Playing Catch Up

Do you remember the days when you had to finish the entire roll of 34mm film in your camera before you could take it to the store and wait 3 days to finally see the pictures you took and hope that the picture wasn't fuzzy AND that everyone is actually looking into the camera when you took the picture? What a hassle right? I find myself with that same hassle just loading the gazzillion pictures I take digitally onto my computer so that I can post them here. I mean, really, there is NO comparison when it comes to the two. So what's my excuse you ask? There are too many to blog (and it's getting late)

I REALLY REALLY want to go and take a nice warm bath right now, but blogging has once again won my commitment battle AND I've loaded those gazzillion pictures onto the computer...So, the catch-up begins...

Carly turned 9 months old (she's actually almost 10 months now)...I went and had her pictures done at the Picture People in the mall close to my house. Let's just say that I will never go there again. After waiting an hour after my appointment time to begin and then switching photographers in the middle of my session, to seeing candy and crud all over the floors that my 3 year old was crawling all over, to being annoyed about telling the PROFESSIONAL photographer how to pose my child...I was done. What you don't know is that I have had issue's with them before, but none to magnitude of this time. I actually filled out a survey and had corporate contact me. I'VE NEVER DONE THAT BEFORE...So, yes, it was a bad experience, HOWEVER...If I didn't put up with all that, I would never have gotten these:







With becoming 9 months old, doctor visits are a must. Carly got a flu shot and so did Ethan. Neither of them cried. The trick is, to give the 9 month old a sucker to suck on and the 3 year old free rain over the sucker bowl. Dr. Lisa isn't happy with Carly's weight...she hasn't gained anything for 3 months. So, to rule diseases out like diabetes, thyroid, etc. etc...Carly had to get some blood tests done. I had to hold her down. Did you know that they take blood from a baby the same way they do adults? Imagine that. The poor girl screamed and then whimpered for hours after. They wrapped her arm up and I didn't know that I was going to be raising a drama queen until then. She went around the rest of the day holding her arm and whimpering and then would play and go back and forth. I got a picture of it, but it's blurry:



So the girls had skate night earlier this month. It was fun. The school shut down the roller rink and only the Panthers were aloud in. Ethan couldn't wait to get those skates on and skate along side of his sisters...
Skate and admission for mommy...$5
Skate and admission for Ethan...$5
ONE time around the rink before Ethan sheds the skates...PRICELESS


(excuse the red eyes...I'm not in a photoshopping kind of mood)

I drove Malia on a field trip out to Fog Willow Farm last week...It was pretty dang cool. I forgot my camera so you won't get to see Malia milking a fake cow, making a hay bail or feeding a goat...sorry...

Patrick and I took the kids to "THIS REALLY COOL PUMPKIN PATCH" (or so they say)...The corn maze that was on 3 acres was apparently pretty cool but I wouldn't know that because the stroller wouldn't work on the bumpy ground. Instead I took this:

(notice the black tarp on the ground...makes for a great pumpkin patch picture)

After Patrick and the other kids got back I got these:











I know it's not Halloween yet and I usually don't get my kids dressed up in costumes a week before Halloween either, but church had it's annual Trunk or Treat party last week. The kids had a blast and my favorite part about it is that I didn't spend a dime on costumes this year. I told the kids to go to the dress up box and find something to wear. This is what they chose...

Raya the witch:



Malia as SuperGirl:



Ethan as the cool Buzz Lightyear:



and Carly... Carly has a background to her costume. When she was born, she looked like this:



That is when she acquired her nickname as "Samurai Baby". As you can see, the nickname fits her choice of hairstyle very well. My dad still calls her that and I think it's a nickname that is going to stick. My sister in law brought back a Gi for Malia when she was a baby and I've actually had Carly wear it before Halloween. With the help of Uncle Jake drawing fake Japanese symbols on some black shoes...we have an official Samurai Baby:



So tomorrow's Halloween and I'm sure my kids will dress up as something other than what I have shown on this blog today...I took an awesome picture of the sunrise this morning...Carly started crawling today...and I'm working on the best quiet books EVER for my kids that I will have to take pictures of and show you, so...I'll have more pictures to load and show...it's just a matter of when...I really need to go back to those years long ago when I couldn't wait to get my pictures back EVEN from the one hour studio and be grateful that I can load them a look at them in just minutes...unless...Ethan lays on his little sister, or Malia punches Raya, or Raya has a question about homework, or the timer is going off begging me to take dinner out of the oven, or........