Hmm..let me try this again!

 

So, upon looking at that last picture, I realized that it looks grainy for some reason! Seriously people, even the pics I think look good, dont turn out! I was gonna delete that post, and leave this one for you to look at instead..but, I like sharing the process..in the end, it makes it funnier! And, we all know, I am all about the funny:)

Sometimes, you can make it better

 

So, I wanted to play with the pictures just a bit, to see if there was anything I could do to improve them. I only have Picasa to play with...no cool stuff like photo shop here...and here is what I decided. The best thing to do is crop out the parts of the picture you dont like. It is better to have a nice picture of two, than a mediocre family picture of 5! Also, I kind of like black and white. No always, not even often, but sometimes it is sweet. Finally, I realized, that individually, my children are beautiful! I know I am their mother, it is my job to adore them, but so be it..I do adore them. And, I thought this picture of Haylee and Courtlyn was just cute enough to deserve a post of its own..even if it means I had to cut the other 3 cuties out of it!!

Family pictures...HAHAHA!!

 

 

 

 

OK..can we all see the common thread here...I am not a photographer! I swear, I cant imagine how a person can be so bad at taking pictures, but in general..I AM!! Occassionally, I will get a great picture..but more often, this is the kind of stuff I get. Now, mind you, my subjects are a bit tempermental to say the least. It is almost impossible to get 5 children, under the age of 9, to all look at you, sit up, smile, and be content for even one MOMENT! I continue to say that I have given up on the idea of a family photo, but I do try every once in a while, just in case! I needed a picture of all of the kids in their Christmas shirts from Michelle. I tried..really I did, but you can see..it did not go well. They are much cuter in person I swear:) Funny thing, the one I have the hardest time getting to smile is actually Haylee. She is at quite an awkward stage right now, and smiling for pictures is almost like asking her to cut off her right arm. She says she is trying, but she looks like smiling is actually painful for her..I am certain it will improve, but it is hard to deal with right now. And, of course, I cant mention to her that she is not smiling nicely, or encourage her to try something different..we are talking pre-teen self esteem here people! Anyway...the other pictures were from this morning. They were dressed in some Christmas attire for church, and I thought they looked so cute..again, much better that these pictures display. I even tried to hang a black cloth behind them..hoping it would help! Here is the thing.. you have to make sure you get the whole picture on the cloth..hello!! Anyway, this is my life, 5 kids that are beautiful, and wrestless, and goofy, and awkward..combined with a mother that cant quite get it right in the photo dept. I wont be sending these pics to any competition, but it is a perfect rendering of our crazy life these days. I wouldnt have it any other way...

Haylee and Grace

 

 

 

The girls had holiday shirt day last Friday, and fortunately, they were able to wear a custom made shirt from Michelle. They are always so proud to have something unique, esp. made by someone they know. The funniest thing is how much these shirts are talked about in school. Particularly for Haylee. She told me about several conversations between her and her friends..all in awe at her aunt's talent! They could not believe it..someone Haylee knows can sew that well. It really is cute to hear about. They took these pictures just before school, and of course, had to have one silly one. Sometimes, these two can be the worst of enemies, but I sure do enjoy the rare moments that they are having fun together, and still like to have matching clothes..wonder how much longer that is going to last??

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a great day full of food, family, and fun! Things were fairly simple..in a great way! I dont have a ton of pictures, but we did get a few of the kids right before we went in to eat. Michelle made the girls these supe cute shirts, and bows, so we had to attempt a group shot. Not bad...not great, but not bad! Someday, they will all smile at the same time, but for now..3 out of 5 will have to do. At least Mallory and RJ are looking at me:) We hope each of you had a great Thanksgiving! There is much to be grateful for indeed. It's too late for a long post, but I had to get this picture out there soon..if only to prove that I do have 5 children, not just 4! More to come...

Just a few more..

Dont you just love that picture of Courtlyn?? Oh that girl! She can scream a scream that really only dogs should be able to register. She has seriously made my ears ring! She is so sweet and funny and naughty and well, all of the things a 2 year old should be. However, when you see that face..those eyes..you just sort of melt and forget about all of it. The kids were excited to find the horses and ponies that had been hibernating in the garage for quite some time. Now that the floor was clean, they each had to grab as many as their little hands could hold, and play with them..for like an hour! Again, without fighting. I still revel in the miracle of that. (I admit, they are sort of making up for it today...none of us are feeling particularly well, so emotions are a tad higher!) We threw together a quick dinner of pasta, salad and some garlic bread, and all of them were happy with that. Again, sor of a miracle. We have some picky eaters among this crew for sure. Many family dinners go with meals completely untouched. We have given up. Not so much at home, I still stand my ground there. But, big family dinners, well, we have surrendered. Often times grandma or papa are there to resuce children that beg for mercy from their parents. They are offered more cupcakes, or popsicles, and on a good day...candy from the jars and grandma and papa's house. Once upon a time, I fought it. I insisted that my children had to eat a majority of what was offered. At least taste it. I have good eaters, but in the company of the chaos of cousins, they revert to 3 year olds. They are not hungry, they do not like it..whatever the excuse is, they dont want to eat. There is playing to be done, and for the sake of our own sanity, we have all thrown in the towel. Truth is, we adults tend to make things that we all like. We want to enjoy our meal, in peace! So, while the children are off playing, we get to sit and eat what we want. It is a nice system we have set up. Again, like good parents, we used to try to serve the kids first, cut up all of their meat, get several sippy cups of drinks, the whole nine yards. Now..we send them off to play, begging them to leave us alone for at least 20 minutes, and then..we will feed them..maybe! But, in the end, they are always around for the dessert portion of the evening, and because we tend to want to enjoy that part too, we opt to give in for the sake of peace. They are happy..we are happy..and it all works out. Of course, when we get home, they are STARVING..but that is what peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are for:)

A busy day indeed!!

Today was one of those rare days, when everything actually went quite well:) Like, start to finish, well! Yeah..I recognize the miracle of it, thus the blog post to preserve the memory. It all started with an invitation from a friend for Grace to spend the day with her. Well, that was great, except it just meant that Haylee needed someone to hang with too. Thank goodness for cousins close by! We called and asked for Ms. Kyra to come hang. Well, since Heather was off playing superwoman at church today, clearly Kierstin needed to come too! So, Haylee had a "friend" and so did RJ. We knew we were going to have some fun now for sure. I had planned that today would be our semi annual "clean out the garage" day, and the weather cooperated perfectly. So, with that news, even Kaden decided to join in on the fun:) I picked them all up this morning around 11:00am, and they played outside until 7:00pm..with a few breaks for food. We blocked off the end of the driveway with the cars, as you can see in the top picture, so the little kids could play on the driveway, or in the garage, with less worry about escapees!! Courltyn even took a pretty good nap, which made cleaning out the garage much easier. She slept, the 3 year olds hung out peacefully, and the other 3...remember, Grace was gone most of the time...hung out at the end of the cul-de-sac. It was FANTASTIC! There was no fighting..not with any of them..for 8 hours. I KNOW..glory in the moment people!! So, as you can see, we cleaned out the garage, the kids played until they were DIRTY!!, and the weather was amazing. Mallory even got to come hang out with us outside..could she be any cuter?? I think not. They had a great time together for sure. It is days like this that remind me of why we live so close to family. I was able to help Heather when she needed it, a favor often reciprocated, and the kids have their cousins to grow up with. Love it:)