Fun spring shots

That's my Matthew kicking the ball in.  Love the action shot!

These cute ducks are just down the street.  My kids love to walk to the ducks.

Finally a spring soccer games without too many layers.  haha

17th week of pictures - Something Yellow

This week made me look at Spring.  That is what the color yellow reminds me of.  I am grateful it is finally warm.  It is so nice to open the windows and enjoy the sun.

 

I had to take a picture of this weed, not just because it is yellow but because Jacob loves to pick them and tell me they are a pretty flower.  haha.  I love his cute attitude about this weed.  So I decided they are a pretty flower (while looking thru the eyes of a 2 year old and not an adult trying to kill the suckers).

I had to take a picture of this dirty yellow "slip n slide".  We have irrigation or "free water" this summer and we have heard good and bad about it so we aren't sure what to expect.  We have a bunch of this yellow material that is supposed to help us get the water where we want it to go.  Should be a new and fun experience... as long as we don't flood our basement.  haha

Our yellow slide.  This slide is so much fun for young and old.  It is pretty fast too.  Jacob is still a bit scared of it but he is getting braver and braver.

I am so happy for the spring and summer in our new house.  Can't wait for all the adventures to come!
http://iotamaker.blogspot.com/2013/04/52-week-photo-project-week-17-something.html?m=1

16th week of pictures - Sleeping

Sleeping pictures are not the easiest to take.  My camera is noisy so everytime I took a picture, I either woke up the subject or startled them enough out of their slumber to stop their snoring.  I love sleeping people, esp. my children.  That is when my house is the quietest and I love quiet time.

 

Here are some funnies about these sleeping people:

Jacob ALWAYS has something on his head when he sleeps (as you can see the pillow on him below).  It never fails, when I come in to check on him or wake him up, he has something on his head.  It isn't just a light blanket either.  He tends to have stuffed animals on his head and they aren't little.  Not sure why...

Brian looks silly when he sleeps.  He is usually drooling.  I tried to take a picture of him this way but he woke up.  So he posed when he fell back to sleep so I could take a picture.  Here he looks sweet.  haha.  I have to cherish these moments of seeing Brian sleeping next to me because it doesn't happen too often with his work.

Matthew tends to suck his tongue while he sleeps.  You can't see it much in this picture but a part of his tongue is sticking out.  I used to do this too.  I love that his arms are sprawled out to his sides.  He was snoring pretty loud when I took this picture.

The funny about Kimberly in this picture is the stuffed animal next to her.  "Heart" has been with her since she was a baby and she will not go to sleep without him.  This dog has seen better days, in fact, I don't dare wash the poor mutt for fear it will fall apart.

What I noticed in common with all these pictures... everyone has their mouth part way open.  Brian did until I woke him up taking the picture.  Hmmm... makes me wonder if I do that too?

Well we have made it about 4 months now taking pictures and blogging.  I am pretty impressed that I have kept it up.  Normally I get busy and run out of time.  I love doing this.  Enjoy!
http://iotamaker.blogspot.com/2013/04/52-week-photo-project-week-16-sleeping.html?m=1

Spring Soccer

They say this is Spring Soccer but I have yet to feel Spring.  Maybe one game will feel like Spring and Matthew will have a chance to wear his uniform without layers underneath.

Projects

We have been able to start some of our projects.  This was just the start of Kimmy's room.

Matthew's tough look

Matthew got a black eye this week.  Some how him and Jacob bonked heads and Matthew ended up with a goose egg and black eye.  The stinky thing was it was Kindergarten graduation picture day at school.  I guess he will just look tough for his pictures.

 

15th week of pictures - Car

I "legally" started driving when I was 15 years old.  That isn't saying I never got behind the wheel of a vehicle prior to that... hehe.  I love to drive and always have from the time I was allowed.  My first car that my parents let me drive was our "K" car.  I loved this car.  It got me to and from and I had room for friends.  This beauty made it thru high school and 1 year of college.  During my first year of college, the heating element died (or something to that effect).  I spent my winter down here in Logan freezing because my car only blew out cold air.  Then the battery went kaput!  I remember complaining to my parents about the car but they told me to just deal.  (I think they were much nicer than that but that was my feelings.)  Well one weekend I was sick and wanting my mom.  But my battery was dead and there was no getting home.  So I called my dad and begged him to come jump my car and help me get home (just a little 3 hour trip dad... no big deal).  Luckily he did and he was even nice enough to let me drive the Bronco II home while he drove my car.  When we got home, he told me he was buying me a new car because he froze all the way home.  I was one happy girl.





(Sadly I didn't have a picture of my "K" car... this one was found on the internet but pretty much looked just like it)

My parents let me choose my new car and my car of choice... Metallic Blue Dodge Shadow ES.  This people was my sports car.  Oh how I loved this car.  It had so much power.  I felt awesome in this baby.  It got me to and from places in a jiffy (just ask my mom how quickly I could get from Logan to Soda... haha).  This car did have a paint problem if I remember correctly and had to be repainted once (defect, not me!)  The only downfall was this car was not a safe one in the winter.  I remember driving in ruts of snow and just knowing I was going to slide off the road at any minute.  Because of this, I decided I needed my next car to be a snow vehicle.  So after a few years and working my behind off, I earned enough money to buy my own brand new car and I knew just what I wanted.

(Sadly I didn't have a picture of my Shadow with me so I swiped this one off the internet... just picture mine blue)

This folks was my baby, my pride and joy.  I was so thrilled not only to find a dream vehicle, but to pay for it all on my own.  I put a nice down payment on it (not to mention my trade in for my Shadow) and this was all mine.  I loved this car.  It handled snow lovely (4 wheel drive was the best) and yet looked great in the summer time with the sun roof back.  Yes I have to say I looked great in it.  haha.  My hubby loved this car.  He too felt pretty awesome in it.  2 of our beautiful children loved riding in this vehicle.  They were up high enough to look at the windows (it even came with child locks on the doors... bonus for us).  Sadly we knew we had to end this love affair when we became pregnant with our 3 little rugrat.  I seriously was bummed the day we signed the papers giving the dealership my 4 runner.
 (Sadly I didn't have a picture of my beautiful 4 runner handy so I borrowed this one but mine looked just like it)

Yes people we gave up the sporty vehicles and got us a MINIVAN!!!  It was much needed for our growing family and my favorite feature was the automatic doors.  I enjoyed just being able to push a button and let my children out for school.  Now this wasn't an easy decision for me and my hubby.  He really didn't want a minivan but he knew we needed it.  His thing was he didn't want the round looking minivan.  He wanted something sporty looking so that was when we found the Dodge Caravan you see below.  It is more of a boxy shape and that interested my hubby.  Plus the entire interior is black which makes you not feel so much like a soccer mom but a way cool mom.  So this is our vehicle of choice for now.  Eventually this will get old when our children will move away and we won't have a need for it.  But it works great for us now.

(Yes these are my actual pictures for once!)

Now I know this won't be my final vehicle.  I know there will be a new truck in our near future (please ford 150 hold out for 3 more years).  But I am hoping way in the future I will be able to own my dream car... yes I have had a dream car in mind for many years.  Pretty much since I received that drivers license.  Here is it folks:

I have always been in love with a Chevy Corvette.  I know I would look great in this car.
One day!!!!!! (Nope, not my picture)
Next weeks theme is sleeping and I have to say, I love sleeping pictures.  Should be a fun one.  Better get the camera charged.
http://iotamaker.blogspot.com/2013/04/52-week-photo-project-week-15-car.html?m=1

14th week of pictures - Easter

Easter 2013.

 

Dying eggs.

 

Kimberly writing on her egg before it changed color.

 

 We tried the normal Paws dye and then we tried Kool-aid.  Can you tell the difference below?  Half of the eggs are Paws and the other half are Kool-aid.  Personally I prefer the Kool-aid.  Cheaper, smells better, and they turned out just as good.

 Matthew and Jacob working on their eggs.  Matthew loves to dye eggs.

Easter morning.  The Easter Bunny came to our house and left some goodies.  The kids enjoyed themselves.

 Ready for church in their new Easter clothes thanks to Grammie and Grampie.

 Easter Dinner.  I love to cook and Easter is just one of those times that I get to have fun showing off my skills.

 Happy Easter everyone.
http://iotamaker.blogspot.com/2013/04/52-week-photo-project-week-14-easter.html?m=1

Random

We went to the Home and Garden show and the kids got these cute Home Depot aprons with a toy to make.  I loved how cute they looked in them. (Yes I know I still have a Christmas decoration up.  I really like this dishwasher cover and I don't have another one)

Easter egg hunting at Millville South Park.  This was our first year to go hunting in a park and the kids had a blast.  The only problem was the age groups and sizes.  Jacob was in the age group 1-3 and only got 3 eggs.  Matthew was in the age group 4-5 and got a bunch of eggs.  Kimberly was in the age group 8-9 and only got 5 eggs.  But then again, it could be their strategy.  I tried to explain to Kim that she needed to run toward the trees and get those in the back because everyone would get the ones in the front.  She never listens.  I told Matthew basically the same thing and he listened and got a bunch of eggs.  Oh well.  After Millville's egg hunt, we went to Lees and enjoyed their treat and saw the cute white Easter bunny.  Even Jacob was happy to say hi to him.

Happy Hunting!

13th week of pictures - At Their Worst

I figured this week would be a breeze to capture.  My children show me their worst at least once a day.  The only problem I had was when I tried to take a picture of them at their worst, they would get out of their bad mood and smile...every time this happened.  I learned I have a new trick to get them to behave and get out of their foul mood.

 

The only child I was able to get a picture of was Jacob.  He is not normally an unhappy kid.  He is usually pretty happy.  Now it was not easy to get this picture though.  I think this was my 12th picture I took and was able to capture him.  He didn't like his picture taken when he was upset.  It makes me terribly sad when he is upset.

Matthew has the most meanest frown when he is mad.  I could not capture it because he was so happy to see the camera.  So finally I got a cute picture of him smiling and told him then to give me the frown.  This is what I got.  This is also normal... his bottom lip sticking out pouting.  But you can see in his eyes he is happy.

This is Kimmy in trouble and hating to be in her room.  The only problem is she is smiling and laughing because I brought out the camera.  But you can see how stubborn she is because she will not stay in her room when she is in trouble.  My husband jokes that he is going to extend her door out a bit so she will still be in her room but really she will be in the hall.

Next week's theme is Easter.  One of my favorite holidays.
http://iotamaker.blogspot.com/2013/03/52-week-photo-project-week-13-at-their.html?m=1

Kimberly's 9th Birthday

Happy Birthday to my beautiful daughter Kimberly.  I can't believe you are 9 years old.  I still remember the crazy couple days it took to have you.  Keep growing like a wonderful young woman.

 This was the cake she insisted on getting from Maceys.  She is on this kick of Rapunzel.

 My cool chic on her birthday.

 This was taken on Saturday before her birthday.  It was the day that the grandparents came to visit and celebrate.

 This is the cake I make Kimmy on her birthday.

 My beautiful young woman.

 With her cake.

 I made a zebra cake for her.

Blowing out her "9" candle.  Matthew is pouting in this picture.  Makes me laugh.

Here's to another year!  Love you Kimberly

12th week of pictures - Something Green

I have a mulitude of green things I could have taken pictures of this week but I choose the one thing that consumes my life the first 3 months of the year.... Girl Scouts.  Growing up I was lucky enough to be a Girl Scout.  I remember being a Brownie and meeting at Thirkell Elementary.  I remember being a Junior and getting to go to Camp.  I remember being a Cadette and helping run an overnight camp.  I loved Girl Scouts.  I also remember selling Girl Scout cookies.  I had sweet neighbors that always bought cookies from me.

I have always thought about my daughter being a scout but never knew how or where to begin.  A couple years ago at the first of the school year, a notice went out about joining Girl Scouts.  My husband had been in Cub Scouts for years and we always had fun.  My daughter was excited for Girl Scouts.  So we went to the joining meeting and I knew it was the right place for us to be.  Then they asked for volunteers to be co-leaders.  The Holy Ghost was telling me I needed to join because it would bless my life.  So I became a co-leader.  Within the first couple of months, I volunteered to be the Cookie Manager.  I figured it can't be that hard.  I had no idea what I was getting into.

My first year as Cookie Manager was extremely stressful.  I was in charge of 44 scouts.  That meant that I had to make sure I got their order forms to and from them in a timely manner, enter in 44 girls' cookie orders into the cookie system, blindly figure out how many cookies we might sell at a cookie booth, and collect money from 44 girls.  Needless to say I gained a few more gray hairs during this time.

I wasn't sure I wanted to do this again for another year but I figured I had 1 year under my belt so it had to be better.  This cookie season has come and gone and it was a pretty good one.  I knew what I was doing this year.  I only had 25 girls to worry about.  I had parents willing to do what was needed of them.  I also had a wonderful assistant that helped me and learned the ropes so she could do it next year.

I love Girl Scouts, what it represents, being a co-leader, the cookies, and the fun we have.  Yes it can be stressful but well worth it.  My favorite thing about being a leader is watching a shy quiet girl come into scouts the first day and barely say her name.  Then watch her 6 months later selling cookies with all the confidence in the world.  What a difference scouting makes in a girl's life.

I definitely have been blessed by being a leader in Girl Scouts.  Thank you Heavenly Father!

Next week's theme is At Their Worst.  This one will be easy to get.  I see this one every day!
http://iotamaker.blogspot.com/2013/03/52-week-photo-project-week-12-something.html?m=1