My kids loves to create things. I love to direct them and make it mine. I have had to learn to step back and let them be. Luckily by the time you have four kids, you can not take over all their creating anyway. Yesterday we ran errands to gather some items we needed to finish costumes. Over time all our Halloween/Fall decorations have been lost and/or damaged. Add in that over the last four years I have either been pregnant or had a young child on Halloween and the fact that I am not a fan of the holiday......it was not something that had been a priority. As we were out and about at crafting stores, we gathered some items to make some new decor. I have found that I enjoy having things the kids make and that come out seasonally. As it brings back memories. I know one day, these are the things I will cherish most. Today dawned a cool, dreary day. So we sat to craft. Here are the fruits of our labor. Spider hands: Emmaline on the left, Elodie on the right. More spider hands, the ...

So I am a bit behind......please excuse me. I was having a baby. Elodie Bella joined us two weeks ago. She is beautiful and perfect. She has been a wonderful baby. We are all settling in to our new family of six. Here are a few pictures of Miss Elodie. Until next time.....

Still here. Five weeks to go. Growing a life is hard work. Or maybe I am a whiner. So, instead of writing a ton of nonsense, because honestly at this point I think that is what it would be (sleep is not my friend right now.) I will post some pictures of what has been going on here at our house. First, here is the most current pregnancy shot. I look...beat down. I am aware. This is 33 weeks. I have also kept myself busy (!) with knitting. Here are the the finished projects. Small knit pants for the baby. The top pair are knit in a yarn called O is for Owl. The bottom pair are knit with yarn inspired by the book Guess How Much I Love You. Here are the one pair I have finished for Xander. I have another pair on the needles, hoping to finish them up this week. This pair in knit with yarn inspired by the book Goodnight Moon. Which happens to be Xander's favorite book right now. Here is Xander wearing them. Turns out I need to knit pants for him the next size up. Boy ha...

We ventured out yesterday to Mark's aunt and uncles house ,The Tios, for the Fourth. We stopped at the fireworks tent on the way. They are now legal in most of the areas around here. And what says I love the US more than lighting a bunch of stuff on fire and watching it blow up? It also brought me back to my days of youth. Where most Fourth of July's consisted of bags of fireworks set off in the backyard. Complete with sparklers for the kids which we held as fire spewed out the end. As soon as we had made our purchase, we got into the car to head out and the rain began to fall. Never fails here. It always seem to rain on the Fourth. Just in time to get the ground wet and cause displays to be cancelled. We arrived and soon were eating yummy food that had been grilled despite the short rain shower and enjoying the company of The Tios, the boys and some of Tia's family. Soon enough the kids and boys were able to head outside and tackle the big bag of fireworks. Mark had said h...

In a strange way it makes sense. Davis was low on diapers so I stopped to get some Friday afternoon. Saturday morning he decided to potty train. No joke. As in, he felt the need to go, went in on the potty chair by himself and then ran in to show me his potty in the bowl. He did this two more times Saturday without me telling him to go. No accidents. Sunday morning, he went once before we left for church and then by default he went in his diaper the rest of the day because we were out. Yesterday all day he put his pee pee in the potty chair. I left him in his boxers overnight because the diaper was bothering him but he woke up and came to my bed early in the morning in which I strapped on a diaper. Today he is in underwear and we will see how this day goes. If he keeps it up Davis will have trained in a weekend. What is funny is that I am of the mind of letting the kid figure it out. Emma did, though she was just over two. One day she said she needed to make potty and she did...

What Davis looks like before his morning cup o' joe Deciding between the small or large size Rough morning, need the large, the mug is almost as big as his head Ahhh........how he loves his coffee Emma does not "do" coffee. She has pink lemonade in her mug. If she keeps losing teeth, she will be eating baby food Yes Davis does indeed have coffee in his mug. I made some this morning to go with my breakfast, hummus on toast. I was able to drink it today, weak coffee and almost a third of it was half and half. I am not a no caffeine while pregnant person, it has just not sat well with me this time. Today it was fine. Davis however deiced he needed the larger mug and stole the rest of mine instead of drinking his cup. He is Costa Rican. He has been drinking coffee on occasion since he was two. And only Costa Rican coffee. Do not give him Starbucks or Folgers. He will be insulted.

Davis has gotten really into Thomas lately. I realized we could start Thomas with our On Demand digital cable and Davis really likes it. He sits still. We have had trains, the wooden kind, for some time. Davis will get some of it out and play and build his own little track. He seems to act out the stories he has seen on Thomas. I went into his room today to find him doing the same thing and decided I will build a big track. My goal was to use as many of the pieces as possible and use all the bridges. Everyone knows going up and going under the bridges is the best. I think I did a decent job. There were very few pieces left over. It takes up a good chuck of space and Davis has a good sized room. Here is my masterpiece. Even our dog Max wanted to play. And in order to get the whole track in the picture I had to use my wide angle lens. Awesome.

Here is the thirteen week belly shot. I am in maternity clothes for the most part now. They make me look even bigger, if that is possible. The good thing is my belly makes my butt look smaller. It is all an allusion.... And this is why I ended up pregnant again. He may be ornery and active but man he sure is handsome. Emma is growing her own garden courtesy of Target's Dollar Spot. As you can see in the picture she has them all lined up on the window sill in the dining room. They are all labeled below the pot. We now have sunflowers, marigolds, daisies, tomatoes, and basil attempting to grow. She is taking good care of them so far too. We got the marigolds first and they have sprouted already. Ah, life with kids. Who knew how interesting it would be?

What am I supposed to do with my son? I think today we will look for door locks. Seems the child can get into everything and he will. Today he found Emma's paints. Davis however, abhors painting on paper. Her prefers house painting. Or body painting. the face of remorse......I am so sorry I accidentally painted all over everything. the face of hidden glee.......But it was really fun while it lasted. the face of I need a bath.......again Luckily it was the kind of paint that cleans up with soap and water so it was easy to clean up. Off the floor. Off his bed. Off the fridge. Off the wall. Off the door. Off of Davis. Why did I think another one was a good idea?????

My boy yesterday was looking tired. I picked him up and held him and in a matter of minuets he was fast asleep. The bad news is it was five o'clock in the afternoon. Before you ask, he did not sleep through the night. He took a five hour nap. About ten or eleven he woke up and it was close to one in the morning before he finally settled back down. I did however get to take a picture of Emma holding her brother while he was sleeping. Her brother that is almost as big as she is. Sweet children. Even more so when one is sleeping.........

I know I have been MIA. I suck. Life got in the way. I got my new camera and am learning how to fiddle with it. I also got an adapter ring stuck on it already, so if anyone has any suggestions on how to get that booger off, let me know. It would not be a huge deal except the filters I got go right on the camera and do not seem to fit on the extra lenses. And the lens cap for the camera does not go on either. Once again, I suck. Anyway, here are some pictures with the new camera. Bear with me, I am still learning how to operate the thing. Cereal is yummy. Especially when you get to eat it on your sister's bed while watching Tom and Jerry. Only a REAL man can wear pink and purple SpongeBob jammies handed down from his sister. I actually think Mark may have taken this picture. He does not usually want to take pictures, but he is a man. It was a new toy in the house. He had to try it. "I am off to pick up chicks in my hot red car. I am soooo stylin'!" The girl is too big ...

My camera has died. At Christmas, the USB thing broke off into the camera. Mark bought a card reader though and I was able to happily go along taking more pictures and just removing my card and putting it into the reader. The other day I was taking a picture of the kids. I sat my camera down and when I picked it up it was turned off. I thought maybe the batteries were dead. So I changed them. About ten times. My camera has died. Now to some people, you may think so what? To others with kids you may think oh no, there are so many little moments to capture. Photography has long been a passion of mine. I took photography in school and learned on an old school SLR camera and developed actual film in a darkroom. I loved that. My uncle sent me an old Pentax SLR just like the one we used in high school. I still have it to this day. I also have another SLR film camera that is a bit fancier. It took me some time to give into the digital age. Mark had to force me into it. Hence...

I have been thinking that every time I take a picture of the kids, it is me freezing in time a moment that touched me in some way. It is looking through the eyes of love. The kids love to play with this car. Emma used to be the one on top until Davis discovered the other day that HE can do it too. This was also before he got his hair cut. My sister gave Davis this tent for Christmas. We set it up this weekend finally and Saturday morning, Davis decided he needed to eat his cereal in it. And after he got his hair cut. I used to think I took pictures to document certain times and events. Which I do. But I also take pictures to capture something that catches me. Something that I do not want to ever forget. I know there are times that I will not be able to capture with a camera lens. I hope that I capture those moments with my heart.

In five days my baby boy will be three. It was three years ago that I gave birth to Mark's first born son and to Emma's first sibling. It was three years ago that my doctor announced in the operating room that, "It is a big, healthy BOY!" Then they cleaned up my boy and gave them to his father while they put me back together. Soon enough they handed me my baby boy and wheeled us both back to our room. Shortly after, our baby girl came to meet her baby brother. That was three years ago... I want to stop, and thank you baby I just want to stop, and thank you baby How sweet it is to be loved by you How sweet it is to be loved by you I close my eyes at night Wondering where would I be without you in my life Everything I did was just a bore Everywhere I went it seems I'd been there before But you brighten up for me all of my days With a love so sweet in so many ways I want to stop and thank you baby I just want to stop and thank you baby How sweet it is to be loved by ...