Kael's birthday (part 2)

Pics of Kael, beginning to present. It's been an awesome journey! I love you, buddy!




















We celebrated his birthday in Arizona by going to the zoo here in Tucson. Separate post for that coming soon!

Family Pictures 2009

I finally discovered my friend Isabelle's secret to her awesome picture collages, and I'm making the most of it!

Here are several groupings of our family pictures. Our photographer was my long-time good friend Lavinda, who does photography for a living. Here is her blog and website.





















This is a collection of the best of the family and small group shots taken.




















Here are the best shots of Elizabeth. A lot of them were attempts at head shots. Matt would love to see her onscreen. We'll see what happens!




















Here are the Kael shots. There were so many good ones. He looked great in every shot we got. I only left out the ones where you couldn't see his face.


















And here is Tristan. He would not give up that Dogga (his name for it) for anything! And it was super difficult to get him to stay still. Or smile. So it was hard to get them, but once we got the shots, they were nothing shy of AWESOME!

So there you have it. We had those done in May, I think it was... or June? July... oh I can't remember. Two or three weeks later, I completely changed my look, Matt had grown a goatee, and the kids had grown. I almost felt like I needed new pictures! Haha! Next year!

Kael's birthday (part 1)

Kael turned 4 this year. Wow! It seems like Elizabeth is still 4 sometimes... Ah well.

We had this first birthday party in Washington, with some of the other Baughs: Gigi (Great-Grandma Ethlyn), Grandma Kathie, Uncle Chris, Aunt Serena, and cousins Emma, Isaac, Haven, and Autumn. We played on the slip'n'slide, we had presents, and unabashedly ginormous amounts of sugar in the form of ice cream and cupcakes with colored frosting (obviously pictured!). It was a fabulous time. And then we got sick. But the party was great! Here's the pic.

Leaving? Cleaning?!

It's here. We're leaving Friday, first thing in the morning. I can't believe it. It still seems kind of uNrEaL. But thank goodness I'm almost done cleaning.

Wow, you have to clean a lot when you move. Can I just say that it truly never occurred to me to wash underneath and behind appliances such as the stove and fridge? I don't think I can remember my mom doing it, and she's a pretty neat and clean person so she must have done it at least occasionally... but I never saw her do it. And it gets really gross under there! Also, cleaning INSIDE the oven?! Seriously? Why not just leave the ashes? Honestly, these things just never occurred to me, I swear! But here I am, doing them, and I must say, it's giving me a strange sort of satisfaction... To go from SO dirty, to so clean... It's a beautiful thing. Next time I do this, I'll make sure the kids see me doing it, because it should be done... at least occasionally.

And for you Facebook users, that other post I was talking about is a goals post. I might be able to get to it on vacation. Cleaning takes a lot of time!

P.S. Thank you to Shannon, who showed me I could format my posts like this! Should be a lot more interesting!

Something to think about

I don't have anything to say really, except that this made me think. I've always had a problem being my family's gatekeeper, though I get better everyday. I'm going to have to add "Who is in charge at my house? ME!" to my daily affirmations.

Interesting article

Has anyone else ever wished that their house would burn down so you don't have to go through all your stuff and get rid of it yourself? I'm there right now.

Happy Aniversary to Us

This year we celebrated our 7th anniversary. Lucky number 7! It's been quite a ride, but I couldn't have asked for a better companion for the drive!




















I've also learned that we need to take more pictures of just us, as a couple... these pics were pretty much it! LOL. Live and learn! And Matt, I love learning with you!

The Swine Flu: Get Over It!

What is the deal with the swine flu? Why all the hubbub? It's hardly killed anyone! It's been labeled as pandemic, but all that means is that it's everywhere. It doesn't mean it's extremely deadly. I'm attaching a link to an article about this, and it clearly shows how our already out-of-control government is going overboard with this, and trying to take away our personal freedoms in the name of public safety. I'm also including a link to the National Vaccine Information Center, where there is a lot more information to be found, including laws recently made that allow state militia to take our belongings and forecfully vaccinate us and not be held liable for anything that goes wrong, either with our things or our health. This cannot be allowed to continue!! Educate yourself and take action!

Article

National Vaccine Information Center

If on the first one, it asks you for membership, go ahead and sign up. He always has great information and it's completely free.

STUFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm ready to just throw everything out on the lawn! I'm so tired of all this stuff! I know I should get rid of stuff, but when I look at it, all I see is stuff I can't get rid of! And I don't know how to organize what I DO need! I want to scream! I don't know what to DO! I'm going crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HELP!!!!!!

On the move...

I know Matt's blogged and vlogged about it, but I haven't... In little more than a month, we will be moving. Matt has an internship at Disneyland as a Photo Pass, which is a fancy way to say he'll be a photographer. He's very excited! So he'll be going to Anaheim, but the rest of us will not. The kids and I are moving to Arizona, and moving in with my mother! I'm very excited about that. I haven't seen my mother since we left Arizona a year and a half ago. We'll be staying about 5 months. That should be enough visiting to make up for lost time, and maybe even enough to make her get tired of us... I'm kidding.

In other news, I have rejoined the Mary Kay Skin Care Company as a beauty consultant. There are many reasons, but to sum up, it's what is right for me. So if you'd like a free facial, or to buy products from me, call me or check out my website. And don't worry about not being in my area. I have ways of pampering you long distance. I can even do facials long distance, by phone or webcam. So let me treat you like royalty!

We've also decided to really start taking charge of our finances. As part of that I've finally decided on a goal. I want to start an insurance company that covers breakthrough medical technology like bioidentical hormones and such. I was inspired by a book called Breakthrough by Suzanne Somers. It's really an exciting book; I just finished it.

Well, that's it for now I guess. Off to pack and pamper.

Junie B. Jones!

I just finished reading the first Junie B. Jones book to Kael and Elizabeth. I think it's just what I needed to get them interested in reading! It's cute too, entertaining to read. It has some grammatical errors, but you can tell they're on purpose, because it's a kindergartner talking, and what kindergartner has perfect English? Anyway, I can't wait to read more! There are 26 books in the series so far. Wow! Who else has read these books?

Daddy-Daugter Date: Rockapella!

Last night, Matt took Elizabeth on a daddy-daughter date to see Rockapella! What? Who's Rockapella?! For you old fogies like me out there, they did the music for the Where In the World is Carmen Sandiego? television show. Kids these days; no sense of history! Anyway, they decided to get all gussied up. I curled and arranged Elizabeth's hair, gave her a little (no show) makeup, and she and Matt both wore purple. Apparently, they were head-turners and showstoppers! Matt tells me that one pair of older women had to stop and turn around to get another look at Elizabeth, and how she matched Matt! And when they met Rockapella afterwards, Scott, the blond guy, said spontaneously, "That is the cutest little girl I've ever seen!" Warms a mother's heart, that does. Anyway, Elizabeth had a fabulous time. You'll see in the pics below that she got her picture taken with the band, and they all signed both a poster and her program! She felt super special. I'm sure she'll be telling people about it all week! Enjoy the pics!

Sick, sick, sick...

Ugh, this has been a bad couple of weeks. Our family has had a year's worth of illnesses in two weeks. Matt's the only one who was spared, and thank goodness. We can't really afford for him to take a sick day, with him doing his internship and working and giving plasma for extra cash. It started two weeks ago, when Tristan got pink eye. 3 days later, Elizabeth got it. 3 days after that, Kael got stung by a bee, Elizabeth got heat exhaustion and a stomach flu (on the same day she taught herself to ride a two wheeler, see separate post). That day, my throat started to hurt. The next day, Kael had a very apinful stomachache that I was afraid might be his appendix, but it wasn't, thank goodness, and he also got pink eye. A couple days after that, I had a full-blown sore throat flu, Kael got an ear infection, and Elizabeth had a reaction to her antibiotic for her pink eye. A couple days after that, I woke up to everything sounding like it was underwater and an acute pain in my ear - another ear infection for me. Yesterday, Tristan started puking, and now the four of us have nasty coughs. I tell you, it's been rough. Hard on the pocketbook too, since neither Tristan nor I have insurance. I just keep praying this is the end.

Easter

Easter was pretty cool this year. It was Tristan's first time looking for eggs. First we went to the grocery store for an egg hunt there, but it was their first time doing it and it wasn't well-regulated. Kids were only supposed to get a few and then leave some eggs for the rest if the kids, but there was no enforcement,and I saw one girl come out of the aisle with a large bucket full of eggs, I mean, at least two dozen.

Luckily, we had our own hunt planned. We were also blessed with the presence of Uncle Rhydon, who helped me hide the eggs. We decided to have it at the theater, just for fun and variety. Tristan started, then Kael, then Elizabeth. Kael and Elizabeth finished at the same time with finding eggs. Everyone had a great time.

Spreading the love

{Lucky you!}
The first 5 people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!

2- What I create will be just for you.

3- It'll be done this year.

4- You have no clue what it's going to be.

It may be a story. It may be a picture of myself, or a handmade piece of artwork for your living room. I may sew you something. I may bake you something. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!

5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch?
Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it! LETS PLAY!