Summer Time Family Photos 2011

First of all where has the time gone? I haven't posted for a week! I swear life is at full speed right now and most days I don't know if I am coming or going :)

Well, we got our Summer Family Photos of 2011 taken on Saturday! I am so grateful to have a great friend Elizabeth at All About the Adkins who has found that she loves taking pictures and she graciously offered to use our family for some practice! I think she is wonderful and talented and I couldn't be happier!

For any mom out there you know that picture day is one that is dreaded (at least in our house). You try so hard to pick out the right outfits, the right time of day when you hope and pray your kids are at their best (i.e. not right at naptime) and you may or may not even have your 4 year old practice smiling a "normal" smile not the one where he likes to squint his eyes and show every tooth he has in his mouth!

But then the time comes and for me I start with beads of sweat on my brow and upper lip the moment we pull into the photography session. You brace yourself, say a prayer and get out of the car pretending like you are as ready as ever as you watch what you hope it is the "Hart" family pile out of the minivan.

Fast forward um let's say 5 minutes. Already at least one if not both children have sat down, doesn't want to smile and has lost all interest in taking pictures what so ever! You are trying to smile thru gritted teeth taking your wee ones off to the side to bribe them with everything from a shopping spree at Toys R Us to a 6 foot candy buffet if they can just march their pretty little bodies over there, smile and take some good pictures!! For the love of Pete people how hard is this! Apparently to my children picture taking is the equivalent of going to the dentist!

So after I have sweat poring down my head and face from all of the bribing and threatening somehow it is time to go. You politely thank the photographer and walk to your car dazed and confused asking your husband, "What just happened?", "Did that really just happen?", "I will just be happy if I get one decent pictures after that chaos!"

And then days pass by and you get an email or a "sneak peek" and you see that somehow this amazing person captured exactly what you wanted her to capture, she actually snapped a pic during the 5 seconds that your children smiled and she made our family look "put together" and not like a bunch of raging lunatics! ha! God Bless photographers!!!

Thank you to Elizabeth for these wonderful family photos and to all of the photographers out there that are able to capture these moments because you really are miracle workers to all of the sweaty moms who are off in the corner begging and pleading with their children for just one good shot! I think I got WAY more than just one good shot! :)

Next time we will try for one of all 4 of us, I just didn't want to come off as an overachiever! ha!

My beautiful Ann Mason who is rarely serious so I love this picture!

My sweet, sweet momma's boy.

Love this! This is totally Palmer he does this pose a lot when he is thinking!

That smiles melts my heart!

Love him!

Tex and I! It is so nice to have some of just us two, it rarely happens these days!

My beautiful baby who is only 2 but somehow looks 4 in these pictures!

I am a total SUCKER for the back shots and holding hands! This will be blown up, framed and hung somewhere in the house!

This pictures is worth 1000 words, this girl is a mess!

My bud, he still loves me after 12 years!!! I am SO thankful to be his wife!

Mommy Time!

I have been gifted with some unexpected mommy time! Why is it when we are with our children 24/7 we are secretly and sometimes vocal about how much we would love just a moment of quiet or just a minute to use the bathroom by ourselves or not clean up any messes and the list goes on. Then suddenly you are gifted with this precious mommy time and if you are a lunatic like me you suddenly become anxiety ridden and somewhat distressed about what to do with all of this free time???

I have decided that on average I usually get about 1- 1 1/2 hours a night of real mommy time. I justify the meaningless, mind numbing things that I like to do with my mommy time with the fact that my job has it share of pressure, I am constantly going and doing for someone or something and when I do have time, I want to think as little as possible while being entertained by something other than something obnoxious like Calliou or Imagination Movers :)

Hence here are just a few things that I am doing currently with my mommy time!

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Cringing Watching as Ashley Herbert tries to find the love of her life! Don't even get me started on this Bentley thing. I can almost tear up thinking about Ashley watching these shows somewhere and how humiliated she must feel. I have also felt tempted on numerous occasions to write the bachelorette producers/directors and let them have a piece of my mind. They have no heart, but they do have ratings! It is like a bad train wreck, I want to turn away but I keep on watching!

Oh the Voice, Oh Adam Levine! My oh my how I love this show! I loved it from the minute I saw the 10,000 previews advertising it. It has not let me down! It is thoroughly entertaining and I love every minute of it! If you watch it I hope you agree that Dia Frampton's version of Heartless by Kayne West was brilliant!

I have also tossed aside my more serious books for something more light hearted and let me tell you Rob Lowe can tell some stories! This book is great and has a lot of name dropping and gossip! Absolutely perfect for mommy time!

Other than that I just chopped off my hair today. I went thru a phase where I really thought I could pull off long hair, I dreamed about it and fantasized all of the different ways I would fix it when it got longer. Well the awkward shoulder length came and I came to the realization that while the bob is boring it is also classic and is quite possibly my best look :)

So here's to all of them mommy's out there and their much deserved mindless mommy time that comes not so very often! Enjoy!

Damn you Target!

I had one of these days today! The ones that start bad at 6 am and finish bad around 9 pm! The kind where mommy wants to lay down in the parking lot and throw a fit but I can't cause oh yeah, I am THE mom! The kind of day where you start saying things that you swore you would never say as a mommy for instance "Guys, mommy is about at her wits end, do you know what that means? (Head nods from the back seat) "It means mommy is about to go PSYCHO!" May I preface this by saying this was only after my brilliant idea to "run" into target with two not so good mood kiddos to pick up a birthday present for a 4 year old.

Ok I dont have much experience buying other kids birthday presents but let me tell you it sucks! Your kids are cranky, they want everything you are pointing out for the birthday child, they have no concept that just because it is small doesn't mean that it doesn't cost $99.99! So after a hell-acious battle of transformers vs. Cars 2 toys we finally settle on a Transformer that I had to use every bit of sales experience that I have learned over the last 7 years convincing my 4 year old that it was SO cool and the birthday kid would totally LOVE it just so we could get the heck out of target!

Fast forward to the check out lane, my favorite! Ann Mason insists that she wants a sun drop like a man in the dessert needs water! So like any good mom I open one up to stop the incessant screaming and embarrassment. That is until she spills the entire thing on the checkout girls conveyor belt. "Clean up on aisle 7" So after that embarrassing moment I am rushing to get out of the store and into the car. I am by far threatening everything fun that we have ever planned to do in their whole lives and we are finally driving down the road and I don't have my wallet!

You know those really huge mommy wallets that have like everything you have ever saved over the last 6 months including and not excluding receipts, social security cards, checks from your boss, debit/credit cards, license, gift card, phone numbers, you name it! So as I am trying to meet my 39 week pregnant girlfriend at the park I am literally going "psycho" as promised!

To make a long story short I dump one of my children (the lessor of the two evils at this point) off on the 39 week preggers in the 98 degree weather and head back to Target to stalk, harass and look under each car in the entire aisle that I parked in, to no avail! Defeated, frustrated and severely angry I call my husband. Why not? Because you know how we do, it is totally his fault for not being here that I lost my wallet! I mean if he was here I would have much more sense and sophistication and never have had my 2 year old spilling sun drop all over target and fighting with a 4 year old hence the fact that I would never have been so distracted that I would have forgotten my wallet!

He does what any good man would do and calmly asks "Babe, it's ok do you know where you left it?" AGHHH! With this statement I hang up it is best for the both of us that I cut all ties of communication at this point. Do guys get it? No, I don;'t know where the heck I left it, if I did, I would be on that and have my wallet back in my pretty little purse! I rejoin my poor pregger friend that I see lifting my 40 pound son onto monkey bars and want to die and let her know that in fact we were not successful in the search!

After 3 meltdowns, one body slam to the ground (by the child himself) and one fall accompanied by a scraped knee I take the cue and head to the car. At this point I decided to once again call target and ask have they found the pretty little lime green wallet that contains my life? Alas, they said yes!!!!

I drive 100 to Target just in case they happen to mistakenly give my wallet to someone else. At this point we all had calmed down, talked about making tomorrow a new day and did our cheer where we put our hands together and yell "Go Templeton's"! That is all we can do right? We can't pass the test everyday?

And yes, I did call my husband to let him know that I had a moment of insanity and yes, I realize that he had nothing to do with me losing my wallet when he is 140 miles away and that I loved him dearly!

And yes again, I called my preggo friend who is thankfully one of my oldest and dearest friends to say sorry for the insanity that I could not even try to fake with a smile. She laughed and said her day would come as she is about to have #2!

As I sit here tonight with both kids asleep finally getting some "me" time, this makes me smile. Not at the laughing point yet but I will get there. My life is chaos as I am sure every ones is with kids or at least I hope or I just choose to read the blogs where all the other moms act like fools like me! :) This is life, this is what we do! Here's to hoping tomorrow is a better day!

Outdoor Fun~!

After getting over the horrible procedures :) The kids and Tex came home from being out of town and we decided to finally have some fun!! The weather was SO much nicer than it has been in a while, the humidity isn't horrible and it doesn't feel too bad to be outside!

Saturday we went to a baseball game and the kids had a blast! It was beautiful weather and so much fun!

Annie and Palmer during the baseball game.

Palmer and Bryson practicing baseball like the "big boys" 

Annie doing her best to aggrevate Bryson, she didn't have to try hard :)

Dawn and Ann Mason, they had a blast!

The next day we decided to relax and not do a whole lot other than go to the park right by our house!

Annie "cheesing" before we left.

LOVE THESE TWO!!! Best friends!

Going down the slide, they look too big!

This cracks me up. Annie in the driver seat and Palmer chillin in the back! This is the way it works most of the time! We are praying for a smooth week, we already have Monday out of the way so that is a good sign!

I am 65!

Apparently I am 65 or at least I felt like it on Friday when I joined everyone else 60 + and over in the waiting room for a colonoscopy and a endoscopy! I had said before that we had not determined why I kept on having this painful "attacks" and the gallbladder was ruled out. The attacks had gone away for about a month but came back about a month ago with a vengeance! After some tests and talking with my pcp we decided I would go to a gastronologist. Fast Forward to Thursday and I am in the gastronologists office signing up for a colonoscopy and endoscopy.

I picked up my "prep" kit and headed home to start the process at 8 pm! I wasn't allowed to eat from 8 am on Thursday until the next day at 4 pm, a little too long let me tell ya! The prep was not pleasant but wasn't as bad as I had thought. The procedure was a breeze I remember nothing but after the procedure was HORRIBLE! Apparently I am that person that no matter what kind of anesthesia I have, I just wake up throwing up violently! This continued all the way home in the back of the car as well! YUCK! It finally stopped and I did what any person that hadn't eaten for 30 hours would do and ordered a large pizza by myself! haha

They did find that my esophagus down to my low intestine was hugely inflamed and angry red??? They biopsied a few things and took out a polyp. I will get more results this week. I am thankful that I am pretty sure that nothing more than an antibiotic, constant antacids and being aware of my food intake is all that will be needed to cure this! Unfortunately this also means that I will be finding myself getting a colonoscopy every 5 years from now on :( It could be worse! I am just thankful it is OVER and hopefully I can be on the road to healing my insides and feeling a lot better!

Mid Week Playdate

Our sweet friends Elizabeth and Hannah invited us over for a mid-week play date! It is SO nice to have something to look forward to that kind of breaks up the same routine for the week and the kids love new adventures. I must admit, I was tag teamed two kids/one mom and tonight wasn't one of my finer displays of how to parent :) By the time I left I just sat in my van and thought, "What in the world just happened" haha I am pretty sure most moms have those moments or at least I hope they do! I know one thing that happened the kids had fun so that is all that matters!

Disclaimer: The pictures you are about to see are NOT my finest collection. With 4 active kids and not really a free hand, I did what I could to snap a few shots :) You will get the jest of the play date! ha!

Palmer heading down to get in the pool!

Not sure? Ann Mason loved the little baby pool!

Ashley and Belle came over to see us since they live in the same neighborhood! Any chance I get to see my awesome niece makes for a great night!

I tried so hard to get a front shot of Hannah because her bathing suit is to die for! It has ruffles that dip in the front. Truth be told I wish they made one for my size maybe in black :) Hannah is adorable and I could just eat her rolls up!

The sweetest, most content, beautiful and photogenic child ever... Belle! This baby just steals your heart and you never want to let her go! She is such a good baby!

The girls eating at the princess table! I saw a side of Annie that I hadn't seen a lot of yet. She was quite the um, Mother Hen! I don't think she realized that Hannah is not that much younger than her and not that much smaller than her either! She would bend over and talk to Hannah and tell her what to do! Oh my! She had a tight rein on poor Hannah but thankfully Miss Hannah was a gracious hostess and went along with Ann Mason's demands. I guess Ann Mason has gotten a lot of practice from her baby dolls?

Is it Friday yet? Not sure how it is only Wednesday tomorrow but here's hoping that the week goes a little faster and the weekend lasts a little longer!

Lazy Days of Summer!

Tex has officially started his new job and things are a little crazy during the week to say the least! We are all slowly finding our way in our new routine and schedule and it seems like things are finally going more smoothly. The kids started back to school a few weeks ago and Palmer LOVES it, Annie has a little bit of a hard time during the morning drop offs but greets me enthusiastically when I pick her up and tells me she had SO much fun!

With such busy weekdays we have tried to really savor our weekends and by savor I mean we do NOTHING and we are LAZY and it is WONDERFUL! ha! We have already gotten our money's worth out of the pool this summer, it is by far our favorite activity and we spend most of our weekend there! Personally, I can't think of many other things I would rather do :)

Annie and I during our weekly shopping spree at Krogers. If she is good she gets to ride the fire truck and horse at the end! It is always a treat :)

We have a new revelation, swimmy arms!!! I don't know why in the world I didn't try these until now. Maybe I did last summer and I don't think Palmer liked them so we opted for a Spider Man life jacket. So, since he is getting "so big" now he must have seen that other kids were wearing swimmy arms and not life jackets so we followed the crowd and he LOVES them! I was so surprised at how well he did swimming with them!

He even jumps off the side and no one has to be there to catch him! He tells me to watch his "flips" which is pretty much a cannon ball. Here is his stance for the big jump!

Getting ready for lift off!

I could never catch one in mid air so here is him coming up from under the water! He seriously did this 151 times, it wore me out just watching him!

Here he is swimming to the stairs all by himself! I realize swimmy arms are still a floatation device but I was still really proud of how brave he was and how he wanted to swim "all by himself"

Oh Goodness! Here is my diva in her "baby suit" as she calls it and her sequence flip flops. Ann Mason isn't as much of a fish as Palmer is. She much prefers to be on the side eating snacks and dancing to the music coming from the boom box :)

Not really sure where this stance came from?? Maybe from having an older brother? I asked her during this stance if it was a cheerleader pose or a football pose to which she replied "football". Not so sure I am going to get this girl in dance classes any time soon!