Princess ShaSaySay

Creepy drawings

The girls go through paper as fast as the folks at Ryan's Steakhouse make it to the dessert bar after dinner.
They draw and draw and draw.
Then write letters and make me cards.
And then they draw some more.

Audie has developed an interesting way to draw people...

Personally, I think that these figures look like they will come off the page and come to life, running after you to take yours. They are though, very cute in their own sort of way. I also like how she distinctly draws straight hair and curly hair.

I love my life. Currently, I am listening to Matt play school with the girls. Audie is playing the teacher, "Miss Spankbottoms", Corinne is the student, "Charlotte", and they are seeing how loud they can yell the alphabet.
I sit back and smile when I see (and hear) life take place like this. I am one blessed mommy.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Card Outtakes

I finished our 2011 Christmas Card this afternoon!

Phew! Feels good to have that out of the way.
We actually had 3 different photo sessions for this years card.
The first one was our fall family picture. However, I decided it wasn't "Christmasy" enough.
Then I had a better, more creative idea.
That fell through due to hungry girls. Forced Smiles and Crankiness were on the lunch menu that day.
So, we went with individual pictures, and I picked the best out of each of those.
Here are a few that I thought were cute, (some cuter than others...) but didn't make the cut.

6 years

We celebrated 6 years of marriage today.

What do two krazy kats like us do on our anniversary?

Drop the girls off at Grandma's.

Have lunch at a new restaurant.

Go ice skating and hold hands like we're 13.

Happy Anniversary, Matt.

I"ve enjoyed every minute of this journey with you.

Good and bad, I'd do it again.

I love you.

Happenings...

Not much going on in this neck of the woods.
(heck, I don't even know what day it is)
We have been a little under the weather since last Friday. No fun, but I think we are on the mend.

Selah is trying her hardest to crawl. She will get up on her hands and knees, but she can't get her hands to move forward to actually crawl. I hope she figures it out soon, cause it is starting to frustrate her. Poor little lamb.

School continues to go well. We have started to move at a quicker pace, as Corinne has seemed to get bored with the reinforcements. Really, she has the concepts down, but I felt like we needed to fulfill all of the curriculum worksheets. Instead, I am picking a choosing to keep things exciting and different. I just make sure she's got it before we fully move on.

That's all for now. The girls are summoning me to build a fort.

Selah is 6 months!

Beware. Super cute baby butt ahead.

Selah is 6 months old today!
About a month ago, I couldn't wrap my head around the fact she would be 6 months, half a year old. Now that it is here, it seems more realistic, but still kinda weird.
I can't get enough of this little baby. I just have to squeeze her all the time.
We snapped a few (okay, more than a few) pics today.
These are my favorites!

A couple days ago, I told Matt I wanted to do the classic naked baby on a rug...

He said no baby butts.
But I did it anyway.

My mom crocheted this blanket for Selah. I love it, so I had to put in in a couple of pictures. Thanks, Ma!

 some of the "everyday expressions"

 ...baby toes

my favorite face

Happy Birthday, Selah!

Happy Halloweeny!

Weather tonight was mid 60's for trick or treating. We couldn't have asked for a better night for the girls to go  get their fill of candy. Corinne was a ladybug, Audie was a tiger, and Selah was a mermaid. I was afraid the older girls would change their minds about what they wanted to dress up as, but they picked out what they wanted and stuck with it. They were pretty cute.

  I made Corinne and Selah's costumes, and we ordered Audie's from ebay.

And of course, we had to go trick or treating at CD!!

 Corinne was excited that her and Paree were both ladybugs. 

Artists at large

The girls had fun tonight in the tub. A little shaving cream mixed with food coloring makes a good medium for bath time painting.

Family Pics

We have been long overdue for some family pics. The last picture we took of all 5 of us was when I was in a hospital bed hours after delivering Selah. It's crazy how the kids change so much, and it seems like even after a few months the picture is "outdated" due to changes in the kids appearances.

I think this was the fastest photo shoot I have ever been a part of. It was really like 5 minutes, max. It does drive me bonkers that I can't be the photographer of my own pictures, but what can ya do?
The photo below fits the bill of what we set out to do.

 Sometimes I feel like I will look back and not be in any pics with my kids, since I am usually the one taking all of the pictures. So handing the camera off to a friend is nice.
Especially to be included in some of the candid photos below.

Over the weekend

We have had a great last 4 days. Matt had some vacation time to use up, so he was off work Monday and Tuesday. We had thoughts about "getting away", but were not able to find plane tickets cheap enough, and we weren't able to find someone to keep Corinne and Audra.

I'm glad we actually ended up staying home though, because we made some great memories as a family and got a lot accomplished around the house.

I decided to carry my camera around with us, and all of our excursions-

Here's what we did the last 4 days!

Our fence has been a horrid mess the last few months. The crazy wind has taken it's toll and we had to replace it. Matt rebuilt the fence door, with the help of Audie.

We have a new pet.
This pet is temporary, and unnamed- but we (okay, I guess only Matt and I) have been fascinated with it.

 Our friend Brenda had found two caterpillars in her garden, and passed them along to Corinne and Audie. Audie's didn't make it, but Corinne's thrived, and made himself into a little cocoon! I remember watching this process in elementary school, but I guess as an adult I appreciate it a lot more.
Matt got a little bit of the cocoon making process on video, which I'll post later.

The little guy ate and ate and ate and ate...

and ate some more.

and this is him in his little cocoon!

I have really been into capturing "life's moments" on camera, instead of posed photography. You'll probably start to see a lot more pictures like this one:

Yesterday, we went bowling.
Yours truly:

more "life" pictures

I married him because of his nice butt.

 I love the expressions Audie gives.

Little Selah took a nap, and then hung out in her carseat.

Among some of the other things we did, were some visits to some friends, some baking in the kitchen and carved a pumpkin.
Selah watched from her throne...

the final product!