Photo Shoot

For as long as I can remember, I have always been interested in photography.  Since I've had children, it's been important to me to take many pictures, helping them remember all the fun times of their childhood.  Last Christmas, Justin got sick of me complaining about the slowness of the shutter speed on my camera and surprised me with a new camera.  I've had fun with it, ever since.

A few weeks ago, we had our first shoot and a second one the following weekend (just to see if I could get a few more good shots as the first shoot was actually pretty decent-except for the large goose egg on L's head which she suffered THE MORNING OF the pics!).

Many of my favorites are when my subject isn't looking at the camera-a child's face is so innocent and such a joy to photograph!  You can see the personality of all three in their pictures and smiles.  They were troopers with the assistance of suckers and M & M's, (and of course my husband).  Maybe with time, I'll learn more about my camera, but for now, I'm OK with being a novice :).  We all had fun!

 

I LOVE B and W (one of my favorites)

A Good Reminder

Why we rarely go out to eat!

Today, we had a great morning at Merle Hay Mall, enjoying the free breakfast, movie, train ride, and visit with Santa and the Snow Princesses, (eh, from afar-the lines were way too long).  My parents then took A with them to spend some time with her cousins, leaving us with the twins.  After their nap, we decided to head out and do a few errands, (grocery shopping, Home Depot-we had a "pretty nice Saturday planned"). Things are much different when you have to play zone defense so being able to play one on one was easy peasy!

Things were going so well we decided to get some dinner out.  We soon found out we were pushing our luck:  It's been so long since we've had a bad eating out experience, but maybe that's why we decided it was a good idea-the horrors from previous experiences were not etched in our minds!  With the snow, we were seated right away and ordered our food as soon as our waiter came to take our drink orders.  So far, so good.  The restaurant will remain nameless, but we seemed to wait more than your average length of time during a Saturday night when a restaurant is less than busy.  Surprisingly we kept the two toddlers entertained without any problems.  (Thankfully my entree came with chips and salsa that were brought out early).  L could have cared less, but our little buddy enjoyed himself some salsa-not to mention most of it ended up on the make-shift bib I made for him!

Finally, our meals arrived. We ordered all of their favorites:  mac 'n cheese, corn, pizza and mandarin oranges.  What could go wrong?  First of all, L thought her cold mac 'n cheese was "too hot" and kept screaming this over and over.  No amount of convincing her it was fine could help.  Then, she had to have both spoons, leaving her bro with none. He managed for a bit, but eating corn with a fork is challenging.  When she set one spoon down, I quickly grabbed it for it.  She noticed and immediately her crying screaming intensified.  We pulled out all the tricks to re-direct her, but it wasn't happening. I then told C I would get him a new spoon and gave his back to his sister.  You can imagine what happened after that.  Yep, two toddlers having melt downs, while we sat in our little both in the corner, surrounded by other patrons.

To make matters worse, Justin's burger was under cooked so it had to be sent back to the kitchen.  After a few minutes we realized we were at the point of no return and decided to scram.  Justin grabbed our crying toddlers, one who started crying harder when we told him he needed to put his coat on, and ran as quickly as he could to the vehicle.  I'm sure the watching patrons were saying "Amen" under their breaths.  Our waiter came by and asked if I needed anything when he saw me sitting at my table alone with plates full of food:  "Boxes for everything and a bag to carry it all out, please.  And our check."

It will probably be another 14 months before we go out again. I look at it as a money saving strategy :).  Happy dining!

Cheese Curds Anyone?

We had our inaugural trip to Wisconsin to see my brother and his family this past weekend.  What a quick 4.5 hour drive it was, (and beautiful, along the Mississippi river), compared to our previous 11+ hour trip to CO.

Here's a quick synapses of our weekend there:

• Saturday we spent a few hours at the Madison Children's Museum. This was perfect for all 6 of our little ones (the littlest who slept most of the time).  Everyone enjoyed the arts and crafts and the adult-sized hamster wheel.   C could have spent all of his time playing with the cars and trucks.
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• We enjoyed a quick lunch at a local pizzeria that had a variety of pizzas available by the slice (macaroni and cheese and Thanksgiving dinner were two of their most interesting types).
• The twins were still going strong, so we decided to take a tour of the capital before heading home.
  
  
  
  
• It was chilly out, but the older girls and I went on a quick walk on their nearby trails.
• Sunday, Justin and I watched all 6 little ones, giving my brother and his wife some chance to catch up on some Zzzz's.  We managed to get the 5 older ones fed with out too many mishaps.  There was some fighting over the two Frozen plates and a little potty accident but nothing we couldn't handle.  Whew, I can't imagine having 6 kids under 6, but that was a little taste.
  
• I then took the older girls to Target to get out of the house for a bit.  They each picked out a little toy/craft to work on at home. 
• It was great meeting our newest nephew and we are so glad they live closer now!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  Everyone was spent...

Happy Fall

October flew by and November is here already-I'm a little late in my Halloween post, but here it is:

I love fall and the many traditions that go along with this time of year.  As usual, we went to Center Grove Orchard one Sunday afternoon after naps.  Living at my parent's house, the drive was a piece of cake and the crowd had started to dissipate by the time we got there.  I love how this orchard keeps expanding and adding to it's collection of things to do, (which tells me my money is going somewhere-it is not cheap!).  This year we enjoyed the jumping pillows (what a smart idea to have one for the little kids and one for the big kids!), the pig races (a new feature), the giant slide (my daredevil twin thought she needed to go by herself--on her stomach, face first!), the corn pit, tractor rides, and the animals.  We all enjoyed a cider doughnut on the way in and chose a pumpkin on the way out.  

The thought of carving pumpkins with three little ones is a little daunting so we decided to paint our pumpkins this year.  This was much less messy and safer and who doesn't love arts and crafts.  At the last second, I decided to pick up some stickers to add to the pumpkins so we had some pretty creative pumpkins on our doorstep (er, my parent's doorstep).  

This was our third year of attending Night Eyes at the zoo.  What a fun time for the kids. We went in the evening this time, and although we didn't see many animals, the kids enjoyed all the lights at the zoo.  Thankfully the twins rode nearly the entire time in the wagon which made things so much easier.  They enjoyed train rides and the bounce houses before heading home (and mom and dad enjoyed a few pieces of their candy).

I love this one!

Beggar's Night:  I've gotten so used to having the kids go trick or treating on this day that it has become normal to me.  This was a crazy evening for us-I had clinic at the VA that afternoon, then Justin picked the kids up and we all went to Grimes to look at a house of a builder we are interested in.  After a quick tour, and an even quicker dinner, we got all the kids into their costumes in the mini van, AKA dressing room.  We met my cousin and her family near our old neighborhood and got all the little ones together for a group photo before starting the adventure.  (Thankfully my cousin brought adult cocktails for us to enjoy -they were NEEDED).  The older girls took right off, going from house to house, while the twins tried to stay caught up. After they realized they were getting candy from each house, they really starting to enjoy this trick or treating thing-"get more candy."  It was great seeing the old neighbors again and catching up.  After nearly an hour and a half of gathering candy, we decided to call it a night and packed all three in the van for the trek back to Ames.  

Yesterday, AJ and I took all the candy to Plaza Dental, where your candy is exchanged for money ($1 per pound).  She took her earnings to Toys R Us and picked out a Spider Man sticker book :).  

A few pics of leaf jumping:

Happy Fall-Winter is right around the corner...

My Newest Addiction

I love a good work out, especially something that challenges me and makes me sore the next day. I've become obsessed with power yoga at Power Life Yoga (located in Des Moines, Johnston, West Des Moines and Waukee).

Before you skip reading the rest of this post, this is not your typical yoga. I've done yoga before and found it somewhat boring and not a great workout, especially if I'm going to be spending 45-60 minutes out of my day doing it.  We all know how precious time is - I want to maximize my workout in the short time I have available, and need something that challenges me.

So I said this wasn't your typical yoga; going through poses at a slow pace with slow music that nearly puts you to sleep.  This is much, much different.  Yes, you still perform the same poses, but at a much faster pace, in a heated room, with new, modern music.  My favorite class is sculpt, where you perform yoga with hand weights, bands or a ball.  

The heat in the room takes some getting used to-if it's been a few days between my sessions, I usually find it hard to adjust to the warmth at first.  It's great knowing all that sweating you are doing is getting rid of "toxins", (or that Scratch cupcake I ate the day before).  After my sculpt class this week, I left the studio thinking it was the best workout I had had in a long time, possibly ever.  It's so different than going out and running 20 miles. I love how easy this is on my joints, how more flexible I have become and the strength I am gaining in my upper and lower body, along with my core.  It will be a great accompaniment to my running. 

Yoga also cleanses your mind and forces you to disconnect from the rest of the world for an hour.  I hate how we are all constantly needing to be stimulated, whether it be watching TV, talking on the phone, or searching the Internet.  Think about it, when was the last time you just sat in a room, without any interruptions?  Even when we go to a gym to work out, we often watch television or play on our iPads to make the time go faster.  It's so bad that when I have time where I'm not doing anything, I need to pick up my phone and play on it.  These classes force me to disconnect for an hour, giving my full concentration to what I'm doing and the benefits I am gaining from it.  The instructors help you focus on your practice, telling you to forget about the stressors in everyday life. They always leave you with a bit of advice at the end of the class, and you can't help but walk out of there feeling great.  

Justin actually recommended I try this, and got me a groupon to try it out.  They also offer a free week of classes so I decided to give it a shot.  I loved it so much, I went to 6 classes during my free week of classes.  I'm impressed by the variety of people who attend-guys and gals ranging in all ages. This is definitely a "sport" for all ages and the benefits are numerous-increased flexibility, weight loss,  increased metabolism, and increased muscle strength. It also helps to de-clutter the mind and relieve stress (both necessities for this lady).

So give it a try, you may just become addicted too!