girls grow up to little young ladies.

Celebrating...with school.

Kind of boring pictures...but this here is my memory so it's a must post.

Celebrating...with family.

Insert Huge Sigh Of Relief Here.

We have finally finished the Birthday Season for a while in our house. And mama can rest a bit (who am I kidding).

I'll have to make a few post with all the celebrations...because in the last week I have taken over 300 pictures!

Here are a couple pictures of us celebrating on the actual birthdays with family.

I had to share this one of the girls. Doesnt Piper look so big. Gives me glimpses of them when they are older.

Love this one of the birthday honorees.

And just because he is so cute!

And Ty's Birthday.

The Highlight of his birthday....

His New Red Ryder BB Gun. Oh joy!

I know it looks lame that there are only 2 pictures of Ty's family celebration. But in all fairness I took about 30 at emery's friends party...and over 200 at Tys today. (more to come)

You Know It's Cougar Football Time When...

...your going through the drive thru at taco time and your husband has to return and exchange his straw because it was purple.

...you ask your husband to get drop clothes for the painting project. It takes 3 stores before he finds ones that are not "husky" brand. Of course they were more expensive and ended up being 18x18 inch squares...not an 18 foot clothe. Oh if I just had a picture of him trying to cover his brand new hugenormous tv with those tiny squares.

All for the Pride of the Crimson and Grey!

And we are off to the game today.

GO COUGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mr. President

Wedding Photographers

(she's gonna kill me for this!)
This is what two people look like at midnight after driving 3.5 hours, walking 3.5 miles to find food then shooting a wedding for 8 solid hours. Haven't laughed this hard in a long time. Thanks Angela for being my second. (that sounds really demeaning doesn't it?)
oh, and those are some pearly whites you have sissy, but why does your head look so much bigger than mine? And where are our eyes?

Ty's Day!

My little man was really looking forward to his special photo shoot with mommy. But that doesn't necessarily mean he was a perfect little subject. With his excitement...plus his little personality, and all the new places we went...came much distraction. Plus...he thinks it's fun to ham it up for the camera. I did definitely get his little personality though. At least the one he shows those of us he feels safe with at home.

Love you my little goof ball 6-year-old! Happy Birthday!

Oh, and I am putting up more on the photo blog as well as in his own gallery at
www.definingdetails.com/clients.

Her Turn!

My Baby's First Day Of Pre-School!

And She Wasn't Scared One Bit!

And I wasn't Sad One Bit!

And I know it is all because of these two ladies! Piper has known them most of her life...and I know with all my heart they truly love her already!

So she is in safe hands.

Plus she has little friends in her class!

Zeke, whom she has become fast friends with over the summer. Here she is dramatically reading to him in her own way.


And of course the ever entertaining Ashley...I just know we will hear some cute stories this year out of this little one's mouth!

Here's to another wonderful year at BLPS!