Say Cheese!

This afternoon we put ourselves through the trial of trying to get a decent picture of all four of us at once.  Have you EVER tried to get a picture with a 3 year old and 1 year old smiling (much less looking!) at a camera?!??!  It's right up there with the ease of spotting the Lock Ness Monster.

Fortunately, our friends Dave and Jill donned a puppet and gave it a shot (no pun intended).  I'd say we have SOMETHING to use for our Christmas list.  Any favorites?

Mine is #2 for it's subtle glimpse into the craziness of our lives.  Hint: note Liam's shoes....

 #1

  #2

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 #6

Hanging out after all of their hard work in front of the camera.  Liam: doing what he does best - filling his hollow leg with crackers.  Natalie: doing a spontaneous jig.  Mind you, this is BEFORE candy.

Happy Halloween!

 We had two fun nights of trick or treating this weekend.  Last night we did Trunk or Treat at our church and tonight we did Trunk or Treat at another church PLUS a little neighborhood trick or treating.  Natalie was ALL smiles as that was the MOST candy she's ever seen.  Enjoy it kid, because that's all the candy you'll see until next year.  Bwahahahahaha! *cue evil laugh and music*

No, seriously.

Trunk or Treat!

Lil' Chef

This little girl loves to dress up.  We pulled a chef's outfit out of the closet that we got from her cousins last Christmas and tried it on (it was HUGE last year).  It fits perfectly now! 

I really hope she's the sort of girl that will want to bake 5 different versions of the same dish with me to find the "best" one.  I LOVE spending time in the kitchen and hope she does too!

Nastics

So she might not quite have the prounounciation correct, but Natalie is LOVING gymnastics.

I took my camera a couple times to get some shots of my fledgling Olympian. (Okay...she'll probably be too tall to be a gymnast and won't be a star at ANY sport if she's got her mother's athletic prowress.)

her class... so cute!

pike!

Tada!

Oh, the teeth!

Bouncing on the trampoline.

Our thought for gymnastics is that:
A. She's got a TON of energy and needs to run it off.
B. She falls down a fair amount and loves to climb on things, so learning to fall with flair could be a benefit.
C. This is a good predecessor to ballet (Lauren) or martial arts (Kevin). Can I get a HI-YA?

Side note: I mentioned recently that Liam couldn't wait to join the gymnastics class and Kevin about choked on what he was eating. Then he grunted something about "his son wasnt going to be in gymnastics!" There are two boys in Natalie's class of 5 kids now though and it's really more of a tumbling class to be honest. And tumbling can be totally manly! I think as long as I put him in some sort of manly camo shorts and shirt (ala Rocky Balboa) then Kevin will get used to the idea. Ha!

Let's See, Where Were We?

How can it have been so LONG? I feel like I've fallen into a black hole of "busy-ness". We've started preschool (as you've seen in my previous post) and it's been a terrific success. However, I find myself with MUCH less free time than before and I'm wondering if I'll ever get it back!

About 6 weeks ago now I broke my camera lens so I haven't taken many pictures since the incident. We were in the midst of an austerity month (a month where we just buy the essentials and pinch the extra spending). I was busy selling stuff on craigslist to earn a little slush fund and was resigned to pay for the new lens from the sale of one of my scrapbooking gadgets. Side note:I actually thought the whole camera was broken - so finding out that it was just the lens was a huge relief.

I had another lens (50mm fixed, for those of you that care) that was pinch hitting for me, but it was far from effective for day-to-day shooting. It's a portrait lens so a lot of my pictures were VERY close to their subjects.

Case in point:




I was across the room. I mean ALL THE WAY ACROSS and trying to get a photo of my closet's state of disarray so you could see the transformation (I've been on an organizing streak). I think you get the picture, but REALLY!
So I finally found a lens I wanted for half price on Craigslist and I asked Kevin to research buying a used lens for me so I wouldn't be shistered - especially since this money was coming from the hard-earned Craigslist sales I'd made. Apparently the site he was reading told him to turn the end of the lens to make sure it moved freely and noticed that our broken one did not. Deciding to man-handle it, as it was already broken, he twisted it much harder than normal and it popped back into action!

This is me when I realized (15 minutes before we're to buy the "new" lens) what had happened.

It's the "you've got to be kidding me" face.

We went ahead an got the other lens... just because it's SO much nicer (and apparently I need a backup). Its a Canon 28-135mm IS - a nice step up from my 18-55mm. I mean, it was pretty impressive that I could now take a picture like this from the back of the parking lot in the dark and STILL read the letters.

So now I just need to learn how to use it and all of it's nifty features. I'll just be working on that in my spare time. =P

I'm Getting Really Excited About Halloween This Year

Where We've Been

Aaackkk!  I know it's been forever.  And I constantly feel like I'm behind on this blog.  I haven't a moment to post today, but I do have a cross-post to offer to show what we've been up to these past few weeks. 

Natalie started preschool - but not the traditional kind.  Its a co-op with other women that are interested in homeschooling for preschool (at least) and possibly continue for elementary school.  I have to say I'm the least experienced in the group as far as teaching goes, but I'm happy to help and do when directed.  I know this is going to be a great group of little friends/classmates for Natalie (and Liam too as he grows up around it).  It's all very exciting to see it unfold. 

Take a look -->
The First Day of Preschool as blogged by my friend Erin: http://onemiracleandcounting.blogspot.com/2010/09/first-day-of-preschool.html
The Second Day of School: http://onemiracleandcounting.blogspot.com/2010/10/pre-school-day-2.html