August Highlights

I have so much fun putting these little monthly highlight videos together!  August was a great month!  We celebrated Allie's birthday, ended summer break, started school, hatched new chicks, missed school to watch the eclipse, boated, and had a lot of fun in between!  Hope you enjoy the video!

Cute/Funny/Sweet Kid Sayings

3-3-16

Austin was watching babies on tv and said (with his arms crossed across his chest), "I don't like babies! They white wall me!" {side note: my kids think white walling each other (pulling down another kids stretchy pants) is hilarious.  Guess their mother has taught them a thing or two she probably shouldn't have!}

3-5-17

Every week I try to set aside some time with each kiddo.  This usually happens when I tuck them all into bed.  I tell one they can come back in the family room with me and we chat.  When I said it was time to get ready for bed, Austin said, "Tonight my date night wiff you?" 

3-15-17

Austin calls his backpack his packpack.

3-29-17

Me, "Austin did you sneak in the cookies?"

Austins response, "Um... but.... I love you."

4-28-17

Krissy came in my bathroom while I was getting ready for bed.  She asked if she could have some of my "eye tacts".  I told her I had know clue what she meant and she pointed to my contacts.

5-4-17

Austin learned a song at church.  He sings, "Holly who ya" for hallelujah.

5-17-17

Me to Krissy, "I just saw a mouse in the barn!"

Krissy, "Was it eating cheese?"

6-5-17

We were watching A Dog's Purpose and when they showed a baby golden retriever Austin said, "Awww can I buy one? It's sooooo tute! I have a quarter!"

6-27-17

Hayden has been saying the sweetest things. He told me, "I think Krissy is going to be a great mom". He wanted to help me with our landscape and said, "Well I have to learn so I can help my wife and kids". He was really proud of the landscape and kept walking out to the street saying, "Mom, this looks so amazing!"

He's also been asking more grown up questions about life and finances: What happens if we don't pay our bills?  Can anyone ever take kids away?  Can we be foster parents?

7-14-17

We were driving home when Austin realized my wallet fell out of my purse. I looked back and told him he was my sweetest little helper.  Krissy was VERY offended and screamed at me, "NO, IM YOUR SWEETEST LITTLE HELPER!"  I do give her that compliment a lot, because she really is the best helper.  Just something about screaming she's the sweetest made me laugh.

9-6-17

I dropped Krissy off at pre-k and I knew Austin was sleepy and needed a nap. Since it was just me and him at home, I thought I'd stay in his room with him till he fell asleep. He kept smiling at me and said, "Mom, member when you use to lay me down and then leave? You should do that." 

DIY Photo shoot Tips

If you check in with my blog, you'll notice around my kids birthdays, I post pictures from a DIY photo shoot.  This tradition started a few years ago, and the special time spent together is loved by all the kids.  (When you're one of four kids, individual time doesn't happen every day, and the kids just soak it up!)  I also like to take our yearly Christmas card picture.  We've made it a yearly tradition to go to Santa Claus, IN to do a photo shoot and go visit Santa afterwards.

I would call myself an amateur photographer with a descent digital camera.  I have very limited experience with editing (I bought a program called Corel and have taught myself some basic editing) but regardless of all that, we always end up with pictures from our photo shoot that we love.

I've come up with some tips for you to have the same success if you do your own photo shoot!
 

Great background, her favorite stuffed animal, and perfect weather! (a little preview of Krissy's birthday pics)

Select a location with pretty backgrounds.
We have several great options in our town.  Gardens and parks make for great backgrounds as long as there aren't going to be a lot of people walking in and out of your pictures.  Also homes with pretty yards have been a go-to location for us in the past.
 
If you're taking pictures outside, take them as the sun is rising or right before it sets.
That time of day is called the "golden hour" for a reason.  It's the best time to take pictures!  Your subject(s) won't have squinty/blinky eyes, and the sun won't be blinding anyone.

Bring a prop or two.
My kids all have a favorite stuffed animal or blanket.  I love including these props in a few pictures.  In previous years, I've brought a prop that goes with their birthday theme too (a unicorn horn for the year Allie had a unicorn party).  For Christmas pictures, I've added ornaments to evergreen trees.  This just requires a little thinking ahead of time!  Old blankets to set in the grass are always a popular prop too.
  
Plan to spend about an hour taking pictures.
That sounds like a lot of time, but it always flies by for me.  I like to explore the area with the kids, and capture their natural expressions.


Take lots of pictures!    
Maybe I take too many, but I'd rather have too many than not enough.  I usually end the hour with 300-400 pictures.  With that being said, there's usually less than 100 that are keepers.  I think my camera age and lens quality may have something to do with it, but I get blurry photos, or my auto focus will focus on the wrong thing.  That's why I recommend taking so many pictures!   

Don't take extra people with you, unless they have a specific job.
The more people that are around, or the more you have to stop to attend to other kiddos, the more distracted you and your subject(s) will be.  I love when my husband can go with me.  He's a pro at getting the kids to smile their best, natural smiles.  That's the most helpful when I'm trying to get my yearly Christmas card picture!

Remember to have fun!
I like to sing, dance, tell jokes, make funny faces all for the sake of getting great smiles.  My husband will do hand stands and hang in trees to get a good laugh.  If you're stressed and not having fun, your subject(s) will feel the same way!

Chicken Business

I forgot to make it blog official - but we have baby chicks!  On August 13/14, 2017, three baby chicks hatched.  They are 3 weeks old now!  The kids have been so excited to tell everyone about them.  On Allie's "meet the teacher" night, her teacher said she's been so excited to tell him about them.  He said he grew up on a farm, so he enjoyed hearing about them.  Hayden told his teacher, and she said I could email her some pictures to show the whole class.  I put together a little flipagram video for them, which the students and teacher loved :)

I've also been sharing lots of pictures and videos on my instagram.  It's amazing to me how fast they grow and change.  It's also been very different this time because our first two sets of chicks didn't have a momma hen - and our momma hen, Jelly, has been so great!  These babies are the best bug hunters, and they already know how to take dirt baths.  It's pretty much the high light of my day to sit outside and watch them.  My favorite has to be when they peek out from their momma's feathers or when they sit on her back! 

Here are a few more pics I took when they were just a few days old.

Kealy Family Photos

One of my best friends, Whitney, is visiting from New York and asked me to take some pictures of her family.  I thought it was so sweet of her to ask - and I couldn't wait!  It was the first time I got to meet her precious little girl.  I really just wanted to hold and squeeze her the whole time!  Those legs and those cheeks - they were TOO cute!  I also loved watching Whit be a mom, and watching her parents interact with their little grand baby. 

We went to Friedman Park, which is less than a mile from her parents house.  The weather had been cool and overcast all day but the sun and heat came out when we started taking pictures.  The park has several covered areas that worked great for pictures!  Here's a little sample :)

 Love you Whit!  Can't wait for you to have lots more cute babies :-D

Allie's Birthday & Party

Allie loves her sleep, so it's no surprise that we were all waiting on her to wake up the morning of her birthday.  We arranged her gifts so she'd see them as soon as she walked into the family room.  Kevin and I went back and forth about how to give her the big gift- a new bike - but we just decided to put it in the family room so it would be the first thing she saw!  That ended up being a total fail because she was still waking up and didn't see it!  I got it on video and it was cute :)

Allie got a new helmet - it has a kitty face mask she can take on and off.

No birthday at our house is complete unless you have a cat play in the boxes and wrapping paper!

Allie LOVED her new bike (once she woke up! ha!)

While she played with her new gifts (she also got legos and a new cooking set for the play kitchen), I baked cupcakes to get ready for her lunch time birthday party.  We invited our family to Gatti's Pizza in Boonville and I let her invite her 3 best friends from school.  Two of the girls cancelled the morning of the party and our little birthday girl was about in tears.  It made me so sad for her!  But one of her besties came and she was so glad she was there!

Allie & Marlie

Allie has been loving Oreos lately, so I made Oreo buttercream icing for her cupcakes!

The party was so fun!  The staff was super nice, and we gave the kids tons of tokens to play with.  We somehow had the entire game room to ourselves, which I thought was so fun!  Most kids got several hundred tickets, and they loved picking out prizes at the end.  We had cupcakes, opened gifts, and came back home to play some more before church that evening.

After church Allie decided she wanted O'Charley's for dinner.  She loves their potato soup.  It was a great day for the birthday girl!

Allie's Birthday Interview

Allie and I sat down for a birthday interview yesterday.  

I asked her to finish these sentences. 

Tomorrow I'll be:  the birthday girl.

My favorite thing I did this summer was:  going to Florida.

My favorite memory from kindergarten was: making friends.

When I grow up, I want to be:  a mommy.

My favorite color is:  orange.

My favorite tv show is:  Curious George.

My favorite place to go is:  my friend's house.

I'm really good at:  singing.

I'm excited about 1st grade because:  I want to make new friends

My favorite food is:  spaghetti and meatballs

My birthday wish will be:  to get all those tickets at Mr. Gattis like I did last time.

My best friends are:  Olivia, Gianna, & Marlie

My favorite thing to do outside is:  ride my bike

My favorite restaurant is:  Chuck E. Cheese.

While I'm 7, I'd like to:  swim in my pool.

Allie's Birthday Photoshoot

Today is the eve of Allie's 7th birthday.  Taking the kids out for pictures has become one of my favorite, treasured birthday traditions.  We've been spending time at Friedman Park in Newburgh lately and I thought it would be a great place for her pictures.  I took them on Tuesday evening - which is when we had pop up showers!  It actually hailed on my van a couple hours before we took pictures, and rained a few times on and off that evening.  Luckily, we didn't get rained on, but we did get some great backdrops to work with (hello rainbows!).  I love her smile with big gaps (can't wait to see what those permanent teeth look like when they come in!), her pink glasses, and of course those blue eyes!