Brothers!

Adam usually wants to be in all the photos I am shooting. However, this last photo shoot, I really wanted him to take some pictures with Owen and he did not want to. After a lot of bribing, I finally got him in a matching shirt and we got a few -- then Adam was done.

Can you find Adam in this picture?

Our very own ET moment!

Elephant Steps

We had a little field trip for Adam and his school buddies. The place is called Elephant Steps and it is in Norwalk. We had such a good time discovering this fun place. It is unfortunate that it is closing this weekend. . . for good. But at least we had a chance to go there before it was gone.

Here are some pictures from our adventure!

Owen sure gets a worried look when I put the camera up in front of my face.

Looking down

My friend Keri took some beautiful pictures of a little boy looking down so that his eyelashes were the focus of the picture. So here are my little boys and their eyelashes that I love so much.

Entertaining video of Adam at Kemah

Make sure you have the sound on! This is Adam on a little ride called the bouncer. It lifts you up and then drops you down over and over again.

Adam's detailed drawings

Adam is so excited for our upcoming trip. He has counted the days down, drawn the airplane, drawn everybody going, even baby owen is in a little carseat. We think Adam is a pretty amazing kid when it comes to drawing, don't you????

Things they love --

Today I am documenting some of the things my kids love so that I will always remember them when they outgrow them.

First, Julianne -- she loves bunny. This bunny was a gift from Deann and Jason Moore when Julianne was born. For about 2 years it sat on a shelf in her room and went relatively unnoticed. But then one day, she just had to sleep with it. . . and she has slept with it ever since. She loves it. One day while walking through town she spied an identical bunny in the windows of the whitney store only it was 10 times larger. She has said she would never replace bunny -- but that she wouldn't mind if bunny had BIG bunny around too!




Next, Catherine. She loves stuffed animals and books. She has never been able to settle on just one favorite. Her bed is a constantly shifting arrangement of as many stuffed animals as her mother will tolerate. These ones have been there since Christmas and her birthday. The pillow pet dog, the porcupine webkinz, and the fureal penguin.



Then, there is Madelyn. She has had this littlest pet shop stuffed penguin on her bed for a couple of years. But the newest addition to her favorite things is the silly yellow minnion from Despicable Me. She loves the movie and loves this plastic blow up minnion.




Adam is the first of our children to become attached to a blanket. His original blankie was finally moved to "museum" status (meaning it resides in a drawer for safekeeping and emergencies. We have been able to find acceptable replacements so that blankie can be appropriately cared for (laundered). It never goes anywhere with him, but always resides on his bed, crumpled by his pillow waiting for bedtime. Adam also has a new love -- DINO DAN on nickjr.com. HE IS OBSESSED. He watches the webisodes, prints out the pages, draws and tracks imaginary dinosaurs all over. He doesn't however appreciate me calling him DINO ADAM.





Owen, is just getting into favorite things. His first toy that he shows any interest in are these little linkies that I can hook on his car seat, swing, stroller, etc. . . He loves to eat them. I even keep a pacifier hooked on -- but don't be fooled he DOES NOT like his pacifier. If you try to give it to him, he will get mad. REALLY MAD. Just ask the ladies at the gym this morning who tried. Now if he puts the binkie in his mouth all on his own he is happy as can be just chewing all over it (but not sucking on it).





Next, there is me. I am loving my new lens -- a 50 mm f/1.4. I traded my 35 mm f/1.8 for this one (and some change) and I am loving it!!!!




Last of all is Trent. He currently is loving the sun. He has gone 7 days without shoveling snow. I found him on google the other day looking up "how long does it take for snow to melt" Our 10 day forecast does not predict any snow. So he may have time to pursue some other things. He is also loving BYU basketball games with Jimmer Fredette and reading articles like this one.

Another fun filled snowy day

The kids headed off to school this morning with the BIG storm looming. It was supposed to start around 4:00 this afternoon. Imagine all of our surprise when it started snowing heavily around 9 am. I abandoned hope of making it to the gym and headed down to the basement for some quality treadmill time. By the time I got back upstairs (exactly 42 minutes later -- which is the length of one episode of 24 that I watch on my iphone's netflix app while on the treadmill) it was apparent that the snow was not going to stop for a while. The phone quickly range informing me of an early dismissal day. I don't mind delayed starts or early dismissals because those don't eat away my summer days.

The boys and I hung out at home. Owen was so cute. He was so smiley and happy that I just had to take his picture. Adam thought he was so cute too and would lean in to kiss him. As soon as Adam got a little close to Owen, Owen would start to cry. It was so cute. Adam tends to be a little "in your face" with Owen. We are working on helping Adam understand boundaries a little better.







The girls got home and we just hung out. I saw the mailman drive by so I sent them out to get the mail. It was already starting to get dark so I sent both Julianne and Catherine. They quickly brought me the mail and then went right back outside. They had decided to surprise their dad by doing all the shoveling. Madelyn was not about to miss out on the shoveling fun. All 3 girls shoveled for nearly 2 hours. Trent was so happy for all their help. He got home around 7:30 and the girls were so excited for him to see all their work.













Of course by 7:00, the "big" storm had finally arrived. All their shoveling efforts have now been sufficiently undone by mother nature.

The only question that remains . . . will we have school in the morning?

Beautiful Day, Beautiful Kids, Happy Mom

Here are some more pictures taken with my new lens on a stunning fall day here in Connecticut.

My poem

I have a love-hate relationship with the fall --
I love how it looks, how it feels;
but I hate that each day means our winter draws near
oh the dark, oh the cold, my heart reels.

Happy Halloween

We had a great Halloween. Friday night we had a "trunk or treat" at our church. Going from car to car is so much more fun than house to house (especially here where the houses are so spread out!). On Saturday we trick or treated in the neighboring town center. All the businesses open their doors along main street for trick or treaters. It is so fun and it is during the day so it is light outside and a little warmer than the evenings. My kids had so much fun and candy, that when it came to last night (the real Halloween) they didn't even ask to go trick or treating. It was very dark and very, very cold -- I was so glad they didn't ask. I didn't remind them of it either. This morning Julianne commented "We forgot to go trick or treating!) We only had 2 trick or treaters to our door, so that certainly helped them forget about it!

Adam's 4th Birthday

Adam is growing and growing. Everyday he has some amazing way that his muscles will grow. (Today he said, "If I eat 2 bowls of cereal my muscles will get big today") He is smart and funny and easygoing. I love hanging out with him during the day. He loves cars, trucks, playing outside, baseball, and anything else stereotypically boy. We had a fun birthday party with many of his friends (despite the rain outside).


Here is another cute one of him!

Swimming Fun

The kids love swimming. I have a love/hate relationship with swimming right now. I love being in the water. I don't feel pregnant. I don't feel huge. I just float and float! I hate being in a swimsuit out of the water. I do feel pregnant. I do feel huge. I do look huge. I do feel heavy. Oh well!

The kids are really getting good (and fast!). At the end of each day they can race me and see if they can beat me. For the first time, I am actually having to really swim in order to win. One of these days, one of them will beat me!

Enjoy this collage of their fun!

Adam's name

A long, long time ago I purchased some painted wooden letters to decorate all of the kid's rooms with their names. I did the girls' names in February of 2008 and Adam's letters have sat, undone for over 2 1/2 years. Today, he asked why his room did not belong to him. I couldn't figured out what he meant and questioned him. He said it is because his room doesn't have his name on the wall. He started crying even. So -- I made his letters today. It is such an easy project (you can see the directions on the link to the girl's ones). He loves it! Now his room is his!

Spring Soccer

3 kids playing.
4 practices a week.
3 games each Saturday.
. . . and the kids love it!!!!

My cute kids

I love these new pictures I took of my kids while trying out my new blue background. (For info on the background and where I got it check out my photography blog). Here they are cute as can be!





and here are even more for you to enjoy!

Trick or Treat

My three year old boy!

There are just not enough words to tell how sweet Adam is. He is just such a happy, fun, nice boy. He loves being a boy. He loves balls, cars, trains, dirt, airplanes, motorcycles, boats, and mud. He loves being with his sisters, and he loves teasing them relentlessly.

That it is even possible that he is already 3 years old is unbelievable to me. Enjoy these photos of his big day!

Like Father, Like Son

Adam awoke last Saturday and came into our bedroom with a plan. He got himself and his daddy dressed.

The First day of school!

All three girls started school at the same Elementary school today. Here is our day in pictures!

Things that go together

In Shrek--the musical there is a whole song devoted to things that go together. It is one of my kids' favorites

You and me, we belong together.
Like butter and grits
Like, kibbles and bits!
Like, yin and yang,
Sturm and Drang,
Like Eng and Chang attached at the hip, but not an old lady hip that might break.
I'm gonna be on you like a fat kid on cake!

Like Cupid and Psyche,
like pop rocks and Mikey,
we’ll stick together like that Velcro stuff, I’m the fuzzy side; you’ll be the spiky.
Ooh! Like little kids and pajamas with those funny things at the bottom, you know, feeties.
Like donuts and… oh, what goes with donuts?

Donuts and . . . diabetes~!


So let me add my own thing that goes together

BOYS AND DIRT