Family Verse

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. Philippians 2:3-5

Monday, December 20, 2010

Home for the Holidays



My favorite thing is just being at home with my kids. So of course I am very happy that we are on our two week holiday break from school and activities. The best sounds are those of my kids playing with each other. Of course I prefer the happy sounds and wish we didn't have to have the sad sounds, but I know they both go hand in hand. The hardest part about being home is other kids want to play with my kids. Of course my kids want to play with them too. It's just me that doesn't want to share them. I realize though I have to give in a little and let some playing with friends happen. But deep down inside I wish I could just keep us in a bubble all to ourselves. In all honesty, I can't understand those parents that want their kids out of the house all the time. I mean, why have kids if you don't want them around? My girls are not angels by any means, they are constantly mothering each other and trying to be in control of every game they play and every toy we have. The mood swings around this house are changing every hour to say the least. I always think of Mary Poppin's when they say "a real storms a brewing at that one"...I should have that stenciled to the front of our house! But I love every minute of it, even when I say I don't, I really do. I think all the time about what it will be like when they are older and really busy and able to run to those friends with out me being the mother hen to control them. SO please know my dear Apples, it isn't that I don't want you to play, I do, I just want you to play near me and with each other during these few short years that I have you. You will have the rest of your lives to play with friends and be out of my house.

Some fun things about holiday breaks: sleeping in, singing and dancing, watching movies, hot chocolate with peppermint sticks, wearing our pajamas, fixing what ever we feel like to eat, baking, playing outdoors. These are a few of our favorite things...

Friday, December 17, 2010

Looking Back Over the Year of 2010

So I guess when I think back over this year, one of my major goals was trying to capture memories. I want my girls to remember there childhood and not have huge blank spaces of time where nothing can be recollected, like I do. I think my biggest fear is they will wonder what they did or why they did something and then I won't be here for them to ask questions. Either that or I won't be able to remember to fill in their blanks! I had apple #4 in the beginning of 2009 and so that year was crazy and I didn't take as many pictures as I wanted. Needless to say, her first year does not have the month by month photo's as her sisters do. So when 2010 came and she turned 1, I was determined to not let another year go by with only a smidgen of pictures. After all, she is amazingly adorable! Well, OK, they all are!!! We purchased a new camera and then because I didn't know how to use it, it pretty much just sat in the case. Then in the spring I went to a one day event at my mother-in-laws church and I took a small 1 hour photo class and my desire to be a great photographer and capture beautiful, unique images of my girls was born. So I took a 6 week course from the same photographer, started reading blogs by other photographers and ended up taking somewhere between 2000-3000 photos over the second half of the year. I am pretty sure that is more than all the photos I have taken between Apple #1 and Apple #4 were born. We then had the same photographer take our family photos, since that hadn't been done in a few years. Finally I have put up a photo gallery in our family room to randomly display some of my handwork. This blog has also been a goal and though I started the initial page last May, I think, this is my first post. I am not computer savvy to say the least, so the main reason I haven't done much is I can't figure out how to get pictures and all the cute stuff on my page like other bloggers. Again, another work in progress. But I know I need to start writing out some of the funny, not so funny and well, memories of my apples before they start withering and turning brown! So here is to the beginning of making my goals reality!