embrace the camera ~ oct 20

i thank God every single day for choosing me to be this sweet boy's mommy.

miscellany monday ~ oct 17

linking up with carissa today....

{one}

last weekend, we participated in walk now for autism speaks. {i'll have a dedicated post on our experience soon.} we had team t-shirts printed by a friend and her husband, who own a printing company called darby productions. i don't know what i would have done without them. by the time we decided to participate in the walk, they only had a week to get our shirts ordered and put together and we couldn't be happier with the results. 

shameless plug - they print ANYTHING. so if you ever need anything printed - t-shirt, sports team banners, anything...please check out darby productions! :)

{two}

if i never have a chance to get out and enjoy some grown-up time with my girlfriends, i'm pretty sure i would lose my mind. i'm thankful that the mister understands this and is always so accommodating to my going out and gallivanting every once in a while.

i joined a great group of girls yesterday and we hopped in a hummer limo and went wine tasting at some wonderful livermore valley wineries. 

it was sooo much fun and a great escape. i'm definitely starting this week feeling refreshed and ready to take on whatever may come. 

{three}

i just love seeing the interaction between any and all of my boys. they just have so much love for one another and, even as the baby of the bunch, wyatt is no exception.

liam has in-home behavioral therapy every morning. he and his teacher do most of their work in his bedroom and we put up a baby gate to keep liam from "escaping" when he doesn't want to work. wyatt sits outside the gate and waits for liam to have "play time", which is three minutes of free play every 10-15 minutes. 

these photos were taken on separate days. wyatt sits and waits at liam's gate every single day. so sweet.

 peeking in at his big brother.

{four}

we recently signed up for our local csa {community supported agriculture} and received our first delivery of produce. fresh, organic produce, supporting local farms, and delivered to boot. can't beat it. this is definitely one of the biggest perks of living in california's central valley.

{five}

we officially have two charles gracie jiu-jitsu students!

mikey started at the academy last week. 

mikey has been looking forward to starting jiu-jitsu for a long time and was super excited to finally get his white belt and his very own card with his name on it {this is where they track progress to the next belt level}.

and an after-practice cookie from the market next door. :)

{six}

i always knew that my poor kids were going to have horrible eyesight. and i got an initial confirmation with the purchase of isaiah's first pair of eyeglasses. he is near-sighted and doesn't need to wear them for reading and writing {doing so would actually make his vision worse}, but he does need them during class lectures. 

i won't deny that i was really, really a little excited about helping him pick out a fun, hip frame. it helped a lot that we both liked the same frames. his choice involved no coercion from me....i promise. :)

{seven}

and just because there's no such thing as too much cuteness.

fun stuff

lots of fun stuff going on in our casa. but, i probably didn't have to tell you that. i'm sure you know that there's never a dull moment in this house full of little boys.

looks like little mister wyatt is ready to start walking. 

someone, please, catch me. i'm feeling faint.
my bittiest baby is growing up so fast.

btw, check out that awesome wooden walker i scored at a thrift store for...wait for it...$2.25. holla!

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i went scissor happy with liam's hair. he was looking a little wild and cray-cray with his einstein-esque 'do. now he looks all proper with the short hair. we like to call him "congressman".

cracks me up how isaiah always needs to get into the picture, too.

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and look what we have here.
mister mikey was student of the week!

i'm so proud of that little monkey. he is really loving school and that makes me happy.

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i went to check on the boys tonight after they went to bed and found liam asleep in isaiah's bed. last night, mikey, liam and isaiah all slept in isaiah's bed. bear in mind, isaiah's bed is a loft bed...so i was up every 30 minutes, checking to make sure none of them were on the floor with a concussion from falling off.

sweet, sweet brothers.

 they are lucky to have a very tolerant eldest brother. even their mommy doesn't let them sleep in her bed!

embrace the camera - oct 13

wyatt is my lap baby. kind of like a sweet, fluffy, little lap dog...except he's a baby. and equally sweet and fluffy. he loves to just sit on my lap. which is actually pretty convenient since i like to sit in front of my computer. it makes both of us happy. 

he was a tad bit confused as to what this bright rectangular thing was in front of him. he was probably wondering why his mom sits in front of it so much. one day, sweet boy, when you're old enough you'll realize  what i was doing. capturing your life. bottling it up so that i can save it and hold onto it and never have to let go. because mommies have a hard time with that "letting go" stuff....

life story binders

i'm the mom so that means i'm also the family historian. and it just makes sense for me to be the historian because, if left up to the mister, our family history would be tucked away between the driver's seat and center console of his car. 

i have TONS of random papers, report cards, particularly awesome school work, certificates, etc. that i've collected since isaiah started preschool when he was two. i've always just stuffed them into a folder in my file cabinet as they came through the door. but i'm starting to find that his folder is bursting at the seams and i've been thinking for a while now about how i can compile it all. 

i love to scrapbook, but that method of compilation is just not sensible nor practical. i'm a perfectionist when it comes to my crafting, so i've never even attempted to start a scrapbook or baby book for the kids because i just know it would never get done and i'd fall farther and farther behind. i don't have the time to sit scrapbook anymore.

i recently found an idea on pinterest for a life story binder. it's basically just a binder with a ton of sheet protectors and you just slip in all the papers that you want to hang onto. i've even seen it made with one binder per school year, which makes sense, but that would be way too many binders after four kids. i decided to just start a binder for each child and see how many years i can fit into a binder. 

i put isaiah's together this morning in about 30 minutes. i loved that. time is money, people. well, i guess not really since i don't make any money...but whatever.

i had fun and got a bit nostalgic while going through isaiah's papers and art. this kid has lived A LOT of life in just a short seven years. i can't wait to see what the future has in store for him.

his kindergarten "all about me" poster is tucked into the front cover. 

yes, i know the binder is pink. but i work with what i have on hand, friends. i wasn't going to go out and buy a new binder when i have a perfectly good {pink} binder sitting in my garage.

preschool photos.

preschool graduation photos and program.

kindergarten. i saved one of his homework packets and wasn't sure why at the time. now, i'm glad i did.

random art and crafts from kinder. 

awards and ribbons.

sports.

more sports.

and because life and grade school is not all rainbows and butterflies, i even saved one of those "notes home". 

i also started a life story binder for mikey.

and liam! that turtle is the first image he ever tried to color.

i'm happy i thought to save so many of these little things. and now i will surely continue to do so for all of my boys. childhood is fleeting. and soon enough, it will be over. these memory binders will be all we have to hold onto and remember their childhoods with. i hope that one day, when the boys get older, we can look through these books and they will see what a wholesome life we tried our very best to give them. and even though we are nowhere close to perfect parents and they will only remember how mean we were for not letting them go to their friend's house after school, we did everything we possibly could for them and loved them with all of our hearts.

embrace the camera - oct 6

fall is finally here, friends! it's october, the weather has cooled down, and it's raining! yay! wanna know our favorite part about fall? the pumpkins! we had our first visit the pumpkin patch last weekend, and boy, was it fun!

too bad liam wasn't looking, or this would have been a pretty decent picture of the six-pack. :)




my dad came over saturday morning with my sister and her kids to catch isaiah's soccer game, then we all went to the pumpkin patch together. but it was an even more special outing for the kids because my dad drove out to our house in his rv. we all piled in and headed to the patch! it was very beverly hilbilly-esque. heehee but the kids thoroughly enjoyed it.

here are liam and my niece, siliana, enjoying the ride and some sweet treats.


i love this picture of my sweet boy. your joy is contagious, liam!




the bigger kids battling their beyblades in the "bedroom" of the rv. they were really enjoying being able to ride without seat belts. that was the most exciting part for them. {i have no clue why they always have to make faces at the camera.}


here are all of my dad's grandchildren in one place! seven of them, so far. number eight is on the way...and it's NOT coming from me!!!!


siliana and mikey.


for those that don't know, my isaiah firmly believes that he is a ninja and must challenge himself with any ninja-like task that is presented to him. when he saw that the pumpkin patch had this amazing rope course, he made it clear that he NEEDED to do it. and here he is...jammin' through the course like it was nothing.

umm...my knees were shaking just watching him up there.

what a proud little ninja.

last but not least, here are my dad and mikey, watching isaiah on the rope course.

 it was a super fun day for all. have you paid a visit to the pumpkin patch yet?