5 years ago today...

This dude was born. Can't believe it's been 5 years. Can't believe he's so tall now. Can't believe I am a mom to two big kids. The baby years are all gone now - it's strange and cool and different and crazy all at once. I don't miss the hard parts about having babies (diapers, mess, language issues)... but I do miss their little cuddles. I made Riley take a nap with me today... I loved snuggling next to his (not so little) warm body. I am glad he still likes taking naps with me. I'm not ready to give that one up just yet :)

Merry Christmas...

From Frosty the Snowman. He's jolly and happy and has a blinking red nose. :)

By the Numbers

I know. I need to update.

Here's what's happening since Disneyland:

Number of photo shoots I have had: 7
Number of Christmas cards I have ordered for clients: 725
Number of photos I have taken since buying my camera in May: 22,644
Number of dogs I own: 2
Number of dogs I hate: 1
Number of legs on one of my Christmas village sheep after a 3 year old got a hold of it: 3
Number of legs it should have: 4
Number of times my children have played the Wii since we got it: 36,287,211
Number of Christmas gifts I have bought for friends & family: 30
Number of people I still need to buy for: 12
Number of days I have stayed up past midnight editing photos: 14
Number of hours I got to spend with Jin & Val while they were in town visiting: 72
Number of stamps I have bought this week: 80
Number of empty boxes in my office: 17
Number of lights that are lit on my Christmas tree right now: 0
Number of lights that should be on my tree right now: 1000
Number of dogs that are responsible for chewing THROUGH the plug while the Christmas lights were lit: 1
Number of dogs that died while chewing through the tree plug: 0
Number of rear-view mirrors that I broke off the side of my car while backing out (again): 1
Number of curse words I said after breaking my rear view mirrior (again): 347
Number of miles I had to drive to Violet's drill team performance last night: 38
Number of minutes Violet performed: 6
Number of inches I cut off my hair: 5
Number of colors in my hair: 4
Number of compliments I have received since getting my haircut: 28
Number of boxes that were stolen from my front porch when we got back from Disneyland: 3
Number of client orders that were in those boxes: 8
Number of times I panicked in the 24 hours it took to re-order everything: 397
Number of days till Christmas: 10
Number of movies Rick and I are going to go see tonight, sans children: 2

Enough counting. I need to go check movie listings!

Disneyland 2007

We stayed at the Paradise Pier hotel... and the kids got room service for breakfast the first morning!

When we headed out to the park, we found a visitor in the hotel lobby!

The weather at the park was perfect, so we decided to take advantage of the awesome weather and do a little canoeing :)

And of course I had a chocolate covered Mickey head...

The kids visited Lightning McQueen...

And Riley had an awesome time doing the rope swing at the adventure area in California Adventure... last year he was *just* too short... but this year, watch out! He must have done this swing 50 times.

Then we rode the Ferris Wheel at sunset... awesome!

On Day 2 we had breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen! Goofy was so funny. He stole Riley's autograph book for awhile... haha

Then it was off to more rides... Violet loved the Orange Stinger (she and Riley called it the "Orange Peeler")

Then it was back to Disneyland where we waited for the Jedi Training Academy...

Riley panicked at the last second and decided since he already was a Jedi he didn't need to do the training academy again... so Violet went up there and HAD TO FIGHT DARTH MAUL!!!! She did it, and is now an official Jedi too...

We happened upon Mickey in the afternoon, and got to get a quick autograph without all the craziness and crowds around him...

And Riley convinced Rick to ride the Jellyfish with him!

Riley also loved riding the carousel...

While Violet and I rode California Screaming about six times!

Nothing like a churro after a hard day of playing...

And another chocolate covered Mickey head for good measure!

Meanwhile Matt showed us just.how.much cotton candy he can fit into his mouth at once.

and then we had Fun With Photography!

I love Disneyland at Christmastime!!!


We had a fantastic vacation... and these photos are just a tiny selection from the 300 or so I took! Such great memories... so much fun!

Our tree

We decorated our tree before we left for our Disneyland trip - it was so great to come home and have the tree totally done! Of course, nothing else really got done till just today. I finally unpacked the last of the Christmas decorations and even added some lights outside. I love it now! My house totally feels like Christmas. OH! And best of all... a package arrived today from UPS containing a beautiful wreath from my mom, made from fresh greenery. I couldn't bear to have all that wonderful Christmas smell sit outside my house... so instead I hung it up inside, right in the kitchen. It smells absolutely wonderful.... :)

Coming (very) soon... a whole lot of Disneyland pics!!

Thanksgiving and vacation

Thanksgiving at the Publow house was great - the kids wore their matching knit caps I got them at the Gap...


And of course they did the Turkey Treasure Hunt with Michael... it was a small group for the Hunt this year - just the 3 of them!

Liane & Carl brought Sage over so she could be in the family picture...

But first we were distracted by some good, old-fashioned neck touching.

Bob & Tiff came over this year and finally got to be a part of the Annual Thanksgiving Photo...

Riley had some "kids wine" with his dinner...

And of course, the night wouldn't be complete without a Papa-Style Bonfire!


Good food, great times :)
And now I am packing our bags for our Disneyland vacation... we are so excited. This year we are actually staying in one of the Disney hotels, and we have breakfast with Goofy one day and dinner with Ariel another day. Riley is especially excited about the dinner with Ariel... ;)

There will, of course, be photos upon our return. This year I am lugging all my camera gear, just in case Riley gets picked for the Jedi Training Academy again. I don't want to miss photos of hom fighing Darth Vader... or maybe even Darth Maul!

Have a good week!

Tell me this is not my son.

I just saw this on my friend Kelly's blog and I had to post it here cause SERIOUSLY. It cracked me right up!! :)

silly turkeys

Violet came home with a project assignment last week - create a turkey with your family and mount it on posterboard. Use whatever you want to make it unique and creative. We had a template of a boring, brown turkey and we could have been like everyone else and just added macaroni on the feathers and called it a day... but that's not us :)

Violet, Riley and I went to the craft store to get some inspiration and found this fun ballerina fabric - and we had our inspiration!! We decided to make a 3-D ballerina turkey. Violet cut out all the feathers, I sewed the body, she stuffed the body, she helped sew the feet, we both glued everything down, and we both added the finishing touches. :) It is completely hysterical looking - this photo really doesn't do it justice - and we are pretty proud of our handiwork!
I can't wait to see what her teacher says when she brings it to school!! :)

Bubbles!

A few outtakes from our family Christmas photo session... we let the kids bring bubbles :)

" AWESOME!!!!!"

Happy Birthday Carl

Hope your day was rad!

Baldwin Family Day Care

is apparently open for business... or something.

So today I had three children at my house that didn't belong to me. Along with my own kids. The irony of this is that I don't like kids. Well I shouldn't say that. It's not that I don't like them. They just irritate me. ha!

Surprisingly enough, it went fine. I normally have my friend Erin's daughter, Ellie, on Wednesdays after school. She is in preschool with Riley and the two of them are best friends. Riley insists that someday they will be married. In fact, they have already pretended to "get married" one day so they could dance and kiss. I am not making this up. Ellie is the cutest. I just adore her, and she's perfect. She's easy to handle, she's a good listener, and when I say it's nap time she goes right up to Violet's room and takes a nap. AWESOME.

Today I also had Joelle's kiddos... and while I was a little nervous at first, it turned out to be great. They are a little trickier cause neither one of them is fully potty trained. And I don't like poop. I am very VERY glad to be out of the diaper stage with my own kids!! But both of them were super today. Everyone loved having Baby Raine around... and she was the happiest, smiliest, giggliest little one ever. I took her out to breakfast with me and she was so funny and cute. Then she took a nap until it was time to get the kids from school. We all had lunch and some playtime in the big dirt pile in our backyard (which will hopefully be done this weekend... I scheduled a family party to take place here on the 17th, so I need it done before then!! I can't wait to share... it's exceeded our expectations for coolness. Of course it has also exceeded our budget by quite a bit, but I digress.....). The kids loved playing in the dirt - even Raine, until she scooped a big handful and tried to eat it. That was a precious moment as a child care provider. At 1 pm it was naptime and all the kids went to their respective rooms... Reece in the bed in Rick's office, Ellie in Violet's room, Raine in her pack n play in my room, and Riley on the living room couch. AND THEY ALL WENT TO BED WITHOUT COMPLAINT! It was pretty amazing. I was even able to get a little work done! The bigger kids got up at about 3 and played quietly while I picked up things around the house... and the baby slept till almost 4:45! Holy naptime!

Once everyone was back in their proper homes, I sat down to relax for a little bit.... I had been a little nervous before today, but it all ended up being great. No problems. Maybe I will open up my own daycare. Then again, maybe not. ;)

And this evening, Rick helped me haul FOUR TONS of sand to our backyard. I shoveled while Rick pushed the wheelbarrow back and forth. Our grass arrived, too! I can't wait to see everything come together this weekend... and I can't wait to take photos of our finished yard for you to see. Stay tuned...!

And another bit o' silliness

Brought to you by my son and I... with a little help from the puppy

My crazy Halloween.

Our pumpkins... Rick's scary guy in front, then Violet's cat, then Riley's happy face skull guy, and my "art project" as Riley called it :)


Our painted gourd heads...


Dr. Acula


Princess Pruny Toes


Spiderman (Riley's friend who goes to preschool with us)


Indiana Bones


The Three Amigos

Whew! Busy day.

Got up early
made mummy brains for Riley's preschool (spaghetti & grapes in oil)
dressed kids in costume
took pics of kids
helped Rick with *his* work costume (he went as Dr. Acula)
Took kids to school
Helped count out candy bracelet candies for 19 second graders
Came home
packaged some client orders
Talked to a lady at my church about photographing an upcoming party
Started the chili for tonight
Picked up Riley and two friends
Fed them and made them take naps
cleaned toilets
wiped down the kitchen counters
cleaned the stovetop
Did two loads of laundry
Went back to the school to help in Violet's class
Put together 19 plates of snacks for second graders
Assisted in the class halloween parade
Took photos of all the students in class
Took Violet home early
Took two advil cause I was getting a headache
Went to Home Depot to get some dowels for the ghost head dried gourds we made last week
Helped Rick do the wiring for our outdoor landscape lighting
Set up our gourds and pumpkins outside
Decided they needed a little something extra so I got some lights
Unloaded the dishwasher
Did another load of laundry
Ordered some client photos
Made a salad
Made cornbread mini muffins
Went trick or treating with Mo & Jo & their kids
Came back and had chili
Watched Charlie Brown
Made the kids go to bed
Watched a movie with Rick (The Day After Tomorrow... LAME)
And finally, collapsed in bed in my new FEATHERBED.

Laura Wells is officially in trouble for making Rick late to work this week cause he refuses to get out of bed cause it's so comfy ;)