five favorites (01/23)

I missed my “Five” post last Friday, so obviously, I had to make up for it somewhere! The end of the week turned into one big whirlwind of activities, so there literally wasn’t time for me to get on the computer at all. It’s crazy how life really can get that busy these days.

Anyway, some of my favorites from last week:

ONE. To piggyback on the cuteness overload in my last post, I had to start off with the sweetest little smile of the happiest baby girl! Her feet might not reach the pedals yet, but watch out, there’s a new driver in town!(And there are headbands all over the outside of the car because her sisters “decorated” it for Christmas…)Move on over!

TWO. It’s a good thing… a really good thing… she’s so dang cute, because then she turns around and does stuff like this! Newsflash: Cucumber slices are NOT hair accessories. Her hair was so slimy and crusty that she needed an emergency bath!

THREE. When your kids are in the bathroom and yell for you to “come see”, you never know what you might find… but I walked in to see these girls being sweet, sharing the step stool and hugging while getting ready for the day.

I know it seems like such a small thing, but these are the moments that remind me why I’m so grateful for our homeschooling schedule. There’s actually time for the girls to be together, whether that’s in the morning because we aren’t running to catch the bus, or just throughout the day in general. Don’t think they always get along like this, but that’s part of the beauty of it all, too- working through the rough parts of our most important relationships.

FOUR. We had enough snow, ice, and cold temperatures that the public schools canceled all but half of one school day last week! I missed a run, but to me, it is just not worth risking slipping on black ice (which we had a ton of around here). When most of it had melted, I was excited to get out for my run, even if it was only 10 degrees! I obviously needed a frozen-faced photo when I returned:FIVE. We let the girls stay in their jammies for most of the week, since we were snowed in anyway. They were looking so adorably snuggly that I just had to get a picture of all of them together, but despite all the marshmallow-bribery in the world, these were still the best I could do. Nella was just too busy shoving those marshmallows in! For fun, I let Kaya try to take a real picture on my DSLR for the first time ever. She actually did really well! And hey, here’s to maybe getting in more photos.I don’t know why Kaelyn looks so hesitant, because she willingly joined me for this one. Oh well, I still love it anyway!And now, of course, Kaya is asking to take pictures all the time… so she’s saving her allowance for a real camera of her own. I really hope she follows through with it, because I’d love to see a glimpse of the world through her eyes.

Happy Tuesday!

birthday party weekend!

I haven’t even had my REAL birthday yet, but we already celebrated it with both sides of our immediate family this past weekend! We had a little party on Saturday, but the whole weekend felt like a celebration to me- I got to run while grandparents watched Kaya, we ate a million of my favorite foods, and we had ice cream or cake (or both!) every night. Yeah… I’m spoiled.

Chinese-food buddies! (We are also mac ‘n cheese buddies…)

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Just before the party, everyone banned me to Kaya’s room so that they could decorate. I was pretty excited to see all the hot pink streamers and so many of my photos covering the walls.

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I was even MORE excited to see THIS sitting in the middle of all my gifts!!!

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No, your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you… really! Michael surprised me with a Canon 5D Mark II, and I still can’t believe it! I’ve joked about wanting this camera for over two years, and it’s finally in my hands. I’m really looking forward to using it for both future photoshoots and just my own personal photos. My buddy is the best.

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I also had a fudge brownie ice cream cake (and I didn’t even make it myself this year)! Mmmm. (Not sure what happened to the “h”… I never saw it. Oh well! Guess it’s my “birtday!”)

_MG_8725I love all these crazy people and feel so blessed that they could be with me for my birthday. They make me feel so loved. I’m also so thankful that I now have a sister and a daughter to celebrate with!_MG_8760

Aaaand you know we can’t pose without doing something crazy.

_MG_8766A few other photos from the weekend:

Grandparents can’t get enough baby cuddles!

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And apparently Karl can’t get enough Juni cuddles.

_MG_8771Then Mom and Karl were cuddling each other (are you seeing a theme here?)

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And I have been cuddling with using my 5D Mark II. I can’t believe how sharp it is!
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the pancake

On Sunday night, Michael installed a special app (that he made) on my phone. It was called “Surprise”, but it wouldn’t open until the time he set on it- which was 8 am on Monday!

I noticed on Sunday night that he had been acting a little sneaky… and when I woke up on Monday, I saw all these little barcodes stuck in random places around our house. The “Surprise App” started working and gave me all these clues that led me to different items. Then I’d scan the code with my phone, and if I was at the right item, it would tell me something that Michael loves about me. I am so glad I have a nerdy husband, because he’s so creative in showing me he cares for me.

It was a fun way to spend a Monday morning, and a real self-esteem booster in these last few weeks of pregnancy. There were 40 clues and 40 I-love-yous.

And when he got home, he said, “Well, there’s something interesting about the number 40…” and he pulled out a Canon 40mm f/2.8!

Canon released this pancake lens back in June, and I’ve had my eye on it even before that, so of course I was super excited and wanted to go try it out right away! It is very sharp, produces great color and I am impressed with the bokeh, too.

(It seems like the wind always blows when it’s my turn for a photo…)

The STM motor is incredibly quiet, which I’m sure will come in handy when I’m taking my millioneth video of munchkin once she arrives!

(Just to set the record straight… I didn’t ask him to be this silly. He did it all on his own!)

And I made chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting to share with our friends who came over to watch Hokie football… so I had to share a photo of those, too!

trying

It's officially Thanksgiving Break!!! I guess this will be my last one ever, unless I decide to go to graduate school or something. Every fall you just wait for this much-needed break, and then before you know it, you don't get a break anymore. Maybe that's what it means to be a grown-up?

Anyway, my test was tough, but at least it's over. So now that studying is temporarily over, I took the new camera out and played with it to learn how to use it. Here are some photos… Don't be too hard on me for my first try!

spoiled much?

Sometimes you'll have a rough day at school: your class presentation just didn't go exactly the way you planned, and you have a huge test in three days. Maybe you just want to cry over it like a big baby, but then your extra-giddy husband picks you up from class. He's smiling and driving, and stops at a red light (way to obey those traffic rules, hubby!) and then… he pulls a Canon camera bag from just behind your seat and plops it in your lap.

What?!

This exact thing happened to me yesterday. I didn't even believe there was really a camera in the bag at first! No way he would go out and buy a Canon T2i. Well, I was gravely mistaken, because he did not just go buy the camera of my dreams, he also skipped class to do it! Whoa. Now that is love.

I have been waiting for this for at least a year or so, and now that I have it I'm honestly so excited that I'm nervous I won't have enough skill to put it to good use. I'm waiting for the weather to clear up and my huge test to be over on Thursday, and then I'll really see what this puppy can do.

Yeah, I'm really too spoiled. But hey, he can use it too! =)

a day off

At work yesterday, we finished everything we needed to do for the whole week. Which means I had today off! So I relaxed, did laundry, and cleaned my guinea pig cage. Day off = housewife duties. I guess.

Anyway, I had enough time this morning to muse over the finer things in life. Like, does anyone actually eat anything besides the marshmallows in a box of Lucky Charms?

Yeah… that's why this is Michael's cereal, and not mine! Though as a kid, I do remember forcing down all the 'yucky bits' just to get to the good part. What a tough little kid I once was.

Today poor Juni became my "guinea pig" (haha) and had to model for me while I messed around with the new camera. I love it, but I'm still getting used to it.