My New Camera Update...

I originally posted some pictures taken with my new camera, but deleted that post because I needed to tweak them in my "darkroom". So.......here the are - officially.

Morgan: my favorite thing is the freckles.

Grace: My favorite pic is this first one. That's just a classic look.

Crede: This is the only really good shot...he just doesn't sit still!

And Gage: He's so much fun.

I love this part of babies...the neck rolls....aaaaaaaaaah sweet baby smell.

And of course the feet. So cute.

The Kind of Mother....

A good friend of mine posted this on her blog. SHE got it from her Mother in Law - who found it in the newspaper. It brought a smile to MY face today, so I thought I'd share it too. (Thanks Rea!)

"Sometimes motherhood is like being on a merry-go-round that just won't stop turning. Even when you're getting a tad too dizzy, some ornery kid gives it another push.We have to try to hang on and enjoy the ride.

Kids make sure the excitement never stops - don't even think about sitting down to rest - they need a drink, a toy from the high shelf, a bandage for an aching wound you can't even see... some urgent issue is bound to arise just as you put your feet up.

Sometimes, amid the cracker crumbs, foot-impaling plastic toys and sibling squabbles, we need to reaffirm what this job is all about. We must remind ourselves.

We must remind ourselves that the perfect mother is one who recognizes that family life isn't perfect. It's all about making sweet lemon bars out of a sour lemon kind of day, and not worrying to much about the high sugar content. Just this once.

Instead of muttering to myself in a corner, I share my affirmations with you, fellow parents, grandparents and curious gawkers.

I will be the mother who holds her children's hands a little too tightly, always thinking of the awful what ifs in this world.

I will be the mother who serves her kids the same meal I'm eating, refusing to give in to the chicken nugget diet youngsters wish to subscribe to.

I will be the mother who sometimes gives them the Popsicle they really want even though they already had a cookie and a doughnut that day.

I will be the mother who won't give her kids soda, because I said so.

I will be the mother who teaches them to play by the rules and also makes sure they win sometimes.

I will be the mother who lets her kids watch television and make no apology for it.

I will be the mother who won't let her kids listen to iPods and send text messages throughout dinner.

I will be the mother who doesn't really care if the kids make their beds.

I will be the mother who care very much about how the children treat people.

I will be the mother who sometimes says "yes" when I shouldn't.

I will be the mother who sometimes says "no" when I shouldn't.

I will be the mother who loves my children more than they can imagine, on the best of days and the worst of days."

Smiles everyone!

This nationwide event happened last Sunday. Okay, maybe not nationwide...not even statewide. Let's say - This BAILEYwide event happened last Sunday.

Gage has been very elusive and shy about showing his emotions. I know, I know - men. I keep telling him, "Gage, it's really okay to show your soft side. You can laugh and STILL be a man." He just keeps flirting with me (wait - not flirting - that would be weird). He just keeps TEASING me and TESTING my attention span with his smiles and fake coughs.

Last Sunday was THE day. I started in with the soft tickles on his cheeks to get him to trust me. See you have to go in like you don't really WANT him to laugh. He didn't even see it comin'. I went in for the under-the-chin ... in-between-the-fat-rolls tickle that seems to be so popular with other babies these days.

Aaaaaand voila! Gage laughed.

Je t'aime Gage. (deep french laugh) hhhhaughhhh haugghhhh hhhauuugh

Fall Fondness

It's about time I update our family blog. We've had quite the uneventful month. Don't get me wrong, I have a crazy everyday life (you can read about that in my other blog: http://www.onesmallglimpse.blogspot.com/), it's just we don't do anything notorious. We DID have the privilege to bless our little Gage in church at the beginning of the month. I should probably say CHANCE had that privilege, I just have the privilege to be married to him. That was neat, and, as always, a HUGE relief once it was done.

Let's begin with the pictures that document our month.

ME

I am in charge of a "Scrapbook Getaway" every 6 months, and it fell in September this time. We get a hotel, provide all the meals and prizes, and have about 30 people come. It's a lot of fun, and a little work. We also stay up all night (if we can). This first picture was taken the night after I got home from the overnighter. My eyes are totally bloodshot, I'm a little queasy because I'm so stinkin' tired, but Gage is the one that gets to sleep anywhere, anytime. I envy that little boy. One little disclaimer: I totally hate pictures of me...especially when I'm still trying to lose 10 more baby pounds. So take that however you would like to.


CHANCE

Did I mention what a good husband I have? This picture was taken after Gage's baby blessing, in our backyard. The REASON I took this picture is because Chance is over on the left-hand side, and he's talking to that table full of family. Do you want to know what he was talking about? Hunting. He was telling (in INCREDIBLE detail) a story about a deer he saw and "stalked" and didn't get. Seriously, his stories are verrrrrrrry detailed. I'm NOT going to say long, because that would be mean. Love you Chance. The only one that looks interested in his story is his Mom. That makes me laugh. Anyway, cute picture.

MORGAN

This is our BIG little Morgan playing with her cousins after the baby blessing. She's on our swing set (which I should include a picture of THAT too.). Our swing set is made out of telephone poles. It's as tall as our house. The kids absolutely LOVE it. Our backyard is ginormous, so it's not like it takes up the entire backyard, so that's good. Morgan's on the right, waving at me. Cute little girl.


Here she is again. This is just a cute picture. I took this when she lost her top tooth. She looks so funny now without a tooth there. It is really weird to think that I have a 6 year old who goes to first grade. She's getting so old! She is doing so well in school. She brings her homework home and gets it done in about 20 minutes. (It's supposed to last the whole week). I can't take any credit for her "smarts" either. She just completely absorbs all information given to her. Take TV for instance: She watches a show once, and she remembers specific lines from that show. I think people think that all she does is watch movies and TV, but it's just that she remembers everything.

GRACE

Oh Grace. My little time-bomb. You NEVER know what is going to come out of her mouth, or what she is going to do. This first picture was taken after Gage's baby blessing. She got into a chocolate chip cookie that had been sitting out a little long. The chocolate was all melted, and she thoroughly enjoyed that cookie. Here she is, proud as can be. My little cookie monster.

Now here is Grace on a sunny afternoon playing outside. I first caught her with my watering can, watering our rocks in the front yard. I don't know why I buy white shirts for her either. They obviously don't stay white. Here's one of her silly faces that she pulled as I was taking the picture.

Oh yea. If you want to read the entire story about THIS picture, you can go to my other blog. (http://onesmallglimpse.blogspot.com/2009/09/she-looks-innocent-enough.html) This was taken after her haircut, and after the hairspray was involved. What did I tell ya'. Her hair looks like "Something About Mary". It's a good thing she's cute. That's all I can say.

CREDE

This picture was cracking me up. We sometimes have the TV on during dinner when Chance isn't home from work yet. It's mainly to keep MY sanity. So this evening we were watching "Babar" on the QUBO channel. There was a spooky part on the show and Crede was totally enthralled. He didn't BUDGE for about 10 minutes. The only thing that DID budge were his eyes. He kept going wide-eyed whenever it was super spooky. I was laughing. I didn't, however, get a great picture of it. He's not fully wide-eyed here.

Here's Crede after the baby blessing chowing down on a cookie. What a HANDSOME little boy I have.

GAGE

Yes, this is his blessing picture. He was NOT in a good mood that morning. His face is BEET red in this picture, and I just get a kick out of his fists. He's just MAD.

This picture is what happens when I leave him alone with Dad for 5 seconds. Chance is always keeping me smiling. He has a very subtle humor (most times). I walked into the room and Gage was just sitting there, content as can be. Chance was just sitting next to him, watching TV like nothing happened.

Here's Gage in his Halloween onesie that I bought while I was pregnant. I was pretty excited that it actually fit, and it's actually only a month away. I think that Gage is going to be a tootsie roll for Halloween. I love this time of year. This is only one picture out of about 25 that I took. I get a little crazy with my camera sometimes. Cute little boy.

That's our family for yet another month. We don't do much, but we are happy. I love my little family. (Except I need to stop saying we're little...there's 6 of us!)

Life with 4 kids.

Well I am still here, and still kickin'. (on the days when I have enough energy to kick... heh heh). Everyday I feel like I am flying by the seat of my pants. No plan, no organization, nothin'. Just pure instinctual survival. Outlive, Outlast...what's that Survivor motto?

I've also been itching for a new project. My right side of the brain has been feeling neglected lately, and I've needed a creative outlet. What to do, what to do. My good friend Amie gave me the idea of keeping a blog 365 days of the year. Each day I take a picture and blog about it. I started that, and I'm finding that I'm enjoying it quite a bit. It has been fun getting my "photography" self out again, and actually "thinking" about my photo's. If you're wondering where this blog is, here's the link:

http://www.onesmallglimpse.blogspot.com/

I have listed it in my blog's on the side of THIS blog too if ya want to check it out. I am finding it a nice outlet for journaling and photography. Nice.

Well this month has been pretty eventful. Not only have I tried to balance 4 kids, I'm trying to find my sanity as I am by myself for 2 weeks while Chance is gone hunting. Baaaaaaah! It's been interesting to say the least. Here are some photo's of our month.

Here's a picture of what I do best ... and that is to fall asleep at the drop of a hat. Is that considered some sort of talent? I sure think it is. I mean, who else can fall asleep in 5 seconds flat?

Here's another one of me holding my little boy - I have to apologize for the blur - I mess with the settings on our camera all the time, and as a result - Chance doesn't know how to change them back. I turned the flash off for some reason. Anywho, that's why it's blurry. I had to laugh at Gage because he was looking at me and his face seemed to say, "who is this crazy woman holding me? Is she REALLY my Mom?"

Now this is the other end of the spectrum. Chance gets all the smiles and giggles. Well not really giggles yet, but all the smiles are his. This next picture just melted me. I love the fact that Chance's face has just as big of a smile on it as Gages does. My cute boys.

After I took that last picture, Grace wanted in on the action, so I handed her my camera, she pointed it at Chance, and this is the picture that she got. Lovely.

Ahh little miss Morgan. She started first grade this month, and she has absolutely LOVED it. Her teacher is very nice, her name is Mrs. Hagen, and her very good friend, Breauna, is in her class. This is her picture on her very first day.

One night after putting Grace to bed, she came running downstairs saying, "rainbow Dad!" So Chance looks out the window and says, "Lets go see!" This rainbow was huge, and right over our house. This picture really doesn't do it justice, but pictures never do.

This is the only action our treadmill has seen recently, sad but true. Grace was just entranced with her cartoon watching this day. Her favorite thing to do is climb up here, and balance for a second, and then climb down. She just kinda got stuck up there one day. Crazy girl.

I felt ambitious yesterday (now today was a completely DIFFERENT story...you can read about it in my other blog listed above) and took the 3 youngest kids to the park after dropping Morgan off to school. It was BEAUTIFUL weather, and it was a lot of fun for all of us. Gage did great, and it felt nice to get out and get fresh air. Here's cute Grace gallivanting around the bigtoy.

Right after having Gage our cute neighbor girl volunteered to babysit for me 2 times for free. Her name is Elizabeth, and my kids absolutely LOVE her. This is the day that she came to OUR house for a few hours and just played with the kids while I got stuff done. Elizabeth, we sure appreciate and love you! And P.S. - Crede's silly face is pretty impressive dont' you think?

Here is my cute little boy playing at the park. I am not sure that I'm biased - I really doubt that I am, but Crede is the CUTEST little boy around. Oh wait - I'll now have to say that he is the cutest TWO YEAR OLD around. Love you little boy.

Now for the cutest NEWBORN boy around... Gage. He went to church for the first time this last Sunday, and he looked sharp if I do say so myself. I had to take his picture right before. Too cute.


Well that sums up my month for the most part - We're just barely gettin' by and loving every minute of it.

Morgan's first day of 1st Grade

Here's my big Morgan starting her first day of 1st Grade. This is a picture of Alaina, Morgan and Mason. They have been friends since they were born. I love that Morgan has good friends to spend time with. I hope that they stay friends their whole lives. Cute kids.

Aaaand here's Morgan waiting patiently in line for school to begin. What a cute girl we have.

Randomness

I find myself thinking about blogging quite often. What can I ramble on about that people will actually care to read? What can I say that is of huge importance? My answer to both of these questions is...... not a whole heck of a lot. Is that going to stop me? I'm sorry to say, it's not.

Let us......**deep breath**.......BEGIN.

Last night I was so excited to see that the "MATRIX REVOLUTION" movie was on TV. When I watched the first "Matrix" movie, I was in awe at how "cool" it was. I talked about that movie to everyone and anyone that would listen. Well as I tried to better myself, I banned all rated "R" movies from my life. It was pretty crappy at first, as the "Matrix" #2 and #3 came out. Did I give in to temptation? I am proud to say....yep! No just kidding....I didn't. Well last night I thought "Wah hoo. Now I FINALLY get to watch this Matrix sequel."

Hmmmm....lets just say, Keanu Reaves really should be called Keanooooooooooooo! My favorite line in that movie? Let's set the scene. Keanooooooo (oops I mean Neo.....or NOOOOOO for you non-fans) just battled Mr Smith in his ship just before Him and Trinity took off to battle those darn machines when he was horrifically blinded. Okay first off....both his eyes were magically scabbed over right off the bat and....wait! He could still see Mr Smith! Oh hooray. So he pummels Mr Smith in the head, finds Trinity again and you know what his line was? You know what it was? "You're going to have to drive." Yes folks......***shaking head***......"You're going to have to drive." But you have to say it like Keanooooo. Very breathy and you need to think "duhhhhh" as you say it.

The ending of that show bothered me as well. I won't go into THAT as it might be a tad long. But thinking of crappy lines, I got to thinking of the book "Angels and Demons". Anyone read that? You'll have to forgive me because it's been so long since I've read it, but the main character and his woman sidekick are trying to get into a secured room when they look down and see an eyeball. Yes, **gasp** a human eyeball that had been cut out of someones head. Guess what the next line was. Something like "she would recognize that color of hazel anywhere." COME ON!!!

Okay that will now end my rant. I was just bothered that I invested my time and attention to that lovely movie last night. Aw well. I will now know not to watch the other Matrix movie that I haven't seen yet. I will stand by my first statement though - the first Matrix movie is still cool.


What else.....



So my mind has been wandering lately. Maybe it's sleep deprivation, maybe it's just that I have a busy head. Regardless of the reason, as I drag my tired behind through my day I think of things that I used to take for granted. Things like.....


1. a skinny "pre-marriage, pre-children, high school" body.


We read a book in our book club that is called "I feel bad about my neck". The author says that if she would have realized at age 20 what her body would look like at age 40, she would have worn a bikini every day of her life. **sigh** I'm not 40 yet, but I long for the days of tight abs and being able to jog without feeling my body behind me struggling to keep up!


2. driving.


When I first got my license I thought to myself, "man, I am NEVER going to get tired of driving a car." The windows down, the music loud, my long, silky hair blowing in the wind... oh wait - I didn't have long hair. Scratch that last one. My car was my pride. It was clean. It was a 1986 Toyota Corolla stick shift. Maroon. Aaahh the memories. What happened you ask? 15 years, and 4 kids later.....driving stinks! I have 4, yes 4 carseats in my car. It takes military precision to get all 4 kids in the car at once, making sure that one of them is not running AROUND the car instead of jumping inside it. Sometimes in the grocery store parking lot I am aware of stares around me. I can hear their brains thinking, "man, that is a lot of kids."


Let's progress to the actual act of driving. On a single trip I can guarantee either: a) a total meltdown from ONE or MORE of the children, or b) a total meltdown from me. What triggers these said meltdowns you ask? Well Grace will lose a flip flop. I will then hear, "Mom, my flip flop fell off!" I will then begin to repeat over and over and over again, "Grace we'll get it when we get there." Does that help? The ear piercing scream in the backseat says no. Crede will drop his matchbox car and the same scenario will begin. I really would like to get a partition installed in my Explorer...you know...like limo drivers have. I can just roll up the partition and....**ahh** total silence. The only evidence that there is a problem in the back? Their beat red faces screaming at the top of their lungs. I can then turn my "cool" music loud, roll my window down and let my long silky hair blow in the wind....er...my mid-length, color damaged, gray tinged hair blow in the wind.


3. fashion.

When did happen that I can't figure out how to dress? Could it be that I've turned into a bargain betty? Is it because I don't just go to the mall to "walk around" anymore? Is it because I do 90% of my shopping online now?

Here's my fear. Okay all you early 1990 fans out there, do you remember those sunglasses that were "cool" around this time? They were black, a soft plastic, and the ear stems were any shade of fluorescent. If you were lucky one stem would be...say...pink, and the other side would be green. NICE. Don't forget the all-important "fanny pack" either. Now. Will I be one of "those" that sports the fluorescent sunglasses and fanny pack at age 65 thinking this is a "good choice"?

Well that's about it for the moment. I will now try to enjoy the times in life that I am taking for granted. My little kids with easy problems to fix (usually with a band-aid and a kiss), my comfy home that's not huge but fits my family just right, and all of my family's health to name a few. We'll catch ya' again soon.