Valentine Surprise

IF YOU ARE MY PARENTS, PLEASE STOP READING NOW!

Snapfish is running a deal: get their 20-page 5x7 softcover photo book for free, using code HPREWARD at checkout.  Offer expires January 31, 2013.

Here's what we're doing:

(SERIOUSLY, MOM & DAD, LAST CHANCE!  LOOK AWAY!)

1.  Take a whole mess of photos.

2.  Put 'em in the photo book.

Okay, that's all!

Start with one of you and your sweeties.

But really, don't put more than one in there.  Grandparents get kinda testy when you "ruin" their photo gifts with shots of yourself  (personal testimony).

Then, I just told the girls which emotion I wanted to see, and I started snapping away!

"Okay, girls, let me see....  your thinking face."

"How about your super-surprised face?"

 "Okay, now your meanest face!"

 "Your very saddest face."

 "Now, your silliest face!"

 "Now do a dance!"

 Okay, this CRACKS ME STRAIGHT UP.  Ellia's hair makes her look like a cocker spaniel, and Olivia's face is just wild!  

"Now, pretend you all are the best friends EVER."

If they're really into it, have them do all the classic poses.

Be ready for some giggling when you do the pile-up pose.

If it's nice out, take them for a walk.  

"How much you you love Grandma & Grandpa?"

 THIIIIIIIS MUCH!

This next series makes me laugh, too.  

So I told the kids, "We're going to say, 'I love you' with our hands!  We'll point to our EYES for 'I,' and then make the motion for LOVE, and then point at the camera for 'YOU!'  Ready?"  

I.....

(That was actually our second attempt.  This was our first.)

 WOW, scary.

 love...

YOU!!!

I'm no photographer, but you don't need to be!  The photo books look great!  Snapfish's site is easy to use; I'm all about the dragging and the dropping.*

No grandparent would be disappointed in a sweet Valentine photo book...

...so long as YOUR face appears only once!
Right, Mom?


*NOTE:  Snapfish did not pay me to advertise for them; I just like their stuff.  That'd be cool, though! 

One Last Hurrah

Two weeks ago the kids and I traveled to Wisconsin for my family reunion.

Each year they rent a beautiful Christian camp facility near my parents; we had a blast!

Despite the rustic, relaxed environment, we did some swimming,

some tubing,

...and lots of general catching up.

My mother exercisd her spiritual gift of Grandmothering,

...my girls and I spent some much-needed snuggle time together,

...and we did some extra-fun activities.

(EXTRA-fun.)

Grandpa and Great-Gram got in on the fun...

...and we saw relatives that we seldom get to see!

My kids LOVE being in the country.

My folks, my Gram, and my sis-in-law.

Love this lady:

We even stampeded a fish hatchery together!

 (It was rainy and cool.)

Hand-on museum of sorts for the kiddos...

Nate, you'd better take those girlies fishing!

Hurray for cousins!

We love to be with family!  The reunion was a fantastic way to close out this great summer vacation!

Visit from Grandpa & Grandma

My parents came to visit a couple weeks ago.  We enjoyed going for walks in the neighborhood, reading lots of books, playing dominoes, and just visiting together!

Ellia helped Grandma by taking her mushrooms from her pizza.

They even took the girls bowling, which they LOVED!

And they brought this Betty Lukens flannelgraph set for the girls to play with!  This has been on my secret wish list for a couple of years, and we are ALL enjoying it!  Thanks, Grandma & Grandpa!

I know many of you prayed for my dad when he suffered a heart attack on their way back home.  THANK YOU!  We are grateful that it appeared to be a relatively minor one, and that he is doing well.

Thanksgiving 2011 (or more accurately, The 2011 Stomach Virus Chronicles)

It's been a rough week or two for our little family.  All we wanted to do was drive to Wisconsin, eat some good food with some good people, and drive back home.  Problem is, the stomach virus is no respecter of persons!  It all began on the way out there.  Around 1 o'clock in the morning, near Armpit of the USA Gary, Indiana, Brienna began projectile vomiting.  

Do you know what's worse than a vomiting 2-year-old who's trapped in a 5-point child restraint harness?

 Nothing.  That's what.

I'll spare you the grotesque details (I can hear you thanking me.  You're welcome.).  Suffice it to say, I got it, and then Nate got it.  Then Livvie got a bad cold, and Brienna's stomach revolted again when we got home.  Now Brienna and Ellia both have Olivia's yucky cold, and my own appetite has gone off and taken a nice long vacation. 

And now Olivia's little cold has turned itself into bronchitis, which kept her home from school a couple days.  It's keeping her up even now, 11:23 p.m., and I've just stripped her bed (again) because she coughed so hard that she threw up. (Again.)

 Thanksgiving Day itself was fairly uneventful, though.  

We like "uneventful" very much.

My girls are enamored with their darling cousin, Charlotte.  

This is Generation Four, all except one.

Olivia and Malachi play so well together now.

I asked the kids, "What's your favorite thing to do at Grandma's?"  

"WATCH MOVIES!"

 Reading books was a close second.

I'm certain Brienna is telling Nate, "I do it mySELF!"

This was a hoot!  These four daredevils would line up at the top of my folks' garage drive and then zoom off down the steep decline.  They did this over and over again!

Olivia was too big a chicken to try the tire swing.

She liked the regular one, though.

I love candids.  Look at that proud grandpa's face.  

Five little grand-kiddos all in a row:

Charlotte (16 months), Brienna (2), Ellia (3), Olivia (5), Malachi (6)

Hope your Thanksgiving celebration was less germy than mine!