favorite photo

The "I Heart Faces" photo challenge this week is any favorite photo from the last month. I love so many, but I'd have to pick one of the ones I took of my brand new little niece.  This one had really great lighting, so it is my pick.  I learned so much about photography in the last month, and much of it was about newborn photography.  Space heaters!! 

Hello baby Alice!  Love her :)

Check out other people's favorites here!

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Lots of love, 
Keri

Congratulations Miss Sylvie

Sylvie finished pre-school this week - I will hopefully post videos soon.  Her graduation was sweet.  She had such a great year working on projects and playing with her friends.  At the ceremony, they sang songs and the teachers read lists of each of the student's favorite things, although Sylvie's sounded a little more like a collection of her friend's favorite things than her own :)  Sylvia says she is happy school is finished because now she can stay home with us.  Little does she know, we always spent that time at the grocery store and running other not-so-fun errands.  I think she will realize she misses her friends pretty quickly, and I will get to practice juggling three little ones at the grocery store (which by the way, feels like a huge accomplishment when it goes well - it is a delicate balance to finish the grocery shopping without anyone getting tired, cranky, fussy, hungry, or having a total meltdown). 

I took these cute shots on the deck later that day.  I got the girls to giggle by pretending to sneeze, and when they begged  to hold Jeremy for a picture, I laid them all on the ground. 

Unfortunately, Stella refused to lay on the deck next to Jeremy (she still wanted to hold him), but I got a good pic of the other two.  2 out of 3 isn't bad, but I'm aiming for all three smiles next time.

 

Lots of love, 

Keri

Yellow

The "I Heart Faces" photo challenge this week is yellow, but her favorite color is pink.  Sparkly pink.  Her favorite flower is a dandelion, and she loves posing for pictures when she finds one. 

Her favorite movie is Mamma Mia, and she quotes that movie much like her daddy quotes "Jaws" and "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles."  Last week I heard the phrases "my last night of freedom!" and "nothing works around here, except for me!" more times that I can count. 

She wants boys at her next birthday party AND wants to wear her "wedding dress."  She loves jumping with her little sister and laughing with her little brother; both make for fun pictures. 

She has decided she will be ten when she gets her ears pierced.  Here is her logic...

I WAS going to wait for age 5, but since I'm already 4, and 5 comes after 4, then I better wait for 10.  I will be brave when I'm 10.  or maybe 7...

She is our sunshine, and so that is my yellow picture.  Check out other yellow photos here.

Lots of love, 
Keri

Motherhood

The "I Heart Faces" photo challenge this week is Motherhood.  I don't often take photos of myself, but I immediately thought of a very pretty photo I recently took of my mom with her two newest grandbabies (Jeremy and Alice).  It is a very sweet photo, and I'll post it soon.  But it isn't motherhood.  It is posing on the floor with two cute little babies. 

This, in fact, is motherhood. 

I look at this picture, and I am instantly reminded of a hundred little minutes throughout the day.  Every day.  I love those goofballs.

Lots of love, 
Keri

Happy Mother's Day

Two special Mother's Day cards for two special mothers: 

For Grammy Donna and Grammy Lou:

Mother's Day Mother's Day 5x7 folded card

Personalized Mother's day cards by Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Love You Grandma Mother's Day 5x7 folded card

Design personalized Mother's Day cards with Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Mother's Day signals the end of the year for our annual photo books, so I just need to finish editing those photos and putting the book together.  The good news is the Shutterfly recently made changes to their books with a lot of new custom features.  The bad news is it may take me forever to play around with all of the fun new formats and finish those books!!  Hopefully I can be posting finished books in the next month or so!

Here is a link to the pictures from Stella's 2 year Dora birthday party:

A very Dora birthday

So much fun!!

Lots of love, 
Keri

a day in the life of a 2 year old

7:00:  Stella ran in our room, wide awake first thing in the morning, as she always is.  When we told her "Happy Birthday!", she asked "Where's Chrissy?".  I think Sylvia had told her over and over, that on her birthday there would be a party and Aunt Chrissy would be there. We told her the big party was "tomorrow" and that Aunt Chrissy and everyone else would be there.  She was happy with that answer and happy to watch Little Bear, and Little Bill on TV.

8:00 Stella had a huge decision to make:  raisin bran for breakfast (her FAVORITE) or waffles (her other favorite).  Raisin bran won today, on this special 2nd birthday.

 

9:00 Stella approved the outfit I picked out (yay!) of a green dress and got a surprise:  brand new sparkly shoes that Daddy bought the night before.  Sylvia got some too, and they were both thrilled.

 10:00 Somehow, we were still at various stages of getting dressed and it was time to fix Stella's hair, which was curled into the biggest nest of knots ever.  I sprayed her down with detangle spray and toyed with the idea of a 2nd birthday pixie hair-cut.  No one gets tangles in their hair like Stella.

11:00  After the hours it took us to get dressed, make sure everyone was well fed, had gone potty, and had clean diapers, we finally made it into the car and off to the store in search of cupcakes.

12:00  The girls were so good at the store picking out table cloths and plates and favors.  Stella loved looking at all of the cupcakes and picked out red velvet for her birthday (no problem), she quickly picked out Dora cakes for her "big" party (no problem), and she totally freaked out when she realized the Dora cakes were not coming home with us (big problem).  I walked to the checkout pushing  Jeremy in his stroller, carrying a screaming Stella, and reminding Sylvia every three steps to hold on to the stroller.  yikes.  Oh well, Stella will be thrilled when the Dora cakes we ordered are ready tomorrow.

1:00  LUnch was peanut butter and jelly, which Stella got all over herself and screamed for me to wipe her off every five minutes.  Really, every five minutes.  

2:00 - 3:00 nap time!

4:00 Stella wrapped herself around my leg as I tried to vacuum and fold laundry.

4:10 Stella freaks out because she wants to wear her "stinky", fancy, pink flower shoes.

4:15  Stella freaks out because she wants her  "stinky", fancy, pink flower shoes off.

4:20 Stella freaks out because she wants her "stinky", fancy, pink flower shoes on again.

4:30  I give up.  We all go outside to play and wait for Daddy.

5:30  Daddy is home!  Then Stella hangs out with Daddy while I make dinner.  They talk a lot about Momma Mia.  (a common theme in our house these days - someone is always singing something, and it's often Momma Mia).

6:00 Birthday dinner is chicken, sweet potatoes, and spinach.  Stella eats nothing.  She rarely eats dinner, but has been known to eat 2 bowls of raisin bran for breakfast and ask for more.  It all balances out.

7:00  Birthday bathtime with Daddy.  Bathtime with Daddy always involves lots of giggles and water EVERYWHERE.

8:00  Stella opened a Dora backback, Dora stickers, and a Dora cup, while she and Sylvie sat in their Dora pj's.  She opened her cards, including a special drawing from Syvlie, and then ran around playing while Daddy put together her new wheel barrel.

9:00  Cupcake time.  We explained very carefully to Stella that fire was hot, and she should sit still while we sing to her, then make a wish, and then blow out the candles.  She said she knew what she was wishing for, and just as we got 3/4 through the Happy Birthday song, she quickly blew out her "2" candle on her little cupcake.  So sweet :)

Bed time! 

Stella has taught me more patience than I ever thought possible, and someday, I hope I can teach her some :)  She always knows what she wants, which usually involves whatever Sylvia has or some form of footwear that she either wants on or off RIGHT NOW!   She has recently started using sentences, and there is nothing that warms my heart like hearing her say "OK, Mama", as she so often does.  Stella has been glued to my side since the day she was born, and I cannot believe my baby girl is 2.  I love you so very, very much Stella Jane.

Stella facts:
Favorite shows:  Little Bear, Dora, Yo Gabba Gabba, Backyardigans
Favorite foods:  Waffles, raisin bran, yogurt, chocolate
Favorite color:  She tends to call most colors "blue" and thinks "chocolate" is a color, so probably one of those
Favorite time of day:  mornings, and when she hides her eyes as Daddy walks in the door
Frequent sayings:
"too" = me too
"soon" = see you soon
"back" = I'm back
"do too" = I love you too
"I WANT IT"
"GIVE IT TO ME"
"Where Daddy Go?"
Songs she sings (usually with Sylvia):
Tomorrow from Annie
Mama Mia
the Alphabet song (she's getting good at that!)
anything by Taylor Swift (Sylvia's fault!)
anything by Adele (my fault!)
Favorite activities:  playing outside and playing pretend with Sylvia
Stella is sweet and feisty, loves fancy shoes and tutus, and most of all, LOVES when we understand what she is saying.  She has been frustrated for a LONG time, and her eyes light up when we know what she is saying.  It has been amazing to watch her change and grow every single day, and she will always be my baby girl.

Happy 2nd Birthday Stella!

Lots of love, 
Keri

scenes from the lunch table

These pictures of the girls were from a week or so ago during a morning when they were screaming because the clothes were wrong, or the shoes were tight, or someone wanted to wear slippers and Dora pj's all day - I forget already, but when they walked into the sunshine in Jeremy's room, I grabbed my camera, and the craziness turned into some sweet pictures.

I have two important entries I want to do - a 3 month update for Mr. Jeremy and a 2 yr update for sweetie pie Stella (2 tomorrow!  I can't believe it).  I don't have the brain power for either of those at the moment, so I'm just going to share bits of conversation from lunch yesterday. 
 

and so, here are scenes from our lunch table:

do we not hear the moon talking because it doesn't talk or because we aren't listening carefully?  the moon on Dora has eyes and a mouth and talks.  and Boots made a Dora out of stars. 

one time at school i was trying to listen to Jesus talking to me, but i don't think he was saying anything.  i don't think he said anything to Thomas either.

let's talk about red.  strawberries are pinkish red.  rain is making the red flowers have more petals.  that's because we knocked off a few while we were planting them.

i like rain because you can do projects.  and jump in puddles.  i like sunshine because you can jump rope.  and swim in swimming pools. 

Had to include a sweet liitle photo of Jeremy too!

For those keeping track of WW progress, I'm down 3 more pounds in the last 2 weeks.  I deserve no credit for it though.  I went off track when J was going through a crazy growth spurt, and he must have eaten even more than I did! 

Lots of love, 

Keri