Trying to get sun flair

I am trying to figure out how to get sun flair in my pictures. I wasn't able to capture it. I guess it needs to be sunnier, or I am doing it wrong. Oh well, here are some pictures of Maia. She asked me if she had to smile. "Of course not dear, just let me practice."

My new business cards

So check these out and tell me what you think. I found these very unique cards from a business called Moo.com. They are based out of London. Lots of cool stuff but I thought it would be cool to make some different looking cards, just to be different. I am sure that doesn't surprise anyone though. Soon, soon, I will have my new improved photo blog up, with my new biz name and I will be getting my license! In the mean time though...let me know what you think of my new cards..only if you have nice things to say.

By the way, not that it is any surprise to anyone, but this weather sucks. I am stuck indoors, no photo opportunities, going crazy.

A Starbucks Evening

It has been pretty quiet around here lately. The snow was insane, but now it is starting to rain, which is making a bigger mess on our street. We have been stuck indoors forever it seems, so tonight Steve and I decided to get out of the house and take little Dane out for a treat. The other kids were all other places for the night, so it was just the three of us.

Ahhh, Santa was good!

So we celebrated Christmas a day early this year. The kids were up very late last night, trying to see if they could catch Santa! They finally fell asleep around 1130 and I could break out the stockings and the gifts! This morning they were all very excited and they all got exactly what they wanted! The older boys got Guitar Hero for our Wii. I think that is my favorite present so far. Very addicting. But....I have to share Wii time with the Wii master (Davis). It is going to be hard to tear him away from it to take him back to his moms tonight. Dane got his Handy Manny tool set/truck, and Maia got her American Doll (Mia). Looks just like her. It was a fabulous Christmas and the kids had a great time. We also woke up to a TON of snow! it is still snowing and I bet we have a couple feet. I am not sure how I am going to get our Tahoe out of our driveway this evening. The snowplow keeps going buy and burying in the car so we cant get out!

3 little monkeys jumping on MY bed

Good thing they didnt break my bed frame! Goofy kids!

Cabin Fever

I guess we dont really have cabin fever just yet, but I can feel it is going to come on soon. We were suppose to get a huge storm last night, but it wasnt as bad as I thought it would be. I decided I could drive out and get the rest of our stocking stuffers. Parts of the roads were completely bare, while the wind had created huge snow drifts on other parts of the road. I was just making it through in 4 wheel drive, I couldnt believe people were driving around in their little cars, some stuck and trying to shovel their way out. It was kind of fun driving though. I was also scheduled for some pictures today but of course this pesky weather got in the way. I tried to get my kids to let me take pictures of them instead. No luck.

Maia will not smile

Davis tries to kick me

Gage hides

Davis hides

They both run from me

These two asked for a snack. I told them they had to eat it in the kitchen. They brought the kitchen into the living room.

Just for Heather and Suzie

In honor of Heather and Suzie making fun of my music selection, I added 4 new songs by the ever popular group Hanson. And don't worry, I definitely got MMMbop on there for ya both!

My poor girl

My dear little pipsqueak has been having ongoing headaches..for about 2 years now. I have been in multiple times to the doctors office, seen her eye doctor several times and they have all just sort of brushed me off....for 2 years. Things have been getting progressively worse with her head. She had a headache for almost 5 days in a row last week and they woke her up at night. Not normal, right? I had tried everything, glasses on, glasses off, more water, earlier bedtime, you name it. I have had discussions with her teacher about it to see if we could identify any triggers. Finally the school nurse called the house to talk about how often they have been occurring and probably wanted to know if I had taken her to the doctor yet. So I made yet another appointment with our new doctor. FINALLY they decided that this had been going on long enough and sent us over for a CT scan of her head to rule out anything "scary". We went in and they had it done in about a minute and told us they would give a call when they had results. So I finally made it home at about 5:05 and there was a message from the nurse that said.."Hi, we need you...uh well, just give us a call back about Maia's CT scan, we will be here till 5. I tried to call and the guy said the nurse had gone home for the day. UHG! They can't leave me with that! Now I know from plenty of experience, that if nothing is wrong, they will tell you that on the answering machine. If something major is wrong, the doctor leaves a message, and if its minor, the nurse will call and leave a message to call. So I at least knew it was somewhere in the middle but you always fear the worst when its your own kid. Lucky me though, one of the nurses called me back about an hour later! She said Maia had a MAJOR sinus infection. They put her on extra strength antibiotics for 21 days along with some nasal spray. I cant believe this poor thing has lived with all these sinus issues for 2 years! At least the mystery is solved and I know her brain looks great!

Snow Day!

No school today because of the snow! I actually got to sleep in until 9:30 today! I cant remember the last time that happened...really. I let the kids go out and play in the snow for as long as they could stand it. The winds were really making it cold. I got outside for 3 minutes to take a couple pics before I could stand it no longer. Then I spent the rest of the day making little ginger cookies for our neighbors! What a nice lazy day. I haven't seen Gage all day. He and a neighbor buddy seem to be immune to the cold and have been sledding all day. Dane said his head hurt so he fell asleep on the couch and has been sleeping for about 2 hours now. It is so nice and quiet!

I let Miss Maia use my camera today. Great composition kid.

Busy, busy

I know I have been doing a lot of picture posts so I thought I should update on the family status here for those that care. We have been pretty busy with Christmas approaching so quickly. After I got back from the MeRa conference I got sick with some nasty cough. Still trying to kick it and sounds like maybe a couple of the kids might be picking it up! Yuck! My mom graciously entertained the kids the other night so Steve and I could go out Christmas shopping. The stores were pretty empty with the impending snow storm and freezing temps, so we were able to get what we wanted without to much hassle. This year we are trying to keep the presents to a minimum (although I think we try that every year). So they each got a few things, but they are all really cool things! I cant wait for them to open their gifts! We will be pushing Christmas day for the kids up to Christmas Eve day, because we only have Davis on Christmas Eve's, and we want to make sure he gets to experience what Christmas morning is like with us. Nothing like creating traditions! I love the excitement the kids have thinking that Santa will be coming that night and waking up in the morning running downstairs to see what Santa brought them. I always wake up a little early to listen to them. This year I think I will arm myself with the camera and get to the presents before the kids do to take pictures. But of course I don't want them to forget the real reason for the season! Which I now segway into our church Christmas program.... That was last Sunday night. The program was insanely cute and also moving. My "little" Dane and all the preschool kids walked and up on stage. He shook his little bells and sang all the words to jingle bells and then sung Away in the Manger with all the adorable little hand motions. I couldn't have been more proud. Steve and I were the parents standing and waving and getting in peoples way trying to take pictures. People may have been laughing at us because I was so excited. Then Gage and Maia got up on stage to sing. Maia takes her singing and performing very seriously so she of course new all the words and movements but she furrows her brow when she concentrates so it was pretty cute. And of course Gage always goes with the flow and likes to be on stage. They did a great job and Steve and I were very proud of them.

Now last night, we had Bunco and our white elephant gift exchange. I didn't win any Bunco, but I did score on the white elephant gift...not! haha. check it out.

Dane modeling the new cups