Photo A Day July!!

I had so much fun doing Photo A day in June I thought I'd do it again for July:)Anybody else in?????

Photo A Day June 30th Friends

This is our friend Hudson. His Mom and I were pregnant at the same time. Kate and Hudson are 10 days apart. From the moment we both found out we were pregnant Jodi and I talked about what good friends they would be. Wednesday night we went over to the Tuley's house for dinner and a movie. Kate and Hudson climbed into this chair together and I couldn't resist snapping a pic of the 2 4 year olds together. We didn't even tell Kate to put her arm around him and I love Kate's face in the 2nd picture.

Photo A Day June 29th Soft



I was passing by the office in my home right before the sun was setting one evening and this soft orangey red light was reflecting off of the wall.

Tiger Sighting

Every Single week end this Tiger hat makes it way to Kate's head. She loves it and switches between this one and her Cow hat. She's no ordinary girl :)

Photo A Day June 28th

On  OFF the Shelf

There's just not much at our house that is on the shelf, so I flipped today's theme around. Last week end Carson took every toy we own off of the shelves. He was surrounded.

Photo A Day June 27th Bathroom

Today's theme is Bathroom. So why show a picture of my bathroom when I can show a picture of my dream bathroom? Look at that view. I don't think I would ever get out of that tub:)

Photo A Day June 26th- Where I Shop

Not a surprise at all. This is my mecca for my creative outlet.

Photo A Day June 25th - Something Cute

I think it's safe to say I have no shortage of cute people in my life. And I betcha thought I was going to pull out a picture of my kids for today's theme but I thought I would do something different and show you a picture of this beauty.

This is my niece Marin with her new summer do. She will actually wear a barrette in her hair unlike cousin Kate. I don't use the following word ever but it kept popping in my head when ever I look at Marin's haircut. Are you ready? ok here goes....CA.....UTE!!!!!! There I did it. Marin makes me ask what every other sister in world asks "How can someone be so stinkin' cute and be the spitting image of my brother?" Just sayin'. Love this girl!

Photo A Day June 24th- On My Mind

Today's theme is On My Mind. The truth is, this sweet lady, my Mom has been on my mind a lot lately. She's having knee replacement surgery on July 9th and I can't be there with her. I have tried every way  that I know how to work it out but I just can't make it happen and I'm sad about that.

Downy Touch of Comfort Cars Quilt Finished!

I finally finished the Cars quilt for Quilts for Kids! I love this quilt. It really was so much fun to make. I just think that if we ever had to be in the hospital for any reason and they pulled out this quilt that it would make both of my kids smile. I kept thinking about the little one who would receive this quilt.

Can you see why Carson loved it???

A close up:)

I loved the backing, little mickey mouse symbols.

They include a tag to sew onto the quilt so that the person who receives it can post a comment when they receive it. I also registered the quilt on the Downy Web Site so that I can post my own wishes for the little one who receives it. :)

Photos A Day:) June 23rd Movement

Ok When you have a 3 and 4 year old this one is a breeze. Definitely couldn't pick just one and so I give you MOVEMENT......



Photo A Day June 22nd High Angle

So this is the highest angle in my life. I work on the 3rd floor of a 3 story building and this is the view from the break room. My car is out there somewhere!

Photo A Day June 21st

Rumpled sheets, unmade bed, crumpled pillows. This is where I sleep.

Photo A Day June 20th Favorite Photos I've Ever Taken

Today's theme was the most favorite photo I've ever taken. Being that I've taken about 5 gazillion photos in my lifetime I should have had a hard time with this theme. But I didn't at all. My mind went directly to 2 photos. Come on! I think when you have 2 kids you should be allowed 2 favorite photos!

This one of Kate was taken right before she turned 2. It was the first time I really captured her natural smile on camera. I love this picture because she looks all lit up from the inside. My Mom loves this picture. It is hands down her favorite picture of Kate.

 This photo just captures Carson for me at 18 months. He's wearing the onesie I dyed brown. I can still see those sandled feet and those skinny chubby legs sticking out of that onesie. I love his long hair..... and that smile? I change out my pictures at work quite frequently but this one survives every change.

Photo A Day June 19th

Today's theme is Imperfect. This would definitely describe the state of  our back yard right now. But I kind of like it because you can tell kids live here and you can tell that kids have a ball here. :)

Photo A Day June 18th

Today's theme is Something You Don't Know About Me. Something people don't know about me is that I completely refinished the stairs in my house. I ripped out all of the carpet, took every single last staple out, sanded the stairs with a power sander, painted and sealed them all by myself. It was a labor of love and I love how it turned out. I started last August and just put the finishing touches on yesterday. It was quite the journey.

Photo A Day June 17th

A pull up, a matchbox car, gum, and juicy tubes lip gloss.

Overheard This Week end

I enjoy a blog post with tons of pictures just as much as the next girl, but sometimes there are things worth noting.

**Carson is potty training...still. He is at the exact point that I never wanted him to be, half way there and depending on the day 3/4 of the way there. Splitting his time between school, home and time with Daddy has left our approach haphazard at best. Where as Kate benefitted from a 3 day crash course where she sealed the deal by the third day, Carson's "training" has been a bunch of starts and stops. I fear he might be the oldest kid ever not potty trained at the rate we are going. His teacher reminding me that he is "by far the oldest kid in this class" did nothing for my Mommy self esteem and sent me into a fit of crying on Friday morning. The prerequisite for moving up to the next class is the ability to just go and Carson is far from that. Smart kid the teacher says and he absolutely deserves and needs to move up but his bathroom skills are holding him back. I'm quite confident that this will be the last time in his life where his bathroom skills hold him back from higher academia. I have to be light hearted about it at some point, because he and I are both feeling the pressure and as any Mom will tell you that will get you no where is the PT business. The kid can pee on command when I need him to, it's the other business that is our biggest hurdle. I tried a reward. We called it "pooping for Pirates" because his reward was a pirate ship. I thought I had it made when he came up to me at 7:30 last Tuesday morning and TOLD me that he needed to go poop. As any Mom will tell you this is the holy grail of potty training when they TELL you they need to go. I proceeded to brush my teeth nearby  to supervise where by he actually said to me "Mommy, I need to be alone."Short story is he did it and got the ship and then reverted back to his old ways. The following conversation ensued, "Carso do you need to go potty?" Carso looks up in a matter of fact way, "Nope, I already did!" Then begins the clean up. Alright I will stop there, except to say that I have spent a considerable amount of time in prayer over my son's potty habits which God may or may not consider to be important enough to listen to and either way I completely understand.

****Kate and Carson are on their way to being best of friends, except when they are trying to beat each other up. I constantly tell them "You guys are best friends, you should be loving each other, not fighting." As they were fighting last Tuesday over who would go in the front door first I realized that sibling rivalry was here to stay. What I choose to focus on is the sweet moments that they have and there are plenty of them. For every moment where Kate protests loudly that Carson is looking out HER window in the car!(true story. I told her I wasn't even going to dignify that with a response) there is a moment where she is cheering Carson on from behind a closed bathroom door ("Come on Brutha! You can do it! I bweve in you!") This week end as were were getting ready to hit the Kroger Kate was quite miffed that I would not go up to get her black shoes to wear proclaiming it too dark up there! It being noon and the sun was shining brightly I suspected pure laziness so I told her that she was perfectly capable. She sat on the stairs in a huff. Carson came up and asked me what was wrong. I explained the saga and he very seriously put his hand on my shoulder and said, "I'll go talk to her Mom." I had to stifle laughter as I thanked him for giving it a go. He strode confidently over there, but upon seeing her dark mood decided to try an alternate approach. He set lightening McQueen down in front of  her and said "Maybe I'll let Whiting Queen talk to her." And proceeded to press the car's automated button that exclaimed such encouraging phrases as "See you at the race!" and "Kachow!" Either way it did the trick and she was soon bounding upstairs to get her shoes. I promise they have their own language.

****In a extreme feat of potty training solidarity I caught Kate going to the bathroom standing up this week end. I couldn't stop laughing for awhile about that one.

*** And finally while I was settling into a movie last night after the kids had gone to bed Kate snuck up on me and scared the day lights out of me. I gasped "Oh Kate! You scared Mommy!" She looked right at me and said , "It's ok Mommy...I just Kate.....I not a monster!" And there you have it.

By the way Carson just came up to me and started a talking to me and proceeded to pee on my carpet. Yep a LONG way to go!

Happy Father's Day

Photo A Day June 16th

Out and About for us means a trip to Kroger. The kids usually want to ride in the car carts. They call them "beep beeps" but today they wanted to ride in the double up front basket. This is great for me because I get lots of hugs and kisses and "I love you Mommys" :) They stayed there the entire time which is a miracle. Kate is playing the lemon juice like a trumpet and Carso is tapping out a beat. They continued to yell, "Mommy play your piano!" Which I happily obliged. I think we gave fellow Kroger goers some loud entertainment today.

The Many Emotions of Kate and Carson

It's happened! I finally have my own little model. Which makes this snap happy Mommy super excited. So before she starts ducking her head  and hiding behind couches again  I will take full advantage of it. I asked her to show me her many emotions tonight and she obliged. Granted, she's 4 and i can see her many emotions with in the space of 3 minutes but I don't always have my camera ready when the mood swings are natural. Ha! Carson didn't want to participate per usual but he did want to at the end. That's how it is with my Pseudo twins as my friend calls them you get one to do something  and the other one won't be able to stand it and will want to join in. It's a great trick. If one doesn't want to eat something I say "Oh well, I'll just give it to...." and suddenly the intended one is all over it:)

First off, just wanted to show what Kate's outfit looked like tonight. She picked out her entire outfit after she got home from school and put everything on herself. P.S. the pants are totally backwards. :)

My favorite I think:) She nailed it!

She had just finished saying "I love you Mommy!"

This is the same little boy that upon hearing the AC repair guy's name was Roger asked me, "Is he happy Roger or Mad Roger Mommy?" And then finding out he was happy proceeded to call the guy Happy Roger for the length of his visit (Much to Roger's amusement:)

This is what Carson is famous for right now. When people in stores say, "Awwww that's so cute!" I give them a forlorn look as if to say, "Please please don't encourage him!" Of course I won't tell him until he's much older that it IS pretty darn cute...SOMETIMES.

Photo A Day June 15th

I caught the sun this evening just as it was ducking behind the house.

Photo A Day June 14th- Time

Another Chicago flash back. I will never think about the word time or clock with out thinking of this famous clock from my childhood. Every year  around Christmas my Mom would take us to down town Chicago to meet my Dad at work. We would always go to visit Santa at the Marshall Field's on State Street. This is the clock that is at the corner of the store.  This clock is iconic to me. It always brings back good memories when I see it.

Photo A Day June 13th - Art

One of the great things about growing up in a suburb of Chicago was that our field trips were always cool and usually involved a trip to down town Chicago. We went to the Art Institute of Chicago many times while I was in elementary school  and junior high there. This painting, The Child's Bath always stood out in my memory from our visits there. When I saw todays theme was art I immediately thought about this painting from my child hood.

Photo A Day June 12th

We coaxed this fuzzy little catepillar onto Carson's arm last Saturday. He thought it was pretty cool although I was watching him very carefully since his favorite thing to do lately is squash bugs with his shoes. Just FYI this catepillar was not harmed and was set free back into the grass. :)

Patriotic Rosette Wreath and Photo A Day June 11th

I got the inspiration for this wreath HERE. All of these rosettes are made from red duct tape! Who would have thought?  I had the wreath form wrapped in red white and blue ribbon from about 3 years ago so it was perfect for a 4th of July wreath. This post also doubles as a Photo a Day because today's theme is DOOR. That worked out nicely:)