A Visit from Tink

Our favorite woodland fairy, Tinkerbell, finally found the letters that Maya and her friend had left for her, tucked into the bottom of the wood pile (you know, like where spiders and snakes live. Both of which I would rather avoid.) So Mommy Tinkerbell did what any good Mommy fairy would do. She responded back with a very nice letter (if I may say so myself) and brought them some charm bracelets, along with the "garden and winter pixie dust" they had requested. Thanks Wal-Mart Tink!!
And what were the boys up to during the great Tink discovery? Sharing a bit of brothery love, of course. 'Cause that's what all brothers do, all the time, right?
and climbing...

...and chiming.

Sisterly love usually comes with a few tickles.

After all of the Tink excitement, Maya thought close-ups would be a good idea.
I'm thinking, maybe not. (Can someone please teach me Photoshop for these wrinkles?!)

Of course Jonah's "close-up" was really an action shot.

And Luke? Yeah, he was just plum thrilled about it.

A Few February Faves

So here is some randomness for you. Just a couple of my favorite images from February. Yes, I know we're well into March by now, but, life happens.I've been trying to learn more about my camera (and photography in general.) Honestly, it's been alot harder, for me, than I thought. I'm reading, and re-reading (and Chris is explaining and re-explaining) but I'm still not grasping some of the basic concepts. (Plus, I had put my photography self-teaching on hold while I've been researching some other stuff lately. More on that later...)
I'll keep trying, but till then, please have mercy on my skills and I'll just be grateful for the automatic setting on my camera. (Those are my boots by the way. I shot that while experimenting with some manual settings.... I know, my feet are huge!)As you can imagine, February was full of sweets. The eatable kind and the huggable kind. I like both!
Now we know where Jonah learned his cookie decorating etiquette from. Luke checking out the consequences of all that splashing. I didn't love the mess, but I love this shot. And I sure do love that little mess maker!

True love.

Ok, I promise not to make him wear that hat again.

Miss fashionista strikes a pose.

Opa and his little buddy. They went to see the train exhibits together and had a great time.

Omi shows Luke how they did things "back in the day".

Sunbathing. He really is the best family dog ever. We love you Murphy!!

Prayer chimes.

Getting a push from Little Mister Stripeypants.

Happiness. Joy. Fun. Etc...

The 'Valentines Assembly' bonanza. (Pirates and Fairies. How'd you guess?)

Sweet face.

Sneaky face."Can I climb higher?" face. Oh Captain, my Captain...

Farewell, dear friends, until next post!

My Funny Little Valentines

Getting ready to leave for preschool and some super fun Valentine's parties.
They really do love each other this much. They also squabble on occasion, but most of the time, it's love, love, love! (Especially when a camera is involved.)

Well, every good pastry chef does a taste test when creating a masterpiece, you know.

And this lovely 'love necklace' was all for ME!
Dear Ole Mom joining in on the fun for as long as they'll let me.

The Afterschool Tree Climbers Club. My little monkeys are always up for a good climb. (It's the most loved/abused magnolia tree I know of.)

So, in closing, we'd just like to give you all a big "Thumbs Up!"

Alright, I guess I have to tell you about this one... I just love this picture 'cause as soon as I saw it I said to myself, "That's my boy!" See, I have this kind of weird habit of sticking up my thumb when I do certain things, like eat (in a hurry), or sometimes when I'm brushing my teeth (and I don't really know when else, because I usually don't realize I'm even doing it until Chris makes fun of me.)

I'm right-handed and when I'm concentrating on what the right hand is doing I guess that left thumb just kind of pops out, maybe for 'balance' or something. (?) Well, my sweet Jonah is a Leftie (for some reason I think that in itself is cute. Probably because I think everything that Jonah does is cute... but I digress...) so I guess since he's left-handed his right thumb has to do the balancing for him. I've always thought that Jonah was kind of like my mirror image... but much cuter, of course.

Happy very late Valentine's everyone! I hope it was filled with much love and my prayer is for that love to be floating all around you still.

The Rainbow Connection

Who knew that a few colorful bowls could provide so much entertainment?
For the past 7+ years I have primarily used all white dishes. The are very nice, durable, neutral, simple and did I mention, all white dishes. I decided it was time to go out on a limb and spice things up a bit when I saw a few brightly colored bowls at my absolute favorite store.

At first I was going to get all red ones, but that didn't feel very fun, so I added in a few yellow ones too. (I know, you're at the edge of your seat now.) But then things got really crazy. I decided to step way out of the box and just get a whole mess of different colors (gasp)! And, are you ready for this? I didn't even get an equal number of each color!! Can you believe it?!? No, I couldn't either. It's almost just too much excitement for one blog post, isn't it?

Go ahead and laugh at me, if you'd like, but not only have I had tons of fun mixing and matching them according to what I'm serving, but the kids also spent nearly an hour playing with them when I first unpacked them. Three little people, happy and content playing with bowls and kitchen utensils during the usually fussy pre-dinner hour = one grateful Mommy. I just knew being spicy would be fun. Watch out world, I may just start using rainbow colored clothes hangers too! Hmmm, well, that might be taking things a bit too far.

Even though some were hidden, there were many happy smiles floating about.

Searching for the perfect game pieces.

Some of us were apparently not playing according to her rules. (Hey, it's hard when there are so many!)And when you get tired of bowls, there's always tissue boxes.

From Where I Sit

This is the view I have many afternoons after our ride home from Preschool. On this day I didn't have Lukie with me so I just sat in the car with them, listening to music and soaking in the truth of how blessed I am. (If those of you who know my house are thinking I was also stalling on having to carry both sleepy kids, our coats, and all of our bags, up our abundace of stairs... you would be right about that too.)

Gettin' Snippy With It

While we are passing out 'Thanks'. I think another round of applause needs to go out to our Omi who generously donates her cosmotology skills to give all the kiddos free hair cuts every so often. (Probably more often than Omi's blood pressure would like.) We know it is a very challenging endeavor and we appreciate her so much!

And what better way to celebrate a successful, no-blood-shed(heck, no TEARS shed either!) haircut than by helping yourself to a box of hard, dried up, organic raisins.

Super Hubby To the Rescue

I really must share with you one of the things my sweet husband took it upon himself to do for us this weekend. Surely you remember the messes left behind when we escaped to Build-A-Bear in my last post. (Hopefully it didn't cause too many nightmares for you.)

Well, that shoe pile continued growing right out of that closet, until it was no longer possible to even shove the door closed. So my dear Hubby took matters into his own hands and tackled that beast of a closet. My friends, I present to you....

BEFORE...

...and AFTER! (Look!! You can see the floor!)

(The shelves were a bonus.)

Now, let's all give Chris the round of applause he deserves for stepping up to a challenge (and keep our fingers crossed that we can keep it this way, for at least another week.) Thank you my dear!