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Monday, November 29, 2010

Thanksgiving to Advent

We had a great Thanksgiving week, despite the kids getting a terrible stomach bug, of course.
We made Pilgrim and Indian garb, as we usually do.
Notice the rounded corners? I really like rounded corners, so I may start using them all the time. lol
Anyhow, Joe and I had a disagreement about the feathers. He says they go in the back, I say front. So, Joe made Pete one with a feather in the back, I made the rest with feathers in the front. Now, I do not have a pic of this, but I made myself a cream bonnet, and Joe had the pilgrim hat on for a bit. he he he.
So, when we first put the hat on Pete...he thought it was a 'pirate' hat, not 'pilgrim' hat, which explains this face. He was in his 'pirate' shirt, afterall, so I can see why he was confused at first.

Then, he realized that he was, in fact, a pilgrim.

Paul, as an Indian.

So, Joey says, "If we are Indians, we are going to need some arrows and spears." So, he made some. Gave some to his brothers.

Here is Paul with his spear. Now, I know there was no 'warring' at the first Thanksgiving, and you know there was no 'warring' at the first Thanksgiving, but try telling that to a 4 year old BOY with arrows on his head and a spear in his hand.
This 'warring' quickly faded as soon as the kids realized that their arrows and spears were, um, PAPER. A few weeks ago, Joey found a great plastic bow in the woods. Of course, he tried to shoot his PAPER arrow with it. And, Paul tried to launch is PAPER spear. They complained when they wilted. We were like, "boys, they are PAPER." lol

Look at the lovely flowers Grandma sent us for our centerpiece! Thank you Grandma! :)

I got his idea from my Aunt Joani. It is great. Every year, we have some form of a 'thankful tree.' I give everyone pieces of paper and ask them to write down some things they are thankful for. I fold them up, place them on the tree(which is usually the center piece, so this year, I tucked them into the flowers), and then at dinner, someone reads them. Everyone gets to guess who wrote what. With kids, this is always amusing. Here are some of ours.
Joey's are on the left, he is thankful for God and our family. :) Paul drew our jeep. He is thankful for the jeep. lol No, but really, the kids love the jeep. They call it the space ship. I am so thankful for my family. We are so blessed. :)

Later, we played risk...with all the kids. Now, the kids always want to play risk. We rarely do it. Playing risk with a baby and 2 y/o...well, you can probably imagine. But, we started a game, had some frustrations amidst the fun, and we are still playing it.

And, then, before you knew it, it was the first Sunday in Advent!
So, we got all that stuff out...we started our Jesse tree. I read the kids the story of creation and Adam and Eve. Then, I asked them to make an ornament that made them think of that. Paul made something that reminded him of the story of Adam and Eve. Here is his serpent.
Okay, yeah yeah, I know, it is not all that evil or menacing looking. I know. This is the snake a 4 year old makes, so you will just have to imagine it.

Joey focused on the creation aspect, and made a bird.
And, my dear husband, who I am ashamed that I ever told was not supportive enough of my new hobby, bought me a new laptop, so my editing time is about to get cut in half. :)
I hope you had a great week!

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Just for fun!

In the continuing attempt to grow in my photographic hobby, I am always taking part in clickinmom's creativity exercises and challenges. This one was really fun. They asked us to go to one of the CMPro's sites for inspiration, pick one of their images we liked, and copy it. Yes, copy cat, with full approval and blessings, just for fun. :) I knew the images I wanted to duplicate. They are Beth's sweet little boy/reflection/cookie eating pics, found here, at Elizabeth Ross Photography. I chose Beth, because she is a very inspiring photographer! I love her pics. What I love most...well, when I first decided that I would really learn how to use my new dslr, I browsed alot of pro sites, looking for inspiration and composition help. I came across Beth's site, and I was amazed by her inside pics. Here were pics that were more beautiful than anything I have ever seen done in a studio. Take a peek at the baby in the crib! In the first pic, I was like, "oh, that baby is in some super fancy wonderfully lit studio, so I won't try to get a pic like that." Then, I scrolled down and saw the other pics...NOPE! That baby is in a crib! A CRIB! At HOME! See, when I got my dslr, this is(and still is) my end goal:  to take professional looking pics of my kids, in their natural environment, as they are. :)  I guess the technical term for that is 'lifestyle photography,' but I am a hobbyist, so for me, it's 'lifestyle momtography.' he he he. Anyhow, Beth's super nice inside lifestyle pics are very, very inspiring. I had fun playing around, trying to duplicate. :) And, Paul had fun being an M&M eating model! HA!




Monday, November 22, 2010

Part of this past weekend

Pete, the artist. He LOVES painting.
He came inside from playing to paint.
Mama made some tea and took some pics.
It was great.



Oh, and by the way, this is what becomes of the shot glasses you register for after 8 years of marriage, and that is a very very good thing. ;)


Thursday, November 18, 2010

Cheerios on the floor...

or, a mama's gotta do what a mama's gotta do to get dinner made. Tell me I am not the only one that lets her baby eat off of the floor? No? I mopped it, so atleast I have that...

Made something meaty and wine-y. Hmmm...sad to say I over salted. I am an over seasoner. Julia makes it really easy for you, telling you *exactly* what to add, but I totally ignored the 1/2 tsp. salt line and just sprinkled like mad. Oh well. It was still good, and Pete had 3rds, so big success there.

Since we are on the subject of food. You know what I really miss about living in TN? Besides sunshine? Mexican food. I might actually miss it more than the sun. Anyhow, our town has no Mexican restaurant. Crazy. You just cannot buy those hot-crispy-greasy-melt-in-you-mouth corn chips you get (for free too!) at a Mexican restaurant. So, every once in a while, I fry up some corn tortillas. For a snack. At 9:30. In the morning. Don't judge me.

Here is Pete eating said chips.

Look what Paul did, all on his own!
It says 'fox,' and then he signed it, 'Paul.' :)

I have been playing around with window light, and Joey is always kind enough to be my model. He is so cute. You see the home made jango fett jet pack(yes, made out of duct tape and 2 liters) that he is sporting?


Monday, November 15, 2010

Just playing around with B&W conversions

I am a sucker for B&W! I love it! I love trying different ones. I decided to try a bunch from some of my favorite action sets. :) Oh, and I am so glad I took Amanda's clipping mask class at Everyday Elements, cause now I can make these! :)
Here is the photo before the black and white conversions. :)
Look at that scowl! I am not really sure what he is thinking, but Paul used to make this face as a baby too.
Anyhow, here are all my plays. :)



Thursday, November 11, 2010

This past week...

Grandma came into town! She just left today, and the boys already miss her. Oh, what a busy week! Let's see...what did we do this past week...

We went back to Ways Fruit Farm. I got more Ida Reds. Tried some Northern Spys(My fave is still Ida Reds).

Oh, by the way, this is what it looked like on the way there. Well, kinda. I added a texture for dramatic effect. ;) It snowed!

Do you like the apple pictures? Please enjoy them, because Joe was embarrassed, er...more like mortified, that I was snapping pics of inanimate objects. Silly man.
Yeah, I now know that I should have focused on the red apples, not the green. *sigh* oh well. I would have snapped another pic, but again, Joe's head was about to explode out of embarrassment.

Got more apple butter.

Hey, you know what? I don't even know what this is. I just saw some pretty colors and snapped away. lol

Grandma spent a small fortune at Ways. All kinds of yummies. She bought some more apple cider. When we got home, we still had some in the fridge, but it was fermented! So, Joe decides to turn our dining room into a distillery. I am pretty sure this is against some law in the state of Pennsylvania...anyhow, did I mention that this is my...DINING room? Oh, I did. Okay. So, you have some apple shine on the floor and a very mobile baby...you do the math. Yes, Jude-y did get into this. No, he did not drink it. At least I don't think he did. I smelled his breath, and it was okay, and he was not acting all funny or anything like that. In case you were wondering, yes, we did move here from Tennessee, the Appalachian Mountains to be specific, so this should all make sense by now.

Later, Paul and Pete decided to be dogs, play fetch. Every so often, they do this.

Here they are fetching.

I guess you could call this retrieving?


So, Pete is a little crusty in the pic above, right? Here is why...Grandma and the boys made this.

Yes, I know it is a tad early for this, but Grandma will not be here for Christmas, and they do this every year with her. :)







You cannot see him, but Joe is giving Pete his best 'stern' face. lol

This is the littlest brother pillaging the biggest brother's top secret dresser drawer.

I went to Joey's parent/teacher conference and got this.
Boy! That cooking on the stove really made an impression on this kid! This is the second time he has drawn/written about this in school! Awww, and look how snazzy he made me look! Love this kid.

Pete draws too! He LOVES coloring, which is strange to me, because he is the first kid of mine to really like it. He wants to color all day. This is what he colors.

The other day, I turned the corner and saw this. Too funny. I wonder what he is thinking.
Do you know that this sweet boy has never made a list or asked us to buy him what he wants for Christmas? Oh we are so blessed. He is such a joy.

The day Grandma left, we tried to get a pic of her with all 4 boys...easier said than done...this is the best one...he he he. :)
Tonight, after bath/shower time. I decided that Jude and I would have a photo shoot. Just Jude and I. I wanted to get some pics of his sweet baby feet. His chubby little baby body. His fat little hands. I remember my sister took the most beautiful black and white pictures of her chubby towel-wrapped baby, and I just adored them! So, I was going to copy cat and get some great images. Ah yes, these were going to be great. Just like Halloween...oh wait...lol
So, big mobile babies crawl right out of towels and rush at you at alarming speeds.
see?

Very shortly after this, things got crazy.
Pete came and jumped on the bed, started rolling around with Jude, pretending he was a monster.

Then, Joey and Paul came in. So, I took a sec to snap each one. And they cooperated(except for Jude).