Five

Happy Birthday Sugar! Mmm, I think maybe Spice would be more fitting...
Today was a packed day, for which I am going to take off my heels (finally) and go to bed. More pictures of the Birthday Girl tomorrow!

I love you!

(wish the one eye wasn't so out of focus)

One of these years

I will actually have a birthday ready without all the last minute stuff. Tomorrow is Nutmegs birthday, and I still don't have most of it ready. Nice. I did some last minute shopping for presents today. I'm not completely happy with what I found, but I doubt I'll have time tomorrow to fix that. I still have to put together goodie bags for her class at school (I am so glad the other two have summer birthdays!) along with some Hannah Montana cupcakes. Still haven't figured those out yet, but at least I can bake them tonight... oh wait. No liners. Mmmm. I have to decorate the house. Sounds trivial. But not here. We do it every year for all the kids. Streamers, balloons, signs. The works. We don't do a lot of "huge" parties, but instead just make the smaller ones rockin. Oh, and I still have to wrap presents and somehow come up with a CAKE for the family party. Haven't even looked into that one yet. I think this might be a store bought one. We'll have to see what I can pull together. If tomorrow wasn't early release day and everyone home by 11:30, I might be able to pull it off. But before 11..... not a chance!

So this picture is completely unreleated, but I was just happy with some new stuff I figured out on Photoshop. Yay! I thought it was pretty darn cool! And I'm really happy with the family photo shoot I shot on Sat. I just finished editing the photos. I just might post some...if they don't mind!

It was warm today

and no, not outside. I guess it is slightly warmer out there today, but it's rainy. Today though, it's warm inside. I liked today. So I had to write about it before my perception possibly changed (that tends to happen once the mayhem of kids getting out of school shows up... wonder why!). But really, we didn't go anywhere today. No runs to Target or the Grocery store. No doctors appointments. Nothing. So Ase and I sat home and danced, folded laundry, danced some more, watched barney (yes this was very difficult for me, but she was entranced for her first viewing), worked on dishes together (gulp), and then dressed up. There aren't many days I feel I can slow down and just be here. I wish I did it more, although the house is glad I don't. No, I didn't get things done near as quickly as I could have, but we still got some stuff done. And it just makes me realize how much I really do love my little parrot!

Family

They are the best. Today we took family photo's. Again. It's something we've yet to succesfully accomplish...
until today.

No, we don't have the perfect photo. There is always someone not looking toward the camera. Or someone pulling a funny face. But they are real, and real is good. Real is how it should be. So then I take that back, they are perfect. Either way. We're good now for atleast another year! I'd post a picture or two, but I'm sure we'll use one of them for our Christmas card.. so you'll just have to wait. Hopefully you're one of the lucky ones that will get one. If not, well, I'll post one for the rest of you so no one feels left out!

But as I was thinking about family and how great they are (funny how it's easy to think that way when they are all actually cooperating for even 10 minutes - which by the way is all the photo shoot took) I realized how much I do miss all our other family. my family. You take these things for granted when growing up, or still living close by home. But I don't. Not anymore. It's now been nearly 8 years since I've lived around family. Time really does go so fast. I have however been so lucky to have them come visit us every now and then. Even if we do have to twist their arm! So I guess, just thank mom and dad. I am so glad you guys came out and got to spend some time with us. It means the world to us, and of course even more than that to the kids.

Love you.

You have to start somewhere

I love watching these two play. I just wish it was more often. It seems they compete in just about everything. Who knows. Maybe this will be good for them when they get older. It will push them to succeed. Either that, or they will just have to live some distance apart! I know my mom thought she'd never see the day when my sister and I would actually like eachother. We do, so maybe I just need to be a little more patient. If only I could help them to understand how much easier it is to just enjoy things. Enjoy playing together, before time is filled with raising their own kids. Enjoy sharing things while they still live close enough to share. Enjoy learning from eachother, because yes, even the younger ones do know some things! And somehow, I wish I could help them to embrace their differences, because if they can do this... it will make them just that much stronger.

For now, maybe I'll just work with talking nice to eachother. Small steps...

My fourth photo

Not ever.. just the fourth in my photo folder. I am an organized freak.. if you didn't know that already, so I thought the fourth spot was going to be a folder (with a year), finding 12 more folders (for all the months of course) to which I could grab a photo from what, the first month? It worked out much easier than that. There was actually just a photo, a single photo sitting in fourth spot in the main folder. No sub-folders or sub-folders of the sub-folders. Yea! And... it's not a horribly embarrasing one to post. Whew.

I guess I should explain. I got nabbed by someone to post the 4th picture in my photo folder. No exceptions. Glad this worked out so well, and by the way, thank you for asking! Besides, now I don't have to think too hard for a blog post! This is one I took in Seattle back in 2004. I don't do landscapes, but this one is one of my all time favorites. Now it's YOUR turn....

* just breathe *

I think those are the words I have to keep telling myself right now. She doesn't know how to stop this. But maybe... maybe she does. I don't know.

See I have this child who, despite all the wonderful things in life, will look and find the bad. She's not a glass half empty person... she is a not-a-drop-of-water-in-the-glass type person. There is usually something ailing her from being happy. It used to always be a tummy ache.

She didn't want dinner = tummy ache.
Didn't want to go to bed = tummy ache.
Didn't want to get out of bed = tummy ache.
Didn't want to go to school (yes she has already pulled this one) = tummy ache.

But now the problem has changed. The tummy ache wasn't getting her far enough. So now (drum roll please) we have toes that hurt. Yes her TOES!! And NO her shoes are not to small... so please don't suggest that they are. In fact she has new shoes just to make sure of this. It would almost be commical, if it wasn't so darn annoying to listen to her cry because of her toes hurting.

She doesn't want to sit in the car another minute = toes hurt.
Wants out of the shopping cart for which she begged to sit in = toes hurt.
Wants to watch TV = toes hurt.
And my favorite, she needs a drink (because who knows what would happen if you just asked for one) = toes hurt.

So I'm sitting here at my computer trying hard to think of the other side to her, while she cries in bed that she want's medicine for her hurting toes. The happy, playful, sweet girl that she can be. I'm trying to remember, really I am. I guess that's what I love about looking at pictures. It's so much easier to remember that side her when I have a version of her on my computer screen, in which she is smiling back.

She just decided she will say a prayer to get them to stop. Amazing once she came up with a solution how things magically changed. If I had offered this solution she would tell me it doesn't work. But tonight, she thought of it, so it will work. And if that's
the way it goes... I'm okay with that. For tonight. I just need to get some sleep. So long as I don't even dream of toes!