So winter showed up today

The title about says it all.  After months with only a trace a snow we finally got a significant amount.  The rain came first and then froze creating a nice layer of ice to hide under the snow that was supposed to come.  Ick.  The ice on the trees last night was beautiful and I wanted to get a picture but that whole have to protect my camera from the sleety (yep, it's a word) rain, have to put shoes on, have to go outside thing, stopped me.  Then this morning I wanted to grab my big girl camera on the way to work but I had to be to work by 6:30 and my children were not cooperating.  Enter smart phone.  I took a couple on a short break at work.  Enjoying this phone more than my "not so smart" phone as I used to call it.  Still jealous of the instagram though.  :)

Linked 52: Romance

Ummm. . . romance is a foreign language in my house.  It made this weeks prompt a little difficult.  Maybe when I'm ready to think about dating again romance will become a part of my vocabulary.  Without much inspiration right now, I went kind of generic on this one.  Who doesn't love candles?  I love the tray too - it was a Valentine's gift one year.  ♥

Be sure to check out these other ladies to see their take on "romance":  Michelle, Stacey, Andrea, Tracey, Heather, Jenn, Jessica, Amanda, Kristin, Amanda, Sara, Tracy, Lesli, Janet, Naomi, Rhonda, Rose, Heidi, and Lena

Linked 52: Body Parts

Here I am.  I'm a little late with my post today because I may have fallen asleep on the couch last night before getting my photos edited or my post started.  I tried this morning but my computer was not cooperating, so here I am now.  Maybe I should be a little more prepared and take my pictures before Thursday night but let's be realistic here -- I'm a procrastinator.  Always have been, always will be.

Back to the topic at hand -- body parts.  One of these days I may step in front of the camera but for now I will use my two favorite subjects.  I couldn't decide which body part to use.  I really love their cute little feet and toes and the little dimples that they have on their lower back right above their bum.  I went with the eyes.  If you ever read our escapades on here you'll know that James is quite a character.  That mischievous look and the glimmer in his eye.

Joe has always been more serious and quiet than his brother.  He has these eyelashes just like his dad.  Barely a curl in them at all.  I ♥ them.

Be sure to check out these other ladies to see their take on "body parts":  Michelle, Stacey, Andrea, Tracey, Heather, Jenn, Jessica, Amanda, Kristin, Amanda, Sara, Tracy, Lesli, Janet, Naomi, Rhonda, Rose, Heidi, and Lena

Happy Valentine's Day!

This year for Valentine's Day I will be celebrating with two amazing gentelmen.  I'm pretty sure there will be points in the day when I'll really miss having that special someone in the romantic sense, but I don't want to dwell on that.  I have two adorable little guys that love me and I'm blessed to be able to spend the day with them. 

I was prepared with the Valentine's this year.  We had them all ready to go last week.  Joe went with Phineas and Ferb and James chose Angry Birds.  The kid cannot stop talking about Angry Birds.

James did really well writing his name and Joseph was excited to write one out to Grace (his crush).

Joe doesn't like lunch at school tomorrow so I made him a homemade lunchable.  I hope he likes these.  :)

 

We don't have anything special planned but a heart shaped pizza might be in store.  I wouldn't mind just snuggling up with my babies on the couch and watching a movie.  

Here's a photo from a little Valentine project we are working on.  :)  That kid cracks me up.

 

I hope you all have a fabulous day with your loved ones!

Linked 52: Quiet

So you would think that because I had the day off I would have been much more prompt with this post.  You would have thought wrong.  Ever the procrastinator, I waited until the last minute.

Quiet.  My life is not quiet.  I am not quiet.  I enjoy quiet but it usually only comes when the boys are at their dad's house.  The noisiest of the boys is James.  Takes after his mama.  Never shuts up.  :)  Has a loud voice, just like his mom.  The only times he's quiet is when he's eating something (he has to really like it or food will not quiet him), watching TV, or sleeping.  If you've seen any of my comments on facebook then you know that the little stinker usually talks to himself in his room / comes out to bother me until about 10:30 each night so quiet doesn't happen quickly there either.

I did catch him in a rare moment of quiet today though.  We had just come back from getting his hair cut (don't get me started -- they cut it shorter than I wanted and I'm sad) and he was eating his sucker.  I turned on Mickey Mouse for him so I could pack the rest of our stuff to go out of town.  It was a nice moment of quiet.  A rare one, but nice.


Be sure to check out these other ladies to see their take on "quiet":  Michelle, Stacey, Andrea, Tracey, Heather, Jenn, Jessica, Amanda, Kristin, Amanda, Sara, Tracy, Lesli, Janet, Naomi, Rhonda, Rose, and Lena

linked 52: sleep

Sleep.  It's a beautiful thing.  A thing that I wish I had more of.

I love watching my children sleep.  They are so peaceful.  If you know James, you know that peaceful is hard to come by.  I'll take what I can get.  My children have very specific sleeping routines.

Joseph has always gone to sleep well.  He's always stayed in his when it was bedtime and was/ is quiet.  Now that he's in school it only takes him about 2 minutes to fall asleep because he's so exhausted.  The one thing that Joe wants at bedtime is his monkey.  His name is Coconut.  Sometimes called Coco, mostly called "Monkey."  He was never really attached to anything when he was a baby/toddler.  He only really attached himself to Monkey when his dad and I separated.  I'm thankful to Monkey for helping him through a rough time.  Monkey and Joe do all sorts of things together, he snuggles with him, he uses him as a pillow, he tries to sleep like him.  See below:

I had to use this picture because it made me chuckle.

James.  James tests my patience every night at bedtime.  He always needs one more drink of milk or to tell me something really important like next Wednesday he would like to wear his skateboard shirt.  Anything for him to get out of bed one more time.  James has what he calls his "night-night." or "night."  It's a lovey blanket.  A random Christmas purchase when he was 6 months old . . . he has never looked back.  He got so attached to his night that I thought we should have a backup.  He's not particular as to which one.  (He does prefer the blue kind.  We have one other kind that will work if a blue one is not available.)  I went out and bought one then ended up ordering one and getting two so we ended up with 4 nights.  It's always nice to have a backup.

Instead of playing with my speedlite I thought I would try to work with whatever light I had.  They are not my favorite from a photography standpoint but I love how they embody my kids.

As if this post isn't lengthy enough. I thought I would share some other pictures about my kids and their crazy sleeping habits/positions.  The evidence:

Hmmmm. . . I wonder where they get that from?



Be sure to check out these other ladies to see their take on "sleep":  Michelle, Stacey, Andrea, Tracey, Heather, Jenn, Jessica, Amanda, Kristin, Amanda, Sara, Tracy, Lesli, Janet, Naomi, Rhonda, Rose, and Lena