Finally

For a couple of months, now we have been trying to get Aislynn to drink something other than just nursing. I didn't want to try bottles because she was already at the age to introduce sippy cups. So, I started with that. She would try it once, take a sip, and then just want to play with the cup the rest of the time. After trying different sippy cups for a while I decided to give her a bottle just to see if she would drink out of it. No luck!! I was starting to wonder what I was going to do since I am starting back to work in a couple of weeks. Then, we had a great idea. We knew that Aislynn could drink out of a straw because we give her sips of our water or tea at restaurants and she seems to do okay with that. So we went out on search for a sippy cup with a straw. We purchased a couple of different ones but I think we finally found a winner.
This morning with breakfast I gave her a cup of apple juice. Once she got the hang of it I could hardly get her to take a break to have a bite of oatmeal (which she loves). I am relieved to know that while I am away I won't have to worry about my baby girl getting dehydrated because she won't drink. Makes a mama happy to say the least. Did anyone else struggle with a situation similar to mine?

Not Me! Monday!

I know you know what time it is...it's Not Me! Monday! time!!! This lovely blog carnival was created by Mckmama at MyCharmingKids. She is gonna spice it up a little so I read. I think a new logo is going to come out soon!!! Can't wait to see. Head on over to see what everyone else is NOT doing this week.

This is gonna be a short one:

I did not stay up late on Friday night watching countless episodes of My First Place and Property Virgins on HGTV only to not want to yell at the people on TV because they were so clueless about buying a house. I do not get way too into those shows. I do not want to move all the time. I don't even like looking at houses. I did not drive around today looking at houses I can't afford and I did not try to come up with a way to buy a condo on the water to rent. No, I would never waste my valuable time with such silly ideas.

I did not buy a cute pettiskirt for my daughters to wear so I can dress them up like the little girls they are and take tons of pictures of them. They don't see me and automatically smile because they think I have the camera in my hand. I would never ignore work around the house so I can play around on the computer editing photos and learning tricks to be better. I am not that attached to a hobby. I do not have a million other things I should be doing.

I Heart Faces "Just for Fun"

This week at I Heart Faces the theme is "Wedding Bells". As you can tell, I do not have a wedding bells photo. I have not been to a wedding in a while and have not taken any photos of a wedding. So, needless to say I have no wedding photos.

I am glad they decided to have a "just for fun" category so I can still enter something this week. This category is not judged but it's still fun to throw a photo in and see what everyone else has to contribute. This photo is of my sweet Kambry Lynn last week. She can be so cute when she wants to be. I just loved this expression on her face.

Innocence

I love having three little girls. I love to capture their silly faces and sweet moments on my camera. I love how innocent they are and the looks they give me. I was so excited when I saw a box on my front porch yesterday. Guess what it was..a couple of new, super cute pettiskirts for the girls. Well, actually one is for the girls and the other is for a prop for newborn photos. I think I can squeeze Aislynn into it though so get ready to see some of her in the next week or so. The girls thought they were so pretty and wanted to try them on right away. Here is a little sneak peek at how colorful they are. I hope to find a wonderful spot to take the girls and take pictures of them in these skirts that are one of a kind!!! They are made my Oopsy Daisy Baby and are wonderful quality.

Twisted

Why do companies package kids toys so well that it takes an adult longer to get the toy out of the box than it does to pick it out, walk it to the counter and pay for it? Yesterday, I took my girls to the mall because I need to exchange some pants. I told them if they didn't complain about anything that I would let them pick out something on our way out. McKenna really loves little animals. She decided on a set of three(yes only 3!!) toy animals. When we got home I opened the package and was not excited to see the outrageous number of twisty ties holding each animal foot in place. I thought I would be smart and cut them out...that worked but not so well. The animals were free from the box but the ties were twisted so tight around their feet that it must have taken me at least another 5 minutes just to untwist them. I just don't get it. These are kids toys, not some kind of expensive item for adults. Please manufacturers out there, make it easy on the parents! Do any other parents out there struggle with this or am I the only one?

I want to know...

I would like to know which one you like best? Whenever I edit a photo I always end up doing so many versions of it because I like them all. Now I want to hear from you!! Let me know which one you like and why you like it. If there is one you don't like you can tell me that too and why you don't. I just can't get away from editing...it's taking up all my time!!

Here is the original:


Here are my edits:

Fix It Friday #18

Who doesn't love this sweet face?? Isn't he precious? This sad little boy is the photo of the week to "fix up" on I Heart Faces. Every week I have so much fun doing this. Even though I didn't take the photo, it's neat to try to make it stand out even more. I also enjoy seeing what everyone else did with it. Here is the original:
And here are my fixes(I can never do just one):

Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti

If you love cheese...(Elizabeth this one's for you),

If you love chicken...,

and

If you love spaghetti...

Then this is the dish for you! Growing up my mom would make this yummy meal and I would look forward to it all day. Yes, to me, it is that good! And the best part is, it's so simple and all in one pot. Here's how you do it:

Gather together-

2-3 lbs boneless chicken breast

1 lb velveeta or american cheese (cubed)

1 lb spaghetti noodles

1 med onion, chopped

1 med Bell pepper, chopped

1 large can sliced mushrooms

1 4 oz jar pimentos,

dicedsalt & pepper to taste

Boil chicken in water(fill to cover chicken) with a handful of chopped onion and a dash of salt and pepper for about an hour. When chicken is done, remove from pot, leaving broth. Add enough water to make approx 3 quarts of broth. Bring to a boil, add onions and bell pepper. Cook for 15 minutes. While that is cooking, cut or tear up chicken into small pieces and return to broth. Continue to boil and add spaghetti. Before spaghetti is completely done, add mushrooms(or olives), pimentos and cheese. Continue cooking until all the cheese is melted and spaghetti is tender.

Then the best part: eat it all gone. This recipe will make a whole pot and feed a large family or give you leftovers for the week..YUM!!

Sorry I don't have any photos of the meal. I guess you will have to endure some of my kids.

Cute Series of Photos

I was going through some of the pictures I have taken over the past few weeks and came across these three of Aislynn. I decided to put them together in a collage because you can see what she was doing. You can click on the photo to see it larger. Just thought it was cute and decided to post it for all to see. Also, you can kinda see my make shift studio in my home!! Gotta love a dark brown blanket and a couch in front of a big window.

10 Months Later

Here is Aislynn's first day of life:

Here she is now!!
It's amazing what a change they make in just less than a year. I weighed her this morning and she is 17 lbs even. I finally had to drop down her matress in the baby bed because even though she's not pulling all the way up to her feet, she sometimes gets to her knees and in no time she will be all the way up. She says "dada" a lot. It's really cute because it sounds like she is yelling at him to tell him something, especially in the car. She still has her own way of moving about the house. Whether it's pushing backwards, rolling around, or sitting up and then laying down again, she finds a way to get where she wants. Looking at my friend's newborn I am amazed at how much my baby has grown and changed from the time she was born. I am thinking of getting some professional photos done in the next couple of months. I realized that I only have a couple of photos of the whole family. Now, Aislynn is almost a year old and she is not in many photos with me and daddy. That will have to be a plan for soon!!!

Update: Two days after this post was written, Aislynn started crawling!! Real on your knees crawling. Great job baby girl.

In other news, the girls have been "surfboarding" in our little tiny baby pool that I have out in the backyard. I can't wait to see what they do when they get to go to a real pool or the beach.

Let's Hear it for the Boys: I Heart Faces

Since this weekend was Father's Day and all the theme at I Heart Faces this week is "Let's Hear it for the Boys." You can submit any photo of a male, no girls allowed. My first entry is for the kids category. This is a darling little boy named Garrett. He was a bit shy but let me snap a few cute pics of him one day at my daughter's t-ball game. You can see the innocence on his face.

Father's Day and Our Anniversary

Today, June 21, is Father's Day but it is also the day my husband and I were married 7 years ago.This photo is of my dad and I from this day seven years ago. He passed away last year right about this time from COPD. So Dad, Happy Father's Day up above, I hope you are watching down on us and smiling today!

First time a Father: January 5, 2004- McKenna Haylie was born.

Second time a father: January 17, 2006- Kambry Lynn was born.

Third time a father: August 22, 2008- Aislynn Kate was born.

This morning we woke up at a fairly early hour, got dressed, and headed out the door to Cracker Barrel to take Daddy out for breakfast. We love country cooking and had our fill on anything and everything. Even Aislynn joined in and had many bites of pancakes, grits, scrambled eggs, biscuits, hashbrown casserole and even finished off her banana plum grape baby food. She wanted more and more and fussed until she got it. I think we are just going to relax around the house for the rest of the day. I love a lazy Sunday, it just makes more work for Monday right?
These years have gone by so quickly and now we have three beautiful daughters, one dog, and two cats. The above picture is from out first dance as a married couple. We love to dance and miss the times when we could easily go out on a Friday night. I don't see any of those days coming soon, maybe down the road when are kids are more grown. At least we have a loving home with many memories made each and every day.

Happy Father's Day all you fathers out there and Happy Anniversary to us!!

I need practice!!!

Earlier this week I mentioned that I was going to take some family photos for my friend who just had a new baby. Lots of family members are in town visiting so we found it to be the perfect opportunity to get some shots of everyone together. I decided to do most of the photos outside on the back porch but since it's screened in, I didn't have a lot of room to work with. Taking pictures is much harder work than it should be. I was trying to get good angles but was met with some challenges. The baby was of course adorable in her little black and white outfit but I know I still need lots and lots of practice. I need more people to practice on. Otherwise I guess my kids are going to get sick of the camera. Here are a few of my favorites.

Fix It Friday #17

The photo this week at I Heart Faces proved to be very difficult for me. I don't know exactly what it was, maybe I just wasn't in the fix it mood today. The little girl in the photo is little Jayci from The Stanley Clan. Isn't she so sweet??

Here is the original:


And here are my fixes:



Be sure to check out I Heart Faces to see what everyone else did.

What's Happening Today?

It is official...Aislynn's top left tooth has broken through her gums. We are well into teething and it's no fun. She has been waking up at least once a night for the past month so I am just used to it by now. It's not too bad though, I go in her room, nurse her for about 5 minutes, and she lays right back down and goes right to sleep. It's just the fact of having to get out of bed and walk across the house. I am sure it could be much worse.
Last night I woke up and found McKenna laying in between me and my hubby. I have no idea when she came into our room but I since our bed is a tempurpedic I don't feel any movement unless she bumps me so I have no idea that anyone came to bed. Does anyone else out there have a tempurpedic bed? I never really thought I wanted one until I learned a little more about them. They have a 20 year warranty which is a very good thing. They don't loose their shape, and they conform to your body. It's not the type of bed you can bounce on. At least I can keep my kids off of it because it's no fun for them to walk around in quick sand..hah!!
It is hot here. Not dry hot but humid hot, take your breath away when you open the door hot. I am sure it is much hotter in other places but boy I need a pool. I can't even walk outside to check the mail without coming back in all sweaty. I guess I need to get used to it, it is only the middle of June.

My First Newborn Shoot

So today my friend, Lauren, who just had a baby a little over a week ago came over so I could take photos of her newborn baby girl. She is the littlest thing and has the tiniest features. Photographing a newborn proved to be much harder than I had thought it would be. She was so squirmy and wasn't happy to just lay there like I had hoped she would. So we took a few, we took a break, we took a few more, she went to eat, we took some more, and then she wanted to sleep. All in all it was successful. I had much higher hopes but I am satisfied since it was my first one since getting a DSLR. We are going to try to do family ones on Thursday and hopefully some more newborn ones in the upcoming weeks. Here are a few from today.