Sneak Peek: Spencer and Finley

Yesterday, we braved the wind and headed downtown to take some pictures.  I was nervous.  It was REALLY windy!  I was also taking pictures of a little 14 month old, who doesn't like the wind (really, who likes the wind?).  Finley has also acquired a new talent.....walking.  Therefore, he didn't really want to stand still.  He wanted to be walking and did everything he could to avoid looking at the camera.  Now that I have been doing this for awhile, I have learned to go with the flow and just follow them around and hope for the best.  Despite all that, it was the fastest shoot I have ever done (about 30 minutes), but I got some amazing pictures. 

Finley also brought along his big brother, Spencer.  I wanted to take Spencer home!  He was one of the nicest boys I have been around.  Super helpful and loving towards his brother.  Finley LOVES him and let him carry him around and do almost anything.  I can tell they love to hang out together.  Spencer had a great smile and was SO photogenic (I am a sucker for freckles).

Smiling at his brother!

Notice the walking stance?

I love this one.  I think it is so sweet!

One of my favorites...ever.  Love the freckles.

I love this one.  Looks like he is wearing a toupee!

Love, love, love it!  Favorite of the day!

You can see more pictures of these guys here!  Thanks for sharing your boys with me, Cher.  They are a blessing!

Finally!

I finally broke down and joined pinterest.  I have been denying myself for awhile because I thought it would be so amazing that I would spend all day looking at things on it.  It is amazing, however, I find that it is easy to get on and spend a few minutes looking at recent pins and then be done for the day.  I have already tried a few things that I have pinned to my boards, and it has been really fun!  My best find thus far.....

Finally, a sewing project for boys!  I really like to craft and sew, however, boys don't really like things that are crafted or sewn.  Little girls love purses, doll clothes, little dresses......etc.  Little boys like dirt, bugs, rocks, Legos......etc.  But I found something!  We are getting ready to go on a road trip for Spring Break and I found these ingenious pillowcase/bags.  I showed the boys and they were actually excited about it. 

So, we took a trip to their favorite place.....the fabric store.  When I say "favorite place" I really mean a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth (usually on my part because my children are running wild and hiding under the turn stiles of fabric).  I think it is punishment for the way that I used to act as a child.  My mom LOVES the fabric store.  It is her therapy.  When she is feeling down or needs a pick-me-up she goes to "feel fabric".  I love it when she calls me and says "I am going to the fabric store to feel some fabric, do you want to come?"  NOW I do, but when I was a child it was a place of torture.  Pretty sure I have passed that on to my children.  This trip was a LITTLE better because we were actually picking out fabric for them.   

I know they are excited about it because I keep hearing "are you done with my pillowcase yet?", multiple times a day.  Well children, now I am done!  They turned out SO cute manly and awesome!

I love the strap so they can carry it in and out of the car/hotel

The pocket is perfect for books, DS games and earphones

I love how they are personalized!

Had to make some for the fellow road-trippers McKenzie and Ashlynn

This project was pretty easy and really fun! I would highly recommend it.  You can find the easy to follow directions here, even a rookie could do this!  You only have to know how to sew a straight line!  The only thing I changed was to put some velcro on the opening where you slide in the pillow.  It kept coming open and showing the pillow, so I just sewed on some velcro and VOILA! it says shut perfectly.  I hope these make the trip more comfortable and help the kids keep track of all of their things during the trip.  I will let you know how they work out!

Too Many Funerals

Monday marked another event that we have been doing too often lately.  Another funeral.    I hate it.  My kids have seen it too much and I have had to answer a lot of hard questions.  Questions that are good and that create good discussions, but discussion I would rather not have.  Questions like: What is cremation?  What do they do with the ashes?  Why aren't grandma's ashes here....I wanted to see them?  Do you think that Boppy met up with Grandma Lord in heaven?  Do we have any more great-grandparents?  And on, and on, and on.  Some All of those questions are hard to answer.

On Monday, we celebrated the life of Kathryn Lord.  She was 94 and lived a good, long life.  It is still hard to say goodbye, but it is a little easier than some other goodbyes.  There weren't many tears at the funeral, but there were smiles, chuckling and fond memories.  Grandma Lord was a great lady.  She was quirky too.  She lived her life well and finally got to go home to her maker, her husband, her son and all of her other family members waiting for her in heaven.  Of that we are certain.

Her last few years were hard.  She suffered from dementia.  She rarely knew who we were when we visited, but she LOVED seeing the kids.  She would just smile and chuckle and say "oh look at them".  Those were the good times.  The hard times were when she would ask "when is Ted coming"? or "where is Ted?" or "where is John".  Then we would have to explain to her again that Grandpa died, John died.  It tore us up.  Then she had to relive it again.  Luckily, that didn't happen as often recently. 

For as long as Chris and I have been married, we have gone to Mt. Vista nursing home in Wheatridge to visit Grandma Lord, Grandma Garry and Grandpa Lord.  It will be strange to not have any more trips there.

In August of 2005, Chris lost his (maternal) Grandma just a few weeks before Tanner was born.

In September of 2007 we had the devastating and totally unexpected loss of Chris' dad while he was on a guys trip to Lake Powell.  He was such an amazing and vibrant man, it was a huge loss.  The loss of a grandparent is a LITTLE easier because they lived a good, long life.  John, however, was only 63 and taken so quickly and unexpectedly.  It was tough not knowing specifics of how/why he died, but we know that God's timing is perfect even though we don't always understand it.  It feels like we are still reeling from this loss, even though it was almost 5 years ago.

We caught these cousins kissing behind the couch after John's funeral

In June of 2009 Chris and I both lost our (paternal)Grandpas (within 2 days of each other and while we were on vacation in Mexico).

Jameson comforting his Daddy when Chris was crying during Grandpa Lord's funeral in 2009.  So sweet.

In September of 2009, I lost my other (maternal) Grandpa (Chris' other Grandpa died when he was two), leaving us Grandpa-less.

So, we are down to one Grandma.  My Grammie is alive and kicking!  However, she is in her 90's so I am guessing we will be attending another funeral in the next few years.  Just yesterday, I received a packet from her of old family pictures and 2 cd's marked "letters to my great-grandchildren".  Even as I am typing, it brings tears to my eyes.  I can't wait to pop those in and have a listen.  What a wonderful idea and legacy to leave!  She is a wonderful woman and she and I are like-spirits.  I get my love of history, culture and geography from her.  When they would come and visit, she would always bring slideshows of their world adventures.  All the grandkids would moan and complain about watching and hearing about another boring trip.  That is all.....but me.  I. LOVED. IT.  I loved hearing all about the wonderful places they went.  She went places with purpose and always learned all she could while she was there.  They would dress up like the native people and have all sorts of fun stories.  Another really cool thing they did was record (with a mini recorder) things about their day or while they were driving along on their trips.  The last time I was visiting her, she was listening to the tapes from their Italy trip.  They were in the car and you could hear the church bells ringing in the background while she was describing her day.  So Cool.  I need to remember that.  The day I get the call about this funeral, will be a tough one as she is the grandparent that I have always been closest too (even though we have never lived in the same state).

The only good thing about funerals (besides the food) is seeing the family that you don't get to see on a regular basis.

The Lord siblings and their children

The John Lord Grandkids (Tanner-6, McKenzie-7, Ashlynn-11, Jameson-3 and Makai-8)

The Lord Children- Ron, Ellie and Teddie

The Reim Family- Kevin, Bob, Ellie and Kris

Teddie and daughter Tammy

Cookie bags given to guests made with Grandma's famous recipes

Guest Book.  Look at what the kids wrote.  So sweet!

Jameson handing out programs

Chris and Stacey sang an amazing version of "Praise the Father, Praise the Son"

We are thankful to have such wonderful and loving families, but we could do with less funerals in the future.  I hope it is a LONG time before we have to attend another one.

Alivia-Maternity Pictures

I was always a little sad that I never got any maternity pictures taken.  At the time, you feel so big and ugly, but now I remember the beauty and pleasure of carrying my precious boys inside of me.  I wish I would have documented it better.   In comes Alivia.  I have known her for a few years now and she is just one of the nicest people you will meet.  You know the thing I really love about her, you can tell that she really loves her kids.  She is a GREAT mom.  Now, she is getting ready to add child #4 to her wonderful family.  I have been wanting to do some maternity pictures for a while, and now I have done it!  Alvia was perfect with her skinny little body and her cute round belly.  She makes a really cute pregnant lady!  We had a great time chatting and taking pictures and rearranging her room to get it just right for the pictures!  They turned out really cute!  Take a sneak peek of Alivia and her new baby coming in just a few weeks.

Thanks Alivia!  It was so fun to be with you.  I can't wait to get my lens on your little girl in a few weeks.  For more pictures, check out my facebook page.

Ericksons Take Two

So, a few months ago I took pictures of our friends, the Ericksons.  They have two cute (but active) little boys.  It was really hard to get a shot of both of the boys together and the family ones just didn't turn out very well.  So, we did a re-shoot.  It was TOTALLY worth it.  I got some amazing pictures this time around.  Instead of one okay one of the family, I got about 10 really great ones of the family.  I even got several good ones of the boys together!  Feast your eyes on this beautiful family!

Thanks guys!  It was a great excuse to get together again and to get some great pictures of your family!

One Year Ago....

One year ago today, we stepped on board, what is now affectionately called, "the Mickey Boat".  My parents have a wonderful perspective on retirement.  They want to enjoy their hard earned money.  And how do they like to enjoy it?  By spending time with their kids and grandkids.  Why save all of your money and then have it be willed to someone else later?  They are using their money to make MEMORIES with us.  Priceless!  I would much rather have spent time with them now than have an inheritance later! 

So as part of this plan, they have chosen to take all 12 of us on a fun, week long, vacation every other year.  In 2009, they surprised the kids with a trip to Disney World.  They went all out and we stayed in a cottage at the Wilderness Lodge just on the other side of the lake from The Magic Kingdom.  We had so much fun.  The kids were AMAZING, especially because they ranged in ages from 9 months to 7 years old.  That was 6 kids under the age of 7 and they all did SO well.  It really was the happiest place on earth.  It was the coldest February on record in Florida, but that meant the crowds were really small and we rode SO many rides.  The highlights of the Disney World Trip, in the kids own words: Noah (7)-Thunder Mountain, Mission to Mars and Test Track.  Josiah (5): Splash Mountain, meeting Tigger and the hotel water slide.  Makai (5): Meeting Donald Duck, Space Mountain and Test Track.  Tanner (3):  The BIG HILL (Splash Mountain) and Mickey.  Adah (almost 3):  Seeing Tinkerbell and the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique.  Jameson (9 months):  He loved it all.  He just smiled his way through the park!  You also should check out this video where Aunt Julie was making Jameson cry by making a funny face.

So then my parents had to figure out a way to top that trip!  And I think they did.  They booked a 7 day Mexican cruise on board the Disney Wonder.  Disney knows how to do it right!  If you are looking into a cruise, don't look anywhere else.  The service was amazing, the food was amazing, and the kids loved seeing all of the characters.  We didn't tell the kids where we were going.  We just showed up at the airport and when we got to the gate, they saw we were going to L.A.  They just thought we were going to hang out in L.A. for the week.  When we got into the airport shuttle the next morning, they had no clue where we were going (even though they saw the big Mickey ears on a HUGE boat go right past our hotel early that morning).  When we pulled into the dock and saw the GINORMOUS boat in front of us, they all started screaming.  It was so fun!  The next 7 days included eating, a pirate adventure, eating, the pool (or polo as JJ called it), eating, hanging out at the beach, eating, shows every night, eating, seeing several different movies (in 3D for free, including Gnomio and Juliet which wasn't even in theaters yet), eating and enjoying time together as a family!

The gluten free, dairy free, egg free special dessert the chef made for our high maintenance allergy people!

Pirate Adventure!

Run Josiah!

It's too bad he's not having any fun!

Ahhhhhh

Napkin fun!

Jameson's favorite place on board.  In the Mickey pool.

Sliding

Characters everywhere!

Has it really been a year already?  We still talk about the Mickey boat at least once or twice a week.  We all wish we were going back right about now.  There is already talk of our next trip.  Might be a trip to San Diego, LegoLand, Disneyland and the beach.  Any other ideas for fun, family places to go?  Come on 2013!