Embrace The Camera

Embrace The Camera is a concept I was introduced to by Emily over at The Anderson Crew.  It's about getting in the picture with your loved ones, not just hiding behind the camera.  Capturing memories, with you in them.  I'm sure we all know what it's like to look back through the photos from an event and realize we weren't in a single one.  I know I take a ton of pictures of my kids... at home, at the zoo, at birthday parties, anywhere, any time!  But I forget to hop into view myself.  I want my kids to grow up and have pictures of ALL of us to look at and bring back childhood memories, big and small.  So I am making an effort to Embrace The Camera!

Last week, Emily and her friend Sarah invited us to Embrace The Camera every day that week.  Each day had a prompt that you could follow, but the important part was just that you made an effort to get in the picture each day.  I was able to get it done three days, and these are my photos.

Smile

Making Memories

Faces

Bubbles

SEVEN

 

This boy.

He made me a Mommy.

He is so creative and funny and frustrating!

He is a great big brother.

Tomorrow he will be seven years old.

SEVEN.

I am so blessed to have him as my son.

I love you, Eli.

Happy Birthday.

Independence Day

Family, parade, Subway, kiddie pool, ladder ball, sunshine, grilling, fireworks!  So blessed to live in the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Here is what I wore! (A big thank you to my sister for taking some outdoor photos for me!  Can't wait to buy myself a tripod!)

 

Entire outfit:  Old Navy

I swear my shorts are red!

 

Red, sparkly toes!

 

Here is our parade group.  My crew and my sister's crew.  We were so blessed to find a perfect spot in the grass, under a tree!  The weather was gorgeous and the parade wasn't painfully long.  Haha!

 LOVE this picture of my sister and me!  Isn't she GORGEOUS?!!

And I sure do love these four!!!

We spent the afternoon hanging out in our backyard.  Love cuddling with my girl in the hammock!

Our town puts on THE BEST fireworks show around!

I hope you all had a fabulous 4th of July!

Linking up:
Weekend Shenanigans
What I Wore Wednesday

FIVE Years

Yesterday was our sweet Lena Marie's FIFTH birthday!  We've had a fun, busy week celebrating our little princess.  Hopefully I will have time soon to go through pictures and share all about it, but for now I just want to say, Lena, you are a dream come true.  It is such an honor and a joy to be your mother.  I love you forever.

Go check out this post about the day my girl was born.  It's a pretty good story, if I do say so myself.  :)

PSA

I interrupt my blogging silence to bring you this public service announcement.  **Mamas, don't feel bad about the things that you don't do with/for your kids.**  I think there is a lot of pressure in the Mommy World to do a lot of things that just aren't necessary.  We either feel guilty and get down on ourselves if we're not doing what "everyone else" is doing, or we burn ourselves out trying to be Super Mom.  I just can't do it all.  There, I said it.  And you can't either.  It's okay.

 

My kids are not participating in the local library's reading program this summer.  Is reading good?  Yes.  Do we read at our house?  Yes.  Would the summer reading program be good for my kids?  Yes.  Heck, I have an emerging reader on my hands, who could use some extra motivation...  Do I want one more thing on my list of things I have to do?  No.  And that's that.  And it's fine.  We will read together whenever and as much as we can, and our prizes will be enjoyment, experience and time together.  That sounds better to me than a pencil or a balloon.  (Don't get me wrong, I think the summer reading program is GREAT!  We have participated in the past and probably will again, but this year it is just one plate that I am choosing not to spin.)

So if there's something you're feeling bad about not doing, STOP. :-D  Go snuggle your littles and tell them you love them.  That's enough.  YOU are enough.

{Hopefully I will be back to more regular blogging soon.  I've been busy spending time enjoying summer with the three adorable kiddos you see above.}

Pop of Spring

This outfit basically represents the weather around here lately... mostly dark and gray, with an occasional pop of spring. We have had SO MUCH rain, so when the sun finally peeks out, we try our best to take advantage of it.  I am so thankful for our big back yard.  What a blessing it is to have room for the kids to run off some energy!

I wasn't able to get a single picture without my little sidekick.  But that's okay, he's one of my favorite accessories.  ;-)

Tee: Old Navy; Scarf: Very Jane; Skinnies: Old Navy; Shoes: TOMS

When I got done with my photos, Koen wanted to do his own photo shoot.  It. Was. Hilarious.  I use a timer to take my photos and run back and forth over and over, so he did the same thing, even though I was taking his picture.  So funny the things kids pick up on!

Here is his "deer in the headlights" pose...

And his "happy as a clam" pose...

And of course, his "too cute for words" pose!

I ABSOLUTELY ADORE HIM!!!

He Didn't Get It From Me

I am so not athletic.  I played t-ball when I was little...  Not really.  I quit after the first day.  When I was a little older, I did tumbling for a while.  I even competed.  But I never placed very well.  And I quit when I just couldn't master my back handspring.  I did basketball for a year in junior high.  That was a joke!  And then there was track and cross country.  I still remember the one meet that I tried running hurdles.  I completely wiped out, on a cinder track.  Ouch.  Knocked the wind out of me.  Never again.  But I did continue sprinting for a few years.  And I did one season of cross country.  I was never real fast, but running was my sport, because all it takes is placing one foot in front of the other.  No hand-eye coordination required!


And then there's this guy.  My toddler t-ball prodigy. :-)

He saw his big brother playing in the back yard one day, and decided he should, too.  And now I can't get him to do anything else.  If we're not outside, he'll find anything to use as a tee, ball and bat.  We were playing in a church nursery the other morning, while big brother and sister were in their music class, and he found himself a plastic orange and chicken leg to use as his ball and bat.  My hand got to be the tee.  The kid is obsessed.  And hilarious.  He also has quite an arm and can soccer dribble a ball like he's David Beckham.  A 16 month old David Beckham.  Haha!  Koen is a mini athlete.  And he most definitely didn't get it from me!

Easter 2013

We had a very nice, simple Easter weekend.  We colored Easter eggs at home on Saturday.  Sunday morning, I had to be to church early to get communion ready and practice a group dance I was performing in during our church service.  Hubby got the kids ready and brought them in time for the service.  Our dance went really well, and the rest of the service was great.  Then we traveled about an hour away to go have dinner at Joe's cousin's house with his Mom's side of the family.  After we had sufficiently stuffed ourselves full of ham and all sorts of other deliciousness, we came back home to relax and digest for the evening. :)  Oh, and hunt for Easter eggs.  I had just put together one Easter basket for the kids to find in the morning, with a few bags of candy  for all of us to share and an insulated cup with a straw for each of them.  I just wanted a little something special to celebrate the day, without going overboard.  I hadn't hidden eggs, because I didn't think we'd have time in the morning, so we did it in the evening.

The only pictures I managed to get the whole weekend were of the big kids coloring eggs.  So here they are.  :)

Lena's artsy eggs  :)

Eli's festive eggs  :)

Koen - 15 months

My sweet Koen James, you are 15 months old.  More like 15 1/2 months now.  I actually wrote most of this post a few weeks ago, and planned to post it when you had your 15 month appointment on the 18th, but it got postponed until today, because I was REALLY sick that week.  So here are your stats and some fun tidbits of info about you, my baby. 

19 pounds 14 ounces (10th percentile)
29 inches (5th percentile)

You have thirteen teeth, and are currently working on at least one more. You still don't have enough hair to need a haircut.

You've been walking since 10 months, so you're a pro by now. You're quite speedy, and you like to walk backwards and spin in circles. You try to jump, but can't get your feet off the ground. And when you hear a beat, you can't help but dance!

You're still not much of a talker. You say “mahm” (more) whenever you want something to eat or drink. And you just learned how to say “uh-oh!” Even though you don't say much, you know how to get your point across. You'll turn, push or pull someone where you want them, point at what you want, or just go get it yourself!

Which brings me to my next point, you are into everything! You would much rather spend your day emptying the kitchen cupboards than playing with toys. Unless... you find yourself a stick or a ball! You will toss, hit, and chase a ball around for a long time! 

You love cereal, crackers, and bread. You're not a big fan of fruit or vegetables, but we can sometimes get you to eat apples or peas. You do like mashed potatoes. You always want your milk chocolate, and don't eat much other dairy. Meat's not your favorite either. We just keep trying. :)

We are trying to get you to sleep in your crib in your room full time, but you usually wake up at night and end up in the pack n play in the office or in our bed. Some days you take two short naps, some days just one longer nap. You start crying as soon as you wake up... you always want to be close to Mommy.

You love to snuggle and hug, but you're stingy with your kisses. You're more likely to offer one up to Daddy than anyone else. 

You're goofy, too. You take your shoes off as soon as we put them on. And more often than not, you take off one sock, but leave the other. You have a pretty cute growl, and you have you own “woof” and “moo” sounds.

 You love to be tickled, and you have the BEST laugh!

I thank God for you every day.  I'm gonna keep you forever.  I love you, Little.

Snow Day

It hasn't snowed much around these parts this winter, or last winter either, so when we got several inches earlier this week, we had to take advantage.  Mommy and all three kids donned our snow gear, and headed outside.  This was Koen's first time ever playing in the snow!  He loved being pulled around the yard in the sled with his big sister.  Eli and Lena had filled our plastic wagon with snow, so he also had fun standing at that, playing in the snow with our beach toys.  Koen and I didn't stay out long, but the big kids enjoyed playing out there for a good hour and a half.  It's raining today, melting it all away, so we'll probably (hopefully!) have to wait until next winter for another snow day.

P.S.  Tough guys wear pink snow boots.  ;-)

 

 

 

 

Koen's Got Talent

Does this post even need any words?!  :-)

2012 Christmas Letter

 Happy New Year's Eve!  One goal I have for 2013 is to make an effort to be more consistent with blogging.  I'm thinking I'll start with once a week...  I decided to start off easy by sharing our Christmas letter.  I wrote this a month ago, so when it says we'll be celebrating a birthday soon, yeah...  we already did!  :)  Anyways, here it is, enjoy!

Hello! This is my first ever Christmas letter! I've never written one before, but in the last two years (yeah, I never even got a Christmas card sent out last year) our family has experienced a few major life changes, so I thought now would be the perfect time to send out an update!

One of those changes is our location! Yep, we moved! I know this is old news to some, as it's been over a year, but I do want to make sure that everyone has our current address. We are enjoying our new home, and we absolutely love being back in Clear Lake!

Perhaps the most exciting event of the last couple years was the addition of our sweet Koen James to our family. He was due to arrive on Christmas day, but blessed us with an early arrival on December 17^th, 2011. He weighed in at 8 lbs 10 oz, a big baby if I do say so myself! We will be celebrating his 1^stbirthday in a couple weeks, and he is already walking! He is more and more fun every day!

Lena turned four on June 21^st. What a joy she is! She spends her days at home, working on learning her letters and numbers and playing with her brothers!

Eli turned six on August 24^th. How did our first little miracle baby grow up so fast?!? He is doing kindergarten at home this year, learning how to read, addition, and some world geography! We are so proud of all that he has accomplished so far!

Autumn (that's me!) is keeping busy teaching, feeding, changing, cleaning up after (etc., etc., etc....) the three previously mentioned ragamuffins! My hands may be full, but my heart is overflowing!

Joe's business, Advantage Business Solutions, has been growing and thriving, praise the Lord! They have been able to hire a few new employees and opened an office, which means that Joe is no longer working from home. He's a busy guy!

We will also be celebrating another big milestone on January 11th, our 10 year wedding anniversary! What a crazy, beautiful roller coaster the last decade has been! We are so blessed to have each other and our amazing family!

So that's what's been going on in our neck of the woods. To those that live near, I hope to see you soon and often. To those who live far, I hope you'll keep in touch. Thank you all for being a part of our lives.

Merry Christmas to you and yours! And a happy New Year, too! :-)

With love,

Joe, Autumn, Eli, Lena & Koen

Happy Birthday Lena!

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY TO MY BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER!

A few photos from today...

Lena had her two year well child checkup today.  She is now 21 lbs!  She's still below the charts, but she's following her own curve perfectly!  Her height is 33 1/4 inches, which means she jumped from the 10th percentile to the 25th percentile.  Doctor said she's doing great!  So thankful to have a healthy girl!

I LOOOOVE you, Lena Marie!!