end of summer

Okay - so I've been a bad, bad blogger this summer. Well, this spring and summer if absolute honesty is required.

But there has been a purpose behind the neglect and madness! The house is unpacked, things are organized, two van loads of stuff have been taken to goodwill, and we are ready to GO for this coming school year. I'm chomping at the bit. This year I was able to schedule out and plan our whole year. Somehow this schedule made it only necessary to plan one month at a time, and also GREATLY reduced my planning time to about one or two hours PER MONTH. Crazy. But good crazy!

Yesterday I put together our daily schedule (something that has been needing to be done for a while), chore charts, behaviour charts, a reward system, and also a FlyLady control journal to help me navigate along the way. If you don't know FlyLady yet, you have simply got to go to: FlyLady.net She'll make your housekeeping a breeze!

So we're ready for takeoff!

The kids are going to miss the end of this summer. Or, rather, they're going to regret the beginning of the schoolyear, not so much because they have school, but because the neighbourhood kids won't be here on demand. But that's okay. This school year promises to be a great one.

Our first chapter this year is on communication. I've started them early by having them watch a sign language DVD in the car everywhere we go. We are going to be learning more signs, talk about different methods of communication, different languages, Hellen Keller, Alexander Graham Bell, newspaper print, and eventually visit the Manitoba School for the deaf in Winnipeg. That will be really cool! I love my kids' school. :)

Don't you wish you had a camera in your head? I do. I would have been able to fill up dozens of albums this summer with all the moments I thought my kids were adorable or doing something memorable. It's hard to save a child's days-long exhilaration over his new bike, or the first moments your son teeters on his new training wheels like he's the most important thing in the world. Or when your two-year old goes into the cul-de-sac with pants inside out and unzipped because she peed and then snuck out of the house before you could catch her, and you're too busy cracking up inside the house, and then chasing her down, to get your camera and freeze that moment. Sometimes I wish I could have a camera in my head, to keep all those moments forever.

This has been a really blessed summer, despite the weeds taking over my flowerbeds.

Big Black Mountain

Spencer: Mommy, Satan is like a big huge black mountain in the way of our path as we travel to God. And we have to climb and climb so so really hard. Is that right, Mommy?

Me: That's right, and people can't get up that mountain. But there was one person who was victorious and got to the top. Do you know who that was?

Spencer: God?

Me: Jesus. When Jesus died, he climbed to the top of that mountain and said "All people everywhere, all you have to do is believe in me and *snap*, you'll be on top of this mountain with me. You can share my victory!" That's what Jesus did for us, so we can be with God.

Spencer, eyes wide, and obviously impressed: Hm!

A minute later: But there are still ob-stacles, huh? Still ob-stacles in our way.

Me: Like what do you mean?

Spencer: I mean like that big shiny rider man on a black horse that goes *insert horsey sounds and little boy feet galloping away*.

I'm not sure what the rider is, but one thing is for certain: he's thinking.

How to enjoy a rainy afternoon - by Claire and Katya

How to enjoy a rainy afternoon:

1. Get the cereal box and hide behind the couch.

2. Stuff as much as you can into your mouth at one time.

3. Look adorable but guilty at your mom when you realize she's catching every move. Nevermind your sister doing a nosedive to catch a cheerio behind you.

4. Bond with your brother over spilled cheerios.

5. Catch the cheerios! Catch them all! Play dog while you're at it. It's much more fun!

6. Laugh and realize you've gotten away with something really good.

Just a few practice pics

This week I have some fantastic news! I've registered to go to the Audrey Woulard workshop in October. She is one of the top children's photographers whose style I just adore, and I'm so very excited! I think I'll learn TONS and it can only help me in my skill and business.

In other news, the boys are into their second week of a month of swimming lessons this year. They actually already did a month of lessons in Phoenix while we were there, but they're doing another round. Because Mom says so. We made the decision a few weeks ago to join the YMCA here in the city, and I'm very excited about it. It gives our kids the opportunity to run and play and get instruction in several different sports, without us spending a arm and a leg. And also, it gives us an opportunity to work out. We usually tag team, and one of us watches the kids while the other works out, and then vice versa. No, we don't get a lot of time, but we do get enough. So we've been enjoying that.

Anyway, just wanted to post a few pics that I took recently.

This must be what it feels like to be the youngest in a family of energetic children:

I rarely take photos of Spenc that I like, because he is either on the move, or is not in the mood for photos. The older they get, the harder it is to simply catch them in motion without them noticing too much. But I snapped this one the other day, and I love it.

Curiosity

Family photo shoot and more

About two weeks ago I decided to go out with my kids and get one "one good one" of all of them together. To say that this mini photo shoot was a disaster is absolutely an understatement. It was such a disaster that it is actually newsworthy. Someone who shall forever remain unnamed was cranky the whole time.

Someone else was being a goofball.

And someone else caught on, while the first one pouted because we'd told her to quit.

Then when we'd finally get them all in one place and relatively happy...

Katya would decide she'd had enough.

Still, there were a few that I liked. This one of Spencer and his dad is a keeper.

And the runner-up as the blog banner image goes to......

That just cracks me up!

On a different note entirely, did you know that rubberbands and ponytails for little girls can break off their hair? I didn't either. Claire was getting lovely, thickish hair this Spring. There was finally enough to put in pigtails, and I did so every single day. I love pigtails on little girls. Well, at the beginning of this week I was looking at Claire's very thin, very feathery-light wispy hair and suddenly realized that I was looking at hair that was about 1/4 the volume that it had been this Spring. Upon closer inspection, I found that all of her hair around the crown of her head had broken off to about 2 1/2 inches long - just where her pigtails usually started. No wonder I was having issues getting her pigtails in!! Well, she had so little hair left that 1) I don't know why I didn't notice it before, and 2) she was looking pretty straggly. So I gave her a haircut. Claire is sporting a new "do" that should allow most of her hair to grow back together with relatively the same length. It's sort of a shock to see my little girl with so little hair, but at the same time, it's sort of cute.

Pigtails are out, but hats are definitely "in." Claire has outgrown her favorite newsie cap, so this week we went and got her a new one. I think it's totally adorable.

Of course, you can't buy a hat for one and not all, especially when "all" are with you. So the boys got new caps too. They picked them out, and got ones that nearly match except for the colors and numbers. They have been wearing their new hats everywhere.

Even at breakfast.

This week another big thing has happened: for those of you who don't know already, I have my photography website up and running. It's not the same thing as the blog - it's a professional website with all my best and favorite shots. The blog is a running record of my current work. You can click the "My Photography" link at the top of this page and be taken to a page where you can choose "site" or "blog." Check it out if you haven't already!

Now on to a few of my favorite snapshots of the week:
Spencer and his friend playing in our backyard.

Katya and Daddy hanging in the newly cleaned garage.

Possibly my all-time favorite shot of Katya.