"Hilarious Outtakes" - I Heart Faces

This week's challenge at I ♥ Faces is "hilarious outtakes". Given that I mostly take pictures of children, and given how much my children like having their picture taken (not!), I have plenty to share. It was a challenge to figure out which five to post. I settled on these because they make me laugh. I hope you enjoy them too. Head on over to I ♥ Faces to see other entries.

I love this picture of my daughter, Elizabeth. I had taken several pictures of her. Got to play with the camera, you know. After a while she surely let me know that she was D.O.N.E.! My college roommate was kind enough to let me "borrow" her kids one day this Fall and I made multiple attempts to get a picture of the three of them. This one makes me laugh so hard. Little boy on the left looks like he has a headache. Middle child wouldn't stand up if you paid him. Beauty there on the end LOVED to pose. :)This is my son, Andrew. I got a number of GREAT shots of the kids at the beach that day... but this wasn't one of them. Well... truthfully, I kind of like it. Makes me smile. When I took this shot, I was still attempting to get a good picture of our four children. My mom had been asking for one for a while. That day was NOT the day. Andrew was not going to sit and smile no matter what. Nathan would not get his hands out of his mouth, and Alex had quite the silly smile.This is a recent picture. The kids were enjoying their huge lollipops at their aunt and uncle's house. I just happened to catch Elizabeth looking cross-eyed at her treat!

Christmas Card

As promised, here is the "inside" of our Christmas card... well, not quite. I left up Elizabeth's snowman painting as I really like it.

This year in the ********** household

* We began the exciting though sometimes intimidating journey of homeschooling our children. So far it is working out well. The kids love to learn and we are enjoying our flexible schedule.

* Alex (almost 7) had his first visit from the tooth fairy! He recently lost both of his bottom middle teeth!

* Elizabeth (8) is thoroughly enjoying her watercolor lessons. She painted the snowman on the front of our Christmas card!

* Our family enjoyed a two week vacation in Kauai with Kari's aunt and Kari's sister and family. We got plenty of rest, visited the beach every day, swam with turtles, laughed, rode horses along the bluffs (Elizabeth), took a helicopter ride over the island (Gordie and Andrew), took basket weaving (Kari and Elizabeth), hung out as a family without the interruption of work, household chores, and cell phones.

* Andrew (8) is spending hours each day playing on our new (used) piano. He's taking lessons and is enjoying composing his own songs. We've also discovered that he has a beautiful singing voice and he is enjoying learning to sing hymns.

* Nathan (2 1/2)is finally talking up a storm after two years of silence. He amuses us all with his choice of words. He's got an infectious smile and an enthusiasm for life.

* Elizabeth spends oodles of time writing and illustrating creative stories.

* Andrew is happiest when he is doing anything related to Star Wars - putting together Lego sets, reading magazines or books, or watching Star Wars the Clone Wars on TV.

* Alex continues to be our resident chef, bread connoisseur (his choice of words to explain his love of all kinds of carbs!), and bird enthusiast. He's also learning to read.

* Kari spends much of her free time practicing with her camera and has recently starting a side business doing photography for family and friends.

* Gordie continues to work at ***** Airport and Kari continues her part-time position at ******. In these tough economic times we are thankful to be employed. We don't know the future, but we do know the One who holds our future in His hands... and we are grateful for His goodness to us!

May God richly bless you this holiday season and in the coming year,

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you all!

This is the picture that Elizabeth painted for the front of our Christmas card. I love it! And I love how much she loves to paint! I'll post the "inside" of our card another day.
This is another of my favorites that Elizabeth recently painted. It has a funny story, too. She explained to me that her two older brothers had buried her in the snow and then run in the house and shut the door and locked her out so that they could decorate the Christmas tree by themselves... Poor Elizabeth. :) I've just finished wrapping up presents and am heading to bed. The kids will be up at the crack of dawn, feverish with excitement about opening gifts. They are also excited to finish the final chapter in the devotional we've been reading - Jotham's Journey. It's a fantastic book. The author really hooked our two boys - a challenging thing to do... They can't wait to read the book each day. And... it has really helped us focus on the true meaning of Christmas.

We wish you all a very merry Christmas and a year full of God's abundant blessings,
Kari

Look what Grammie is giving away!

Grammie has paired up with MckMama to do a giveaway as well. She is giving away a brand new copy of Adobe Photoshop Elements 8. Go check it out here.

Same as MckMama. You can win extra entries by tweeting about the giveaway, mentioning it on facebook, or posting about it on your blog.

The giveaway ends tonight, so hurry on over!
Kari

Look what MckMama Is Giving Away

MckMama is giving away a copy of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2. Come check it out here.

She's picking a winner tonight so hurry on over to enter. If you tweet about it or mention it on facebook you can earn extra entries! If you write a blog post about it, you can earn yet another entry!

Hopefully I'll get around to posting an update soon!
Kari

Hide And Seek

This morning I woke to the sounds of the kids playing hide and seek (yes, I got to sleep in.... My husband usually takes the "early shift" - until 7 - with the kids as I get the kids when they wake in the night).

Nathan called out, "1, 2, 3, 19, 18, Hide and Seek.... Here come I"

I just love, love, love listening to kids when they are learning to talk. They come up with so many entertaining and adorable things. I especially love listening to Nathan talk. Our sweet little guy was silent, completely silent, for so long (over 2 years!). It's a delight to hear him babbling away, communicating, making folks laugh. Thanks be to God!

Here are a couple of other cute things Nathan has said this week:

I was rushing about trying to get out the door with the four kids the other day. I asked Alex to get his shoes on and he didn't oblige. I asked him again, only to walk back into the room and see that his shoes still weren't on. In one of my finer parenting moments, I yelled at him to get his shoes on! Nathan looked up at me with wide eyes and said, "NOT TO WORRY!"

A couple of nights ago I was at the dollar store with the four kids. They had each earned a dollar to pick out a Christmas decoration of their choosing (Their choices - a giant stocking, some garland, a bow). Nathan was over-tired and kept trying to run around the store. I kept track of him until I had to pay at which time I asked the kids to keep their eye on him next to the register. I heard a shriek and looked over to see Nathan yelling, "Nay-Nay escape. Nay-Nay escape." Nay-Nay is what Nathan calls himself. He was announcing to everyone that he wanted to "escape" and run around the store.

I love you little man. And I love you Elizabeth, Andrew and Alex.

Poor Elizabeth has a UTI. I hope you feel better sweetie!

Want a chance to win a new computer?

Don't know if anyone even reads my little blog here, but MckMama of My Charming Kids is giving away a brand new HP TouchSmart 600. I hadn't ever heard of one, but after reading the review decided I just "have to have one". LOL! :)

So, if you'd like a chance to win, hop on over to MckMama's giveaway blog to learn about the giveaway and to enter the drawing. Tweet about it and earn another entry. Blog about it and link it and earn a third entry.

Good luck!!
Kari

Blackberry Pie

Alex, you make me smile. I love all your little quirks, and I love the adventure of raising boys with Asperger's.

Some cute things you've said recently:

"Mommy, I LOVE Grandma's blackberry pie" You do?! Have you ever had it? "NO, but it sounds like the sort of thing you're supposed to say." :)

"Excuse me, Mommy, but my sweatshirt just had a little breakdown" (You had just spent quite a few minutes trying to get your arm back in your sweatshirt sleeve after taking the sweatshirt off to do something. You were frustrated that the sleeve was inside out and finally decided to ask for help)

"Look at all that trash Mommy. Some people are apparently under the faulty assumption that the earth is a trashcan!" (said after looking at the trash littering Big Y's parking lot)

"My problem is that my pants like walking on the ground too much" (said after pulling your pants up for the umpteenth time... Mommy needs to buy you a belt. You are getting taller and more and more thin.. not even slims fit you at the moment)

I love you Mr. Alex!

Swallower

Poor Alex has been sick. This on top of having his adenoids removed last week.

When I woke up a couple of days ago, I found Alex by my bed. He said, "Mommy, I'm sick". I asked him what was bothering him. He said, "My swallower hurts". :)