First my husband went out of town for a few days.  I hate when he is gone.  It is really hard being on your own with 3 little kids, one of which is very special needs.  I get very little time to myself. Luckily, as my kids get a bit older, it also gets a bit easier.  But we are all very happy to have him home again.

Second, I got sick.  Not flu bug/cold/infection sick, but weird, scary, “something is NOT right” sick.  Luckily I followed my gut and went to the ER.  And I was right, my iron was scarily low.  So [after a blood transfusion or two] I am popping iron pills, eating anything and everything that contains iron, and I am feeling better.  It will be a while before I am back to normal, but I am just THRILLED to be feeling close to normal.  I do have to say, when a mom gets really sick, it can really mess up the family.  And everyone is extremely happy that mom is on the mend.

Isn’t it funny how a health scare can really make you appreciate what you have?  

So onto the “C” family!

The “C” family has been a  friend of my husband’s for years.  Both guys swam on his swim team and now the older one is helping him coach.  They are a really fun group and I was so excited when they asked me to take family photos this winter. 

Yes, this WINTER.  These photos, as you can see, are a bit late in coming….

It was a snowy day, and we weren’t sure if the shoot would even take place, but the snow was light and oh-so-pretty so we went ahead.  I love snowy portraits.  As I have said before, the colors of the clothes just pop out of the white snowy backdrop.

Anyway, the “C” family are hilarious and so much fun to work with.   I really had a blast!  And I think the photos turned out pretty nice too!

And the eldest Mr. “C” with his gorgeous bride-to-be.  Yes, their family will be getting a bit bigger this year! 

Thank you all so much!!!!!! 

I love newborns.  And every time I photograph one, I feel a bit sad that my love, appreciation and passion for photography didn’t happen until after my 3 little ones were born.   How I would have cherished these types of photos of my own little girls.  Sadly, this tiny newborn stages lasts only a few weeks!   It is gone in a blink of an eye.  Photos are the only way to capture these fleeting moments.

Anyway, one quick sneak peak!!!

Many more to come!!!

Yesterday after school, my little ones celebrated the mild weather by getting outside and burning off some energy.  My husband and I joined the kiddos for a bit when I noticed the beautiful late afternoon light.    I grabbed my camera and, surprisingly, my oldest happily stopped for a couple minutes and humored her mom for a bit.   She’s a bit goofy and sometimes a tad difficult, but she’s my sweetie pie!

I know rain is on the way, but I *think* the bitterly cold and dark days of winter are behind us once again!!  Bring on the light!

Well, here we are, month #2 in the family photo project!

This month I completely stole Tara Whitney’s idea and decided to pile the whole family on our bed for our montly family photo.

I *thought* it was a PERFECT idea.

I *thought* everyone would be happy and smiley and eager to snuggle together.

I *thought* that my “happy” crew would be then be willing to sit for longer than 1.2 minutes so we can get a lot more family photos to choose from.

I thought wrong.

The husband was a bit annoyed. Caroline wasn’t too thrilled. And Kallie and Christina were just goofy as always. Oh well, I guess, even though the photo isn’t as perfect as I hoped, it  really does capture “us”!

So, what is going on since our last family photo?

Caroline had a procedure on her heel cords and now has casts on both feet. She will wear them for about 5 weeks.  They will be off in a few weeks.  Hopefully, after they are off, she will be more comfortable when standing and wearing her AFO’s. She really doesn’t seem to mind them much, although there have been more periods of unexplained fussiness. Other than that, she seems to be the same ole “usually” happy Caroline. 

Eric is in the midst of his final swim championships. This weekend was the district meet.  It went fairly well and he has four kids going on to the state meet in 2 weeks.  Not as many kids are going to states as some of his previous years, but more than expected so he is quite happy!  It was a long and tiring weekend.  So today he spent most of the day analyzing results and just relaxing.

Christina has a bit of a cold.  But other than that, she is doing well.  She, like most of us, is getting tired of the snow and cold and is looking forward to summer.  She is a busy little girl, constantly changing her clothes and creating new games for her and Kallie to play.  They play school, house, Barbies, store, etc etc etc.  She definitely is extremely creative.  She is also a party girl.  She would be happy if she could wake early every day and never stop and relax for second until she crashes in bed at the latest hour possible.   She never wants to stop, never wants to sleep and is always up for a good time.  She is also definitely NOT a homebody. 

Kallie-Wallie on the other hand IS a homebody and is always eager to just go home.  She is also as goofy as ever.  She seems like to like preschool more than ever lately, which is nice.  She is also going to swim lessons with her cousin.  She used to be a bit of a shy girl, but over the last month she seems to have come out of her shell a bit.  She talks to almost anyone and sometimes seems to play the part of a “class clown”.  In swim lessons her favorite thing to do is to jump in (during playtime) shouting “CANNONBALL” at the top of her lungs.  She definitely is not the quiet one any more.  Kallie is also very inquistive.  She asks lots of questions all day long.  This week we had a long conversation in the car about clouds – Why are there clouds?  Why is it sometimes all blue?  Why is it sometimes blue AND clouds?.  I love being home with her almost every day.  I can’t imagine missing these moments and these conversations.  It breaks my heart just to think of her not being my sidekick thoughout my day at home and during my daily errands.  I definitely will miss these times a LOT…….

And me – not much to report! I have recently been motivated to start de-cluttering.  It is almost shameful how much STUFF we have.  I look at my kids’ toys and think how awful it is that so much money was wasted on things that, while sometimes entertaining, are usually things just strewn across the floor.  I find my kids are much happier when their things are cleaned up and more organized.   And the only way to really continue to maintain the organization is to get rid of a TON of unnecessary STUFF. 

I have also been spending a lot of time thinking about if or what we should do for a family vacation this year.  We didn’t go anywhere last year and I really regretted that.   And since summer is really only THREE months away, I feel like I need to start really thinking and possibly start planning.  I don’t know where, when or what we are going to do, but we will do something, that is for SURE!

So that is our update this Sunday, March 7th, 2010!!

Until next time!!!

On Saturday morning, I went for a wonderful run in the snow.  It may be hard to push myself out the door when it is cold and snowy, but once I do, I am always so happy.  The plow hadn’t been through yet, so I donned my winter running shoes and enjoyed the soft snow and quiet. 

My Christina spent some time in the afternoon with a friend and then in the evening we all snuggled on the couch for a family movie night!  We don’t do this nearly as much as we should.   We watched a Harry Potter movie complete with popcorn and tootsie rolls.  Can’t get much better than that!

On Sunday I made homemade cinnamon rolls for the first time.  Actually, I started them Saturday evening and finished them in the morning.  Oh my.  I never realized how much better the homemade version can be, and I am always so happy to figure out how to make something completely from scratch!

Sunday afternoon we took the girls for some sledding and snowboarding.  Caroline pretty much hated every second and ended up back in the car with me listening to music.   She was really just there to get some fresh air and watch the other girls, but for some reason, didn’t want to be involved.  AT ALL.

The snowboard Christina has is actually one we found last year in someone’s trash.  No, we weren’t dumpster diving.  A family left a couple snowboards sitting next to their garbage one night, so we stopped and picked them up!  They aren’t pretty, but they are perfect for the little hills around our house.  And Christina has proved to be quite the agile girl.  She hopped on the thing and sailed down the hill without giving it a second thought.  She loves it!  Well, you know what they say “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”!!

And today, everyone is back to school and all is well.  Caroline had some minor surgery last week and will be in leg casts for 5 weeks.  We kept her home last week, but she is doing great and went back to school today.  She really seems to love school and it is so good for her.  I am so happy that she doing so well in spite of her casts and can resume a “sort of” normal routine.

Life is good!