Friday, March 6, 2009

Pay it Forward

Brooke had this on her blog and I thought it looked really fun. I was lucky enough to be number 3!


Here are the rules:
Pay It Forward Exchange is based on the concept of the movie "Pay It forward". I will send a handmade(or not) gift to the first three people who leave a comment to this post on my blog requesting to join the PIF exchange. All the gifts need to be sent out 'sometime within the next year' (how easy is that?). And how exciting to not know when your surprise package will arrive! What you need to do in return, is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog, giving handmade (or not) prizes to the first three commenter's. Easy huh? This exchange is only open to those with active websites or blogs, and you must be willing to give your mailing address in an email because how else will I send you your gift?
So if you're interested and can promise to pay it forward to three people on your blog, be one of the first three to leave me a comment, and you win. Who doesn't love giving or receiving gifts???

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Mackenzie

Mackenzie's pictures turned out pretty good. The lighting was horrible when I took them and she is so funny. She's got the cutest little smile...Until you ask her to smile for a picture. Then, suddenly she gets this cheesy fake smile. I had to wait until Dallas got home so he could make her smile. What I really want, is to do their pictures outside when everything greens up a little bit. I like outdoor photos much better.

She loves to do anything artsy/crafty. She loves to learn new things. She enjoys school, reading, writing, and most of all, she loves to play with her friends.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Gavin

I took Gavin's pictures today and this is how it went:


He would not sit still. He kept rolling around and pulling faces. I took over 150 pictures and there were only about 15 good ones. I would get him ready and as soon as I would start taking pictures, he would start wiggling and pulling faces. He is such a boy.



He LOVES playing outside. He loves to explore. When the weather is nice, he stays outside all day long. I am so excited that is is finally starting to warm up! YAY FOR SPRING!

Monday, March 2, 2009

6 MONTHS OLD!


I can't believe my baby is already 6 months old! She is growing up so fast! I wish she would slow down a little bit, but I do love to watch her learn new things. It is so much fun! She has such a fun personality. She loves to laugh and smile. She Loves to watch Mackenzie and Gavin play. When I took her pictures today, I had to kick Gavin out of the room because she wouldn't look at me. Her eyes were hooked on him. She wasn't thrilled about getting her pictures taken again, but I got some pretty cute ones. My goal for tomorrow is to do Mackenzie and Gavin's pictures.

I promise I really don't dress her like this in the winter. I just wanted something that would show her feet and her chubby arms.



Saturday, February 28, 2009

photography

Before
After


My new friend Mandy Reger is a photographer. She is amazing. She knows so much about cameras and computers. She came over today to help me a little bit, because I am new at all this and need all the help I can get. She does these awesome portraits, where she takes pictures and turns them into paintings and she showed me how to do it. I did a couple practice pictures today (Hers are about a thousand times better than mine). I don't know how much I'll do with it because it takes FOREVER but, I was so excited to learn. She taught me alot about my camera, and showed me some things with the photoshop program that I have been wanting to learn.. I don't know why she was so willing to help me but I am sure glad she was. Thank you Mandy!



BeforeAfter

Friday, February 27, 2009

Update

The nurse from Mackenzie's school called this morning, and they are going to let her go back to school next week. YAY! She is so excited. She was really upset because she missed a lot this week. They had the dentist come talk to her class, which is always fun. Her class is going swimming today, and she's so sad that she can't go. she also heard that her class had a substitute teacher the other day. I don't quite understand whats so exciting about that, but she is thinking she missed something pretty big. She has had fun this week though, because I've let her play webkinz on the computer as much as she wants. I try to limit her computer usage, but this week, she's been able to use it alot more. She has also been able to sleep-in. (me too!) I got all of her work from the school, and have helped her with it. I talked to the nurse for few minutes when she called. She is really nice. I think I've been kind of a pain. I have just been frustrated with the way the school has handled this. She told me that if it were up to her, Kenzie would have been allowed to go back this week. But, the decision was not hers to make. She told me that she had fifth disease when she was pregnant...I should have asked her if it caused any problems for her....It is hard to prevent it from spreading, because unfortunately, by the time you know that you've got it, it's too late. You are already past the contagious stage. Darn it. If I thought there were any chance of Mackenzie "sharing" the germs, I would have gladly kept her home. but, unfortunately, by that point, the damage, if any, had already been done. Anyway, the nurse clarified a few things for me and while I don't agree with the school's decision, I can respect their position. Mackenzie can't wait to go back. She LOVES school.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Fifth disease




Saturday morning when Kenzie woke up, we noticed that she had rashes on both of her cheeks. I spent the whole weekend trying to figure out where it came from. They don't itch or hurt at all. I kept asking her if she had put anything like lotion or make-up on her face and she said no. I started putting cortizone kids cream on it, but it didn't help. Monday morning, I noticed that it had spread to her arms, so I kept her home from school and took her to the doctor. As you can see in the pictures, it is a very mild rash. It doesn't bother her at all. The doctor diagnosed her with fifth disease. He said it's pretty common, it's caused by a virus, and once they get it, they will never get it again. He said it is harmless to everyone, except pregnant women. If you get it when you are pregnant, it can cause problems with the baby. (the chances of it are very slim though) So, he told me to call the school to see what their policy is, that they may want to keep her home for a few days. I read about it on the internet and every article that I read, said that once the rash is visible, they are no longer contagious. I called the school nurse, and she told me that it has been going around the school, and because two of their staff members are pregnant, they are being extra cautous. I don't blame them at all for that but I think they are going a little too extreme. They told me that I had to keep her home all of this week and possibly next week too. Keep in mind that she is already way past the contagious stage. I asked, If the rash is completely gone, can I send her back? And the answer was no. She said they will let me know on friday whether she can go back next week. They are obviously taking it pretty seriously- The funny thing is, You would think, if it's been going around, and they're trying to stop it, that they would send a note home to the parents explaining what it is and what to watch for because the doctor even said that most kids get such a mild case, that they don't even know they've had it. I can understand being cautous, but you would think that once the rash is completely gone, they should be able to go back to school.So basically, she was going to school through the entire contagious stage, and now that there's no chance of passing it on, they are making her stay home for 2 weeks. Kinda pointless, isn't it? Anyway, Mackenzie is getting a nice LONG break from school.

Gavin is the funniest kid, he is always saying things that make us laugh. I need to remember to write them down. The other day, he fell out of his bed and hit his cheek on something that gave him a pretty good bruise. You can sort of see it here. I should have taken a picture sooner. Anyway, he thought the bruise was pretty cool. Sunday, I had decided that Avery and Mackenzie should stay home from church, so I told Gavin "I guess it's just going to be you and me." His response was "I can't go to church, I have a bruise."
We were explaining to mackenzie that she can't go to school because if someone whose pregnant gets what she has, it could make them sick. Gavin was listening and said "miss kerry has a baby in her tummy and she didn't get my bruise."
I probably shouldn't put this one on here but the other night, Dallas wanted to rent movies and get a milkshake, so they sent me to get them and when I walked in the door, Gavin looked up at me and said "What took you so damn long?" I tried not to laugh, but it was too funny because he has never said anything like that before. We did have a long talk with him and I don't think he will be saying that word again.
Last night, when Mackenzie was saying the prayer at dinner, she was about half way through, when Gavin whispered "Hurry Kenzie, I'm hungry!"