In Fields Yards of Wildflowers

Okay, so I promised some pictures from the weekend up at my mom and dad's house. And I was not kidding about the wildflowers. Amazingly, however, this is not a picture of a field, this is in my parent's yard. My parents have a three acre yard to mow and so it had been a few weeks since my dad had time to do it last. This was the incredible result. Three acres full of wildflowers.

Trynica and Berlin had a grand time picking flowers, they never ran out of options! They love picking flowers but often run out of dandelions in our tiny front yard, so they were thrilled with the endless supply of pickings. A good portion of the flowers were up to Berlin's shoulders, so she didn't have to make much of an effort to give them a good sniff.





This is the actual field where the horses live, filled with mostly daisies. Also very beautiful, but not quite as impressive as the front yard itself.




There is a beautiful trail and connects that yard to the field and Berlin spent some time on this trail walking around as nature intended, nakie! Not fully, though she would have loved that, as there were too many bugs. It was really funny, Berlin fell way behind the group, taking her sweet little time to take a walk. Most of the time when I would look back at her she would be standing in one spot, alternately hitting each hand on her legs, and bouncing up and down like she was dancing, only there was no music. So funny!



And remember how I told you that my parents were the only people that I know who live on a dirt road? It really is a beautiful road.



And last, some good old sisterly love. I love these girls. Yes, they may fight and take each others toys, but they can make each other laugh like I can't even get them to laugh.

So Much to Say...

Well, I have so many updates and things to share, but, alas, I have spent so much time editing photos tonight that it is time for bed. I do have to share one thing before I call it a night. Remember that softball (or as Tryn calls it, fossball) team, Business Time, that Steve and his friends put together? (Remember all of the really adorable pictures of Berlin I posted? Example.)


Well, I am so very please to proclaim from the rooftops announce that Business Time has won their first game!! Not only did they win, they beat the other team 20-0! Yahooooo!!!! I am so excited about that. In fact, I feel as though I might have been more excited about it than many of the team members. Very exciting stuff. Good job guys ;)

Really though, I have to go to bed. I have slept in the same room as my girlies that past three nights and let's just say and I am so thankful that I no longer have to get up with them in the middle of the night on a regular basis. They are not sound sleepers. I spent the weekend up at my mom and dad's and have some pictures to show you. Remember that song by Jars of Clay with the phrase "in fields of wild flowers"? Let's just say I could not keep that song out of my head while I was editing photos. Also, with my mom's help I completed a huge project this weekend, one that I am very excited about and can't wait to post the results. And I pulled out my very first diary recently, a pink one with dancing ballerina teddy bears that I started when I was 8 years old, and I have some priceless gems from there that I would LOVE to share with you...but all that will just have to wait. Check back soon for updates!

Updates

Thanks for all the positive comments on my new blog look! It is definitely growing on me, so I think I will leave it around for awhile. It's nice and summery, and that was my goal in changing it, so I think that works!

Also, I loved reading all your comments on my last post about Tryn's potty success. For those of you who don't get my updates on Facebook, we had additional success in the potty department last night. Two nights in a row! So far, so good. I am still keeping my fingers crossed. I loved my friend Conni's response that maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to not potty train and therefore be able to monitor Tryn's dates much easier when she gets older! Not such a bad idea! ;)

And remember how I explained the bribery of the a new princess movie which resulted in potty success? Well, I called around yesterday and couldn't find one. Then I went to a pawn shop and looked through about 1,000 unorganized DVD titles. I am not exaggerating about this. About 1,000 (give or take 100) DVDs that are not organized by title or genre, not organized at all. Flip, flip, flip, flip. I am now very good at flipping through DVDs. All I managed to find was a copy of Bambi (and a Harry Potter movie!) - Bambi does NOT have a princess in it however. So then I went to rent Beauty and the Beast at Blockbuster and they were totally out. Argh! I ended up renting The Little Mermaid, which kind of freaked Tryn out a little bit, unfortunately. The part at the end where they defeat the bad mer-octopus-lady is really weird. I think The Little Mermaid will discreetly make it out of our house and not back in for quite some time. Gotta find Beauty and the Beast somewhere.

In today's news, I just got done having lunch with a good friend of mine, Aleisha, and her beautiful daughter, Cece. Aleisha is a friend that I know from Brainerd and we actually got to spend a little time together this last weekend as well. So these pictures are actually from the weekend.



Also, I just love the fact that more and more of my friends are having babies! For awhile Steve and I felt like the only young parents around. It is just nice to have friends who really understand that it would be great to hang out until 11pm, but that it just doesn't really work so well with kiddos in the mix.

Stinkin' Success

I have an announcement to make. And I am just going to say it forthright...I, for the first time in close to a year, got my oldest child to willingly poop on the potty. How, might you ask, did I accomplish this amazing feat? Bribery, of course.

It’s not like this is the first time we have tried bribery though. Not at all. We have promised candy, chocolate, ice cream, the chance to watch a princess movie, the list goes on and on, never with any success. In a desperate measure tonight I said, “Tryn, look at Mommy. Look right at my eyes (this means I am very serious). You need to poop on the potty. You have to. You are a big girl and you have to stop pooping in your diaper.”

Tryn’s answer? “Nooo!! I don’t want to!”

“Trynica, listen, if you poop on the potty I will buy you a new princess movie tomorrow.”

Let’s just say we had success in about two minutes and two people who were jumping up and down with excitement…albeit for different reasons.

Now I have to go to a pawn shop tomorrow, which is the only place that you can find the real Disney princess movies (as they are only re-released every 7 years and the only way to get a legal copy is to buy someone’s used DVD. Ugh! Does Disney realize how annoying that is?! Seriously.) I don’t mind though, I accomplished something tonight that we have been working on for – literally – almost an entire year. I am pretty happy about that.

And isn't she beautiful?

Breakfast Coversation

As you may remember, Tryn just had her birthday. Prior to her birthday we would have conversations that went something like this:

“First is Berlin’s birthday, then daddy’s, then after daddy’s birthday is your birthday, then it’s mommy’s birthday.” (Unfortunately, Tryn took this as we all get one birthday this year and no more ever…she was excited to learn that she gets another birthday next year.)

So this morning Tryn says to me, “Mom! Next is your birthday! Your birthday is in a few weeks!” Which is mostly true, it is in August.

“Yes, Tryn, it is mommy’s birthday next isn’t it? I am so excited about that.” She missed my slight hint at sarcasm here.

“Yeah, Mom! It will be your birthday!” She is, apparently, very excited for my birthday.

“Are you going to get me a present babe?”

“Yeah! I’m gonna get you a princess thing. And some blueberries. And something like that. And some princess things that go like that and some stuff.” She was holding a fork, eating pancakes, and not making any hand motions so I have no idea what "like that" means exactly. "And some flowers and things that go in your hair. And some flowers with faces on it. And stuff."

“Really sweetie? Thanks! That will be so fun!”

“Yeah, Mom, that will be so fun!”

Hilarious.

Baby Jackson

Two Saturday's ago I took some pictures of a brand new baby, as my girls call him, Baby Jackson. I am pretty excited about how they turned out and LOVE my new editing software. Baby Jackson is part of our adopted family of friends from Brainerd, so these pictures will most likely not be the last you see of him :)

Disclaimer: It was most definitely not my idea to put a week old baby up on a motorcycle. However, I do think that the motorcycle pictures turned out pretty cool. When Steve saw the motorcycle pictures he laughed at said, "Ha! Mark puts his baby on a motorcycle, I put mine on the piano!" These are just a few of my favorite pictures...

New look?

So, I think I might stick with this blog look for a little while. I still have some tweaks to make, can't seem to figure out how to make that box around my header go away. And, even though the new blog background is not vintage, polka-dots, paisley, damask, or earthy, and so therefore, really not my style, Kevin, my graphic designer friend here at work, says that the color matches perfectly with the caterpillar in my new header. That, apparently, is important. He did not like any of my other background choices because none of the colors matched. Meh. I might change the whole thing again next week. The green is very summery and grassy green though, don't you think?

Anyway, I also wanted to share this picture of my beautiful Tryn. She loves to pick me flowers. I don't care if they are just dandelions and, therefore, weeds. I remember picking my mom dandelions several times when I was younger and always being so excited to give them to her. I will take weeds from my baby any day.

HTML

If you are a frequent visitor to my blog, you may notice that the background is looking a little different today. And it might look a little different tomorrow too. I am indecisive and want to have a new blog background, but don't really know what I want for sure yet. So, if you see my blog change appearance several times over the next few days, don't be alarmed. It's just because I can't make up my mind. If you like, or dislike, a certain background more than other please feel free to let me know. I like to hear others opinions - though I don't always listen to them! :) Since there is more likelihood for more than one background change, feel free to leave a little description if you comment about one of them, so I know which one you might be referring to.

I feel like I am leaving one of my rambling voicemail messages.

Have a nice day.

Love this smile

Silly Berlin. Couldn't get her to keep a hat on her head all winter. Now it's June and she thought it would be fun to wear a hat around the house. I really just love both of these pictures and couldn't decide which smile was cuter so I had to post them both...gosh, I just love this girl.

Walking Through Life

I love it when Tryn lets me hold her hand. I don’t get to much anymore, she is a big girl after all and under the impression that hand holding is for babies. However, when we walk across a parking lot (if I am not already holding Berlin, pushing a cart, carrying bags of stuff, or holding Berlin AND carry bags of stuff) I have Tryn hold my hand. Partly for her safety, but partly because it makes me feel like she still needs me. She still depends on me and still requires me to do many things for her, but each day is a step toward making it possible for her to someday live on her own and to not need me anymore. In little things, such as having her hold my hand when we cross the street, we are teaching her not only to be careful of oncoming cars, but to also not jump into things without looking where she is going. So that someday she can not only talk a walk safely alone, but she can also decide if she should get in the car with her friends who are leaving a party after having a couple of drinks.

This last weekend Tryn and I took a quick run to the grocery store for some ice cream. I had her hold my hand as we crossed the parking lot, and this time she didn’t immediately let go as soon as we reached the curb. She held my hand as we walked into the store, and I was not the one to finally let go. The best part about holding Tryn’s hand is that it is like trying to hold onto a flittering fairy. When she is holding onto my hand every stair needs to be jumped, every step needs to be skipped, and there is dancing among all of it.

It’s funny because when she walks alone, she just walks. But when she holds my hand it is like she feels safe and free to wriggle, jump, and dance through each step, because I am holding her hand and I won’t let her fall down. And she is so happy. She laughs and giggles, and even if I am trying to hurry I can’t tell her to stop because she is having so much fun holding my hand. I try to imagine what is going on in her mind and what her steps would be like if she was constantly holding my hand, she would, I think, literally try to fly through life.

It is also these sweet times when I realize that my kids are not the only ones learning from these experiences. It makes me realize how much our relationship with God can be so much like a child and parent. That when God calls himself my Father that he is probably feeling the same thing that I am feeling towards Tryn…that I wish she could hold my hand like this every day for the rest of my life.

Come thou, oh long awaited...Birthday Pictures!!

Yay!! I am not a dummy anymore! Well...nevermind. I at least figured out how to get my edited pictures onto my blog and so here are the long ago promised pictures of Trynica's third birthday party. I have never done a themed party before. I have had Christmas parties and such, but never a full on themed party. Three years ago I would have never agreed to throw a princess themed birthday party for 30 people. No way. Three years later...

We made colorful construction paper princess crowns with jewels on them.

Our daughter was given not one, but two pink princess dresses. The other one actually sparkles and lights up when you push a button.

We colored pictures of princesses.



Played with new princess toys which included dressing and accessorizing princesses (or princessessessess, as Tryn calls them).

And had princess napkins and paper plates, oh help us.

Remember how I told you that Berlin threw a princess style fit when she thought she wasn't going to get a cupcake?

Rest assured that she did indeed get that cupcake and made such a royal mess.

Paisley, just cause she's cute and I really like this picture :)

Princess Trynica hopping around with her delivery of a bouquet of helium infused balloons.

Opening princess birthday presents (this one was a set of four pairs of princess shoes, which Tryn loves and wears obsessively now).

Taking a break from opening presents to read a new princess book to Larissa. Princess books were one of the presents that Tryn actually asked for when I asked her what she wanted for her birthday. She is also quite obsessive AND possessive about these.

Struggling so gracefully and princess-like (not!) to open this present!

And even with all the princess presents and princess things, my baby still likes her cars and trucks. :)


Happy Birthday Tryn!

Oh, and just as a small example, incase you are wondering about the difference between edited and non-edited check out the two pics below. This is not even my favorite example of the difference it can make, but I love this picture and forgot to put it in the with rest, so I am adding it now :)

I am NOT a dummy.

Apparently, Lightroom should come with a manual for dummies. I have figured out how to do a few things, but I managed to split the screen into this duel view thing that I really wanted to turn off. I finally figured it out after fifteen a few minutes, but now I am frustrated. I am going to set things aside for tonight. In fact, the below pics were actually edited, but then, when I uploaded them to my blog, lo' and behold, they were the unedited versions...have no idea how that happened. Still going to post them anyway because I just love them!

How terrible am I, but these pictures aren't even of the birthday girl! Berlin just keeps making me laugh, and I love these photos of her. She is funny. She was watching this whole thing, watching all the big kids get their cupcakes, and then, when she thought she wasn't going to get one too, burst into absolutely hysterical tears. I didn't even think she knew what was going on, but I guess I was wrong. They were such sad tears too! These are a few pre-tears pictures...

Laughter, Good for the Soul

One really fun part of being a parent is getting to laugh at your kids. I mean, let's be honest, while we are often embarrassed by the loud outbursts and proclamations, it makes a great story and it is fun to be able to laugh about it later on. So, while I have had a hard time posting any pictures lately because I am getting a new photo editing program tomorrow (SO EXCITED!!) and all of my pics will look better/more like I want them to after that, I just couldn't wait to share these pictures with you (maybe I will repost these after I "fix" them:).

Oh, little Berlin. My kids are good for my soul. These pictures just make me laugh out loud (every time I look at them!!)...I hope they do the same for you! This is called Blowing Dandelions.







P.S. LOTS more pics to follow in the next few days of the Princess Birthday Party that we had on Saturday, but I really am going to wait for the photo program before posting any more pics...so you'll just have to wait. Between my brother and I, we got some really great shots of the party, I am excited to share them. Later though.