Christmas Card 2013 Outtakes

The Christmas Card Family Photo.
You gotta do it.
It never goes well.
It ends up with kids crying.
Moms frustrated.
Dads impatient.

Maybe to make things more fun, we should hold a caption contest for a featured photo.
Now that's an idea.

We set the camera on it's timer for pictures this time around. It went okay....sorta.
After it started going south, we called my mom over to try to get Selah's attention while the shutter clicked. That didn't work either.
No promises on Christmas cards this year, folks.

Enjoy this year's outtakes.

 New for 2013. Crop top sweaters!

Oh. My. Word. They are twins.

How would you like the photo below to grace your mantle? I think this is the one!
"May your Christmas dreams be as lofty as Selah's hair while throwing a fit."

 Maybe we put too much emphasis on the perfect picture/Christmas Card.

 Forced smiles by this point.

....aaaaaaaand we're done.

Mini-Matt

A Day in the Life- Our 9 to 5.

We have a pretty basic routine around here. Things can get mundane at times, but, this is life.
Today, I kept my camera close and took pictures of our day.
I know I have said it a million times before, but these are the kinds of images that I love seeing and capturing, because this is real life. No poses, or Photoshop edits here!
The pics I'm in, are from a timer on the camera.

Our morning starts anywhere from 7am to 7:45am, depending on how long Selah sleeps in the morning. Matt leaves for work around that time, and Selah usually wakes up when he leaves.
This is what I see first when I wake up...a picture of an orphan I pray for in Nigeria. Her name is Dashuma. I hope one day, I can meet her.

 Like I said above, Selah is the first one up. She asks for breakfast, I take her in the kitchen, make it, then go back to my bed for a few minutes of quiet time to myself before the older girls wake up around 8.

 Next one asking for breakfast is Audie. Sometimes she makes breakfast herself, sometimes not.

 After breakfast the girls get dressed while I hop in the shower. I usually find Corinne reading on the couch when I get out, and we start school  by 8:30 or 9:00 am. Tuesdays and Thursdays, the girls have Live Lessons over the computer, starting at 9 am, so those days require a tad of an earlier start than the others. 

Selah asks to do school too. This morning I gave her a piece of paper to color on. She ended up ripping it up and those ripped up pieces of paper ended up on the floor. Nothing new here.

So I can spend a little more time with Audie, uninterrupted, I write out Corinne's lesson plans a little more strategic to what works for us. Her lessons are listed on her task list on the computer, but it helps (both of us) to have a visual list that she can cross things off of.

 Audie has been in a trend of doing her school work on the top step of the stairs going to the basement.
Why not?

On any given day, there can be a number of shoes on the floor. Today, there were 4 pairs on the kitchen floor. Nothing new here, either.

 When school is done, the pick- up process starts. The shoes, the pieces of paper Selah tossed on the floor, the sippy cups....
I load the dishwasher from the breakfast and/or lunch dishes, sweep the kitchen floor...

 Selah helps

Daily, the girls play pretty well together. They play Barbie's or Playmobil, or Polly Pocket dolls.

Rounding up everyone for lunch, I called for Selah and I couldn't find her. She had taken herself to the bathroom.
Which requires taking off all of your clothes?

 I love that she finds herself independent to take herself to the bathroom...however, I need to know when she is going. Twice, there has been copious amounts of toilet paper in the pot....she clearly needs assistance in the area of wiping her bum.

This is a typical Audie set-up... Almost daily, she plays "office"- pulling together keyboards and toy-computers, and phones. She sits at the "desk", and "answers the phone", "prints out receipts", and "takes notes."

Twice or more, Selah will be a crank pot and throw a fit.

While Selah naps, the girls watch TV or a movie. I use this time for my time. I need it. I quilt, sew, prepare things for dinner that night, or things relaxing. This hour of the day can be priceless.

In the last hour or two before Matt gets home, we play outside, play Barbies, sit on the porch, or read books. This can be the longest hour of the day...:) But it is a great sound when we hear the garage door start to open, and Matt's car pull in.

I prepare dinner, and one or both of the girls set the table.

We sit down to eat- and that's our 9 to 5 :)

How do you REALLY feel?

 How I Hate School

by Corinne (spelling corrections by mom)

There are dumb things in school. I can't do anything cause school gets in the way. I'd rather be playing or sleeping or something. That's why I hate school. School is so boring.

:::::::::::::::::::::

Corinne's paper was supposed to be written about finding five coins, and how much those five coins add up to. Instead, while pouting in the corner of the couch, she opted to write about how she hates school.

Of course, I didn't let this fly, and I threatened to email it to her teacher. It took her a couple hours, but she came around and wrote the story she was supposed to write. I keep reminding Corinne she doesn't know how good she has it, finishing her homeschool work in just a few hours, then having the rest of the day to do whatever she wants. Still, she does have her (rare) days, and today was one of them.

I appreciated the comic relief that came from her writing frustrations. This is one of the papers to put away and pull out in a decade, and let her laugh at herself.

A first trip to the ER

Almost a month ago, we had our first time visiting the ER with a kid.
Selah was running full force down the hallway and hit the doorframe at the end of the hallway, which prompted a fall into our bed. Her head ended up needing 2 staples.

All is better now, the staples are removed, and she is still running full force down the hallway.

Audie says...::black and white edition::

A couple summers ago I was given a bag of my Grandpa's photographs. And, by bag, I mean a plastic grocery sack, with random pictures, most of the bent and stuck together from being wet at some point.
I have intentions of going through them, straightening them up, and putting the prints in a mini album of some sort. I have heard rumors that there are more pictures somewhere...and more slides somewhere...It would be cool to get a hold of those and get those in a book as well.

Today while I was putting some things way on a closet shelf, the bag of pics fell on my head. I thought I'd take a look through them. Looking through the pictures caused my creative endorphins to get going! This is why I love photography! And, why I have come to love black and white images-- It inspires me to get out my camera and take pictures-- but also get them printed on paper- so it actually becomes a photograph! There are so many pictures that tell a story, and put history in your hands. I will have to share some of the other photographs with you in another post, but for now, share something that Audie said.

Audie came into where I was going through the pictures and was looking through them. I was explaining to her that most of the pictures were of her Great-Grandpa Gordon while he was a missionary in Africa. Upon looking at the picture above,(I'm guessing the pic is of my aunts, Beth and Marcia) Audie said, "I bet these are Africans! Because they don't have any shoes on."

I love that she doesn't see skin color yet- (Granted, this is a black and white picture). But I don't love the quickness to a stereotype (Even though it was a funny thought)!

SEVEN!

Seven.
Corinne is still the sweet and tenderhearted girl she has always been.
I'm thankful for her!

Corinne's day was lunch with friends, a piano recital, and dinner with family. She claimed this the best birthday yet.

5 Years old!

 Audie turned 5 a week ago. Her birthday festivities drew out quite a long while. And, she took advantage of her birthday too... She may have used it a tad to get what she wanted. I have no idea who she would take after by doing that!...

The weekend before her birthday, we had a "Messy Party". We haven't had birthday parties for the girls other than family and close friends. This was the first time besides their one year old parties that we had an actual "party". We invited all of her friends and they were all gracious to come a be a part!

Our Messy Party theme included everything about getting messy! We filled pools with water beads, mud, flour, slime, had LOTS of Silly String, whipped cream, shaving cream, finger painting, and a slip and slide. The kids LOVED it...especially the boys. Not so sure the boys' moms loved me for hosting this kind of party, but it definitely was a hit, and the kids had fun.

mud fights....

I think Selah got caught in the crossfire of a flour fight.

Some of the participants...

 It was a really great time.
THANK YOU to my friend Lauren who took all of these pictures at the party. THANK YOU!

The end of the week consisted of a trip to Kansas City. We visited with Matt's family for a couple of days, and then spent two days as a family on the Plaza. We intended for the last half to be a family vacation since we never did one earlier this summer. While it was nice to have down time, it didn't really feel like a vacation. Kansas City is just too familiar to the both of us to feel like we were "away". Still, the girls has lots of fun, and we made some new family memories.

While we were there I took both of the girls' birthday pictures.
Below are pictures of one of the most spunkiest girls you will ever meet! Audie continually has the gift to make us laugh, and the gift to laugh at herself. She is fiery and feisty, and I love this girl to death! 

What's been goin' on.

Life has been a tad stressful the last couple of weeks. I feel terribly behind, and though I'm not as far behind as my mind thinks I am, mentally, I am tired.

Amanda left for college last weekend. Boo! We will sure miss her. (we already do!) Really proud of her though, and can't wait to see what's next for her. We are glad Ali is doing college here!

We have been doing school for a week now. And...it hasn't gone very well. It isn't easy homeschooling two kids at the same time. It isn't easy keeping a two year old entertained while trying to teach the older girls. And, since we are doing school online, it's new for all of us, learning how to navigate the system. I feel like I have spent more time following links and downloading textbooks rather than actually teaching. It seems near impossible to go back and forth between each kid. It probably sounds like I am complaining, which I don't want it to come across that way, because I am very thankful I get to homeschool and have my kids at home. But these are the facts. It hasn't been easy. Corinne has been frustrated too. I told her that it will take time to get used to, after having a whole summer to do whatever we want...then jumping into school. It just isn't that much fun. Hopefully, soon enough, we will get the hang of things and it will become easier.

Also, this week the girls have been under the weather. Corinne had a fever earlier this week, and seems to be struggling with allergies. Audie has had a fever for 4 days, but no other symptoms. She isn't her spunky self, but she isn't terribly ill, either.

Audie's birthday party is this weekend, followed by her birthday a couple days later. We are looking forward to it...pictures to come!

Oh, and remember the"win" I posted last week about my cool light fixture on the front porch? Disregard. The light comes down low, and the storm door doesn't clear it and open all the way. We won't be hauling any furniture in and out of that door now, as the door only opens about three and a half feet.
Fail.