Happy Wednesday!

So fall is slowly starting to make an appearance down here, the weather is absolutely beautiful. In the mornings it is crisp and cool, mid-day is sunny and beautiful and by evenings it is just right for sitting outside with friends or taking a walk. It's so nice!
I stumbled upon a blog today that I am really liking. If you are bored or want some inspiration, check it out. The Laurel Hedge The lady that writes it lives in South Adelaide, Austrailia and some of the pictures she posts are just beautiful. Very stylish and sophisticated, and in a house with three young children, sophistication is not something I have in excess! I'm also slightly kicking myself for not going ahead and naming Adelyn Adelaide, like the place, because I still think it's beautiful. I actually thought Adelaide might sound too old-fashioned. Oh well, I still love our choice, too.
Reed and I would really like to get rid of some debts, and it always seems to be a vicious circle! A friend sent me these rules, and I'm sure you might have seen them before but I think it's a good reminder, especially if you're like us and have unexpected surprises come up that wipe out hard earned savings. Hello, baby! Hello, moving truck! Hello, broken tooth! Anyway, I think it's from Dave Ramsey:
Total Money Makeover Baby steps:
1 = $1000 baby emergency fund
2 = Debt Snowball. Get current on all accounts. Then list debt from smallest to largest. Pay minimums on everything, then focus all available funds on the smallest debt. When that one is paid off, roll that money on to the next smallest debt. Hence the snowball effect because eact time you pay one off there's more cash available to fund the next debt.
3 = when out of debt, fully fund the emergency fund with 3-6 months of expenses.
4 = put fifteen percent of income into retirement accounts (roth, ira, 401K or some combination)5= fund children's college account
6 = pay off mortgage
Baby steps 4,5,&6 are done simultaneously.
7 = since you're debt free, invest your income, get rich, and give money away

Sounds easy, right? I know they feature this on Oprah quite a bit and everyone on her show raves about the after effects of leaving all that stress behind. Wish us luck!

All Boy

"Hey Trevor, why do you climb that tree?"

"so I can find more lizards!"

He's all boy...

Black and whites

Seriously, if anyone has any photo tips, advice, or sites to recommend, we're all ears. It's really fun playing with these and seeing what we get. Reed calls me "momarazzi" because I take so many pictures of the kids!

Baby in a Basket

R and I wanted to try our hand at taking some pictures of A that are in the style we'd like to get professionally done. For the most part, we like what we got, although we know a pro could do it much better/easier and that if we had a nicer camera we might get a little closer to the crisp look we were going for. We also know we need to learn a bit more about lighting to get the effect we want, and are looking on the internet for ideas and for books to study. Any suggestions? These were all just done on our front porch, with our digital SLR, and we tried playing around with manual settings so it wasn't all "auto" focus. I think they came out better than we normally do, although our subject was passed out asleep and therefore a bit easier to sit and take numerous pictures of. When she's awake or we are shooting the boys, we almost have to have it on manual just to get people in focus. lol

so sweet

tiny feet

just precious

she's all ours!

Family Resemblance?

C at 1 month old


T at 1 month old


A at 1 month old

Anyone see the resemblance? lol In these pictures she actually looks more like T, but I have others where she looks identical to C. I guess she's just a mix of both! and with a pinch of unique Addie thrown in. :)

Good News!

I took A in for her audiologist appointment today, and she finally passed her hearing tests! She'd failed three previous ones, but the doctor said it was actually kinda common for newborns because of fluid, crying, distractions, etc and that the tests aren't perfect but it's the best determination they have right now of trying to diagnose a possible problem. Even though it makes people nervous, it's best to go ahead and get everything checked out as early as possible, just to be safe. We're grateful she passed her tests and now won't be able to tell me that she didn't hear me tell her to clean her room!
She's filling out nicely, finally moving past preemie clothes! I had no idea she'd be so small and actually didn't buy any preemie things! Two friends of mine had little girls in the last year that were both in preemie clothes, and they passed theirs on to us, thank goodness! She can just now wear "newborn" sizes and 0-3 months, although those are still pretty big. My boys were never this small for this long, but every baby is different, I guess!

Happy Birthday T

T seemed to really like his birthday cake, even if I thought it looked a bit like it had been hidden too long. Regardless, the "treasure" (all candy) got eaten off it very quickly!

"is that my cake?"

"Happy Birthday, Dear T...."

buddy Connor came over for some cake and brought a very cool TMNT gift for the boys to play with!

sweet pal Valerie sent very cool pirate gear to wear!

We can't believe our little boy is four. The years practically sprint by! T, in particular, seems to grow up overnight, trying to keep up with big brother C. Every time I get used to one stage of "T", he goes and changes on me. Right now he's obviously into pirates, playing legos, riding bikes and catching lizards. He loves "titherball" and not wearing shoes. He loves pajamas and usually changes out of his clothes into a pair at some point before lunch if we're at home. He's sweet, cuddly, and silly. He still says funny words like "teleskin" (skeleton) and that he wants to "do it by my own self!" and likes to make us laugh by doing the finger dance. When he gets angry, he pitches fits quickly, but he also is just as quick to give kisses and hugs afterwards and cuddle. He and C rarely get into trouble except at night when they want to chat instead of go to bed! :)~
We love our funny little boy!
Happy Birthday!

a Pirate's life for me!

Carson showing off his face paint mustache

pretty sunset

Then when we got home...Trevor got to open presents...

and have some Treasure Chest cake!

Yo Ho Ho

For Trevor's fourth birthday, we decided to take him on a pirate cruise since he's still so enamored of everything pirate. It's been at least a year and a half obsession for him, so we figured he would love this. And we were right!
I can't remember the order of all the events because so much happened, but they had a water pistol fight, then the boys "swabbed the deck" while the girls got their faces painted. Then the boys took a turn getting faces painted and got pirate hats. Then came a sword fight, some pirate games, shot the air cannon at some beachgoers, played a cannon ball game on deck, got tattooed, heard the story of Billy Bowlegs and his treasure and then looked for treasure out on the open sea, which they found. They were each allowed some things from the treasure chest and then it was time for pirate dancing. They did the congo line, the limbo, the chicken dance and a few more and had a blast. We were VERY hot and VERY tired by the time it was done but it was still a rousing success. The pirate crew was very friendly and entertaining and the boys had a blast!

Birthday Boy

swordfighting the others

swab the deck!

Arrrrrr!!!

Pretty Girl!

My neighbor Becky gave A this pretty dress so we had to take some pictures in it. She's much more alert these days! So far we haven't had any real social smiles, she just seems to be taking everything in. She smiles a lot in her sleep and it's so precious! We can't wait until she starts smiling at us, but we know it will be soon. Babies grow so quickly and we know to cherish all the sweet baby moments we can since they fly by.


ALMOST smiling...she's thinking about it.

profile

because I just can't resist this sweet face...

First Grader

I'm a little behind in blogging because so much is going on these days. Three kids are definitely more than one! that seems so obvious, but it's painfully clear in the evenings when they're all at home and we're trying to get dinner on the table, homework done and baths taken and in bed by a decent hour. LOL
Anyway, this guy is in first grade now and he loves it! I can't believe how fast they grow up!

Sweet Dreams...

this little girl is 4 weeks old today! I can't believe how quickly a month flies past. She's sleeping well, snuggling lots, and is going to give us a real smile any day now. She already smiles quite a bit in her sleep and it's too precious! We can't wait for those sweet smiles to be on purpose!

Hurricaine Monday

So we didn't get any rain from Gustav, just a bunch of crazy wind and rough seas. Our pirate ship cruise was canceled because of it, so we went to the nearby beach to check things out, take a walk, and look for shells. Reed and the boys found so many pretty shells in tact that were tossed up by the storm, they could barely carry them all! I took some pictures because this beach is normally pure white and the water is calm and teal green--nothing like what we found yesterday! Huge waves, most of the beach underwater and tons of trash, shells and gunk on the sand.

also, here's the sling I am always talking about in action, lol.
see how small she looks in there? and I don't have to hold it or her in it, but it was really windy and I wanted to make sure she wasn't getting hit with any sand blowing around.