Hmmm . . .

Anyone else ever find odd pictures like this on their camera?

Or maybe something like this?

How about a headless child?

Or perhaps something like this?



If so, maybe you have ONE OF THESE at your house!

This little princess absolutely LOVES taking pictures!! She is always grabbing the camera or a cell phone and setting things up and clicking away. And she doesn't do all that bad all the time either!! Anyone have any suggestions for a child-friendly digital camera that doesn't cost a whole lot? The Princess has a birthday coming VERY soon! (You can see her birthday countdown chain hanging on the wall in the 2nd picture!)

Oh, and the crown was from Santa - I think it may be permanently stuck to her head.

Christmas 2009

Ok, so a LITTLE behind here! Just a few fun pictures from Christmas - I didn't take many, but here's some fun ones!

My Crazies!

But they can be Angels, too!

My little Christmas Elf!

Christmas Morning - in their new jammies!

Tabitha posing and showing off her dress -
(that she insisted on wearing almost EVERY day in December!)
and matching bows I made.



A visit with Santa!
(oops - thot I fixed the red eyes - oh well!)

All in all, a good Christmas - spent Christmas Eve at Nana & Pap's (Rick's parents) and then Christmas morning at home opening presents. Rick's parents and Melissa joined us for our Christmas turkey dinner and then a fun rest of the day playing with the new toys and games.

The week after Christmas we spent in Idaho with Lisa's family and Rick spent the week remodeling her sister's bathroom - fun times! The kids had a great time playing with ALL of their cousins, including the 2 brand new little ones that had just been born!

Centers!

The kids had no school today.

Thank you, Dr. King, for what you did for our country.

But what to do? I was NOT about to take 4 kids out for fun -

stressing about being home every 1 1/2 hours for naptime

(yes, he sleeps that often!)

By 9:30, I could tell it was going to be a LONG day -

a very LOOOOOOONG day if I did not do something to entertain these kids.

A light bulb clicked on - CENTERS!!

William often tells me about how he did "centers" at school and how much he enjoys them.

For those who aren't familiar, the idea is simple. Just set up different activities for the kids to do around the house, and rotate every 10 - 15 minutes (or as needed!)

We had 5 different centers this morning:

Reading

Wipe-Off Activity Boards

Art

Spelling

Yogo Math (sorting and counting Yogos by color)

It was a HIT! William was so excited to help get the centers all ready. The kids rotated every 12 minutes and we had a fun, quiet hour, with the kids all working independently.

Took a break for a couple of hours (I had a lunch meeting) and then shortly after getting back home, they were literally BEGGING to do MORE centers!

So this afternoon we did:

Building (blocks & legos)

Reading (yes, again - we love books!)

File Folder Games

Puzzles

Art (again!)

Play-doh

Jello Jiggler Making with Mom

All while listening to some fun kid music!

There are SO many different things you can do for this! The kids LOVED it, had a fun day where we even incorporated learning into it, they got their reading done for the day, and I was able to get some things done (in 12 minute increments!) on my own.

The main thing is to have things that all of your children can do at their level. My art table was simple - lots of construction paper, crayons, markers, kid scissors, glue, and a kid safe paper cutter (Tabitha LOVED this!) - if you aren't comfortable with your kids using scissors, you can do something as simple as coloring books or pages. At our math center, Gabriella had some real math problems to solve with her yogos, while William and Tabitha just counted out the different colors. Smaller kids could even just sort the colors or shapes or whatever! Just make it fun!

We will DEFINITELY be doing Centers again on another No School day!

2009 Tag

1 - What did you do in 2009 that you'd never done before?
Became a Full-Time Working Mom for 2 1/2 months (getting ready to do it again, too!)

2 - Did you keep your New Year's Resolutions and will you make more for next year?
Pretty much - see previous post!

3 - Did anyone close to you give birth?
Myself, baby sister Jessie (girl), SIL Johnna (Joe's wife, boy), cousin Kristina (girl)

4 - Did anyone close to you die?
Rick's wonderful Uncle Larry - one of the greatest, sweetest men I know

5 - What vacations did you take?
Wonderful Meyer Family Reunion in Michigan - including 3 days on the lake

6 - What do you wish you'd done more of?
Scrapbooking, reading, playing with my kids, exercising, blogging

7 - What was the best book you read?
Absolutely LOVED Goose Girl by Shannon Hale - not sure if that was the best, but the best that comes to mind right away!

8 - What was something you wanted but didn't get?
Nothing really - I don't have a lot of major wants - just one thing, and it's still a work in progress.

9 - What kept you sane?
Same thing that always does - an early bedtime for the kiddos! and trips to Kohl's!

10 - What valuable life lesson did you learn?
Regardless of what's going on, I can choose to be happy - no one else can make me that way, it's all up to me.

Happy 2010

It's THAT time again.

A New Year - and that means New Year's Resolutions.

I've been reading over my list of resolutions for 2009, and evalutating how I did. Overall, I did ok - could have been lots better, like always, but not too bad.

Here's a recap of what I wrote one year ago:

1 - Keep up with the dishes. Overall I have done pretty good at this one - mostly. Yes, having a new baby kinda screwed things up for awhile (including a day a neighbor came just at the right moment when I was about to have a breakdown and she so kindly did my mountain of dishes and cleaned the kitchen for me) and slowed me down, but mostly I did ok with this one. Hopefully I can do even better this year!

2 - Piano lessons for Gabriella. Absolutely did NOT happen. In fact, I'd totally forgotten about that. Maybe this summer, we'll see.

3 - Scrapbook. I've done a little, but nowhere close to doing the first year of each of my children. I will definitely keep working on this when I can.

4 - Hair Bows. Again, I've made some, including some to go with T's Christmas dress that I was very pleased with, but not as many as I thot I would.

5 - Eat more fruits & veggies. This one I actually feel like I did very well with. Our family in general eats a lot better now than we used to and for that I am very happy. (and I only gained 32 pounds during my pregnancy, my goal had been 30, like I was hoping to!)

Now, in my defense, shortly after making these goals, I started working Full Time - something I hadn't been planning on doing the first of January. So that REALLY threw things for a loop. And then I had a baby. And I am going to start working again in 4 weeks, but this time I am planning on it and know what to expect so I can be prepared (and not use it as an excuse for next year!) Oh, and I will NOT be having a baby this year.

So, my goals for this year, for 2010 are:

1 - Continue with the 5 from last year.

2 - Make weekly Meal Plans. SO frustrating when it gets to be 4, 5 o'clock and I'm wondering "What's for dinner?" and asking the kids and I always get responses like "Pancakes" "McDonald's" "Pizza!" When I don't have anything written out and planned ahead of time, it is so frustrating! But when I do, we have yummy dinners at a decent time. And to go along with this, I need to take time in January to make a bunch of freezer meals to be prepared for when I start working soon.

3 - Attend the temple once a month. Really, it shouldn't be that hard to go, should it? Especially since it is literally up the road!

4 - Exercise. I've been doing more of this the last couple of months, but I really need to keep at it. I have a little bit of baby weight that I still need to get rid of and I want to overall be healthier and more fit.

And to go along with #4 -

5 - Compete in the Ice Breaker Mini-Triathlon. This scares me. It really does! I am not a great swimmer, biker, or runner! Rick did the Ice Breaker last year (and finished!) and plans to do it this year and I have been toying around with the idea of doing it with him. I figure if he can do it, I can do it - right?! It's in April if I remember correctly, so I really gotta get busy on goal #4!

Anyone want to join us?

1st Day of School

(Just a little behind here!)

First day of school! Ok, technically not Gabriella's first day - she'd already gone a few days, but bad mom here didn't take a picture then! Oops! So here's the 2 on William's first day of Kindergarten!

Waiting for the bell to ring!
What a brave little boy he was!

But me on the other hand? I cried. I tried SO hard to contain it until I left him, and then I cried on the way home, and silly me cried when I picked him up and saw him come out the door, all happy and smiling.

And I just wondered Why? I didn't have any trouble at all when Gabriella went to school for the first time. And that was going to 1st Grade even! Maybe because she was SO ready. And he is just my little boy. My sweet little, sensitive little boy. Or maybe it was still just post-pregnancy/nursing hormones. Who knows.

But I am happy that both of my kids are LOVING school and LOVING their wonderful teachers!

More of Michigan

Our trip to Michigan in August was so much fun!

WARNING: LOTS OF PICTURES

A great way to end the trip was having Gabriella lose a shoe in the swamp. Yes, it was her only pair of shoes. And this was the nite before our early morning flight home - wonderful.

Rick tried, but couldn't find it - guess the Swamp Monster ate it.

Our last day there, we met up with this grat friend and her hubby and kiddos for a trip to the Toledo Zoo and some yummy lunch.

Thanks again, Rachel & Brandon, for meeting up with us!

Probably the highlight of the zoo, for the kids at least, was climbing on animal statues. It was hot and humid and they got tired and cranky really fast. It was rather frustrating for me, but we called it a day pretty early.

A few days were spent in Traverse City, at Rick's Uncle Pete & Aunt Lisa's home. They were such wonderful hosts!

The girls with Uncle Ross (Rick's brother) and cousin David.

Uncle Pete and son David - he was so good to play with the kids! They just loved him! Sadly, no picture of Aunt Lisa.

Proof that I WAS there!

Kari (Ross's girlfriend), Stefanie (Ryan's girlfriend), Gramps, Rick, Ryan (Rick's brother), and Great Aunt Ann (Grami's sister-in-law) -

Hanging out in the awesome addition Pete just built.

4 Generations of Meyer Men

Tabitha, Me, Gabriella, Nana (Rick's Mom), Grami (Rick's Dad's Mom), and Melissa (Rick's Sister)

The kids and Gramps making their silly faces!

Uncle Robi helping Tabitha with a puzzle

Caught a snake! and covered in Chocolate!

This boy was in HEAVEN!!

Rick and the kids on the raft in the swamp in Grami & Gramps backyard

Off on an adventure down the driveway - thru the woods!

Grami & Gramps meeting Jackson, their Great Grandson, for the 1st time

Gabriella playing at a science museum

The Beach! (Lake Michigan)

Outside our hotel room in Traverse City

Someday I dream of owning a beach house!