David

Next up in my spontaneous, unprofessional "photo shoot" was David. That kid has a weird assortment of teeth right now. Two permanent teeth halfway through in the middle, a space on one side, and a dangler on the other. I don't know about you, but it draws my attention every time I look at him or a picture of him! Love you, David!

So we started off in the bright red Old Navy shirt. At least it matches Ryan.

See what I mean about the teeth?

Okay, now I'm 80% sure that Ryan spontaneously posed with his arm up on the tree and I liked it so I recommended David do something similar. But in execution...this picture sure makes me giggle! Looks like he's sayin' "Heeeyyyyy ladies..."!

Caught a decent smile

Then this one is my favorite of his face. Not the best composition ever with the tree right there like that, but at least he looks pretty good. Also, I just noticed that he's wearing an Old Navy shirt in this picture, too. We really don't shop there very much, I swear!

Ryan

While I was in Kent I wanted to take the kids over to Clark Lake (where my talented brother-in-law took our family picture that's here on the blog) to take some pictures. I haven't ever had any training or anything, I just wanted to play around and hopefully capture some nice "real" shots of them. Then we were on our way out to the car one day when I realized my parents' yard is just about as nice as any park, so I spontaneously had Ryan go stand by a tree and started shooting. I'm really happy with the cute smiles I got of him! They're pretty decent pictures, if I do say so myself! Then I did a very, very brief editing job (just brightened them up a bit) using Picasa. I'd love to learn Photoshop someday, but Picasa works for now.

He started off not all that smiley...

Then he got into it! There's a really good chance I just said "toot" or something to get such a happy laugh from him. Whatever works, ya know? Oh, and I didn't tell him to do that with the branch, he just randomly did it. I like how it looks though.

Yup, I probably said "toot" again.

Then he decided he wanted his sweatshirt on. Which is a little sad, because it looks like an Old Navy ad from now on...

Decided to try again for a few vertical shots.

I like this cute face, even though it isn't a big smile!

So all in all, I think they turned out pretty well. I think I'll print out one of the close ups (pre-bright red sweatshirt) and see how it looks on the wall. Oh, and I have pictures of the other kids as well. You'll just have to wait to see them! ;-)

Teaser...

I've been taking pictures of the kids lately using the "good" camera. I took a bunch while we were in Kent last week that I'm really pleased with. I have all 3 kids that can talk trying to get a turn on the computer, so here's a teaser for now. This is now one of my favorite pictures ever!

Nathan's Blessing Day

Here are some pictures from the day sweet baby Nathan was blessed. It was May 1st, I'm only 2 months behind! Not too bad for a mom of a little one!

Ready to go to church!

Here's everyone from the family that was able to come. From left to right we have Aunt Nadine, Dan, cousin Brady, Nathan (duh), Great-Aunt Patti, me, Great-Uncle Jim, Great-Aunt Peggy, David, Great-Uncle Steve, Grandma Smith, Ryan, Grandpa Smith, Uncle Danny, Great-Grandpa Smith, and Great-Grandma Smith. Whew!

After church most of the family came back to our house for lunch. I was able to get a picture of Nathan with each of the grandparents/great-grandparents that were there! Here's the little man with Great-Grandpa Smith (Sorry you're blinking, Grandpa! I couldn't tell on the little screen!).

Here he is with Great-Grandma Smith. I like how he's looking at her. :-)

Here's Nathan with Grandma Smith.

And here he is with Grandpa Smith.

Our family of 6! Katy sure loves her brother!

Later that night, trying to get a good picture of the little man. I just love those cheeks! Want to squish them!

Got one of him smiling! It's so hard to do! He is an amazingly smiley baby most of the time, but hold up the camera and he turns straight faced. He must not have seen the camera to be smiling at me so happy!

Happy Easter!

(Feel free to pretend it's several weeks ago and I'm totally on top of things)


Here are my cute kids all dressed up for Easter! Why yes, I did make their ties/dress & accessories! Katy has really pretty fabric flower in her hair, and a matching purse. Sorry boys, it's not that I love her more. It's just a lot more fun to make girl things! Be glad I made you ties!

I've been seeing tie onesies all over crafting blogs, and I was excited to give it a shot. I made it a bit too big, so it looks like it's tucked into his pants. Oh well, it just means I can make his next one the exact same size and have it be right!

We usually celebrate the secular aspect of Easter on Saturday, but this year it didn't work for us since Dan had an early voice lesson and the boys had basketball games. I'm sure their Primary teachers were thrilled to have them hopped up on candy Sunday morning!

Tolerating Tummy Time

Please forgive the abundance of pictures. I love babies, especially when they're mine. :-)

Nathan has recently developed the upper body/neck strength to not mind tummy time for a few minutes at a time. It's cute!
Look how strong I am!
Whoa, check out those trains!
Look at that one over there!
And that one, it's a different color!
Whoa, this is fascinating!
And...now I'm tired.

Later that evening, pretty much the exact same thing happened.
Totally digging these trains again!

Mom, do you have to take pictures of me all the time? I'm busy here!
Wait, I'm not sure I like this so much...
Nope, I'm definitely done!

We shoulda gotten one a long time ago!

I have a real love/hate relationship with Black Friday. I love getting good deals. It's probably an addiction. But the early morning, the crowds...yuck! It tends to be a pretty miserable experience. And yet every year I go.

Last Thanksgiving there were some stores doing things even EARLIER than the usual 5 am. Walmart had some midnight sales, and Toys R Us had some starting 10 pm the night before (aka Thanksgiving). I carefully made my lists, planning on going to Toys R Us around 10 and getting to Walmart around midnight. It was not to be. I wish I had written down the specifics 6 months ago, but suffice it to say it took FOUR HOURS between arriving at Toys R Us and driving away with the goods. Four. Hours. I got there a little after 10, but didn't get IN the store until around midnight I believe. Then I had to, you know, do some shopping, followed by standing in line for an hour and a half. Ew. Ew. Ew. I will not be doing THAT again. I saw on Facebook that a friend of mine saw the line outside her Toys R Us, turned around and went home, and ended up getting the same deals online. Doh!

Okay, big tangent there. Anyhow, one of the beloved items that I got at Toys R Us was a big trampoline! Dan & I both grew up with one, and the kids love jumping on the one and Grandma & Grandpa's house, so we've been wanting one for a while. The good Black Friday price was the opportunity we'd been waiting for! Merry Christmas, kids!

Only then it took us a few months to put it together. The typical soggy Northwest weather, plus me being pregnant and tired all the time, plus not knowing how hard it would be, made it hard to get started. We finally got it up a little while after the little parasite was out of me.

I wish we had bought one sooner, or at least put it up sooner. The kids LOVE it! I am frequently amazed by how nicely all 3 big kids play together on it! They spend much more time outside, and much more time playing together without fighting. It is wonderful!

So here is some evidence that this is true! They love it, and they play nicely! Awesome!