September Pics...

I posted most of these forever ago, but, never got to go back and tell you about them until now!!  It's been a busy few months, mostly due to surgeries!!  Owen fell running on the playground during gym and essentially crushed his elbow.  He ended up with emergency surgery to pin it back together.  He's almost done with the cast now...one week to go!!  A few days after the surgery, Ollie was playing in the back yard and managed to slice open the pad of his foot...so, he too had emergency surgery.  About a week later, I was on the phone fighting with the insurance/medical facilities and while I was distracted, Ollie pulled all of his stitches out...so back in for a second surgery he went!!  The vet said he was such a "weenie" that we'd most likely have to put him under a third time to remove the staples (we upgraded from the stitches the second time).  But, fortunately, she was out of town and I got a different vet who has a whole dog team of huskies at home.  She totally powered through the screaming and pulled his staples out without any anesthesia, thankfully!  She said he was not in anyway aggressive, but, you wouldn't believe it from the noises he was making, hahaha!!  We could all hear him in the front waiting area!!

Anyway, onto the photos!

This is Liv on her first official day of school!!  She'd been going since June, but, it was very informal as the school allowed parents to pull their kids out in the summer and held their spots for them.  There were only 3 kiddos in her classroom and 8 in the preschool.  Also, they kept it a little less structured and didn't have as many "lessons" to do (thats what they call all the learning activities each child can choose to do...they are typically each kept in an individual basket and the kiddo can pull them out and take them to a table to do.  Examples in her room is gluing punched shapes onto a piece of paper or practicing putting keys in a series of locks screwed to a short piece of wood.).  Anyway, we made such a big deal out of Owen's first day, we figured we better do the same for Liv and she was absolutely thrilled!

This is Liv hanging on her dad's leg while he walked around the kitchen!!  Kind of brings to mind the saying "under foot"!!  This kid has SO got her dad wrapped around her little finger!!

Just a goofy girl in the swing...she wouldn't pose much for me, so, I gave up and took swing pictures...for the millionth time!!! ;O)

These were taken earlier when I attempted to get Liv and/or the dogs to take some pretty fall shots in the woods...as you can see, all of the above were cooperative...

This is when I asked Ollie to sit...it's a goofy picture, but, I just LOVE his little pink lips, hahaha!!

And this is when I asked the boys to sit nicely and pose...they are worse than kids!!!  They couldn't sit by one another without poking or biting the other one...

I did manage a few cute shots thanks to my persistence!!!  Hahahaha...

On another day, I forced the kids to do a photo shoot with me in a nearby park.  I was hopeful I'd get a couple good shots, but, we actually exceeded my expectations!!!

I didn't expect much, so, I didn't make a big effort on coordinating their outfits or even picking cute clothes...wish her shirt wasn't hanging out in this one, but, I'm not that good of a photoshopper to take it out!!

This isn't a great shot, but, I just love the way Liv looks at her brother...there's nobody in this world she admires as much as him.  I pray every day that these two are as close friends as adults as they are now, we are truly blessed to have two kids that love each other so much.

And the winning shot is....thanks to being able to Photoshop two pictures together to get the best facial expression on both kids anyway...

There's something about this kid, maybe how much he reminds me of his dad, I just have such a special place in my heart for him and at the same time, he can push my buttons faster than anyone I know!! ;o)  Either way, I just think he's the most handsome kid ever made!!

And then there's this one...she and I are so much alike...I usually know what she's thinking before she even opens her mouth...but, she's so darn smart and advanced for her age, we are always underestimating her and it makes it SO hard to keep one step ahead!!  She routinely asks me on the way to the truck, "My turn drive mommy?".  I am convinced she thinks I'm going to slip up one day and hand her the keys!!  Because she's so articulate, I believe anyway, she's been a whole lot easier than Owen because there was never a point where she wasn't able to express what she wants.  She's also a whole lot easier to reason with when you say no.  But, man oh man, she's a little manipulator and when she's made up her mind about something, you better watch out!!  She can also express her anger VERY effectively!! ;O)  She's got two different tactics when she wants something, she either says "please, please, please" and bats those baby blues at you or she looks with the sweetest little face you've ever seen and says "that's my favorite..".  It doesn't work on her parents, but, you wouldn't know it the way she uses it on the grandparents and her brother!!

As pleased as I was about the photos that turned out, these two were less than cooperative and thought they were super funny...look at the faces I got when I'd say "smile", hahaha...my mother prefers this photo of the two of them better than the one above!!

 

We got Owen's school pics back and it just amazes me how adorable he looks EVERY year!!  Mine were never this good I can assure you!!  The only bad school shot we've gotten was from preschool when he had a runny nose and wiped snot all over his shoulder at some point during the day, hahaha!!  Ironically, he still looked cute!!  I don't have a digi of that to fix or post though!

I thought I'd post all 3, so you can see how he's grown.  The far left is Kindergarten (they combed down his faux-hawk for some unknown reason), first grade in the middle, and second on the right...didn't realize until I did this that we always put him in red...

These are just my goofy girl watching a movie on the iPad while I cooked dinner...gotta love that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle bandaid!!  I'm so thankful for winter and no more bugs!!  She had her forehead SO messed up all summer digging on different bug bites.  I'm hopeful she'll be old enough not to do that next year...she had bandaids on so long, the adhesive caused abrasions, it was a nightmare!!