Recent Photos

These are some pictures I snapped of the girls when I was trying to make our family Christmas card. Let me tell you, I need to help photograph my own kids. This was a nightmare trying to do

despite how the pictures look.

Blizzard of '09

Well, it was certainly a blizzard by Houston's standards. Although, I know many people that were laughing AT us over our day of snow. For the record, this is the earliest recorded snow in Houston's history, and also the first time it has snowed two years in a row. This was, by far, the most snow I have ever seen in these parts. It was enough to build a small snowman. It was very exciting. And might I add that we have the best kind of weather. We are hit with snow one day and back in the 70's a few days later. Be jealous, be very jealous.

Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Happy Halloween!

I hope your day was filled with more treats than tricks. We had a cat and mouse theme for the little ones. Madison decided she wanted to be a diner girl last year for Halloween but unexpectedly could not be with us. So she wore her costume this year, finally. It is our first Halloween with her in five years and only our second one total. It was nice to have the whole family together this time. Violet only made it to one house to trick or treat before passing out in the Ergo. She slept her way through the rest. The kids had so much candy that the bag they dumped it all in ripped apart at the handle. Yeah, much of that will be donated to sugar craving teenagers at my mother's school.

Anyway, we had a blast and wanted to share some of our pictures with you.

Because there need to be more pics...

I had the pleasure of spending and afternoon with a few friends last week capturing pictures of them while nursing their little ones. It came about during National Breastfeeding Week the first week of August when many of us realized that we really don't have any pictures of us nursing our babies. I set out to change that by organizing a get together specifically to capture this beautiful relationship between mother and child. I thought I would share some of the shots I got with you. I hope it inspires more mamas to grab their cameras and snap some pics of their own.

Mini-vacation

We had a little escape this week from the same old routine. We headed out to New Braunfels/Gruene for an overnighter with friends that have a time share right on the river. Thankfully, we were in the big three bedroom unit because we had seven kids between us running all around. When I say big, I mean it, too. This place is larger than our last townhouse.

We had a blast with the kids swimming. Our hubbies made an awesome dinner of grilled chicken and crab cakes. Then we headed into Gruene for some good ol' Blue Bell ice cream. Mmmm.... We got back and the kids were up until nearly 11pm watching Bee Movie. Well, I should say that the youngest of the group made it until then while the older ones had long passed out. The only downer to our time is that we couldn't stay longer.

Here are a few pics I snapped of our time.

Fix-It Friday #17

Here is another photo edit I did using Photoshop Elements 7 for the Fix-it Fridays at I ♥ Faces. Go check out other great ideas for this photo.

Here is the original of this little cutie:

My edit:

The 6th girl of the house

I haven't posted any pictures of our beautiful kitty cat, Bella, in a while. She is such a princess. Really she is not a cat in any way other than her appearance. I joke about it, but I really do believe they bred all the cat out of her. She is a great little member of our family. She doesn't require much attention that seems to be less and less available to her with each kid, but she doesn't mind. She lets us know when she needs something. She is also wonderful with the kids. She rarely scratches any of them, and on the occasion that she does, it seems well deserved.

So, here is a picture of our beautiful kitty. I am entering it in the I ♥ Faces photo contest this week on pets. You should head on over there to see other great pics of pets.

Fix-It Friday #15

I am joining in the weekly photo fix-it assignment at I ♥ Faces for the first time this week. I edited these photos using Photoshop Elements 7. This little one is too cute...

Original:

Edits:

And she grows up and she grows up...

Madison is graduating from the 5th grade next week. I thought it would be nice to take some photos of her to mark the occasion. Boy, I can't get over just how much she has grown in the past six years since she began elementary. She is such a young woman, and we are so proud of who she is becoming despite those pre-adolescent days where we think we could sell her for a handsome profit. Looking at these pics, I can guarantee her daddy is looking to purchase a shotgun soon.