Just an update!

So, Brett is the one that drew for the buffalo tag! He can't tell me that I spent any money now!! Just kidding!

We've been busy working in our front yard trying to get it cleaned up. Last year we mainly worked on the house and a little bit of the flower beds. We didn't plant anything though. This year we have planted some flowers, transplanted tulips and daffodils, and made a rock border around the tree that we planted last year. Okay, so I guess we did plant something last year! But... now we need to work on the garage and backyard. We did get peas, carrots, onions, and lettuce planted outside, and we have tomatoes and peppers growing inside. So we have been busy!

The kids are finally enjoying playing outside. I literally had to lock them out one day and make them play! But now they can't wait to go out!

Brevan has been getting in trouble for playing in his window at night, morning, and during his nap. He keeps getting his chair and pulling on the blinds and trying to look out! I have been getting so mad at him every time I go in there. I would move the chair from under the window and then fix the blinds. Then I would get mad at him. I threatened him with not being able to ride his bike or scooter, I tried to bribe him. I tried everything. Then, last night he was doing it again and I caught him. I said to him, "what are we going to do so you won't play in the window." He looked at me and mumbled sadly, "take away my chairs?"

Well DUH!!!! Why couldn't I have thought of that! I had to laugh though, because of my stupidity, and his genuine simplicity! "Watch out for lizards!"

The other day Brett was taking Brevan fishing down at Otter Creek and they saw one of those signs that is a warning for curves ahead. Brevan started yelling, "Watch out for lizards!"
He told Brett that those signs were so you wouldn't run over any lizards and you had to watch for them! Now whenever we see one of those signs he yells, "Watch out for lizards!" We get a good laugh out of it!

Brevan never ceases to make us laugh! Of course he is also very good at making us frustrated, but I guess that just goes with the territory! We love him tons though!

Sydney and Madisyn are the best of friends, and they are growing like weeds! Madisyn is always making me laugh by how happy she is! She loves when you clap for her, and it is funny to watch her clap for herself! She loves to play and follow her siblings around! We have a ton of fun with her! She is growing like a weed, and I can't believe all that she is doing now! She walks all over the place, and isn't afraid of anything! She loves to play peek-a-boo, and would do it for hours if she could! She is starting to like to color, talk on the phone, take me to what she wants, follow one instruction, and her first word is juice! She loves her juice!

Sydney is a handful, but we love her dearly! She is always getting into things. I came in here yesterday and caught her throwing sugar all over the floor once again! She does that every couple of weeks, I guess I need to move the sugar! I also caught her writing all over herself today. She is a climber and gets into everything, especially crayons, pens, and candy! She loves to color, and she will sit in hers, Brevan's, or my room for a very long time just coloring! She is getting to be pretty good too! Her speech is much improved and we are very happy to finally be able to understand her!! She is a sweetie and loves her sister and brother very much!

Well, I'm through with my novel! We hope everyone else is having a wonderful spring! :)

$408!!!!

So last night I was sitting in our room watching tv, when all of a sudden Brett yells at me, "What did you buy that was $408.00?!!!!" I was shocked and had no clue what he was talking about! I run in here by the computer thinking someone has gotten a hold of our credit card, because there is no way I would ever spend that kind of money without talking to Brett first!! Then I get in here and we start looking at it, and what do you think it is??.......
One of us drew out for the buffalo hunt!
NO Freakin' WAY!!! We were just putting in for bonus points thinking there was really not a chance of either of us drawing since we only had 1 point each, and we have absolutely no luck whatsoever! Well, one of our luck just changed! We still don't know which one of us drew, we will find out in a few days, we just know one of us did! But, we are excited to be able to go, and hope it will be a lot of fun! It will be the 2nd week in December, so it will be cold, but we can't wait to go!!

New blog site!

So I decided to try and do a different blog spot with my pictures on it. It won't be update very often because I only do pics for others every few months! But.... here it is:
http://moosebearladybug.blogspot.com
We'll see if I can keep it up!

Week 15 at I heart faces!

So it is week 15 at I heart faces, and the theme is self portrait. I saw this last week, and I thought, what could I do? Well, I did nothing. Until this morning. As usual, Brevan and Sydney don't really want to be in a picture with mom, so I used Madisyn once again!!! She likes to cuddle in your arms, and then be bent backwards like she is going to do a backflip! So I was doing that with her, and I thought... I wonder if I can get a picture of us while I am doing that with her. She always has the cutest face and laughs while doing it, so I thought I would give it a try!
I thought it turned out pretty cute! I got her face wonderfully! Mine, not so great, but that is okay! It was her face I wanted!! The other pic is my self portrait. I'm not that creative, so it is just a standard shot of me. I don't like my freckles, or my big nose, but... what can I do!! Besides plastic surgery, which still wouldn't help the freckles, and I don't know about anyone else... but I don't have that kind of money, or really care that much about how I look!!! So here are the shots for this week!!This is my adult entry... just me, not tripods, other people, etc....
Here is my kids entry....I wish I didn't look so scary in this picture, but I love Madisyn's face and her big blue eyes!!
Please feel free to leave some feedback, positive and negative, I'd love to know how I can improve!
Click on the button below to go and see some more fun self-portraits over at

Fix it Friday #14

So, I think I heart faces has become one of my favorite places! I thought I would give their fix it friday picture a shot! I don't usually do them, I just like to see what other people come up with. I know that isn't going to help me become any better though, so I decided I would try it this week. I did a few different pics and thought they turned out pretty well. It was actually fun to work on someone elses photo and try to make it as good as you can!
So, here is the original.
Fix #1On this picture, I just fixed the levels to where I liked them by doing it to the whole picture, and then by highlighting the rocks separately, and the boy separately and fixing the levels. nothing too big. I love this picture, and I love the framing, but I think if I was going to hang it or anything, I would crop to about where a couple of my othere examples are, just above his head, and a little below his feet. Maybe even closer on the sides! Also on these pics, I brightened his eyes. They are so big and pretty, they need to be a focus point!!
Fix #2I first fixed the levels to where I like it. I then applied a coffeeshop honey retro on this pic. I love how it turned out.
Fix #3On this picture, I fixed the levels, then applied a coffeeshop barista action. I was playing with the actions on this one, then just adjusted it to where I liked it. I thought it was different, not my fave, but cute still.
Fix #4On this picture, I fixed the levels to how I liked it, then applied coffeeshop chocolate action to it. I love this action, and I love how this pic turned out with it applied!
I love actions, as you can tell. I need to start learning how to do a lot of these things on my own, but I love how easy it is with the actions!
www.iheartfaces.com Check it out to see some more great fixes of this cute photo!! Click on the button or the link to go there!

Happy Easter!

We had a great Easter, and I thought I would try to upload photos, and then decided there were too many, so I am going to try to do a slideshow. We'll see if it works!

On Friday night we colored eggs at Grandma Anderson's house! The kids had fun, although Sydney wasn't feeling very good, so she didn't have alot of fun, but she colored a couple of eggs. Then on Saturday, we headed over to Glenwood for the annual Easter egg hunt at the church, and at Grandma Oldroyds! Everyone had a blast, and it was good to see everyone. Madisyn loved finding the eggs and candy, and Brevan and Sydney had so much fun with the sunglasses! Later that day we headed up to my house for a BBQ with my family. Taylor had brought home some great steaks that he and my dad BBQ'd. We had a lot of fun with both families. It was a great day. On Sunday, my mom had to give the lesson over in Glenwood, so we headed out there for church. During Sunday school, Syd still wasn't feeling great, and Brevan didn't want to stay in class where he didn't know anyone, so we took them to Grandma Anderson's and did some pics in their Easter outfits! Brevan then wanted to hide eggs all day! He loved hiding and finding the eggs that we hid around the house and just couldn't get enough of that! We had a great Easter, and hope that everyone else did too!

I heart faces Amateur week!

So this week over at http://www.iheartfaces.com, they are having an amateur contest too. Since that is what I consider myself, I thought I would enter! It is kind of fun to see the different entries and ideas, so go check it out yourself!

This is a pic of Madisyn in her Easter dress! I just love the green and the bright daffodils behind her! She is such a fun girl, and loves to clap her hands and play! I had so many cute pics of her, it was hard to choose! Be sure to check out our Easter post, coming soon, for the rest of the pics! Just click on the link below!

Madiyn's Birthday and Cinderella Pageant

Friday was Madisyn's birthday, so we just had a little family fun that day. We went shopping for her birthday present and then we went to lunch at Wendy's... she likes the chicken nuggets! We opened her presents that night, and she, and the other kids, had fun with the little ride on horse that we got her. Sydney had Cinderella practice that night, so we then went to that and then headed over to my parents house to have some pizza! I think she had a fun day. I was out of wrapping paper, can you tell?We had a family party for her on Sunday night with all the grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins that could come! My grandparents came up that day too, but couldn't stay long because it started snowing! We missed them at the party, but were glad they could come up and see us and the family!!
Madisyn was so funny! She wouldn't really open the presents, but then she would act like she wanted to, but then would just throw her arms! So Braxten, Brinley, Brevan, and Keldon ended up opening them for her! She got a lot of fun stuff, and the kids have loved playing with it all week long!
When I brought the cake over, I must've gotten it a little close to her, because the next thing you know, her hand is in the black frosting on the ladybug! She had it in her mouth so fast! It was hilarious! So I grabbed that hand, and so she goes in with the other hand! By the time we had the candle blown out, thanks to the cousins, she was already covered in frosting! It was sooo cute! We then took her over and let her eat the ladybug. Well, all she ate was the black frosting... she didn't want anything to do with anything else! It was funny. She is such a cutie, and I think she had a fun birthday.She is such a fun little girl! We love her so much and are so grateful to have her in our home!

Last Thursday, at the last minute, I decided to put Sydney in the Cinderella pageant. She is really shy, and I wanted to see if she would get out there and open up a little bit! Boy was I surprised by her. She got right out there. She was doing her little walk, waving, blowing kisses to dad when he came on Friday, and smiling at the family. On Saturday, she had fun too and she did such a good job. I was very proud of her for getting out there and doing it. She ended up winning Photogenic girl. Here is the pic I submitted for her. Although I had cropped it a little bit more. It was hilarious though, because all the royalty kept coming up to her and playing with her. They thought she was so adorable, which I happen to agree on! When they brought out the trophy to give to the all around girl, they came over to Sydney. I had to tell them that it wasn't her and send her back to the winner. They thought she had won. I had a lot of people tell me that they thought she should have won. But, it is okay... I'm just really glad that she got on stage and did the whole thing without crying, whining, or throwing a fit! She surprised me, and I was glad she had fun doing it!Later that night we went to the SFW dinner. Brevan won a fishing pole there with the little kids, and Brett and I won a BBQ for our camp chef. My dad actually won a gun. Surprise, surprise! We usually go and never win anything, but we actually did this year. So we had fun there too. It was a good dinner and we enjoyed getting out!
We had a great weekend and I hope everyone else is doing well too!!