Kids doing Chores...could it really be?

Hello Everyone!!

I hope everyone had a great weekend. Mine was a bit slow and boring but by the end it ended on a good note..(even though my kids were almost an hour late to bed!!)

The weather was nice this weekend and the kids did alot of playing outside. I also made my 2 week menu for the next two weeks. I am hoping that helps me to cook more regularly. I dont mind cooking per say, I hate the what am I going to make TODAY, that drives me crazy. Nick being on nights doesnt help much either.

So, this last week I gave the kids chores they are responsible for. Its been an intersting week, but for the most part they are doing well. I did learn that money doesn't motivate my kids much. I think food or priviledges may work better, haven't decided on that yet, lol. So, I thought it would be a good idea to DOCUMENT my kids doing their chores. You never know when you might need that kind of thing for evidence, LOL.



As you can see on the left, Cameron has vacuming and he practically BEGGED for this chore. Which is fine with me, cause this house needs to be vacumed ATLEAST once a day. He loves it and asks 500 times when can he vacume. Not sure what Sydney is so puzzled about, lol.


Cameron is also in charge of trash, dishes and the every popular job, dog poop (once a week). (Its ok I had that job when I was his age and I turn out, well close to normal, lol)


Sydney has dusting as one of her chores and she has also been looking forward to it. I forgot to get the little dusters that go on the sticks but she was content with a swifter sheet, for now. She was a bit upset that she couldn't reach the TV. But she found plenty other things to dust.

She also has making sure the dogs have water, and helping Ben collect dirty clothes and shares the duty of Bathroom Detail (just making sure its picked up) with Natalie.


Natalie is the table cleaner. She is quite good at it but she likes to over do it with the spray, lol. So, she gets to use the cleaning wipes or mom sprays the table and she wipes it down.


Mind you this is the child that REFUSES to clean up toys or her room. She hides or all of a sudden falls ill with a belly ache or other ailment of the like. I am loving the hand holding her hair off her face while wiping with the other. I mean, I would be happy to put her hair up and off her face but that is something else she refuses to let me do unless its school cause she knows there is no way out of that. She also is responsible for making sure the dogs of food. Also as i mention before she has bathroom detail. She has one less since Sydney's dusting is not an everyday thing but the table and dog food is.

And you may ask where is Ben when all this cleaning is going on. Well he is assigned one chore, he has to make sure all dirty clothes are in the laundry room. Though everyone is suppose to make sure its taken there, there are times of running late or being forgotten that he is suppose to pick up. Sydney is his mentor on this task since he is still young and learning this whole chore thing.

Well, here is .......

Asking for apple sauce, no no, BEGGING for apple sause though he just had a Corn Dog with ketchup. You can see the evidence on his face.

So, yeah, Ben is still work in progress,lol.

I hope everyone has a good start this week. I have a bit of excitings news on the photography front but that will have to wait till tomorrow, I am falling asleep at I type this.

Hasta Manana!

Young Marine Recruit Cooper

Just thought I would post a picture of Cameron last week in his "Recruit gear". He doesnt get to wear cami's till he graduates in April. But he is well on his way!! I am so proud of him.

Time....what is time...I never have any!!!

I have been a bit of "Crazy Busy", lol. Startin the internship with the Naval Hospital, Bio-Med Dept. has been such an awesome expierience so far. At the same time, it has be busy and I think I am finally adjusting. I have learned so much in just two weeks. I got to shoot my first function it was for some navy guys getting ready to pcs (permenent change of station). It was the first duty station for both. We scoped out places for a group picture and even got pictures of the dogwoods that are in full bloom.

Then Friday, was gorgeous outside. It was partly cloudy but the sky was blue and the clouds look like marshmellow, lol. I got to learn more about adjusting my settings and how to deal with the different places the sun is during the day. The Photographer, walk me thru a retirement, shwing me where everyone stood and the flow of things. Also shared with me where he usually stood and stuff like that. He is so awesome at explaining stuff, but he is deploying and his last day is Friday. Then I have a week off and his counterpart come back from taking a class, I have heard he is a hoot, I feel like I already know him cause I have heard so much about him. I am confident I will learn alot from him too, I have seen some of his photography and its so good.

Anyway, Friday right before we went back in I got some pictures of the flags infront of the hospital. I love how the first one turn out. The angle and perspective was exactly what I was hoping to capture and love that you can see movement in the picture without and bluring. I was pretty proud. Nothing that is award winning, but I feel like I am learning and getting where i want to be a step at a time.

On the family front, Cameron is loving the Yound Marines. This weekend was his first overnight function and he seem to really enjoy it. He is studying his material non-stop, and practicing his drill movements. I Love the pride he feels, and the excitement of it all. He is doing awesome.

The girls had a field trip to the park to fly kites friday but it got reschedule for this friday. Its going to be lots of fun for them.

Ben is just being him. He is enjoying having Dad home during the day and has been a good sport.

Nick is adjusting to Night crew, which is always hard on him but he is being a good sport about it and being very supportive.

I think that about covers it pretty much, I promis to try to update a little more often then every 10 days or something.

Sorry I have been MIA!!

Howdy everyone!!!

SOrry I have been gone for so long. Nick left last week and its been beyond crazy. Its been a week and a day. It started to hit me today. But I am still doing ok. Was just a bit blah there for a bit.

I am hoping to get some ideas for Christmas gifts. I also set up a little studio in what use to be Ben's room. Cameron had been begging for Ben to room with him since he was born. It took a little be of getting use to but they seem to enjoy each other's company.

Well, Nick took the laptop which means I am on the iMac full time and its making me insane. SO ANYONE OUT there, who knows the iMac please HELP ME!! Editing my pictures has been a pain in the you know where. I have Adobe Lightroom and PSE 3 I believe. And I got Adobe CS3 and I have tried the best to learn and experiment but its not working too well. I do have a book for PSE 3 so going to try that. I have heard that the iMac are awesome for graphics and photography. So if anyone can at least point me in the right direction.

Also, I have pictures uploaded from when Nick was on leave(vacation), we went on a few family outings. There are also pictures of Nick leaving and Halloween. Feel free to take a look and leave some feedback, love, suggestions or critiques.
Pictures

Busy, Busy, Busy.........and the countdown is starting =(

What do you get when siblings get together and mom says, time for no TV. They put their heads together, and turn a play kitchen into a play BOAT!! LOL!!! They loved playing pretend boat, they played this game for days to come. Sydney sitting the middle what the "driver", I have no idea what the rest of the kiddos were, LOL.

Well, we have been busy bees here. Cameron is doing soccer and he is getting to play goalie and getting quite good. Sydney is still dancing and LOVING every min. of it. We had observation day last week and she is doing so well. She had no hesitation performing in from of all the parents. She has come a long way from dance camp last summer. I am so VERY VERY proud.

Natalie being goofy as always, and Sydney is trying her very best to potty train her and Natalie is not having it, LOL. Natalie is a tad of hard headed to say the least. She is quite the entertainer along with Ben. There never is a dull moment here.

Ben is Mr. Talker. He is talking so much. Loves to repeat and mimic. He is already helping out in the house responsibility. He LOVES to let the dogs in and out. He also can go get a diaper when asked and throws away his dirty diaper. Yes, ladies and Gentlemen, my almost 2 year old is chipping in. He just wants to be a big kid just like his siblings. He still gets in trouble, digging in mom's scrapping space. Along with terrorizing the dogs, but they still worry and keep an eye on him.

Along with all these happy moments and growing, we have hit the time when we start counting down to Nick departure to land of sun and sand. He is now on leave, and we are trying our best to make the best of our time together. Today we sat and have a tentative plan for his time off. He will be off for about 3 weeks. Then he will deploy shortly after that. Along with that have I have projects to finish for him. Included in them are a pillow case with our pictures on it and a small scrapbook of family pics. I also want to take pics of the him with the kiddos, so the kids have recent pictures with daddy!!! A year is a long time, but we believe in the mission he is going to be part of and we are preparing the best we can. The rest, we have faith that God will watch over us and guide us and help us get through it.

Will try to update soon. Hoping to set up my studio in my spare room, now that Ben is rooming with his older brother and both are quite content with the arrangement. Anyone wanting to be practice models for this dream, determine pro-photographer wanna-be, would be great. Send me a message and I will be sure to get back to you as soon as possible. And just in case, I am in the market for a good deal on a Nikon D40. I am open to D40x or ect. I definitely want a Nikon though. Along with any good site or insight. Love you all and Hasta Pasta for now!!

P.S- Sorry the picture above was not edited because the hubby is taking my laptop and he wiped it clean and restore it, so my editing software isnt loaded. And I am too lazy to go mess with PSE 4 on the MAC. =)

First Day School

Happy Monday!!!

Today was The First Day of School for Cameron. First day of First grade. He was so excited. He feels like such a Big Kid. He also now gets to walk to the bus stop. Last year I drove him, but he really wanted to ride the bus. We walked together and got there just in time. He walked home too. We are also instituted a routine for school days, I made him a clipboard with a check list, so he can look at it to know what he needs to do next. I will post a picture of it in another post. Anyway, it was a successful First Day of School. And well, no activity or post is really complete without a picture, LOL. So here Camerons first day of school. I photoshop one with the black and white picture and leaving Cameron in color. Been wanting to do that for a while and I finally did it. LOVE IT, LOVE IT.

yummy yummy and gearing up for the ABC's

Hello my Peeps,

Dont ask me where I got that from, cause I really dont know. Anyway, I have been really bad about blogging this week. Been a busy and somewhat stressful week. Anyway, we went out to Cici's Pizza for dinner this last week as a family, along with a trip to Target for school supplies. Well, I have never seen a 19 month eat this much. LOL. 1 BIG SLICE PIZZA and 3 cheese bread. He truly enjoy his pizza.

And Cameron wanted a messenger bag pack. He found it at Target and he was so very excited!!!

He is pretty much set for school. Well, I am exhausted....hopefully I will blog tomorrow with more interesting stories to tell, LOL.

Photo, I hope to be able to capture more like this on a regular basis

Picture of Cameron and Sydney. I loved how this picture, I hadn't posted it because I took this before I started this blog. But my fabulous friend Allie saw this and told me I should post it on my blog. So, Here it is. Hope you guys like it as much as Allie and I like it.

What to do on a HOT DAY!!!

It has been VERY VERY hot in our Neck of the woods. My kids have been a bit on the bored and rebuncious side. So, everyday, I try t change things up. I also have consituted NO electical entertainment time, well except listening to the music on my laptop. So, I guess interactive entertainment.

Anyway, I thought yesterday was a good day to make a club house. So, Cameron built it and they had tons of fun.

Today, have a crazy morning, its been a surpisely calm day. I got some more organizing done in my area, foam stamps are stored. Ok, well Ben is yelling for me, so I am off.

I am a Big Boy now!!!

Happy Hump day!!! Trying to stick to my picture a day!!!! Well Ben was more then willing to help his momma out, LOL!!! He felt the need to eat at the table like his brother and sisters. He thinks he is such the big boy.

And I must say he thinks that spagetti is mighty tasty, even if its just noodles and no sauce.

I am going to go see if I can track down some velcro and see if I can get my foam stamps organized.

Hope everyone has a great night!!!!

Hasta Pasta!!!LOL

As you can see I have been trying to take more pictures, just been bad about posting, LOL. Hey just remember I am a work in progress. These were taken last week. LOVE THEM!!! They really show their personalities. Hope you enjoy them, and I would love comments and critiques. =)