The Whole Thing...

Folder 1...

Folder 2...

Folder 3...

Yay, I've won the drawing over at Everything Except the Grill.

I'd like to thank God for giving me the ability to point my camera, Zoe for being mean to her sister, Clara for reacting to Zoe's meanness so perfectly, Christina for birthing those two lovely girls and allowing me to photograph their finer moments, my husband for buying me the pricey camera and, of course, the academy. =o)

This blog sure is lucky for me. This is the third thing I've won since I've started it. Woot!!

It's time for another photo challenge over at Chasing Picture Perfection.


Our assignment this time is to take a stop action photo. I was excited about this assignment because I've been working on that skill all summer long. Between my daughter's soccer games and my friend's field hockey I'm slowly, but surely, getting better at this.


I like shooting action shots, particularly kids sports, because when you look back at the pictures you can see all the funny expressions the players make. That's hours of good, cheap entertainment. After my daughter's first soccer game we spent over an hour going through the 600+ pictures I took and made up a story based on the kids facial expressions. We laughed until our sides hurt.


Here are my two favorite shots of the summer. The second shot is a bonus because my daughter really wanted me to use a shot of her this time. Apparently she keeps track of this stuff. LOL So you get a 2-4-1 this time.



Those are some hard-working girls on that field hockey field.




I like this soccer picture because the kids remind me of a dog chasing it's tail. They just keep running after that ball. LOL My daughter's the one with the ribbons in her hair. She likes to be sporty and girly.

This week we experienced life school at it's best...Daddy's home!!!!!!


I would like to say that we got these great pictures of his homecoming but we didn't cuz of his command's inability to communicate properly. But the important thing is that daddy's home.



I did take some pictures at IHOP where daddy ate his first sand-free meal. Here are my favorites.

Some nice gentlemen noticed that Kevin had just stepped off a plane from somewhere sandy (you don't wear desert cami's here this time of year) and paid for our meals. How nice is that?

Be sure to check out what other's are doing over at Carisa's and Kris'.

Probably a picture of him eating the giant steak he plans to have later would have made for a more interesting shot. But I don't have time for that today cuz, Hooray, my honey's finally home!

Yep, that was pretty much our week last week. LOL Sadly, for my toddler, the water has gone down today and the ducks no longer allow her to be entertained at our window. LOL

Kayleigh is currently 21 months

We also tried a new activity with magnets. I found these really neat magnet sheets. Basically they are just pictures with "holes" in them. You put a round magnet in the "holes". They suggested buying the magnets on Amazon but I found them at the Dollar Tree for cheap, cheap, cheap. There are sheets for just about any theme you can think of so I printed out some with a Thanksgiving theme.

She really liked this activity. She even attempted to put the magnets in the "right" spots for a while. Score!!! She did this activity for several days. Eventually it would up being another thing for her to throw (that's one our main issues right now) so I put it away for another time.

She likes sitting at the table with Mackenzie's Bible. That never lasts long as she is very rough with it and we have to take it away. Naturally she has zero interest in her many Bibles.

Here she is "working" in her big girl notebook. She likes to "sit wok" a lot.

Reading with sissy is something Mackenzie would LOVE to do more of but Kayleigh rarely allows it.

She does like it when Mackenzie sings her favorite song with her.

2 Little Monkeys swining from the tree


Teasing Mr. Alligator...

Along comes Mr. Alligator quiet as can be...

And he snaps that monkey right out of that three!!!! (Insert lots of laughter here)

But for the most part she's been doing this...

Which is apparently exhausting...


Be sure to check out what the other tots are up to over at Carisa's.

This was no surprise. There's been problems with the drains in our neighborhood since we moved in. A little rain and the streets flood, a big storm and the ducks are thrilled. The problem is easily fixed if they come out and pump them, but they rarely do. Regardless of how many phone calls they get. So needless to say, 2 days later, the "moat" around my "palace" remains. Thus I'm pretty certain my slab will get soaked and the water will seep through the floor and I'll be replacing the entire thing again. Sigh...

Tot School this week was made up entirely of life school. I did not plan a single Tot School activity this week. We had 2 field trips this week, plus Halloween so I called that "good."




Our first trip of the week was to Brookdale Farm. Kayleigh had fun on a hayride, looking at animals, and running through a field of orange "balls." I mean pumpkins. Or as Kayleigh calls them, "punkees".



Kayleigh saw a bug on the greenhouse floor and wasn't happy with it. LOL

Sitting with sissy like a big girl.

Later that week, we went to The Virginia Living Museum. Sissy was studying wolves and making a lapbook. Kayleigh tagged along and had a couple of wolfie things to do of her own.

She was very interested in coloring her wolf "book". I'm sure it had a lot to do with the fact that Mackenzie and her friends were working on their own lapbooks but I found it encouraging. One day we might be able to make a Tot Book. We just need to convince Kayleigh to at least try activities mommy's way. Yeah, right! LOL







We also took another peek at the megalodon exhibit. Oddly enough Kayleigh doesn't find sharks "ska-ee". Just dead corn. LOL

Her favorite thing to so was play "find the turtle" in the pond tank. He's a quick little turtle.

Be sure to check out what the other tots are doing at Carissa's and Susan's.