Family Pictures

The fall leaves have been so beautiful this year! I kept hounding Mart and telling him that we needed family pictures in the bright leaves before they all died. We did a spur of the moment photo shoot Sunday afternoon. Kace's family came along too so they could get some new pictures with baby Zack.

I tried to be more mellow this time, so there wasn't so much stress to get everything perfect and everyone goes home mad, crying and super frustrated! They still didn't turn out perfect, but we got a few good ones!

I still can't get over these leaves. They were so bright!

Sometimes this is the only way to keep them under control. :)

My boys love their cousin Tyler!

They are in a screaming phase ... every picture we take, one of them is screaming!

I always get so awkward when the camera is focused only on me ... 

This door was so cool, but it was so bright it was hard to look up!

 

Thanks Traves for always being willing to take our photos!

Good Sport

This is Stella.

She is very sweet. She is also very clingy to me. She is my dog. She is very protective of me. She nips if you come near me and she doesn't want you to. She is also a very good sport. 

Because she loves me so much, she doesn't care what I do to her, as long as I am giving her attention.

Example 1:

Example 2:

Example 3: (Who would have known that she wears the same size shirt as Ethan??)

This is Kya.

She is a doll.

She is the best dog ever! (You know, minus that she likes to jump on me every now and again ...) My boys think she's a step stool, a horse, a seat, a rug, and a big toy! She puts up with all of it. She's very sweet.  She is also a very good sport!

Example 1:

Example 2: (She didn't like this one very much, her face was too wide for it)

We love our dogs! We love playing with them. I'm glad they are such good girls. :)

Karate

With everything going on lately, we thought it would be a good idea to sign Ethan up for something fun to distract him. Our friend Leslie teaches karate and recently opened her own school. I thought it would be the perfect thing for Ethan (it's not like he needs more skills to beat someone up though!). 

His first day was Tuesday. He was hesitant when I first told him where we were going, and told me he didn't want to go because he didn't know what he was doing. I told him that's why I was taking him, so he could learn. Once we showed him what karate was, he seemed way more excited.

He did pretty good and seemed to like it! He had a hard time focusing and just kept watching me and Lincoln. I was letting Lincoln play with my kindle to distract him, and Ethan wanted to play the kindle too. I think he'll start to like it even more once it really gets going.

Learning some basics:

Horse stance (well, sort of):

He liked when he got to punch!

He loves the punching bag at grandma's, so he was a pro when it came to this!

Right at the end she decided to have the boys come and do a somersault on the mat. This part was so funny that the lady sitting next to me just burst out laughing. All the little boys ran up, and either did a somersault or started to and Leslie helped them finish. Ethan on the other hand, has no idea what a somersault is and ran up to the mat and just dived across the entire thing to the other side. It was seriously hilarious! When we came home, I had to show him what a somersault was! 

Ethan's  attempt at a somersault:

Next, they had to jump. He was much better at that, but still did a sort of dive over it.

Bowing to leave. He didn't want to go home. The rest of the day he kept asking to go back to karate. That's a good sign! I wasn't sure if he liked it or not. Hopefully it'll be good for him and he has fun and learns a little discipline at the same time!

Baking cookies!

I'm not perfect.

Not even close.

I often feel like I'm not as good of a mom as I should be. It makes me feel so guilty. Then I try and think of ways to make me a better mother, but they don't always work or I don't always make the time, or my kids throw a major fit and I have zero desire to try that day ... so then I feel even more guilty. I know my boys are only small for a little while and that I need to take advantage of it. It's just so hard always wrestling with them over small things, it doesn't always feel like it's worth what I'm going to go through to do something fun. Again...guilt. I need to find ways to make it not such a battle to do fun things, and to feel like a better mom. I want my boys to have fun memories that don't only include their dad. (Maybe I'm over reacting ... but maybe not) Maybe I'm too uptight.

Today we went and took family pictures. I told myself it only makes it worse if you battle your kids and are frustrated because you just want the perfect pictures. Instead, when they were frustrated too, I tried to lighten the mood and play with them. We threw leaves and laughed and they ran around throwing rocks. Kace and Ryan came along so they could get theirs done at the same time. I saw Kace starting to fall into the same routine during photos that I always fall into. She was frustrated and just wanted Tyler to cooperate, to sit and smile so they could be finished. Tyler just wanted to play and run around. He had no desire to sit on his moms lap and smile at a camera. I tried to step in and lighten the moment. I threw leaves for him and made him laugh and it distracted him. He was so cute and their pictures turned out great. Why can't I always do that for my own kids? Is it because they are my own?

Back to pictures ... I tried to let them have fun and run around until we needed them. They had a great time. They were both worn out and were ready to collapse once we got back to the car. I also told them if they were good boys and cooperated we could make cookies after dinner.

I'm funny about cooking and baking. Once again, maybe I'm too uptight. I have a mild (or maybe not so mild ...) case of OCD and like everything to be...well, how I want it. :) I started to get frustrated when I turned my back and Lincoln's hands went in the bowl of flour and it went everywhere! I reminded myself that it wasn't a big deal and they were just cookies. They would be fine even without all the flour in the bowl. I also had to remind myself that it was just flour and it could be wiped up easily when we were finished. I tried to let go and be more easy going.

My kids had a great time! They helped me weigh out all the ingredients, and then sat on the counter and took turns pouring each ingredient in when it was time. They were fascinated by the mixer and loved watching the blade spin around.

When it came time to put the chocolate chips in, I gave them each a couple and it lit up their faces. 

(This is Lincoln's "Cheese!" face. It's getting a little intense nowadays!)

Once the dough was ready, I scooped the dough out and asked my boys to roll them and put them on the pan. I showed them how and let them do it by themselves. 

Love these little hands!

They thought it was the funnest job ever!

After they were finished, I resisted every urge I had to fix all of their cookies and make them perfectly round. 

I knew they would turn out delicious regardless of their shape!

My boys were so anxious to have their cookies! They kept waiting and watching!

Their perfect little cookies, and they were delicious!

My boys loved them and were so happy that they got to help me make them!

I'm so grateful for these two sweet little boys, even when they drive me totally batty. I'm glad I was able to bake with them today and I know I need to do it more often. I need to let go of the idea that the cookies need to be perfect. They are just cookies, they will be just fine. My boys did a great job and I loved spending that time with them!
I guess that is one step toward being a better mom!