Family Pictures

I love pictures. I take pictures of the kids almost everyday so that I can capture as many moments as possible and have them to look back on. They are all growing so fast! I also try to get everyone together at least once a year for professional pictures of the family and the kids. This has obviously become increasingly difficult since the arrival of Nicholas and now Avery. Yet, each time I arrange to have our pictures taken, before we go, I imagine how it will play out. I think about the poses I want and I think about all of my darling children peacefully sitting in their assigned position and smiling when the photographer says "say cheese." I think about all of the fabulous pictures I'll have to share with family and friends. Yeah... much like my plan for the cider mill, our trip to the portrait studio didn't work out like I'd envisioned.

A few weeks ago I decided I wanted to get pictures of the four kids and a few baby pictures of Avery. I planned our appointment so that everyone should have been rested and happy and ready to cooperate. Of course, things didn't go as smoothly as I'd hoped. Nicholas only wanted to run around the studio and play with all of the props and Avery only wanted to cry. The poor photographer would position the girls, and then Nicholas, but by the time we'd get Avery situated, Nicholas would move. While we were repositioning Nicholas, Avery would start crying again. It was a disaster! By the time we left, I was so dissappointed and about ready to be committed! However, despite our issues we got a few decent pictures. Nothing super great like I'd hoped for, but good enough for now, I suppose. Here they are (the color in these pictures is a little off because I had to scan them in--the color in the actual pictures is much better).

Since I didn't get the individual pictures of Avery that I wanted for her baby book, I decided that I'd try again, but this time, just with Avery. I left Nicholas home with Daddy and Avery and I ventured off to a different portrait studio (I won't go back to the place where I had the first pictures taken) this past Wednesday. This experience was much better and we got some really good pictures (despite Avery's best efforts--she tried her best to be fussy and give me a hard time). Our photographer was great. The down side of this studio is that they only sell their pictures in packages and if you don't want one of their packages, you have to buy individual sheets and they are crazy expensive!!! The cost factor is definitely an issue for us because we have so much family that we always need to order a ton of pictures. Oh well. I'm done with professional pictures for now and will worry about where to have them taken again in another 6 months or so. Until then, I'm not thinking about it! This studio does post their pictures online at http://www.holdmymemories.com/ The username is allencly and the password is avery. If you double click on the picture after you login, it will bring up the gallery for viewing.

Our family trip to Michigan

Keith's employeer, Guardian Industries, is headquartered in Auburn Hills, MI. Conveniently enough, Auburn Hills is about 10 minutes from where my mom lives, so I was super excited when Keith announced that Guardian was sending him to the corporate office in October for a conference. Family roadtrip! So, just before Halloween, we loaded up the minivan and headed to Michigan for a long weekend to visit with family and friends. It was really special because, in addition to seeing our Michigan family, my closest cousin Andrew, who lives in Colorado, arranged for his family to be in Michigan that same weekend. I haven't seen Andrew since Nicholas' baby shower in April 2006 and I haven't seen Andrew's family since October 2005--just a few weeks after his first son was born. Now, Andrew's first son John is 3 and they have a new addition to the family, Matthew, who arrived on August 7, 2008--just 2 days after Avery! It was so fun to get the kids together. John and Nicholas played with (and fought over) their trains and ran around the house being wild and crazy little boys. Grandma took them outside to feed the neighbor's bunny and to play at the playground. They had a lot of fun!

We also went to the cider mill. The cider mill is one of my very favorite fall traditions and I was so excited to take Nicholas. I had the whole trip planned out perfectly in my mind. It would be a beautiful, crisp fall day in Michigan. I would let the kids nap for a few hours and then we'd head out sometime in the early afternoon. Everyone would be happy! We'd get there and take Nicholas to see some of the animals, and then we'd take the hayride to the pumpkin patch where I'd take some pictures of the kids among all of the pumpkins. After choosing the perfect pumpkin, we'd head back for some cider and warm donuts. Sounds great, right!?! Well, Michigan had other plans. It was freezing cold and rained all. day. long. No joke. All day. Even though the weather only called for showers in the evening. So, our trip to the cider mill was spent inside the cider mill store. We did have cider and warm donuts, and Keith picked out a big bag of honey crisp apples (he's really been on a apple kick lately) to bring home. It was nice...just not what I had envisioned. Oh well. Next time, I suppose. We did get some good cider mill pictures.

I also had the opportunity to visit with two of my closest friends while we were there. My friend Ann is currently pregnant (and due any day now!) with her first child. I finally got to see Ann's house, which is absolutely beautiful. I want to live in Ann's house (or she could come and decorate my house...either way)! Ann is truly gifted when it comes to decorating and being crafty. I'm jealous :) Then, there is my friend Amy. Amy just had her first baby 9 days after Avery's birthday. Sean was born on August 14, 2008. It was fun to be pregnancy buddies with Amy and it was even more fun to visit with her and meet Sean. He is so super cute with the best cheeks ever! Sean was kind enough to pose with Avery for a few quick pics. Here is one of my favorites. I just love the look on his face! It's like he's looking at his mom saying "ugh, mom...do you know this crazy lady is in our house taking my picture. It might end up on the web or something...don't say I didn't warn you."

While we were there, we also had a family tailgate and watched U of M lose another football game, Amanda and Alaina went shopping with grandma, and we had a bonfire in the backyard. It was a busy few days. We all had a really nice time and are looking forward to our next trip to grandma's house! Here are a few more random pictures from our visit.

A new favorite recipe

While I was pregnant I spent a lot of time on The Nest. The Nest is a website with all sorts of information about families and pregnancy, and it has some message boards that became all to addictive for me! Well, my group of "nesties" (as in the people who moved through each trimester and are now on the 0-6 months board with me) created a nestie potlock, and it has some really great recipes. I'm always looking for new recipes, so you can imagine my excitement over this find! One of my favorites (and a family favorite) is the Sour Cream Chicken Casserole because it is quick, easy and delicious. I did make some modifications to the recipe as originally posted to make it a bit more healthy. Incorporating veggies is a must for me, especially with kids! So here it is. Enjoy!

Sour Cream Chicken Casserole

4-5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (cooked and cut into bit size pieces)
1 8oz. container of light sour cream
1 can of cream of chicken soup
4-5 cups cooked, cut broccoli
1.5 tubes of reduced fat ritz crackers
1-1.5 stickes butter

Mix chicken, sour cream, and cream of chicken soup in mixing bowl. Stir until chicken is coated. Spread broccoli on the bottom of an 11x7 (or 9x13) baking dish and then spread chicken mixture over the broccoli. In a separate mixing bowl, crush the crackers (I just squeeze them to crush) and then stir in melted butter (I use 1 stick of butter to cut down on fat/calories and it works just fine but, obviously, 1.5 sticks makes the crackers brown better and ultimately tastes better...your call!). Spread the cracker mixture over the chicken. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until crackers are golden brown (but they won't get as golden if you opt for less butter).

****A special message for anyone in communication with my darling Amanda****
Please do not discuss or share any of the ingredients of this recipe (or any other recipe I share) with Amanda. She is so super picky and, as a result, Alaina and I have to conveniently omit some ingredients when she asks what is in things. It really is better for everyone that she remain blissfully unaware! Thanks in advance :)

Avery is 3 months old!

This past week, Avery celebrated her 3 month birthday. I just can't believe she is 3 months old already! She has grown so much and is already starting to do things. On Nov. 1, she rolled over (front to back) for the first time. She smiles and even laughs all the time. She has great neck control and can hold her head up really well, and she can put some weight on her feet. That means she is ready for the jump-a-roo and exersaucer! Though, we haven't gotten them out just yet...mommy isn't completely ready to admit that she is old enough, but we are going to do it very soon (like maybe within the next week).

While I'm excited to watch her grow and reach these milestones, I'm kind of sad that it is happening so fast. She is my last baby and I feel like she'll be all grown up before I know it. I really love this age. They are so cuddly and innocent. They don't want anything other than a clean diaper, milk and love. It doesn't get more simple than that! I love to just hold her and look at her and think about how I ever deserved to be blessed with such an amazing miracle. The Lord has been so good to me! As they get older, the snuggle time is so much more rare and I miss it so much. Amanda was never really a snuggler. She was too old for it by the time they moved here with us. Alaina, on the other hand, used to lay on the couch with me every night. Not so much anymore, though! Now she likes to hang out in her room and watch tv while she talks (or texts) with her friends. For the most part, Nicholas is already over snuggling. He's far to busy to sit still for any period of time. So, I have Avery...for now. Maybe I'll get lucky and she'll think snuggling with her mom is cool for a long time to come!

Halloween

We all had fun with Halloween yesterday. I made beef stew in the morning and put it in the crockpot to cook all day so that we would have an easy dinner. After Nicholas' nap, we carved our pumpkins, had dinner and then got dressed to go trick-or-treating. Avery slept in the stroller while we were out and Nicholas had a blast running from house to house in his monkey costume. It was really fun to watch him get so excited about getting treats! He loves treats!

While Keith and I were out with the little kids, Alaina went trick-or-treating with a few of her friends. Amanda ended up going to the high school football game with a group of her friends. After the game, they all came back to our house to hang out for awhile and then 2 of her friends stayed the night. Like I said, we all had fun!

As much as I enjoyed Halloween with my family, there happened to be a few things that irked me last night while I was passing out candy. For anyone who cares, here is my list of Halloween pet peeves:

1. Rude Kids--There was a large group of kids that were trick-or-treating together. They were all about 7 or 8ish. They came to the porch and, after I put candy in their pillowcases, one kid looked into my bowl and said "oh. I want THAT kind of candy" and then reached into the bowl and grabbed it. Then, 2 or 3 of the others all started reaching into the bowl to grab more candy too. At the time, I could hardly believe what was happening...I was being ambushed by a bunch of bratty kids! I literally had to push them all back away from me and off my porch (I was holding Avery too) and then told them that they were RUDE. Geesh, where were these kids' parents?
2. Caravan of kids--Who are these parents that drive...yes, DRIVE...their kids around the neighborhood in a minivan for trick-or-treating? We don't live in the country. We're in a typical neighborhood. The houses are closer together than I think most people would like. Shouldn't these kids at least be running around getting some exercise before they eat all the candy they collect? What the heck?
3. Mute kids--Listen, if you're going to get dressed up and go door to door to get candy on halloween, at least humor those of us who dropped $20 on candy and say "trick-or-treat." I don't care how much/little effort they put into a costume or how old they are...I'll give them candy...but they should say "trick-or-treat." Don't come to my porch, hold out your bag, and then turn around and run away after you get candy. Maybe it's just that it's not cool to say "trick-or-treat" anymore. If that is the case, then maybe anyone who's worried about being perceived as uncool shouldn't be trick-or-treating anymore! Go buy your own candy!

So there it is. My list of Halloween annoyances. I hope that, as a parent, I have done and will do better with my kids than the parents of some of the kids I encountered yesterday. I would be mortified to find out that my kids ever behaved so rudely.