Month 1: Week 2 Group Shot

So I went back to October's family shot of us because let's face it, nice family pictures with 4 boys, 6 and under and a husband who would rather be doing anything else but posing, is tough!
This is at 7:50am this morning before Ken left for work, and before Andrew left for the bus. Sam was not cooperating at all which caused a bit of frustration, Luke had pajamas and a "way too big" hockey jersey on, Isaac is happy go lucky Isaac and well...this is us.

I love the smirk on Sam's face in this one as I try to bribe him with a candy. All eyes are on Sam to see if it works. Just so you know, it didn't.

Lists 2012 - #1 - 2012 Goals

Another borrowed idea, this time from my great friend Melinda's sister Heather. Each week she will give a list title and you post it. Should be fun.

List #1 - 2012 Goals

1. Read a morning devotion every morning while eating breakfast
2. Create a prayer list and hang in my room to remember certain people and situations to pray about in personal prayer.
3. less computer. Only check blogs/emails/facebook twice a day. This means putting computer away throughout the day.
4. Try to take kids for a walk more regularly, at least 3 times a week.
5. read more to kids and for myself.
6. Try 1 new recipe a week and start compiling a huge menu list to rotate.
7. Build on friendships.
8. Continue/finish Parenting course "Growing Kids God's Way" with friends of ours.
9. Change up blog. Stick with photo challenge from Jenn and lists from Heather.
10. Get baby room ready.
11. Do more prepping for Women's Bible Study.
12. Get back into shape after baby arrives. Sign up for Ladiesfest 8km in June, Back to Bootcamp in September.
13. Join/start a book club.
14. Take one sewing class with a friend.
15. Work on patience when dropping off Isaac to the nursery for church and Bible Study.
16. Make a photobook of Isaac's first year.
17. Put A & S in swimming lessons.
18. Be a support for my husband in his role as elder which takes him away from home a lot of evenings, and makes Sunday's a bit more stressful.
19. date night once a month.(this includes steak dinners at home when kids are in bed)
20. No more Pepsi except as a treat on the weekend.

Extreme Makeover.

Before #1

We moved Andrew and Sam to the basement recently and plan to use their old room for the baby. The move involved a lot of work and planning since the basement has never been finished since we moved in. It had carpet and was painted a pinkish color but no baseboards, or trim work had been done. Everyday of the last two weeks I could be heard saying "we want to finish the boys room today" and we still have a few finishing touches to complete, like curtains and filling in the two empty frames on the gallery wall. Other than those few minor details the boys are nicely settled into their new room.

Before #2
These three little ones all took a turn helping Daddy paint. They also could be seen throughout the whole process helping out and asking lots of questions.

Daddy worked so hard and learned lots while working on this room. Here he was doing the electrician part.

After.

We bought and painted all the baseboards and Ken cut them to fit. He also made the cabinet door that now covers the electrical panel box and he made the wall hooks for the boys to hang their backpacks on.

We bought the wardrobe at Canadian Tire since the room didn't have a closet and Ken assembled that too as well as the cube shelves. We painted all three doors white to brighten things up. One door to the playroom, one to the storage room and one to the furnace room.

Here is my incomplete gallery wall. I can't decide what to put in that big frame in the middle and the little frame on the left has had 8 coats of paint and is still pink thanks to the red that it was originally. I have a picture for it but am still trying to get the color right. I added some of the kids artwork and had some really cute pictures blown up that Auntie Mel took a year ago at her house. All the frames I bought at the thrift store and spray painted white. And the printed sign on the top right is a Bible text about brothers that I used my scrap booking stamp letters to print out.

I got a few ideas off of pinterest and just revamped some of them to suit us. Ken laminated this map for me and built the frame out of old pallets that came from my dear brother in law- Pete.

Anyways, we as usual, had a blast working on this together and learned lots. Another project complete. Thanks to my wonderful husband for all of his hard work on his Christmas break and for doing all these little side projects that I had dreamt up.

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.