High Expectations

Elli and I were talking this morning. She was asking me about school and what grades you had to be in order to move up to the "next school".

Elli: "So, after 8th grade, I move up to high school?"
Me: "yup" (a mom of many words)
Elli: "And after high school, where do I go?"
Me: "After 12th grade, you go to college."
Elli" "And then what?"
Me: "Then you have to go to work."
Elli: "Oh, yea...I am going to go to collage to work at McDonalds!!" {said with the most excitement I have heard from her in weeks}
Elli: "And then if you and daddy come to visit me at McDonalds, I will give you food cheap."

Ok, so they say by the time your child graduates from college, you will have spent well over $100,000 on their education. Yippee, so now I will get a Happy Meal for $1.99 instead of $2.99. Do you think she will charge me extra if I want to upgrade to a milkshake with the Happy Meal, or just allow me the mini drink that comes with it?...which by the way, if so packed full of ice, that I honestly don't even think there is a drop of liquid even in the glass. We strive for high expectations around this house.

**this is not intended to disrespect any of those who have/had a job with McDonalds. If it weren't for you, my children would have never known the finer dining environment that McDonalds offers. And, we would have never had so many broken/useless toys sitting around our house as we do now!

Gotta Love Genes

I love the fact that my kids acquired the "Dean's eye genes". I adore their blue/green sparkly eyes.

And no, I didn't have a 5th child while I was absent from my blog. This is just a little one year old I shot the other day, and she is WAY too cute to not show off!!

Happy Father's Day

My kids have the best daddy EVER!!! And, I have the best daddy EVER as well. I have definitely been blessed to have been raised by an amazing Christian daddy. A dad who gave me unconditional love and affection. A dad who instilled fantastic morals and beliefs. A dad who, yet even this morning, tells me that I am beautiful!
I also am thankful for the wonderful father in law that God, so accurately, has placed in my life. A caring, loving, emotional, man, who has treated me as one of his own since day one. And most times, takes my side more than his own flesh and blood (Dean)! Ha
And now I see how amazing my own kids father is, and I once again, feel absolutely blessed that God has given me a husband who is instilling those same attributes into my children, that I cherish my dads for.
Happy Fathers Day to ALL of you!!

Bubbles = Summer

Blonde Bombshell

Hello....can this toe-head get any blonder? I can't even take her picture anymore, since the sun just reflects off her hair. And summer has only begun...holy smokes!

Pavlov's Dog

I made a promise to myself that I would take more "impromptu" pictures of the kids this summer. I feel like I am jipping them in a way, by only taking set up pictures and not just random, everyday ones. My kids have sort of become "photographer kids". Every time the camera comes out, they immediately sit in a posed position, and smile automatically. I want them to look back on pictures when they are older, and not always see the "perfect" posed ones. So, I attempted to sneak the camera outside this morning and just take some of the kids playing in the grass. I felt like my camera is like Pavlov's Dog. A bell goes off when it comes out. The girls immediately crowded together and struck a pose. Ugg...I have a lot of work ahead of me.

Photos

Well, I don't have a lot to say on the home front, so I thought I would share some pictures that I have taken recently that are my favorites. I don't say a whole lot about my photography on this blog, since I know the grandparents read this, and what grandparent wants to see all these pictures of other people's kids. But....my kids have been pretty boring lately. They are usually always dirty, or completely mis-matched since I am allowing them to take full reign of what they choose to wear. It is absolutely hilarious and hideous to see what they come up with. Complete winter attire when I know full well it is going to get to 80 degrees that day. Bathing suits at 8:30 in the morning. Snow White dress-up dress. The best lately....Tessa was wearing shorts and a tshirt, with one of Elli's bathing suits OVER the shorts and shirt. I tried really hard to persuade her to change this one, especially since I knew we were going grocery shopping in a few minutes...no luck....to the grocery store we went. She looked like an absolute goon!
Anyway, here are some complete strangers to fixate your eyes on! Cute strangers though!




My beautiful niece, Sophie...not a complete stranger!

hmmm...

Hmmm...I'm still here, just have absolutely nothing to say.
It's raining right now, the kids are locked upstairs to prevent my insanity.
They were locked in the basement prior, to prevent the insanity this morning.
I hope you all know I am joking?....at least about the morning one...they are upstairs right now!
Just not locked. Although I did threaten that there would be no McDonalds tonight if they came down anytime within the next 2 hours!!
I hear our alarm clock blarring...and feet dancing.
Of course, there is the sound of fighting as well.
One little monkey just came down to tell me that another naughty monkey was putting lipstick on the ceiling fan, which hasn't been dusted in...hmmm...I won't say. This could be a truly disasterous mess.
I just heard a very loud thud, followed by a very loud "OUWWW".
I'm sure I will hear feet soon.
No, I still have not checked the lipstick smeared ceiling fan yet....I don't want to.
The oldest monkey is sliding down the stairs head first...that has to hurt. I have a feeling she is very bored, or lacking some brain cells.
She is followed by 3 more brain cell deprived monkeys.
And just like that, in a matter of 2 minutes, they are all down stairs.
They broke my rule!
One is crying...her hair got pulled.
One is whipping the other with a Nerf bat.
One is pushing the screen out of the window as she pushes her head harder and harder into it.
The last monkey is the one getting whipped in the face with the Nerf bat....and weirdly enough, she likes it. And even more weirdly (I know, not a word), I am allowing it to happen!!

A 2 minute glimpse into my life.