Finally Friday!

We have been waiting all week for the weekend and it's finally here! Now to look forward to a weekend of house work, making valentines for the kids, and dance - even a performance for Miss E at the PSU game on Saturday.

Now for the daily pics.  These are brought to you buy chocolate faces (Mr. E) and Loom Bands (Miss. E). I also made a pallet of blankets in the front room and let the kids lay in there this evening before bed.  Miss. E tried to get a photo with with little brother but he wouldn't have that!

Now back to watching the Sochi Olympics.  How about those sweaters the US is wearing?  Very unique I must say.  What do you think?

First night picking up the camera in a long time.  I decided to pick back up my 365 photo of the day project I did a couple years ago, so it will probably take me awhile to get back into creative photography.  Tonight was a pretty uneventful night, Ethan playing a little DS and Ellie doing homework and then deciding to do some reference look up in the phone book (where do kids come up with these ideas??).

Hoping to get some more fun pictures this weekend!

The Pledge of Allegiance and Spiderman Pancakes

Saturday night I let the kids stay up WAY too late. So when bedtime did come they were both delirious and ready to sleep. Ellie had picked out the bedtime story and we read it quick. Then it was time for prayers which Ellie said she wanted to add something special after "Amen", so said "okay". We did our prayers (Ethan likes to add fun things like "God bless the door, and the light, and Buzz Lightyear, and the Cat, etc...I think it is a way to procrastinate), and then Ellie added her special ending, which happened to be the Pledge of Allegiance. She made us all put our hands on our hearts and do the pledge. It was kinda humorous, but wonderful that she thinks things like that are so important to say and that we should be blessed for our country. I love my kids, and I love that they were out like a light last night :)

Sunday morning we chose to sleep in late, which was fine with me because my back was hurting and I didn't want to mess with getting tired kids up and around early. Of course, late at our house is like 8am if we are lucky. Since we didn't have anywhere to be (we skipped church, sorry!), I decided to make "special pancakes". Ellie requested that I spell her name out and give her a peace sign heart. Sure thing, master chef Tara can do that! I didn't ask Ethan because I wanted to surprise him. I made him Spiderman pancakes! How cool am I?!?! I didn't think they would turn out very good, and there were a few "duds" before the ones on the plate came out, but all in all I was pretty impressed with myself. Both kids were happy and they ate some more regular pancakes later, but the Spiderman/Name pancakes tasted the best :)

Now what does the Pledge of Allegiance and Spiderman Pancakes have in common? Well to our family that is just another weekend, to me personally it is one of the many joys of having my kids.

A day for "wub."

Yes, I said that right. A day for "wub." "Wub" is the word in our house for "love." Ethan has started telling us he "wubs" us, and so we have all began to start saying "I wub you" to each other. So it being Valentine's Day makes it the Day of Wub.

While it was nothing special (no bouquets of roses or gourmet meals), it was a generally nice day. I took the day off to go to Ellie's school party, which means, since I took a day off from work, someone would need to go to the doctor. It is a given that I can NEVER take a day off work without someone getting injured or sick on that day requiring me to give up any "me plans" and turn my attention to them. Today it was Jerime's turn. On Saturday he ran 20 miles at the Psycho WyCo "Run Toto Run". Which, congrats to him because that's more than I would be crazy enough to do. Of course, being the crazy guy he is, he ran with his ankle hurting so he came home with Achilles Tendinitis. Now Jerime's left ankle is about twice the size of the right one, and of course in extreme pain. I'm sure you can guess when he decided to go to the doctor for his ankle...today, on my day off. But oh well, my day turned out better than his though...he starts physical therapy tomorrow morning and is not suppose to run for 4-6 months (she suggested he start biking instead of running)...I highly doubt he will follow through with her advice though.

After the doctor's office I was off to the Lakeside Valentine's Day party, which was fun, but no pictures because of course my battery went dead the second I walked in the door at the school. Story of my life!! Kids had fun, got sugared up and then came home with a big bag of candy.

Ethan's daycare had to unexpectedly have their V-day party today (instead of the planned tomorrow), so he made a visit to daycare on his normal day off. He had fun and also came home all sugared up with a big bag of candy.

We then all exchanged cards and little boxes of candy (the kids got little boxes of cookies too). It was nice. Then as Ellie was doing her homework she stapled her finger. Thankfully it didn't do anything but leave a little spot on her nail (stupid cheap stapler won't even staple paper, let alone a finger). Thank goodness for overpriced Lisa Frank band-aides though (they come with extra stickers to decorate the band-aids), because after picking out stickers for our boo-boo we forgot all about the pain :)

Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day and you got to spend it with those you "wub!"

Family time

Wednesday night I took the kids to the Pittsburg Public Library's annual Valentine's Day Tea Party. We watched a puppet show (which Ethan actually sat through), played "London Bridges ", and sang/danced to the Chicken Dance (Ethan just stood in the middle of the circle and looked at everyone like they were crazy). Then we went and had "tea" and snacks. Ellie was such a great helper and always made sure Ethan's cup was full.

Here's some pictures :



















In addition to our fun filled Wednesday, I thought I would have a fun filled Thursday, so I took Ellie to her school skate night. Ellie was having trouble skating and she stayed on the side carpeted area, so I decided to skate with her - at least it would get her out on the floor. Granted it has probably been 15 years since I have roller skated and I was a little worried I might fall. But I didn't!! Honestly, I had a blast skating with her. At the end I felt great for our bonding, and Ellie was on Cloud 9 because her mom skated with her and she didn't have to hang on to the wall. Glad she is still at an age where it's "cool" to skate with mom :)

I really love these moments :-)

Welcome 2012!

So 2011 brought us lots of fun stuff. Just in the last few months we have had lots of excitement. Ellie started 1st grade in August and turned 7 in October. I swear, she's 7 going on 17....lots of attitude there. Ethan turned 2 in August and has definitely pushed the limits of the "terrible twos". Recently we had to go to the ER because of his monkey climbing that caused him to fall on an end table and bust his mouth open. Thankfully no stitches and no major dental work needed. In December Jerime graduated from PSU with his BS in Commercial Graphics (he graduated with departmental academic honors too!). I finished up my second BS in Justice Studies through Fort Hays State University in December also. Needless to say we are all glad that the "academics" are done for awhile. Of course Jerime and I have both been looking into Masters programs, so I'm sure that we are not done with school yet :) With such a fun year behind us, 2012 has a lot to live up to, but I'm sure it will be great!

As for the New Years Eve bash....it was invite only, and only 4 were invited (Jerime, Me, and our two little spawns). The night kicked off with some pizza, homemade cheese dip (Jerime did awesome with that), s'mores (made in the oven), and some Sparkling White Grape Juice in some fancy plastic cups. All the food was great, the drinks however looked pretty but no one really cared for them. With all the sugar the kids were pretty wild and started to crash hard, so we kinda fibbed and said that the ball was dropping at 11pm when it was midnight in New York, and "celebrated" then. Ellie unfortunately didn't even make it to 11pm so we had to look on YouTube to see a video of the ball dropping that she missed. Ethan did not really care though. Then Jerime and I waited until the real midnight, but being the tired parents we are, we fell asleep on the couch before midnight.

So our New Years Eve was full of family fun, and was safe and happy (of course with a couple of sugared up kids it got a little tense and crazy at times). Hope everyone else had a great evening and has a Happy New Year. One of my MANY New Years resolutions is to keep up with my blog since I'm not so busy with homework anymore, so hopefully I will keep up with this thing in 2012.

Ethan enjoying his s'more

Ellie sugared up with chocolate all over her face.

Our "Sparkling Grape Juice"

The yummy s'mores we made (delish!)

Us vs. The Garage....

Ok, so I have this amazing talent of coming up with BIG projects at a moments notice. I have said before that by husband loves it but refuses to admit it. That being said I will inform you that this was NOT my idea, so no one should get mad at me for Jerime working hard on Father's Day.

Today we started our day out with church and meeting our new pastor. She was very nice and I know we will like her a lot. We let Jerime sleep in and enjoy the quiet. After we got home Jerime said he wanted to start pulling siding off the house and start painting...today! So we got our work clothes on, put the kids in swimming clothes, and headed to the backyard. We decided to start on the garage first and move to the house when we were done. Of course we haven't even started painting yet, but I really feel like we got a lot done. See our before and after.



While we were working on the garage the kids were playing in the water. They ran in the sprinkler and played in their pool. By the end Ellie was helping scrape the paint by peeling it off the garage by hand and Ethan was cleaning EVERYTHING with our scrub brushes. We aren't even close to done and we are all beat, but it was a fun day and we are grateful for getting to spend it together.




Hope everyone has a great week!

We were rockin'!

Tonight we all went up to Memorial Auditorium to see Ellie perform in the Jr. Starz show "School House Rock Jr." She did AWESOME! So did all the other kids, but I am pretty biased towards Ellie.

Thanks to the amazing Diane, Ethan's daycare provider, Ethan was able to sit through the entire show. I swear that woman must have a spell cast on Ethan, I can't EVER get him to sit still that long! I guess that's why I was chasing him up and down the aisles before the show, lol.

The show was great and boy could those kids sing! Thanks to everyone who came out to see the show. Ellie was so glad to see all of you there cheering her on!

What a weekend!

It's the end to another beautiful weekend. It was hot, but I loved it! So glad all that awful cold weather is gone.

I kicked off my Saturday at the Pittsburg Farmer's Market. I got some delicious beef from the Laughing Rooster Farm, some farm fresh eggs, and of course our weekly cookie supply from the Big Cookie Bakery. I did find a little special treat that was new to the market, FRESH PESTO! The pesto is so yummy and I also got a bag of mixed greens (also Yummy). All in all it was a great start to the weekend.

Today we started our day with church and saying goodbye to our pastor and his wife. We wish them the best in wherever they go and can't wait to meet the new pastor. Then we spent the afternoon outside and I loved sitting on my new patio watching the kids play. Jerime cleaned up his old Isuzu Rodeo and we put a FOR SALE sign in the window. We finished the day off with grilled burgers and brats with a lovely salad and corn; all treasures from Saturday - except the corn. Dessert was of course cookies :)

The biggest news was Ellie lost her top front tooth! She is also missing a bottom tooth, so she's starting to look like a Jack-o-lantern, lol. She was excited to lose it and of course looks cute with the big hole in her head :)

Hope everyone has a great week!

My great ideas...

Okay, so I looked back on this blog and saw that the last time I posted was "we're having a boy", so I guess I am a little behind. So, update, he's here and almost two, lol. Oh, and he's Ethan...

Now, a little more relevant update. My sweet hubby will never admit it, but he secretly loves my last minute big projects on weekends that he just wants to relax. So I am sure you can imagine how thrilled he was when I told him Saturday that wanted to lay a patio in the backyard this weekend. After a little grumbling and dirty looks he helped me get things going. I also decided to get the kids a pool so they could play while we worked. For future reference, the Pilot is big, but it is best to leave the kids at home when you go get it so it doesn't have to rest on their heads on the way home. After getting all our supplies and deciding on a smaller patio we are now done. I plan on adding to it, but I am glad I can now get some chairs and enjoy the backyard more this year.

Oh, and I will try to keep this more up to date. :)

It's a...BOY!!

Today Jerime and I went to Dr. Grimaldi's office and had our first sonogram of the baby. We were just dying to know the gender (I think I was more eager to find out than Jerime), and our 1pm appointment couldn't come soon enough! The nurse told us "It's a BOY!!" Jerime wanted a boy really bad and he was so excited when we found out. Ellie wanted a girl, but I think she's happy with a boy. I called Mom and Ellie while I was waiting to talk to the Dr. after the sonogram and Ellie screamed so loud when I told her that everyone in the waiting room looked at me.

I talked to the Dr. and he said everything is good so far. The heart is fine (we got to watch it beat) and all the other organs look like they should. He said the baby looks like he is growing right along and nothing seems to be wrong. The sonogram's calcuated due date is Aug 19, so the Dr. said we will just stick with his original due date of Aug 20th. As far as names, we haven't came up with one yet. We have a few in mind, but nothing set in stone.



The one above shows pretty clearly the baby laying on his back (at the bottom) and sucking his thumb. Head is marked on the right and the arm/hand is marked at the top.


This is another one where he's kinda twisted and it shows his spine, heart, hand and head (on the right)

The one above and the one below are our confirmation that it's a boy!

Update

Just thought I'd post a little update for everyone since I haven't been keeping up with this as much as I should.

March 1st we drew for our winners for the 7.10 Photography free session give-away, and you can check out the winners on our blog. Yesterday we got to do the first session for Mandy Beyeler and her family, and it was great! We thought we might have an issue with the weather, but luckily the rain clouds went away for an hour so we could shoot. Mandy and her husband Trevor we wonderful, and their kids were great! We took them to the falls in Joplin and for being out there close to water and such, their kids were very well behaved! I know Ellie would have been all over the place and not where we wanted her, so kudos to them and their well behaved children! The pictures turned out great, and keep checking with our other blog to see pictures in the days to come.

Baby update! On March 24th Jerime and I go to see our baby for the first time! The baby will have his/her first picture taken by sonogram and we will find out if we are going to have a boy or a girl! We are so excited! As far as the pregnancy and stuff goes, I'm 19 weeks pregnant now and everything seems to be going well. The heartburn has really kicked in though. Also, I'm finally really investing in some maternity clothes, and will probably spend every bit of my birthday money on them! Last weekend I bought some jeans for the first time and I kept telling Jerime "I'm so excited my jeans fit again!" He thought I was silly, but it really is crazy how much better you feel when your jeans fit perfect, even though you have this huge bulge in the front. As far as the baby, I've been getting weekly e-mails letting me know how the baby's doing and such. This week the baby is 15 cm long from crown to romp! I got a ruler out and was looking at it like "wow, that's HUGE!" It's amazing that a baby that size fits right in my belly - and it will be getting bigger! The baby is also about 8 oz, so it's really growing in size.

FREE!!!!

Yes, I said free! We are giving away 3 FREE sessions this month!!! All you have to do to sign up is go to our new website www.710photography.com and send us a message on our "Contact Us" page. We are holding the drawing March 1st! One entry per person please :) This is a$30 value, so jump on it fast!!!

Good Luck everyone!!!

Biker Babe!

Today was warm and we got out of the house!! Ellie got a bike for Christmas from Mimi & Gogo and has been riding it though Nana and Papa's house (yes, inside!) and I thought I'd go by and pick it up so she could ride it outside. So today we went outside with the bike and rode several blocks. Jerime took the fancy camera out so I'll post any good pics he got later. I just took these with our new camera we got for Christmas (much easier to lug around).

After our bike ride we went down to the park. It was a packed place, since everyone loves to get out on these rare warm days. We did see some familiar faces down there, Austin and Addison were down there (Jake & Amy's Niece & Nephew). So Ellie had fun playing with them. When it was time to go she was NOT excited to leave, so I had to chase her around the park to get her to go home. She screamed like I was trying to abduct her every time I would get close to her. Needless to say she spent a little time in time-out when we got home, so maybe next time we won't have to go through that.

All in all it was a fun day, and I hope the warm weather comes back soon. I sure hate being cooped up inside!!!