New lens

here is a quick sample of my wide angle/fisheye lens i got for Christmas.

taken @ nonnies house.

not really sure yet what to do with it other than just play, hopefully a fun project will strike me.

New years eve

ok- so I know i am post this backwards, but oh well! We stayed home for new years just like every year, but this year we actually bought fireworks and contributed to the noise pollution in the neighborhood. our neighbors across the street with two little girls close to kyles age came out and popped fireworks with us. The big kids (baby kids and adult kids) had fun, but me and ty did not last long. I think it was the coldest night of the year, we went in early!

There is quite a bit of camera shake, i am still learning how to take low light pictures without a flash. I think they are pretty good concidering this is my first try at fireworks! maybe i will get better results on july 4th!

Our New Year

Well, we stared our new year with a pretty big milestone for Kyle! He got his "big boy" bed set up on January 1st! it is definatly a big source of entertainment if anything! he loves to just go in his room during the day and play on it! He really has done A LOT better than i thought. The first few nights he only came out of his room a handful of times, but never fussed when we brought him back to bed.

He does however LOVE to stay in there and play with his toys, but after a few times of us telling him to go night-night, he falls asleep. Usually with about 10 toys in his bed with him! and he has not woke up in the middle of the night and got in bed with us! That is what i was worried about, because Scott has made it a habit in the past few months to let him come into our room

in the middle of the night if he wakes up. Well, hopefully it continues to go well because potty training is right around the corner!

Christmas 2007

i hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas and time with family and friends! Once Christmas eve finally got here, i began to feel the Christmas spirit, but up until them i was Scrooge in disguise. Unfortunately the true meaning of Christmas was lost around here and I got caught up in a whirlwind of stress and depression. we did not put up any decorations in the house at all and half of what we had outside didn't even work. maybe if i had done that it would have helped?

I did enjoy myself at my mother-in-law, Debra's house and at Scott's grandparents house on Christmas eve because it was layed back and not a lot of people. Christmas day at my parents house was very nice. it was just us, mom and dad and my sisters family. I did miss my grandparents, but there was a great spirit there, it must have been them!

Kyle still does not know the real meaning of Christmas, nor does he really understand about Santa, but he sure did start to really "get" the gift part!

He stared to recognize and point out Santa, he just doesn't realize yet that he brings the gifts! i can't wait to see the magic in his eyes when is waiting for Santa and the reindeer! eventually we will teach him the real meaning of Christmas, but first i guess i need to start getting back to the basics and feeling it in my heart.

Kyle got a lot of cute cloths, tractors, balls, a stick horse, a view finder and a hand made quilt form his aunt Stefanie. along with much more! His favorite gift though was a 99 cent ball and a Chinese paper yo-yo! Silly thing!

Ty got cloths, a rainforest music box for his crib and also a handmade quilt from aunt Stef.

This year i finally got to buy scott the "good" gift (with the help from his best friend!)! He got a new deer rifle that he has had his eye on for a while. i think finally he was excited about what i got him!

i have already made my new years resolution. it is to not let the holidays sneak up on me again. i want to be able to really enjoy the whole season and not ruin it for everyone around me. I don't want the boys to think of Christmas as stressful. i am really having to start looking at EVERYTHING different now!

picture#1-Me, Ty and Stace

picture#2 Me

picture#3 Klye w/ his tractor

picture#4 Scott and Kyle

picture#5 Kyle and Krestyn

picture#6 Ty

Family outing

With Pop; Krestyn and Ty. With Nonnie; Kyle and Cooper.

Scott, Jenn, Kyle and Ty

Lin, Ben, Krestyn and Cooper

Two years ago we all went as a family to see the Polar Express in 3-d. It was a really nice night and something we wanted to continue doing. So this year, no one is pregnant and the big kids are big enough to really start enjoying stuff. we went to the Woodlands to see "snow" and real reindeer. Unfortunately because it was 80 degrees 4 days before Christmas the snow was melted, so they shut down the event before we got there. At least across the street was a nice light display. It wasn't exactly what we had in mind, but the kids had fun and that is we were after!

Starting and passing on Traditions

For years and years i remember how exciting it was when mom and dad brought out the Christmas ornaments and we went to buy a tree. Mom would hand us the ornaments while lin and i took turns hanging each one in the perfect spot, while dad would be sure to tell us where we had a "bald" spot on the tree.
Now this year the traditions have officially been passed down to the babies. Mom and Dad had us over for dinner and to decortate the tree. Mom sat with the box of ornaments, just like with us in the past and handed them one by one to Kyle and Krestyn.
A first i thought they would be to little and now have intrest or not know what to do with them, but boy was i wrong! they knew just what to do and the enjoyed it. They were both so diligent in where they placed each one and SO proud of themselves! Krestyn liked hanging more than one on each branch, man i thought it was going to send my dad into cardiac arrest!
Amazingly enough there were only 2 broken ornaments, kyle broke the first one and in the chaos of trying to pick it up before someone stepped on the broken glass Krestyn broke her ornament.
They lost interest in about 30 minutes, so Mom finished decorating later, leaving all their ornaments exactly where they hung them. The tree looks so good(of course to a mothers eye!) and every time they see it, they walk around pointing to the ones they put up!
So that was a few nights ago, last night we went back over for dinner and to watch Frosty the Snowman. Neither one of the kids are big TV watchers, so I figured again that it would be a lost cause, But they layed on the floor with Pop and watched the whole thing!
After the show we walked them down the street to see all the lights.. And when i say ALL the lights i mean i think these two ladies in these houses literally bought ALL the lights at wal-mart! it is crazy the amount of stuff they have in there yard, but fun! The kids got a kick out of it!
And so the traditions continue, I can't believe how awesome it was to watch my baby decorate that Christmas tree!

( mom has all the pictures on her camers)

Happy (early) birthday to me!

Scott surprised me with an early birthday present the other day! He got me the 50mm 1.4 canon lens i have had my eye on for awhile! it is a fast lens so i can get pictures inside, in low light, without a flash. he is SO great, and always gets such wonderful gifts. One of these days i will be able to repay him and get him something that really surprises him, i say this because i am a horrible gift giver. i have NO imagination when it comes to picking out the perfect gift for someonr. it does not help that he has two of the most expensive hobbies for a man, hunting and golfing(sort-of, he doesn't really golf much anymore)!

Well anyways~Scott if you read this *THANK YOU* so very much for thinking of me and getting me this lens!

(now i need to learn how to use it!)

(Above) Scott and Kyle inside @ night, NO flash, just above light!

Kyle in front of christmas tree, no above light, NO flash!

Ty, in living room @ night, NO flash, just above light!

Antique door knobs @ antique store. NO flash!

All of these pictures are sooc, no post processing at all.

Christmas shin-dig

last night was scott's Christmas party at Carmelo's italian restaurant. He has worked at Agar for over 3 years and this is the first time we have attended the party. it was very nice get-together with over 100 people. The food was fantastic and the entertainment was a very nice jazz band .

I was especially excited about going to the party for one, i have never been to a nice Christmas party. i work at a small business and we do a pot luck every year. The other reason was finally a good excuse to get dressed up! I went out and bought the cutest little black dress and my mother-in-law bought me an awesome pair of boots for Christmas that she let me wear!

it was the first time ty has had a babysitter, so that was hard. Nonnie and Pop watched the boys for use, luckily at the house because we did not even eat dinner until 10:30pm! We left early without dessert, because i felt bad to be away for so long!

It was nice to finally get to meet and put faces to all the people scott talks about all day!

*So a little about this picture, Kyle was PISSED OFF because we were leaving and would not let us take the picture with out him, so we got them both in it! And i did stop at the store a got a pair of panty hose! Aren't those the cutest boots? i have ALWAYS wanted a pair, but was always to picky about them or to fat. NOW i finally found the right pair and they will zip around my huge legs! doesn't scott look handsome? it is not very often that we get to see him all dressed up and without a hat!*

Halloween

I know i am all over the place and backwards with my posts, but i just loaded these pictures. please excuse the spit-up in my shoulder! Kyle DID NOT want anything to do with his costume or with trick-or-treating. of course in his defense it was a typical houston halloween, it was probably close to 500 degrees outside! he did calm down and start to have fun toward the end of the night.

Personality test

This is just a fun little test, its pretty cool.
let me know what you think of the interpretations of your answers. i thought mine were neat, but i struggled with the last one!




< http://memoriter.net/flash/test.html

Krestyn & Cooper Santa '07

So far ALL of Krestyn's pictures w/ santa and the easter bunny are of her hysterical so this was not a surprise. actually she was pretty calm compared to the past! And have you seen a cuter smile as coopers?

Santa '07

linzie and i braved the mall this morning with all 4 kids and got pictures with santa. i am still amazed at how well kyle sits there! ty got a little upset, but pulled himself together. kerstyn flipped out, but we all knew that and copper had the biggest smile! i don't have lin's pictures, maybe later this weekend.

???

i don't know what the heck happened to my banner and i'm not really sure how to fix it. i am a little dissapointed.

I'M BACK!!!!!

*HOLY COW* i am finally back after how many months and about the last 6 days of being on the phone with various tech support people. not sure it was worth the total and complete neglect of my family though! But none-the-less i am back and so excited, i really missed blogging.

i am not even sure where to begin! i guess with what we did tonight. our neighborhood is having a christmas party for the kiddos. includign tree decorating at the rec center and santa clause. So they handed out small wooded ornaments for the kids to decorate. Kyle and the little girl across the street painted them tonight.

after they were finished i got all sentimental and decided that there is NO WAY that ornament will be put on the neighborhood tree(outside)! That is the first piece of art that Kyle created and all by himself. it is staying right here, to be put on our tree now and to adorn it for all the years to come, screw the neighborhood:)!

(yes, i put a paint brush in ty's hand and he put a few splotches of paint on his!)

computers and remodels... pain in the rear!

Yeah-so-we still have not gotten our computer fixed. It really sucks to have to borrow other peoples computers, its just not the same as using your own. You just get use to the simplest thinks like, your own key pad, mouse, home page, the speed of your own computer, how to load picture's and where they go. It feels so imposing to search around on someone else's computer to find pictures and things. its just a pain in the rear!
But on the other hand, the floor is coming along nicely. Scott is doing a very nice job for never having layed tile before! his lines are straight and the tiles are flush with each other. I've got before pictures and daily pictures i will post soon..
hopefully this floor will be done soon(soon after hunting season... a whole other subject) and scott can REfocus on getting our computerS fixed! and yes anyone who caught that, the s is capitalized on purpose... we have two practically new computers broken!
Ty is getting super big still and Kyle is being a brat... whoever said terrible two's stared at two?? I think they are continuous from 1 1/2 to eternity.
i also got a few pictures of Ty and Cooper together i will post those soon also.