what are you doing this Saturday?

If you are in town, and have a minute, come by Belly to Baby sometime between 9 and 6. It's the grand opening of this great maternity/baby boutique! I promise, you'll love it! Not to mention you get to see some of my recent work nestled among the fun new baby & maternity products! Pauline has a bunch of giveaways as well as treats and doorprizes! Oh, also---if you are thinking of booking a spring photo session with me, come on down and book your date with me on Saturday at Belly to Baby and you will receive a $25.00 certificate that can be used towards your print purchase!! 

Can't wait to see you all there! 

are you tired of her yet??? I think this is my most favorite photo stage ever! love. it.

ten for tues.

1. after my never-ending nightmare of an afternoon yesterday, today was no better. i'm starting to think that koren is going through his jealousy/bad behavior stage that we thought we would have to deal with after teag's was born. hopefully it wont last long because i'm starting to think that full time daycare doesn't sound too bad. 
2. it's gloomy out. i think that is partly to blame for my bad mood. i'm exercising more so i thought that would do the trick but in reality the only thing making smile at the moment is justin coming home from work and rubbing my shoulders. i'm a pretty lucky girl. 
3. tonight is the big soccer night. we are playing for the championship! it makes me giggle just typing that out. i feel like i'm in highschool again and that our team should be having a pep rally right now. go dutch mafia! 
4. we made a neat purchase this week. our video camera we bought before koren was born was supposed to be this great, sleek, modern thing. in reality it sucks and it doesn't work with my iMac. I've been wanting to post little clips and haven't been able to so Jus gave me the go ahead to order a Flip camera. How cool is that! I'm super excited and i'm thinking that I will have to make occasional video blog posts. 
5. Me and the munchkins are tagging along with J to Seattle this Thursday. I'm looking forward to getting out of town for a night and doing a little shopping on Friday. I'm trying to come up with a plan to make Koren look (and act) like he's three so I can drop him off at the IKEA play area while I do my browsing. if he was wearing a stinkin' pull-up i could probably pull if off. 
6. did you know that Jamie Lynn Spears 16 (for those of you soo behind- Brittney's sister) is said to be marrying her 18 year old bf before her baby arrives this summer!!!!! I bet you all really, really wanted to know that. 
7. for anyone who is wanting to learn to cook and needs some help with in the kitchen technique problems you MUST check this site out! I never knew there was so much to know about cracking an egg open :) 
8. i'm constantly coming across fun etsy finds, today is a new shop that i haven't seen before ( i know, i don't know how) how fun and modern is this! 
9. for anyone out there who is thinking of starting a blog, i say DO IT! you will love it. your family will love, love, love it! Especially if you have kids and want to share their latest and greatest achievements. 
10. my friend sara recently sent me a link to a fun baby shop in texas and it got me thinking what are YOUR favorite places to shop and browse? send me a link, drop me a line, LEAVE me a COMMENT basically is what i'm saying and i'll pool them together in another fun shopping post! 

take care this tuesday! ( i needed to look at a sweet pic of my little angel boy that i know he realy is) koren-6 months old

i'm thinking CPS should be notified :)

with a title like that i'm sure you are wondering the story behind it. 

My son.....what can I say about Koren. Well he's an extremely clever, unique, creative, outgoing, smart, active little boy. He's also bossy, manipulative, sassy, and defiant. I know that most of those traits are common for two year olds, but today was a day of pushing me to THE LIMIT! It all started off just fine, we slept in, had some breakie, and played hard at open play gym. After play gym we went to the YMCA so I could workout and he played great in the daycare area. Then we met Justin for lunch & we proceeded to enjoy a nice and calm lunch. THEN... out of nowhere he bolts down the stairs at Jeepers and runs RIGHT OUT THE FRONT DOOR (yes, like right next to one of the busiest streets in town). I quickly drop everything i'm holding, chase after him, yank him from behind and drag his butt into the car for a very harsh scolding. He smiles...ahhhhh I think the best part of that was that he did all this right in front of a group of child social workers having a lunch meeting. ha. they should have taken him away right then. So, we get home and I say that it's naptime, he says plainly NO. ok, one cartoon then naptime. Well 4 cartoons later (2 hours) still no nap, he has become even more sassy and tells me that I NEED A TIMEOUT! Wait a minute, he did not just say what I think he said...ah ok so I resort to a form of punishment that I have practiced once before and I feel like if I do it again I really need to call for help. I stuck him in his carseat, in the car, with the lights out in the garage. I left him there for ten minutes! I just couldn't look at him. But the worst part of all, when I went out to talk with him about his behavior all he did was look up at me with his big brown eyes and say, " i'm sorry mommy i no be a naughty boy anymore, i be a goodboy." GUILT- that's what I felt next. I guess this is just life with a two year old right????

stumbled across this

FANTASTIC site- i. love. it. ALL OF IT! 

how sweet and simple, plus Punky Brewster is one of the co-creators. I think I should by something just because she was an old fav. what do you think? check it out HERE!! The Little Seed

sew fun

i have discovered another creative outlet. sewing. i really don't know how to sew other than cute little scraps of fabric onto cheap white onesies. everyone has to start somewhere, right? 

for me, the most fun is going to the fabric store. it brings back so many memories of being a kid and going with my mom to look for fun fabric for some MCHammer party pants. it's a shame that wenatchee really lacks for a great fabric shop. lucky enough, i'm a fab. internet shopper. ha. stay tuned for more creations. and thanks mom for all the help (i couldn't have turned on my sewing machine without you)

it's 10pm and here's my ten

1. We just got done watching American Idol. I def. have my favorites and am looking forward to seeing how the show pans out. 
2. Still can't figure out putting video on blogger. Does anyone have any input?? I might have to ask Jus to tinker with it. Koren riding the chairlift if something everyone just has to see! 
3. The UPS women brought me my wonderful new stroller. Koren & I put it together and now we are just itching to go for a walk. With the super sunny and a little warmer weather I think we will be at the loop trail first thing after gymnastics tomorrow. For sure. 
4. My soccer team kicked butt tonight! It was a really scrappy game with a team that was not so nice, but man that just makes winning even better. Next Tuesday we play for the championship. How STINKIN' cool is that! I just love soccer nights. I love how much energy I have afterwards and how great it feels to have sore muscles the next day. 
5. Teags is now officially crib-trained. Ha, that makes me think of a puppy sleeping in a crate. But for real, every night down like  a champ to a little Jack Johnson and her cool mist humidifier. 
6. Today I broke out the sewing machine and wiped a little dust off the top. I picked up a handful of super cool, fun, hip & modern fabric over the weekend an am determined to replicate some samurai pants and onesies that I just ordered off of Etsy last week. I figure spending thirty dollars on something that I can make is just silly. The only problem is, is that I really cannot sew. I am learning, and a good thing is I'm a fast learner. I monogrammed a onesie today with a big T in my favorite brown pattern fabric. I'll take a pic and post soon. 
7. Why is it that we consistently have a TON of laundry. I swear my life revolves around the washer and dryer. I think back to living in Australia and only being able to wash clothes twice a week then having to line dry everything! Man, if they only new how much energy I use up on a weeks worth of clothes...good thing we live on one of the worlds best energy producing rivers
8. If you have ever thought about starting a blog, now is the time friends and family! It took me forever to make that first leap and i'm just lovin' it! Join the bandwagon and we can all be blog buddies...hahaha i'm in a super corny mood tonight. 
9. My dog is a wee bit smelly, I think he needs a trip to Petco soon. We just love the groomer, Brandy, so if you are ever needing a good recommendation for an awesome pet-loving person she is the stuff! 
10. I'm going to leave ya all with a lovely little pic of my girly sittin' up and giving a nice big grin! Have a great week!!!!

watch out Bode, here comes Koren!

I'm trying my best to figure out how to put some awesome video of Koren skiing on here!! Blogger is telling me there is an error in uploading the video so maybe  in the morning i'll get it working. It's good. Really good. We took Koren up skiing for a few hours this morning and after about 3 runs down the rope tow he asked if he could go up on the chair lift. Umm, sure why not. I'm not sure what the rules or the age limits should be, but i'll tell you there was not one other 2 1/2 year old up there! He ROCKED IT !!! I'm mean, seriously this kid has NO FEAR!~ I think it was one of my proudest moments as his mom seeing him love something as much as I did as a kid. He had a smile from ear to ear. I JUST LOVE THAT BOY!!! check back, hopefully i'll get some footage up soon! HOpe everyone has another great day off tomorrow!~ 

it's still friday

and here are my five fun finds for the day: 

1. Eco-Me,great stuff for the home, kids, AND pets! Also check out the links section for some pretty good "livin' green" tips. 
2. For the past couple of weeks i've been trying to find alphabet flash cards for Koren, everything seemed to look the same until I came across these- kinda fun website too! 
3. Oh My! umm pretty much makes my night, except for the fact that currently i'm trying my best not to eat brownies. I think if I had one of these I would eat the ENTIRE pan!
4. Thanks Bec, for the copy of my current favorite Jack Johnson cd. I think i've listened to it a trillion times already. LOVE. IT. (if I was any good at blogging, i would figure out how to actually post a song, but i'm not so i guess it's not your lucky day)
5. how about this great, fun, super neat, SOON TO OPEN (MARCH FIRST) new store in WEnatchee: Belly to Baby My friend Pauline has such a wonderful concept as the front of the store will sell super fun and modern baby and maternity products and the back portion will be used as a classroom. cool eh? ALSO- if you want to see some of MY WORK she will have belly and baby photos plastered all around the store. GO CHECK IT OUT!!! 

Have a fantastic weekend!!!

share a little love today

Happy LOVE DAY!!!! 

To my husband- 

Thank you so much for the beautiful flowers, you are the BEST! It's amazing how this is our seventh V-Day and it still feels like the first! I love you. m

a day late

I meant to post this yesterday, didn't happen. This is our afternoon in review:

• guess who's hiding in the closet? can you also guess what he's doing in there??
• chunky cheeks hanging out on her changer ALONE, isn't that what all those magazines and books told me NOT ever to let her do..hmm 
• stamps on the hands and feet are from Tumblebuds gymnastics class- LOVE IT!
• Vicks cool mist humidifier, I think will be a permanent fixture in T's room for awhile. 
• Koren & Teag's hanging out, do you notice that the girly is sitting all alone :) 
• Oscar giving some lovin'

10 for Tuesday

1. It's sunny outside and as Koren would say, "that makes me happy."
2. Soccer tonight. Oh how I look forward to soccer. It's been a few months now and I think it's probably one of my favorite nights of the week. Thinking about soccer however makes me want a coffee. Why does soccer make me want a coffee you ask, well because our team is Dutch Mafia aka Dutch Brothers and I just love, love, love an iced nonfat sugar free white mocha from the sweet little shop that it is. hmm maybe when kids wake up from napping we will make a quick stop..hmmm
3. This past weekend I decided that we too had a lot of "stuff" in the garage AND the new storage shed. Most of the "stuff" was baby stuff. How I accumulated so much stuff is beyond me. I've been wanting a very frivolous  and overpriced double jogger and if I was going to get it I had to sell the other 4 strollers that we own. Thanks to some newly preggo friends and craigslist, I was able to get rid of EVERYTHING. Again, that makes me soo happy. I ordered my new stroller this morning, and I really can't wait to go for a run now. See that's what I was waiting for, until it's here next week and i'll have to think of another excuse. 
4. Teagan is feeling much better, or she is at least sounding much better. I think that we have gotten over the hump of being sick and hopefully can stay healthy the rest of the winter. 
5. I really want to go skiing. I can't believe we haven't been since going to Big White with the Reichert's in January. I'm thinking we will have to fit that into this weekend FOR SURE! 
6. My brother Donnie & his wifey Hilari are moving back to the Tri Cities from Cali. It will be nice to have all of our family in the same state. Although I was looking forward to a little trip to San Diego just to spend some q-time and whatever else we might find ourselves doing in California. Oh well, Kennewick is just as good....ha
7. SOOO Teags' is a bit over 5 months and FINALLY she is sleeping in HER OWN CRIB!!! I'm not sure why now, but she is a champ! Justin & I have reclaimed our bed FOREVER! Seriously!~knocking on wood at the moment
8. speaking of beds, I'm in the market for some new bedding. After wondering through Overstock.com, I think i've settled on this set. what do you think? Kinda funky, kinda modern but isn't that what i'm about? 
9. wow i've almost made it to ten and both monkeys are still asleep. what a fantastic afternoon :) 
10. I'm doing a bit of meal planning at the moment. It's a really bad idea to watch the food network when you are hungry because looking at my grocery list I'm destined to break the bank. I better go figure out what I actually have in my cupboards before heading out.  

tired.

This has been a long week. A very long week to be exact. Teags' being sick was just the beginning. I'm not sure why I feel so exhausted but I do. 

I don't have much to post tonight, so how about some pics of the kiddos. I know, kinda boring but that's all I can think of for now. 

Here is a shot of both kids right around the 5 month mark. They both have some cheek lovin' going on! 

FINALLY!!!

thanks to BabyGadget, I think potty training could be breeze. 

I know that Koren's grandpa's will think this is pretty neat, check this awesome toddler toilet out!

how stinkin' cool eh? 

read about it at Baby Gadget

gotta love a little Etsy

 

Some of my favorites that i've been wanting: 

with a T, of course)

Green Apple Boutique

ave a major "thing" for baby shoes!

Pedrosprout 

doesn't everyone know this is my FAVORITE fabric of absolutely all time?? 

If it was up to me Teags & Koren would be dressed in it head to toe, everyday! love, love, love it!!!

Snuggle Bug Baby Boutique

Well I think this is a good start. If you haven't shopped Etsy before, CHECK IT OUT! 

Miss T's 5 month report

5 months on February 3rd: 

has the sweetest, chubbiest cheeks- EVER

loves to be cuddled

has tried sweet potatoes, carrots, and bananas

smiles soooo big first thing in the morning

REFUSES to sleep in her crib

likes the sound of her own voice 

seventeen pounds!!

mastered the roll over- both ways

thinks her brother is super fascinating

has already learned how to ham it up for the camera

Tuesday's 10 or maybe just 5

1. Teags is sick. As sick as she's been since her time in the hospital after she was born. Me being the laid back kind of mom that I am, chalked it up to her just having a little cold. Why wouldn't I? Koren had the same cold, which eventually got better. Justin & I decided yesterday that I better take her in and get checked out. Well, umm, hmm...I def. receive the bad mom award for the week. After a chest x-ray, o2 sat check, nebulizer treatment, RSV culture, and a bunch of prescriptions to send us on our way. Oh and not to mention that she cannot get ANY worse in fear of being hospitalized AGAIN...ahhh this girl just loves to be difficult. So we are home, quarantined  to our boring house. I think i've watched enough cartoons to last me a lifetime.  
2. I had my first photo shoot on Saturday since taking an extended break to get myself geared up for another year. I had such a blast with the Hunter family. Two sweet little boys just made my day. You can check out the session here. 
3. Today while my sickies were sleeping, I finally re-launched www.mkcphoto.com!!!!! This is BIG! It has a long way to go before it's actually looking like a real site, but at least it's up and running and I can start booking clients for the coming months. YAY
4. It's snowing, i'm having a love-hate relationship with the current season. We are a ski-loving family, but I'm needing to get out of cold season before my hair turns grey. I can't handle this sick stuff much longer. 
5. Just got home from soccer (if you are wondering if we took our little girly out we didnt) and we lost. It's our first loss of the season, boo hoo. 

my favorite time of day

BATHTIME! 

I'm not sure if it's the sweet little voice telling me he's a scuba diver looking for sharks, or the wonderful smell of a spiffy clean baby that I like more, but I just  love, love, love bathtime. 

Although the last couple of baths around here have been full of Vicks Vapor bath in an attempt to head off a nasty cold, I look forward to this special time each night. 

5 great things to do while watching the superbowl

1.  EAT - Justin & I have been really making a change to our diet this past month and today we through it all to the side and have enjoyed every bit of football munchies. 
2. Clean, throughout the game I have been able to clean odds and ends around the house. 
3. Scrapbook
4. Sleep!! I have no problem catching a cat nap during the game. It's funny how I can snooze through the boys jumping up and down and yelling at television. 
5. play on the computer and come up with super cute pics of Teags in her tutu..haha she is so going to get me back one day!!