Nannie and YUM!

January 30th - 29/365, Nannie 

My mum was in the hospital most of last week suffering with complications from pneumonia.  On Monday, she finally felt well enough to leave the house, and she paid us a visit.  She is still beyond exhausted, but I can't tell you how nice it was to see her smiling again!  Everyday brings us a little bit closer to seeing that crazy joyful Nannie we are used to seeing!

January31st - 30/365, Yum

Um....Cadbury Creme Eggs.  I know they are loaded with lots of stuff I shouldn't be putting into my body, but YUM!  I just can't help myself.  Thank goodness they are only around one time a year, but unfortunately, that time of year seems to come earlier and last longer every year!

28/365

I don't have a title for this one.  I was taking pictures of Ian doing this:

 and this

when he did this:

So I did this:

28/365

and I'm still in awe every day

how Greg + Cammie = this reddish haired, hazel eyed boy!

All Caught Up!

Long Day, 26/365

It was one of those days!  Look at that mess behind my reclined slippers, arrgh!  We spent the morning finally getting our hands on the elusive popcorn salt I searched for for four hours the day before, and going to Wal Mart to get the popcorn, bags and a few other items.  This was all done in really icky pouring rain, and we were soaked by the time our tasks were complete.  We then went to hang out with my mum who has just spent the majority of the last week in the hospital due to complications from pneumonia.  We arrived home in time to see Ian off the bus, and get everything together for the PTA Family Movie Night that I was running.  It was a good time, even though my mind was very preoccupied, and things didn't get set up, or started early enough to make it run smoothly.  It was just one of those exhausting days!  When we got home at 9pm, I just couldn't deal with cleaning up the days clutter.  Instead, I put on my nightgown and my cozy slippers, and plopped myself down in the recliner.  Sometimes you just have to let it go!  

Blue, 27/365

This is Ian.  He doesn't always feel the need to see things through.  He's a lot like his mumma that way.  We get excited about starting a new project, but get bored before it can be finished.  Anyways, even though he often gives us a hard time about going to karate class, he always comes back out of it with a smile on his face saying, "Thank you!  That was a great class, I'm so glad I went!".  I am so proud that he has stuck with karate for almost two years now!  He is currently a blue belt with one stripe towards his green belt.  I don't know how other dojo's work, but in his, you start with a white belt, then purple, yellow, orange, blue, green, brown and black.  So I really feel like he has accomplished something with this!  I love watching him go through his movements, he is so precise, and sharp with them.  It is good for his mind and body!

Airzone

Just wanted to post a few more pictures of Ana's field trip to Airzone earlier this week.  This attraction was a huge draw for Cooper, my ball and bat lover!  The cone blew a sharp stream of air out, and levitated the ball so the kids could hit it with the bat.  He got such a kick out of carefully getting the ball in the right place, then waving the bat around yelling, "Go, go, go!!"  I'm pretty certain he didn't hit a single ball out into the "field", most of them going backwards or sideways, but he sure had fun!!

Even the grown-ups can go on the slides at Airzone!!  Below, I am braving the slide with Ana, and then you can see her teacher, Mrs. Tewell having her turn.  It really was pretty fun!  By the way, Mrs. Tewell is the same teacher Ian had at Fremont Early Learning as a Kindergarten student; you can see a picture of cute little 5 year old Ian with her here.  She's on the left.  He was just so cute!  I just re-read the post too, and noticed that I mentioned his promise to me that he would still cuddle with me when he's 10.  Well, so much for promises!  Really, every so often if I'm lucky he will still cuddle up to me...and let's face it he still climbs into bed with us every night.  So I guess I am still getting my cuddle time.

And, here are the daredevils.  So much fun!

More Catching Up

Hand Wash Only, 21/365

Febi is a seriously happy baby!  I had to set her down to help Cooper with something so I put her on the pile of clean laundry that had started to take over a corner in the living room.  It was the perfect prop for her, and she just smiled away at us!

Danger Dan, 22/365

On Monday, Cooper and I accompanied Ana on a field trip with her preschool class to a new place in Exeter called Airzone.  It is all blow ups, from slides to bouncy houses.  They had a ball!  There were a few kids in Ana's class who were weary of climbing the big slide, but Cooper plowed right through them all and went down over and over.  I swear this child has no fear.  That is how he has earned the nickname "Danger Dan" in our house.  From trying to stick knitting needles in sockets, climbing onto counters, bay windows and over the high backs of our furniture; from using rolling toys as footstools to standing on tables and arms of chairs squealing "Wook a me!", he is an accident waiting to happen.  He really is the easiest 2 year old out of our three kids, BUT, I am quite certain he will be the first to need stitches or a cast of some sort!

Twenty Piggies 23/365

I know...more feet.  I just can't help myself!  I love kids' feet and hands!  This was Ana and Febi the other day.  While the boys were sleeping, Ana wanted to hold Febi so she sat in her Ana sized reclining chair and I propped Febi up in her arms.  It was the perfect perch for her and she sat there happy as a clam for over half an hour!  I was sitting on the floor, and liked the difference in size between their feet, so out came the camera.

Down Time 24/365

The kids spend a lot of time pretending they are camping.  Here they have set up their "sleeping bags" and pillows and are having a little quiet time.  Moments before I took this picture, Stevie and Ana were fighting over who was going to hold Febi's hand.  Until I pointed out that she in fact had two!  You can see that Ana is still trying to be a little possessive.  I love how Febi is looking at her though...and that you can see Stevie has a grip on her little hand.  He adores his sister!

We Love Popcorn, 25/365

I spent all day yesterday trying to search out ingredients that I needed to make "movie style popcorn" for our  PTA Family Movie Night scheduled for tonight.  Specifically, I was looking for the Flavacol popcorn seasoning.  I had been able to find the stuff online, but the shipping was outrageous!  I went to four stores yesterday morning, before calling Sam's Club and discovering they not only had popcorn salt, but 50lb bags of popcorn kernels!  I was so excited!  I don't have a membership, but the lady on the phone told me I could shop, but just pay a 10% upcharge.  Seeing as it would only amount to a couple dollars overall, and that it was still going to be a good deal, I decided to go for it.  I got to the store, loaded the 50lb bag into my cart, the salt, and a pack of 500 popcorn bags and went to the checkout line.  That's when I was basically told that I shouldn't even have been able to be in the store without a membership.  That they no longer do day passes, and that they will let me buy this time, but not again unless I buy a membership.  Feeling like a hardened criminal at this point, I whipped out my credit card to complete the transaction and end my misery, I was then told that they don't take Visa.....

huh?

Yeah, they don't take Visa!  I was near to tears as I told them I had no other means to pay, and that I was going to have to return the stuff.  It was pretty devastating leaving those things behind; four hours of running around yesterday morning got me nowhere!!  When we got home, I found the snack that I popped for Ian earlier on the counter, and decided I had to make peace with my popcorn misadventure, so I got out the camera.  After all, I really do love popcorn!  Sam's Club, notsomuch.......

A Little Catching Up

Glow, 18/365

No!  I didn't miss days with the 365 project!  We've had a pretty stressful week and I haven't picked up my Nikon in several days, but thanks to the ease of my phone's camera, and my little Kodak point and shoot, I did take pictures; even if they aren't that great.  Anyways, on Wednesday night, we went to see Disney on Ice Celebrates 100 Years of Magic.  It was fantastic!  I was a little worried about how Cooper would do, and if it would hold his attention.  He did get antsy in the second half, but over all, he did great!  Ana was absolutely enthralled the entire time, particularly when the princesses took the stage; and even Ian enjoyed the show!  We let the kids each pick out a souvenir at the beginning of the show; Ian and Ana picked the snow cone cups, Ian's Bruce the Shark from Finding Nemo and Ana's a Cinderella themed one.  Cooper picked a Buzz Light Year glow in the dark sword, and well, you can see by the picture how much he adores it.  The entire time, it was either clutched tight like this, or was swinging around, barely averting whacking the grumpy people sitting in front of us.

Hello?  19/365

Oh...yeah.  This one is exciting.  Lucky I was sitting goofing around with my camera phone that day, or else there wouldn't even have been a picture!  I've been fighting a cold this week, and fell asleep on the couch at about 7:30; I didn't wake up until after midnight, and was in a panic thinking I had missed taking a picture that day.  Well, I was pleased to remember I did take one!  Even if it is just a picture of our crappy old phone!  The numbers are wearing off; you can barely hear it when it rings; and look, you have the choice of tone vs. pulse!  Mind you, the tone part doesn't work...so you have no choice but to wait while it pulses away.  Ian says, "Mom, why does it make that noise, and why does it take so long to dial?!"  It's pretty funny actually...I remember having the rotary phones in our house growing up...it was so frustrating when you messed up the number and had to start over!  Anyways, it is nice to have a  phone on the wall for when I can't figure out where I have laid the cordless phone which happens on pretty much a daily basis.  So here it is, in all it's splendor!

Who, me?  20/365

This is a mug I made at a local pottery painting place called To Your Art's Content.  Ian and Ana both LOVE going there, and on one of our trips, I decided to make something along with them.  I saw something similar in a store somewhere, and thought it would be a fun way to enjoy my morning cup of coffee.  If I were to make it again, I would definitely put the mustache closer to the rim.  But it is fun to goof around with anyways.  This was actually a picture again from my phone that I sent to my sister to make her giggle....I think it worked.

This Little Piggy - 17/365

This Little Piggy 17/365

Greg had a little procedure this morning and is in a cocoon on the couch, pretty much incapacitated.  Of course I've come down with a head going to explode sinus thingy, and feel like I've been hit by a truck.  When we went to pick up the kids from Mimi's house, Cooper was laying in the same spot Mimi reported him laying in for pretty much the entire four hours he was there.  So apparently, he's brewing something too.  It could be so much worse though, so I'm counting my blessings!  Anyways, Cooper crawled up in the recliner next to our friend Joe who was visiting today, and promptly fell asleep.  He just looked so sweet there with his little feet crossed, I had to snap a picture.

Ana cuddling with Daddy

Cooper snuggled up to Joe

I had trouble choosing between the other one and this one.
I liked that his face is more in focus for this one,
but I liked the exposure, and angle of the other one better.