Family photos

So John Paul, my brother, took some "formal" family photos of us back in Dec 2009. I talked to him the other day asking when we could have them back. He told me he would get on that right away and I had by the next day. I think they came out really good. He is not a fan of the formal staged pictures. He likes to do natural, action-type shots. It definitely makes it easier on him and on the boys who would not like having to sit still for an extended period of time. Enjoy!

Leprechaun Hunt

This is from the last part of the hunt right as the boys opened the gate. Hunter realized its just Grandpa and he is not too happy.

St. Patrick's Day

I am a little late getting the St. Patrick's Day post up. The 2 days leading up to St. Patrick's Day, I had lessons to start getting them in the mood. On Monday we talked about green things and shamrocks and played some matching games with green things. On Tuesday, I told them about Ireland. I showed them pictures of Ireland and played Irish music for them.

Now it was Wednesday. We had a fun day. I had lots of things planned for the boys. First up was breakfast. I made them green blueberry muffins. Hunter really enjoyed them he ate 2. Jaxon didn't really like them too much so I ended up giving to Hunter for a total of 3. He kept telling me they were delicious.


After breakfast I dressed them in green and then decorated their door. Jaxon enjoyed touching the little pictures of leprechauns, rainbows, and pots of gold and telling me what they were. Hunter kept telling me the door was pretty.


Next up came lunch. I made them green macaroni and cheese. I used too much food coloring and dyed the macaroni darker than I wanted. Jaxon loved his and scarfed down 2 bowls worth, but it took Hunter some time before he finished just one bowl. After lunch, we had school. I read to them stories about the History of St. Patrick's Day, stories about leprechauns and other mythical stories from Ireland. They played some matching games about St. Patrick's Day too.

When my mom got home I roped her and my dad in to helping out with a "Leprechaun Gold Hunt". My mom would lead the boys around outside looking for the leprechaun while my dad hid by the back gate with a mask I had made him (a leprechaun face on a stick) pretending to be the leprechaun while I took pictures and video. The boys had a blast running around looking for him, especially Hunter. They spotted the "leprechaun" peering over the gate and took off after him. Hunter unfortunately realized that grandpa was not a real leprechaun and started to get mad. We had the boys tag the leprechaun so he could take him to his rainbow and pot of gold (picture of a rainbow taped up with cups that had cookies and candy inside with a picture of a pot of gold taped to the front of it). Hunter was a little sad there weren’t actually gold coins in the cup, but he enjoyed the treasure regardless.

For dinner I didn’t make any real traditional foods. I made steak (boys wanted cereal), au gratin potatoes. For dessert we had devil’s food cake with vanilla butter frosting. It was delicious. Great end to a great day.

latest

These are of tulips. I have actually been working these for about a month off and on. I was able to finish the last 2 up on Mon when mark gave me my break from the boys for some me time. My pictures have come off of Microsoft word. and I just paste them onto a blank page. These were 4 separate pictures that i had chosen and when I had them pasted onto a new page they ended up as placed right next to each other. I thought it made a striking shot. I wish I had a BIG version of the flowers because I would love to frame and put in on my wall when we get our own place again. My next piece I plan to do is of tulips again, but they are 2 separate pictures but I am going to place them next to each other like above. I chose the next ones to put together because they are the same type and close in the colors of the flowers just a slight difference between the 2.

When will I finish them, beats me. After I finish editing and putting stories together this weekend for the St. Patrick's Day lesson, plus all my other Mommy duties, I need to start wokring on next months lesson plans and working on the Easter lesson since Easter is a lot earlier this year than I expected. April 4. That will actually be a 2 part lesson because I will have Mark do one part, the meaning of Easter from the Christian religion view (the way he grew up) and then I will do from how I was raised (Easter bunny, colorful, etc. i.e. non-Christian view). I didn't grow up in a religious household and have no religion myself. I call my self Agnostic, and I am open to learning and finding out if there is a religion that I can believe in as much as I believe in my other convictions. I have taken lessons with the Mormon missionaries, since Mark grew up Mormon, and it was a good way to learn and understand aspects of his family. I have also taken a World Relgions course in college but it was just brief overviews of all the different religions in our world, nothing too deep.

Its been awhile....

So it has been awhile since my last post.

Things are pretty much status quo around here. School for the boys, mommy duties for me and work for Mark. We did go to a passion party for couples at a friend of Mark's house. It was a lot of fun with the exception of Mark getting really drunk and getting sick, but other than that a great evening. My friend A and I have had dinner a few times and she also came over to have a mini Twilight movie marathon. We also did our nails. It was a lot of fun. We don't friends to visit since we moved into my parents house, but for A since she is currently living in her mom's house she didn't feel weird by it. Even Mark was watching the movies with us and "getting high" off nail polish fumes. Tomorrow A and I are going to go see Remember Me. We both wanted to see it but didn't think the significant others would want to so A decided it might be a good girls night activity. I don't know if we are going to go eat or not, if we don't I'll probably stop by at TGI Fridays to visit with some friends of mine and Mark's who are soon moving to San Francisco for 6 months and this is the last time they will be able to go out. But there is no moving date yet.

I finished another picture and will post pics soon. Mark has been really encouraging lately which is surprising but not at the same time. I think he feels bad that I have gone for a long time without anything for myself. If we buy anything its for the boys, or I am here without a break or a car to take a break while he is working long hours. I haven't had any new clothes in what seems like forever. I haven't had any of my snacks because we didn't have the money for snacks. I haven't been out by myself in a long time. He tries to do little things like when he stops at the store to get milk (we go through 4 gallons in just over a week, the boys love milk!!) he sometimes buys me a candy bar. He had a craving for root beer floats the other night and asked if I wanted anything, so I asked for chips (not thinking he would actually say yes) and he said ok. He ended up forgetting them because he ran into someone he knew (but doesn't like to talk to anymore) who talked his ear off so he just tried to hurry up and get out of there. He was sad that he forgot them. So I was able to go the next day while the boys were asleep (borrowed my dads truck) and go get them. We went to Target over the weekend and I was just glancing over at the women's clothes on our way to go get diapers when he tells me to just go pick out some things. I couldn't believe it. I was able to get a new pair of jeans, a button down white shirt, black t-shirt, 4 long and lean tanks (my fav!, so great for layering and I found one in a light purple that I have been looking for forever), and a white and grey striped sweater (so soft!) which Mark said was his favorite on me. Then on Monday I had a bad day with the boys, actually the past few weeks have been hard with them. Lots of temper tantrums, refusals, fighting, ignoring me, just trouble! So after I had made dinner for us, I started to tell Mark about my day and I mention Jaxon needed a bath, but because of the day I had with him I really didn't want to do until the next day. Mark told me he would do it, then he proceeded to clean the dinner dishes and pick up the kitchen. He told me before he went upstairs to the boys to relax and enjoy my book (I am currently rereading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets). Well I just couldn't believe it again! It isn't as if Mark hasn't done these things for me before he has, but this time it just was different. I was able to read in peace and I was able to work on folding the laundry that had been sitting there for 2 weeks and the fresh laundry that I had done that day (still haven't finished folding the boys laundry). I love my husband.

The past 2 days have been rough with the boys but today so far isn't too bad, no trouble from them so far. I have been working on a St. Patrick's Day lesson for them. Putting together books for them with stories about leprechauns and the history of St. Patrick's Day (still have some to do). I am planning on them doing a leprechaun gold hunt and having them eat green food (green blueberry muffins, green spaghetti, etc.) the 2 days before the 17th I have divided up into a green day where we talk about what is green and maybe talk about shamrocks and then the 2nd day will be about Ireland. I will show them pictures of Ireland, play music from Ireland and tell that they are part Irish. Then on the 17th besides the stories and green food and gold hunt, they will wear green, and their door will be decorated with St. Patrick's Day stuff and I will teach them about leprechauns and other lore, then I was thinking about having them watch a movie with leprechauns in it. But I haven't found any with the exception of the beginning of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Hunter knows who Harry Potter is and asks me sometimes if he can watch the movies so I think I might do that.

Mark got the new Final Fantasy game. Number 13! So far I like it, the graphics are amazing! I love the music. I liked video games before I met Mark, like Super Mario, but I could take them or leave them. I was exposed to Final Fantasy X in the dorms in college where all the guys were playing it, but I only saw bits and pieces and never really understood. When I met Mark he had just bought Final Fantasy X-2 and so I got to watch it from the beginning and I got hooked. I loved watching him play it and other games. I started to play some of the Legend of Zelda games, then Mark bought me Kingdom Hearts (Disney, Final Fantasy in 1) and I really liked it. But I am the type where when I get frustrated and I can't get past a certain point after hundreds of tries I give up on the game for awhile and move onto another one. So I have several games that I am playing at once, but haven't beaten, plus I like to take my time and play the game to 100% not just zip through it, like exploring all paths and getting all items. So that can wear on a person and get you bored with a game, but I don't feel that I have really played a game and have some satisfaction with it until I do 100%. Anyways Mark has been playing it for only about 3hrs so far, and I am looking forward to what the game has in store for us. Next up for him on games in God of War 3 which I am excited about too. I love the graphics, music and the mythology involved in the game. That game comes out next week I believe.

So as you can see nothing much has happened, yet for a few blips here and there. Lets see what the next weeks have in store for us. For one, I need to get on the planning of the boys birthday party which will probably be end of April beginning of May. That will be a party with our friends and family, but I don't want it to be big (good luck with that considering Mark's family is huge). It will probably be Transformers or something, need to check with the boys and see what they want. The non their actual birthdays, it will be just us and my parents doing dinner and desserts and presents from me and Mark. I can't believe my babies will be 2 and 4! They have grown up so fast!