them thar be scary pirates

We spent Saturday afternoon with my family going to see Pirates of the Caribbean. Those darn pirates proved to be a bit to scary for some of our landlubber kids so after talking to the theatre manager I took some of the kids to another theatre to see Shrek. I wish I could give you a great review of the movie but I slept through a lot of it and if truth be told - I'm not a huge Shrek fan.

After the movie my family came back to the house where we hung out and had dinner. We celebrated Meg's birthday (a little early) with some strawberry shortcake.

We also had to get a group shot of all of us sporting our pirate garb. My mom hit the 99 cent store and outfitted us all in the latest pirate fashion.

inappropriate?

So these are the shots I really love but they all seemed not the right choice for a baptism invitation. I love the third picture the best but something about his face just doesn't convey the feeling of reverence, does it? I'm beginning to wonder about my taste in photos...is it wrong that I like the shots of my kids pulling faces instead of the sweet, angelic shots? These pictures just seem to capture Nate better then the others.

In case you're wondering, which you're proabably not, I cropped the photos this way so that I could put the wording for the invite of to the right of Nate - that's why these all look the same.

baptism photo shoot

I forced poor Nathan to suffer through a photo shoot so that I could get some shots of him for his baptism invitation. Here is some of what we ended up with...
I think we will use one of these for the invites although I'm still not sure. I actually have some other shots that I love but thought it would be best not use them since this is a baptism invitation after all. Check out the next post to see my favorites.

field trip

On Tuesday I took a field trip with my photography class to Laguna Beach. The assignment was to photograph the sunset but with such horrible weather that day we all took to shooting other things. The gray weather was not very inspiring and out of the 300+ shots I took I don't like very many of them. Here are a few that I liked ok but I'm not really in love with any of them. The pictures above and below are of my friend Rona. She and I are taking the photo class together. The foot picture is probably my favorite of the whole shoot.
I found it funny that this sign was on the beach serving no purpose. I think I would have liked this shot better if the sign had kids climbing on it. That is one of the things I learned from this field trip - I am not a landscape photographer - I like people in my shots.
This was my first attempt at night/motion photography together. I think the results are kinda cool but the shot is still not pulling any emotion from me. Even though I don't love any of the shots, I enjoyed messing around with some new techniques and am anxious to head back down to Laguna (with family this time) to try out more shots.

60 days and counting...

So, book 7 is quickly approaching and we have started to plan our Harry Potter book release bash. Megan and I have spent far too much time on the internet looking for ideas but it sure has been fun. I have a great idea for the outside of the house but I'm keeping it under wraps at the moment.

We can always use some good ideas. If you have any ideas that would work for a Hogwarts celebration please send them our way. At the moment we are planning to have the great hall complete with floating candles, a potions classroom, and possibly a divination classroom. We will be serving a meal and playing games before we head over to Borders to pick up our golden book.

I need to get working on costumes as well. Megan wants to be Luna Lovegood. Emily isn't sure but I think her plan is to be a Ravenclaw student. I think I want to be Prof. Trewlaney or Bellatrix. Prof. T would be the easier costume to make.

We are getting way excited for the book but I'm also excited to be planning a party. I haven't planned a big party in a long time and I miss it. I'm sure Derek is thrilled to see "party money" flying out of our bank account.

he's home!

Derek is back from his work trip to Las Vegas - yippee! We all hate when he is away but we try to make the most of it. The kids and I had a weekend long slumber party in the family room. We watched movies and ate pizza and candy. We spent some time in San Diego (already mentioned the piano recital), we visited Uncle Jeff in San Clemente. We did some laundry - that always makes for a fun weekend. Of course there is still more laundry to be done today - why is it never ending?

where's the scissors?

I'm thinking that pony tails are a sure sign that it's time for the boys to get their hair cut. I wanted the boys to get a haircut this weekend but with Derek out of town it wasn't going to happen. This picture was my insurance shot...I knew when Derek got home and saw this picture he would pull out the scissors immediately. Luckily, I didn't have to use it...Derek got home yesterday afternoon and before the day was through he had the boys looking cleaned up and sporting nice new do's. There was no denying it, both boys looked like little rag-a-muffins. On that note...what is a rag-a-muffin? My grandparents used to call me that.

the sound of music

Saturday was Megan's piano recital in San Diego. It's a long drive for her 5 minutes of fame but we made the most of it and had fun. Derek was out of town all weekend so the kids and I headed out of here at 9am and enjoyed the parking lot that we here in California call the freeway. I'd like to say that traffic coming home was better but of course it wasn't. Why does it seem like everyone in California is always going to the same place, at the same time? Come on people... take public transportation so I can drive on the freeways at 65 miles per hour :)

Megan did a great job with her recital pieces with just a note or two sounding a little off. She just grins and laughs it off - she has such an easy going personality and can usually just roll with whatever is thrown at her.

After the recital I took the kids to lunch at Chevy's and we had a great time. The kids were really good and well behaved so we laughed when the hostess sat a couple next to us and we could see the lady "discreetly" pointing to us asking to be moved. I chalked it up to some adults not really enjoying kids and let it go. However, a few minutes later a family of 4 was seated in the same spot - before they even sat down they moved themselves to another table. What is going on?!? I really mean this when I say the kids were not being loud or obnoxious - I'm not even wearing my rose colored glasses right now. I would have sat by us - a nice, quiet family enjoying a meal together.

for derek

yes, another school project or should we say our child is brilliant

I remember when Megan was younger we thought everything she did was brilliant. As a baby she'd coo "she's talking so young" we'd say. Her first steps would bring such joy for us knowing that she was so advanced for her age. The wonderment continued with the other kids but just not as much, since we had experienced the milestones before, but we we still had our proud moments....Emily learning to swim made us burst our buttons - "I bet she'll go the Olympics" we'd exclaim, Nathan going on a roller coaster at a young age made him the bravest kid ever in our eyes. But Luke, poor Luke...when you are the fourth kid to come along mom and dad have pretty much seen it all. Well, hold on a minute...Luke has surprised us and we are sure once again that we have brilliant kids and that Luke will be the next world famous artist.

Luke had a mammal project due for school this week. He chose to report on a lion and look what he did....

He drew this himself. Now be honest - isn't it the most amazing lion drawing you've ever seen from a 5 year old? You know it is! Derek and I were both rather surprised by his artistic ability. He used the cover of a lion book to copy and I think he did great. He added torn paper for the mane and the final project was amazing. We have our fourth genius! Man, Derek and I are good parents! :)

beating the heat, part dos

Last week, to escape the hot house, we decided to have a picnic dinner at the park. It seems a lot of others had the same idea since the park was full of people. We enjoyed our meal except for a run in with some rotten carrots - you don't really want to know. Let's just say that Derek and Em thought they were flavored carrots. When I convinced them they weren't there was some gagging going on. The surprising thing!?!...Luke ate a bunch of them before we discovered they were bad and never said a thing. I would say that is pretty gross but on the bright side he and his stomach will be ready for a foreign mission.

Derek watching the kids play frisbee

Luke loves this park because of all the rocks. We have already determined in previous posts that I tend to be a bit paranoid so I spend a lot of my time at this park trying to keep Luke from falling in to the duck and turtle infested waters.

It was nice to sit by the water and just enjoy one anothers company. We also started a walk around the lake but never made it all the way around. Their are exercise stations placed throughout the park and the kids wanted to stop at everyone they saw - it made for a long walk so we had to cut the walk short. No worries though...the exercise was good for all of us and we learned a few things about me and Nate - we can't jump to save our lives. A few of the exercises required jumping - just forget it, Nate and I caught no air. Any dreams Derek may have had of seeing Nate play basketball were shattered I'm sure.

beating the heat

Last week, or was it the week before (?) we had some way HOT weather. We were pushing close to 100 degrees for a few days. The kids spent an afternoon cooling off in the sprinklers and had a blast. The community pool would have been their first choice but with too much needing done at home the best I could pull off was the sprinklers.

treasure hunting

When Luke and I walk to school he likes to look for treasures. His "treasures" usually consist of various rocks and flowers which I always end up holding so his hands can be free to find even more treasures.

Last week as we were walking to school Luke found this little beauty - a lizard tail. Do I even need to tell you what my reaction was? We were still a ways from school and there was no way, let me repeat - no way, that I was going to carry his treasure all the way to school and then back home. He agreed to finding a hiding place for it so that HE could pick it up after school and bring it home.

So now I have a lovely lizard tail in a glad container decorating my kitchen counter. Oh the joy of boys!

fathers and sons

It's time to play catch up with posts - we got behind a bit.

Last Friday was our Fathers and Sons campout with church. Every year the men take their boys camping over night at a local campground. Nathan and Luke love going and always come home filthy and happy. I spend the whole night worrying that the dads aren't watching their boys well enough and I am always sure that boys will be lost and never found. It doesn't help when Derek says to me, as we are packing them up, "make sure the boys each have a flashlight and then one for me so I'll be able to find them when it gets dark" What?

We never get any pictures from the actual camping trip so I took a "before" of the boys as they loaded up the car.
This shot is of Luke before leaving on the campout. See how excited he is to be going camping?
This is the after! Nothing like coming home after playing in the dirt for hours and getting no sleep. Luke came home so dirty and so tired. It made for a fun Saturday.

I wouldn't trade it though. The boys love their yearly adventure with dad, especially since I am not there hovering. If I was there, there would be no chance of them getting lost but where is the fun in that? I know they love just being with Dad.

photography 2

I started my photography 2 class a few weeks ago. We are working on portraits and lighting. Each week we turn in one photo for our homework assignment - the one of Nate is what I turned in last night. I'm learning a lot but am still finding it hard to convey in the photo what I'm picturing in my mind. I'm trying to observe more and to be aware of light, distractions, etc. when shooting but sometimes it all seems like a lot to remember. I am enjoying myself though and it is nice to have a hobby, especially one that allows me to create.

feeling blue (& pink)

We mentioned earlier in our blog the Coble Family. The funeral for their children was Saturday. The community is still mourning the loss of these 3 precious children and fundraisers are happening all over town. While out grocery shopping today I had to pull out my camera and take a few pictures of just a few of the hundreds of ribbons that are tied on trees, posts, bushes, bridges, etc throughout the area. Wherever you look you see 2 pink ribbons and 1 blue ribbon tied together. Whenever I drive through town and see these ribbons I cry. I just can't imagine. It is nice though to see the outpouring of love and I hope that it brings at least a little bit of comfort to the Coble family.

we're still here

No, we have not dropped off the face of the earth we just seem to be overly busy at the moment. The regularly scheduled blogging will resume - eventually!

nate's eight

So Monday was Nathan's birthday - the big 8. Here is how we celebrated...

Derek and I went up to school for lunch and brought cupcakes and water for the kids to have during lunch. The cupcakes were a bigger hit then the water (surprise, surprise) but I personally thought the water bottles were better then cupcakes, but what do I know - I'm not 8. We also took up little gift bags that Nathan passed out to his classmates at the end of the day. Nate felt like he had a little party and I hardly did any work - I might have to turn this party at the lunch tables thing in to a tradition :)

One of our birthday traditions is the birthday boy or girl gets to pick the meal for dinner. Nate picks the same gourmet meal every year - frozen chicken nuggets & tater tots - is your mouth watering just thinking about it? The afternoon ended up being a bit overbooked and the grocery store quickly ended up at the bottom of the long to do list. Nate was easily swayed to go out to dinner at a restaurant of his choosing so we ended up at Chili's and enjoyed a nice dinner complete with birthday serenade by the talented wait staff.

We concluded the evening with a birthday gift trip to Target where we each picked up a gift for Nate. We put our very posh wrapping skills to use and wrapped the presents in the back seat of the Suburban using the beautiful and graphic Target bags, handed the gifts to Nate in the middle seat where he opened the bags and found all was right with the world. A rousing rendition of Happy Birthday and we were home for bed.

remember this family

Some of you have heard about the car accident that happened here in our area Friday night. A family lost all three of their young children. More information on the accident can be found here.

A website has been set up to honor the Coble children. As you kneel down to say your prayers remember this family. I can't imagine the pain and grief that they must be going through. Events like this remind us how fragile our lives are. We could all be better... speak kinder, be slow to judge, say I love you more and hug a little tighter.

on to saturday's activities

Saturday was party day...Luke had a party for a classmate/neighborhood friend at our local little park. He was having a great time until we had to pick him up early so we could head out to the next party. No child wants to leave a party early - you can imagine the tears I'm sure.

As a family we went to celebrate Abby's 1st birthday - what a great celebration for a very special girl. You can see pictures from her party here. It was amazing to see such a happy, healthy little girl so aware of her surroundings when it wasn't that long ago that Derek and I saw her in the hospital after her birth. She truly is a miracle.

I had fun putting together her birthday present. We put together "Abby's Bedtime Box" and filled it with books, a blanket and a cd of lullabies. I reused my birthday label that I made for the apple but I changed the words. I knew I would find other uses for it.

After the party we did a quick change into church clothes and then went to our Stake baptisms. Our friends the Wrights baptized their youngest son. After the baptism the Wrights invited family and friends over to their home for a meal. Amazing doesn't even begin to describe it. Max (the mom) is an amazing cook. She does catering on the side. She prepared an amazing feast of Chinese food that was enjoyed by all.

whew...what a weekend

We have had a busy weekend. Friday night was Emily's Daddy Daughter Dance. Her date for the evening was very good looking and a perfect gentleman. I had to help at the event so I took my camera planning on getting a ton of great shots but only got his one. The self timer had been set on my camera and I could not figure out how to turn it off. Whenever I took a picture we had to wait a very long minute for it to shoot and then the flash would go off - the shots did not turn out well so I gave up.

Emily had a ton of fun. She enjoyed learning new dance steps with her dad. Derek has always said that he got married so he wouldn't have to dance anymore but I think he forgot about things like daddy-daughter shindigs.

Emily looked really cute in her new dress. She and I went on a shopping spree and she loved finding the polka dot dress. She looked very grown up to me which made me feel a little sad. My kids are getting so big.

you're invited to a princess ball

Emily has her yearly daddy-daughter activity days date with Derek tonight. She is so excited to go out with her daddy. She has informed me that she needs to go and get a suitable dress today after school. She actually really does need some new church dresses so this is a good excuse to go out and find something. I'll post pictures after the big date.

Nate is getting way excited for his birthday on Monday. The big 8! He is eager for his baptism on June 9th. He misses the Stake baptisms for this month by 2 days. We are not having a birthday party for him this year because of his baptism. He doesn't seem to mind at all so all is well. I am going to go up to the school on Monday and decorate the lunch tables where his class sits and bring pizza for all the kids. I have been working on some personalized labels for the water bottles I plan to take up with the pizza. I need some ideas to help me finish them. Maybe I will post what I have and see if anyone has ideas for me. Check back for a water label post and please share your ideas.

no time for cupcakes

It's been one of those days. You know the ones where you are busy and running around all day but you're not really sure what you accomplished.

I wanted to deliver a birthday treat to a woman in our ward but there was just no way I was going to get cupcake baking into the day. I ran to Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and got a yummy apple pie apple and then did some simple packaging.

I have probably said this before but I love labels. They are quick and easy to make and add a great personal touch. I know that there are a few of you out there that make labels too - the fonts I used are walkway bold (thinking of, on your special day) Jane Austen (all cursive) and the "YOU" I can't remember but it was a basic font - arial, maybe. The label is pink and brown, although in the picture it looks black.

This would be a great little gift when neighbors need a little pick me up, for teachers, for visiting teaching or to remember someones birthday. I just plan to change the wording to fit the occasion when I use this idea again.

stepping back in time

I will upload more pictures soon but for now here is one I love. How cute is this of Megan and Luke? The Faire was for the middle schoolers but the elementary kids were invited to come for a shorter time (they share a campus) Luke was excited to be dressed up as a knight although we had a bit of turmoil deciding on the right type of knight (more on that later) He was thrilled to find Megan on the field and to be able to walk around with his big sister. Megan was happy to hold his hand and show him around and she never felt bugged or embarrassed by having her little bro tag along - it warms a mommies heart.

About the knight costume...Luke comes home from school with a note saying that the kids should dress up as a princess or knight. For a split second I think I will attempt sewing one but quickly decide against it - costume castle will work. So Luke and I begin talking about the costume. I ask if he would like a certain color, does he want a sword, shield, etc. His reply..."Mrs. Fish says we can dress as a Jedi knight - I want to be a Jedi knight" What? A Jedi knight at a medieval faire. Mind you, I am a huge "stick with the theme" kinda gal. I realize a good, nurturing mom might say "sure honey, if that's what you want to be" and then let her child go on his merry way secure in the fact that his mother trusts him to make decisions on his own. Not happening with me. The thought of sending a jedi to the faire makes my stomach feel sick - a theme is a theme. If you think I am over exaggerating my feelings on this - ask my husband. After more then a few discussions and a bit of crying (told you I wasn't nurturing :) Luke realizes that my mind ain't a changing and agrees to be a knight. If it makes anyone feel better he did love his knight costume and was thrilled to be wearing it. Had he shown up as a jedi I am sure that he would have been scarred for life and would have had a life long aversion to all things Star Wars. See, I helped him - maybe I am a nurturing mother after all.

i heart blake

No worries for Derek - I don't love Blake like that, I love him in a "I would buy tickets to a concert" kinda way. Did you not love this performance?!?!

check it out

Ok, so look what I found today...Martha Stewart Craft. I'm not a huge fan of Martha but she (or at least her staff) comes up with some great ideas. Imagine the party possibilities with all these goodies. And the cute cupcake liners & the boxes - I'm giddy with excitement.