busy busy busy

So I got a phone call from my mom tonight "BECKY, YOUR GRANDMOTHER AND I ARE GOING THRU BLOG WITH DRAWL... ITS BEEN OVER 4 DAYS!!!" lol, sorry mom.. I've been sucked into the addictive world of facebook networking! Oh my goodness!! Get me out of the zone. For those that think I've died... I also blogging daily "Here" and my fan page is "Here". The networking on facebook is incredible!! I'm suddenly in regular contact with people whom I haven't spoken with in YEARS... and I may never have again if it weren't for "friend me". So, so cool... and I can randomly chat with my family...IE my auntie and I don't have to pick up the phone. Which by the way is damn near impossible these days. My children are gluttons for torturing me while I'm on the phone. From a recent and totally random personal poll... this kind of parent torture is more common than I thought.

So now for your regular update... Lucy is not walking yet.. in fact shes an expert speed crawler. I don't think she'll ever need to walk if she can get anywhere at light speed by crawling. She speaks regularly in baby sign language... did I mention that I recommend this to ANYONE!!! Its saved me a lot of un-nessesary tantrums figuring out what she wants...because she can...(that's tantrums from both of us)

Katy is quickly becoming queen of the house... need to nip that one in the bud. Not sure how I'm feeling the dominant personality is here to say...hmm I wonder where she gets that from???..lol. She insists on wearing her "birthday dress" and dress up clothes everywhere...I let her. I have to throw in my .2 by forcing her to wear the matching converse hightops. Girls are really a lot of drama... its definitely a different challenge...but equal to having boy.

Speaking of Boy, Max is growing up so quickly these days. Showing a lot of interest in playing with the older neighborhood boys. He desperately wants to keep up. Two weeks ago we took the training wheels off of his bicycle and he started practicing to ride like one of the "big boys". Frustrated easily, Max threw his bike down (several times) and gave it a break for a while. Today he asked to put his sneakers and helmet on and give it another try. Got on his bicycle and rode it like a pro. I'm so proud of him. I recall learning to ride my bike the same way... just got on it and went. We have decided to let Max go to kindergarten this year... we'll give it a shot...I'm sure he'll do just fine.

Andy is doing well also, its nice not to have to worry about the house. He's keeping busy tinkering with his car and playing computer games.

My photography business is growing very quickly... it amazing how much improvement 7 months will give to someones skill. Here is a photo taken when I just got started.

to this:

Im loving it!! Im already starting to book up for next month. God does answer prayers doesn't he??

my computer geek... changing of the sizes

Who says I need to call the geek squad for my PSE problems when I've got my very own built in computer geek. Andy has literally spent two whole days working the kinks out of my computer... while chewing off every little bit of finger nail he has left. I agreed to let him back up and "dump" my hard drive... as long as my pictures, work files and DVD compositions were not harmed or hard to find. So after doing the dump... he spent all day today... looking for lost files and relocating important business information so that is was easy to access... he really didn't have to do all that... but I'm certainly grateful... and I can see a dramatic improvement on how smooth my computer runs already. Yipeee!

Lucy is doing her every 3-4month change of clothing sizes. Its easy to forget how much they grow that first year... mini me is growing into 12-18 month clothes already...and can even fit into some of sisters old 2T clothes. Lucy is starting to show some signs of walking readiness.... I'm glad that she is... because I'm not. I left her on her bedroom floor with the door open...walked across the house to fill a sippy cup... turned around 5 seconds later and she was indulging in the wet cat food on the kitchen floor. ICK! Its like that all day... she is not one to be confined... and would rather explore than be carried. So I've baby proofed as best I can... and hope for the best. Right now its 8:30 an time to get the kids off to bed. Good night!

What goes down must come up!

Okay, so...not a fun week. Never quite expierenced this much ill chaos in my house before. It started Last week with Lucy's stomach bug...then Tuesday night with Andy spiking a fever and feeling some bronchitis coming on. Then Wed night it hit me...vomiting...the whole 9 yards. So Andy and I were completely laid out Thursday ... who took care of the kids??? They are alive and well, so it seems we managed some how. Then Lucy started back up again, Katy then yesterday and Today Max. Wowza...not fun. I'm feeling better, but I feel like I have hang over.

On an up note...I may have scored my first official photography gig. A girlfriend of mine does print design and needs someone to do some product photography for a client. I am excited about the opportunity. She also discussed with me doing some firework photography and then later on down the road possibly photographing an assisted living facility. I never even thought about web photos or commercial photography as an option...but I totally think I can do it. Now only if I can figure out how to build an inexpensive DIY light box... Drea...Jenn... anyone..Ideas??

sweet snoring... my tribute mess

I simply had to put this up of these two sleeping together. They both have the same expression...(I did get Andy's permission to put this up...I'm not that heartless..lol )

I also promised a blogging buddy that I would post my radioactive office to make her feel better about hers... so here it is.

Not a pretty sight is it?? Well my office really gets the least attention because I am in and out of it so quickly. Its also in the garage so its out of sight until I need to use it. I will say my computer is in there so I do have to step over stuff to get to it.

I wanted to also post a picture of my kitchen chalkboard. There are a lot of really special memories and nostalgia on this chalkboard... I didn't notice until today. My late grandmother had the same chalkboard in her kitchen for over 50 years... over time it wore down so much that it would not longer take chalk. I imagine I will have mine for just as long...her it looks in the young years.

So what is on my chalkboard??

1. Pictures of my kids..(see max brushing his teeth...he was 18 months in that pic)
2. Baby pictures of me, so that I can brag on how much my kids look like me...lol.
3. Sonogram pictures from my pregnancy with Katy and Lucy.
4. Max's first card to me...last thanksgiving.
5. A dream catcher (upper right..your right) from my trip to taos to introduce my great grandmother to her first great great granddaughter.
6. Emergency contacts.
7. lost then found netflix movies.
8. An email my mom wrote up on the chalk board 4 years ago when she came over to help me get my house ready for the birth of my son... not an important email...just a lovely memory of my mom and I.
9. Pacifiers...Katy always has paci's hanging on the hooks.
10. dry erase cleanser...for my very important calender in the hallway.

projects~nostalgia cont.~sewing~love

So we had the best time painting frames for the grandparents. I really enjoyed making most of our presents and it was great having something new to do with the kids. We ended up having 4 separate Christmas's for the kids. It was fun, but I would rather try and condense it a little. By the time it got to our "home" Christmas...the kids were burnt out and it really lost something special...because they had opened gifts non-stop for the last week. We'll have to figure something else out for next year...maybe celebrate with other family after Christmas morning.

Katy-Ro is really into princess, dressing up and everything "girly" this Christmas was the one to give her an entire wardrobe of prissy getup. My sister in law Catherine handed down her "Holly Hobbie" dress up chest. Soooo sweet!!

It seems that everyone has realized how bad I've caught the crafting bug... GiGi gave me a few sewing magazines...to ponder through...I never realized how many cool ideas are in these!!! I've only had a moment to flip through one..but look at how cute these pin cushions are!! I found at least half a dozen other cute gift ideas in this one "sew simple" edition.

Last but not least... I am really gaining an interest in digital photography. I am soaking up information and having fun with the editing software Andy got me for Christmas. I can only count the days until I can afford a nicer camera. Until then... :)

Nostalgia

So "Gamma" (AKA Andy's mom) saved some of Andy's favorite childhood toys and recently gave them back to Andy after 25 years! The toys seemed to spark some really serious nostalgia as he gets excited turning the transformer into a "boom box" tape player... And even the tape is another transformer!!!!!!!!!!!! Look at this eject button Max! Sooo darn cute! In the top picture Andy looks like he just got back from a grueling visit with the Dentist.... no, I think he was just doing sound effects.(lol) The bottom picture was of Andy's GI Joe tank. Its really cool that Rosie kept these things for him. Max seems to love them just as much!

The whole kaboodle AND the kitten

Every night when Andy gets home the kids are soooo excited to see him. I really enjoy watching him play with them...although sometimes I have to look the other way.


Here is one way that Andy gets his exercise after work :)