::Halloween '09::

(Finally a Halloween post)

We had a great Halloween this year!

We had a...

Buzz,

a Snow White,

and a Super Cooper,

Friday night was the Halloween Carnival with Chloe's school. It was really fun. I have fond memories of going to mine when I was in school (face painting, carnival games, candy, costumes, friends), and the kids were SO excited. We were walking in to a crowded gym to buy some tickets to play some games and I told Matt "welcome to parenthood" cause I know this will be our future for the next several Halloweens, Christmasses and any other little fun thing going on at the kids' school. And he said "It's fun, I love it." :)

There were lots of fun games.

They won lots of fun treats and prizes.

Portie won a coke in the "ghost walk"

holding bubbles in the mad scientist lab

a volcano

And, of couse, some trick-or-treating on Halloween...

We always like to trick-or-treat to friends and family (its a little less about the candy this way-at least for now), and our last stop is always Grandma and Papa Snowman's house where we stay for the rest of the night. A couple of cousins came over too...

Buzz, Super Cooper, Snow White, Ariel, and Lil' Stinker-the skunk aren't they cute?

::"anuhzeh bihsday"::

Sunday, we all (well almost all-missed you J & Sae) got together for Grandma "Snowman's" birthday. She said she just wanted us all to come over for ice cream for her birthday, but we had to have a little party too...

Krystal made this awesome cake...

Portie helped with the "candoes"...

All the little cousins helped with the presents...

It's always fun to get together. The little cousins love playing together, and they like to talk and play with the older ones too-I remember that from when I was little. Leah and Bobby were SO fun! I remember being SO excited to go to my Gramma's house to play with them. I remember Jenny-n-Sarah and Bobby too (they were older and SO cool!).

It's funny to see how history repeats itself.

then:"Are Leah & Bobby gonna be there"

now: "Is Addy coming up?"

...and the Cowboys won,

so it was a good day all the way :)

::my bihsday::

I turned 27 (!!!) yesterday, and oh my gosh what a great day!!

The kids woke us up at 7:3o with some little presents. Chloe brought in some flowers (which she had already given me on Friday night, but she gave them to me again on Saturday morning)

And Portie carried in a gift bag with some little presents-some "chappy" (chapstick-which he picked out) and some new scentsy waxes. He handed me each present out of the bag one by one "here, Mamma. Happy bihsday."

Chloe brought in her little white board with a little note...

"Happy birthday, Mom from Chloe. I hope you have a happy birthday from Chloe" along with a picture of she and I. Then Port said "wheyeh's me??" So she drew him and bunch more "pictchahs."

They took me to lunch at Cheesecake Factory (my fave!!)

...we had great food and GREAT cheesecake.

They decorated our plate for me and lit a little pink candle for me. It was cute.

We went to a little corn maze...

Portie says: "look at all da co-ihns"

Chloe says: "is this like real corn we eat"

Da-Da says: "lets try it take a bite"

"moe co-ihns!!"

...the corn maze was okay-I have to be honest, it wasn't the best. It was a corn maze, and that was it. There was just not much to it. Nothing fun or cute-no trivia clues to get us through the maze, no slides, no animals, no hay stacks, no pumpkin patches, no nothin' like that! We've been to better ones in years past, and we probably won't visit this one again-sorry Nelsons.

We're glad we went, and we're glad Dadduh has such a good sense of direction!!

Matt and I caught a movie and a little cuddle together-just us ;)

What a great day! I felt so special all day! The kids seemed to enjoy feeling so included in my birthday. I had lots of people ask if we were taking the kids with us today, and I always thought "of course, it's a family day." I kept hearing all day "happy birthday, Mamma," and it melted my heart every time I heard it. I love my sweet little family. They made me feel so loved on my birthday.

::photo class::

I just finished up my photo class last night.

Here are the photos I turned in...

Assignment 1: a photo that tells a story...

The photo is of picker weeds that are all over around

our house, and Chloe's flat tire on her bike.

Assignment 2: Self Portrait
This one was really difficult! I had to set up my shot with a tripod, and after it was focused and ready, I had to set the timer and go jump in. I came out blurry in some (because it was focused without me in the shot) and not in others. Some of them I wasn't in the spot I thought I was going to be. I was a little afraid to do too close up of a shot, cause, well, it's a SELF portrait, and who likes looking at close ups of themselves??

Assignment 3: Depth of Field
I chose to do shallow depth of field because I just think it makes for a more interesting shot. I can't claim the idea with the leaves on the wood. The shot is a variation of one I saw on Flickr. I changed it a bit to make it my own, but I have to give credit where credit is due.

I love color, and really enjoyed playing with the color in these photos.

Amber paid me a HUGE compliment on my train tracks photo. She said she'd hang it in her son's room if she had it because his room is trains and those same colors. I told her she can have it if she wants it, but that she had to put my name on it somehere so i can feel a little famous and be able to say I have photo hanging in someone's house ;)

Assignment 4: Rule of Thirds and Our City Is...
One photo could've been assigned to each half of this assignment, but I think that both follow both halves of this assignment (does that even make sense??).

The "Our City Is" part I think applies to both because we are so lucky here to have so many local fruit stands and fruit orchards around here and so easily accessible.

The rule of thirds half applies to each too beacuse both pictures are divided in that way (I think).

At least that's what I tried to do.

I love photography! And I love it more and more everytime I pick up my camera. I sometimes get frustrated with it, but I feel like I'm learning, so that makes me want to keep doing it. I feel like I learned a TON from this class, and I'm really sad it's over! I've still got a lot to learn, but I'm excited to practice and learn it.

I really appreciate Amber and all her efforts to teach us some of what she knows.

I hope someday I can be just like her ;)

::to infinity...::

Portie loves Buzz Lightyear.

he puts on his costume everyday.

we read Toy Story books every night.

he & Chloe play Toy Story.

he watches the movies everyday

he tells us "I'm not Pohteh, I'm Buzz!"

he calls Coopie Little Buzz.

he got really mad when Chloe told him Buzz is bossy.

he always stops me when I say "to infinityyy" ... "stop it! only Buzz says that!"

So when we saw these at the store, he had to have them...

...and he HAS to wear them every night...

...and he HAS to jump around his room and

do flips off his bed before he goes to sleep...

...and he thinks his dada should get some "Zihg" (Zurg) jammies.

How funny would that be??

::grandma & papa kitty::

We did have plans to do some yard work, clean out the garage, maybe build some shelves in there, but once we (and by "we", I mean Matt) saw what college games were on today, we decided the Saturday might be better spent watching football.

When I was on the phone with Mom this morning, we discovered since they didn't have any too important plans either, we ought to spend our Saturday together.

The kids were so excited.

We don't see Grandma & Papa too often, so it's exciting when we do, especially when they come to our house!

So, Papa (a HUGE college football fan) and Matt watched the games together.

We heard all kinds raucous noise from downstairs.

We cooked.

Grandma and the rest of us non-football watchers made lunch and some dessert.

The kids love to cook with her.

They're so "helpful"

We played outside too.

Chloe showed us how she can do back handsprings on the trampoline and ride her new scooter. Portie drew us some "pickchahs," rode his new "chwuck" and did some spinny firetruck jumps on the trampoline, and also got tackled by Papa a little.

Then they had to go home.

We never leave eachother without

waving and yelling "byeeeeeeee"

about a million times until the car is out of sight.

We're glad they came up. We miss them. We wish they lived closer.

Love you guys

:)

::Coop's 'do::

This is a 'do only a mother could love...

Isn't he cuuute?? We love his crazy baby hair! It's always a little nuts, it never stays where we put it, and it never looks the same.

It's crazy in the front, kinda curly in the back...

what do ya think...

cut it??