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Tuesday, September 28, 2010

What we have been up to


Look what Joey brought home from school Friday.

And in case you missed this part, it says: 
"I think mom is special because she lets me cook on the stove."

HA! I love this kid. For years, I promised he could cook on the stove with me once he turned 7. The week after his 7th birthday, he brought home a cook book from the school library. We cooked on the stove. :)


              And here is our super-eater, Jude.
This is the piggiest baby I have ever had.

And not because he ate this x2 and still wanted more.
 No, he is the piggiest baby because he fusses from the time the spoon leaves his mouth until it reaches it again. See the fussing? Ridiculous.

And, in getting this pic, yes, the delay was unbearable for him. 
Poor baby. I bet he thinks his mommy is a camera. Don't despair, he was happy once I shoveled more food in. :)  I had to get a fussy eating pic.
I have been trying tons of different black and white actions. This one is Rita's ButterCreamB&W It's free!

Took the kids to the park last week. The weather has been so nice, and I always feel so guilty when we do not get to the park. It is hard though! Someone has to cook and clean and such. Whenever I go to the park, I vow to go more often, but then I remember...the laundry! :( I enjoy taking them though. I cherish these moments so much. I love to watch them play. When we go, I sometimes bring the camera. I am on the hunt for the elusive perfect-swing-picture. I want to capture the joy I see on my kids faces as they swing. Big smiles, laughs, etc. I keep trying...and trying...and trying. This is torture. Why do I do this to myself? I mean, the kid is, you know, swinging really fast. But, I *know* it can be done because I have seen it. And, I will keep trying until I get it!


These were the most focused pics, lol.

Oh, and this is definitely, definitely, not what you want your 7 month old to do in the swing. *sigh* lol


Went hiking again.



Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Hiking in the Fall

More boring Central PA woods, right? Nope. :)
We love hiking. This pic shows why. Every once in a while, you stumble into a dreamy out-of-this-world landscape that is so amazing, it's almost mythical. We moved here from East Tennessee, and I dearly miss the Appalachian Trail. No offense to Central PA, but it just does not compare. Last weekend, we decided to head out for a hike. In the parks where we live, there is very little ground cover. Mostly ferns. And, at this time of the year, the ferns are an amazingly bright yellow/green. As far as they eye could see, the ground was covered in bright yellow and green ferns. The tree leaves are just starting to change, so we were under a canopy of green and yellow. The dappled light just exaggerated the whole scene. It was beautiful. It's no Appalachian Trail, but it is amazing in its own right. :)

Good bye Summer...

Okay, so Summer has been gone for a few weeks now, but I really miss it. And, I just had to share this Summer story and this pic because it still makes me smile. So, one Summer day, we were busy running errands. It was one of those hectic days where everything goes awry. I was feeling frustrated. I took all 4 kids to the bank(ALL 4), went in and then realized I had to go home because I forgot something. Ugh. So, I strapped ALL 4 back in the car and went home. When we came back, there was a white pick up truck full of melons. I mean, it was like a mountain of melons! It was so pretty and tasty looking, I wished I had my camera, lol. Now, Joey has a thing for Watermelons. Every time we go to the store, he asks for one, even in the dead of winter when they no longer sell them. I looked back at him, and he was staring at the truck in awe. I can only imagine the watermelon eating fantasy he was having. So, we get out, and as we are heading back into the bank, a sweet old man passes by. We smile at each other, say 'hello,' and he passes by. Then, as I am opening the door, he comes back with a big watermelon. He hands it to Joey. Hey, how did he know Joey liked watermelons? Thank you for your kindness watermelon man! You really brightened up our day. :)

Here is Pete after getting cleaned up. I love brown his eyes.


I ordered the kids some new shoes a few weeks ago.
Regular mom stuff. But, I am always amazed at how excited they get over new shoes. They jump up and down as I open the box. They squeal. Then, when they try them on, they will run fast to 'test' them out, informing me that they do in fact make them faster. I love new shoe day. I finally got a pic. :)

Paul is reading...


happily, with a food stain on his shirt,

marker on his hand,

with a silly band on his arm, super animated.

Silly stuff. Mat sat on Sam, and a dog was in a bag or something. :)

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Why the blog, Heidi?

It all started on a dark and dreary winter day in Central Pennsylvania(no, really, it did!). I had a sweet new baby at home, and I wanted to take a pic of him. I could not wait to show my family and friends his adorableness. The lovely birth announcements were ready to go. All I needed was a nice pic to go with them. I even color coordinated his shirt with the ink on the announcements! But, try as I might, I could. not. get. the. shot. Why? Because the sun don't shine in Central Pennsylvania. Okay, maybe I am exaggerating a hair, but with thick grey cloud coverage in February and hardly any lights in our old Victorian home, taking pics of the kids inside was impossible(unless you like deer in headlight flash photography). After taking several bad pics and settling on the best of the worst(I sent these sorry pics out, by the way), I realized something...Since moving to PA, I did not have many pics of my kids. Heck, some months, I didn't take any. Now, I have been taking bad pics of my kids for years, trust me on that. But, in the South, we would take alot of pics outside. So, even though I took alot of bad pics, I would end up with a few good ones(when I accidentally stumbled into the right light). And you know what? That was enough for me. I would get the good ones printed and save the bad ones on my computer. But, with my new 'stuck inside during half the year with bad lighting' life, I was not chronicling our life! Something had to change. So, I went to Joe, and I begged and pleaded and schemed and then finally(like 2 months later LOL) got my first DSLR. :) With the higher iso and no shutter lag, I could finally get inside pics. :) But, then I had a thought...why take good pics only *some* of the time? Am I really going to go back to that? Why can't I take *good* pics all(or most) of the time? Hmmm...sounded like a challenge of sorts. So, I decided to take myself up on it and learn how to use this camera. I mean, *really* use it. So, 'why the blog, Heidi?' Well, as I learn, I figured blogging pics would be fun. It will encourage me to take better pics. And, I want to chronicle the day to day life of our family. A year from now, I want to look back on an old pic in an old post and tear up in nostalgia.  And, I like blogs. Oh, and I like sharing. :) Oh, wait before I go, here is that fateful pic. Underexposed, terrible white balance, out of focus, camera shake blur, bad composition, grainy, oh and if you look real close there is a hazy spot because the lens was that dirty. HA! But, even bad pictures capture good memories, so enjoy. Here is sweet Jude.



P.S. I don't take *good* pics yet. Just better. I'm learning! So expect to see more bad pics. ;)