new lens love!

Today found me playing 'nakie' hopscotch with Hunter. Well ... she was nakie, I was fully clothed. Um, not so cute if mom were nakie! Hunter had just woke from her nap ... I had taken her pull-up off and didn't put her undies on yet before we started playing.

Is it just me, or does everyone have a soft spot for those little dimpled bare bottoms? Again, talking Hunter's here ... not mine {thank you very much!}.

Anyway. With that little bottom right in front of me ... I couldn't resist ... I finally broke out a new lens I've been dying to try out and I love it!! Love, love, love it! Yum! It's a 50mm 1.2 ... I used it here at 1.2 to see what it would do and how fun? Or is it just me? :)

Oh! And I should mention ... yes, my kids are generally dirty and I don't care. But in this particular case, Hunter had a mean mug of hot chocolate before naptime!

tiny tim ... the turtle

Madness ensues as I'm packing and trying to get the girls settled for granny's visit. How is it you never realize how crazy your life is until you have to explain it to someone else?

CJ and I are headed out of town for an long weekend ... can't wait ... we really need to refresh our marital souls.

Here's a little something to brighten up your day ... Not sure I'll be posting while I'm gone {maybe a preview of the photo session I did yesterday}, so I'll see ya next week!

a day with my baby

The past couple of weeks, I've been dragging Hunter on errands instead of finding something fun for us to do together.  So yesterday, we took a trip to the Mitchell Park Domes.  Fun! Warm!  And pretty inexpensive!

Does anyone know how much my children love their nukies?  I promise Hunter's the only one left with one, but I have to admit ... even now, when the older girls are having a hard time with something {crying or whining}, I so want to stick a nuk in their mouths!

In the photo above, Hunter 'stole' a nuk out of the diaper bag, and quickly turned around to look at the flowers ... all while covering her mouth to hide her nuk.  I tend to be a little more lenient with the whole pacifying thing ... but daddy, not on board so much.  So this hand-over-the-mouth maneuver is what she does when she hears dad coming.

I think it's kinda cute.  I also think I want my baby to stay a baby a while longer.  Is that so wrong?  We just potty trained her and the nuk will be next to go ... I promise!

And I love this next photo.  She was being such a fun 'subject' for me today!  There were a series of photos I took where she's laying down on the bench with her head in her hands ... I had her nuk sitting at the front of the bench and told her she could have it if she let me take a few photos.  She patiently posed while her nuk patiently waited.

Then she made a beeline for it!

Have I mentioned I'm a stroller freak?  I actually posted about it once here.  I don't know what I'll do when my baby outgrows her stroller.  I don't think I could actually part with any of my strollers, so I may need to start borrowing babies?

This may be one of the last photos I take of one of my children in a stroller ... oh, but I hope not!  {and yeah, if you look closely, she has two nukies}

And lastly, a little collage of our day.  Hunter is a treasure to be with and she's so good!  She patiently let me take photos ... she even did Me Ra's 'fake laugh' for me!

I love you baby ...

convo with a two year old

So.  I come out of my room in my pj's and the following conversation ensued:

two year old:  I don't like those pajamas

me:  Why?

two year old:  Cuz I being sassy

as good as it gets ...

awesome mom move ...

With all the eye drama, I'm way behind on posting this, but it was just too good not to share ...

I don't know if this photo will quite do it justice ... but here goes.  I took the girls baths the day we left for vacation, which was Friday.

I must tell you I am a stickler for baths.  Every other night, pretty much like clock-work.  Curt thinks I'm nuts.  Is that too often?  How often do you take your kids baths?

See, the thing is ... I have this habit of not combing their hair.  Our favorite thing is 'messy pony tails' ... which basically means they aren't tortured by my apparently neglectful hands when it comes to brushing.  And I in turn, am not tortured by the screams of children with much too sensitive little scalps!

Are you reading that as, we really are one huge mad house in the morning and therefore just don't have time to have pretty hairstyles when we leave the house?

Anyway, so I'm a stickler for baths, but basically because we have rats nests on our children's head!

Okay so ... I really have been rambling lately, haven't I?  Back to baths on the day we left for vaca.

I went against my rule and took the girls only one other bath during vacation.  Hunter had a fit and absolutely did not want to bathe with the girls.  I succumbed and back to Max & Ruby for her, while Piper and Wynter had fun in the shower.

Yeah, that was the only time I ended up showering them, which meant Hunter never got a bath while on vacation.  We got home Friday {a week later} and I took them baths before bed.

While shampooing Hunter's hair, I found the above {refer to photo} tangled up in her mess of a messy pony tail.  YIKES, right?

And to really nominate myself for mom-of-the-year award ... imagine my surprise when I unpacked the girls when we got to Mexico and realized I had packed the baby {that'd be Hunter for those of you who are wondering 'what baby?'} only two shirts.  Two!  For a week's vacation.  And I also forgot to pack diaper wipes.

Sigh ...

shopping + jumping

Yesterday afternoon, we went down to the beach to do this ...

And ended up doing this ...

And this ...

And this ...

that's how we roll ...

"who threw up last night?"

That's what Taylor asked me this morning on our way to church.

"Wynter.  How'd you know?" I replied.

"The bowl in your bed."

Yeah, that's my MO ... when the kids are sick {and old enough to aim}, I give them a bowl and send them back to bed.  So it was this morning {5:30am} with Wynter.

Piper comes running into my room, yelling that Wynter threw up.  I'm out of bed in a flash, but stumbling all over the place.  And come on!  It's Sunday ... I planned to go to the late service, and sleep in at least until 6:30!

So I'm out in the family room and there's Wynter standing above a pile of puke about to do it again.  My eyes are barely functioning, so I sort of stand there, rub her back and just let her go at it.  After all ... dad's the master-of-puke-pee-poo-cleanerupper!

Then I give her a bowl and send them both back to bed.  Mother of the year award?  :)

When she wakes up, I have her come into my bed and I make sure she brings her bowl with her.  I'm happy to report no more incidences {knock on wood!}.

The last couple of nights have been rough.  Piper's throat is so sore, she can barely talk.  Not in a losing your voice, kind of way.  But in the 'my throat's closing in on me, I can't talk' kind of way.

Hunter has been up a minimum of 3 times each night.  I think it was 4 on Friday night.  I did my best 'I'm sleeping so soundly, I can't hear her' impression and got out of a couple of them!

And yeah, Wynt's been complaining of a stomach ache since Thanksgiving {honest!}.  Problem is, sometimes I don't know if it's real or not with her.  Like when Piper can't talk, Wynter does her best 'I can't talk' impression.  Or when Piper came home from school early a few weeks ago, because she had a fever ... Wynter asked on the car ride home, "what's the worse thing you can have ... a fever?"

Anyway ... when the baby woke up this morning, I put her in my bed {so she could catch what Wynter had}, and as I tucked her in ... I wanted to savor every moment, every sight.  All cuddled in with her plethora of nukies and her little stuffed animal.

We tuck them into our bed every morning to watch TV while we get ready for the day.  I know the day is coming when they aren't going to be doing that anymore.  Tay used to climb into our bed too ... and now she's too busy showering her mornings away!

On to another matter.  I've been praying {literally} and praying about the 'busyness' of my life.  I'm a slow, slow learner ... but I finally gave it to God.  Here God, take it.  Take my busyness ... wash it, dry it, iron it ... and give it back to me all pressed, cleaned and most importantly ... organized.

And guess what?  He did!

I have gotten so much done, and really without doing anything at all.  Somehow the weight is lifted.  Somehow I feel extremely organized.  And please, if I steer out of control again ... slap me!

Anyway ... we had a lounging kind of day today ... what, with everyone being sick and all.  I got a bit of things done while the baby napped and the girls watched TV.  Then we had a fire and movie afternoon while I addressed Christmas cards.  And then ...

This is actually the reason for my post ...

We had a game night tonight!  Woo-hoo!  We ordered in pizza, ate on the floor and played games.  That might not sound like rocket science.  But here's the thing ... I was not looking at the clock.  I was not rushing things along.  I was fully immersed in the moment.  Enjoying my time with the girls.

It was heaven.  Thank you Lord {thank you for slapping me!}

time with hunter

Last Tuesday, Hunter and I visited the Milwaukee Public Museum for our Tuesday adventure.  The museum is featuring the Titanic exhibit and I was curious to see it.  We were given boarding passes with a passengers name and then at the end of the exhibit, you could check the passenger list to see if you survived or not.

Huntie was a little. bit. cranky at the end of the exhibit, so I was never able to check.  But we had our photos taken, and they laminated it on the boarding pass.  I'm a sucker for cheesy memorabilia like that.  In the photo, you can see Hunter proudly displaying her boarding pass.

She was anxious to move on to the butterfly exhibit and see the dinosaurs, so we left and toured the rest of the museum before we headed home.  I have such a fun time with her.

And for today's field trip, we met Heather and EJ at the Children's Museum for a little playtime.  Aren't they cute??

procrastinating

I don't want to be a big whiner about the million {written in a dramatic, whiney tone ... maybe for effect, add an eye-roll} things I have to do, because I know we all have a 'million' things we need to accomplish.  But for some reason, I can't get my act together and get them done!

I need to get a blog post written for work, but am feeling completely uninspired and wiped.  I want to get to the wedding photos {update: i've only got 263 left to go through, then i can start editing}.  I want to get to the Short family's photos {which i shot while we were up at the lake}.  I need & want to finish the bible study for tomorrow.  And then a variety of other need to's ...

But what am I doing instead?  Procrastinating.

I'm a master at that ...

And besides all that, I know that you all need to hear about my day with Hunter.  :)

After we dropped the girls at school and a quick trip to the grocery store this morning, we headed to Mayfair to pick out some stuff for the new addition.  Then a trip to Hunter's favorite store ... no, not Build-A-Bear ... Stride Rite!  This girl loves shoes.  She spends hours {well, not hours} trying on all her sisters shoes.

She was SO adorable sitting with the sales lady telling her all about what she liked and didn't like in a shoe.  She was also careful to point out her new 'socks' {tights}.

Curt got her up from her nap this afternoon and played with her a bit {the girls are staying late at school today}, so I hadn't seen her ... she just comes up to the office and has a new outfit on.  I asked where her other pretty dress was and she informed me she 'peed' on it.  But was proudly sportin' a new 'pwetty dress' ... complete with new 'socks' and her new shoes!

I've said it before, but I love this baby!  And P.S. ... bear with me, I think I'll be calling her 'baby' for many years to come!

it's not tuesday ...

But I got to spend the day with Hunter anyway.  Last Friday during her swimming lesson {an instructor picks her up from daycare, walks her to the pool, and drops her off when done}, her right ear started bleeding bright red blood.

The instructor called, so Curt picked her up and took her to the pediatrician right away.   The doc said she had an infection, but all else looked okay {and the bleeding had stopped by then}.

As I mentioned previously, Curt had the girls up north for the weekend ... on Saturday, he called to tell me her ear started bleeding again.  And then yesterday when they got home, she told me her ear hurt and that it was her left one.  Well ... she didn't tell me it was her left one, but that was the one she pointed to.  And then she was poking at it all night long.

I called her ENT specialist this morning on my way to work and left a message {so long that I got cut off and hadn't even left my phone number yet, so had to call back again!  crazy moms!!}.

As life would have it, I was half way to work {9:00} when they called and told me they could squeeze her in at 9:45.  I called Curt, but he was on his way to a meeting.  So I turned around and went to get her from daycare.

She was SO excited to see me ... sweet little thing ... bouncing up and down with joy!

We high-tailed it to the doctor ... ran in the door at 9:55 ... not bad timing, if I do say so myself!  Turns out all is okay.  They did a thorough examination and Hunter was a sweetie throughout ... letting them poke and prod and examine.  The tubes are pushing out a little, but nothing of concern.  Could just be the natural progression of them.  She's got an ear infection, and redness and such.  The bleeding was just the infection pushing through.

So we just need to continue with the drops her pediatrician gave us.  And the left ear she told me was hurting?  All clear!  Not sure what that was about.

Anyway, Curt met us for lunch ... we had such a fun time with that little one.  I know I'm totally biased and all ... but I just can't tell you enough how precious she is.  And in true Hunter style, once we got to lunch she downed a glass of "apple. juiwce."

She fell asleep in the car and I couldn't resist a couple photos when we pulled in the drive.  I love, love, love those little baby-curled-up-sleeping fists.  And when I brought her in the house and changed her from "undiewears" to a diaper, I told her I'd put her music on {LOUD construction = new naptime routine that includes music}, and she whispers {half-asleep}, "and. rub. my. back. too? mommy?"

I'm so in love with this little girl ...

playground & a picnic

Hunter and I had a great Tuesday morning together.  We started out at the library for ‘story time’ ... only to find out we were an hour early!  So we walked to the furniture store where I had previously scoped out a sofa {calling out to me for my new office} ... only to find out they didn’t open til 10:00!

I sweetly asked a woman who was sweeping outside the store if it was possible to browse before they opened and she let me in!  Yay for her, as she got a good sale out of it!  :)

I’m super excited to have picked the color palette for my new digs!

Then ... we walked back to the library, only to find every toddler in Racine at story time!  It was hot and crowded and loud and Hunter was pretty uninterested.  {me too ...}

Then a quick stop at Moxie Child for some photo props {hat & socks for my friends little preemie twins} ... and off to meet Amy & Mallory at the playground for a picnic and some playtime.

I had told Hunter we were meeting them and she was so excited, it surprised me and it was super cute!  She kept saying, “I so happy!”

See some photos here.

{sidenote: Hunter apparently doesn’t care for Hello Kitty as much as Dora.  As she every-so-boldly peed all over that poor kitty tonight!}

we're at it again ...

Big girl underpants that is!  Hunter did not want to get Dora wet ... and she succeeded!  Yay Hunter ... and she earned herself some big candy!

When the time came, she ran as fast as she could to the potty, pulled up her dress, turned around and in her broken speech, whisper voice said, “I. Got my. Underpanties. Dwy.”

{sigh} ...

a day with my baby

I treasured the days I had off work and spent on our ‘field trips’ ... I still remember those days with Wynter, when we towed along baby Hunter in her carrier.

And now Hunter’s getting to that fun age that I treasured so much in taking these trips with Wynter.

Yesterday was our first official field trip.  No big sisters to get in the way.  Just some mommy, baby bonding time.

It was a gorgeous day, so we went to the zoo.  Click here to see some photos.

It was so special to hang out with her.  And this fall, I’ve decided not to take Kindermusik with her, so that we can enjoy doing other things on our day together.

I’m looking forward to creating special memories with you, my baby ...

life happens

Some ramblings on what’s been happening in our life over the last week or so:

still struggling to find a balance between work/home {wanting desperately to be home with the kids for the summer}

piper swam in her first meet on tuesday {will do separate post on that}

i’ve been identity thefted!  someone got a hold of my cc # and has been having fun with it.

oh the joys of changing my new cc number on all the zillions of sites i store it on ... because i shop online a. lot!

hmm ... maybe that’s why i was thefted?  i’m not afraid of them, they can’t scare me out of convenient shopping

if you look closely at the photo above you will see a hunk of puke in hunter’s hair ... yes, i said puke

it was a good 2x2 inch of puke {photo below}, and i left it in for an hour or so until i was able to take them all a shower with me

hunter woke up 4 times the previous night, but couldn’t tell me what was wrong.  i figured it out when i found her in a pile of puke in the morning ... i love being a mom

we saw batman last night.  somehow voyeuristic to watch heath ledger in this freaky role, knowing he’s no longer with us

i was at the grocery store yesterday {with 3 kids, i forgot how much fun that was} and taylor called just as i’m trying to get a cart, corral three kids, and stay out of an old lady’s way.  wanted to know if a friend could come over.  “no,” i say.  “why,” she asks as i’m balancing the phone on my shoulder ...

did i mention i just got the new {very slippery} iphone?

SMACK ... it’s on the ground.

i pick it up ... the face of it is apparently made of glass {brilliant move steve jobs!} and it’s shattered.

i ever so carefully call her back, because if i put the phone to my face, i’ll cut myself.

and what do i do?  i start yelling in my most awesome mother voice ever “if i say no, i mean no.  i’m balancing 3 kids here, trying to get a cart, and i dropped my phone.”  {basically saying it’s “all your fault”}

said kid sends me pathetic {read = i’m pathetic with my ranting} text saying she’s sorry for being a bad kid and she wishes she were better and i should’ve just said “taylor, i can’t talk right now, i’ll call you back.”

gee, why didn’t i think of that??

i get home and go upstairs and apologize

and yes ... friend did come over

my back is extremely sore

i’ve started running ... i want to get strong and i thought if i start exercising, i’ll get some energy and get strong ... after all,  it’s a catch 22 isn’t it?

apparently, it’s not working for me

in a matter of 15 minutes on tuesday, i managed to almost run into my mom, our barn manager {who’s living in our apartment} and a deer ... in my driveway

that’s all the randomness i have for now.  i must shower and get to work.

it's time to pot-Tay

Um, yeah ... that’s Hunter ... and it’s that time!  Not time to comb her crazy morning hair.  Not time to take away the multitude of nukies.  Time to pot-Tay on a big girl potty!

I seriously, seriously {I can’t stress enough how serious I am about this} wanted to wait until we got back from our trip to Europe this summer.  Who wants to drag a potty-training kid to the public toilets of Europe?  I’ve been in ‘em and they ain’t pretty {not to mention sanitary!}.

Or should I admit that I just don’t want to give up diapers yet.  Giving up diapers means I’m one step further out of ‘baby’ land ... and while I {seriously} know I don’t want to go into baby land {again} ... I’m not 100% certain I want to leave it quite yet ...

{P.S.  if she’s the one asking to go potty ... I suppose I shouldn’t fight it?}

good-bye kindermusik

Hunter and I are done with music class for this semester.  It was so much fun seeing her dance around and sing and ask for instruments.

At the beginning of each class we say hello to each child by singing to them ... they get to pick what activity they want to do ... Hunter’s favorite was to bounce.  Such a joy to see the transition from not saying anything, to the end of the semester when she actually said wanted to “bounce.”

Sing with me ... “it’s our time to bounce to hunter, our time to bounce to hunter, our time to bounce to hunter, bounce hello, hello ...”

We’ll see you again in the fall ...

another first

This past Friday night, we took Hunter (and girls) to her first movie (moO-e, as she says).  I realize this isn’t the best photo, taken with my phone, but I didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to catch this moment forever.  If you could have seen her slippery, buttery, dimpled little hands ... greasy little face ... the way she was absolutely mesmerized by Horton and the little village of Whoville.  She laughed on cue and said “oh-oh” at just the right times.  What does this mean?  My baby is growing up.  I’m actually tearing as I write this.

I suppose I’m emotional after reading about Audrey Caroline’s story (click here).  And realizing we only have these children, we have been given these children for as long, or short as the Lord chooses.  We need to make the most of these moments, every moment.  Every butter-filled, spaghetti-faced, milk-spilled moment!  These are gifts we have been given and we need to serve them well.

Some cute happenings this past week ... well actually, first is not so cute ... Let’s just say tick season is in FULL bloom!  Now if the trees would take note!  Okay, so the other night I’m getting Hunter undressed (Curt was at a late meeting, so no help there) and whoa ... a tick!!  In my best ‘don’t freak out mode’ I do my best to recall the lessons that Curt has taught me about pulling ticks off our children.  Yes ... there have been lessons!  The secret is to make sure you get the head of it, and unfortunately the head is where it starts to bury first.  So I grab it’s wiggly little body and pull ever so gently.  Not freaking out, not freaking baby out ... so far, so good.  Another firm tug and yep! I’ve got it.  It’s even got a little piece of Hunter’s skin in it’s grip, so I can chalk this one up to success.  I go tell the girls ... they want to see it and we all celebrate as we flush it down the toilet.

Next day, Hunter has another tick.  Fortunately, I’m not home for this one and Curt has the honors.  Next person is Wynter ... I get the honors.  Spike (dog) was next and I think Curt had a couple in there too.  Then last night, Curt and I were out ... when we got home, the babysitter told me a story of how she was playing a game with the girls and they started whispering to each other (afraid the babysitter would freak out) that she had a tick.  Theresa thought they were joking, they assured her they weren’t and that it was crawling up her arm.  Yep! there it was.  Fortunately, it hadn’t lodged itself yet and Theresa didn’t freak out.  This morning I was combing Piper’s hair for church and just by chance decided to do a side pony tail, so I parted it on the side and started brushing ... what’s hidden in there?  A tick!  I call Curt in, he gets the honors and Piper’s left with a small hole where the tick took part of her scalp!

Now how are they getting these ticks?  They are blessed to have a father that loves to take them on adventures.  He has taught them a true appreciation of the outdoors and creepy crawly things.  No ... they don’t seek out the ticks, the ticks are just a by product of the adventure.  You get the good with the bad, I guess.

This has gotten incredibly long, but I wanted to mention two other things that I’ve been meaning to jot down in a notebook and just haven’t.  The whole primary school at Prairie went on a field trip this past week.  Wynter and Piper are both part of the primary school.  They went to the Golden Rondelle in Racine to learn about sustainability.  When I picked them up from school, I asked how the field trip was and what they learned.

Wynter blurts out “we learned that with (she hasn’t learned to say ‘if’ yet) you eat a cheesebooger (yes, booger) you get big feet.”  Say what?!?  Um yeah, she was pretty confident in what she learned and was sticking to it.  I talked to the teacher the next day joking about what Wynter learned and she looked at Wynter amazed and said she was right!  She couldn’t believe that Wynter took that away.  The translation is, that eating a cheeseburger leaves a larger footprint on the earth.  Humbly I admit that I needed to ask Curt what this meant.  Second translation ... because of all the processes involved in getting a burger, you take away more of the natural parts of the earth, therefore leaving a larger footprint then say if you would have eaten fruit or fresh vegetables.  Whew ... a lesson for us all ... but a deeper lesson for me to realize my children “get it.”

Two more things I want to note ... yesterday I finished with baths late afternoon and I’m getting Wynter’s pj’s on or helping her with something and we’re sitting there and she randomly says “dude, let’s get the band back together.”  Did that make you chuckle?  It sure gave me a laugh!  She heard it on a cartoon, but still ... so random to hear a sentence like that come out of your four year olds mouth!

Lastly ... Curt and I had our school’s annual fundraiser/auction to go to last night.  I wore a full-length, green, strapless dress.  When I was all ready and came out of my bedroom ... the girls thought I was a beautiful princess.  I glowed all night!  And let me mention that my husband teases that this function is like “Racine’s prom” ... so what does he do?  He gets me a big bouquet of flowers, a corsage, and rents a lamborghini!!  It was a great night!

I am blessed!

hunter's party

We had Hunter’s family party today.  She sure caught on to this birthday thing quickly!  So excited for the balloons, the cake ... in fact, I caught her on top of the table getting into her cake before the party started.

Our family came over for a nice celebration.  She loved her bikes ... one from Granny and one from Trishie (and respective family members), and books from Grandgene.

She was the cutest thing ever trying to blow the candles out on her cake.

The party ended perfectly with the birthday girl in her birthday suit!

Click here for more photos from her birthday(s).  And clickhere to read how she spent her actual birthday day.