I'm sorry.

This post goes out to all of my mommy friends.

I don't blog very often these days, in fact, hardly ever.  

Life.is.busy.

I've felt a real burden to post this to facebook (where I'm able to "talk" to all of my mommy friends at once) but I didn't feel like there would be enough space in my status box to clearly explain myself.  

Post in on the blog, oh yeah, of course!

God is working in me, greatly working inside of me and it feels great, even though it hurts.  When I am at my weakest, it is then that all of the things that my flesh craves die and those things die to Him.  After all of that garbage (rotten stinky garbage that has been filling my life) is out of the way I am left with a blank canvas, it may have some scratches and a some eraser marks but I'm right where He wants me to be.  

This week I've been extremely burdened to give an apology to all of my mommy friends.

To each and every single one of my friends who is a mother, I am sorry, SO SORRY.

I am sorry that my views and opinions have been pressed upon you.

I am sorry that when I chose to use cloth diapers, I automatically assumed that everyone was in the same situation as I was and that everyone should have taken to it like I did.  Not everyone enjoys (yes I actually did enjoy it) using cloth, folding cloth, etc.  I know this now.

I am sorry that when I chose to breast feed instead of bottle feed I jumped on the "BREAST IS BEST" bandwagon and began seeing things only one way..because of this I dealt with terrible self esteem issues when I was no longer able to nurse my babies and we had to use formula.  I seriously had myself convinced that formula babies weren't happy or healthy babies, wrong!  Too much worrying about something that I couldn't control.  I read it best the other day from a friend on facebook .. it shouldn't be about breast or bottle .. "FED IS BEST!"  Feed your baby with love and they'll nurture on that for an entire lifetime.  

I am sorry that I tried to force my way of unconventional parenting upon you and your family.  Everyone parents differently (yes, I'm just now really opening my eyes to this).  What works for one family or even a particular child might not work for you, and that's okay.

I am sorry that if my child passed a certain milestone before yours did I posted about it on facebook and made you doubt yourself or your parenting skills, you're doing a great job.  Each child develops at their own pace.  I never intended to make any parent doubt themselves or their child, I was over eager to share what the kids were doing.

I am sorry if I have ever made parenting seem like a race, a place of show and tell, a competition or anything else that wasn't supportive to you, as a mom.

I am sorry for not supporting you when you needed it.

I am sorry for pushing my views and opinions upon you when all you wanted was for someone to listen to how your day was going, not for someone to chime in with "well this worked for us" or "have you tried this?".

I am not perfect, I am not even trying to be perfect.  I am simply trying to be me.  
I am trying to let God be the center of who I am and letting everything else fall where it should.
I am here to support you, not to chime in with unwanted advice.

This is me and I am sorry.

P.S.  Can we start over?  How can I encourage you today?  What brightens your day?  What is something small that means the world to you?

I want to have an intentional relationship with YOU, not just a small silly facebook friendship, I want to be there for you when you need someone.  How can I support you and your family?

finally, a project post.

Hello there!  Thanks for clicking your way to my blog today.

I am a project-a-holic.  Recently I have had several complications with my hand so I have given up crocheting, piano playing, even tedious bits of sewing make my hand flare up so my "down time" has been spent cleaning (ha, yeah right!) doing other things.  I've had several large projects recently and I always forget to take before and after photos of them, simply because I'm too anxious to wait long enough for the shutter to click .. I want to get started on it and I want it finished, as soon as possible.

Well, I figured I'd take a before picture, since the before project was hideous .. :)

Recently we upgraded Aveline from a baby/toddler bed to a big girl bed, twin size.  I posted pictures of her bed on facebook, along with the quilt that I made and the matching bunting.

I had two projects for Aveline's room in my head, two projects that would complete her big girl room.
One was a dollhouse shaped shelf and the other is still in my head and is the last project I will work on .. ever.  As fun as projects are, I hate them.  I am impatient, it's nearly too hot to spray paint outside, bugs .. ugh and since there is a community park just over my backyard fence I have to plan to paint only when I walk by the window and see that there aren't any kids outside because really, who wants to play at the park and smell spray paint the entire time.

I actually found a dollhouse shelf online at Target.com that was much cheaper than the Pottery Barn kids one that I had been drooling over, I almost bought it for her but decided I'd wait and see if I could find a project shelf on craigslist .. by project I mean something that a few cans of spray paint could fix in one afternoon. HA!

I searched for a project shelf, one that I didn't have to spend too much money on, $10 or less.

After about a month of searching craigslist and other various online selling sites, I found her.

There she was, "Black Beauty", disgustingly over painted, dried black paint dripping off of her, pumpkin orange paint underneath of the black and underneath of the pumpkin orange .. stickers..STICKERS...of horses, shoe horses, cowgirl boots, ropes..I'm not quite sure what was going on or who decided that painting over stickers was going to be awesome..it wasn't.

She was disgusting but she fit my price range and she had good bones, that's really all that matters when up-cycling furniture..good bones..and a lot of sand paper.

Basically I sanded, painted, sanded, painted, sanded and painted until she was close enough to how I envisioned her.  She isn't finished yet but she is put back together and in Aveline's room until I know for sure how I am going to finish her.

I painted her white, blossom something satin white.  The back walls of the shelf are silver, to add a little bit of contrast to the rest of the shelf.  The roof, well, it's silver and has the most "damage" from previous owner and their "knowledge" of how to use a spray paint can..I'm actually wanting to add shingles on it but real roofing shingles are far too large so I'm going to search Hobby Lobby in the next few weeks and see if they sell shingles for doll houses or if I can find something that will look like shingles to put on the roof and as for the outer sides (the second most hideous part because of the terrible paint job(s) before I purchased it) .. I'm thinking of something fun and colorful but it's a secret .. I can't tell you!  :)

Here she is before .. seriously, I didn't do anything to make it look worse.  The lady told me that they created a jail cell in the upper right hand corner.

Here she is after .. just waiting for her shingled roof and her fancy new sides.  :)

Now that the shelf is in Aveline's room .. I don't like it.  

I don't like how it fits, I don't like it at all but Aveline is crazy about it so I guess it will stay, for a while.

please look past the blurry photo :)

I've been collecting all sorts of vintage golden books for Aveline and the boys actually love to
pick one of these to read at night instead of the many others we have.  :)

Her minnie boots and a quilt that her Nannie had quilted for her.

Here is Aveline's big girl bed.  There was a bit of a gap between the bed and her mattress so I used her bumper pad from her crib to stuff between the two and it actually fits along the headboard, back side and footboard perfectly ensuring that little Aveline is safe and cozy all night long.  :) 

Some of the fabric swatches I used in her quilt.  :)

Another view of her shelf .. you can't see it very well but the back wall of the entire shelf is silver, adding just a bit of contrast to the whiteness of it all.  I'm still debating about giving the entire thing shabby sanding.

Eventually I'm going to get rid of this sofa and replace it with project #2 but not until I actually finish it and as of right now, I haven't even bought a single piece of the project.  :)

I thought this was an accurate picture of how Aveline's bed looks at the end of the day, after nap time and play time in her room.  :)  She's all snuggled up and ready for bed.

Night Night, Baby Girl.  :)
We love you!

2 weeks after and today is his half birthday. :)

I have a story to tell you.  A story that involves the most terrifying day of my life.  A day where facial images have been burned into my memory, a day where silence was the scariest sound that I have never heard.  A day that I will never forget.

This story has a wonderfully happy ending so know that now but please go give your babies an extra tight hug and thank Jesus for the breaths that they are breathing!  :)

It has taken me 2 weeks (exactly) to be at a point to where I feel I can blog about this without crying my mascara right off of my face..it's still fresh, it's still raw and it still hurts my heart as a mother.

Jared's parents came in town a few weeks ago, on the last full day that they were here we decided to take the kids some place fun, Incredible Pizza was their pick, the kids love it there.

We arrived, feasted on pizza and noticed that little Oliver's hands were ice cold and that he had the shivers. I gave Oliver my cardigan to warm up with, didn't work, he just got tired of wearing a floppy over-sized sweater while playing games.  

Half way through playing games I noticed that Oliver's hands were even colder and that his head felt warm, I didn't have a thermometer with me so I couldn't check his temp so I did the mom-check .. kissy lips on his forehead .. "sheww, you're burning up!". 

Shortly after that I decided that it was time to go (sooner than we had planned) due to Oliver not feeling well.  I told everyone that we should cash in our tickets and head home.  It was 6:30pm (remember this time for later).  

Just as I said we should cash in our tickets I noticed Oliver's eyes glance toward the ticket counter, up and to the right of where I was standing while holding him on my hip, after a few seconds I noticed that he didn't look back at me.  I called his name "Oliver .." nothing. not a word. I said (probably more like yelled) "Oliver, are you okay? .. Oliver? .. OLIVER?? OLIVER!!!!" 

Jared was standing beside me while I was holding Oliver in my arms, I looked at Jared, tears filling my eyes, I handed my baby over to him, hoping that Jared would be able to "fix" him.  Jared told me to call 911, before I thought to grab Jared's phone to call I shouted to an employee who was standing just beside me "CALL 911 .. Something's happening to my son??" with question because I was 100% unsure what was happening .. I looked at Oliver's face, his eyes locked to the upper right hand side, no emotion on his pale face, his body stiff but limp, totally helpless.  I ran as fast as I could from the back of the place to the front to get a napkin and some ice (for his forehead), by the time I made it out of the restroom and filled up a cup with ice Jared had taken Oliver, who was still unresponsive, stiff and eyes locked, outside.  

I ran outside where Jared had Oliver.

 (this part makes me queasy so just skip past it if you have a weak stomach) 

Oliver was still unresponsive with eyes locked, I looked down at the sidewalk where Jared was holding Oliver upright (Oliver was "sitting" on Jared's knee) and there was a pile of vomit.  I said "Did Oliver throw up?!" and when I looked at his face he had vomit coming out of his nose, not his mouth but out of his nose, a few seconds (which felt like hours) later Oliver started to throw up from his mouth except  it wasn't a typical throw up like bending over throwing up with the flu, this was my baby boy, stiff, standing up assisted by Jared, not making any effort to throw up what was inside of him, it was just coming out of his nose and his mouth, no action on Oliver's part, he stood there in a daze, not knowing what was happening or even responding to anything, vomit basically pouring out of his mouth like a faucet .. SO SCARY!  I honestly thought that Oliver was going to die.  

(if you skipped the icky part you can pick up right here)

A very nice man who we think is named P.J. stood beside us, reassured us that what was happening was a seizure and dialed 911 while Jared and I knelt on the ground with tears filling our eyes and rolling down our cheeks.  P.J. talked us through what we should and shouldn't do while he was talking with a dispatch operator on the phone.  Within 2 or 3 minutes the EMT's arrived, along with the fire department.  It was right around then that I saw Oliver's eyes glance to the left and move back to the right.  

Oliver slowly began to come out of his seizure (it lasted 5 minutes or so but it honestly felt like hours), I carried him (maybe it was Jared, I don't quite remember, it was all a rush) to the ambulance and he sat on my lap on the stretcher inside.  The EMT's checked Oliver's blood, temp and whatever else they needed to check while Oliver lay on my lap crying tears that were filled with hurt and fear.  Oliver's temperature was 99.something, I don't quite remember, I just remember that it wasn't very high at all.  They drove us to the nearest children's hospital, Jared followed behind in his parent's car while his parent's drove our other two children back to our house and tucked them safely in their beds for the night.  Oliver was on oxygen during the ride to the hospital. 

We got to the hospital, they wheeled Oliver and I into one of the pediatric ER rooms and we waited for a nurse to come in.  When the nurse arrived she took Oliver's temperature and it read 103.6, he went from 99 to 103 in 10-15 minutes after his seizure, common post seizure reaction (from what I've been told and researched).

We sat in the waiting room, scared, afraid, praying, crying, trying to be strong.  My mind was racing.  Oliver was miserable, he was crying out of pain, it was so sad.  At this point we still hadn't seen a dr and hadn't been told what it was that had just happened.

Another nurse came in, gave Oliver some ibuprofen for his temperature and walked out.  It wasn't even 5 minutes later and the medicine kicked in.  Oliver was insane.  He was bouncing off of the walls.  A few minutes after his medicine kicked in the Dr. came in the room and said "I don't see anything wrong with this kid!" I thought to myself, 'of course you don't, the nurses already doped him up' (if you know me, you know I'm a hippie about medicines and I prefer to let the body function and fight off fevers by itself although my kids have never had a fever higher than 100.whatever).  

While the Dr was in the room "diagnosing" Oliver, Oliver started to repeat what the Dr. was saying verbatim except Oliver was using crazy voices like Donald Duck, cat meows, deep low voices, he was acting crazy!  At one point Oliver was just saying "Tu-Ti Tu-Ti Tu-Ti" over and over again to the tune of an ambulance siren .. Jared and I were still in tears but these tears were tears of joy, our spunky little Oliver was right back to himself again except a lot more spunky than before.  

After talking with a nurse it turns out that the medicine they gave him had red dye in it .. something I avoid if/when I do give my children medicine.  I noticed when Oliver was teething as an infant that whatever the Dr. prescribed for him made him even more cranky.  After researching it I decided to switch to dye free medicine and had totally forgotten about it because all I buy now is dye free, for 3 years I've been buying the same brand, the same everything, I totally forgot about the red dye.  Until the medicine wore off and his fever came back little Oliver was hilarious (not that he isn't on a normal day).

The Dr. ended up explaining to us that what happened to Oliver is called a Febrile Seizure.  Click on the text if you'd like a bit more info on it.  

Basically what happened is that Oliver's temperature became to hot too quickly for his body to handle, he went from normal temp of 98 to a fever temp of 99 too fast for his body to adjust properly and since the central nervous system isn't fully developed until most children reach the age of 5 or 6 Oliver's body handled the temperature rise by seizing. Once he has had one febrile seizure he is more likely to have another one until his CNS is fully developed so now I carry a thermometer and a bottle of fever reducer in my purse with me, 24/7 and we have ibuprofen suppositories that we can use if/when he starts to seize again to help bring down the body temperature faster since he can't have any liquids while he is seizing.  The faster we are able to bring down his temp, possibly the less time he will spend seizing.

These types of seizures do not cause brain damage or any type of permanent damage at all but what could cause brain damage as a result from the seizure is falling to the ground and Oliver hitting his head from seizing when no one is around .. You better believe we followed him around like a hawk for days until his body temperature regulated.  I am SO thankful for how everything worked out.  Even though it was the scariest thing that I have experienced as a mother (honestly thinking and feeling like my son was going to die).

That night as I was attempting to sort through emotions I found myself so thankful that everything played out the way that it did, down to every last detail of the day.

Thankful that I was holding him, he didn't fall, he didn't hit his head, he was in my arms, the safest place he could have been at that time.
Thankful that we were not at home, had we been at home and it was 6:30 (the time when he seized) he would have been in one of two places.  
1. Oliver would have been in the bath tub (where we often times fill it up and let him play with his cars while we are folding laundry or doing some other sort of picking up) .. had he been in the tub and seized .. well .. we probably wouldn't have been there to .. I can't even finish because it shreds my heart just thinking about it.  He didn't make a sound when he seized, we wouldn't have heard a thing. 
2.  Oliver would have been in bed, during the school year bed time is 6:30 for all of the kids but when visitors are in town we sometimes let them stay up later.  Had Oliver been in bed and seized he could have choked on his tongue or on his vomit and .. same thing .. breaks my heart.

I am so thankful we were where we were.  I am so thankful for P.J. standing there beside us and talking us through what the operator was saying.  I am so thankful that Jared's parents were in town so that they could take our other children home while Jared came to the hospital with us to be my rock.  I am so thankful that I have a strong, calm, tender husband who can take over when I go crazy mom spastic in situations like this.  Most of all I am so thankful that we trust God with every single part of our lives, trusting in God and looking at all of the small things that lined up to make it as good as it could have been for us is amazing.  

Side note:  P.J. .. you will never read this and I know we will never cross paths again but I just want you to know how thankful I am for you, how thankful my husband is for you and how much of a blessing you were to our family that Friday night.  

To everyone other than P.J., if you see a mother crying with a sick child, please stop and offer help, when you see an ambulance driving down the road, stop and say a prayer for whoever is inside of it.


We are now 2 weeks (exactly) post seizure, Oliver has only had the one seizure.  I don't feel fully educated on Febrile Seizures but I do feel better about it today than I did two weeks ago.

 Tonight we celebrate Oliver's half birthday, he is officially 3 1/2 today.  I can smell his half birthday cake cooling in the kitchen and I'm about ready to cut it, ice it and hide it so he wont' see it until after dinner.  :)  

After 2 weeks of feeling like my emotions were exposed for all the world to see, I am beginning to feel like "me" again.  The subject is still tender to my heart.  All of my babies are.

Give your babies hugs and kisses, no matter how old they are.  :)  
Thank Jesus for the breaths that they breathe..I know I do, more now than ever before.  

my friend Jerrica owns her own photography business and took these photos for us, these photos were taken the day after Oliver's seizure when we were still extremely unsure of what was next for him and my emotions felt raw and frazzled.

I remember discussing with Jared if we were or weren't going to go have these pictures taken and I looked at him with tears in my eyes and said "What if something happens to him, something bad .. I want to remember him, I want to remember these pictures for all of my life."  

These pictures all look so adorable and so sweet, my kids were anything but during the session but Jerrica managed to capture some great images that will forever be a breath of fresh air in the middle of what currently holds first place as the scariest part of my life.  

Simplicity, in record form.

I always tell people I'd love to live back in the 50's when actually I mean to say .. I want to simplify my life and make every moment count.  I don't want to try and create a memory out of every minute of every day.  I do want to be intentional with my words, I want to be present in each day, I want less distractions and more of my family.  

Recently we purchased a record player for several reasons but the main reason being simply because we had wanted one for quite a while and after searching for a year for an awesome vintage one, no luck.  Jared and I didn't exchange Christmas gifts to each other due to finances, in fact we've never given each other extravagant gifts, or even gifts that cost more than $50 (that's usually our limit).  At Christmas we decided that in a few months we'd purchase a record player and that would be our gift to each other.  Well, this record player has become part of our family (just as I had hoped).  Sitting down together over dinner has always been important to me and it's a very special part of my day that I have always looked forward to and now even more so.  

The kids have fallen in love with our record player, the nostalgia of it intrigues them and they are captivated by watching it work, the needle, the platter, the tone arm, the speakers ... all of it.  Every night at dinner we let the kids take turns picking which record we will listen to during dinner.  I've been purchasing crazy amounts of records at the thrift store for 23cents a piece, can't beat that!  Some of the records are old and lightly scratched but play a muffled, worn and warm sound that soothes my heart .. the rusty old records are some of my favorites.  I've even been able to scavenge up a couple children's records from local thrift shops and on Etsy.  

To see the kids get so excited about choosing a record shows me that my kids don't want the latest and greatest of everything to keep or make them happy, they want more intentional time spent with Jared and I, with us as a family, all together, to encourage them to be happy with relationships and not things.  Jared and I have always made sure that each of the kids feels loved and special, we take them on dates and try to do things that we know they enjoy around the house.  I never really stopped to think about how important it is for Jared and I, as parents, to create a peaceful environment that everyone in our family can look forward to and share together.  Although we were sitting down eating dinner together before the record player, it was always just dinner .. eat dinner, clean up, take a bath, it was part of our routine but now dinner is something that the kids all look forward to, even if we're eating cold cereal for dinner .. it's not about what we eat, it's about the time shared with each other, sitting in our dining room, listening to our record player and allowing the kids to discuss what's on their minds.

For us, simplicity isn't about having all the time in the world, it's about creating time to relax and be intentional in building relationships with our children and allowing them to be open with us.

had I planned on blogging about our record player (which I didn't) I would have posed the kids by it and gotten a clear shot of them with the record player but I feel like these little snap shots show it best .. just how much our kids LOVE our record player, who I'm beginning to think might need a name .. any suggestions??

Merry Christmas.

I sat down tonight to blog about the holiday and how excited I am for Christmas but nothing came to me.  I know that I am excited for Tuesday but writing about it tonight just wasn't happening.

I've been thinking a lot about last Christmas, how we spent it, who we were with, who came to visit, how old the kids were and where I was at personally last Christmas.  I was a mess (I still am a mess but I'm a beautiful mess that is allowing God to work through me now).

Last Christmas and really all of last year and probably even before that I felt guilty, I felt guilty for everything .. guilty as a mom, guilty as a wife, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty for not spending enough time with my kids, guilty for spending too much time with the kids and not enough time with my husband, guilty for spending a minute to myself, you name it I felt it, I even felt guilty for not feeling guilty when I wasn't with the kids, I was a mess. 

 I'm not quite sure why  .. I know exactly why I was feeling this way, after a lot of "soul searching" and getting to the root of why I felt the way I did I realized that it wasn't because there were other women around me doing things better than I was and I felt like less of a mom, it wasn't because people were pinning things that involved more talent than I had on pinterest, it wasn't because I saw posts on facebook that made me feel inferior as a mother, I felt guilty because I took my eyes off of Jesus.  I took my eyes off of Him for a split second and the sneaky old devil (as Oliver would say) did what he does best, he snuck right in, saw my weakness and instead of me seeing it right away I allowed other things to take the place where Jesus use to be, other things that weren't filling my void, a void that was created inside every single one of us, a void that only Jesus can fill.  It's like those old school shape sorters, you can't fit a star into the square hole, it just doesn't work, maybe a smaller star will fit through but it won't fill it up.

I was in such a dark place, I felt all alone (silly me), I felt like there wasn't a single person who would understand (without judging me) for feeling the way I felt, I felt trapped, I felt scared, I felt crazy!  I felt what it is like to be so far away from God, far away like before I trusted Him with my life.  That's a scary road to be on before you get saved but after you get saved, it's even scarier because Satan will try his hardest to keep you on that road and he will try his best to keep you busy, too busy to notice what's happening with your life.  Too busy to leave time to feel real emotions and when you do feel those real emotions there's always a plan B and after plan B fails there's a plan C when you're on that road. 

I feel like when I am traveling down the road with Jesus (cheesy analogy I know but just go with it) there's never a plan B, there's only plan A and it takes work, it doesn't come easy, it doesn't always go without bumps and swerves but Jesus doesn't leave room for a plan B when he's the driver because Jesus created us and knows exactly what he wants out of us and for each of us it's something different.  In my life, when I changed lanes and started "coasting" through life for a while it seriously was extremely overwhelming because there were so many other choices, so many other plans, so many other exits along the road, it was exhausting and that's where all of the guilt was coming from.  Guilt from knowing that something wasn't right, trying to pinpoint just one certain thing along the road that was wrong, trying to fix the one single thing when really, I needed a birds eye view of things to see that it wasn't one small thing that needed to be fixed, it was my entire life.  I wasn't traveling with Jesus anymore, I had switched directions and it happened so casually.   Honestly SO scary thinking back on it, scary because for a while I didn't even notice or feel it, I honestly didn't.

I find myself this Christmas extremely THANKFUL.   Thankful beyond words.  Thankful for a loving Father who so freely forgives, a loving Father who gave his only Son so that when I make mistakes, when I change directions, all I have to do is ask for his forgiveness and His grace.  I am thankful that I am a daughter of The King, I am forever thankful that I believe what I believe and that Jesus is the center of not just who I am but who my family is.  I am incredibly thankful, thankful that in Christ there is no guilt, no shame, I am who I am, I rest at the end of each day knowing that I tried my best and if I didn't try my best I am thankful that I am given the next day to try again.  I am thankful that God forgives us as soon as we ask for forgiveness.  In Christ Alone..I am who I am today and it breaks my heart to even think that there are other moms, married women, single women, divorced women today that do/could/have or will feel like this at some point.  Satan is a sneaky old devil and as elementary as it sounds, he will sneak in where he sees a crack, pry that crack wide open and take you for all that you have but in an extremely non painful way, you don't feel the pain from it at first, when the pain starts, there's always something or someone else to blame it on.  

Before I sat down to blog tonight I prayed (I always pray before I blog).  I prayed that what came out of my heart tonight, what came from my fingers and onto the keyboard would translate clearly to you and I prayed that if I could just touch the life of one person, that perhaps by sharing a tiny bit of my past, someone else will be able to look back next Christmas and be more thankful than I am this year, that someone else will be lifted up and will transform from out of darkness back into light.  As women, daughters of the King at that, we have got to put silly petty things aside and start lifting each other up and not just when we see that someone is hurting, all of the time.  People need real and you are not alone.

I can't stop thinking about this song tonight .. I searched youtube for a good video, there were several and even an Owl City cover which was nice, the song is titled in Christ alone.

In Christ alone I am thankful.  

Thankful for a Father who gave his only Son for me and for you.

May your Christmas be filled with love, grace and peace from the One who gave His only Son for your life.  

Merry Christmas, Friends. 

sneak peek trick or treat

It's officially my favorite time of year!

Yesterday we took the kids out to take photos of them in their halloween costumes.

I like to take photos of their costumes before the actual day so that when Halloween comes around it's all about the trick or treating and a few snap shots of all the action!  :)

This year we are handing out popsicles again, it seemed to be a big hit last year so we're doing it again!

Back to the costumes.

Oliver is (still) obsessed with anything Lightning McQueen so of course that's who he wanted to be for Halloween.

I'd rather not attempt to make a McQueen costume so I bought one.

Nidas then wanted to be Fin McMissile with bombs.

The Fin costume wasn't too hard to find 

(I bought both boys costumes on ebay for super cheap!)

but the bombs .. BAGH!

I thought about water balloons, it made sense, so we bought some water balloons and Leonidas used those as bombs, it was a hit .. you'll see!

I let Leonidas choose Aveline's costume since she's just a hair too young to choose for herself and guess what he chose for her .. a flag .. he wanted her to be a racing flag, to match both of the boys and their car costumes. not cool.  

oh well, Nidas chose and he was super excited when I finished making A's costume.

I made Aveline's costume out of the table runner that we used for Oliver's birthday party a few weeks ago.  :)

Jared drove us out to Medina where he knew of the perfect location to snap a few photos of the kids.  :)

The photos aren't the greatest quality and I don't edit photos, I just capture memories .. how cheesy does that sound!  haha!

As usual, when the camera comes out, at least one kid isn't having it and all of the kids had major cases of the "jumpies" as Aveline says.  Everyone was jumping around, having fun.

Leonidas in his Fin costume.

seriously, he is the sweetest!

Oliver in his McQueen costume.  :)

This girl .. she was not in the mood for photos!

seriously, how pitiful is that face!

:)  finally a smile!

This is where the "jumpies" start .. and the predicted tears from Oliver.

Nidas saw this last night and said "Whoa, look at our baby's hair!"

feeling a little rotten with her tongue out!

Now Oliver has the "jumpies" too!

Aveline was "finning" (spinning) and she's actually pretty graceful, she hardly ever falls down.

We brought out the bombs .. do you see the splash?

Geronimo! 

Nidas about ready to nail Jared with a bomb!

ker-splat!

Oliver was having way too much fun.  We realized this was their first water ballon experience (we think)!

I asked Nidas to take a few photos of Jared and I after the kids were done.

Usually Nidas does an okay job .. not this time.  

He was all over the place, cutting our faces and legs off.

The exposure is different in every single photo, still not sure how he managed that! 

They're cute though because Nidas took them!  :)

 

I have massive root growth now, which is a good thing.  I'm letting my natural color grow out ...
and I can't stop styling my hair like an elderly lady, I just love it .. :)

Thanks for looking, hope you enjoyed.  :)