Our House.......someday

Not too long ago, Melinie and I had a meeting with Community Frameworks, and we signed the papers for our house. We are going to be building along with a group of our future neighbors as part of a sweat equity program. We are pretty excited at the prospect of being homeowners and especially of a brand new house. I think it will be a lot of fun to be able to have a hand in the building itself, and I hope they let me integrate a few of the toys from my industry. So, this isn't exactly a picture of our house of course, but it is the same floor plan. We can't wait to start building and documenting the whole thing here.

Light of a Better Day

Well the weather today has been a little tumultuous, and we have had more than enough of our winter blues. We (Melinie especially) is ready for spring and more sunshine. This is a picture I took of some equally odd weather we had when we went to Jason and Tanya's house the other day. If you look closely, you can see that there are snow flakes falling but the sky had cleared up and it was blue skies and sunny. Pretty odd, and it had been nasty all day so it was nice to see it clear up finally.

oops, pic didn't upload. I will get it loaded up a little later.

Me and the kids....

I thought it would be important to document that I "mommy" am in fact at all family outings, photo shoots, and behind the camera most of the time. :-)

Skate Night

Tonight was Mirabeau's family skate night. We took the kiddos and met one-gramma there who had Sierra hang out with her for the day. We all had a pretty good time and the girls definately enjoyed their first time out on skates. Since we don't have a good pic of the girls together, I am gonna make this a two-fer. So here you go, my Sierra and Aaliyah on their first roller skating experience. I am sure we will have many more to come!

Cutest Evaahr!

Yeah, thats my baby boy. I'm not quite sure what it is about this pic that I love so much, but he is just so cute. He looks like a little round faced michellin baby. Ben has been doing great, and is usually pretty happy except for a couple of hours in the evening when he gets a bit of an upset tummy. We sure love our little guy.

Caitlin!!!

Congratulations are in order for friends Jason and Tanya Spurlock (sorry if i spelled any names wrong!) Today, we got to go meet their new baby girl Caitlin. She's a cutie, and she even has more hair than me...yeah I got a haircut whoopwhoop. I know this is more of a daddy picture than a baby picture, but hey, we're important too. Soo, anyways, congratulations guys, and good luck!

Grandpa...

Even though Ben is still to young to know the importance of "grandpa's" his presence is still very necessary. What is it about presence in a child's life? Children are taught to love, and learn by example and yet they have so much more grace for strangers or people who are absent and than aren't. Perhaps its what Jesus was saying about being more like a child. my children are blessed to have role models they can count on.

Aaliyah's Cutest Look....

Finally!!! I asked Aaliyah to pose for a picture and she actually did it! I told her to give me her cutest look, and this silly little smile was what I got. Up until now, every time Aaliyah saw a camera she would run the other way. If I said hold still, she would move. If i said smile she would cry! You get the point, its a miracle that we have any cute pictures of her at all.

Domino!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And Away they went..............
Grandpa, grandma (who is not pictured here) Aaliyah and sierra spent several hours playing domino's during our annual stoneridge retreat this year. They would make rows of dominos some shaped like a snake, or a heart, or a plain line and watch them all fall down. Stoneridge is a fun family tradition, and this year we were blessed my the grand folks because they wanted to keep the girls, while we went home with our little one Benjamin. Let it be known, that day off was a blessing.

A Special Spot

When we were staying at my parent's house for Christmas, we were all out in the guest house. In one of the corners of the room, there is a big book shelf/cabinet sort of thing, and Aaliyah thought it was pretty fun to get up in the shelf side to have her own little bed.

Another Nephew update.....

Micah Victor Crabtree is growing strong so his proud daddy tells me. We had a good time the other day telling each other stories about our boys. Shea was telling me that it takes micah a good 20 minutes to wake up, that he has to stretch, yawn, poop, and make faces several times before he is awake enough to commit to eating. We were laughing pretty good, it was a fun visual of him. Sounds like a real cutie! Sheaden and I were really close growing up, and we would spend hours talking about life, and friends. As adults we have married, and moved several times and he now lives in California. Our lives were very differant, but now i feel like we have something to share with each other, and I also gained a wonderful sister. What a blessing !

BlueManAbstract

I had seen a post on a photography website about camera throwing and thought it was pretty cool. So, while I was at the Blue Man Group show I decided to try it since our crappy little digital camera couldn't take a decent picture in the show lighting. This isn't actually a throw picture, but more of an intentional shake, but I thought it was pretty cool looking nonetheless. We are headed up to Stoneridge with my family today, so hopefully we will get some good pictures for posting this week. Have a good weekend.

finally, a real outfit...

up until this point ben has been wearing classic newborn clothes, which mostly look like pj's to me, but today i ventured forward, and put on him an outfit that was a bit too big still but cute never the less. Although i am afraid that i will have to seek out cute boy clothes harder than i ever had to with the girls i am convinced that cute boy clothes do exist.

Guess who?

Alright all you faithful blog followers, tell me can you tell which one of our three lovely children this is? Is it sierra, Aaliyah, or Benjamin (or bendaman as aaliyah calls him) Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Flash Back

A while back Melinie was taking her photography courses at our local college. This is another one of the pictures that she took and developed herself that I really liked. Aaliyah's eyes just look sooo cute and with her hugging her teddy this is just an adorable picture. Melinie really took some great pictures, and I hope she picks the camera back up soon. (She has been a little busy what with having a baby and all!) Oh by the way, Happy Valentine's Day!

My Paper Pilot

Sierra and I have been playing the last couple of days with some paper airplanes that I made her and her sister Aaliyah. She really likes to get the planes to glide well, and she does a really good job with it! I was a little surprised to see how good she did with them. She likes it when we take turns and throw them back and forth to each other. Aaliyah took a turn for a little bit too, and even though she couldn't get the hang of it as well as sissy, she had a good time as well.

stressed filled weeks. ..

Jesse has had a rough several days, since last Friday actually. Work has been busy and stressful, and I am stressed when he gets home so that doesn't help at all. He has been getting over time which keeps him very busy, and tired. The girls really don't like it when he works overtime, because they miss him alot when he isn't home. Sierra is so funny, and will ask me if her daddy will come home tonight?

Still amazed !!

The blue man group concert was really cool, and they did lots of inventive and expressive things. Such as making music by drumming on pipes, and as you see in this picture they are drumming, and splashes of color and lights create an amazing visual. my favorite thing they did was using really thin pvc pipes, and they made a whipping/swishing noise. It was a cool sound! They also had a huge bass drum that they would hit. This was such a cool concert!

Potty Chair Fairy

As I was watching Aaliyah run around and play today, I was growing increasingly annoyed at the pull-up she was wearing. I told her that today she needed to say bye-bye to those nasty pull-ups and get some big girl undies on. She seemed pretty happy with the idea. She knows how to go to the bathroom on the toilet, but sometimes just decides she doesn't want to. We will see how it goes, but I am truly hoping that we will once and for all be able to rid those nasties good riddance!

Baby Boy, Ben...

Well our boy just keeps growing, he was 20 3/4 inches long, and weights 9 lbs, 14 ounces. He is a pretty good baby and has been spending more time awake during the day.

Where's our buddy?

So, our good friend Alex is in the Marines, and as such he is sometimes called off to do deployments or training. Right now is down in California going through some sort of Sergeant's School and he has been there for quite a while. I know, Alex, I didn't get the name of the actual training right, but it's the idea that counts, right? So, while he has been gone, his wife Alicia has taken their three boys and gone down to stay with some family in Cali too. Needless to say, we, and our girls have been missing our buddies. This is Isaiah (sp? sorry Alicia) their middle son. We miss you guys, and we are looking forward to you coming home.

Dirty Deeds....

...not done dirt cheap. So today was the terrible....dreaded.....woefull....curcumcision. Echh, I cringe just typing it. So my poor little buddy had the dirty deed done today, but on the upside, he seems no worse the wear. He is a little clingy with momma, but I think things are going as well as can be expected.

by the way, that is a photoshop of ben, not the real goods, and just for comedic effect. Yeesh, get of my back allready, don't you know I had a bad day?

How to be a Mega Rock Star............

Tonight Melinie and I got to go to our first show of the Blue Man Group. It was a great time, and the show was a lot of fun. Our seats were directly back from the center of the stage, and during the show, one of the Blue Men....let's call him Frank....walked right by us to find a volunteer from the crowd. I have another picture of our good friend Frank about four feet away from us, but this one cropped a little better, so there you are.

Booque-berry

mommy told Aaliyah to stop and smile for the camera, but she had a better idea. What a little silly head. She is becoming much more expressive, and she is even more stubborn than her sister.

Thanks Mom!!!

Well, this is my momma. She was wonderful during our week after having Ben. She stayed with us for an entire week. We really appreciated the help, but we noticed we didn't get a picture of her up from when she was staying with us. So I know we are a little behind the times on this one, but thanks a lot mom for being you. We love you.

Thank you !!

Today was the big day! Yes, it was my first boy baby shower. It was really fun, my girl friends did a great job planning it, and we played a few really fun games. Opening the presents was so fun and different for me. Boy clothes are all so different than girl clothes. No offense to the designers but girl clothes are way cuter than boy clothes. Thanks again all you ladies who made today possible.

HAIRCUT, CAN I GET a "WHAT, WHAT"?

Well, today was a big day. I took Sierra to get her hair cut and layered. She was a little concerned, because she wanted her hair to be long, but with some convincing she gave in. I needed a change, and she needed to be able to brush and mostly do her own hair. The best of both worlds. Things worked out pretty well and she (and I) love her new do.

btw, yes we are making fun of you ben

BINGO Was His Name-O

Both girls love playing their Disney DVD Bingo game, they got this game as a present from grandma C. Aaliyah is very quick find her number, and Sierra gets a little distracted but finds it soon enough.