Capturing Time

Time.

It goes too fast.

Look how long it's been since I've last posted? See what I mean.

I've been feeling those warm feelings of completely loving someone.

Bunnyboo's vocabulary has exploded the last 6 months. I love how she says certain words and how she phrases things so they make sense in her world.

Lately, whenever she hears a noise, she'll turn to me with one hand over an ear and ask......


"What's that noise about?"

I swear I could eat her up at these moments.

Which reminded me of my other kids most memorable phrases.

Boobear used to get the word structure mixed up. When he meant although or wanted to use the word but ~ he would INSTEAD tack but/though on the end. As one word.



Like: " I really wanted to ride my bike, but/though."

And chickiepoo would say "hairpoo" instead of shampoo. I loved hearing her little girl voice say it and would try to get her to say it as many times as I could.


But my oldest, bugaboo? I can't remember ONE specific example.


And I'm heartbroken over it.

I've been racking my memories for days. Nothing.

Was it because he had some severe speech issues and being a first time mom I couldn't relax enough to separate what was normal from problematic? I'm not sure.

It took me more than a day to remember EXACTLY what boobear said. So maybe it's just the old mommy mind at play.

I am returning to my blog long enough to record these memories and hope to add more.

I refuse to not capture those words that fill me with love, but/though.

(All pictures capture each child around 2 years old)

SPT: Something Blue ~ The Kids of the Shores

It's SPT Tuesday and the theme is something blue.

I present to you: The Kids of the Shores!


Here's Bunnyboo........



And boo bear............

And Chickiepoo.........

all of eyes of blue.

And then we have Bugaboo...........eyes of green

.......but wearing blue.

Go see whatever else may be blue @ Amuse-Bouche.

Sincerely 'Fro Me To You: Trailer Trash Kids

Jumpin' back on the bandwagon of Sincerely 'From Me To You and I find out there is a new driver. Buckle up......it's sure to be a wild ride!

Today I bring you the younger, more critical ~ some may say condescending ~version of the Mama.

I've told you my love for my Mother In Law. And really, I have nothing to really, legitimately complain about. But you know I'm gonna anyway.

She is VERY passive. You know the kind: if you looked martyr up in the dictionary, you'd find the picture I posted in my first Fro post.

She doesn't assert her opinion. Will hardly give a decisive answer when asked.

Would NEVAH presume to tell us how to raise our family, even though she did an outstanding job with her boys and has taught elementary school for over 40 years.

I tried to emulate this attitude when she was kind enough to watch the kids for us when we went out of town.

Really, stop laughing.

After I gave her whatever details she wanted about kids schedules, likes and dislikes etc. etc. I tried to keep my mouth shut.

But inside I seethed.

You see, she loves to take pictures with her non digital camera. She is even more snap happy when I'm not around. I guess I take some of the fun out of it :)

She puts all the picture doubles in those little $1 plastic brag books for my kids to have. They love them. Me? Not so much.

You see it seems my mother in law doesn't really sweat the small stuff.

Like getting dressed. Or cleaning their faces.

Here's a picture of my two oldest when My Man and I were out of town.

When I saw this picture almost a decade ago, I was mortified.

My children look like Trailer Trash Kids.

(what we call dirty kids.......you know, with 7/11 dirty feet, babies dressed just in a diaper, breakfast, lunch and dinner still on their faces, mamas cussing about beating their children, daddies burpin while rubbing their beer bellies; need I go on?)

I saw this as a reflection of my parenting skills and morals.

But, now?

Here's a picture *I* took while camping.

Would you looky there: Babyboo is all trashy AND suckin on a pacifier. (my other three babies only used paci's in the crib until they were 1)

Yup, I've run over that condescending self with a 4 wheel drive and am so much more content.

I can actually look at these pictures and see the love instead of critiquing each person.

Ahhh, wisdom ~ the ONLY benefit to being this damn old!

Our Christmas 2008

We had a wonderful Christmas this year.


I was able to totally surprise My Man with the help of a friend or two and their husbands.


After waiting years, and years, and years..........My Man finally has a large, flat screen tv. On the 23rd of Dec. our family went to dinner with a few friends while my above noted elves snuck into our house and set it up. I couln't have pulled it off with out their buying advice or sneakiness. Ain't it good to have good friends?



The kids got most of what they wanted from their list, with the help of Grandparents and Santa.


Bugaboo's favorite gift was the PlayStation that I deemed unnecessary but obviously was outvoted.





Chickiepoo loved her red laptop.

Boobear is always easy to please as long as there is some kind of sports ball involved.

And Bunnyboo...........she didn't make a list but wouldn't get out of her pushbuggy car. She also got a sweet tooth and has been demanding candy and sweets hourly! Have no idea where she could have gotten that from!

I got a few things I've been drooling over including adorable cupcake stands that I've borrowed that last few times I've needed them.

Again, I didn't take many pictures....but these are a few. Maybe this should be a resolution for 2009? Take more pics!!! I hate to miss anything and somehow feel like I'm not there when shooting pictures. I also hate the early morning pictures that aren't staged. What? Me? A perfectionist? Nah..........

All in all ~ a very good Christmas!

Christmas Card Photos

I've told you how HARD it was.

But are you wondering which pictures I used for our Christmas Card this year?

All's well that ends well.

I had to cut the Holiday Wishes part of the card off for privacy reasons.

You understand.

How hard can it be?

Seriously, how hard can it be to take a picture to send holiday cards???

My family is obviously photographically challenged. Can we get disability for that?

I realize that I have made it exponentially harder each time I add another baby.....but I'm done now, I swear! I accept that I am not photogenic and therefore will hate any picture including me. But I failed to realize I could pass this gene on.

I shopped for coordinating outfits for all 6 of us, avoiding anything too matchy-matchy. Then I find a day when our schedule is fairly open. This is MUCH harder than it seems, as it is basketball season. A few things I didn't count on when trying to organize: the windy, overcast weather, My Man losing a game the night before, and as previously mentioned, the un-photogenic gene.

Throw those three challenges together with a willful toddler, two kids in braces who don't like to smile, and a hyperactive child who either smirks or has the widest fake smile, and can't seem to look at the camera unless he's blinking. Oh what a very, merry Christmas time, this year!

We haven't taken a family picture in about 4 years and Bunny boo has since joined our family so we thought we'd try to get one of these.

Here's a few examples of how it worked for us:

This was our first shot and bunny boo was still cooperative. The wind, however was not.

We switch sides of the gazebo trying to avoid the ONLY ray of sunlight, but the wind is still crazy.
Bunnyboo is getting fussy. Let's go to the boardwalk and see if the wind is blocked a bit. Nope.
Let's go back to our friend's house (she is the photographer for the day). But all Bunny boo wants to do is swim!
Bunny boo is done at this point. My Man is over it. Let's just go with what we got and try to make something work.



I played with photoshop for a few days but just couldn't get anything I was happy enough with to make 100 cards out of. I'm new to photoshop and it shows! I told My Man we would choose one of the family ones and just make a few 5X7's to give to grandparents, but I thought our best shot was a card with picture of the kids.


So yesterday, I decided to take the kids out back individually and shoot a few pics. The weather wasn't a problem, it was a bright, sunny day with just a bit of wind. My Man wasn't AS stressed. And I didn't have to be in the pic. What else could go wrong? Genetics, baby!




I know you have braces, but could you please smile????

I guess not.

I sound like a broken record, but: I know you have braces, but could you please smile??

OOOHHH, maybe not.

Hey, I'm over here!

Have you been into the benedryl again???

All that's left is the baby. Should be a piece of cake! I mean babies look cute all the time, right? Ummm, not so much.

Nice drool!

Don't tell Mommy no! I promise not to take anymore pictures.

No need to hit the camera. I swear that was the last one.

By some miraculous feat, I managed to get at least one decent shot of the three older kids and the baby's just shows her personality. It's just this year's card. I can do better next year. Maybe I should start working on this in May..............

Please tell me I'm not the only one who has this affliction. PLEASE!

Cheesey Halloween Pictures.........

Bunny Boo still E N U C I A T E S all the words she says............so why we kept saying, "say cheese!" is beyond me.

But, this is the result:



This one is her trying to escape:




And God forbid I get a picture with all four of my children looking at me:




So after many tries, I gave up and took one of just the older kids:




So to recap: I SUCK at being a photographer............that is all folks!

PS: anyone notice the new length of a certain pirate dress? she lost part of the costume since last friday night so we had to make do. whatevah!

Happy Halloween........

From ours to yours........


This picture was from last year. You'll have to wait for this year's photo until after tonight!

SPT Challenge: Something New

Amuse-Bouche hosts a weekly challenge entitled She Photographs on Tuesday (SPT). Here's the gist(as I understand it): She gives you a topic and you interpret that through photography. I am excited as I got a new camera and still need practice using it.

This Tuesday the directive is Something New.

I offer you: A Brand- Spanking New Twelve Year Old

This is my oldest child, Bugaboo who turned 12 at 12:08 this morning.

In 1996 my water broke around 2 in the morning on Mother's Day. I was so excited; I was about to become a mother on Mother's Day. My father was also born on a Mother's Day. Can I tell ya, I got robbed!!??!!! That kid waited until Mother's Day was over and gave himself an extra 8 minutes to make sure to rob me of my first Mother's Day.

But who can be mad at such a cutie??!!??

I can't even call him a procrastinator as he was born two weeks early. He just likes to do things his way. He's a planner and a list maker. He likes things to be fair and just. He loves to reach out to the underdogs. He helps everyone. He has a great sense of humor and loves to read. He plays baseball, basketball, football, and golf. He's showing us glimpses of the man he will be. He makes us proud!

Happy Birthday, Bugaboo!

To see what other bloggers did for this week's SPT challenge; click here: