The little house on the left

Just a heads up

2011-08-26T05:26:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged here in nearly a month. I do have a reason! I'm toying with the idea of just...you know...not blogging here anymore. I haven't really decided yet, and I don't feel pressured to decide. But out of 32 followers, I think realistically, only about 3 people ever read anything written here and less than that comment and ehh, just kind of tired of having 2 different blogs and no one reads either of them, so why not just have one? Right?

I hated having my last post about praying for my nephew(who came home 3 weeks ago and is going fine) and not ever explaining why I left it there. So that's the deal if anyone was curious. I have been blogging some personal stuff over on my photography blog in addition to client shoots/weddings so I haven't been a total slacker ;-) I'll make a decision eventually, but if you want to follow me over there, feel free! Here is the link
April Ingram Photography

You don't want to miss any of our silliness do you?

Hope you all had a great summer!

Pray for Joshua

2011-07-26T14:34:00.000-07:00

As you know, My nephew, Joshua, was born on Sunday nearly a month premature. We are no strangers to premies as my other nephew and Joshua's older brother, Caleb, was born early. Joshua weighed in at a hefty 5lbs and 13oz(Caleb was a 4lber). Knowing that Joshua would likely be born early, he was given the benefit of steroid shots several weeks ago to prepare him for an early arrival. He and his mommy did very well through labor and delivery but alas, his current residence is the NICU at our local hospital. I went up to visit last night but was unable to see the little feller because of two new admissions to the NICU and they were not allowing visitors at that time.

My sister-in-law and one of my best friends, Constance, was discharged this afternoon and she and my brother are home now with Caleb for the first time since Friday afternoon. Leaving the hospital without your child in your arms is a very emotional and stressful situation. I know, because I have been there myself. We are asking for several prayers on their behalf:

For Joshua: That he grow strong and healthy in the coming days and be well enough to come home.
For Jacob and Constance: That they will be comforted enough to get rest and much needed sleep and that they will feel the peace of God as they wait for Joshua to be home with them.
For Caleb: That he will also get rest and get back into a regular routine and that he will welcome the homecoming of his baby brother but not be effected by the stress that will most certainly surround him as he and his family wait for that day.
For the nurses and doctors in charge of Joshua's care: That they will help him and assist him in every way and continue to provide exceptional care for him during his, hopefully brief, stay in the NICU.

Thank you for your support and love on facebook!! We sure do appreciate it :-)

(with Daddy at one day old)

Bright eyed baby Joshua on day 2 of life on the outside

Bad case of the Monday's

2011-07-25T11:24:00.000-07:00

We had a really exciting and fun weekend. As you know, the weekend was one full of anticipation for the birth of my sweet new nephew, Joshua Abel Brown. The boss and I also had a much needed, long awaited overnight break from our three rascally kiddo's. We visited with brother Jonathan and new sister Lisa for a bit, went to dinner with some of our favorite friends, Gorg and Mindy(who had a break from their 7 kids), went to an art auction with them and cousins Aaron and Teresa, drank wine, viewed some incredible art that we couldn't afford to buy(but one of MY prints sold at the auction, thank you, thank you). The evening was magical in a way. We haven't had an overnight sitter for all 3 kids since last September and I will just say...we soaked up every second right down to walking into church for Mass yesterday morning frazzle free, holding each others hand instead of a childs' hand as we walked across the parking lot. Joshua's birth yesterday afternoon was just icing on the cake. It was a wonderful weekend, to say the least.

But...Monday hit us hard as the mist from our fantastic weekend lifted and we were faced with all of the stress and anxiety that we had casually left at the backdoor on Friday afternoon. Last weekend of the month, exceptionally poor, stuff that needs to be done, house that needs to be cleaned, pictures that need to be finished and shipped, inboxes full of messages that need to be replied to, groceries that need to be bought and did I mention how poor we are?

I really hate day like this. I find myself wallowing in self pity, feeling bitter and jealous of others, beating myself up for not putting away for a rainy day, feeling guilty for always making fun of the boss for being a penny pincher and wishing I would have taken notes instead of poking fun at him. Searching for peace and guidance, I turn to my bible. I closed my eyes, opened it somewhat in the middle in the middle, putting my finger on a verse and read Proverbs 12:1 which reads "He who loves correction loves knowledge; but he who hates reproof is stupid" uhhh...gee.. thanks, God.

You know, I really didn't want to feel more stupid, so I turn to....google. I am almost certain I heard him laughing at me at this point, but I cannot be sure. What I was reminded of was a verse that I used to read to myself a lot when I was struggling to get pregnant after we lost Mac.

‎"Have no anxiety about anything at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus" Phillipians 4:6-7

I have pretty much have nothing to complain about. I have a wonderful life. I have the best husband in the world, 3 beautiful, healthy children, a lovely home that keeps us safe and dry and comfortable all year long. We have lots of amazing and precious friends, a helpful and loving family on both sides, and we know that no matter how "poor" we get, we will never go hungry. It's easy to lose sight of how blessed and fortunate you really are. We are so blessed, so fortunate, and so happy.

Joshua has arrived

2011-07-24T19:28:00.000-07:00

Baby Joshua FINALLY arrived today :-) Don't worry, I will be heading up sometime to tomorrow to get some pictures of my own. Till then...he's the little stinker in some pictures other people took today!

waiting on Joshua

2011-07-22T20:19:00.000-07:00

After months and months of waiting and hoping and wishing a praying...it is time for my new little nephew to join the rest of the world and emerge from the womb! Yeeeehaw! He's a little early, but due to his moms blood pressure problems, the doctor decided to go ahead and take him out this weekend.

So we are all waiting around very anxiously for new of progression or something. Soon-to-be big brother, Caleb, is hanging out with us tonight and I have to say....He really just doesn't seem to care what's going on. He's just having fun.

*fingers crossed that we'll have a new little one in the family by tomorrow morning*

purdy flowers

2011-07-21T04:49:00.000-07:00

I absolutely LOVE the light on a sunny morning in our back yard. I think it's something about how it shines through the tree's and when everything is still wet with dew the entire yard just seems to sparkle. Very enchanting, or would be if we had more grass and less...old shed...but, it IS pretty light. I happened to pass by the kitchen window yesterday morning and just stood there admiring my pretty back yard(minus shed) and decided to grab my camera and walk outside for a bit before it got too hot. I noticed that our purple lilies in the ditch had finally bloomed. I really want to plant more of these in the ditch. These and other pretty flowers. I like them in the ditch because I don't feel bad about cutting them to put in the house :-)

(had to do a selfie...the light was too fun)

Any suggestions about what else I should plant out there?

Couch Potatoes: Day 2 of 30

2011-07-20T16:11:00.000-07:00

Heard some strange noises coming the living room where Liam was "supposed" to be napping. walked in to find this...

Couch Potatoes

2011-07-19T10:33:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I wonder if the word "Couch" is predominantly a southern thing. Seems like most people above the Mason Dixon line call it a "sofa". I grew up thinking that a "sofa" was some sub species of the couch, like a love seat or chaise. I remembering wondering once "I bet it's like a formal couch, one that rich people have in little rooms that people never sit in and that not child has ever pretended the arm of it was a horse."

Couch just always had a more comfortable and less formal ring to it in my head. We had a variety of ugly couches when I was growing up, but they were all comfortable and cozy and were a great spot for a nap. No one ever cared what they looked like except my mother because we just wanted to sit on them, or lay on them, and our eyes were fixed on a magazine or a game-boy or the television. My mom could always find beauty in anything we had because she knew how hard she and my daddy worked for every single item in our home and if it was clean and well-made, it was beautiful to her. When I was younger, I thought that my mom just had really bad taste, but I *get* it now that I am older and I find that to be a very endearing trait of my mother. Our "stuff" was beautiful because it was the fruits of their labor. And not so much when my brother spilled his "magic coke" all over it(long story). But why all this talk about couches all of a sudden and out the blue, you might be asking yourself? Well, the idea of expressing how I feel about something so ordinary as the living room couch came about in a very ordinary way. If you happened to read the post just below this one, I had taken a picture of me and my children on our red couch a few days ago. It wasn't well though out as far as composition, I was having a bad day and decided to take a picture to capture the mood of that particular day. Well, I was looking at the picture again today and thought "I wonder how many pictures I have of a couch". Welcome to my world. I think random things. But this though of how often a photograph couches... it made me realize how big of a role our couch plays in our daily life and always has...literally all my life. Some folks trade in their couches every 2 or 3 years for something newer but when you have kids and you don't have a lot of money to spend on things like furniture, you hang onto something like a couch until they kids or just daily life make it come apart at the seems. Then you stitch the seems back up by hand to try to squeeze just 6 more months of life out of it. It's simply not practical to buy a nice new couch that you have to cover in plastic to keep the kids from wearing it down. The couch is where they play, wrestle, eat popcorn on while watching an evening movie after bath time, where they fall asleep, where you spend hours with them in your lap when they are sick, where you sit down and unwind and snuggle with your spouse after the kids are in bed(or the other end of the couch) asleep. It's a central part of the daily routine and you don't want to stop life from happening because you have to keep your precious $1500 leather couch in pristine condition.

So after sorting through all of those thoughts, I decided to do a new 30 day photo challenge centered around our couch. I absolutely understand why you are laughing in your head(or out loud) after reading that. It is an absurd idea, but I think it sounds interesting. I'm calling it "Couch Potatoes" because of the irony, and because it sounded better than "30 pictures of our couch". There is this stigma attached to the family couch. Kids who sit on it all day are playing video games and mindlessly watching TV and rotting their brains. The couch is for lazy people, where nothing happens except getting fat. But I don't see it that way at all and I want to convey just how magical and fun and exciting something so ordinary as your couch can be in the eyes of your children. I have the luxury of being able to stay at home with my children right now and I get to see every day how much fun they have on this old red couch where they spend so much time. I have no idea what kind of pictures you will be seeing. I am hoping that 30 days of photographing a couch will force me to get a little creative ;-) I started today, June 19th.

So without further ado...and without talking about everything I plan to talk about over the next 30 days....Here we go:

Day 1 of 30:

"Afternoon Snack"

And the only spill was Liam dropping a spoon full of ice cream in his foot....which he promptly sucked off and ate like it never happened.

Call me immature...I'm taking my toys and going home...

2011-07-18T12:58:00.000-07:00

Having a bit of an emotional day. I really don't like pouring emotions out in this way but everything is so overwhelming right now that the least little nothing makes me cry like a damn baby. My daughter starts 2nd grade in just a few weeks. My middle child is asking all these God questions like he suddenly understands that there is a God and what he is for. He asked me this morning "Mama, does God put all of my lies in a jar and keeps them until i get to heaven?"( assume Cate told him this, otherwise, I am kind of freaked out by how he could have come up with it on his own). Liam...my BABY...who is over 3 years old now refuses to potty train. So I have 2 kids who are growing up too fast and one that won't grow up even if I put a pot of big boy and all the candy in the world at the end of a rainbow and pushed his little butt down it. I'm going to have to pack pull ups in his suitcase when he goes off to college, apparently.

This weekend was lovely, until Sunday. Now, normally Sunday is my favorite day of the week. People cook for me, I see all of my family, I go to mass, my parents have like...an endless supply of pinot grigio..I love Sundays. But the Boss went out of town this weekend and was not here for all of the Sunday "fun" of getting 3 kids dressed and ready for church by 8:45(I had nursery at 9:30 and had to be there at 9:15) and I was tired before we even left the house. We had 8 kids in the nursery, my 3 included, and we were downstairs at church eating doughnuts and drinking coffee. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law are there with their 4 kids and offer to help me(they are saints, always willing to help us out in anyway). I was suddenly struck with this overwhelming urge to just go home. I was sitting there with a room full of people and full of kids too and MY kids were the bad ones in the room. It was MY kids running around and not listening to me at all, deliberately disobeying me, being terrible. I just wanted to hide. I wanted to crawl under the table with my coffee and my kids and pretend that we were not there. They were soooo bad. I missed my husband, I wanted to be away from that situation, I just want to go. home. So I did. Yes....I drove all the way to church, did my nursery duty, and left without going to mass. I just went home.

Unfortunately, lack of sleep and a bad experience at church set the mood for the entire day. Like I said, I enjoy Sunday's. So it's rare for them to just be a total cluster ffffffff.......ccccluster of annoyances. BUt it was. I was on edge all day, in defense mode. Yes, my boys are terrible. They are whiny, they fight, they leave doors open and make messes. Yes, Cate is a terrible speller and she doesn't read a lot on her own. She will if we make her, or if she reads on her DS games, but as far as picking up a book on her own like normal 7 years old...neh. I just...didn't want to talk about any of it. I didn't need any reminders of what a crummy parent I am and how terrible and far behind in development my kids are. I am not in denial, I am not ignoring the issues...I just didn't want to talk about it on Sunday. When you are already feeling like a failure of a parent, you just don't need to revisit every single little issue that is already a thorn in your aaas...ummm side. *sticking fingers in my ears* Lalala, I don't wanna hear about it lalalala** The theme for the day was me repeating "I just wanna go home" every 30 minutes. All. Day. Long.

Home came, at last, in my sweet hubby's arms when he finally got back from his overnight trip. I wanted to literally JUMP into his arms when I saw that man, honestly. When we are at home, I never have a problem with him going anywhere. Home is easy to handle, sometimes it's actually easier to handle when he isn't home because he's all "Oh you can't eat in the living room. What's that mark on the wall? Stop screaming! Stop running! I smell poop!!!" like all the time. So I kind of get to relax a little when the boss is gone. However, leaving the house is entirely a different matter. It's exhausting and I won't lie...makes me want to cry sometimes to go into public with these kids all by myself. So. Happy. To. See. Papa.

So here we are just 3 weeks before school starts again. Can't say I am ready for it, but it's coming whether I am ready or not. My baby girl is starting second grade and I have to start getting up at 6:00(ok, 7:45) again. Not really looking forward to it. That whole...having clean clothes for Cate every morning thing. Ugh.

Anyway, my kids are awful, everyone thinks I am a bad parent, I have a second grader, I can't stay on top of housework or editing, now I have to go deal with my awful kids while failing at everything else. Ciao.

What? Picture? Ok...

The Lord of the Rings...and stuff

2011-07-16T19:25:00.000-07:00

In case you haven't heard yet....we have officially decided on our Halloween theme for this year...Middle Earth.

We are HUGE Lord of the Rings fans here. I thought it would be an easy theme considering our kids have crazy curly hair and hobbit outfits are really not that terribly difficult to assemble. I mean, shaggy hair, high water britches, green capes, ring around one kids neck...not really hard to do, right? It occurred to me a few days ago that I might ought to start doing some hobbit research for the boys costumes(Cate will be Eowyn, we ain't even gone there yet, bub). So we decided to watch the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy over again. we watched the Fellowship of the Rings last night. Fantastic movie, I love it. I love the music, I love Aragorn, I love the costumes, I love the cinematography, I love Aragorn...I said that already didn't I? I always did think to myself though....hey, there must have been an easier way to accomplish this task of casting a little ring into a massive volcano of evil fire. But hey, whatever. Then I saw this tonight and it just made me think...really? why not? It just would have just been too easy I reckon...

South Australia

2011-07-16T15:45:00.000-07:00

We listen to a wide variety of music around the Ingram house. I wouldn't dare do into all the genre's of music that we enjoy because it would likely take many paragraphs. while listening to a playlist that I had created for the kids long ago, they suddenly remembered a version of South Australia performed by the wiggles.

Not very impressive but a fine version of one of my favorite songs. I don't really know why I have loved this song so much for so long, but it's a household favorite. we know many versions and the kids are well versed in the song. we sing it all the time....

(this one starts out slow, it gets better, I promise.)

Still, my favorite version of the song was from The Pogues(You knew it, didn't ya? Big Pogues fan I am). I thought it might be beneficial for the kids to at least be familiar with this version of the song that Mama knows and loves so well. Commentary from Cate throughout the song was quite humorous:

"who is this?"
"Are you sure this is South Australia?"
"I am not sure I can understand what he's saying..."
"I really don't understand a single word that he is saying, mama"
"I really don't know why you like this man so much, he can't sing very well"

*hmph*. She'll get it someday, maybe. Shane didn't even sing this song...geez.

Park life

2011-07-07T12:45:00.000-07:00

Ahhh, I love Summer.

Inspiring imagination

2011-07-06T10:01:00.000-07:00

I am constantly inspired in so many ways by weather that is not cold. I have always loved Summer and I feel like i do my best work professionally during the summer months, I also tend to keep the house up a little better. But for all the inspiration that I draw from nature and the warm weather there is also something else that inspires me to get creative....these crazy, bored, whiney, annoying children of mine.

Our kids love to play outside and would probably stay outside for the majority of the day if they could stand the heat for more than a few hours. Today it is wet and muddy and muggy outside. I don't even want to be out there. I was kind of hoping to get a lot done today, so I was not thrilled at all with the bleak outlook for our day filled with fights, tantrums, toy trails all through the house and non stop request for snacks(because when they are bored, they think they are hungry). we had a day like this a few weeks ago too. I kept encouraging the kids to make up a game or activity to play together but all of Cate's ideas fell flat---I mean, who knew the boys wouldn't want to be the crowd watching Cate have a dance recital? Frustrated and on the brink of a nervous breakdown, I set up a make-shift pet store in the hallway. It was composed of a laundry basket, a rotary phone, a chalk board, a blind panel, and lots of stuffed animals. The kids found some aprons and decorated their store and played for HOURS. It was awesome.

So seeing that today could possibly be rescued much the same way, I feverishly searched the house for something that would give me some kind of inspiration. Enter...a picnic basket. Filled with cups and forks and a blanket. Indoor picnic! And a tent. And I will serve them lunch. But if you are camping, you gotta have a fire. Crepe paper. I knew I had some red, but I was thrilled when I found a roll of orange and yellow as well. Tossing my crepe paper fire in one of my wooden salad bowls, Cate brought me a roll of white crepe paper and asked if I needed that as well. why yes, yes I do. Marshmellows...taped onto sticks from the yard. I served the kids some sandwiches and let their imaginations run as wild as they could. who knew a baby big foot would wander into their camp site after getting lost from his mother and that they would have to fill their back packs up with supplies for the dangerous trek through the dark spooky forrest to find mama big foot. (and FYI, nerf bullets can bring down a bear)

And if you are asking yourself why we have a big foot stuffed animal, I have to ask you...Do you even know our family? Of course we have a big foot. (if you look behind Cate in the pet shop picture, you can see a glimpse of baby big foot)

I hope all of you are enjoying your summer and staying sane with those kids out of school!

My baby daddy

2011-06-18T19:51:00.000-07:00

When I married the boss, one of the first things I wanted to do was have a bunch of kids. I don't really know why my desire to become a mom was so strong. Stronger than my desire to live out the rest of my teen years, stronger than my desire to travel, have money, freedom, lazy Saturday's, getting an education and a degree...once we got married, that's all I wanted. A baby. Awww. The boss, being a little older than me, was more logical about these things, he suggested we wait a year or two. We were poor, young, just starting out. But I wanted a baby. He must have wanted one as well. Because 8 months after marriage, I convinced him to throw caution to the wind and just "see what happens". Aaaand about a week later we decided, meh, probably not the best idea we had ever had and decided to wait another year. Only...by that time it was kind of...umm...to late. And so was I, a couple of weeks later. whoops. Welcome to parenthood!

The boss never ceased to amaze me with how googly eyed he got when each of our children were born. Becoming a mother is an amazing transformation to go through but for the boss, it always seemed so effortless. It was like...one day he was just Seth, the next day he was a Papa, and never thought twice about it. Any wife with kids would agree that there is nothing more attractive, more endearing, or more sexy than looking at the man you love with all your heart holding your newborn child and not being able to take his eyes off that baby because he is SO in love. You don't even feel jealous that he loves something, if for a moment, more than he loves you because it is the child that you brought into the world and it's actually very flattering. It's like "Yep, buddy. Look what mama grew and squeezed out...that's right...YOUR KID! Soak it up and you can thank me later. Cause it hurt. A lot." He has yet to thank for me for some 95 hours total of labor after 4 birthing adventures but I suppose that is neither here nor there. But it'd be nice. I mean, it really hurt and all that pain couldn't be more pain than a "thanks for bringing my kids into the world" right? But wait, we're all about fathers today huh?

I could never have chosen a better father for my children. He has always been, and still is, inspirational to me. I want to be as good of a mother as he is a father. But as much as he inspires me to be a better parent, spouse, and person as a whole, my favorite thing about the boss in regards to his role as a father is what a fine example he sets for our children as to what the role of father and husband really should be, especially for the boys. I sometimes worry about how Cate will feel and act when she becomes a wife and mother, having me as her primary role model. The boys? Nah. I ain't concerned one bit. The boss shows those boys on a daily basis what it means to be a good man, a good husband, and a good father. These young boys watch their father have his hands together in prayer at each meal. They watch him be patient and kind to their crazy and emotionally charged mother even when they know good and well he'd much rather smack her and tell her and to get over it. They see him on a daily basis come home from a full days work at the office and while he's mentally drained and physically spent, he finds the energy to tend to a garden that provides for and nourishes his growing family. They see him start little projects around the house and see them through. They see him do without things that would make his life easier because he knows that every dime spent to make things easier for him is a dine spent and not put back for his family. In all the things that they see, every day, from their father, they see an example set for them. They see a gentle and loving father with a stern hand and strong principles. They see a kind and affectionate husband who treats his wife like a princess and calls her beautiful every single day. They see a responsible man who goes to work each morning without complaining and comes home to take care of his house and property so that we can enjoy it to it's full potential. They see, every day, a real man. A Godly and Christian man who lives every single day of his life for his family and his faith. That's what they get to see in their Papa.

If my boys are even an ounce of what their father is, they'll do just fine, but they have a mighty big example to live up to if they hope to be like their hero. I can only hope and pray that Cate will someday find a man as wonderful as her Papa to marry. Whatever happens, I have no doubt what so ever that my kids will always see their Papa as their ultimate hero. I can only hope that someday, regardless of how many spankings he gives them, they will understand someday the full extent of his love, devotion, and affection for them. They are his world.

Boss- Happy Fathers day, precious. If you didn't get it from everything I wrote above, I'm really glad you are my baby daddy ;-) I wish you could see yourself through my eyes for just one day. I love you more than you will ever know.

Road Trip with Kids

2011-06-16T09:57:00.000-07:00

"Every now and then you have to travel with the kids to remind yourself why you shouldn't travel with the kids" - The boss(2008)

It's been a while since we traveled with all the kids. Over a year actually. And before that it had been 2 yeas since we traveled with all the kids. Not that we are huge travelers anyway, but from time to time we do actually like to go places other than the grocery store. This past weekend, we travelled to Tennessee to visit some friends and witness the baptism of our cousin, Teresa, and her new baby, Og(yes, his name is Og, no it isn't short for anything. Learning to spell his name should be very easy for him). It was a great visit, lots of fun on Saturday evening and a great church service on Sunday morning. The trip up there and back...meh, not so much.

I will say that for OUR kids, they were actually pretty good. But here are a few things I learned on the 4 1/2 hour car drive up there and then again on the way back. First of all, you know that stereotype of kids on road trips? The one where the kids sit in the back and yell really stupid stuff such as "Simon won't look at me!" and "Simon won't stop looking at me!" ?? You know that one? Yeah, they actually DO that! And the dreaded "Are we there yet?" every 10 minutes? Yeah, they do that too! And they are always "firsty" and hungry. And they just need to unbuckle for just a second to get that toy that they hurled at their brother 15 minutes ago, right before they realized that...you know, if you throw it across the van, it's doesn't magically come back to your hand so you can play with it. I learned that there is really no need to pack your bags and gear in an orderly fashion on the way to your destination because it all still fits when, before you head back home, you just shove it in there and slam the back door and instruct everyone to NOT OPEN THE DOOR until you get home. I learned that it doesn't matter if you try to separate the dirty clothes from the clean ones in your bags. You'll just get confused and have to wash them all when you get home anyway. You will always leave something behind. If you are lucky, you left it at your friends house, where it will be safe as opposed to some MacDonalds somewhere between Huntsville and Centre, Al. And as long as it isn't something like blankies, a phone, a child, or a camera, it isn't worth trying to find.

We survived the trips there and back with sanity and relationships still mostly intact. And we had a good time. Will we do it again anytime soon? Man, I hope not!

My favorite part of our visit was the play that Ellen(our wonderful hostess) wrote for Aaron and Teresa. After she wrote it, Seth and Justin(Ellen's husband) "improved" it. Never a dull moment with those Sanders!

(This is Justin, wearing an apron and playing Teresa, lifting Aaron's beard(Aaron played by Seth, obviously) to give him a kiss.

For those of you who do not know Aaron, and missed the joke, this is Aaron holding baby Og and laughing at this part of the play(Teresa is at the bottom)

2011-06-13T14:16:00.000-07:00

Me: "Ok, it's 5:00, everyone go clean your rooms!"

*"yes ma'ams" from all 3 kids*

10 minutes later. I find Simon on the couch, panting. As if he had been working so hard.

Me: Simon, is your room clean? why are you sitting on the couch?

Simon: Oh, I just told Cate to clean my room and I would give her my candy.

Me: You don't have any candy, Simon.

Simon: Shhhhh!!!

Cate(from Simon's room): WHAT!?!?!

Me: Simon, I am really disappointed in you for tricking your sister. That was ugly.

Simon: It worked!

Me: what were you going to do when she finished cleaning your room and you didn't have any candy to give her?

Simon: Ummm...apologize?

Fast forward 5 minutes.

Simon(in his room, cleaning, not happy about it): Fine! Be mean to me mama! You are so mean to me...all the time!

Cate(on the couch, feet propped up, eating a popsicle) : Now this is more like it.

Liam: Do I still need to clean my room?

Me: Nope, here is a popsicle.

Simon: Mama, you are so MEAN TO ME!!! UUUGGGHHH!!!!! *slams toys in his toy chest while grumbling*

Summer has arrived, babies!!!

2011-06-10T13:59:00.001-07:00

Have ya noticed my absence? Have ya? Huh? It's ok, I haven't either. Cate's out of school for the summer. Know what that means? Yeppers. Sleeping late. All 4 of us staying in jammies until noon(ok, 2pm), and generally just....ahhhh...taking it easy. I was going to say rela*insert important letter*ing but Liam decided it would be a *fantastic* start to summer to destroy my *key that is the letter that marks the spot of buried treasure* on my BRAND NEW macbook pro. Hahaha. Yeah. Those kids. who knew the *marker of buried treasure key* would be so useful. Why not the z key? I mean, I never use that one. Fortunately, I have a nifty key board that I can connect to my beautiful new(buried treasure key-less) laptop but I was just too lazy to do that before typing up this blog post. And anyway, I am getting quite used to typing *marker for buried treasure* rather than the actual letter and I think it makes my words a little more interesting, don't you?

I have about 200 pictures that I would love to show you but since my clients are practically beating my door down to get their stuff, I haven't had time to even upload my pictures. But here are a few from Sunday at my maw & paw-inl-laws house of the Ingram 7 eating some popsicles after a brutal game of yard baseball. Does anything sound more like summer than that?

I wish I had the time to edit these but....I don't. I hope you are all enjoying your summer so far!

Late Sunday Night Afterthought.

2011-05-29T19:37:00.000-07:00

The high heel idea turned out to be.....freaking genius. I loved it, my was totally uncomfortable all day long, but not in excruciating pain, so all went well. I ate tacos with my parents, brother, sister, and my parents entire church..This church used to be MY church(before we dammed ourselves to hell by turning Catholic, you know). So it was awesome to catch up with some amazing and wonderful old friends :-) Good times. Then we headed to the in-laws to enjoy some scrumptious steaks and great other food while celebrating my big brother Matthews birthday. I mean to give him a big fat birthday hug and smoochy-roo on the cheek but I decided that the best gift to give him was to not do that, so I refrained. Pretty sad too, he has such a smoochable face.

I changed outfits at least 4 times today. I think at one point I said "Is this too slutty?" What tha...??? With limited options for shoes, the outfit was a hard decision. I decided on a more modest, and yet, patriotic ensemble....and the picture sucks. So...you know, shut up. Cause, I take pretty pictures of other people for money and no one every offers to take a picture of me so any self portrait I get is worth plastering on the blog....

I have been listening to "Closing Time" since last weekend. My clients were Tom Waits fans, so it got me all wrapped up in this album. Anyway, I thought I would share one of my favorites from this album with you tonight

late night Saturday thought

2011-05-28T21:04:00.000-07:00

I am doing a two day posty. It's about 11:50ish on Saturday evening. I was taking a shower a few minutes ago and wondering how I was going to make it through tomorrow. In case you missed it on the facebooks, I managed to skewer my foot...TWICE..in less than 3 seconds on some rusty nails out on the carport. This was Thursday. If you have never had a puncture wound on the bottom of your foot before, let me just inform you now...it hurts like hell and you can't walk very well. I'm actually walking somewhat like a giraffe right now. It's not the most graceful thing you have ever seen. So I am worried about tomorrow. Mass, my mom's house for lunch(with her entire church there too), then to the in-laws for dinner/birthday celebrations. I had this idea. Since the puncture wounds are on the middle of my foot and the heel, I can only bare pressure on the tip of my foot and toes. Well, when I wear insanely high heels, that's all I bare pressure on anyway! Brilliant! Maybe I don't have to walk like a giraffe tomorrow! So I jumped(umm, hopped, more or less, not so gracefully) out of the shower. Wrapped myself in a towel and ran(umm, still hopping, actually, but faster than I had been hopping all the same) to my closet to grab my highest pair of high heels. The ones I never wear because they are stupid high. I slip them on. Holy.crap. I can flipping walk. Painfully, but without tears.

Now I haven't been able to wear my heels that are higher than 1 1/2" since my ankle sprain(coincidentally the same foot as my nail puncture). That was...umm, I dunno, late February? Early March? I thought this might be a problem, but fortunately the pain from my puncture wounds covers up the pain from the weak ankle.

Wish me luck tomorrow. I'll let ya know how it goes. This should be really interesting, or painful. Either way, I will blog tomorrow night about it.

(the black/floral shoes pictured here? Yeah. those are the ones. Seriously, wish me luck.)

She's a second grader?!

2011-05-28T08:07:00.000-07:00

Sounds so weird to say that...really, not even something that registered with me until today. Yesterday was Cate's last day of school. Yahoo! Summer!!!!! I love our lazy summer days and after the past few weeks of school crap, we were ready to welcome them!

Cate's was a pig in the Spring musical at school. She had a small singing part and did great. It was really adorable and I am so glad that my mom went with me. The boss was out of town and I had the boys so you can imagine that having her there to help with them meant just as much to me as her willingness to come out and be supportive of Cate. Thanks Mama, you have no idea how much it meant to me and Cate that you came to see her perform :-)

Cate also had an awards ceremony this week and received a certificate for A/B average and one for good conduct. Might not be as "honor worthy" as some but I was proud of my little sweetie. Way to go Cate!

We are very proud of Cate. She's an amazing kid. Welcome to 2nd grade baby, but first, enjoy your summer.And please, don't wake me up before 7:30, ok?

I found this in one of Cate's doodle notebooks. I love finding things like this that she copies.

On blogging and a night on the town

2011-05-26T13:20:00.000-07:00

When I started blogging, a few years ago, I was always of the mindset that I shouldn't blog unless I had something to blog about. And even at that, I never wanted a boring blog. I didn't want to blog every time Cate lost a tooth, or every time I felt frustrated and had no other platform from which I could spew my venom, or a Mama and Papa date night no matter how long awaited and anticipated it may be. Not that I haven't blogged about any or all of those things in times past, but I always wanted a blog that was regularly updated and each time I wrote something new...people who read it would be "excited" to read it. I wanted my readers to know that no matter how drone or lame the actual subject was, I was going to find a way to make it an interesting read. Yeah, ok. FAIL.

When I started THIS blog, it was all about the house, hence the title. It was an exciting time in which I had much to say and many people wanting to hear about so a blog was a natural solution to the never ending texts, calls, facebook messages, and emails about "how it was going". Obviously, once the big renovations slowed down, it became more of our family blog and I love it that way. However, since my "career" has taken off, I have had little time or creative energy left over to put into blogging but it doesn't take away from the fact that I still want my blog to be fun, fresh, and interesting. I have never had any desire to strictly have a "mom blog"(think mom jeans, boring, unattractive, only understandable/excusable to other moms). Though I had once had high hopes that my husband, the WRITER, would have time and creativity to contribute to this blog, I realize now that it's completely up to me to keep it up. Why do I care? I don't know, honestly. Maybe I enjoy being able to gloat about my family and home. Maybe I am just an attention whore. Whatever the reason, I love having my little blog and being able to share our simple little crazy life with my friends and family who still read it. I have been working a lot lately and have neglected my blog on purpose. Though I have had a million and one things that I want to talk about, I have not had any sarcasm or humor left enough in me to put into my writing lately. Apparently I am using it all on my family, and I am sure that they are very grateful for that. *snortle*

I could update for an hour on all the on-goings of the Ingram house, but right now, I want to write about this past weekend. It honestly took me a few days to process my 24 hours in Atlanta. I have never been there without my mom or husband. It was a lot to take in, but I think I am ready to open up about it.

I went out of town last weekend. My first "someone paid me to stay in a hotel to shoot their wedding" experience. I'd love to say that I had been flown to some tropical island, but it was just in Atlanta. It was fun. Awesome party, I saw a burning bush, stayed out until 2, stayed up until much later, bonded with some unlikely folks and got to hang out with my good friend Tiffany who was my assistant for the weekend(and my tour guide because she used to live there). I did some things that were totally out of character for me like going to a bar without my husband, staying out late, and drinking a beer while working--best clients ever! At the beginning of the dancing part of the reception, the band sang "Party in the USA" a cappella and it reminded me of my little Cate. She likes that song and I teared up. The song was in my head for the rest of the night as I watched the city life around me and while I did have fun, my precious husband and darling children were on my mind all night and I felt really out of my element. I am not a city girl, and I am now very proud to claim my title as nothing less than a good ol' small town girl who only has eyes for her man. I was homesick by the time we checked into the hotel, and my emotions kept flopping back and forth between homesick and having a fun all evening. It was interesting, to see the "lifestyle" that I never had. You know, that staying up late partying in the city kind of stuff that most people do for at least a little while. I got married at 17, had a baby a month shy of 19, and I have been a mom and housewife ever since. I can honestly say, without hesitation, I do not feel like I missed out on anything. I felt so out of place. I know that I am not a city girl, I now know that I am not a party girl. I'm a simple girl. I had fun, don't get me wrong, but not nearly as much fun as I have in Rome, Ga in my stomping grounds surrounded by my good friends and family(I party with my family, because they are awesome). Having fun in the city every now and then is fine, but no thanks. I'm much happier at home in the bossom of my family where I am safe and loved and cherished. Time away to see what you aren't missing is very healthy for someone my age, I think. I am glad I did it, I have no regrets. I won't say that I will never take an out of town job again, I hope to take many, but close to home is where April belongs. Big cities seemed appealing to me because I had never experienced them before. After this weekend, I don't feel like I missed anything at all. I love my life and the people I share it with. So not a city girl. Not by a long shot man.

(No, our 7 year old daughter is not allowed to watch this video, she can just listen to the song from time to time--and she doesn't know who Jayzee or Britney are. I honestly cannot name a Jayzee song myself...and I am proud of that.)

That took long enough

2011-05-19T09:26:00.000-07:00

So...about 5 months ago we started seriously saving up to buy me a new camera. Over the past year we have actually started using my income for more than just "fun" money so it was really difficult to not dip into that envelope everytime we started running low on funds. I scheduled so many sessions and weddings so close together and it wore us out but we made it. The week before Easter, we ordered a Canon 7D. And we waited. And we waited. And waited. And it never came. So we canceled the order and decided to just go buy one from a best buy or something. Turns out, they didn't have the 7D either. In fact, no one had it. At least not in the US. Thanks to the Tsunami, there was just no way to buy one right now. I was devastated. Here we had this wad of cash and knew what we wanted and we couldn't get it. GRRR!!! I was running out of time. With a wedding coming up this weekend, I was on the brink of a nervous breakdown because I had been counting on having my new camera before this weekend's events. The boss assured me that he would have me a camera for this weekend, but we might just have to rent it. It wasn't the solution I was hoping for, but it was a lot better than nothing. Deflated, I tried to keep my mind off the whole issue. Unknown to me, the boss made a phone call to a good friend who had a friend who rents cameras. Knowing how badly I wanted the 7D for myself, they asked if we could just buy the camera from him. And he said yes :-) The boss called to tell me the news and happily jumped around the house for the better part of an hour.

I'm such a happy girl today :-)

Blog brought to you by the kittens

2011-05-18T14:34:00.000-07:00

Kitten #1: Hey, howsago'n. I'm great, just been hanging out down at the shed this week. Pretty sweet, cause mom doesn't move us around the yard anymore and it's dry and quiet. I mean, sure, there's the obvious spider and wasp problem, which you would think would be kind of creepy but we're starting to get along. One of those, "you don't sting or bite me and I'll stay out of your way" kind of agreements. Actually, the "pests" are kind of built in security system, keeps out the riff raff. By that I mean the...well, you know..the "humans", NOT trying to be all species biased or anything, but they can be really, really obnoxious, especially the smaller ones but there is that one chick that's bigger who always picks us up and rubs her face all over us. Really gross and embarrassing. Oh look. Here she comes now. What does she want? Mom's not even home, I mean we are obviously old and mature enough to hang out in our own crib for 15 minutes without mom around...whoa! Why is she picking me up?!? Ok, let's get this over with. Yes, I am cute. Yes, I know, I am the "fweetest wittle thang efer" now if you don't mind I was in the middle of...WHY is she taking me back up that house? I swear these humans have no regard for the common decency of a cat, this is ridiculous. I suppose I am expected to dress up in a tu-tu and prance around to entertain her little...oh the picnic table? What's...what's this about? Oh I get it now, the camera. Okey dokey..yes I get it. I sit still and look at you and then you take me back, right? This is the deal. "Cheese" ok now can...oh and here we go again "Cheese!!" alrighty, now you have some pitcur...and once more "CHEEEEEEESE!!!!!!!!!!" Ok, so we're good now?

Great and let's just take me back and then...oh crap. There he comes. I knew it. I knew this would happen. This is gonna suck.

Hmmm, yeah, ok, smile for the birdy...yeah, ok.....is this going to last much longer? 'Cause I had a fight scheduled with my brother and he's probably wondering where I am right about now...

you know, I bet my moms is back by now, so I probably need to go 'cause...whew, you don't want to KNOW how crazy she gets when we leave the house without permission, it's...haha, it's not pretty.

WOWZA, kid, those are my man parts. NOT COOL! Owie, I have an owie...and who care's? no one cares...ok, this is just really humiliating and awful. I hate this. Oh, so he's done with me now and that's when it stops, right?

Yeah, I see how it is. We wait till he's done with me. Screw you guys, I'm going home.

Oh look they're getting my brother now *snort* Watch this: "Hey brother! Have fun up there, it was awesome!"

Kitten #2 "Thanks man,What's going on up there anyway? The kids aren't there are they? Dude, I hope not, they are brutal."

Kitten #1 "Oh no, its awesome...it's a...a..It's a fish buffet, man. Totally wicked, you are gonna love it! I'm stuffed dude. Wish I could go back....*hahaha, sucker!*"

Kitten #2. "Awesome! I can't wait!"

Kitten #1 thinks and laughs to himself "Dude, how many times can you fall for that? What an idiot! I can't believe that's even my brother..."

Kitten #2. "Dammit! I fell for it again!"

*back at home*

Kitten #1: So, how was the "buffet" *entire litter bursts into laughter* Mom pretends to nap.
Kitten #2: I hate you all.

Kitten #3. Hahaha, what a dufus! You are so dumb...oh...no! Wait! NO!!! Please! Have mercy!!!

Kitten #3. Alright then. bring it on.They don't call me Angus for nothing...

FYI, it's probably funnier if you pretend that the kittens have some type of accent. I tried Scottish, British, and Australian and it was way more fun. Just, you know. FYI.....

Ingram's love old furniture!

2011-05-10T10:53:00.000-07:00

Sometime last summer, I started working on Cate's room. I got a few things done in there. We hung pretty curtains, I laid some tack paper under the glass of her vanity, bought her a bed skirt, fixed up a chair that the boys destroyed in less than a month, we inherited an antique iron bed and painted it black, and even hung a few things on the wall. Then I just didn't have it in the budget to finish it all at once so I decided to do it little by little. Of course, when I do something little by little, I never really do anything at all so it never gets finished. I don't know at what point I just gave up and figured "one day I will finish it, for now it serves it's purpose just fine". I haven't done a single thing to it, decorating wise, since last summer and I honestly don't care right now. I was ready to move on to the next project...the boys room.

The boys room has been a thorn in my side for..well, since we moved in a year and a half ago.The boys have never had a room to themselves. Actually, they have never had hardly anything to themselves. They share everything(sometimes more willingly than others). They share a room, a closet, clothes, toys, the TV, attention, and an aversion to anything remotely clean. Now that Little's crib is gone, they share a bed. Storage and organization has always been tricky for their room because it is such a small space to keep so much stuff. Our kids have never wanted for anything and clothes, shoes, and toys are no exception. We take a bag of something to the donation bins usually every month and 70% of the time, it's stuff that I took out of the boys room. Still, we have lots of stuff. And we don't even buy it, I have no idea where it all comes from. *Ah-ACH Granny,CHOO! .* Ahem, excuse me...dusty in here.

The boss' grandmother's house has been sitting empty since late October of last year. The family decided it was time to start cleaning out the house. The boss' grandparents raised their 8 children in this small 3 bedroom, 1 bath house(and it didn't always have a bathroom, from what I understand). A lot of the things inside had been there since my mother-in-law was a little girl, including a 4 piece bedroom suit that was painted green. My mother-in-law slept in this bed for many years. At first glance, you would have thought that maybe it was painted green and then distressed on purpose in an effort to make it look old. Newp. It's just old...and awesome! If you have been reading this blog for a while, you probably get the picture that we don't buy new furniture. That's for several reasons...A. We are poor. B. We are cheap. C. We like old stuff and D. there is a good chance the kids are going to scratch it or color on it at some point and we get less angry about them beating up already beat up furniture than we do about them wrecking something new. So when no one else wanted this awesome set of bedroom furniture, we happily accepted it and wasted no time putting our person touch on it. Ok, so we wasted like a week, but that was the tornado's fault, so...yeah.

Now the boss and I differ somewhat in our opinion of how we should fix things up. Say for example, we have gotten a book shelf. And...it's solid wood, but has been painted a few times and is in desperate need of a new paint job. The boss would typically stand there for a few minutes and say "It's real wood. We should sand the paint off and refinish the wood. And those shelves need some work...see how that's coming off right there? Put it in my shop, I'll work on it this weekend." To which I would reply..."I don't want to sand it and refinish the wood, I want to paint it." And the boss will give me 3 paint options: white, black, or brown. Sometimes he might throw in a really unattractive green that too closely resembles formula-fed baby poop.Then I will throw my colors at him...and watch him growing more annoyed by the second as I try to decide between navy blue...or colonial blue...or maybe even pool blue! How cute would that be?!?

So when I chose a very bright and vibrant red for the new furniture. He was a little skeptical. It didn't help that when the paint was wet, it looked hot pink :-) But once again, my appetite for bold and rich color in my house was a shining success and he did admit that it looks really good.

Here are some before pictures

mmm, the paint!Let me just break here for a second and say one thing. Cheap paint..well, it sucks. The first room we painted in this house was Cate's bedroom. It was the room I was most sure about. The boss' buddy Gorg complimented us on the color choice the day we painted it and asked what it was called. The boss' response was "It's called $38 a can" Obviously someone wasn't very excited that I had chosen and refused to budge from the Behr premium paint(primer and paint in one). However, it was worth it to me. We painted the rest of the house with the same type of paint because it covers like a dream. It isn't runny. It's awesome. Once you go with a higher quality of paint, you will never want to go back and when you do decide to save some money and go with a cheaper brand, like Glidden, or Dutchboy, you will spend your entire painting experience cursing yourself for doing so. This will either ruin the high of painting for a painting enthusiast like myself or make the job even more miserable than it already would have been if you are a painting-hater like the boss.

After the paint was dry and the furniture was in place in the room, I was really excited to start getting a little more organized. The dresser replaced Simon's old dresser, which was great and well made by my father-in-law when he was in like...middle school, but it just was never quite big enough for all of Simon's clothes, especially in winter with all the thicker clothes. We never downsize Simon's wardrobe even though he always has far more clothes than he needs because he is so hard on them that only about half of them still have enough ware left in them to pass down to Liam the next year. If all of the laundry was caught up, none of his drawers would close all the way :-/ The new dresser has much deeper and wider drawers and everything fits now with a little room to spare! Yea!

One item that the boys were particularly excited about was the desk. They always wanted one in their room, all 3 months that they have been old enough to request such things. I was pretty excited about it too because it has 4 drawers on it that are PERFECT for storing small toys! They have a toy box, but in order to find the small things they have to take everything out first. Big mess. Not good. Mommy headsplodey. Now...not only are their favorite toys separated so that they can find them easier, but the drawers are old and don't slide easily at all! Wait...what? Yep, I like it that way. Wanna know why? I bet all the other mommies already know. If they can't open the drawers themselves, they have to get me to do it. And then I get to go in their room and either grant or deny their request to get out the 30 piece train track depending on whether or not they pick up all the jumbo legos(which are on the top shelf of the closet so they have to ask me to get those down too). Ahaha! Hahahaha! Bwhahahaha..ha ha...ahhh. *sigh*. I love this new set up.

The nightstand is also a BIG perk for this set. The boss and I often end up sleeping with the kids. And we have to have water at night. I don't know why, we just do. So a bedside table is very useful. It's also nice to have a table lamp beside the bed rather than the flimsy crappy ikea floor lamp that was previous there(meaning you have to get UP and turn the lamp on and off. Really annoying). And for the record, that particular lamp is just temporary as it is ugly and I hate it, especially in the boys "boy themed" room.

So there it is. For now. And like Cate's room, I have no intention of doing one more thing to it for a few years because it's functional and doesn't make my brain hurt when I look at. Ok, maybe I will put up some pictures on the wall...but that's it. Probably. Well, I want to get a new chair for the desk pronto. A cute one. Maybe painted blue...navy, not colonial...

Hi Buzz, whatcha doing? Hanging out? Cool.

Yo mama so fat....

2011-05-08T16:50:00.000-07:00

There is this stereotype about how motherhood is supposed to be. You think that when you grow up, get married, and have a baby that you and your life is supposed to change completely. It's supposed to be this life altering occasion that leaves you stripped of all immature and selfish desires and replaces them with a deep and irresistible desire to nurture, teach, and love unconditionally with great patience and compassion. Yeah, ok. That didn't happen for me. At least, that wasn't all of it.

Welcome to my reality. For me, motherhood is more than hugs and kisses and the jolly sound of laughter filling the house(don't get me wrong, that's some of it, not all of it). It's a constant daily struggle to keep my head above the water. It's knowing that I will have to choose between neglecting my kids or neglecting my work or neglecting both for the sake of doing housework. It's always feeling stretched too thin because there is never time to pull myself back together again. It's being frustrated that everyone else can run simple errands like shipping a package at the post office in half the time it takes without any stress at all. I have never wanted to be a complaining mom, and I have never resenting being a mother. But I will admit, I get very jealous of moms who get breaks and moms who have time to stay on top of the laundry and the housework. It's taking 3 days to write a simple little blog post because you can't stay focused long enough to write and there is always something that you have to get up and do(hello, you are reading it right now, I started it on Friday). While I do love all of my children unconditionally, I don't always love them equally. I pick favorites sometimes. I often times feel resentful of the kids because they have never been the best sleepers and often times the boss and I end up going several days in a row without sleeping in the same bed. We want to sleep in the same bed, but we want to sleep more. I yell, frequently. Sometimes I cry because I never have more than 10 minutes to myself and because I have so many things I have to get done each day and fail miserably at them all because they are always distracting me and the kids look at me with that "oh mama's loosing it again, back away slowly...." look on their faces. But there is some weird comfort that I find in it all that makes the sweet parts of motherhood more believable. The fact that I can just look at my kids sometimes and feel pangs in my stomach because they are just that beautiful to me, I know that's real because 10 minutes ago I was ready to sit them out by the curb with the garbage to be picked up and taken away. When I am stressed out and suddenly hear the boys laughing hysterically from their room about who knows what(and I probably don't want to know) I am happy that for just one moment in time, that sweet sound of their little high pitched belly laughs can melt away all the stress and refresh my heart and mind...at least until they start fighting over Buzz Lightyear again. It might sound selfish and horrible to some people to hear a mom not sugar coating it. Had I known, say 5 years ago, that it was "ok" to have days when you just didn't like your kid, perhaps I would have been able to deal with those days better. Instead, I felt so trapped and sad that I couldn't be a good mom because I was not gushing over my daughter and absorbing every moment with her. Maybe I wouldn't have felt so terrible about wanting to slap anyone who said "Enjoy it, they grow up so fast!" mmmkay, why don't you not sleep for 2 years and tell me it goes by "so fast"?

For me, motherhood is not always pretty. It can be a dark little room with the walls closing in and no one can hear me screaming for help. But when I do manage to climb out, back out into the sunshine, I can see everything much more clearly. I have 3 very awesome children who love me despite all of my many shortcomings. I have a new opportunity every day to reinvent myself and to be a better person, and a better mother. The key is realizing that I will always be a mom and just like I will always forgive them for the mistakes that they make, they will forgive me, in time, as well.

The boss and I were blessed so much in that we both had incredible and loving mothers who have always loved and supported us, even when they didn't agree with our decisions. They helped us, guided us, cared for us, and brought us up with a deep fear and love of God. Though we spent many years taking them and all that they did for us for granted, we now understand how blessed we were and still are. Now that they are finished raising their babies, they are attentive, affectionate, and doting grandmothers. What's that old saying? Grandchildren are God's apology for children?

Happy Mother's day to all those moms out there. The perfect and imperfect ones. The ones who are currently toting a baby on their hip and the ones who miss toting a baby on their hip. The ones who carried and gave birth to their babies and the ones who adopted and never felt one ounce less of love and devotion that the rest of us do.The ones who hope and pray they do the right things and the ones who give us the advice because I they wish that they HAD done the right things. Being a mother is a great honor, and a lot of hard work, it's full of failure, mistakes, gladness and sadness, guilt, pride, and of course, lots and lots of stress...LOVE, I mean love. Lots and lots of love. And dirty diapers. And soured milk in sippy cups under the couch. And messy houses. And sleepless nights. And web MD. And saving for Christmas when it's still hot outside. And stress. And seriously, it's full of lots and lots of love.

Happy Mothers Day!

Little is getting bigger :-(

2011-05-05T12:59:00.000-07:00

When Liam was an infant, it became fairly clear that he was going to be a bit delayed. There was never anything alarming about his development except that he just didn't mature as fast as our other kids did. For a long time, it was very frustrating. I WANTED him to crawl at 6-7 months but he didn't until he was nearly 9 months. I WANTED him to stand up at 10 or 11 months but he waited until he was 15 months old. I wanted him to walk by 12 or 13 months, he was 17 months old before he walked.

I have spent a lot of energy and emotion into being defensive about Liam's slow progression. A few good buddies of mine had kids around the time that we had Liam. Their kids are in dance, are speaking very well, know their ABC's, colors, shapes, ect. I dread when conversations come up with them and I get "Oh, has he not taken to potty training?" and "I bet it's harder to teach ABC's when you have 3 kids.." and "does he have speech problems?". It's been very hard, emotionally, to let go of the mindset that every mom has and that mindset being that her kid is the smartest kid in the universe. I had a thought though, over 2 years ago when Liam was not even standing yet and I was pressuring him to walk. I wanted him to walk so badly. I had been obsessed with it for weeks and tried so hard to make him want it as badly as I did. As I can best recall it, at the time I wrote a blog about Liam not not walking yet and the closing line was something to the effect "Maybe Liam doesn't want to walk, maybe he wants to fly"

It was a profound revelation for me at the time. That Liam wasn't concerned with what the world expected him to do but rather with what HE wanted to do. I had a glimpse into his future of him coming home one day saying "Mama, Papa...I have decided that I want to...." and then expressing to us his deep desire to do something incredible and completely unexpected and being so intent and passionate about it that we could do nothing but give him our full support and admiration, even though we had already laid out the plan that we thought he ought to follow. Our hopes would be crushed but cleared away quickly and replaced by a new vision of what our wonderful son would accomplish and we would be completely confident in his ability to do it and do it well. How did I get all of that from one simple thought that I had while blogging about my 11 month old? It's just a mom thing. We do that stuff. *ahem*

Because I cannot really see into the future but can only speculate, I try to spend less time fantasizing about what my children will become or what they will do and more time enjoying the "now". While Liam is still delayed in development, I don't take much notice of it anymore. These days, I just have a different view on it. Before, I was shielding my child from ever knowing that he was behind. I didn't want to pressure him into being more than he was ready or willing to be.Being the 3rd child cannot be easy. There is already so much to live up to before you are even born. Liam takes it all in stride. He doesn't like being left out of so much because he is still such a baby, but he adores his brother and sister and allows them to baby him and take care of him(and big sister and brother love it too!).

Last night, I slept in Liam's bed and held him most of the night. Before he fell asleep, I grabbed my camera and captured one last image of Liam as a two year old. I laid down with him and we snuggled and talked about planes and trains and how exciting it was that in the morning he would be 3. But for one more night, he was still my two year old little baby. I ran my fingers through his soft brown hair and kissed his little tiny face more times than I can count. Before he closed his eyes he kissed me and said "Good night mama, I love you so much" and I teared up. I ended up sleeping with his lamp on all night because I fell asleep starring at him. What a beautiful little angel he is, he's great fun to stare at :-)

Happy Birthday Liam Kristopher Mac. We love you so much, too.

April 27th, 2011

2011-04-30T07:37:00.000-07:00

The past 72 hours or so have been quite exciting. Normally when I say that anything is exciting, I mean it in a good way but today I mean it very differently. When we woke up on Wednesday morning, April 27, there was nothing particularly exciting going on. I had gotten up early to let the cat out and decided to stay up and have my morning coffee in peace. I worked steadily on some pictures for about an hour before getting Cate off to school and Seth off to work. My good friend Vickie was also there that morning. Typically Vickie stays with us on Monday’s nights, but this week we moved our visiting night to Tuesday. At around 8:15-ish, Vickie was about to leave for work, the boys were on the couch watching television, and I was about to upload all the pictures that I had been working on that morning. The rain started to fall and while we were expecting a thunderstorm and even the loss of power, none of us were in anyway prepared for what was about to happen. It only took about 1 minute for everything to be over and the reality of what had just happened to really set it. We had just been through a tornado. Looking out the kitchen window we saw the devastation of what a tornado is capable of and while we were safe from harm, I was still scared. I was almost afraid to go outside to see the extent of the damage.

It was quiet, almost like the yard itself was in shock over what had just occurred. Barely a breath of wind, no traffic on the highway, no drills and air compressors sounding from the lawnmower shop next door. Just the soft fall of rain.After talking with Seth, he decided to come home from work although there was no structural damage to our house or buildings. It was comforting to me to know that he was on his way to be with us. I was rattled and quite honestly still afraid that one of the limbs or tree’s might have been weakened by the storm and was just waiting for a nice gust of wind to send it crashing onto our house. But none of them did and after about 45 minutes, the sun came out. The dead silence gave way to the hum of chainsaws and the wailing of sirens.

While the shock of the morning tornado was still very much running my emotions, I knew that we only had a brief window to get things in order and make a plan because the storms coming in that evening were going to be far worse. After sending the kids to the boss’ parents house, I did some cleaning and packed our bags to spend the night with my mom and daddy in Cedartown. The boss didn’t argue with my plan at all but opted to stay in Cave Spring with the house. It was a difficult decision to separate our family but I needed to know that the kids would be safe and the boss needed to know that the house was safe as well as me and the kids. The night storms proved to be far more devastating to the surrounding area than to our town. Just a few miles down the road, a large tornado ripped across the highway, obliterating chicken houses and residental homes and snapping tree's in half like they were toothpicks.

Through it all, however, God protected our family and our house from harm. It's been a very humbling 72 hours if nothing else. It was hard to complain about not having power because we still had a home, something that not everyone in our community still had. Some of the families in our area have suffered major losses. Our small community has been brought very close together by this tragedy and we are so thankful for our wonderful neighbors and friends in town. After a terrifying day and night on Wednesday, everyone is now working to get our town and homes back in order. With power restored to most of the town now, we can begin the process of cleaning up and moving on.

Please keep our community and the other area's affected and devastated by this weeks storms across the south in your prayers.

Spring Break...and all that implies.

2011-04-23T14:47:00.000-07:00

To say that our week has been "eventful" or "productive" would be a gross understatement, I think. It was a loooooooong weird week. Honestly it feels a lot like one of those dreams you have that feel very real while you are having it, and as soon as you wake up...but later on you start adding up all the weirdness and think "wow, that was a one really odd dream".

If you have driven by our house anytime in the past 2 weeks you might have found yourself thinking "What the hell are they doing?". Well, the giant posts on either side of the driveway are simply preparing to hold our gate. It wasn't until we(and by we I mean the boss) started putting in the fence posts that it really began to dawn on everyone what was going on at the little house on the left. Remember that fence I told you about a few weeks ago? Yeah, well...before this week, our house looked like this.

Now it looks like this:

I cannot begin to express our joy and excited over the idea of actually being able to USE our front yard!

Alright next up, we got another new addition to the house. A storm door! A...storm door. Yeah, that sounds so incredibly exciting and absolutely worthy of mention on the blog, right? The door turned out to be a huge pain in the ass. The boss and his dad spent about 5 hours getting the thing put on and after all was said and done, the locks didn't work and we had to call the manufacturer to get them to send us the new parts. And yes there was something wrong with the lock...piece..things. It wasn't a matter of wrong assembly :-)

Also this week...oh lets see what happened this week that I am forgetting about? Hmmm, Oh, I remember. Yes yes yes, we just went ahead and BOUGHT MY NEW CAMERA!!!!

If you know anything about me, you know how excited I am for this! It's been a long time coming and we have worked very hard to save up enough cash for this little darling! Full blog all about it surely to come on the other blog once I get it in my hands!

The kittens are getting really big. They started crawling yesterday and today, a little. As cute as they are, I will be honest with you...I am so sick of having 7 animals in my house. I'm done with the kittens. I love my cat and my rabbit but the kittens are a bit much. I have homes lined up for 3 of them so I just need to adopt out 2 of them! Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Max is good these days. He's probably the most spoiled rabbit in the history of the world.

With Cate on Spring break all week, the boss not at work all week, and all the new and exciting things going on around here, in addition to Easter tomorrow, I think I can safely say that I am 100% ready for boring old normal routine Monday morning.

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter Sunday!

I have issues...just not that one, and you probably don't either

2011-04-20T10:34:00.000-07:00

I know a lot of people who proclaim to be "OCD". That is...of course, obsessive compulsive disorder. In my personal opinion(because I am so qualified to diagnose you and all), the real condition of obsessive compulsive disorder stretches far beyond detailed lists, tidy houses, and arranging your DVD collection by genre. By definition, OCD causes a person great anxiety and distress and interferes with everyday life. So I really do not think that most people I know who claim to be OCD are actually suffering from the disorder. Yes, I dare to say that your DVD collection is not interfering with your ability to work a job or be a productive and responsible citizen. So, to 90% of you, no, I do not think that you have OCD. And neither do I. OCD is a nice little excuse for just being picky in most respects. We are all picky about one thing or another. It's called picky, and it's not an affliction, or a disorder and it doesn't require medication or even a label. It's just human nature. I honestly don't know what inspired me to explain my feelings of frustration by everyone's misuse of the term "OCD" but I did it to lead into my personal pickiness and to make sure everyone else knew that I do not have "OCD" or anything of the like. And to possibly call out a lot of people who say that they do suffer from OCD because they have to clean their house in a certain order. Get over yourself, you are fine. People who actually do have OCD don't shout it from the roof tops(or from their facebook status every chance they get). Now, onto ME, because I like talking about me....

I like my weekday, day time routine. I don't care much how crazy or hectic our weekends or evenings are, but from 8-5 on Monday-Thursday, I like to know that I will get up, get my kid and hubs off and at 12:00 we'll have lunch and at 12:45, Liam will lay down for a nap. At 3:00, we will go get Cate from school, at 4:30, we will start picking up the house and at 5:00 we will start cooking supper. At 5:45, the boss will arrive home from work. After that, I don't much care what goes on. I can roll with any punches. But 4 days a week of a set schedule in which I know from hour to hour what to expect is what keeps me sane. I don't know why. It just does(how does a posi track rear end on a plymouth work? It just does). I take comfort in the fact that 4 days a week, from 8-5, I know what is going to happen.

I just do.

So take Spring Break 2011 for example. I have been a bundle of nerves. I have not known from one day to the next what is going to be going on. And it's about to drive me insane. I can't tell if it's just normal weirdo April, or the cycle day that I am on, but I am just about to flip out and go into hibernation mode until Monday of next week when I KNOW what is going to happen!

So...I'm going to go scrub something and act like none of this is bothering me because at least pretending that I am not annoying is something that I can always expect. Ciao!

Celebrating Simon

2011-04-13T09:26:00.000-07:00

The prime purpose of being four is to enjoy being four - of secondary importance is to prepare for being five. ~Jim Trelease

Today, our middle child, Simon, is 4 years old. 4 years doesn't seem like that long when I write it but to think of the time when Simon was just a glimmer in our eye seems like an eternity ago. It's hard to imagine, or remember, life without all of 3 of our children in it. Simon is a special kid to many people. He was the long awaited answer to many prayers. The final bit of healing that I needed after the loss of Mac. It was an exciting time for our family. On my side of the family, I was excited that Simon would one day become the best friend and partner in crime to my nephew Caleb, 9 months older than Simon. On the other side, he would be big cousin to our niece Rosemary just a month after being born. You never really know what to expect from your kids. Of course, you have dreams and expectations for them. Since Simon was my first boy to raise, I had engrossed myself in fantasies of him bringing me worms and other creepy crawlies that he found, playing ball in the house and breaking things, and always having peanut butter and jelly smeared on his face. I expected a stereotypical little boy and I was not disappointed. He is an amazing, intelligent, feisty, silly, funny, and beautiful young man today. We are so proud of him and he brings such joy and laughter to our lives day after day. While he was our "difficult child for the better part of 2 years, he has really blossomed lately into a very sweet and caring child. And now Liam is the difficult one. Yeah, Irish twins are fuuu-uun. Rather than taking a walk down memory lane, I thought I would conduct an brief interview with him over lunch(mac & cheese, his favorite).

(please excuse my strange voice, I have a wicked head/chest cold and sound pretty odd on top of my already ridiculously thick southern drawl. Not a great combo.)

Our pretty princess(and some mommy guilt)

2011-04-12T09:15:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday was somewhat of a big day in the life of our daughter, Cate. She went to the annual father/daughter princess ball hosted by St. Mary's School(our church's school). It was her first "dance" and while it wasn't prom it was still kind of special because it was the first thing like this that she's ever done. As a mom, I had been excited about fixing her hair, doing her make-up, painting her nails, and of course, taking some pictures :-) But that didn't happen because now I am a working mom. Long before we bought tickets to the ball, I had scheduled to shoot a birthday party in the afternoon immediately followed by an engagement session. Since I was away from 2:30pm-8:00pm, I missed it all. I did some prep work on her hair and painted her tiny nails with some light pink nail polish before packing her bag, leave specific instructions with my sister-in-law before leaving to go work. I came very close to crying as I drove away because for 7 years I have been there for special things. It's why I chose to put my education on hold, because I wanted to be a very involved mom who was always there when I was needed. Photography was a fantastic option for me because I could make my own hours but every now and then, you have to miss out on something and this was just one of those times. The boss got dressed and took all the kids over to Matt and Mandi's house(Matt took their girls to the ball too so they all rode together) and thankfully Mandi was able to help Cate get ready. Cate wasn't upset at all that I wasn't there, Mandi is like a second mother to her so it was just as special to have her aunt doll her up as it would have been for me to do it. I knew she was in good hands and that definitely helped wipe away most of the guilt!

They all had a great time, and all 3 girls were absolutely beautiful!

And the boss didn't look too shabby either ;-)

Thanks for the pictures Mandi! You are the best!

A wordless kind of Wednesday

2011-04-06T18:26:00.001-07:00

Special Delivery!

2011-04-05T12:20:00.000-07:00

Here we were, yesterday evening just hanging around the house with the kids. And the rabbit. And the cat. Nothing particularly exciting going on but around 7:30 or so I noticed Agnes, our cat, sitting on the couch in Liam's lap. Not normal. Agnes hates Liam. His feelings toward her are quite the opposite and being a hyper little boy who loves animals and has absolutely no fear of them at all, he can sometimes be a little rough with her. Agnes stays inside most of the day. She comes inside, she eats, gets some water and immediately goes to hide inside the couch, going outside only to potty and kill a mouse or two before coming back in to hide. Not under the couch, or behind it...but inside of it. That's how much she hates Liam, she doesn't even want to be anywhere that he could remotely touch her. So to see her sitting on the couch with him was odd, to say the least. I walked over to sit down beside them and noticed Ags making some...different noises. I picked her up and felt something wet on my arm. Blech!!!!!! "She's having the kittens! On Liam's lap!" We whisked her outside and got her out to the shed just in time for the first kitten to be delivered. We all stood around watching and cheering her on for the first 2 kittens and the boss decided "You know, she might like some privacy" so we left her to do her thing, coming out to check on her periodically. The kids were all into it until they saw her eat a placenta and then they decided..."umm, yeah, good luck with that Ags" and didn't want to watch anymore :-)

There are 5 little precious furballs in all and Ags was a champ through the whole thing. Since the end of the delivery process, she's been back inside with her wee ones and has been nursing ever since, only going out to potty and then coming right back in to her babies. 3 are pretty much all black just like their mom and I guess the other 2 are a perfect mix of Ags and the daddy(who was big and orange) So proud of my girl! Now...who wants a kitten in 6 weeks? Come on, you know you want a kitten!!!

"If I let you take a picture of me will you go away and leave me alone?"

So yea! 6 cats, one rabbit, 3 kids....so that's, what? Only 174 nails to trim? No problem....

Pass

2011-04-01T15:12:00.000-07:00

I had a really crummy day yesterday. Nothing that was really all that bad all on it's on, but rather a string of FAILS that accumulated into one big crappy FAIL day. I would elaborate, but that would take an hour of boring blog-post that I would not want to subject any of my sweet friends to that. We'll just sum it all up by saying that sometimes being a stay at home mom who AND a work at home mom is really really frustrating and stressful though, i promise, I do not take it's many advantages for granted. By yesterday afternoon, I was spent. The boss informed me that a dear old friend of ours was coming into town and wanted to see some other old friends in Rome on Friday night(tonight) and he wanted us to get a babysitter and go out with him. I couldn't have been more happy at the thought of hugging Drew's skinny neck and hanging out with him and other close friends/family. The thought of stressing over finding a babysitter last minute after a crappy day and actually going out tonight and staying out late? Mehh, not so many happy feelings about that. The boss told me all about the plans through a text message which is typically how we communicate while he is at work now since we both have "impeccable" timing in interrupting the other during a chore. I waited much longer than normal to respond. Well, the biggest reason was because I was driving and couldn't respond immediately, but I also wanted to think about it for a few minutes before committing one way or another.

If you read my last note, you know I love lists. Since I was driving, I couldn't make a list but I did think up one:

Pro's of saying "Sure, that sounds great"

-If I couldn't find a babysitter, I could always go back and say "pass"

-If I decided at the last minute that I just didn't have the energy, I could still back out

-A break away from house and kids that isn't "work" would be nice

-I'd get to spend time away from house and kids with my husband and friends

Pro's of saying "Pass"

-No mad scramble to find a sitter

-No guilt of leaving my kids after being away from them for several hours yesterday and knowing I will be away from them most of the day tomorrow(I have a wedding to shoot tomorrow and it's going to a long work day)

-I can stay at home and catch up on picture editing

-I can go to bed early

-I can drink for cheap :-)

-Kids will get in bed at a normal time, making them better for the boss tomorrow when he is alone with them all day.

-If the boss decides that HE needs a babysitter tomorrow, he can get one guilt free since no one is babysitting them tonight!

-I say that Drew is "our" friend, but he and The boss have been very close friends for several years and they rarely get to hang out without me and the kids around. So I thought it would benefit them to have some time away from the boss' "baggage".

The only Con to responding with "Pass" was that if I changed my mind at the last minute, I couldn't get out of it. Once I decide not to get a sitter, I have no option of finding someone to watch 3 kids at the last minute on a Friday night.

Stuck at a traffic light on my way home, I finally picked up my phone and responded "Pass".

It's really hard to turn down an invitation to go do something fun with other adults. Sometimes, the break just isn't worth the stress. I know when I need a break and am not afraid or ashamed to ask for one. But tonight? I'm happy to be home with my kids enjoying a boring, quiet, Friday evening and an early bedtime.

Have a great weekend!

(The boss, Me, and "uncle Drew" at a wedding in January 2009. Those were good times. No, I have no idea what we were doing.)

And I still got to hug his skinny neck after all :-)

List making counts as a skill, right?

2011-03-29T11:28:00.000-07:00

I love making lists. If you are ever at a loss for something to give me as a gift just get me one of those pretty little magnet note pads that you can stick on the fridge and some ball point pens(no gel ink, please). I love Christmas time for many reasons but making lists of things I want to get my kids is so much fun. So is making the Christmas card list. I sit down at my computer every day with a little piece of paper and a pen, carefully keeping a list of all the file numbers of the pictures I am editing so I can track my progress and watching the list grow is actually exciting. I enjoy Sunday nights when I walk around making a detailed list of all the things I will need to get at the grocery store on Monday morning. Pathetic much? Perhaps, but I am glad that I have little things in my life that make me happy even if "List making" is one of them.

It's not at all uncommon on a day like today for me to sit down and write myself a to-do list. Do I check things off as I go? Not usually. Do I even keep track of the list once I have finished writing it...absolutely not. It's usually swiftly collected by a kid with a crayon at which point it turns into their last work of "art". I make it only because it's my favorite way of organizing my thoughts and priorities for the day. Today I woke up with a head all cluttered with goals that I had to meet. I had to burn disks and assemble a package for a client, and actually ship the package. I had to edit and post the pictures to my clients shutterfly album. I had to email some clients. I had to clean Max's cage. I had to call my mother-in-law. I needed to put away some laundry. I needed to wash our sheets. I needed to clean the boys room. I need to clean MY room. I needed to edit more for other clients and upload to their albums. And if I could possibly squeeze it in today, I needed to mop the hallway, the bathroom, the kitchen, the dining room, and the living room. Did I get it all done? Ha ha ha ha, whooo boy did I ever NOT get it all done. I got some of it accomplished, but I wasn't beating myself up over the rest of it.

I find it somewhat odd that when I am making a list, I leave off some of the most important things that I should be doing. And even more odd, those are the things that I am more likely to forget to do because I am so stressed out trying to do all of the things on my list.

And honestly, you'd think with as many lists as I write, I'd have better handwriting by now...obviously practice doesn't necessarily make perfect.

Meet Max

2011-03-29T05:45:00.000-07:00

I don't know how many of you remember our...ummm...adventure with some rabbits and ducks last Spring. Well, Spring is here and we are once again bunny sitting for miss Denna while she does her Easter portraits. In all honesty, I had completely forgotten that we were even going to do this. Of course, we don't mind at all, we love it, but it was a struggle to not sound surprised yesterday when Denna called to tell me that she was bringing the rabbit over at 3:00 :-)

Denna arrived with the bunny at 3:00 on the dot and I thought the timing was great. I was just getting ready to go pick up Cate from school and I thought it would be great to tell her that she had a surprise waiting for her at home. I made Simon promise to not spill the beans...I mean we live a whole 100 yards from her school so it's not like we had a long drive ahead of us. When Cate got into the car, I told her that we had a big surprise at home for her.

Cate: "*gasp*! Did you buy me flip flops?"

Me: "Well, yeah, but that's not your surprise."

Cate: "What color?"

Me: "I can't tell you it's a surprise"

Cate: "Not the surprise, what color are the flip flops? Ohhh I hope they are pink!"

Cate wasn't really as surprised as I had hoped she'd be. After looking at the bunny and saying "Awww, he's beautiful." she ran straight inside to put her new flip flops on(I don't know where she gets that from). The boys however are in love with the rabbit.

Last year, we kept the furry and feathery things outside. 3 dead ducklings and 2 dead rabbits later and we are glad that this bunny came with a cage that we can keep inside. His name is Max and his is a lop eared rabbit which is going to look smashing in Denna's Easter portraits! The boss expressed interest in adopting the rabbit after Denna is done with him. 'Cause you know...3 kids and a pregnant cat just doesn't keep us busy enough!

once upon a Sunday

2011-03-27T18:54:00.000-07:00

Once upon a Sunday there was a family of 5 Ingrams. A Papa Ingram, a Mama Ingram and 3 little...little Ingrams...the rest of the story is a muddled crazy mess of what it is like to get 5 people fed, cleaned up, dressed, and ready for Mass on TIME. We are actually pretty good about it all. However 1 out of 10 Sunday's, we don't all make it there. Actually 1 in 5 Sunday's we don't make it there on time. It is rare that we don't attend Mass on Sunday mornings. This Sunday was one of those mornings, unfortunately. After getting dressed, in the car, and out the door we were less than 2 miles down the road when the boss and I decided that our option was standing room only in the vestibule at church since it was 10:50am(mass starts at 11:00 and we are 20 minutes away, plus 5 minutes to get kids into the church equals not even worth it). So we turned around and came back home. Sunday FAIL. We never intend to NOT go to Mass. There is never a Sunday when we think "Meh, just not feeling it today. Not gonna go" But we still beat ourselves up when circumstances like today arise.

Though we missed Mass, we did make it to the in-law's for our weekly dinner. After a fantabulous meal provided by my amazing mother-in-law, I got to shoot some more lovey-dovey pictures of Jonathan and Lisa! I love these sweeties!

Aren't they beautiful! I am anxiously awaiting a beautiful red-headed niece or nephew in my future. It's gonna be awesome!

My going on 11 year old niece Bonnie had a difficult day today. She's....ehh, she's 10. I remember this age. Honestly, it wasn't THAT long ago. I know, I am kidding myself. However, I do remember being 11 years old and how it felt. Anyway, Bonnie had a bad day so when it came time for me to do Jon and Lisa's pictures I told Bonnie to go get her camera. She has a really cool Nikon point and shoot that she got for Christmas and she really enjoys taking pictures so I thought she might like to be an assistant today. She did great! She did what I told her to do, was able to take direction when I told her to do so without getting nervous, and she had some pretty cool ideas of her own to contribute to the session. I can't wait to see her pictures, I know she did a great job. She's great!

This is my nephew Luke. He's about as "Ingram" as they come. Tell him to let you take a serious picture of him and this is what you get...

I left the boss at the in-laws while the kids and I went to visit with my parents where my daddy started teaching Cate to play Chess. I didn't even know that my parents knew how to play chess. I never learned how to play chess. Never had a chess set growing up. But I was really happy to see Cate bonding with my daddy. After Cate "beat" daddy in a game, she played my 4 year old nephew, Caleb, where in she remarked "This is too easy...." Sometimes I think the Ingram way of beating you until you get pissed enough to learn to kick butt might be a more effective method. As it is, I am happy that Cate is striving to learn something new.

And I took a picture of Caleb because...well, because he's just really cute.

A very happy Sunday to you all and may you have a blessed and wonderful week!

10 things we love about....Spring!

2011-03-26T17:47:00.000-07:00

I don't think it's any big secret that I am somewhat of a fan of Spring. In all honesty, I really don't love spring that much, I like summer but after the long cold ugly Winter months, Spring is a welcomed relief even if the weather is unpredictable. There are thing about Spring that I do LOVE very much.

10. Not freezing! - we love being able to walk outside without our shoes on, we love not looking for coats, hats, and mittens for all 3 of the kids every time we go outside. We love not having to heat the cars up 10 minutes before leaving to go anywhere. And we really really really really really love not having to run our furnace :-) Here's to shoeless days and low gas bills baby!

9. Using the picnic table - A lot of people that we know have really nice patio furniture. Ok, lots of people we know have a patio. We don't. But we bought a picnic table about 4 years ago and have used the crap out of it ever since. It serves as our lunch table most days when the weather is nice. It's my outside office. And it a symbol of fellowship and fun for us because we had had so many guests enjoy our picnic table from the old house, the rental house, and now here, this old table has absolutely served us well!

8. Lots and lots of family fun. From baseball games to days spent down at the park...we take advantage of every opportunity we get to have a little fun and there is no better time to do it than in the Spring when the temperature is tolerable for everyone!

7. Food! Don't get me wrong, I love hearty, stick to your ribs, comfort food. But by the time Spring rolls I am so thrilled to pull out all of my fresh, spring recipes. The plum salsa you see pictured below is one of my favorites! Yum!

6. Starting the garden- We love having fresh produce no farther than our back yard and getting the garden started in Spring is always fun. Now that we have a green house, we can start them a little earlier. Currently there are tons of budding green plants growing at a rapid rate in our green house and we are so excited to see all the fruits of our labor come in over the summer!

5. Storms - Who doesn't love a good thunderstorm?

(photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/riley_wiebe/4851426988/)

4. Sidewalk chalk - Our kids adore sidewalk chalk. They play with it for hours, and I have to admit...I'm right down there with them!

3. Lots and lots of birthdays! We have a lot of Spring birthday's in our family so we all get our fair share of cake and ice cream ;-)

2. Flowers

1. Easter!!! We all LOVE Easter!!! Cute clothes, dying eggs, candy, family, church, and lots and lots of fun? Awesome!

Happy Spring friends!

In yo face, highway!

2011-03-24T10:50:00.000-07:00

So...we are getting a fence. Don't know how much I have elaborated on the blog about how dangerously close our house is to a busy 2 lane highway, but I could throw a baseball from my front door to the ditch on the other side of the road--which might not be that shocking to someone who throws far but for me to be able to do it...ehhh, it's pretty close. The road has always been one of our major concerns. In fact, we almost didn't buy the house because of the road. It gets really loud sometimes(like between the hours of 5am and 10pm) and going to get the mail is very annoying but those aren't really cause for concern. Our main concern and biggest fear has always been the thought of one of the kids getting into the road. It's such a great fear that the kids are actually forbidden from going into the front yard. Ever. We are terrified of the road. A fence has always been part of the plan and after pricing it all out we just didn't know how we could afford to do it and make it look nice anytime soon. So we kept waiting and waiting and somehow came to the decision to plant tree's between the house and the road. So we found some tree's. Big 6ft green giants. The boss spent a week planting them and they were looking really nice. The tree idea was more cost efficient, would provide privacy, a barrier, and we were also hoping it would buffer the sound a little. We got tree's that were already 6ft tall so it wouldn't take them so long to grow and fill out. Plus, they were just pretty. So Yea!

I know what you are thinking. You are thinking "Umm, April. Honey. Don't know how badly your corneal scratch was last week but you are obviously now completely blind, because those tree's are 6ft apart and that's kind of not close enough to keep a little one from running past them." Yes, yes. I do know this and no I am not blind. These tree's will grow fast and spread out. It will be fine, right?

Or not, I guess. On Friday, the day we got the last tree in the front yard in the ground, we were rushing out the door to go hang out with my brother and the rest of the family at his house. We had instructed the kids to go get in the van and into their seats like we do every time we leave the house. The boss grabbed the keys and went outside to buckle the rugrats in and didn't see Liam. Liam regularly bolts out the door and heads straight for the shed in the back yard, so that was the first place he looked but Liam wasn't there. It's just sort of an instant reaction for us to rush to the front yard when we loose track of a kid, so he then ran there and found Liam....in the highway....with a car headed right for him. Of course, Papa got him in time and by the time I had even grabbed my purse and walked outside it was all over. The boss was essentially a mess. He was shaking, I think he was actually about to throw up. Liam probably took 10 years off his Papa's life with that little "adventure". So that was on Friday and by Monday evening we had...this..

Yep, all that money on those beautiful tree's and 3 days after the last one went into the ground and Liam's escapade we promptly bought a fence. It's not a privacy fence, but it's at least tall enough to keep the kids in. The boss estimates that we got approximately 250ft of picket fence, which is enough for the front yard and a lot on the back of the yard. We will also be installing a gate at the driveway soon as well. It's on our summer "to-do" list. You are probably thinking that the fence looks...really crappy. It does, but we are going to fix it and paint it the dark brown to match the house's shutters and front door. Hey we got it cheap off craigslist, what are you gonna do? It's great and I am excited about the prospect of actually being able to use our front yard this summer without fear.

And yes, if you want to, you can come help us put it up and paint it. We pay in homebrew.

****EDITED TO ADD****
The boss requested that I do tell you all about how we actually got the fence. On Monday evening at approximately 5:55pm Seth arrived home from work and in quite a tizzy. "I have to show you something!" so he whips out his iPod touch and shows me a picture of this picket fence. "It's in Cobb county, and if we want it I need to go get it tonight!" Well ok then! Go get em baby doll! --Let me break here and say that I had no previous knowledge of the fence--. I was cooking dinner and he went outside to hook up the trailer to his truck. This is always an adventure as the trailer is old and sometimes the blinkers and break light work. Other times...mehhh, not so much. After the hook up and dinner, he volunteers to take "a kid or two" and Cate and Simon were obviously choices. It is now 6:30pm. The destination is an hour and a half away. They leave. I really didn't think much about it until around the time I was expecting him to be heading home and had still not heard anything from him. So I called. Then I called again. Then I called again and finally got an answer. "Just getting here" he says. "It's a long walk back down to the truck, we'll be a while. No, I have no help" Crappy right? An hour and 15 minutes later, he is FINALLY on his way home. It's now 10:00pm-ish :-( The load was a lot more than we had been told. Which is great as far as getting a great deal...not so much in being prepared to drive home with a load twice as big and heavy as you had planned on a rickety old unpredictable trailer. It was a long ride home, but he made it home without much incident around mid-night.

I hope you all take away from this how wonderful of a father the boss really is. To ensure his childrens' safety, he put himself out working all day at his day job and coming home to immediately leave to go pick up a HUGE fence very far away. He was exhausted. He is always exhausted because he is always working. If he isn't working on our house he is helping someone else do something. He is truly one of the most remarkable and amazing men that I have ever met in my entire life. I don't know where he gets his energy but I am so grateful to have a man like that taking care of me, my kids, and our wonderful home. We love you Boss!!! You are our hero!

No 3 easy steps to being a housewife

2011-03-23T11:57:00.000-07:00

Picture it: it's 12:45pm on Wednesday March 23rd 2011. I have just laid Liam down for his afternoon nap. I am cleaning away my planner and other photography related stuff off the kitchen table left over from my phone conversation with a potential bride this morning. I look over at the pot on the stove and remember to go clear away the boys bowls from the dinning room from their mac N cheese lunch. I see many things as I walk into the dining room. Cheese hand prints on the back of the chairs, macaroni shells on the floor, a firetruck under the table with a naked barbie riding on top(didn't even ask), and an empty icy pop wrapper leaking the last bit of unconsumed blue icy pop onto my beautiful antique drop leaf table. *sigh* In the back of my head are several monsters starring me down and demanding my attention: Laundry, wedding picture editing, returning client emails, and what's for dinner. So what do I do? I sit. I sit down in a chair in my dinning room and I just think for a few minutes. What can I possibly do to simplify our life just a little? How DO you stay on top of laundry? How do you keep up on pictures and housework and being a mom and being a wife and being a friend and being a helpful and easy to communicate with photographer? Is there some proper balance of duties, work, fun, and responsibilities that I am somehow missing or that no one has decided to tell me about yet? Every direction I look in regardless of where I am sitting in my house I can see things that need to be done. In the living room I see toys scattered, couch cushions scattered around the floor and sip cups. In mine and the boss' bedroom I see laundry baskets, a plastic storage box of my summer clothes that need to be washed and hung up, and dust on every surface. The kids rooms like the toy boxes had a stomach virus and couldn't make it to the garbage can in time. The Bathroom is littered with moist towels, hair care products and muddy footprints. The laundry room perpetually looks like Zeus himself took it off the house, shook it like a snow-globe and sat it back down for his own amusement. I can hear him chuckling every time I walk by.

The laundry is the one that kills me. I just can't do it. I have tried so many methods it's not even funny(if you even remotely think about suggesting fly lady to me in the comments, so help me, I will slap you). Once I figure it out I promise to write a book entitled "How to keep up with laundry as a stay at home mom in a family of 5 while working another job and making sure that you are not neglecting the rest of the house, the kids, the husband, the other job, home cooked meals, and yourself" I promise, I will write that book for everyone else like me who just can't figure it out yet.

As I haven't figured it out yet, I just got up from my chair in the dinning room and with fresh macaroni stuck to the ass of my pants, and got back in there. What else are you gonna do, right?

on a side note: I have got wind of this weird, crazy, and ridiculous "rumor" that I have given up blogging for Lent. I am going to put that to rest right now, NO, I didn't give up blogging for Lent this year. That would be like me giving up failing at housekeeping for Lent. Might work on Tuesday, but the rest of the week? Ehhh not so much. I'm here and have lots of fun house related things to talk about soon. You know, just as soon as I have time to take some pictures of things and think of something to say about it. Today I am just content to keep grumbling about being a crappiest housewife on the face of the planet.

*sigh* back to work!

Simon says....

2011-03-14T13:21:00.000-07:00

When we were thinking up a name for Simon, we were in distress. We couldn't agree on anything. Seth wanted Angus and I wanted to name him Cash. My mom actually picked out his name. A name that we'd not even considered but when I heard it, I fell in love. And so did Seth and so Simon was named Simon Patrick Mac Ingram. It was a different name, I didn't know any other kids with that name at that point in time but it was also "normal" and easy to spell and pronounce and people didn't say "Where'd you come up with that one?!?" when I told them his name. Shortly after naming him(but before he was born) I thought how much fun he'd have playing on the game-name of "Simon Says". Never in a million years thought I would be blogging about all the funny and crazy stuff that "Simon Says". I mean who thinks that they'd have more than one kid is a total show-out and loves to entertain?

Simon is now a month shy of 4 years old and he is, for lack of a better word...awesome. He's hilarious. Cate was this way at his age, I should have known that being raised with Seth Ingram as your Papa could only mean that you are raised to be a natural clown. Lately we've gotten used to it. He's just funny. He doesn't even mean to me funny but he is. SO funny!

Lisa: "Simon, are you busy on July 9th?"

Simon: "Nope"

Lisa: "Could you do me a favor and carry a pillow at mine and Uncle Jonathan's wedding?"

Simon: Nodding to say yes

Lisa: "You'll get to dress up..."

Simon "I'm gonna be BATMAN!!!!"

While at Grandma's, where I had dropped him and his siblings off so I could go grocery shopping, when I had returned and was ready to collect my kids and go home:

Me: "Simon get in the van right now"

Simon: Runs and 'hides' behind the basketball goal pole

Me: "Simon do you want a spanking?"

Simon: sticking his fingers in his ears "Lalalalala, I can't hear you....lalalala"

Me: Giving Simon a spanking.

Me: "Simon let's get ready for bed, baby."

Simon: "not now mama, I'm busy fighting the bad guys away..." Hee-yah! Hiiiiii-yah! Swoosh, swish, bing, bong, ching! uuugghhhh, ahhhh *sigh*......ok they're dead, did you get my dinosaur jammies?"

Simon: "Liam cannot play with my nerf gun, it is very dangerous and can kill people and it is NOT for babies."

Me: "Your nerf gun is not dangerous, it cannot kill people, and Liam can play with it because you were not playing it first"

Simon: "You are WRONG mama! It is very dangerous and he will kill you with it. You have to put it back in Papa's gun closet!"

Me: giving Simon another spanking for being a turd.

*we don't have a "gun closet" we have a gun cabinet that stays locked at all times in our bedroom where the children are not allowed*

Simon on Cate:

Simon: "Cate's being a brat."

Simon: "Cate's being a drama queen"

Simon: "Cate is impossible"

Simon: "Cate is ridiculous"

Simon: "Cate hates the world"

Simon: "Cate is my best friend"

Simon on Liam:

Simon: "Liam is a baby"

Simon: "Liam is a crybaby"

Simon: "Liam is gross"

Simon: "Liam did it"

Simon: "Liam is my best friend."

Simon on me:

Simon: "Mama, you crushed my heart."

Simon: "Mama you don't love me"

Simon: "Mama you are mean to me"

Simon: "Mama you are pretty today"

Simon: " Mama, you are my best friend"

Simon on Papa:

Simon: "I'm Papa's big helper"

Simon: "I'm almost as big as Papa!"

Simon: "I'm Papa's little buddy"

Simon: "Look at me, I can do exercise like Papa"

Simon: "Papa is gone, can we have ice cream for breakfast now?"

Simon: "Papa is my best friend"

Simon on himself:

Simon: "I'm Iron man"

Simon: "I'm Superman"

Simon: "I'm batman"

Simon: "I'm a rockstar"

Simon: "I'm a combine"

Simon: "I'm Awwwesome!!!!"

Simon also dances, among his many talents. This is his futterwacken....

thought I would share...

2011-03-10T13:30:00.000-08:00

Stolen from 16 balls in the air...had to share:

DEAR ABBY: I am a 36-year-old college dropout whose lifelong ambition was to be a physician. I have a very good job selling pharmaceutical supplies, but my heart is still in the practice of medicine. I do volunteer work at the local hospital on my time off, and people tell me I would have made a wonderful doctor.

If I go back to college and get my degree, then go to medical school, do my internship and finally get into the actual practice of medicine, it will take me seven years! But, Abby, in seven years I will be 43 years old. What do you think? -- UNFULFILLED IN PHILLY

DEAR UNFULFILLED: And how old will you be in seven years if you don't go to medical school?

every girl wants to be a bride

2011-03-07T11:38:00.000-08:00

Remember when you were high school and some teachers on the first day of the school year ask you to interview the person sitting beside you and let them interview you and then you stand up and tell the class about each other? Or maybe they just asked you to stand up and tell about yourself? Thankfully not all of my teachers did that but every year there was at least ONE who did and inevitably the subject of your 10 year goals would come up. "Where do you see yourself in 10 years?" I always answered "Married with a bunch a kids" Being a wife and mom was always always always #1 on my life-goal list and I am pleased to say that I have achieved that goal. Go me! I always dreamed of my wedding and being a bride. I guess most girls do that. I had a blast planning my wedding that took place nearly 9 years ago. We had a small budget but managed to pull of a very beautiful, fun, and classy wedding and I ended up wearing the most fru-fru dress that David's Bridal had in stock at the time, just like I had always dreamed of :-)

Wedding planning is an all encompassing task that for most girls, but is just as much fun as it is stressful. You dream about it, you are constantly thinking about it, it becomes a part of you. Then the day after the wedding you wake up and think "Wow, I have absolutely nothing to do today...what did I do with free time before I was planning a wedding? Hmmm???" It's a welcome relief but a little bittersweet at the same time. You spend 6 months to a year planning this one day that has come and gone and now it's mostly just a big blur. Like waking up from a dream or something, I dunno, it's odd.

Other than my OWN wedding, I have never been intimately involved in planning a wedding. Although, weddings still play a major role in my life because I photograph them so often, I don't handle much of the planning and I have never been dress shopping with another bride-to-be until this past weekend. My future sister-in-law asked me and Mandi to be bridesmaids in her July wedding. I was very surprised and very flattered and very very VERY excited! I have only been a bridesmaid once and it was for my cousin, Lorrie, some 7 years ago when I was extremely pregnant with my first child. I wore a black dress and I looked....huge. But it was so touching to be a part of something so special for a cousin who had always been like a big sister to me and whom I love very much. However, being extremely pregnant, I wasn't really involved in much other than the bridal shower. This time around, I am not only a bridesmaid but can actually be helpful! Whoda thunk?

Hobbling around with one foot in a boot to support my bum ankle, I got to experience some fun and excitement of bridal shopping...and what is the most important part? Da-da-da-dum....The DRESS! So after some 20 gowns and many pictures and laughs and surviving the chaos that is David's Bridal on a Saturday, we ate Olive Garden(*ahhh, me love!*) and we were all....pooped. This brought back a memory of wedding planning that I conveniently put out of my mind. Wedding dress shopping is EXHAUSTING! First of all, I watch shows like "Say Yes to the Dress!" where the brides are catered too and pampered beyond belief(as they should be). The bride's family/friends who happen to be present have a couch or chairs to sit in and you aren't fighting for a spot in the giant mirrors. Oh but the reality of it is that it's just overwhelming, emotional, exciting, stressful, hectic, rushed, more overwhelming-feelings, exhaustion, frustration, temptation to elope and wear a white sundress from Gap, more emotion, despair, and more and more exhaustion as the minutes tick by. It's insane, but Lisa naturally took it like a champ. If Saturday was any indication of how pleasant and easy going Lisa is going to be on her wedding day....I think she'll be just fine!

*if your name is Jonathan Ingram, you are not allowed to scroll down any further. Sorry dude.*

|
|
|
|
|
|
Ok, people who are not Jonathan Ingram, here are a few pictures.

Lisa and Mandi--just ~~blouse-ing~~ browsing

Andrea(Lisa's sweet sister) doing her duty...carrying 40lb wedding dresses

More looking

This was my favorite shot of the day. She didn't pick this dress, but modeled it like a pro(this was the "Vera Wang" that I have told so many people about!)

She didn't pick this dress either, but the bride she is starring down was trying it on as well. Lisa wore it better. I think that girl she is starring at tried on every dress that she saw Lisa try on.

What do you mean "no workers comp" for stay at home moms?!?

2011-03-04T06:46:00.000-08:00

I never in my life imagined that being partially crippled could be so much work. I know, right? That doesn't make sense...if you can't walk around then that means you have to sit around all day long. Doesn't that sounds dreamy? How many times have I ever thought to myself "Gosh, I wish I could get a sick day" and for the most part that's what I have had for the past 38 hours, and it has wiped me out completely. But let me back track a bit for those who have no idea what I am talking about (ie. people who aren't my friend on facebook).

On Wednesday afternoon, at approximately 4:28pm I was slipping my flip flops on to go look in the van for a toy of Simon's that he was just certain was in the van. I walked out the door, stepped of the porch(about 3ft high) and rolled my ankle. Notice...I did not fall off the porch. I did not leap or jump off. I just casually stepped off, rolled my ankle.We assume it's sprained and no, I have not had an x-ray yet.

Now I have learned many things over the past 38 hours. I learned that my computer chair makes a great wheelchair, for example. I learned that even if you can't carry your coffee from the kitchen to the living room, you can still find a way to sweep up cheerios out of the floor. I learned that crutches....hurt after about 4 hours of using them. I learned that if you don't want the opinion of everyone who remotely knows anything about anything, don't tell anyone that you are injured. I am amazed at the number of people who feel it necessary to educate me that I should ice and elevate my sprained ankle. Gah, seriously? Who knew? *eye roll*

I honestly never believed that a little sprained ankle would be so much trouble. I figured, meh, a few days off my feet, not so hard. But it is. I have 3 kids and I have to make lunch and dinner and I have do most things that I normally do but with much more difficulty so it takes twice as long and I am in pain while doing it. I have been using muscles that I didn't even know that I had to support my weight so that I can move around and as a result, they are now sore :-) I think by the time this is all over I am going to be great shape except for the one fat, flabby leg. Can you imagine? Having like one half of your ass toned and firm the other half...well, you get the idea. All joking aside, I have been an emotional wreck this morning. I never thought I would see the day that I would burst into tears because I came all the way into the living room to change a poopy diaper only realize that the wipes were still in the bathroom. Never thought I would sob because there was no one old enough in the house to go refill my coffee and bring it back to me without spilling it(for the record, you cannot carry a drink and walk on a crutches at the same time, bad idea). And I never thought I would feel so accomplished and empowered by my ability to stand on one leg and take a shower. I never thought of myself as independent until I became much less so and now...well...it's an emotional roller coaster. Oh yeah, you heard me. A sprained ankle is emotional rollercoaster. Call me a drama queen...I am exhausted, I am disabled, and I can't refill my coffee. I have the right to pout, and I can't even drive myself to the store to get junk food to comfort me...so there. Blech!

Big thank you to Jessica for the crutches and Mandi for coming to my house to cook our dinner last night :-) I love my best friends!

And now....it's off to attempt laundry on one leg since it won't do itself :-)

Do they have a "What to expect...the Elementary school years" book, yet?

2011-03-02T06:58:00.000-08:00

This is somewhat of a difficult subject for me to blog about for several reasons. First of all, it's just unpleasant to talk about and painful to think about, because it's my child it's happening to. Secondly, there is no way to prove what exactly is going on because what goes on between 7 & 8 year old girls on the playground stays between 7 & 8 year old girls on the playground. And third, I think that every mother out there has a "mama bear" instinct deep inside them and when things like this happen you want to march right into school with your kid and demand that something be done about this issue but you just can't and that is not how I want to teach my daughter to deal with these issues. So It is a difficult subject in and of itself but particularly difficult to write about for me because I am not used to writing about serious topics. I like to keep it light and fun. However, I think it is one that will have to be addressed in every household at some point or another and that's why I thought I would talk about it on my blog this morning.

My 7 year old daughter Cate is in 1st grade. She moved to this public school this year after spending 2 years at a private Christian school in Cedartown. It was not a decision that we made lightly but financial strains and moving so far away from her old school kind of made the decision for us. Cate never had one best friend at her old school, but she seemed to like everyone in her class and she never said anything about anyone being mean to her or excluding her. Of course, preschool and kindergarten are different. I don't think I ever felt excluded or picked on until at least the first grade. While Cate is in the first grade, she is in a multi-age class with first AND second graders. I thought that this might happen, Cate feeling left out because the second graders had formed friendships last year and already had established "cliques" which would leave out the 1st graders. By the first month or so of school, I had already heard about this one second grader who was...oh how shall we say this? A snot nosed little brat who enjoys making other people feel bad? Yeah, that's about right. And Cate seems to be her "target". We'll call this kid "Susie"(there is no susie in her class and the kids name does not start with an S or end with a -ie so if you are reading this and are a parent of a kid in my kids class, just know that).

Some of the things Cate came home with were just silly. For example, once she hopped into the car and said "Susie made so & so not like me today" *eye roll*. "Cate, Susie cannot make anyone not like you, and if so&so decided not to like you because Susie told her not to like you, you don't want to be friends with so&so anyway because she is not a good friend" Most of the time, the complaints are things like that. And we have a discussion about it and Cate feels better and we keep on living our lives. Lately, everything has centered around Susie. Susie made fun of Cate's clothes, Susie accused Cate of spitting on her, Susie said this and that and everything else she could possibly think of to hurt my daughters feelings or upset her. I am just about sick of Susie. While there is a still a part of me that wants to give Susie the benefit of a doubt, I cannot have Cate thinking that I do not believe her, so I am trusting her that what she says is happening in indeed what is happening.

Now...There are a lot of emotions that go through a mom when you see your baby upset by other's actions. You feel sympathy, you feel anger, you feel sad, you feel helpless, and then you feel angry even more, and then more helplessness. Cate is a good kid. I know all parents must say that about their children, but she is a pretty good kid. She tries not to leave others out, but being left out is something she is going to have to come to terms with. It's part of life and you cannot always demand to be included and cry when you are not. I sympathize with the pain of being excluded because that was the story of my school years. I never had many close friends. I played by myself on the playground many times during my elementary school years. My senior year of highschool, I sat at a lunch table by myself because I didn't have 1 friend on that lunch shift. Not one. I would read or pretend to study so that it looked like I was secluding myself on purpose, lol. I get it! I really do, but that's life sometimes and you just have to make the most of it and you can't spend your entire life with your arms crossed pouting about how unfair everyone treats you. And being excluded is not bullying. It might not be very kind, but it's not bullying. It's life. I can deal with that, I can teach HER to deal with that. Where I am struggling right now is with the other parts that I do not want her to just "accept".

Cate has been taught that when people are ugly to her, she should ignore them and walk away. Susie has never physically harmed Cate, as far as I know and I honestly don't suspect that she ever would. She is a snot to be sure, but not violent. However, Susie is constantly making Cate feel ugly, unintelligent, and unwanted by her peers. This is very hurtful to me. As I said, Cate is a good kid for the most part. She isn't perfect, but she isn't mean either. I think she is beautiful, and we have told her that every day of her life and suddenly she hates her hair and her big teeth. She reads beautifully at home but her teacher insists that she is not reading well at school. It makes me angry. It makes me want to grab Susie's mom by the shoulders and scream "What the hell did you do to raise such a mean little girl!" The point of matter is this: You don't have to teach kids to be mean, but you do have to teach them to be kind. They don't learn to be selfish, but they have to learn to be giving. You don't have to show them to be spiteful, but you have to SHOW them how to be gracious and forgiving.*for the record, I have met Susies mother and she is a perfectly lovely lady and very sweet so I do not think she is being taught to be a bully*

I would never have a problem intervening if Susie were physically harming Cate and I had evidence to prove that Susie is being a bully. I have explained this to Cate, Cate understands(or so she says). It's hard when your baby comes to you for advice and all you have to give them is the whole "What would Jesus Do" speech, but it's what we have to work with. Being spiteful might make her feel better but it makes her no better than Susie if she goes that route. One day someone is going to deck Susie and teach her a lesson but it won't be my kid. Cate and I had a long talk about "Susie" yesterday and I think I finally got through. She heard the "forgiveness" part, and the "turn the other cheek" thing, but I think what she took away from the whole conversation was "kill them with kindness"....do'h, almost. I ALMOST got through.

I remember the pain and agony of growing up, and as soon as I finally made it past those horrible years of self discovery, I became a mother and now I have to watch my daughter go through it. I never imagined that it would be so hard to guide her through this, or that it would hurt so bad when I can't fix it. One thing parenting will do for you, it will make you get really used to praying when you don't know what else to do...cause when you are a parent, you have to do SOMETHING.

(this morning, face painted for Dr. Seuss day at school--and little brother had to paint his too!)

A very cliche song, but I do like it :-)

Revisiting the dirty ends - In black and white

2011-02-25T10:53:00.000-08:00

For the past few days I have been shooting only in "Monochrome" which just means in camera black and white. I used to do this quite a bit, and not sure why I got out of the habit because it makes such great and grainy black and white shots. I love color as much as the next person, but I am largely a black and white kind of girl when it comes to photographs. I always loved seeing my moms prints from her old film rebel when she shot with black and white film. I suppose that's where my affinity of grainy black and white stems from. If you are my "friend" on facebook, you saw two that I shot yesterday...one of the boys with their helmets, or more commonly known as my mixing bowls, on their heads and my afternoon coffee. Today, I took more but wanted to do a set of something that is a part of our daily life, but also pretty special to me because it will be something I will want to remember later. I went with Liam and his blankey's. You remember his blankey's right? And the dirty ends?

Occasionally, however, we have to wash the dirty ends. It's never a pleasant hour. In fact, I dread that one day a week(or every 2 weeks...depending on how badly they smell). He doesn't cry the whole time, just most of it. But it's actually quite funny.

Today I HAD to wash his blankeys. There was no "eh it could wait until tomorrow, or tonight after he is asleep" They had to be washed today. Not only had it been 2 weeks, they were filthy and had this overpowering oily smell that I can only assume comes from being in his hands all the time. I know, gross right? The blankeys themselves are embarrassing enough. I am not embarrassed that he has blankeys. Lots of kids do that and even if you are one of those high and mighty parents(or one day expect to be the best mother on the face of the planet) who thinks that a kid shouldn't have an object that they are attached to, well, all I have to say to you is...piss off because I don't care what you think. You can take your fantasies of your perfect child back to la-la land where they came from. I do however care that people think my kid is disgusting and gross. I mean, he is, but you aren't supposed to think that. You are supposed to think he's cute and funny. It's my job to think he's gross, you don't get to do that. No, the blankeys are embarrassing on their own because they are not blankeys. They are pillow cases, and they are ugly ones at that--even before they had dirty ends. And since I don't want people thinking(or finding out, as it were) that he is disgusting, I had to wash the dirty ends today. My brother-in-law and soon-to-be sister-in-law are having an engagement party tomorrow evening and unfortunately, we have to drag the kids along...and the dirty ends. And I have no intention of embarrassing not only myself, but also THEM, with smelly nasty blankeys.

Liam was not happy.

Liam "Where's my blankey's?"

Me: giving a gentle smile and tilting my head to the left

Liam: "Mama, Mama! Where's my blankey's?!?!"

Me: still smiling

Liam "No! NOOO! Don't wash them!!! NOOOOOOOO!!!!" and he tore off for the laundry room to find them..

I grabbed my camera off the top of the fridge because I fully expected him to fall into the floor and start sobbing, but this was much cuter...

"Are day in here?"

"Oh day in here, Mama? Mama, day in here? I can't see, pick me up Mama, I want to see dem"

(I will state for the record, that I have now successfully put all of those baskets of laundry you see piled up away, I swear)

For 30 minutes he stayed on my heels and asked over and over again if they were clean yet. I felt so sorry for him that I threw them into the dryer by themselves after they were washed so that they would dry in 7 minutes instead of the 40 minutes it would take to dry them with the other clothes that they were washed with. I didn't even hear the buzzer, but apparently Liam did because I walked through the living room to go get them and found this:

The dirty ends are getting more and more tattered by the day :-(

My baby...I love him :-) Even if he does give me the most annoying 40 minutes of my whole week.

The next stage

2011-02-21T11:07:00.000-08:00

Our family has gone through many stages. Every family does that, I guess. But I classify it by how Saturday night goes. Our family stages went like this: Hanging out at Adam and Jessica's every Saturday night, Hanging out at Adam and Jessica's every other Saturday night, Stay at home most Saturday nights, Staying at home every Saturday night, going out one Saturday night a month, hanging out at mom and dad's every Saturday night, and now we find ourselves going out at least 2 Saturday's a month.

In "people who don't have kids" language, that was...Dating and married life before kids, Married life after one kid, married life after 2 kids, married life after 3 kids, married life as the 3 kids got older and easier to handle, and married life now that we can in good conscience leave the kids with a babysitter a few times a month and go out ALONE. Well, technically, we usually go out with other people but as long as those people are potty trained and can fix their own dinner plate and don't call me "Mama", I'm FINE with that.

The point is...our kids are getting older. Not old older. Just older. Cate is self sufficient, Simon just needs to be reminded to go to the bathroom every few hours, and Liam doesn't cry when I leave him anymore. No one HAS to take a nap or go to bed at a certain time. They can eat supper anytime between 4pm-10pm. They don't have to have bathtime in order to go to sleep. They are just older now. I knew this was happening, but it didn't "hit" me until Saturday afternoon when I disassembled Liam's crib :-( It was a definite sign that we were moving into a new stage of life!

This little white Jenny Lind crib has been slept in by all of my kids. I don't like to call myself nostalgic, because by most accounts I am not. I have no problem selling the crib after I am certain that we are finished having kids. But it WILL be a bed that ALL of my kids slept in. Cate, Simon, Liam, and whoever else comes along in another year or 2. It's our crib. And for the first time in over 4 years, it was put in storage until a time that it is needed again. I never in a million years thought I would be weepy about taking that thing apart. It's a piece of furniture for crying out loud! It is a pile of wood and metal brackets and screws and white paint. It's furniture. Why was I weepy? I wasn't sad that Liam was officially out of the crib. I am happy about that. Happy that he has adjusted so well to sleeping with his siblings, happy to have the extra space in the boys room, happy to not have the chore every 3 or 4 days of changing crib sheets. I was excited when I decided to do it, but when I started seeing the pieces piling up in the hallway, waiting to be taken up to the attic, I started to cry. It still doesn't make sense. Maybe I am emotional about see one of last pieces of furniture from the old house going away. Maybe I am more sad about not having a baby anymore than I am about Liam not being a baby anymore. Maybe I am emotional because it was cycle day 21...who knows. But I cried a little, then I took a deep breath and started making plans for the newly vacated space in the boys room. And then we went out...without kids. It was awesome. Bad feelings gone...

Every stage of our life in exciting to me. I loved dating Seth, I loved planning our wedding and building our house. I loved planning for our babies and adjusting to life with each new little one as they came. I even loved 2009, the most stressful and insane year in the life of our family. This stage we are going into now is, without a doubt, just a nostalgic kind of stage. The kids are getting older. Things are getting easier. Life is getting funner...errr, more fun. This year, 2011, is shaping up to be a very exciting year indeed. New family members, weddings, babies, my business is thriving, the boss is more creative than he's had time to be in 6 years. I'm excited about all that is in store for our family but I think 26 must be that age that the light switch in your soul gets immediately flipped on and you start thinking "Slow down!!! I'm out of shape and can't keep up!" For nearly 3 years, I have been wishing for the hard stage to go by more quickly, and now that it is, I am asking it to slow down. It's true, there ain't no pleasing a woman...

Good bye crib, you served us well. See you in a couple of years.

(pictures from April 2009-1 month before we left our old house)

Oh hi, Saturday nights without kids! How are you? We've missed you! Whatcha doing this weekend? We should totally get together :-)

Marketing...A. Friggin A!

2011-02-17T10:13:00.000-08:00

Here's a little known fact: Kids who eat boxed macaroni and cheese on a regular basis...still grow and thrive. Now I am sure that every genius and healthy person on the face of the planet narrowly escaped absolute ruin because they somehow avoided boxed macaroni and cheese meals throughout their childhood(and college years). My kids are obviously not destined to be great and wonderful people...but hey, they grow and the oldest kid seems to be doing ok in school, except for that pesky 89 that she can't seem to shake in reading. No doubt though, they are all for certain going to be obese and unintelligent because of their diet or so the "world" would have me believe. Thankfully, Kraft has decided to ease my fear of their food being detrimental to our children's health. God bless them, I was beginning to think that no one loved this crap, and that I was forcing it on them because it was only 98¢ a box and we are poor.

Thanks to this fancy new box of Smmmmmiley goodness, I can feed my boys this "classic cheesy goodness" without an ounce of guilt! Thanks Kraft! I say my boys because my 7 year old daughter is now old enough to realize that it is utter crap. No kraft for Cate, Cate has matured to the level of...Ramen.

But hey, they seem to like it, and it's cheap, and we'ens is po' sooooo

(Warning: The following images may be shocking in nature to perfect moms. Viewer discretion is advised)

That was a little graphic, I'm sorry. Just keeping it real.

If this marketing technique works so well for Kraft, I wonder what it could do for my blog? How's this:

You're not going to believe the amount of flavor and color of life you will absorb from our blog. Our beautiful children will entice you make a large brood of your own. They just love to educate you on how real life is with 3 screaming and messy kids. It's a beautiful wonderful life once you get all the ketchup cleaned off the walls and the poop off the bathroom floor. We guarantee a lovely experience when visiting our blog if you only read every 3rd post. Our family isn't perfect but we are real and we love each other and at the end of the day that's really all that matters, right?

see, I can do it too. But good work, Kraft. Great try. Doubt anyone will be raising your box of the Cheesiest above their head in the middle of wal-mart anytime soon, but hey, whatever helps you sleep at night, honey.

Farewell

2011-02-15T19:23:00.000-08:00

About 2 or 3 months after we moved here, when the weather started to be tolerable enough for outside play, Cate met and became friends with some of the neighborhood kids. Our neighbors two houses down have 4 children, ages 7,6(both girls), 4(boy) and a 2 year old(another girl). During the summer months the kids enjoyed spending their evenings and often time their afternoons playing on our tire swing and leaping off the picnic table, playing hide in seek in the camillia bushes, digging up buried treasure under the pole shed, and of course...freeze tag. As the fall faded into summer, we saw them all less and less. It's been bitterly cold for weeks and even when it wasn't raining or snowing, the wind was enough to cut you in two. So they just haven't been playing that much together since October or so. Now, the oldest child is in 2nd grade in Cate's multiage class at school. About a week ago, Cate came home to tell us that Hayden had told her they were moving :-( Cate was pretty sad. In the Spring of 2009, we uprooted her and moved her across town away from her cousins and first best friend. Living in town, she was very lonely and would constantly talk about wishing that she had a neighbor to play with again in whatever house we decided to buy. When we found out that we had neighbors her age here, she was thrilled! Simon too found a good friend in the little boy, Ridge. I remember one evening when those boys sat down there in the garden and dug in dirt for over an hour.

Growing up is bittersweet sometimes. Friends come and go, you move away, you change schools. All in all, Cate has been surprisingly tough and very grown up about all the changes that she has went through in less than 2 years. Today, she told her friends goodbye and had one last play date with them. It's going to be a lonely summer unless we can get another kid about their age in that house! LoL

Good luck in Florida Y'all!

(Yes, I am well aware of the fact that Simon's pants are on backward. He put them on himself and I wasn't about to say one word other than "Good job precious!")

34 days...I can do this.

2011-02-14T11:55:00.000-08:00

Do you know what this is?

Well, yes, it's open windows in my kitchen. But do you know what it IS? I'll tell you...It's a PICTURE of open windows in my kitchen.

More importantly, its a promise that Spring is on her way. Thank you Lord for sending me a beautiful Spring like day on today, of all days. I needed this and I am most grateful.

Happy 6th birthday, Mac Attack

2011-02-13T20:05:00.000-08:00

You know what's pathetic? I spent an hour typing out a big long blog post about Mac. It was sentimental and sad and sweet. And long. Like, really really long. At some point during the first paragraph, however, I opened a new tab and logged out of blogger. I logged into gmail(because I can't use the email address I use for blogger and my gmail accounts at the same time, don't ask, I dunno, I just can't). I got distracted, but came back to my opened blogger window to finish my post. I was going to post a picture of Mac's footprints so I left it until I had time to take do that. Then I let Cate use the computer. And when Cate get's done with a computer session, she closes all the windows(very much unlike me, I typically have at least 5 tabs open...currently I have 7 and no that doesn't bother me). So she closed the 5 paragraph long post that I had spent an hour and a half working on and it wasn't even saved because I had previously logged out of blogger. Go me.

So I was upset for about 5 seconds. Then I started laughing at the irony. I have spent 6 years trying to make Mac a person that people want to talk about. I don't like when people tip-toe around the subject of "him" because it makes them uncomfortable. Yes we had a baby that died. He had a name, a face, 10 tiny fingers and 10 tiny toes and his nose was crooked from his sideways journey down the birth canal, and he had stuff back at the house. A few outfits and some crochet booties and caps. But the very mention of his name is not a stab in the heart for us. It's not that we don't care, we are just at peace with everything that happened. I actually LOVE when people bring him up without that "oh poor pitiful you" tone in their voice because I don't like to think of sadness when I think of my kid. My KID. He was my kid, just as much my kid as Cate, or Simon, or Liam, or anyone else who happens to come along(in another year or 2). I grew him and birthed him, I oughtta know. He was a real human being, I promise and we loved/love him like all the others. He was and is still is very much a part our little family. Now, to be a part of OUR family means many things....which I will not list at this time. BUT one thing that it means is that you have to have a ~~really sick~~ good sense of humor. So, with that being said, I think that our little Mac would appreciate us all not mourning is loss but rather, celebrating his brief life and doing what we do best....finding the humor in everything:

-Most people thought that Mac was an oops baby. That's not the case. See, I was one of those "I can have 10 kids and make them all behave and be the perfect mother" until Cate turned 1 and reality punched me in the face. Mac was conceived when Cate was just 9 months old. You see, the boss went on a 2 week long trip with his Geology class when Cate was 6 months old. When he came home, we decided "Hey let's have another baby!" That, my friends, is what I like to call....FAIL. What tha?!? I dunno even know what we were thinking, but at the time it seemed like the right thing to do. Moral of the story: THINK about stuff before you decide to do stuff.

- At 10 weeks into the pregnancy, I started bleeding while I was on the phone with my BFF, Jessica. She dropped what she was doing, yanked her then 2 year old son Noah up and immediately drove(actually, sped would be a more accurate term since she was there in like 7 minutes...from across town) over to get Cate so that Seth and I could go to the ER. After an ultrasound showing that Mac was still with us and I was ok to be sent home I was really sore from being poked and prodded at for 5 hours. We drove to Jessica and Adam's house to pick up Cate. Now their driveway is like the most dangerous obstacle course ever devised by man. Except it wasn't devised at all, it just is because they won't fix it. Anyway, as we ~~drove~~ bounced up their long driveway that night I remember saying "ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch" with every bump and cursing them in my head the whole way up. And then again on the long trek back down :-)

-I was infamous for "showing" incredibly early. Like 5 weeks early. My babies had a strange habit of growing really big throughout the day and then magically shrinking back to the size of a walnut over night. It's called bloating, but when you are 18-20 years old, it's called " a baby bump" from 6pm-10pm, you know, when it's actually there. At 4 months with Mac I looked like this:

And I thought I was "big". Honestly, these days, my stomach is bigger than this after a cheeseburger. Yes, people laughed at me, and at the time, it made me mad! I wanted to be big! bahahaha!

-At around 19 weeks, Seth and I were headed to Cartersville to meet up with Alison and Andy Hedrick(for my photography blog followers, that is Baby Luke's parents). We were going to go out for dinner and hang out and I was wearing a new outfit that I had just got in the mail the day before from Old Navy Maternity. We arrived at their house around 6:45pm and I stepped out of the car to feel a gush of...something. My first thought..."Dammit! I haven't been bleeding for 3 days and NOW it starts again!?!?" I was so angry that it screwed up my date night, but my pants were soaked and I had to go back home. I thought it was blood...I had been bleeding SO much in the weeks before that I didn't even think much about it other than it screwing up my night now. 3 days later, I found it that the "gush" was my water breaking. How do you not know when your water breaks?!? But it was really embarrassing and I cried the whole way back to Cedartown. And I was SO pissed.

-I had already picked out many nicknames for Mac. His full name was Seth Andrew Mac Ingram. We were going to call him Mac. But nicknames in our family are crucial. Mac attack, Big Mac, and Sami(his initials) were my 3 that I had already picked out. After he was born weighing only 1lb 2oz and 10 inches long, I started calling him little big mac and Micro Mac ;-)

-I got put on bedrest days later(after the whole water breaking thing). I remember sitting on my bed with Seth and my brother-in-law, Jonathan, watching Napoleon Dynamite. And my mother-in-law and mom waiting on me hand and foot. That's what I remember about bedrest. Not too shabby...

-My labor started around 9pm on February 13th 2005. I had been through labor before and should have recognized the pain as contractions. I remember thinking "I don't know what I ate today but if I figure out what's making me feel this way, I am never eating it again"

-Mac died on a Monday. We were still in the hospital that night. All day long we had dealt with the death of our child, the care of our other child, entertaining visitors and phone calls. We were pooped. But come 8:00pm, we were just happy that our hospital TV would let us watch the new episode of Lost. It was a sweet escape!

-We had a family visitation for Mac for my in-laws home. My friends were there. I was sitting around a table with my friends and someone asked me how I was feeling. I said "I dunno, I'm ok, but it all feels so surreal to me right now" and my friend Krisha starred at me and nodded and then started to shake her head before saying "Yeah...I don't know what 'surreal' means....sorry...I'm dumb" and we all started laughing. You just have to know Krisha....but the best part was that Rachel kept a straight face and started defining the word "surreal"...again, you just have to know Rachel. lol. I love my girls :-)

-The night after the visitation was essentially a wake without a body back at our house. All of our "drinking" friends gathered back at our house and we really had a lovely night. But the part that sticks out in my mind the most was Jessica, who was 5 months pregnant with Joseph, standing on my front porch smoking and trying to hide it from everyone and Ellen trying to smoke and coughing and gagging the whole time! That's what a wake is about. Fun times and fellowship amid heartbreak. And it was fantastic! We love our sweet friends!

After 6 years, we can sit back and laugh at some things. In the end. Mac is just another part of our crazy beautiful life. There will always be those folks who do not want to talk about him because it makes them uncomfortable. They'll always be those folks who think we are the most dreadful parents in the history of forever because we don't feel the need to sit by his grave and talk to him, as if he could hear us any better there than he could at any other place on earth. People will always mispronounce his name and call him "Max", and for us, every February 14th we'll remember a little fellow how was born perfect and changed our lives, for better, forever.

Seth Andrew Mac Ingram, we love you our precious little boy. You taught us so much about life and continue to teach us to this very day. It is because of your passing that your little brothers even exist. For that, if nothing else, I am eternally grateful. From now until forever, your siblings will always know of you and be thankful for you. There will never be a day that your mama doesn't think of you remember your beautiful face. You accomplished more in your 5 months of earthly existence than most people accomplish in a 60 year lifespan. You were amazing, little dude!

Honestly, I really hate that everyone, 6 years later, is still afraid to talk to us about our precious child. I think that hurts worse than anything, that he makes people uncomfortable. I couldn't imagine losing a child then suddenly wanting to pretend that they never existed. But apparently most people think that is how it should be. Thankfully, we are not those people!

Happy 6th birthday,we loooove you Mac Attack!

The highlights of our day

2011-02-10T16:39:00.000-08:00

On a day like today, it's always important to find the humor in life instead of dwelling on the bad humor in life. Or something like that. I bring you...crap I heard at my house today:

"Yeah, Mommy, you pee'd in the potty! Great job, I'm so proud of you!" --Simon

Me drinking a cup of coffee and Liam says "Is that wine?" I say no. "Oh is that coffee?" I say yes. "I knew it!"

"Maaaamaaaaa!!!!"-from everyone, at least every 15 minutes, all day.

"What's that smell?"- From everyone, more times than we can count.

"Liam what are you doing! No!" after finding him in the bathroom spraying his bare feet with hairspray. His reply? "Spray on shoes!!!"

"Everything I had planned for today was ruined. I guess now you're gonna tell me that I have like...clean my room or something, aren't you?" said Cate. "Yes, yes I am, right after this quick attitude adjustment I am about to deliver to your fanny" said I.

"Bingo! I found Papa's secret beer recipe book. I'm gonna be rich!...What?! There is only one recipe in here!" Slamming secret recipe book on counter "What a let down" storming off--From Cate

"I'm going to spank Aggy, hers is a baaaad cat!" --Simon. I didn't think much of this until 10 minutes later when....

"Mama, Aggy is dead." said by Simon. I raced to my cat lying in her back behind the couch and really pissed her off by waking her from her afternoon nap.

"Mama, I got mysef orange juice!" Said Liam not 5 minutes after I had mopped the kitchen floor :-(

"I'm going to sell you all on craigslist if you don't sit down, be quiet, and stop making messes!"--Me, the loving and nurturing mother that I am

"What part of 'mama is going to have a stroke' do you not understand, Simon!"--Cate

"Mama, what's a stroke?" --Cate

"Please pay no attention to the pile of dead mice on our carport"--Me, to a client. The icing on the cake. Yep, I'm done today.

Welcome, once again, to my world. Yo, Spring, hurry up, 'kay?

About sleep(or lack there of)

2011-02-09T02:26:00.000-08:00

So the sleeping arrangements at our house are kind of cooky. Typically, Liam sleeps in his crib, Simon sleeps in Cate's bed, Cate falls asleep on the couch and gets up to come to our bed around 3am at which point I leave and go to Cate's bed with Simon. I could write an entire post about why we play musical beds every night, but let's just say we do whatever we have to do to get sleep. We like sleep.

Last night, or is it still tonight? Anyway, last night Cate feel asleep on the boss' couch, Simon of course fell asleep in Cate's bed, and Liam originally went to bed in his crib but woke up crying around 9:00 or 9:30pm and I brought him to the couch to snuggle...where we both feel asleep. Now the boss carried Cate to our bed at 11pm because if she wakes up alone in his "man cave" she'll flip out and he woke me up as he was going to bed so I wouldn't sleep all night on the couch with my neck all twisted up like a pretzel wrapped around my kid. Not feeling like hearing Liam cry for an hour after a couch to crib transfer, I just took him to Cate's bed and laid down with him and Simon because I cannot sleep with Cate. She has the jimmy legs all night long and it drives me insane. Everything was fine until about 2:30am when both boys started waking up. My kids don't do this so I can only assume they are getting sick, but the fact remains that here I was at 2:45am with 2 very bright eyed and bushy tailed little boys who wanted to watch How To Train Your Dragon. I desperately tried to get them back to sleep, but i started feeling bad for them after a while. When you can't sleep, you just can't sleep and laying in bed awake all night is distressing. So we got up. And we watched How To Train Your Dragon. And we ate peanut butter sandwiches. And we drank ginger ale. And we watched Chicken Little. And we ate carrots and dipped them in ranch dressing. And we drank more ginger ale. But we did not sleep.

I haven't pulled an all nighter in a couple of years. It was actually kind of...fun. But now, at 5:30am, I am really really really super duper tired. And they're still going.

Cooking with Cate: Season 1: Episode 1 "The Ingram Scramble"

2011-02-08T05:32:00.000-08:00

Last week, our ambitious 7 year old daughter decided that she wanted to start her very own video blog that centers around cooking and other domestic-y stuff for kids. The conversation went some thing like this:

Cate: Hey mom, I just had a great idea! How about I do my own blog?
Me: Hey, I have a better idea, how about we don't do that.
Cate: Fine.

Later, when I actually had time to think about it and talk to her about it, we decided that she could do some video blogging for our family blog from time to time. Fast forward an hour and the "sometimes" got twisted and mangled into a weekly cooking show called "Cooking with Cate".

**Disclaimer from mom**
Here at the little house on the left, the safety and well being of our children is of the utmost importance(ie we try to keep the kids alive as much as possible). Therefore, we want to urge you to never allow your young children to cook, or play, in the kitchen unsupervised at any time. Chef Cate always cooks with an adult present, because not all Ingram's adhere to the "safety third" motto.

I present to you the pilot episode of "Cooking with Cate" entitled "The Ingram Scramble"
(Since Flickr won't let me upload more than 1 minute of video at a time, I have done this in several video clips, I will find an easier way for this week. But Cate's anxious to get her show published so I am going to just do it like this for today)

Part One: "Welcome to my show"

Part two "Nice and Good"

Part 3 "Take your 'wisp' out and put your eggs in"

Part 4: "So you are going to make sure..."

Part 5: "Signing off until next time, next time"

I think Cate and I both learned a lot from this first episode. This one wasn't scripted at all, she just went with it and I let her ramble on too much. Hopefully we'll have it more together this week! She'll be making Chocolate chip cookies, from scratch :-) Her idea, not mine.

I'll give you a blog

2011-02-02T16:05:00.000-08:00

I got 4 messages today(email, facebook, and text combined) asking me why I had not blogged in a week on this blog. Apparently, this can only mean one of two things: I am dead...or I am mostly dead. Welp, I am still very much alive and kicking and in fact, I have had a great week. It's about to get even better, but I will tell you ALL about that on Monday. I am serious this time, I am promising to blog about something really awesome on Monday and since I have been sitting on the news for weeks(no, I am NOT pregnant, don't even go there), I am ready to burst and I guarantee it's worth the wait. (it's actually 2 things, and one does involve a pregnancy but I'm still not pregnant)

No, I haven't blogged because I have had...umm, I don't know, bloggers block? Seems odd, with 3 kids and a husband and house and job and a cat and an inherited Irish-like knack for story telling, you'd think that this type of thing simply could not happen. It's called January, and I am cold and miserable and want to stand in front of my gas heater all day. Excuuuu-use me...

I was amused at myself after driving home from Cedartown today. I had picked up my kids from Maw-in-Law's place and they were like..all quite and stuff. Creeped me out at first, but it was late afternoon so I guess they were just tired. Anywho, 5 minutes into my driving I started this 10 minute conversation with myself(in my head, of course, because if I started talking out loud that might have induced the kids to start talking back to me and at this point I really just didn't want to talk to anyone under the age of 18). Now I am telling this to you, my readers, not because you necessarily care what's going on in my freakish head, but so you can all better understand the kind of person I am. Feast upon my brain:

"I know I laid out some kind of meat for supper, what was it? Let's see I had a chicken, cubed steak, ground beef, STEW BEEF! That's it...waaaaiiitttt, a minute*applying breaks slowly* Did I get carrots at the store on Monday? I can't make stew without carrots...or can I *rubbing my chin like an evil genius* No, no I cannot. Stew is stew, and stew has carrots. Wait, I did buy carrots because I put them on the top shelf of the fridge yesterday after I found them frozen in the crisper drawer. Oh crap, is that they call it a crisper drawer? because it keeps stuff colder or something? I'll google that when I get home. I cannot believe I just wondered about why a crisper drawer is called a crisper drawer and planned to google it later. *stepping back on gas peddle* Oooo, Queen on the radio! I don't think I will ever get sick of Bohemian Rhapsody...how did he sing like that? It's sad that I am jealous of Freddie Mercury. I think he might have been prettier than me. *5 minutes of me singing and ignoring my kids relentless pleas for me to stop because I am wrecking the song* Oh wait, Was there something Seth needed me to do today? Paperwork for St. Mary's! Where'd I put that stack of papers? I'll bet it's on my desk. Where else would it be in case it's not there? Seth's desk maybe? No, that's dumb, he wouldn't have left a stack of papers for me to fill out on his desk, that's just dumb...then again we are talking about Seth and sometimes he does stuff that even he doesn't...Oh! they are on my desk 'cause he said before he left 'I'm putting these on your desk because you'll forget if I leave them anywhere else', so yeah, they are there. cool. What's that smell? God, please, do not let me find poop in Simon's underwear when we get home. Should I even ask or just pretend that I don't smell that until we get home? Not much I can do about it now anyway. ***NO, I DON'T KNOW WHERE YOUR BLANKIES ARE!!! I'LL FIND THEM WHEN WE GET HOME!!!!! MOMMY'S THINKING, LEAVE ME ALONE!*** So glad I bought wine at Kroger today. I wonder why it's $7.99 for a bottle of Gallo at the Kroger in Cedartown and still just $6.99 in Rome? I guess it evens out since it takes me less time to get to Cedartown than Rome. But it's not that much further. I wonder how gas would factor in the private school tuition debate between Covenant and St. Mary's next year? Maybe I'll check the miles to each school next time I drive by them, can't believe I never did that while Cate was still at Covenant. I wonder if there are other families in Cave Spring that would be driving to either school next year so we could carpool? That's be awesome. but more awesome than that, -certain thing I plan to blog about on Monday- Now THAT'S awesome! I am so excited! I can't wait to tell everybody! Who's calling me? Oh, you. Meh, I'll call you back later, I know what you want and can't help you right now. I thought Tracy's went out of business? I'll look into that later, not that I ever went there or really care...COP! Good thing I started wearing my seatbelt all the time. I can't believe that Lee smokes, I really never pegged him for a smoker, or a boxer...I guess he's just full of surprises. Oh look home...yea! Oh mail...I hate getting mail here. There's one truck...I guess this is why they taught us to look one way, then the other, then the other way again...great to know I learned something of value in school..."

Aaaannnd, that's what goes on in my head. Welcome to my world and I hope now you understand why I seem so ditzy and scatterbrained and insane all the time. (hint, it's because I am all of those things). Now, does that teach you not to ask me to blog "anything"? I thought so...

Good night loves! I leave you with a video of my nephew, Joseph acting just as insane as his Auntie April

Winter survival

2011-01-26T15:56:00.000-08:00

Each year, after Christmas has come and gone and we begin the long up hill trek to Spring(in the snow, uphill both ways), I go to great lengths to insure that I will be able to survive the remainder of the winter months. Obviously, I would survive anyway, but the people who have to live with me and put up with me on a daily basis might not. In a sense, I am only looking out for the mental health and well being of my loved ones. My list of supplies is lengthy and include but are not limited to; A steady supply of cherry chapstick, a coat for every occasion, tons of gloves, hats, scarves, insulated under pants and shirts(if I look fat in winter, that's why, I have at least 2 layers on), fuzzy socks, fuzzy slippers, lots of moisturizing lotion, tights, warm weather shoes(aka my cheap-o Ugg knock-offs from Ross or wal-mart), and about 2 dozen extra blankets and quilts for the beds, at least one throw blanket for each family member because I do not share--touch my red fuzzy blanket= instant death, a husband who knows how much I hate being cold and goes to pick things up from the store for me so I don't have to get out anymore than absolutely necessary, and of course...space heaters. Shockingly enough, I do not have an electric blanket because I fear setting my house on fire or cooking my own intestines. Don't think I haven't been tempted though. See we had this lizard once when I was kid and it cooked itself to death on a heat rock in January...anyway, that's another story, sorry.

This year I have added yet another essential to my winter survival "kit" and that would be...Nowali Moccosins for my kids. I have found it nearly impossible to keep socks & shoes on my children and regular slippers seem to have the same effect on them which is "If they are on my feet, I'm going to take them off". So when the boss' cousin, CC was visiting this fall I fell in love with these moccosins that her kids had. I raved about how cool they were and I guess she figured we'd appreciate some for Christmas for the kids. And boy did we! They are extremely well made and they keep the kids feet warm on our very cold hardwood and tile floors. The boys wear them all the time, but Liam in particular loves his because he can get them on all by himself, he actually sleeps in his most nights since his room is cold.I don't normally endorse products on my blog, but I really wanted to share these for those parents who may not have ever seen them. And FYI, Hanna Anderson has some very similar as well.

Liam are just a tad big, but I am glad he will be growing into them as the winter wears on. Yep, We'll be getting more of these cuties next winter! Thank you CC!!!

I am Superman

2011-01-24T10:27:00.000-08:00

I feel very fortunate to be a "girl mom" and a "boy mom". The differences in how I have to parent each individual child are vast and I am constantly being met with new challenges as they grow and develop their own unique personalities. I enjoy the challenges, honestly. It keeps me on my toes and I am never bored.

I love quotes from other people that make me think about my own life, mostly because I am not clever enough to think up my own. My favorite quote in regards to boys and their personalities is from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain:

There comes a time in every rightly-constructed boy's life when he has a raging desire to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure.

Having Irish twins has presented us with many struggles( ie. 2 kids on bottles, 2 kids in cribs, 18 months of pregnancy, 2 kids in diapers, absolute exhaustion, and many head 'splodey days) but we always knew there would come a day when things would magically start to get better. Not just better, but good. The boys are now ages 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 and they are quickly becoming best friends. It was something we hoped and prayed for but I was, admittedly, pessimistic about it coming to be until they were grown. Needless to say, I am pleasantly surprised. That's not to say that they do not fight and argue, because they do. However, being so close in age, sharing everything, and loving all of the same things has brought them very close. There was a day when I was busy working and suddenly realized something wasn't right because they were not making noise, and I found them quietly playing with matchbox cars in their room...nothing was wrong, nothing was broken...they were just..playing together and having fun. WOW. Suddenly, everything changed. They were agreeing on their morning cartoons, the fights were happening only a few times a day instead of every 10 minutes.

Watching them grow together is nothing short of beautiful. Listening to the boss talk about his childhood was always captivating to me because I could picture him as a little boy(Lord knows he looks the same now except with pants and a beard) running through the woods, digging for treasure, imagining a grand and illustrious tree house filled with all sorts of wonderful things and coming in at sunset to wash his face and hands clean of the day's dirt before fueling up on his mama's good home cookin. Now, I am able to do more than picture it, I can see it playing out in front of me in his sons. Simon & Liam are stereotypical little boys. They are rough, tough, perpetually dirty and sticky, and have ravenous insatiable appetites.

On any given day, They can be Buzz and Woody at 9am, Superman and Batman at 10am, Frodo and Sam at 11am(just in time for elevensies, how convenient!) and garbage men by noon. I know that in this day and age, there is a great acceptance of young men who are not "manly men" and little boys who like to dress up like princesses. I support this train of thought, I don't think it is healthy to MAKE a boy play with trucks and tractors if he's rather hang out in his sister's room and cook with her toy kitchen. It's wonderful to let a child, regardless of their sex, express themselves the way that they see fit. Society makes much less fuss about a girl who wants to be a tom boy than they do about a boy who wants to take dance. So while I would love and adore my boys no matter what they were playing, I just cannot help but see the beauty in these little tiny boys who dream of being great men(or hobbits, whatever). The current obsession is superhero's. Just this morning they were practicing "flying" from the arm of the couch to the recliner. What mom wouldn't be proud of her 2 year old standing on the arm of the couch, arms stretch out in front of him while he shouts "I'm Superman! To infinity and beyond!" and of course his big brother shouting "Leeee-yummm! Superman do's not say that! Superman says 'it's a bird, Superman!'"

They don't yet understand why I keep calling them Handyman. Give it time.

At any rate, I am both looking forward to the adventures to come and also shaking in my fuzzy slippers. I just hope that God will grant me the strength to let them go and explore and dig for buried treasure without coming out to check on them every 5 minutes. After all, little boys, regardless of their size, never cease to be Mama's boys.

"Show mommy how you punch people, sweetie!!"

2011-01-21T19:06:00.000-08:00

Friday nights around here are almost always low key. We don't mind, it's kind of a nice way to unwind after the week and get ready for the weekend. I drive down to Casey's and buy something to make for dinner. Later we watch a movie and eat popcorn. Sometimes we go to bed at 9:30 like respectable folk. Sounds painfully boring in writing, but it's actually really relaxing and quite nice. In addition to it just being relaxing...our kids are absolutely hilarious. They are funny all the time, but they will never show out in front of other people the way they do for me and the boss. That's why I have my flip video :-)

We let the kids watch Raiders of the Lost Ark tonight, it was a HUGE hit with the Si-man. He was so cute running around flexing his muscles all night, but I should have seen this one coming.

Meeting baby Broccoli

2011-01-19T16:32:00.000-08:00

If you frequent this blog or the other one, you already know who Denna, Cam, and baby Brinkley are. Brinkley was born in early December and while I have seen her several times since then, my boys have never met her. Cate has met her, but never the boys. Until today. While wrapping up their family session last night, I noticed that I had two little "spectators" looking on as I worked. One on each side. Eyes fixated on a sweet little baby girl on my computer screen and jaws dropped in awe of this tiny little creature. "Mama, who, who, who who whoooooo is dat baby?" Simon inquired. "That's baby Brinkley, she's Miss Denna's new baby and I took her pictures a couple of weeks ago" I answered thinking it would hush him on the matter. "Look at dat baby, Mama! He's beautiful!" Liam pipped up. "She, Liam, she is a girl and yes, she is very beautiful and she smells really good, too." "Can I smell her?" "No" Then I thought...why not? I have baby fever anyway and a dose of Brinkley would do me good(or bad, depending on how you look at it). Anyway, the boys had never met her and I thought it might be a good time, you know since I have baby fever and all, to see how the boys would behave around an infant. I mean, you want to know that the older siblings aren't going to kill the new baby...or bite him relentlessly for nearly 2 years and throw matchbox cars at his head and push him off the couch and try to ride him and stick crayons up his nose and use his belly as their blank canvas to create a new work of "art"...*eye twitch*starring blankly into space*...what? I'm sorry...Post Irish Twin Traumatic Syndrome. :::Shudder::: Ummm, where was I? Oh yeah, deciding it was *great* idea to take the boys to meet a defenseless 1 month old! Ohhhh, boy, ha ha ha, I come up with the most *fun* activities sometimes.

After talking with Denna last night about the prospect of a visit, I tucked the boys into bed with promises of a sweet smelling beautiful little baby girl that was anxious to meet them in the morning. Well, if she wasn't anxious, she should have been.

---Let me break here to tell you why we don't go visiting very often. Let me first remind you of their ages. 3 1/2 and 2 1/2. Let me say it again and I want you to concentrate. Three and a half. Two and a half. Boys. And once more, in case you were not paying attention, 2 boys, ages 3 1/2 and 2 1/2. Gottcha a mental picture? Good, now take your hands and rub them all over their hair making sure it's good and crazy, smear some food on their face, or dirt cause they ~~eat that~~ get into that too sometimes, put a bugger on the finger of the oldest one and a bloody wound somewhere on the youngest ones face. Ok...give them both 13 pixie stix to eat and wait 15 minutes. Ok...those kids...that one swinging from the light fixture and that one stacking up the chairs to reach his brother swinging from the light fixture so he can punch him in the stomach? Yeah, those are MY kids. Does that clear up any misunderstanding about why we don't go visiting elderly people or newborn babies? Great! Let's continue---

All I heard from 8:30-10:30am this morning was "Are we going to see baby Broccoli today? When? where's baby broccoli? We need to bring baby Broccoli a toy...do you think she likes army men? Is it time to go? Baby Broccoli this, baby Broccoli that, baby Broccoli this that and everything in between." Ahhhhh, OK! Let's just GO!

They were "ok", for them anyway, for the first...ohhh.. I dunno, 5 minutes. They both held her, took turns sticking their fingers in her nose and any other hole in her head, trying to give her some tongue(note to Cam: Next time we visit, feel free to conveniently be cleaning your riffle at the kitchen table), and I want to give him the benefit of a doubt but I am pretty pretty Simon tried to lick her cheek at one point. I'm going to say it had something to do with how sweet she smelled. Who knows.

However, Brinkley, was a trooper! She smiled, she "talked" to them, she looked at them, and despite their relentless torture she did not cry at all, not once. I've actually never heard her cry, so this is not a major compliment to the boys. She's just a good nature kind of girl(she gets that from her Mama). This is a tough kid, I dare to say that she can withstand 2 if not 3 brothers. But let's not get ahead of ourselves here. I think I will be the next one providing a little brother or sister to someone. Now about my baby fever...

I get it from time to time. Lately it's been more of a longing than anything and over-analyzing freak that I am, I have determined that it is because Liam is getting so big and talking so well and trying to pee in the potty. I have always loved babies, and I remember fond memories of pregnancy, and childbirth, and the newborn stage. I am sure my husband could tell you how everything really went(*picture April balled up in the corner screaming "I'm running away!!!! First chance I get!!! Oh but make sure you put most of the diaper on the front end before he goes to bed, otherwise you'll wake up with a very wet baby and rurnt crib bedding...cause I'm running away! Give me more wine!!!") Yeeeaaaahh. I dunno, I like to think I am a good mom to my kids but seeing the world through mommy goggles can sometimes cloud your judgment and recollection of the past 7 years. Luckily my husband is around to remind me that I am not exactly Mary Poppins and would probably die if I had another baby to contend with. I do want another baby. I mean, I really want another baby but I am resisting. Today proved just one of the reasons why I am doing so. My boys would kill a new baby. At the very least, they would make him or her very angry 12 hours a day, and he or she might very well make me angry the other 12 hours.

I was kind of hoping I could persuade the boss to have baby #4 soon but after today, I really have no argument. "Thanks" Simon & Liam.

Liam & Brinkley...no I don't know why he has that look on his face(she however is the daughter of a photographer, hence the cheesy grin on her face)

Simon & Brinkley, yes I do believe he is preparing to insert his finger, once more, into her little heart shaped nostrils.

About girls

2011-01-16T17:37:00.000-08:00

You know, I have a lot of friends who have been having babies lately. Most of them are having little girls. Sweet little danty beautiful baby girls with cute little names and pretty hair bows and lots of pink and purple clothes with ruffles and lace and all that good stuff that comes with girls. Oh yes, girls are definitely fun to dress up and play with. I think a lot of women really want girls because they are so "fun" in theory. In fact, I have had more than a few girlfriends with little girls say things to me like "Oh I hope you *get* to have another girl!" and "Don't you want another girl after having 2 boys?". Boys are all rough and tough and gross(or maybe that's just Ingram boys?). For all of their faults, I think boys are easier than girls. Take my 3 year old son Simon for example...when he gets angry, he pokes his bottom lip out, crosses his arms, and looks at the ground with a "hmmph!" and then he'll say "I'm sad!" well, ok...let's fix that! Our 7 year old daughter, Cate, on the other hand...well, she just runs and hides in her closet and cries...and if you don't come fix it, she cries louder. If you still don't fix it, she comes out and stands in the doorway of her room and cries louder. When you finally go to her, she says "I don't want to talk about it." if you leave her alone after she says that...that means no one cares about her and her feelings. *gag* Now...I am a drama queen. I'm kind of bitchy actually and everyone who knows me know this. I don't try to pretend that I am sweet anymore. I'm a good person, I really am, but I'm not always sweet. I'm selfish and silly and immature and I think that I should always get my way(until I realize that I feel that way, and then I come to my senses...get it?). The difference between me and my daughter is that I know this about myself and she is still in that "I'm the victim" phase. After observing her behavior and also being more vigilant of my own, I think I have come to a better understanding of how girls work...big girls and little girls alike. We never really change, we just get bigger and can walk less like a giraffe when we wear high heels. After thinking about it for a few days, I think I can say 10 things that, I believe, are true of at least 90% of all girls. The other 10% are obviously trying NOT to be girls. That's their business....I'm not going there and I'm not judging. Girl-hood ain't for everyone.

10. What a girl wants at 9:00am can change by noon, and they know how to make a good enough case to get it, even if what they wanted at 9am is what they got at 11:59am.

9. 7-14 year old girls actually like being left out so that they can be sad and cry. Therefore they get way more attention than they would have gotten by simply being included in the first place.

8. Girls say negative things about themselves so that other people will say good things about them. For example: An adult girl will say "Sorry, my house is a wreck!" even if she has been cleaning all day because she wants you to look around and say "Your house looks great! If this isn't clean, I wish I knew what was!" and a child girl will work on drawing a picture for 30 minutes and say "My picture isn't very good mom, but I made it for you. You don't have to hang it up." Because she wants you to frame it, mat it, hang it on the wall and then blog about how great of an artist she is. So when I say "I'm not smart" I really just want people to tell me that I am because people don't tell me that if I don't fish for it and sometimes I need to hear it so that I don't feel so stupid.

7. I don't care what they say, deep down, every girl loves pink. And stuff that sparkles. And things that smell like flowers. and flowers.

6. If you want a girl to like you, make her laugh at herself and enjoy laughing at herself.

5. Nail polish can be the difference between a tom boy/slouchy housewife and a girly girl/hot mama.

4. Every girl needs to cry now and then. If she can't find a good enough reason, she'll watch The Notebook(or the equivalent to, it doesn't have to be a movie...it can be a song, a book, ect)

3.Girls are always beautiful.(I think every woman should write this in bright red lipstick on her bathroom mirror every morning until they believe it is true!)

2. More days than not, nothing is ever quite good enough. Sometimes it is all just right though, but not today. Maybe tomorrow, but she doubts it. But everything happens for a reason anyway.

1. All girls become like their mother....(that is their tragedy. no man does. that's his<----brownie points to the romantic comedy loving girl who knows which play/movie that line is from :-) I would venture to guess all 5 girls who read this blog know it without having to google it!

Being a girl is not exactly easy all the time, but I personally really enjoy it and I am glad that I have a daughter to share it with.But seriously, go to your room to cry and spare your poor family to headache of hearing your dramatic antics.

I hate that man

2011-01-12T16:34:00.000-08:00

There is this man that keeps calling me every single day and he will NOT stop! He isn't soliciting, he isn't a stalker...he's the automated voice from the county school system telling me day after day that "There will be no school tomorrow due to inclement weather and dangerous road conditions" I actually told him to "piss off" today. He just kept rambling about school boards and decisions and side roads..I dunno, wasn't really listening at that point...just growling. What a douche bag. The whole "Follow us on Twitter and Facebook" spill at the end of the message was just "ice"ing on the cake. *snorttle* Get it? Icing? *sniff* eh I try.

Well that's typical

2011-01-10T12:01:00.000-08:00

Liam is wearing his big sister's purple mittens and Simon is wearing my smallest pair of gray mittens. It took us an hour and a half to get ready to go outside and play in the snow and when we finally headed out, Liam immediately wanted to "Hold me" and then Simon just started crying. We don't know why. He just started crying. And my husband is wearing a giant yellow condom.

Welcome to our home.

My Big Fat Southern Shower

2011-01-08T18:54:00.000-08:00

Ok, it wasn't MY shower. My "baby" cousin, Anna, got married just before Thanksgiving. She and her sweety Thomas decided not to do a big wedding and kind of sneaked off to get hitched :-) Ahhh, that sounds so romantic to me now. Anna and Thomas are an extremely complimentary couple. They seem like they just fit together so well, like two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Thomas has been around for a couple of years so it was really not that big of a shock that he and Anna got hitched but it was rather sudden(no, she is not pregnant, but thanks) and we didn't get a chance to give her a bridal shower!

Ok, I will be the first to admit...I think southern showers are kind of corny.(no offense mom, you did a fabulous job today, as usual. I love you). It's just this whole...lime sherbert punch, pastel mints, peanuts, chips and dip. We sit around in circles, we pass gifts around, someone writes everything down, inevitably there is that one gift that everyone scratches their head at but no one wants to come right out and say "What the hell is that thing?". What's NOT to love? It's hilarious and you get a room full of women who are hilarious, like our family, and you have yourself the corniest kind of fun you can ever imagine. I seriously LOVE my family. I love the way they talk, I love that they quote "National Lampoons Christmas Vacation" all.year.long(you don't want to know how many times I heard "It's Lime" today, or "Is your house on fire, Clark?" on Christmas Eve) and even better is that they misquote it over half the time. Honestly, my family is the biggest bunch of lovable characters that you have never met. I mean, they love you and can't wait to hug you and they don't even know YOU! That's my family. They are awesome!

Well, my darling little cousin had her bridal shower today at my Mama's house. Surrounded by the ladies of the Williams/Burns/Giles/Brown family...she got all of her pyrex dishes & cookware, plastic kitchen utensils, some pretty pretty stuff, and a vacuum cleaner. What else does a new wife need? She's all set.

Now, don't you want to meet my family?

This my mama, you can call her Christy, with my little cousin Anna, the bride. Yes, she is young. Yes, she's out of high school. No, she isn't pregnant.

Oh now this, this is my Aunt Davina(or Dina, if you want to be more casual) showing my cousin Lorrie(who also happens to be my beautician) her new boots. Davina is married to my uncle Todd(my Mama's brother) and today was actually their 15th wedding anniversary. How appropriate!

This is my MawMaw Sherry(left) and my Aunt Shirley. You can call her MawMaw or Sherry, or both. But she'll fuss at you for calling her Mrs. Williams. The secret is, you can call her Sherry the first 2 times you meet her, then promptly switch to MawMaw. Now Shirley is married to my MawMaw's twin brother Terry. So Sherry and Terrry and his wife is Shirley. You got it?

This is my great Aunt Sweet Pea. Yes, I said my great Aunt Sweet Pea. Ok, well, her name is actually Glenda, but no one would even know who I was talking about if I said "You know, my Aunt Glenda" because everyone who has known her since she was 5 years old has called her Sweet Pea. In fact, I think I was about 16 before I even questioned whether or not if that was her natural name. Aunt Sweet Pea is one of my MawMaw's older sisters(in order it goes..*taking a deep breath* Aunt Mary Joe, Uncle Sonny, Aunt Sweet Pea, MawMaw-Sherry, Uncle Terry, and Uncle Kenny)-Aunt Sweet Pea's husband, Uncle Wayne, died last year, if you care to know.

Now, here we have, from left to right, Aunt Sweet Pea, Aunt Donna(who is married to Uncle Kenny), Aunt Shirley, Aunt Davina, My mama, and My Aunt Angela(Anna's mom) holding my Cate.

This is Rose & Anna. Rose is Anna's younger sister and seemingly her best friend. Aren't they beautiful? I love my little cousins...I wish I made more of an effort to spend more time with them.

Oh an iron! How exciting! I am not being sarcastic, when you are young, grown up things like irons are actually fun. I remember!

This is Thomas' mom, Kim, MawMaw, and Anna's other grandma who's name currently escapes me and I know I will remember it 15 minutes after I post this...grrrr.

This is actually one of the most interesting photo's I have ever shot and I think I really really love it.

More Aunt's again. I think that look on Aunt Davina's face was in response to cousin Sheri's(not pictured, and also not to be confused with MawMaw Sherry) remark that she couldn't believe Davina got that awesome cake plate at Brooke's Salvage because she thought they just sold cheap cigarettes and stale bread.

And lastly, Anna and Rose again...and look there's Thomas back there.

I have no idea why I have a muffin top.

Ohh, and Congratulations Anna and Thomas! We love y'all! Welcome to the big fat Williams family, Thomas!

Global Warming my fanny!

2011-01-08T06:39:00.000-08:00

Just look at this, look at this mess! Argh!

Yeah, wal-mart is gonna be real fun this morning when all I need is lime sherbert and a bridal shower gift. The bright side:

-Kids love the snow

-building snowmen is kind of fun, if you do it quickly

-pretty pictures of snow flakes on my kids mile long lashes

-Cate will get out of school(hello sleeping late and taking afternoon naps!)

-hot chocolate just tastes better when it's snowing outside, doesn't it?

Oh only 71 days left until Spring! Picnics, buttercups in bloom, flouncy skirts, tank tops, and walking barefoot in lush green grass....I can make it. I can make it.

bump

2011-01-07T14:55:00.000-08:00

I want to preface this post by stating for the record that while I might not be the sharpest tool in the shed, and I might be the most clumsy white woman in history...I have never had a car accident. Ever. I have come close, but never have I damaged the bodily structure of any vehicle I that I ever drove. I just want you all to know that.

That being said....I slammed the back of my van into the bosses truck today.

I hopped in to get Cate from school, put her in reverse, backed up and...smack. Way to go Ape. Way to go.

Note to self: Next time the kids spill a drink, break something, or ruin their clothes...just tell them it's ok and give them a hug.

Parenting 101

2011-01-06T10:04:00.000-08:00

There are certain things that, as a parent, you can really never have enough of. Scotch tape, band-aids, peanut butter, zip lock baggies, paper towels, ect. Last night, I found out 2 things that I will always have on hand. Headlamps and plenty of batteries(in a variety of sizes). Comes in real handy when the power goes out after nightfall :-) Who needs TV?

Lunchtime

2011-01-05T13:25:00.000-08:00

Have you ever went to a restaurant and ordered the same thing you always get and for some reason or another they had changed the recipe and now it's just not as good? Isn't that disappointing?

I try very hard to see from my kids perspective on many issues. Food is area where I try to be understanding. I have never been a "clean your plate" kind of mom. I don't believe in forcing children to eat when they are not hungry and are perfectly healthy. My kids have always been slim, but they are by all standards pretty healthy. I stick with grandma "They'll eat when they are hungry!" However, picky eating is quite possibly one of my biggest pet peeves ever. I don't like every kind of food on earth, but I like most things and even if I am not a huge fan of something, I will still eat it if someone puts it on a plate for me. While I have much less tolerance for adults who are picky eaters(what do you mean you don't eat any food that is red? you are 25, not 4!), I still really don't like when kids are picky eaters. And kid picky eaters will grow up to be adult picky eaters one day if no one stops them. While we rarely butt heads in this house about food(we all agree that we like food...a lot), today we had somewhat of a standoff about soup.

It all started at 11:30am

Mom: Ok boys what do y'all want for lunch?

Simon: Macaroni and cheese!

Liam: No, Pizza!

Mom: Eww, how about neither. What about some soup?

Simon and Liam in unison: Yeeeeaaaaaahhhhhh!!! SSSOOOOOOUUUUUPPP!

Mom: Alright, do you want vegetable or chicken noodle?

Simon: Oh Chicken noodle! Chicken noodle!

Liam: Yeah, chicken noodle!

Mom: Alrighty then! Go straighten up your room and I'll call you when it's done.

10 minutes later

Mom: Soup's on the table boys!

*pitter patter, giggle giggle pitter patter*

Simon: What's this?

Mom: It's chicken noodle soup

Simon: No it's not

Mom: Yes it is

Simon: No it's not

Mom: Yes it is baby, it's just not "Campbell's" it's a different kind, this is "progresso" chicken noodle soup.

Simon: I want the other kind

Mom: We don't have any, eat this. It's good.

Simon: I don't like it

Mom: You haven't tried it yet.

Simon: Yes, I did. It's nasty.

Mom: No you didn't I have been watching you the whole time. try it, you'll like it.

Simon: No I won't. I want spaghetti

Mom: That was never an option. Eat.this.soup.now

Simon: I'm not going to eat that

Mom: You are going to sit here until you try at least one bite

10 minutes later.

This is the part where you, as a parent have to examine the situation and decide one of two things

A. Stand your ground

B. Give the kid a PBJ sandwich and eat the soup yourself.

Sometimes, you just don't feel like fighting the battle.

Best sight ever

2011-01-03T10:44:00.000-08:00

I love Christmas tree's, I really do. That's why I put up with one every year don't get rid of it until January. But I have to say...THIS is just about the best sight to look at today. No more tree.

And lookie...My mom bought me these, uhh, these little things that you hang up and stick things on? I don't know what they are but I am loving them.

Tomorrow is my birthday but I am kicking the celebration off early by going out for margarita's!!!!!! Whoohoo! I love my birthday :-) And margarita's, those are great too!

You don't want to play games with me

2011-01-01T17:57:00.000-08:00

Every New Years day, after we drag ourselves out of bed and drink some really strong hot coffee, we head over to the boss' folks house for New Years Day lunch. Collards and stuff, you know the routine. It's pretty much the same as any Sunday. Every now and then, someone brings out a board game after we've all eaten. Now when I first joined the family, back when Bonnie was the only child, they played games a lot. And by a lot I mean pretty much every single time they gathered...which was a lot and by a lot I mean...well, you get the idea. I didn't grow up in a game playing family, I grew up in a TV family. That was our quality time, that and riding 4 wheelers, shooting things, and other reckneckery. It was an adjustment being inducted into one of those "brainy" families who always wanted to play games that smart people played, like Trivia games and scrabble. But it wasn't even the smart people games that I dreaded, I just don't think fast like other people. I'm, essentially...slow. It's ok. I always kind of thought that one day smarts would just sort of rub off on me and I'd actually fit in with my in-laws or at the very least, my brother-in-law would eventually marry someone equally as stupid or more stupid than me, but his girlfriend is super smart like the rest of them. And after 12 years of being around, the smarts have yet to rub off on me at all. It's alright for the most part. They love me and I love them. After a few years, and a few more babies, the game playing happened less and less and for that I was grateful. It became hard to concentrate on games with all the kids running around but for me, it was a good thing. It's not that I don't like games, and it's not that I even mind not being smart like my husbands family..I don't LIKE it, but I can deal with it...No, I just really don't like being badgered into playing games with them because it just highlights my stupidity. And I don't like being shamed because I don't want to play. And I also think it kind of sucks for whoever gets stuck on my team because that automatically sentences them to loosing. I'm not being unsociable, I just don't like being reminded that I am dumbest adult in the family. Why does no one understand that? Anyway, I got badgered into playing Cranium with the family today. Such a great way to start off the new year...that's sarcasm, if you have already forgotten that I really hate playing games with my husbands family. Thankfully, my husband is 100% on MY side and he went down with me today willingly. He's so precious :-)

Now, if you have never played Cranium...I'm not going to explain it all to you but I will tell you that part of the game consists of drawing a picture and getting your team to guess the word. Sometimes, you have to draw with your eyes closed and that's usually pretty "interesting". Of course my team lost today because, well, I was on the team, but I will admit that it was fun at times when I ignored the fact I was the dumbest person in the room. I carried some of our "drawings" home today to see if you would want to take a crack and guessing what the word is.(Answers at the bottom)

1. Drawn by the boss, with eyes closed. Hint: Animal

2. Drawn my me, eyes closed. Hint: Person

3. Drawn by the boss, eyes opened(yes, I am sure). Hint: Thing

4. Drawn by the boss, eyes closed. Hint: Person

5. I have no idea, yes, an adult drew this...no it wasn't me.

6. Drawn by the boss, eyes open, hint: an action

scroll down for answers

|
|
|
|

Answers

1. A tucan(if you think it's bad, try turning it upside down. Yeah.)

2. Sumo wrestler(pretty sure I heard someone yell out "baby on a stick" when we were drawing these)

3. Black hole

4. Pregnant woman(Cate actually went back later and put the nipples on, she has such attention to detail)

5. I still don't know

6. Gossiping(the drawing was supposed to be the women from The View)

That's the story. Happy New Year! I hate playing board games.

Merry Christmas to you and yours From the Ingram family

2010-12-27T06:22:00.000-08:00

I am sitting here on the Monday after Christmas trying to figure out exactly what to do with our last week of Christmas vacay. Options are limitless...unfortunately, thanks to Christmas shopping, money is quite the opposite ;-) So since blogging free, we'll start there, shall we?

We had an absolutely fantastic Christmas. Not only was my brother NOT deployed, and we had not JUST moved into a house, but it snowed for the first time in...well..I am not sure. But no one in Polk or Floyd county that I know can recall ever having a white Christmas and so this was very exciting to these folks in this area of the country. In every Christmas movie you see there is now on the ground, right? Yet, we've never seen that. In fact, I can recall many Christmas' when I wore flip flops and only a light jacket because it was 65° outside. And I can recall many years when our Easter Sunday was colder than Christmas morning. Georgia weather is just goofy. Anyway, it was indeed very cold this year and it snowed...a lot. If you know me, you know that I am not a fan of being cold. I don't even really like snow because it's...well, it's cold, and it's also messy. It was however, very beautiful falling on Christmas day.

I would post pictures...but you've all seen them on facebook or flickr anyway. if not, you can see them all here

Now, if I could just find something to do with this last week of 2010? I'm sure we'll get into something!

One year ago Wednesday - Happy 7th Birthday Eve Catie Bug!

2010-12-22T17:00:00.000-08:00

I took this picture one year ago on December 22nd 2010. This was part of Cate's 6 year portraits.

Now, I can tell you what I was doing exactly 7 years ago this very minute. I was 3 days shy of my due date and helping my mother-in-law decorate her Christmas tree. I was secretly timing contractions and had been doing so since lunchtime. I had been doing this pretty much every single night for the past week and the next morning they were always gone. Bummer. I didn't think this night would be any different so I didn't tell anyone at first. I knew that these were different contractions because I had been enduring the worst backache all day and they progressively got worse as the day and evening wore on. I think by the time we left my in-laws, I had mentioned it to them but downplayed it thinking that I was certainly going to give birth to this child on January 1st at exactly 12:00am, which would of course mean that we couldn't claim her on our 2003 taxes. Around 11:00pm, however, I was starting to hurt. I took a shower just in case and about 30 minutes later, I felt like I should really tell the boss "it's time". Oh "It's time" those magic 2 words that I had dreamed about saying for the past nine months. I had assumed that the boss would react like the dads in the movies. Getting all excited and anxious and he'd scatter around grabbing bags and gently guide me out the door as I moaned and practiced breathing techniques. Well, the reality was more like "Are you sure? How do you know? Can it wait until morning? You know they'll just send us back home. It's awfully cold out there." and I was perfectly able to walk to the car myself with no assistance. It was exciting for us both though.

24 hours later, we were in the recovery room holding our darling little Catie bug and just starring at her. Well, ok, I was. Seth was trying to sleep because he had a cold and he doesn't do hospitals very well. But he has starred at her enough since then to more than make up for that!

Tonight Cate is spending her birthday eve at Grandma's with her cousins Bonnie & Rosemary having some much needed girl time. It's going to be strange to wake up tomorrow, on her birthday, with her not here but this is what she wanted and I guess she old enough to decide for herself now. Now that she's a big girl and able to decide how she wants to spend her birthday eve. I don't mind. Not much. I mean, we'll see her tomorrow sometime.

whahhaaaahhaa!

*sniff* I'm good. Here some favorite snap shots of my little princess
Catherine Elisabeth
December 23rd, 2003
8lbs 6oz 21in

Ingram Family Christmas Part 1

2010-12-21T21:25:00.000-08:00

I(and by I, yes I do mean us, I just feel like I was the only one caring about it) hosted a dinner and gift exchange with the Ingram family. Now, you long-time followers are wondering what's going on. Not to worry, the Ingram's will still be gathering on Christmas morning at Papa Bill and Mama Cat's house for Christmas brunch. No, we did this because we are all so infatuated with my brother-in-law Jonathan's girlfriend, Lisa, that we wanted to include her in our Christmas celebration. Lisa will be traveling over the Christmas holiday to spend time with her family so we wanted to make sure that we got some time with her as well :-)

So, I volunteered to host. I admit that. It was not a burden put on my shoulders by anyone. It was my fault. "Oh, I'll host! I'd LOVE to host!" Ha! Yeah, ok...hey you know what, we ate and hung out and it was great. But I am telling you right now...next time I offer to host a damn dinner I am just gonna order some Chinese food.

Well, we all know I never claimed to be the best cook, housekeeper, or hostess in the history of ever...but one thing you can always count on me to do is to make sure that everything is properly documented. Yeah, so what, my homemade yeast bread that I worked on for 5 hours wasn't completely done and was all doughy and distgusting on bottom...*gag* *fighting back a tear* and I was 25 minutes late getting the food on the table(if you know my paw-in-law, you know that this is totally unacceptable)...at least I have my camera's....

I'll ask you this...did anyone else bring a camera or video camera? Yeah, I think not. I'm important! I can't host an amazingly perfect dinner like my maw-in-law, but I can do somethings right!

(these pictures are SOC, I'll edit them later! Like in January when I have nothing else to do!)

You remember me telling you that Lisa makes pottery right? Ok, well, she made me this beautiful serving platter for Christmas. I was so excited. I love these colors! Isn't it awesome?

But wait, I turn it over...and there is a friggin stick family on back! How cute is this?

And remember the kids making clay bowls back in October? Yeah...she glazed them :-)

Liam didn't make a piece with the other kids, so Lisa made him this ornament :-) *love*

Oh crap! The Ingram's done broke out da karaoke machine again!

The Ingram Family Christmas Tradition & a special birthday gift

2010-12-20T07:23:00.000-08:00

We Ingram's are big on tradition. We have lots of them. The kids annual group picture, Sunday dinner, the yearly photobook for Mama Cathy, scrabble, New Years Day peas and greens, Mama Cathy injuring herself in some way or another in late summer, etc. Yeah, some traditions are better than others we keep them all. One tradition that we have actually been trying to break for years is the Christmas Crud Curse. No, we don't really call it that, but that's what I am calling it from now on...errr..or until I can find a name that has more of a ring to it. We get sick at Christmas and typically stay thata way until New Years. I can trace this tradition back to at least 2006. And every year since then, there has been something going around during the week before and after Christmas. It's fun. Not really.

On Saturday morning, 2 of my 3 kids were running a fever. I knew immediately what it was since my 2 nephews who had been with us a lot the previous week had JUST been diagnosed with Strep Throat. But I was going shopping with my mom and sister-in-law(a Brown family tradition) and left the kids with the boss while I headed off. When I got home, they all seemed better but I was concerned(ok, highly annoyed) that he's taken them off to play with their cousins(of the Ingram sort) that afternoon while I was gone. We had company in from out of town and I quickly got into relax by the fire, drink wine, and visit mode. It was lovely! Sunday morning, yeah not so lovely. I woke up hearing Simon screaming and between wails I could hear him telling me that his head and ears hurt. Before I could get him some tylenol, he was running to the bathroom to throw up. Ooookay, so I guess that means no Mass for me! Within an hour they were all 3 running a fever again. Blech!

So we are sick and I was supposed to be hosted a dinner party for the Ingram tomorrow night that we'd all been really looking forward to. I have one last shot at hosting. Get antibiotics for everyone by lunch time and disinfect the house! We'll see how it all goes, but either way, we should be on the mend by Christmas. Off to urgent care we go this morning! Whoohoo!

Now, part of what stunk so bad about yesterday was that Cate missed her birthday celebration at my moms house.If you remember, some months back, Cate's DS went missing. The DS was more than just another toy for Cate. She had worked hard for nearly a year to save enough to buy one. She really took care of it and it was her favorite material possession. She wasn't obsessed with it, and didn't spend all day playing it, but she did love and enjoy that thing. It was a long 2 months after it disappeared and after searching everywhere, we determined that it must have been stolen from our car in the wal-mart parking lot. In the back of my mind, I still held out hope that someday it would turn up. It never did.

Yesterday, my mom brought over Cate's gifts and her cupcakes since we wouldn't get to have our little family party. My mom is pretty much awesome..

Happy early birthday Catie Bug :-)

Bah Humbug!

2010-12-16T13:07:00.000-08:00

The 1951 version of A Christmas Carol is my favorite of all time. I love it. It's just a classic old back and white film. I think it's crazy how men in black and white can look so transparent and true to their character and all the women always look so perfect...like little dainty porcelain dolls. This Christmas Carol is more than just black and white. I love how true to the book it really is. Anyone who really knows me knows that I am a HUGE Dickens fan. Yes, David Copperfield is a little hard to get through. I will admit that, but you have to admit that, if you get through it, it's a GREAT book! From The Pickwick papers to a Tale of Two Cities...I find his work fascinating and his dry sense of humor is what inspires me to write. I love his afterthoughts, and how he breaks in the middle of a thought to explain why he actually thinks something. I love Dickens. I first saw this film when I was about 10 years old. I found it fascinating, I loved how it was written and how Alastair Sim portrayed Ebenezer Scrooge, and how this movie didn't stray from the book much at all. In fact, it was pretty much word for word. Alistair Sim was funny and lovable even before his revelation. He felt like the uncle you had who you knew had some good in him somewhere...I don't know. I just loved him even as the stereotypical "Scrooge".

So I thought that since I didn't have anything worthy of posting today and I wasn't in the mind frame to create something to blog about, I would share this with you in case you had not yet watched this version of the film. I read A Christmas Carol every year. Some years I read it to my family, but I myself read it every year and I know every word. While watching this version, I see it all come to life as Charles himself was seeing it as he wrote it. So I thought that it might be good of me, a devoted Dickens fan, to share this with you today.

God Bless us, every one.

One year ago Wednesday

2010-12-15T13:58:00.000-08:00

I can't narrow it down to just one. It was just a great day!

December 15th, 2009

This picture was taken outside West Theater in Cedartown. Cate and Luke's class to a trip there to watch "The Polar Express" and they wore jammies. The weird thing is...today was pajama day at school for Cate and they watched "The Polar Express"

Random April

2010-12-14T17:20:00.000-08:00

- I'm a loser. No really, I lose things all the time. My purse, my keys, my phone, my coffee cup, an occasional kid...here and there. I am honestly the most scatterbrained woman you know(or don't know). I lost my keys twice in less than 24 hours. First on Friday night at my nieces piano recital. We found them eventually, so we made it home in our own car(minivan). Then again the next evening after I had returned home from shooting a wedding. Apparently unloading camera gear and bags and some random groceries you picked up on the way home is excusable enough to lose your keys and not have your husband yell at you. $60 later, on Monday morning, I had my keys which were, as we suspected, locked in the van. Nice.

- Apparently having 3 kids was not annoying enough..we had to adopt a cat! Who got pregnant the week or so that we got her before we even had a chance to get her spade. And who also thinks she owns the joint.."Oh I'm sorry, was this your computer chair?" Yeah, cats are fun...(I do really like her, btw)

- There comes a point in every mothers life when you smell poop and convince yourself that the god-awful stench is coming from the garbage can....in the end, you still end up with your hands in a bunch of S***. As a mother of 3, I can tell you this: If they have sat in it for 5 minutes, their butt can handle 5 more while you finish what you are doing(and while you take a shot of something strong).

- Kids can say all sorts of funny things. But I think my kids can top it all with their dyslexic pronounciation of popcorn..they call it cop-porn. I secretly don't even want to correct them it's so funny. So I not so secretly do not correct them. I just say "you want copporn? Ok! *snicker*"

- My husband is really the sweetest man on the face of the planet. He knows when I am having one of "those" days and he'll just give the kids a bath and clean up the supper dishes. And he notices when I have cleaned all day, he thanks me sometimes for doing his laundry, he kisses me goodbye every time he leaves the house, and he tells me that every meal I cook is the best I have ever made. When I say that my husband is awesome, I am telling you, I really mean it. I love my boss!

- I have been missing my old house lately. It all started while I was looking through Cate's baby pictures on Sunday night. I had decided to make a slideshow of her past 7 years for her upcoming birthday. Looking through old pictures of my old house makes me very nostalgic and sentimental. It doesn't mean that I am unhappy or sad, but I think that it is totally healthy and natural to miss a house where you brought 4 children and 7 years of memories into your life. I loved my house, it was beautiful and precious and I will always feel like that was our first home as a family. It doesn't mean that I wish we hadn't have sold. I doesn't mean that I regret leaving, or that I don't love and adore my current house. On the contrary, I very much love and adore my current house. If we stay here 7 years(I hope and pray?) I have no doubt that I will feel the same way about this house if we leave. I think I may have given "some" folks the wrong impression by my comment on facebook that I am missing my old house. I don't want to go back. And if I had it all to do over again, I wouldn't do it any different. This was a necessary move in our life and I think it made us a stronger family all the way around. Just setting the record straight.

I'm just another mom(Cate's Christmas Parade)

2010-12-11T18:31:00.000-08:00

I have a some fairly good friends who also happen to be photographers. A couple of them have been in the business since I was in elementary school and have well established businesses. They are good at their job. "Job". One thing that perplexed me was that, while I knew they had access to very expensive and very good camera's and gear, usually what I saw of their family photos were just little snapshots taken with a point and shoot. Do-huh? Why? Why would someone with the knowledge and know-how to create professional-grade photographs of their family opt to just do what every other mom does? After just 3 years, I finally get it. There are just days when you are not in the mood to deal with "photography" and all you really want is to just take a picture.

See, sometimes I just want a visual representation, and I am totally and completely uninterested in it being "art". I take great pride in my photographs and always have. Over the past few years, it went from me taking pride in my pictures to me being prideful about my photography and beating myself up every time I did not live up to the expectations that others and sometimes I, myself, set for my photography. So what happens after a while is that you get really sick and tired of being expected to always be the photographer at every single party, get together, family function, and community/school event that you attend. You show up to a birthday party that you were invited to and hope to enjoy yourself and the second you get out of the car people start saying "Did you bring your camera? I was hoping you'd get some pictures!?" It suddenly becomes clear that this is the only reason you were invited(or at least, you feel that way at that moment). I set myself up for this. My pictures have never been just amazing or the best anyone has ever seen, but I do typically take a high volume of pictures at events that I attend and I enjoy working on them and sharing them. It's good advertisement :-) After a while, I guess people just kind of assumed that this was who I am. I am the girl taking the pictures. But you know what I am learning? I am learning that most of the time, most people completely and totally understand when I just want to be another guest at a birthday party, or a small part of the crowd at a play, or one of the countless moms standing on the street waving as her daughter rides by on a float in a Christmas parade. And tonight, I was just that. Just another proud mom.

Cate was an angel on the United Methodist Church float in the Cave Spring Christmas parade tonight. No, we are not Methodist, we are still very Catholic, I assure you ;-) Our good friends, the Burton's, however are Methodist and they invited Cate to come help work on the float today and to later ride with them. She was thrilled! I shot a wedding all afternoon and was dead tired when I got home at 4:45pm but mommy duty called. I took my camera along but as you probably guessed by my senseless ramblings above, I didn't get many pictures. Here is what we did get though :-)

(I did NOT get a picture of the float :-( I was actually changing my lenses out when Seth said "Oh look there goes Cate!" they were gone by the time I got myself situated :-( But you know what...I'm forgiving myself for even that!)

Cell phone picture of Cate from our friend Gola...thanks girl!

The Boss & Simon

Boys waiting for Santa

Santa came over and patted them on the head :-)

A picture of the boss that I am rather proud of. This is a great representation of Seth...wearing 5 different shades of puke-green, not caring that he is wearing 5 different shades of puke-green, and looking very sexy while doing it. Love that man!

Cate and friend Carolyn after the parade

That's all.

Our life right now

2010-12-11T06:56:00.000-08:00

I remember a time, some where in my distant far far away past life of not having small kids, when things were so simple. If you had somewhere to go, you just went and you didn't really think much about it. Yeah, not so much anymore. I get really annoyed with older moms who keep telling me that I need to enjoy this time and that kids grow up so fast. Bull. It's dragging by and I am sorry, I just very much look forward to having children who can dress themselves(properly), comb their own hair(properly), go to the bathroom without assistance(quickly), fix their own plates in a receiving line(without spilling anything) and most importantly can sit through a simple hour long piano recital without crying or acting like a monkey on crack.

Last night, my amazingly talented 10 year old niece Bonnie had her first piano recital.Naturally, the whole family was there. I knew that it would happen but I chose to remain cautiously optimistic...but just as I figured, the second we walked in the boys both started whining and squirming and crying. My mother-in-law kindly pointed us into the direction of the "cry room". There in the dark, Seth and I sat with our wild and crazy boys

alone while the rest of the family sat together enjoying the show. Thankfully, my awesome hubs excused me so that I could go out and take a few pictures of Bonnie's performance and actually hear her play :-) She's only been playing for a few months but she did so well. She played beautifully They all did well, and they all did way more than I could have done so it was pretty cool to watch. I could never have gotten up in front of all those people at such a young age and performed. Amazing bunch of kids.

Now, I can pretty much nail down exactly how an evening like this one will always go. Here is the run down: Stress stress stress at home trying to get everyone ready, leaving at least 10 minutes later than we'd planned to, Liam takes his shoes and socks off so we have to find them and put them back on when we DO finally arrive at our destination. Kids won't sit still, Either Seth or myself or both us end up sitting out somewhere with them, when it's time for food we don't even bother making kids plates anymore. We just fix 2 huge plates full of food and we all share. 5 plates with only 2 sets of hands just doesn't work. We never get a seat. I don't know why...wherever we are, if there is a reception or something, we always end up standing in the corner with our kids trying to eat and drink without making a mess. And no, no one ever notices or offers to get up after they are finished eating so we can sit down. We leave early. And when we leave, we always leave something behind that we have to go back for(last night it was our car keys! LoL Yeah, we didn't get far without those).

It won't be this way forever, and I know it will only get easier with each passing year. As crazy as it sounds, I would rather deal with the aforementioned mess than to sit at home and miss out entirely on things that are important to me and my family.

It was worth it all to see this :-)

All the kiddo's...

The whole gang--minus Lisa :-(

Here is to hoping that you holiday season is merry and bright and a hell of a lot less stressful than ours is going to be!

Spoiling -- in a good way!

2010-12-09T08:03:00.000-08:00

This past weekend, the boss went out of town to visit our Tennessee friends. I stayed home with the kids and planned somewhat of a fun/lazy day for us all. By 4:00, I was pretty worn down from all the "spoiling". The kids were beginning to really dance on the few nerves that I had left when my in-laws called. Knowing that I was at home with the kids with no boss, they generously offered to take Cate and Simon home with them to spend the night and to go to church with them the next morning. After Cate and Sim left with Grandma and Grandpa, Liam and I sat by the fire and played cars. It was refreshing to be able to pour all of my attention and energy into just one child. I think this is the part of having kids so close together that I dislike the most. They are all still at an age where they really need one on one attention regularly and I am not able to give them that as much as I would like. Most weekdays, while Cate is at school and Liam is napping, I get to dote on Simon. Some nights, the boys go to bed promptly at 8:00pm and I let Cate stay up an hour later so that she and I can spend some time together. It's very rare that I get that opportunity with Liam so Saturday night was very special for him and also for me.

I call these moments "spoiling" but it's not like that at all. They don't get everything that they want, but they do get my undivided attention and we both come away from it with a new found love and respect for each other. Lately, I have been getting little pangs of baby fever. It never lasts long, maybe a day or two and I am back to knowing that for right now, our family is just perfect. The strange thing is that, usually, my baby fever is broken by a rough day with the kids. They drive me batty and I find myself yelling and grumbling and not having enough time to pee by myself. I'll think "Yeah, bringing a new baby into this would be very unfair to everyone!" This time however, my fever was broken by a good evening with a little fellow who I have been trying to make bigger and more mature. I don't even realize that I do this most of the time. Sitting by the fire and rocking my sweet little baby to sleep that night, I was nearly brought to tears by how precious and sweet he is...and also by how much of a baby he still is. My mother-in-law calls him "delayed" because he doesn't really act like a 2 1/2 year old. I don't really mind if he more of a baby than he ought to be. I'm just enjoying him as he is.

I only grew up with one sibling, so I don't even pretend to know what it is like to be one of 3. My brother and I were 4 years apart in age, so I think that we both got our fair share of attention and we never fought over toys(ok, Jacob took my toys but not to play with them, he just wanted to set them on fire or shoot them with a bee-bee gun). My boys, however, share everything. A room, clothes, toys, movies, and me. So you can only imagine how much this picture below means to me to see little Liam perched in the middle of the couch, with his very own bowl of popcorn, watching a movie that HE picked out, and surrounded by his brothers favorite toys that he normally has to fight for. He was in heaven.

Stuff

2010-12-07T18:12:00.000-08:00

I have so much that I could talk to you about right this moment while I am blarring Bach's Ave Maria in my ears through ear buds drowning out the sound of Charlie Brown from the TV. Actually, I think the kids are asleep so I could technically change this, but I am kind of liking it...so lets go with it...huh? Yeah, lets just go with it...

Umm, yeah there is really not much to go with. Basically all I wanted to say was that I am planning to blog properly(Oh listen Bach went off and the Pogues "fairy tale in new york" came on! Awesome! That's one of the boss and mine's songs! Happy me!) what? Umm, Oh yeah... Blogging properly. I'm gonna do that tomorrow. I had planned to do that tomorrow and since tomorrow is going to be my "off day" from work for the week, I think blogging should fit right in there. I have a LOT to gab about. Babies and pictures and trees and food and music and fun and love and stuff like that...you know the stuff that makes me life work.

Hey yeah so here's a picture of our sweet little homely tree! I love it!

And Oh good grief, you didn't think I would make a Pogues reference without posting a video or audio clip did you? Give me some credit...geez. Shane and Kirsty(god rest her soul)

The Christmas Can-Can

2010-12-04T17:13:00.000-08:00

Today I introduced my kids to Straight No Chaser. Just googlethem if you need any help with figuring out who they are. I have enjoyed them for a while thanks to my Shorter College music major sister-in-law Constance! I thought Cate would enjoy this video but I had no idea how infatuated she and both the boys would become with it! They love it! I thought some of you who might not have seen the Christmas Can-Can before would enjoy this so I am sharing!

Cate's favorite part is when they scream "Fa-lal-la-la-la-la" in the Jewish fella's ears. I can't lie. I think that's pretty funny. They are/were awesome.

I hope everyone in enjoying this blessed Advent season!

**edited to add.I have several Jewish friends and yes, I think they would get a kick out of it. Back me up Allie!**