Fantastic Four

It seems just like yesterday this girl was coming home from the hospital with us. 

{4 days old}

Then *poof* we are four years down the round and this baby girl is a 

walking, talking, happiness-making machine. 

Our life has been blessed with Lil Miss in our lives.  

Sure, we were a little shocked when I found out that we were pregnant. 

I had barely gotten used to being a mother of three and then wham... here comes baby! 

We are lucky she has been such an angel. 

She has been the happiest smiliest little thing since she has been born. 

I turned the table on my almost four year old this week and instead of her asking 

a million questions, I asked her a few. 

Here are her answers:

What is your favorite thing to do?  Draw pictures

What do you want to be when you grow up?  Elsa

What is your favorite food?  Mac and Cheese 

Who do you like to spend time with?  Daddy (since I went to Europe they have been attached at the hip) 

  What makes you laugh?  When my brother laughs... he is silly

What are you afraid of?  Monsters and Tigers

What is your favorite color?  Purple and Pink

Who is your best friend?   Daddy

What do you like to do with your family?  Play games... the game with chips (aka sequence)

  Where do you like to go?  Chik-Fil-A

What is your favorite book?  Princess stories

If you had one wish, what would it be?  To have a pony, I would name her Bella

Happy Birthday to our little Princess! 

Say Cheese!!

I like taking pictures. 

Let me rephrase that... I LOVE taking pictures. 

I love capturing a great shot of one of my kids. 

I love seeing their personality in a photograph. 

I get lost in looking at old pictures that I've taken. 

I LOVE anything related to photography. 

I am not a professional. 

I am a casual photographer who has a great Nikon camera that I shoot in Automatic. 

Which is a no-no, but its not that I don't know how to take a picture manually. 

It's that I let everyone in my family be a photographer. 

The hubby grabs my camera just to get good shots occasionally and Miss Rosie Posie is 

becoming quite a great photographer too. 

This isn't more evident than in a little photo shoot we did last week just the 6 of us. 

I realize the value of having a professional photographer take pictures. 

I tried scheduling a photographer this fall, but timing and our schedules don't leave a lot 

of time for photographers to get a session in. 

Oh, and how I really wanted outdoor photos this year of ALL 6 of us.   

I have photo sessions with the kids a couple times a year, where we get dressed up and 

mommy gets to play with different shots I want to try.  

I even rearrange the furniture and create backdrops.

I rarely never get the Hubby to play along though.  

 I did catch him in a very good mood last week though, and talked him into getting dressed up and 

playing model for me while we shot a picture for Christmas cards. 

Yes, it is that time of the year. 

Are you not listening to Christmas Carols, yet?

 The Hubby does get some great shots! 

 She informs me every day now, that she is daddy's girl.

 {Lil Miss almost 4}

 {Rosie - one month from 10}

It is hard to get THIS smile from her. 

She has the most beautiful smile and when she shows it my heart grows. 

{Bubba -- 8 years old}

This guy has style. 

The girls do not have a problem with me picking out their clothes for pictures. 

I know there will come a day that mommy's style won't be their style, 

but for the most part they love what I throw together. 

This guy on the other hand has an opinion on what he has to wear. 

He knows what he likes and is particular, even to what shoes he is going to wear. 

Notice no shoes are shown on any picture, but he spent 15 minutes deciding what high-tops would 

look the best. 

{Gigi - Age 7}

What can I say about this beauty?

She's gorgeous and knows how to work the camera.  

She comes up with her own poses and every picture is stunning.  

 There was lots of love as we ran around a field of prairie grass trying to get pictures. 

It was comical. 

For shots with all 6 of us in them, I would set up the shot press the timer and run to my spot while trying to put my hair in place, straighten my jacket, not fall, and try to smile. 

I don't recommend this way to get a shot.  It's exhausting and half of the photos I look like I'm panting. 

Occasionally you get a shot worth something. 

I picture where all 6 of us are at least looking at the camera, because that's all I really need.  

  {my babies}

So for an hour on a Sunday afternoon and 30 minutes after playing on the playground, 

I got pictures for me to get lost in years from now. 

Pictures are priceless. 

 There are too few pictures of Mommy and Daddy, but Rosie was 

able to even get a great shot of us two.  

Again, priceless! 

Into the Woods

This past weekend was our last camping weekend of the year. 

It's sad, because we haven't used our camper nearly as much as we had the past two years. 

This is mainly due to mommy being gone most of the month of July.

 We went out to a park only 20 minutes from the house.  

For those of you who don't think that is really "getting away from it all", 

you haven't been out to Scott Co. Park. 

 We've camped out there before, but we stayed in a new area. 

Which means a new place to explore.... and explore we did. 

At night it got cold.  Like finger freezing, knit cap wearing, 40+ degree cold.

 The fire was not only pretty and used to roast marshmallows, it was to keep warm. 

{frost on the dandelions}

On Saturday morning, we woke up with frost on the ground. 

It was a pretty frost.  We bundled up and took off looking for some geocaches, aka "treasure".

 Bubba had a friend along so we showed him the ins and outs of geocaching.  

We were tromping through the woods and navigating through brush to find our "treasure".

 Getting muddy is fun. 

Not so pretty for the camper, though. 

 When we needed a rest, I pulled out the craft supplies and we made leaf drawings 

and play-doh popsicles. 

Mommy also had fun crafting by making long stemmed roses out of maple leaves. 

They turned out great, with a few leaves, sticks, and duct tape. 

So many things you can do with duct tape.  

We've been out to the Walnut Grove Pioneer Village a number of times, but the kids 

always find it fun to explore.  

 On Sunday the fun and games came to an end, and we packed up the camper, got it 

cleaned out for the winter and parked it in storage for the next 6 months.  

Bye Bye Camping Season. 

The Pumpkin Patch

On Wednesday I had a chance to go on a field trip with Lil Miss. 

I am so excited to go on as many field trips as I can with the kids this year.  

It was a beautiful fall day for the pumpkin patch.

 The preschoolers had fun looking at all the petting zoo animals: the bunnies, ducks, chickens, 

and sheep.  Of course my child always likes to be by the teacher, asks tons of questions, 

and has plenty of stories to share with anyone who will listen. 

It was funny see her interact with the other children. 

She only knows a few names but is not shy at all. 

Her favorite part (after snack time) was the wagon ride out to the pumpkin patch.  

She loved the bumpy ride into the field, but then when we got to the actual pumpkin patch. 

She flipped out.  

My girl would not step foot into the pumpkin plants.  

All the other kids were rushing out to get the perfect pumpkin and my girl was scared of the plants. 

This is not acceptable for this plant loving momma.  

So I carried her out in the patch, sat her down to pick the "perfect" pumpkin (also known as the first pumpkin we saw) and then hurried back to the wagon.  

The first field trip of her little life.  

I was so glad to spend this time with her, and I can't wait to chaperon the 

older kids field trips too.  One of the best parts of Lil Miss starting preschool this year! 

Do what the locals do

I really like finding new things to do in the town we live in. 

Sometimes I hear about something someone did over the weekend, and 

think "Man, I wish I would have known about that!"

I am not in the know on most things but thanks to Facebook, 

my love for Google, and my ability to listen into other people's conversations

(Oh, you know you do it too!) we have found lots of fun things to 

do in the Quad Cities.  

 This past weekend we ventured over to Illinois to go to the Balloon Festival.

I love hot air balloons.  They are so colorful, and I LOVE color!! 

When we lived in Ottumwa, the first weekend we moved into our house was the 

balloon races weekend.  Saturday morning we woke up to start painting and there was a hot air balloon landing in the field behind our house.  How awesome is that! 

 The kids were excited to see the hot air balloons.  

We grabbed some fresh kettle corn and lemonade shakeups from the food vendors and 

plopped ourselves on the grassy field to watch the balloons fill up with air.  

The kids wanted to get a closer look, so we casually walked over to one of the balloons.

This one happened to be my favorite.  

The kids were asking all kinds of questions to the crew there and then one asked if they would like to get in.  Both Bubba and Gigi got to hop in the basket.  

 I was shocked how loud the flame was that fills the balloon up.  

When the sun set, the balloons put on quite a display at the glow. 

There were lots of ooohhhs and aaaahhhs from the kids. 

On Saturday, Hubby and I got away for a date night with friends. 

We tried a new babysitter and she was awesome, and we even tried a 

new date night place, The J Bar.  It's a brand new restaurant in town 

and had a beautiful patio and great ambiance.  

It was a fun night out and have I mentioned we stayed out past midnight?

Yes, midnight people.  I told the babysitter I would definitely be home by midnight, because we never stay out that late.  Then I check my phone at one point and it is 12:15 am.  Yikes! 

Good thing she didn't mind.  

 It was a great and colorful weekend!