Some etc. pictures

I was practicing a photography technique called panning. I'd put it on my photog blog, but I don't like to put pictures of my kids on there. I was excited that out of a bunch of shots, I got a few with the faces in focus.

Alysssa and her crazy hair: she loves accesories!



She wears my orange/pink flower clip quite often. I liked it in the middle here. Whenever we go to a store and she has this flower in her hair, she gets comments from strangers...."I love the flower in your hair."

Tyler working on his pine wood derby car...first ever.
He designed the shape (see the pencil markings) and sawed it all pretty much himself.
Michael was adamant that he let him do the work.
The first week back from holiday break, Matthew was the Superstar in his class. He had been asking all year when it was going to be his turn and was thrilled that that time came . I selected about 50 pictures and put them in a folder on the computer and he picked the top 10-15 that he wanted to include that we printed. We also found this fun shiny star blue paper and he cut out the letters for his name.

At the end of the week, his class listed the things they love about Matthew. I thought it was such a cute and fun thing to come home with.

For anyone thinking I "don't look pregnant" her is a bit of a bump shot. Approx 22 weeks here. It's not as large as I've been in the past at this time, but the baby is measuring swimmingly, nonetheless.

A party at my house

I got the colors from the evite template I used above. I then transported that cool design into photoshop and made little signs that I posted around the room and put in her book. This was 2 weeks ago, but I had to post these pictures, as half of the group checks my blog and expects such things...and I planned to post anyway. I had a little birthday gathering at my home for my dear friend, Stacy.
Thanks to Linda for the cake suggestion, it turned out pretty good.

I love balloons!

Back row L to R: Tonja, Jackie, Becca, Chrissta, Michele, Stacey, Linda Middle: Debra and Kristen Bottom row: Gretchen, Sara, Liz, Stacy, Michael, Emily

We made a book for her and wrote letters, and I'm bummed I don't have a picture of it with the pages, because I spent many hours making those pages pretty:) It was a fun night!

Our Cabin in the Country

I wanted to take our family on an adventure during our Christmas break. Something fun. Something memorable. Something...away from home. I pictured a cabin in the woods with trails and such, but what I found was a cabin in the country.

Reading the website for the Cedars Cabins, I got really excited. Especially that the cute little house had a loft for the kids to climb up and sleep in. A sort of "secret hiding spot" that I knew they'd love. In the Post Oak Cabin, there was a porch, hammock, tree swing, and porch swing...and that got me quite excited!
This is what we drove up to...we knew it would be small, but next to the Main House, it really looked small.

400 square feet of fun
got some good air on the kite






A little tired from walking that entire road behind him.




Our neighbor didn't like us on his territory--Alyssa was terrified of them. On our walks, she was shaking/crying...so she got carried. The boys liked dodging the cow poop.

The kids had no idea what tetherball was....my grandma hill had one in her backyard growing up, and michael said they had one on their playground at school. We taught them how to play.






Lots of space to roam....
A hammock...
A tree swing....




A BBQ grill that didn't work (we tried to start it to cook the lasagna that I made because there was no oven). I walked to the Main House and they let me use theirs.

The shed full of outdoor toys--we played croquet
It was a small house, but it had a jacuzzi tub, that was fun.

Alyssa fell asleep on our way to the restaraunt, so we stuck a fry in her mouth.
Yummy curly fries (the lady brought me a sample b/c I was concerned at the dilmma--curly fries or regular) We also enjoyed the americana decor.
Check out the wall behind Michael---very small town (the only restaraunt for 20 miles) love their country.
It looked more like a warehouse than restaraunt.
Inside our cabin, all cuddled on the bed to watch a movie.

The kids in the loft ready for bed.
This is the kitchen--no oven, but I did make sure we had yummy treats to eat on our excursion.
Playing our new Christmas games on the bed (no table or floor space to play). This States and Capitals Sequence is the funnest game, we've played it over and over since. We also love the original version.
Hanging from the loft rafters.....
...because daddy can do it

It was a really great 2 days. Just us. The wilderness to roam. And memories we made.