Our Year In Photos Week 1- Kiddos in the car

Daddy being a goof.
Andrew had said when we bought the Suburban that we had to have 2 more kids to fill up Black Beauty. It seems like we have lots of room left but these boys are growing and will continue to grow. Currently we are using 2 boosters and one 3in1 carseat.

I'm kind of copying a girl's blog that I follow and her great idea to capture family life by taking a picture once a week and posting it. Then at the end of the year I can make a photobook of what our everyday life is like.

I'm been wanting to do something like this for awhile because I find that the last three years the kids grow, but our outings and favorite things to do are usually the same things each year. The same parks, the same hobbies, the same adventures so this project changes things up a bit and I'm quite excited.

I'm copying this from a girl whose blog I follow named Rhonda.
And she got the idea from her photographer friend named Jenn. Jenn came up with it and explained it best so she is quoted here:

"Earlier this week I posted how I've been thinking a lot about the kinds of photographs I want my kids to have of their childhood. Not all the posed "let's go out into this beautiful
field and take some beautiful smiling photographs", but the actual "I have the
coolest room and I love playing lego on the floor" photographs. But that
led me also to thinking how great I am about starting projects and not so great
about finishing them. Which got the wheels turning in my head about a great
project that would require a minimal time commitment and still get me exactly
what I want.And so the Our Year in Photos Project was born. One photo a
week for a year. Each capturing a specific part of our lives and of my kids'
childhood that I want remembered. Once I started writing the idea down,
I couldn't stop. I couldn't stop thinking about everything I wanted captured,
everything I wished I had photos of from when I was 4, everything I wished I had
photos of from when my kids were 4. So I planned out the entire year. And I am
so excited for every single week.Here's how it's going to work. Every
Monday I'm going to post a prompt. You have to take one photo for each week.
That's it....just one photo a week. This is not a time-consuming project. There
will be some weeks where I take 2 photos (one of each kid) but not more than
that, for this project . The prompts aren't going to be difficult - think "a
photograph with my little peanut wearing her favourite shirt".By the end
of the year, I - and you too if you play along - am going to have an album of
images that really show what our everyday life is all about - where we live,
what we love, who we love.Because it's just the way I am, there have to
be some rules. And know these are really more for me than you, in an attempt to
overcome my perfectionist tendencies.You may not quickly change your
child into matching clothes right before you take the photo because it's going
to actually be printed and put in an album. Whatever they're wearing
goes.You may not rush around and pick up all the toys on the floor and put
away the jackets, shoes, whatever is lying around before you take the photo.
Whatever your house looks like at that moment goes.There will be the
occasional prompt that requires you to be in the photo. You may not skip over
those ones. Obviously your kids know that you're there every day, but 10 years
from now will they see it in the photos?Do it. It's only one photo per
week." So the first week of the month is to photograph a room in our
home.

I'm following Rhonda and Jenn's lead and taking a picture of the kids in our car ("Black Beauty"- our 1992 Suburban), instead of a room. We actually don't spend tons of time together in Black Beauty unless we are going to the cabin or on a holiday. Either Ken or I usually do errands on our own, or just with one or two kids at a time. One of the perks of living in a small town is that everything is close by andit's easy to slip out while one of us stays home with the kids. Ken also works here in our hometown only 5km away so other than a trip or two to Lethbridge each week we stay pretty close to home. Today we had an outing to the "beer store" for Dad and to Aunty Mel and Uncle Pete's to drop something off. We were also planning on going to a playground to burn some energy but ran out of time.

23 weeks

Tracy and I celebrating New Year's. We made it past 1 even. We had a quieter New Year's this year just hanging out with Paul and Tracy and their boys. It was great, lots of snacks and the kids had a blast watching Kung Fu Panda 2, playing hockey in the garage and roasting marshmellows over a fire in the backyard. 17 weeks to go for me and only 10 left for Tracy. We are both looking forward to welcoming new little babies into our families.

Cabin Holiday

Andrew had a 2 hour lesson at Castle Mtn. last week and then skied the afternoon with his Daddy.

Dad and his boys.

So little cuddled in next to Dad.

next step:Tree decorating

The kids did all the decorating this year. This was Ken's idea and he also suggested that I separate all of the delicate ornaments from the kids ornaments to make things easier.

Andrew balanced things out by standing on the stool and working on the top section.

Candy cane treat for everyone when they were done.

We also made these snowmen outta milk jugs. The boys wanted lights in their rooms so we came up with this after seeing it online somewhere.

Making Christmas Memories

So we headed out Saturday morning to Home Depot where we buy our tree every year. They usually smell pretty fresh and look nice and we get a $25 gift card when we buy our tree there.
The kids were just excited to run around the lot and hide on each other. I'm not even sure if they looked at any trees. It is a bit challenging to look at them since they are all baled up and ready to go on your roof. We have gotten lucky over the years and always end up with a decent shaped tree.

I thought I'd take a picture of the price tag so in years to come we can compare.

Here's the lot.

and here is my macho husband who easily threw that tree on the roof and tied it down. He would be an awesome help in the tree lot back home one of these years.

Buddies.

Seth came over the other day for a playdate so we decorated some sugar cookies and of course sampled them. Luke's just like his Daddy, look at the concentration while his tongue is outta his mouth.
The rule is no licking knifes you two.

Tastes good!

Thanks for hanging out Sethy!

Just another Trip to the Park

I sure miss this boy now that he's in school five days a week. He was such a helper to me. We had an outing to Henderson Saturday afternoon while Daddy caught up on some school work. Mama and her four boys. It's been awhile since I had all four on an outing by myself. It was fun!
This is what Isaac and I see ahead of us. I remember not too long ago that it hardly seemed like exercice to me to go for a walk since I was always stopping to encourage them to pick up the pace. Now I can't keep up. I had to make a rule that they stop at every bench and wait for me otherwise they would be around the whole lake.

Just having some fun.

Sam wanted to take a picture.

This is their favorite tree to climb.

Isaac rearing to go after all that sitting in the stroller.