Fairy's Gone Wild

It's all I got right now......one of her many crazy outfits, bottle of Diet Mt. Dew, and her boy haircut....

Random Pics

*****DISCLAIMER****** This is a long post:) But at least it is filled with pics!

Life is crazy, we are all feeling it now. I feel like every post (which has been few and far between) has started that way....

I went through the pics on my small little point-and-shoot and thought I would just throw them up in an extremely random way. These date as far back as the beginning of November! So here goes!Dad celebrated his 52nd b-day....the cakes were extremely yummy. This is where my freedom with eating began.
Mae decided to try queso ON chocolate cake. She was actually licking the queso off the cake. She seemed to enjoy it.

On our way to Colorado...there was a whole lot of this...watching the DVD player, and sleeping. Thank GOD for DVD players in vehicles. Don't know how we survived before it.


Thanksgiving was successful. We had a plethora of food, and the kids had a blast playing Guitar Hero. Faith especially...Mae...not so much:)

We bought and decorated our tree.....and Essie. She was less then enthused. Perhaps because she had already been puked on that night.
We decorated LOTS of cookies......



And the girls had their school and church concerts.....They were less then thrilled to have that last pic taken:)


AND....finally. A new milestone in our house happened. It wasn't by my choice. Mae came to me on Saturday holding her ponytail (yes you saw it right..her ENTIRE PONYTAIL) in her hand and informed me that she "took my ha-oh out!" Literally. So, I had to cut the mullet. She rocked an awesome mullet, but I had to let go. You can see the rather sparse spot it left on the side of her head there. Here is the before......

*sigh* And the after. She looks like a boy with a bow. My sister says she looks like a German child, which I guess is ok since she mostly is German. But she definitely looks older. That's it for now....hopefully I will be able to update more frequently now that I am done with all my immediate stuff. I do have 1800 wedding photos to start going through, but I am taking a week off!

A light at the end of the tunnel? Or just a train.....

Exhaustion......complete and total exhaustion. That is what my body feels these days. I shot my last photo session of the season, and I would like to just say I'm going to take it easy but I won't. I have 1800 (I am not exaggerating!) wedding pictures to go through to edit (not all of them of course!), a new baby joining the family any minute (Yeah Caden!) and still have three sessions that need to be completed. And I can only do all this stuff in the evenings, during naps or on the weekends...but it is fine. Taking a break from the computer to hang with some cool dudes and one hilarious 2-year-old is worth it.

So....check out my flickr site at www.flickr.com/myhousephotography/sets if you want to see what I've been up to, but in the meantime....here are some cute girls that will soon be hanging on my walls....

By the way....Maebree says she can't wait for "Piss-mas" this year....That is a daily event for me it seems these days:)

An unplanned day

I planned a few things for this day. I was going to decorate my house and tree. I was going to get my Christmas Card list ready. I did not plan any of the following:

I did not plan to feed my kids cookies for breakfast.
I did not plan to eat nothing but pretzels and M&Ms all day.
I did not plan on cleaning puke out of my carpet.
I did not plan on cleaning puke off my couch and ottoman.
Also didn't plan on cleaning puke off the dog.
Didn't plan on vaccumming up 100 pounds of glitter off my carpet.
I didn't plan on getting said glitter stuck in my eye only to have it screw up my contact for life.

*sigh* Just another not about the puking....as I'm decorating the tree and heard said "noise" coming from Emmy on the couch, my response was not the nurturing, motherly response it should've been. It was "Really?! Really....you just PUKED on my COUCH!? AND the floor!? There is a bathroom five steps away and REALLY?!" Yep. I got mad at my kid for throwing up. Just for the record....I did apologize. Is it January 2010 yet?



*****Addendum***** I also didn't plan on waking at 2:00 a.m. this morning to clean puke only to shower the child, throw her stuff in the washer, and put her in bed with me to have her puke all over my pillow and hair at 2:30. If I ever give my kids another Christmas cookie....punch me right in the face.

Annual Christmas card shoot

I should be in bed. I haven't been to bed before midnight in over a week. And it started off as one NASTY week too. Lets just say a flat tire in "the hood" was not a way to start the week. Plus I taught my daughter some new words...**sigh*** mother of the year, right here! (BTW..they weren't cuss words persay, it was freakin' and heck, Christian cuss-words if you will. Just had to clarify that:)

My friend Stacia (that's her nickname:) showed me a pic of her pastors kids who were dressed up like "Who-people" a la The Grinch, and that was it. I knew that would be our Christmas card. After editing these pics, I decided I wished I would've used a white background, but it just washed out the little two and their light hair, so black it was.

Here are a few that won't make the card-cut, though they are too cute not to share!

If you want to see the final results....you better start begging to make the list! :)

Blog vacation

I know that it seems I've taken a vacation from the blog world. I assure you, I have not. Time is not my friend these days. We went on a little trip to Colorado which ended up being more of a work trip then a fun trip. Especially for our kids, but that is for another blog. Here is a sample of what was done......by sample, I mean sample 'cause this is it and I'm not touching another photo until my hiatus in December, so enjoy!
I was more than happy to take her wedding pics. She has been waiting for this man for years, as have all of us who know her! She looked radiant....it was extremely emotional, and I'm sad I couldn't 100% immerse myself and enjoy her wedding, but I am truly honored she trusted me with her memories.

Just as an FYI.....I will not be doing weddings:) Not now...possibly not ever. It was extremely stressful, and I just don't have the equipment needed to do them right. But I will be more than happy to take, say a Nikon D700 as a bribe:) I'm just sayin' :)

A bad case of the "we don'ts"

Craziness has truly taken over my life. Since my last blog, Maebree, after perking up, took another nose dive into the flu thing. I had to cancel my "babies" last week in some effort to get her better and sanitize, sanitize, sanitize. Then Russ got whatever "it" was. So far.....my immune system has held it together. I pray every day (while taking my Ester-C and acidophiles) that it will continue since I just don't have time for sickness. The upstairs of my house looks like a laundry bomb went off, and I can't even remember the last time I vacuumed. But I digress.....

Yesterday was a busy day. All babies were on their own schedule and had their own ideas about things. I caught myself saying "No! We don't.....(fill in the blank)" at least a million times. I find that saying funny, because "We" implies that I do these things....and I assure you, I do not. I thought I would share some of the "we don'ts" that were uttered yesterday. Mother's of my extras, see if you can figure out which one goes with your kid:)

We don't:
.....lick the couch.
.....lick the sliding glass door.
.....eat the entertainment center.
....pull the cat's tail.
.....pull the cat's ears.
......try and ride on the dog.
......try and ride on our buddy.
......poke buddies eyes out.
......take toys from our friends.
.......throw our plates.
.......throw our bottle. After opening it and spilling it all over.
......lick...ok....you can lick your plate.
.......stab the t.v. with a toy.
.......eat the remote.
......eat the phone. Here. Eat THIS phone.
.......lick the carpet.

Have you figured out which goes with which? ;) Hint: All the "licks" go together....

Nasty weekend

***SIGH****

That pretty much sums up the last weekend. My little tater came down with a fever early Saturday morning. She came into our room saying she had to potty, and when I picked her up, she felt as if she was on fire:( Nothing else, just fever, and a doozy of one that peeked at 105 that night. That lasted 'til about 6:00 last night when I finally caved and called the patient advisory nurse because I just couldn't take her being miserable anymore. I didn't want to just take her in and expose her to everyone else's swine flu, but wanted to know what was wrong at the same time. Wouldn't you know it while I was waiting for that darn nurse to call back, she snapped out if it. Her fever broke and she ran upstairs to put on her "pintheth" to do some heavy duty spinning to the Dora episode that was on. Just like that, sickness done. It was weird.

I don't know what it was, I don't know why she had it. She now has a small little cough every now and then and a bit 'o snot, but nothin else. I happened to get one of the sweetest shots of her in recent times. I love it becuase she looks so darn snuggly and it was really the only good sleep she got that day, and I hate it because I know she was miserable.

On that note, why is it that kids only snuggle when they are sick? Makes no sense to me at all!

Urbanathalon

Last weekend my husband ran in the Chicago Urbanatholon. It is a 12 miles race with lots of crazy, fun obstacles. In order to not repeat the debacle that was losing him at the Marathon last year, we left the kids and took our BFFs with us instead.


At the end of the race, they had to jump over two taxis and then climb an 8-foot wall. It was crazy, but I got video of him, separately, doing both. *****DISCLAIMER******* turn the volume down on your computer before hitting play. I quite possibly have the most annoying voice in the history of the world, and when I get excited....it just gets worse.

I did get some video of him finishing the wall climb, but really, it was 5 seconds long, and I only started it once he was at the top. It was seriously crazy there!


I also had my closet encounter with a somewhat famous person. Can you guess who it is? I will give you a hint....it is not Seal, Heidi Klum's husband:)


That would be Tyrese Gibson, star of Transformers 1 and 2...well...sort of. Apparently he also did some underwear modeling, but I wouldn't know about that.

Anyway, my husband did AWESOME despite not training, like at all, for this, as usual:) We had a blast with our friends, hit Ikea on the way home, and just all around had an excellent weekend. Thanks for coming with us guys!

This week's must read

My friend bought me this book as a joke for my birthday. Maebree drug it out and decided it was a must read for her and Mr. Big Stuff.

I like to keep the kids informed.

Mae's tu-tu

Technically....I don't have time for this. I really don't. I have paying people's pictures to edit......



But what the heck kind of photographer would I be if I let an opportunity like this pass me up:)

***Sigh***At least she was wearing underwear. This is a big accomplishment in our house these days.

Train 'Em up Right!

I've made it no secret that Maebree has become quite exhausting lately. I've finally figured out why there are cookies missing from the container........



Just pushed that stool right over and climbed right up there to get herself a cookie! After I said no of course. She no doubt gets this from her father as he is quite the cookie eater.

Just so you know though, she is not completely a bad example. I went upstairs to lay Mr. Big Stuff down for his nap and came to find this in my living room.....

They both climbed on the couch and into the "magic chair" with their blankies and zonked within a matter of two minutes. At least she's trying to train these guys right!

Max gettin' his shave on!

I have this cat. Most of you know this cat. You either love him or he drives you nuts. We love him AND he drives us nuts. But he is a good cat. He's about as low-maintenance as any cat could be. We could literally leave him for days and he would be fine. No food left in his bowl? No problem! He just opens the closet door and helps himself to his cat food. No water? No issue! There are three toilets in this house all filled with cold drinking water! Litter full? He could care less! Just unroll some toilet paper, cover the box and start all over. (really. He did that!) He opens doors (GREAT parlor trick for company), plays fetch with the kids, and has a general love of all people and things.

He is not a diva, despite his sissy little "meow". He doesn't care about things like hygiene or grooming, as evidenced in his before pics.

He is a large cat at 18 pounds and has just about that much in hair. I don't have time to brush him every day, three times a day in order to keep it under control (not to mention the allergies would be out of control if I did that!) So he just goes and goes until we see he is miserable with matts then I call up our local pet groomer and pay to have him shaved or "cut down" as she calls it.

I picked him up today, and of course she was raving about what a nice cat he was and how he just loves everyone but didn't care for the dogs barking or her actual razor, but he still just purred and purred and loved on her....yeah yeah yeah, Max loves everyone. I didn't see him until I got him home.....then I laughed for 20 minutes straight whilst singing "The Circle of Life" from the Lion King.


He looks somewhere between awesome and ridiculous. He is much happier, probably due to all the extra attention he is getting. But I think he just feels good too. I mean, what girl doesn't love their hair after a fresh new haircut? :)

A day in the life.......

Seriously...this is for me. Just for me to know that I DID actually do some things today. There is nothing more discouraging than feeling like you've worked your buns off all day for nothing...so this is just for me....

6:30...Alarm went off, jumped out of bed so fast forgot I was going to hit snooze today.

• Went to coffee pot to start a much needed batch.
• Realized we were out of cereal, waffle mix, and anything else my kids will eat for breakfast. Guess a trip to the grocery is in order.
• Go for my coffee, realize the filter fell in. Start another batch.
• Put toast in the toaster for breakfast. A little butter, little syrup, call it French toast.
• First attempt at the wake up call.
• Drink my first sip of coffee....it really is the "Nectar of the Gods".
• Second wake up attempt is successful. I realize some nasty, grouchy hooligans took over my kid's bodies last night.
• "I didn't want this for breakfast, I wanted cereal!"
• Go for my second cup of coffee.
• Mae stumbles downstairs. "Momma...I aw wet!"
  
• Throw her in the tub and scrub her down.
• Take her screaming out of the tub.
  
• Make the kids lunches.
• "Mom! I don't like those fruit snacks! Can't we have cookies!"
• Inform my 9-year-old it's gross to wear pants 5 days in a row without washing them and to go change.
  
• Reiterate to my 6-year-old that it is no longer summer and shorts are not in order.
• Realize I really should put ALL their summer stuff away.
• Load everyone up in the car to take to school. Make sure EVERYONE has lunch boxes and book bags.
  
• Realize I'm so glad I don't have to actually walk into the school as Mae only has on underwear and rain boots, and I am still wearing my robe.
• "What do you want for breakfast Mae-Mae?" "I wan cake!" "Sorry, no more cake, daddy ate the rest (thank GOD!)" "I wan frui-snacks!"
  
• Cave and give her the fruit snacks.
• Empty dishwasher and load it up again.
  
• Decide today is the day I will get the laundry caught up.
• Talk to friend about her upcoming wedding and then pee my pants realizing I'm not sure I'm talented enough to be her photographer.
• Start my eggs for breakfast....I'm DETERMINED to not fall off the wagon today after the cake debacle last night.
• Mae wants eggs, have to make more.
  
• Get out fall decorations.
• Realize I have to dust BEFORE I put them up. Dust.
• Start putting up the decorations.
  
• Clean up the mess Maebree made WITH the fall decorations.
• Vacuum. Bad smell.....bag has overloaded inside of vacuum.
• Sweep kitchen.
  
• Start mopping.
  
• Stop mopping when I realize Mae has the vacuum and is emptying it all over the kitchen.
  
• Start her a movie.
• Re-Vacuum kitchen, then mop it.
  
• Clean off my kitchen table. Decide we must start actually eating there sometime, maybe the kids would actually eat.
  
• Clean out Max's lair. Decide he is going to get shaved, even if I have to do it.
  
• Shouldn't have vacuumed yet....
• Switch out laundry.
  
• Do some more photog work for the PRC.
  
• Switch out the laundry again.
  
• Mae's hungry, make her a "butter" sandwich (peanut butter)
  
• Grab a quick protein shake of the hubby's to curb my afternoon hunger.
• Respond to some emails.
• Load Mae up and head to p/u girls from school. She is now wearing Emmy's dance costume (the one wear she looks like a German bar wench) without underwear and only one rain boot. Mother of the year, right here.
• Get kids successfully.
• Make after school snack, apples and peanut butter. It's a success as no one complains.
  
• Jump in the shower. No shampoo or conditioner, gotta use some body wash.
• My hair now smells like a man's deodorant.
• Decide to eat something before heading to get groceries. Make up some vegetable cheese junk that smelled better than it tasted.
  
• Throw hair up in a pony tail, load kids up, head to Wal-Mart.
• Crap. I have no gas.
• Go to our town's ONLY gas station.....one stall open. I back in and realize it has bags over the pumps.
  
• Finally get gas, head to bank to cash grocery check.
  
• Teller takes 10 minutes just to get me a pen.
  
• Arrive at Wal-Mart. Emmy informs me that I "smell like dad".
  
• Successfully find all groceries on the list, and even a few off list items.
  
• Head home.
  
• Drive by mom and dad's old house for kicks and grins. All new windows and new siding going up. Feel sad because we won't have Christmas there ever again.
• Drive around the back and choke back tears as we see the pools been ripped out. Have to console 9-year-old who is not choking back tears and is very sad the pool has been ripped out....a lot of hard work and the only cuss word I ever heard my dad say was when he was installing that pool.
• Come home, put groceries away, feed kids cinnamon rolls for dinner.
• Look around and see it looks as if I've done nothing all day. Force kids to empty dishwasher.
  
• Switch out laundry.
  
• Dig cinnamon rolls out of the dogs mouth. She hates me now.
• Talked to the hubby for a few minutes. Tell him I was sad to see the pool ripped out. I wish he was home and brought me cake tonight instead of last night. Remember I was determined to not fall off the wagon.
  
• Put Mae to bed after she has emptied an entire 500 piece puzzle on the girls floor.
  
• Feel bad I put her to bed angry. Realized she won't remember it in the morning. Thanked God a little for that.
• Switched out the laundry. Last load.
• Realized that all the bills I paid yesterday are still in the bottom of my purse waiting to go to the post office.
  
• Put the older two to bed. Forgot to get them toothpaste.
  
• Folded last load.
  
• Caved and ate the last cinnamon roll.
  
• Decided to type ridiculous blog about all that I actually did today.
  

I know there are a thousand things (including talking to my mom and Nichole at least 5 times each:)I have forgotten, but this alone took me 25 minutes to type up...and quite frankly...I'm tired. So tomorrow is a new day, a new day of low-carbing it. A new day to maybe actually get a jog in. A new day to maybe get to the post office. Except I remember that I have two extra little monkey's on my hands as well as a recently overactive toddler. ***sigh**** At least Russ will be home tomorrow.

Christmas card promotion!

By the way, that is $40, not $70. I did not choose my font wisely:)

Be prepared for less bloggage. I think I will be busy.....

Mana Peggy

My grandma turned 77 in August this year, I know, she looks pretty good for 77! Anywho, I ordered her a blanket with all her great-grand-kid pictures on it (well, my kids and my brother's) and it FINALLY came in this week so we got together to celebrate one great grandma!