The Geek and the Chic (Sheek)

The Best Day of 2011~our 10 Year Vow Renewal! And the Bride wore...Black?!

2012-01-01T20:37:00.000-08:00

So after much pondering over all the ups and downs that came with 2011 for our family, it was pretty easy for me to choose the BEST DAY EVER (as my yellow spongy friend would say!) for 2011. :)

It was the day my husband and I renewed our vows. Our 10th Anniversary celebration to each other. We decided to do this for several reasons. One, because we knew it would be a beautiful thing to re-certify our love for each other, to take time for the busy day grinder to tell each other just how much we mean to each other, Second, because we knew how amazing it would be to allow the kids to be a part of that, to teach them TRUE LOVE and ensure they have great examples of that so that they may find their soul mate one day and never settle, and last...because our first wedding we set up in Hawaii on Waikiki beach and it RAINED. Yes, it rained. So our wedding planner had a back up plan. It was a beautiful little chapel not far from the beach. We were a bit disappointed, because we really wanted it to be on the beach...but later realized the symbolism of being in any house of the lord and how important that really was to set the tone of our marriage. This was a SECOND CHANCE to a BEACH WEDDING...:) The idea of that was so beautiful. A Re-Do. We loved the idea of planning all the things that meant something to us now and doing it all over again. So, we went for it! We had already been planning a trip to see my sister and her family in California, so why not do it there? The kids and I arrived a week early and as I learned rather quickly, there are no shortage of beaches. So we scouted several recommended beaches and fell in love with none. Then, my sister recommended La Jolla Beach. This was the place. It was gorgeous. It had cliffs, rocks, beautiful beaches and truly took my breath away. " La Jolla beach" is not enough as I soon learned. It is very big with many different sub-beaches, if you will. We thought we had settled on Shell Beach, but the day of the wedding, Allan and I took the Harley Davidson (our getaway vehicle) for a beach side ride. We found an even prettier and romantic section of beach we had not seen before. We took note of the crossroads, made everyone aware and as we are known to do, made a spontaneous change of location about an hour before the ceremony. We later found out the name of this gorgeous spot...windandsea beach in La Jolla. No doubt about it, this was the PERFECT beach for us.

The day couldn't have been any more PERFECT. The weather all week the week prior was in the low 60's and I knew on the beach that meant COLD! But I swore we would be there no matter what this time...RAIN OR SHINE. I was prepared to buy the umbrellas if that was what the forecast predicted. Thankfully, it did not...it actually predicted the warmest weather ALL MONTH....78 degrees! We were thrilled. All the stars aligned perfectly. Even the photographer told me it was such a perfect day for a sunset and that most days out there it is so smoggy that the skies cast a gray wash across all images that are not pretty. But not this day, it was CRYSTAL CLEAR and GORGEOUS. It really set the tone for the most ROMANTIC DAY EVER for me. So, for me, the best day of the year was this. It will likely be the BEST DAY EVER for me. Unless we can somehow top it in another 10 years for another re-Do. But I'm not sure how. Only time will tell.

I love you Allan. I love my beautiful children. I am so blessed to have met and married my SOUL-MATE.

Here are some of my favorite images of that beautiful day. Oh...yes, I wore black. I know, I'm unconventional. Conventially so, I'm told ;).

Enjoy!

Kids Halloween Party {Frankenbash 2011}

2011-11-06T15:02:00.000-08:00

Every year we have a Halloween party (well for at least the past 5 years)...when we were actually official Haunted House owners (previously), we didn't have the time to do much around our house or for our kids at all (one of the many reasons for our Hiatus in the haunted industry biz)...but we are definitely enjoying that time of year with our kids and family friends now. The only thing we are having a difficult time doing is housing everybody! It's also very hard to narrow it down like we have to. I think we need to figure out how we can make this thing global next year, LOL. Until then, here are some pics of our fun night. Allan and the missionaries in our area scared the kiddies with the backyard haunt....

They also worked the touch and feel table, LOL. When looking at the pictures of kids screaming by a table, it was when they touched the "witches hand" and were greeted by a moving, grabbing hand...very funny stuff! Some other things they got to feel: "Cat's Eyes", "Dried Maggots", "Cockroaches", "Bat Bones", "Monster Flesh", "Ghostly Gas", "Ghoul Guts", "Werewolf fur" and more! If you think you know what they were ACTUALLY feeling, comment below and I'll tell ya if you are right! :)

We played lots of games like the "Hand Toss" where they actually threw fake hands of all types in a witches cauldron,

Pin the eye on the Monster, Count the candy, sort the candy, musical gift exchange and Halloween Pictionary! I set up a spot in my in-home Photography Studio to take spooky Halloween Portraits of everyone in their costumes for the year. Much cooler than school photos each year, LOL....Below are the ones of my family.

I think my favorite portrait of the night was Justin's (a family friend). Not sure if it is because I have always been a "Freddy" fan, or if it is the way the light spills just so across his face and glove. Either way, I think about this one first when I think of all the portraits I took that night. :)

For those of you wanting to know how I got the spooky, dramatic lighting for these, I just used 2 studio lights in my in-home studio, a black backdrop and an diffusion umbrella. The umbrella was placed to the subject left side to allow the light to "spill" across one side of the subject. The other light was placed just behind them...to give them the rim light they needed as to not blend in with the background (especially the all black costumes such as Logan..the Grim Reaper). Just let me know if you need more details or maybe a pull back shot for these :).

The Grab bags were loads of fun as witches broomsticks that I made from sticks around the yard and brown paper lunch bags (I love me some Martha {Stewart} and thanks so much for the idea...but this one can be handmade {DIY} and the kits just are not a necessity).

Comment below if you have any questions on how to make them or anything else regarding the party...(Touch and Feel table, spooky portraits, recipes and how we manage the games with 28 kids in our house ;)...we are getting close to mastering the flow ;). Hope everyone had a GREAT Halloween and THANK YOU to those who came and enjoyed the festivities with us. We Heart U! To view the complete gallery of images taken that day, go here.

New FREE Fall Homeschool Unit Study with Lapbook!

2011-10-17T08:37:00.000-07:00

Leaves are Falling Everywhere...…

Alright,so I knew I LOVED Pintrest when I stumbled across it, but now that I have foundthis easy way to organize my unit studies with them, I am THRILLED! Not a member of Pintrest yet? Join it NOW. It’s amazing. It is a GREAT wayto ‘pin’ all the great ideas you find on the net all on one large virtualwall. You can organize them by ‘boards’and you can easily ‘re-pin’ others pins that you love. You will be addicted, I promise…but your lifewill be for the better. Wanna check out my boards? I have many great finds! Go ahead and check them out!

Anyhow,here is my FALL UNIT STUDY that I put together for my little Homeschoolers(Elementary ages). You can’t access thisuntil you become a member…it’s FREE…No worries. If you don't know how it works, just click on the image you are interested in to see it larger. To view the source page with all the details, simply click again! J

Not only does it have GREAT Fall crafts and printables, but it has a complete FREE Fall Lapbook. If you have never completed a lapbook with your kids, you should really start now. It is such a great way to document their learning and hard work. It beautiful tangible proof of what they are learning. And they LOVE to create them!

If you haven't read my previous posts last year around this time, you really should...the Skeleton/Human Bones lapbook and Egypt/Mummy lapbook and Unit Study were our favorites to date!

One more thing---my FAVORITE easiest Pumpkin Cookie recipe is listed in here so that makes it worth the trouble alone, LOL

Hopeyou enjoy!

Kass

Gardening Homeschool Style...Peace. Love. Organic Baby!

2011-10-16T16:05:00.000-07:00

Gardening With the Kids

Okay,so time to play catch up. Just so you know now, no matter how hard I try,I will never be that awesome blogger that has something new to post every day. Quite frankly, I probably really do have something interesting to covereach day, but because of so much that goes on in our home each day, I struggleto find the time to actually sit down and write about it. I am trying tolook at this as a way to journal, a way to document our lives, who we are, whatwe learn out there in this gigantic world that we are such a small pieceof...so I promise to keep trying to get better. Especially for those ofyou that take the time to read all this jargon, LOL. I hope thatsomething good will come from you wasting those precious moments of your lifereading about mine. I promise to always try to give something in thatway...in hopes that someone else can learn something as we learn. Ormaybe just get a good laugh at how crazy things can be around the Clifford home(I recently overheard a few families talking at my child's birthday party abouthow they should make a reality show for my family, stating that they wouldwatch it. I'm not sure if that is good or bad, but at the very least, it must mean we are interesting! LOL) Since at this time there are no networks knocking down mydoor to hear about all the weird little things that seem to encircle us and thehectic craziness that is filled with pure love, this is the closest thing youcan get to my reality show. For now, I will leave you with images of thesummer unit we covered. Gardening. Yes, it was our firsttime...yes, I think we were wildly successful considering we didn't plant untillate June and we had a few tornado winds that taught us a thing or two aboutcorn crops (I truly feel for those farmers). All in all, we learned so,so much and felt no more fulfilling joy than eating something we grew with ourown hands, in our own yard and picked fresh before a meal to truly experienceall the benefits of eating a living thing. :) Did I connect with myinner hippie on this one? Definitely. Will we be doing it again? You betcha! Growing and eating your own food tastes so much betterthan anything you can buy at a store, restaurant or even a farmers market. It is like another baby of yours. You nurture it and love it forthe purpose of providing nutrition for you and your family. That's love,baby...organically.

Enjoy some of the images I took over the summer of our gardening experiences. Feel free to ask any questions...as a beginner, I did have my "experts" to consult with. Never would a sprout have blossomed without their words and help. :)

This is the basics...how ANYONE can grow a vegetable and fruit garden...even Kids!

The Space :)

The Experts...

Thank Goodness for Awesome Friends!

They were so kind as to help me prepare the soil by tilling, mixing in things to help aerate and enrich my clay like soil (like sand, peat and manure)

Then we made rows of soil and in between we layered pea gravel and black sand 4 times to give me something nice to walk on besides mud when the garden was watered or rained on. :)

Yes, there is a reason you cannot see my face...it is HOT. Mid-June, Kentucky...SWAMP THING...need I say more?!

With my youngest boy, Gabe here installing the tomato plant cages. For those of you who don't know. Tomatoes are climbers and they need support.

These are just basic tomato plant cages from Wal-Mart ($3). After I saw how much my tomato plants grew this year, I could see that they really needed taller, better supports. I snubbed the $10 trellis type stands for them thinking they were too expensive, but knowing how much I love tomatoes and realizing how much they could have grown with better support...let's just say I won't cheap out on them next year. :)

Once we planted our starter plants, we staked out soaker hose through each row for easy watering. The kids and I lined the garden with the lovely creek rock we have all around our house. I also decided to put some chicken wire all around since my neighbor told me all about the bunnies that ate up her garden last year. My expert friends also told me that we could line the bed with marigolds and that would keep them away, but I didn't have much luck with the Marigold seeds I planted so this would have to do :)

I got a bunch of paint stirring sticks and labeled each sproutling and starter plant. i didn't trust myself to remember what everything was. But really, as everything grew, it was pretty obvious what everything was...lol. Maybe I just like order. :) Well, the kids liked sticking the sticks in the rows anyway ;)

after watching my "expert" friend walk the rows barefoot, I was inspired to snap an image. How connected he felt to mother earth while he gardened was such a blessing to watch. :)

So yes, we bought a few starter plants for tomatoes, peppers and a few other things that we found. But we really wanted to plant from seed so we bought every variety we could find that we knew we would eat. We bought a TON of these little seed starting pellets...Below is pretty much a "how-to" grow a garden from seed for beginners. Easy peasy!

These things are GREAT. Let your kids add water and watch their eyes POP as they Grow...

And grow...

We dug little holes in them and placed 3 seeds in each pellet.

We labeled each row so we knew how and when to transplant them.

Then we placed each tray on a shelf in our mega -score-yard-sale-find, the greenhouse :)

Water every day and WAIT. :)

What is this? New growth! We were thrilled!

A few days later....yippee! What fun! The kids measured them and recorded them in their science journal each day.

Aren't they purdy? These are the corn sproutlets. Logan grew all of these and he was so proud!

Once they are tall enough and have established a good root system, it is time to transplant. You plop the whole pellet into the ground just enough to cover. The roots break through the soft mesh-like fabric and it becomes one with your garden from there. Remember to water them well each day and help them establish their roots in your soil.

Then we add our sproutlets to our garden in the spaces we reserved for them :)

I learned a lot about weeds. I also learned this little guy is called "Wood Sorrell" and it is a tasty edible weed. It has a bit of a citrusy flavor and it a perfect little flavor enhancer on fresh salads. Thanks again, expert friends ;-)

*NOTE* A little something I learned about weeds. They don't bother me as much as grass. Most of the weeds were small and controllable. I cannot say the same about grass. It grew crazy fast and continued to try to take on my garden everyday. The kids and I grew rather tired of pulling grass. My friend suggested we smother it with newspapers. And while that wasn't as aesthetically pleasing as I would have liked, it did the job very well and I didn't have to use a single chemical. Yipee!

We really just had to go all around the border of the garden as that was where the problem started. We shoveled heavy dirt over the top of it to keep it from blowing away in the wind.

Our little garden was thriving! We were thrilled! Our corn grew taller than our privacy fence :)

Corn silk! Where there is silk, there will be CORN! :)

Tomato Plant...did you know that where there is a blossom, there will be a fruit or vegetable? Each of these blooms will soon be yummy delicious flavorful tomatoes!

So just when we were getting confident, the really interesting stuff happened. Networks, are you listening? Mega tornado winds hit. My family was hiding in the basement while our sweet garden was taking the brunt of it. We came out after to discover this...:(

Sadness. Yes, there were tears. All the kids were so discouraged. But we had to dust ourselves off and do what any good fighters would do. We tried to salvage. We called in the experts. They told us to tie up anything laying down with a strong string and anchor it to fence. And pray. lots. So that is what we did.

So much for aesthetics. :( But you do what you gotta do. It looks like a giant spider spun a huge web in my garden. Not to mention how much fun this is trying to get to everything when harvesting. LOL I feel a bit like a spy ducking and weaving through the laser traps. As a matter of fact, that is exactly what my kids and I pretend we are doing while we navigate the garden now. :)

So did all of our efforts pay off? We did salvage much...but the corn took the hardest hit. It never did come back like everything else did and eventually died off. We were lucky enough to get a few cobbs off before they actually gave up and Logan was very happy about that since he grew all the corn from seed.

Boo-hoo...I feel like crying when I look at it. Well, the good news is that we can use the dried corn stalks for fall decor around our home :)

So...enough about growing, maintaining, and salvaging. Let's move on to the most colorful, rewarding part--The HARVEST.

Our first Cantaloupes.

So I am not going to show you every bounty we collected, but they each were fruitful varieties like this, Usually every few days or so. :) We froze the peppers and used mostly everything else the day we harvested for salads and dinners. We shared with the neighbors as well. It was pure love baby!

As always, I like to show a bit of what the kids did when they grew tired of the work and needed a bit of play. It's summer, right?!

The favorite of all...the tire swing.

Tori playing in her pink sand. Yes, I did say it..PINK sand. Thank you Crayola.

Logan climbing his favorite tree in the back overseeing the garden. :)

Sprinkler under the trampoline+ neighborhood friends=forever memories!

And what does little Tori do when she gets tuckered out from all the madness?

Yes, she is still a diva! We might as well be fanning her. ;)

And one final image to leave you with....

Silly, crazy rascals. :)

Kassi

Cake Pops!

2011-09-19T21:09:00.000-07:00

I always like to incorporate as many life skills as possible into our Homeschool days, so cooking and baking often falls into the mix. We finally decided to jump on the bandwagon and make some cake pops. We watched this video for step by step directions...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpIifr0VOxY

It was pretty helpful. These were just our first attempt, but we know they will be prettier and more creative once we are more comfortable with them. :) They were loads of fun, look bright and colorful and were quite delicious...they taste like cake batter or cookie dough in the middle-YUM!

Here are some pics of how our first attempt went overall. We made molds with the leftover candy melts. Cayleigh's favorite was the lip mold. :) What a fun and delicious day! We encourage you to get your feet wet into the cake pop world...anyone can do it, but you will definitely learn tips as you go. We already know that next time we will use more cake than frosting as they got a bit soft when dipping and might even freeze them overnight before fully coating them. Keeping the chocolate workable is another task, but adding oil helped. :)

Let us know if you try them and how yours turned out! We will be trying the cupcake cake pops shown in the video next time.

Great Websites for Kids!

2011-08-23T06:44:00.000-07:00

Top 10 Fun Websites

Family Fun magazine posted their top 10 fun websites in their September 2010 issue. My kids have tested them and love them all for different reasons. I felt like sharing so anyone who missed this great issue can still have the resources. I have listed them below:

The Travels of Wiglington and Wenks Virtual World - This website is for ages 7 and up and is a history based quest where kids help historical figures
Funbrain - This website is for ages 6 and up. It has fun arcade games along with educational games.
Kideos - This is for ages 3 and up. It has kid friendly videos (much safer than YouTube).
NGAkids Art Zone - This website, for ages 7 and up, offers interactive activities from the National Gallery of Art.
The Toymaker - For ages 5 and up, this website lets kids print and assemble fun paper toys.
iTwixie - This website is for ages 8 and up and is a tween girl's social networking site.
Exploratorium - For ages 8 and up, this is the website of the San Francisco science museum.
Shidonni - Ages 3 and up. This website allows kids to draw a creature on screen and animate it. It is great for pre-readers too.
Activity TV - This website is for ages 6 and up and offers kid friendly how-to videos.
Fizzy's Lunch Lab - Ages 4 and up. This PBS site promotes health through fun games, videos, and recipes.

Other good ones they list:

Another one that is an absolute favorite of my kids is Roblox.

Happy Surfing!

The Humble Bundle~GAMING GALORE!

2011-07-27T08:40:00.000-07:00

The Humble Bundle...

So I promised to give you some tech tips from the hubby. Wehave actually given this one before as they do this ONE time a YEAR. Itis actually a tech AND a MONEY SAVING tip!! Each year, the games are different, some are so-so and there are alwaysat least a couple that Totally Rock!

It is only a two weekperiod offer and you can pay whatyou want. That’s right, pay whatYOU want! So....if you want to paya penny, that is what you pay! I think the offer is so great and it allgoes to charity that I always pay at least $1. Still not much at all forthese games that my kids LOVE and goes to a great cause, Child's Play...wherekids in hospitals that are sick get some much needed fun, cash andentertainment. The Crayola game is SO awesome. Cogs is also very neat. Wehaven’t tried the others yet, but I can tell you that these two games alonemake it worth your time and trouble! Itis super easy, instant download. J Once you install it, it isyours...you can install it on any platform and any computer you own :).

Have fun with this Super Sweet deal!!

Thanks for reading!

~Kassi;

http://www.humblebundle.com/

SAMSUNG GALAXY TAB / VERIZON REVIEW

2011-06-05T22:02:00.000-07:00

First I have to say this is a very delayed response in a review that I should have posted a while ago now. But as we all know and can relate to...LIFE happens. Unfortunately for me...my piece of life has resolved around a basement flood. BOO. I know. But before all of that happened I did have a wonderful opportunity to test a fun little piece of electronic gadgetry called a "Samsung Galaxy Tab". This little gadget packed a lot of punch, let me just say. :)

First, I was most impressed with the "Swype" technology. If you are not yet familiar with "swyping", you really need to get hip to this. It is what I consider a new "lazy man's approach" to texting, typing, emailing, etc. At first, I thought I didn't like it...and even thought it looked slower. But as I used it more and more, I realized just how many more words I could get in a minute than standard typing/texting...on average about 16! That adds up to a whole lot for a multi-tasking mother of 4, homeschooling, photography business owning woman like myself!!

Second, the apps and games that were available were FUN FUN FUN and SMART. They kept the kids busy when all else failed and they became a valuable resource for me on more than one occasion. As with many platforms, there are so many apps to choose from, so do your homework on them and you will surely be happy with most apps you choose. :)

Third...and this one is a biggie...Verizon has this baby set up to host it's own "hot spot" in 3G. What exactly does this mean? Well, this means that not only will you have internet virtually everywhere you go...but other people around you that don't...can :) Example: my husband has an iPad. He does not have the 3G version, but has the wi-fi built in as long as there is an internet connection nearby that he can "hop on". So....as long as I am nearby around him, he can share my internet connection and get the same cool benefits I have. This can come in handy quite a bit. This is true for any electronic device that can access the web wirelessly...nook, cell/smart phones, iTouch, etc.

Lastly, size. Size matters. I do not like holding a huge piece of equipment while waiting at the doctor's office for the kids appointments, etc. But as busy as I am, I can do a TON more on a tablet than my smart phone. So, I tried my husband's iPad. It was just too big and bulky for me. It was heavy and did not feel comfortable in my hands. I had to hold my elbows out to my sides in order to use it properly. The Samsung Galaxy Tab is small and slim. It fits nicely in my purse. It is much more discreet and yet just big enough to handle and do what I need it to do without me having to elbow my neighbors at the Doctor's office waiting room. ;) I highly recommend this for women.

Soooo....did I enjoy the Samsung Galaxy Tablet? You betcha I did! Thanks so much, Bonnie....for giving me the opportunity to test run such a fun product, and thank you....Verizon, for providing such a great 3 G service that never once faltered when I needed it. :) Very reliable. <3

To learn more about the tablet and how to get the fantastic LOW price of just $199, go to Verizon's page and get all the details!

http://shop.verizonwireless.com/?id=Samsung%20Galaxy%20Tablet

Artography, A collaboration of Photographers and Artists

2011-03-24T23:30:00.000-07:00

Artography. The name itself is intriguing. As soon as I heard it, I knew I wanted to be involved. I have loved taking pictures and painting pictures for as long as I can remember. Why wouldn't it be natural to unite the two? I hadn't really ever looked at it in this way before. What a unique and wonderful experience it has been for me. I decided to go into this from the "Photographer" side. I could have chosen to take an "Artist" piece as well, but let's face it...I'm a bit busy these days, so I just chose one and stuck with it. I was paired with a local artist that I did not know (Kait Whistler Seyal) and it was great. When my mind wrapped around initial thoughts of integrating actual art with my photographic art, I kept getting stuck in the thought process of my photographing something that was temporary. An art project that could be made, but not last forever. My photography freezing that moment in time. I thought of the very cool sidewalk drawings that seem to defy reality and sometimes gravity. I thought of the extremely creative fruit books I bought for my kids and love to turn the pages on, where common fruits and vegetables are transformed into sure cute, smiling little critters. Yes, I love them all. What can I say? They make me smile. I think every one of them are so creative. :)

I even thought of the crazy toast art and how unique and cool some of those were.

Then my thoughts turned to a recent photo session I had with a friend, Amelia. It was a maternity session and I was so captured by her spirit and glow as she carried this child. I have also been thinking a lot about the earth and what we can do to show mother nature our love. This brought on the idea to have the artist paint or draw an earth on her belly. While the idea is a beautiful one, it had been done before. Kait pushed me to challenge myself to think a little deeper on this piece. To make it thought provoking. While I will still say that the angle we were going at with the "Mother Earth" idea was a good one (and one I would still like to do), I'm happy with the road her "pushing" took us to. We spoke many hours about our political views and takes on society. We learned about where our passions were. And while we learned that we are two different people with many unique characteristics (aren't we all?), we also found many shared interests and passions (animals and zombies, go figure!). We found common ground (laughter) on an image and a direction that we were both happy with. Many of you know my views on education and in case you don't, just search the Race to Nowhere post I made recently. The image really speaks for itself, but illustrates everything I feel about the direction society is going with trying to resume build our infants throughout their childhood lives. I love the anger and frustration I was able to capture in little Street's face and am eternally grateful I was able to capture such a hilarious image of little man's unhappiness. I am super happy with what Kait was able to do with the image and we both agree it is such a nice balance between our artistic efforts. The baby image is one of mine, and the books/titles were digitally created by me in Photoshop. She took those images and did her magic with them by using Xerox Transfers and her own artistic techniques using an inspired street art style of Banksy and Sheperd Fairey. I seriously couldn't be more pleased with her translation and the way she handled the images. The photos I took don't even do it real justice as touching it and seeing it in person does. The transfer is uber cool and the texture the piece has is seriously gorgeous. It adds a distressed and edgy feel to a very cool piece of art that scoffs at societal pressures to join in the Harvard Rat Race for your kids in hopes for a happy, healthy future generation. We hope you love it as much as we do.

The Artography 2011 show is open to the public today and tomorrow only from 6 p.m.-midnight. View a newsclip here regarding more details.

It is located at The Creation Gardens Market Hall on 725 E Market Street, downtown Louisville.

There are many extremely gorgeous, cool and unique pieces of art there that benefit 3 local charities. There will be live local bands playing throughout the entire exhibit hours. I hope to see many of you there. For more information, go here or to the fb page. Come experience the great artistic culture of Louisville and support a good cause at the same time! Below are some other pieces that caught my eye...but trust me, there are oodles more to choose from in a very diverse platform and price range. There is truly something for everyone! Enjoy!

I will likely post a gallery of all the pieces after the event. Consider this a sneak preview ;-). If you can't make the show (if you are out of town, otherwise I expect you to!)...check back here for the complete gallery. :)

Signing off....

Kassi

FAT TUESDAY~KING CAKE!

2011-03-08T17:54:00.000-08:00

Okay, so through our homeschooling journey, we have found it beneficial to teach our children about all different types of holidays and their meanings. Yesterday, my husband brought us home a King Cake...a popular traditional cake of Mardi Gras.

It was a colorful way to teach the kids what Mardi Gras is about and why people celebrate it. Even though for many, the true reason has been lost in translation for many years. It was fun to teach them about the significant colors and what they stood for~yellow-power, purple-justice and green-faith.

They got to decorate their own king cake and we explained about the reason the cakes were made and that they were named after the 3 Kings that came to visit Jesus. Perhaps the most fun part of the cake is the hidden baby Jesus doll inside.

Daddy cut the cake very carefully as to not "hurt" the baby Jesus. Each of the kids agreed that if he was found in their section of color that they decorated, they would get to keep the doll. All the kids were very excited to decorate and eat the cake. Mostly because they wanted to find the golden baby Jesus. Back in old times, the doll was actually made of gold or porcelain. Nowadays, they are plastic :(, but the fact that it was still gold in color excited them all.

So the kids anxiously searched their pieces to find nothing but yummy cinnamon braided dough, frosting and colored sugar. Mom and Dad select pieces as well. Dad found something suspiciously hard in his...can you see it?

We let Gabe dig it out, since it was his chosen/decorated "color"...green (which represents "faith"...would you have expected to find Him anywhere else??)

FOUND! Okay, so the kids weren't so great at being happy for him (see Cayleigh's face in the background...yes, she really wanted to find Him). Lucky for Cayleigh, Gabe is actually a very good spirit when it comes to sharing and let Cayleigh "babysit" Him for the first week. LOL

While this is a traditional Catholic Holiday, we find it to be most beneficial for our children to know and understand as many religious traditions as they can. We believe it promotes and encourages acceptance, understanding, love and tolerance for all faiths. We do not want to raise our children to not understand others. And while we are not Catholic, we certainly are Christian and anything that helps us to remember our savior is fine by me. What many people don't know about Mardi Gras is the close relation it has to Christmas. We found it to be a fun reminder of our savior's birth and learned a lot that we didn't know regarding the holiday and it's meaning. How it turned into what it is for many folks today is truly beyond me. We found the King cake to be a fun, hands on approach to learning about Mardi Gras. You can order your own King Cake via the internet at Gambino's Bakery or if you get lucky, may find one at your local grocery or bakery. Happy FAT TUESDAY!!

A MOTHERS WORTH...

2011-02-17T13:46:00.000-08:00

I don't even know where to begin with this post. Maybe I will start with the labored breathing my littlest was doing the other night after about 9 hours of 102-103 fever. We quickly got up and checked her temp again. 106.5. What? Try again. 106.3. EEK! Get the Motrin, Advil, Tylenol, whatever you can find...these fever has gone on long enough! Oh, and be sure to put in a distress call after midnight to your dear chiropractor and friend (sorry!). Ok...calm down...fever reduced. for a bit. 8 am, 103.5 kicks right in...and I'm over it. Loading her in the car and heading to the new awesome children's hospital in Louisville. There is usually no wait there and I have been forever impressed by their service in the past few months of multiple visits of broken bones (first Tori and now my oldest just broke his ankle two days prior!), children's dental work and mega illnesses. Yup, I am thinking of just renting space there so I can just walk down the hall to see the doctor when I need to. Ugh.

Okay, let me fast forward through all the processing. I'm greeted by a friendly female doctor who quizzes me about the little tot and her temp. She keeps her distance from me across the room with her arms folded and maintains a high level of professionalism. When she asks me if she has been eating or drinking, I reply "She won't eat a thing...but she has been nursing like crazy". Her eyes widen, "WOW" she says. "How old is she?" and she fumbles through her chart. "22 months." I answer, not sure what all the fuss is about. Granted, she is the now the leading child of mine that has nursed the longest, but I didn't think 22 months merited a "WOW" from an emergency room doctor. My pediatrician told me that they now encourage mothers to nurse to at least age 2 (not age 1 like they informed me for my other three children-who nursed until 18 months and pretty much weaned off themselves). Tori has not shown a single sign of being ready to wean and I'm kinda used to my kids telling me their needs.

Yes, I am big on attachment parenting, co-sleeping and nursing...no, I am not a hippie (although I likely would have been had I been raised in that era, LOL). Granted, I get a few strange glances by young moms who stop nursing promptly at 1 year, but I also have a gazillion friends that nursed their tots to 3-ish years. Anyhow, personal reasons...(no judging)...let me move on. Dr. H moved swiftly across my room and sat down quite informally next to me. She raved about how impressed she was and couldn't believe I was still "producing"...LOL. Then, she felt compelled to tell me about how difficult it was for her to nurse her two children. I've heard it before. And up until Tori was born, I hadn't experienced any real problems nursing my other three. I had a very rough time with Tori nursing as a newborn and had just about given up when I got sick of the pump so bad that I almost threw it out the window. I said, if this baby doesn't nurse today...THIS IS IT!!"...and she did. :) whew...guess she knew she better get her act together if she wanted to keep getting the real thing.

I can empathize. I now know how difficult it can be. Tori ended up in the NICU as a newbie because I thought she was getting what she needed and she wasn't productive. I survived those first 3 months with no more than about 30-45 minutes of sleep increments before trying to pump and nurse again. It was madness. Anyhow (back to the doctor), I was surprised at first at this doctor's openness, but love the way that women can connect when we really realize we are all trying to do the same thing; raise, love and care for our kids in the best way possible. Okay, maybe not all of us...maybe not that mother that is chain-smoking in her car with all the windows rolled up and her children trapped in the cancer cloud (not judging, really!) But we really all want what is best for our kids and so often we can connect rather intimately with a stranger when we realize that. As I talked about the other three kids, she stammered, " Four? you have four kids? Wow, now I'm really impressed", she smiled and eyed me up and down. I'm not sure what exactly she was saying and I was a bit uncomfortable with it so I just moved back on to my little Tori and how she possibly contacted the flu virus that she had diagnosed her with. She started talking about the kids likely bringing it home from school and I interjected, "--but we homeschool." She stopped mid-sentence and said not unkindly, "you are really one of those woman that I love to hate" and smiled.

"Huh?" I replied. confused.

"Nursing champion, mother of four, homeschooling...what are you, 'Supermom'?" she continued to smile enviously at me.

As we talked more, I realized that this woman truly did envy me and my situation. She yearned to be home with her children more, she wanted more children but couldn't have them, she also wanted to nurse those babies successfully and feel and create that bond that nursing does, but wasn't able to get to that point with it.

I found the entire experience so unreal. Here I was...in an emergency room, sitting with a doctor that wanted to be me. Or something like me. Surely she must know that most of society would look at the two of us and choose her life if they could pick one for them self. Wouldn't they? This really got me thinking. How much do we value a mother in our society today? We are always praising these huge accomplishments like going to med school , getting a degree, getting a great job, having a nice house, a luxury car, designer clothes. Okay, maybe not all of those things. But many of us would look at her and envy her. I am usually used to getting looks of raised eyebrows and hearing people tell me how 'brave' I am to take all my kids to the store or especially to homeschool them. It's not too often that you hear people commending each other for how well they did officially getting the diapers off and the toilet training down (HUGE accomplishment as a mom), or how well you are teaching them manners, to care for themselves and others around them, to not annoy the snot out of every living creature around them, to wash their hands, and not pick their nose, to match their clothes, to eat their veggies, to care for the earth and environment around them. When in all actuality the payoff to all of these things is much bigger than any degree you could have earned. You have birthed, shaped, led and formed a caring, smart, clean and kind individual that will contribute to the world in one day. If only the world could be filled with more of these kinds of people. We should be giving out degrees for this! We should be paying moms for this! Maybe we would have less crime, hate and ignorance if we did put a higher worth on what us mothers do (and while we are at it, why don't we pay them that doctor sized paycheck as well!)

I sat that day and reflected on my happiness with who I am today and all that I do. I realized that I am a happier person since I have chosen to homeschool. I feel more "connected" with my children. I understand their needs so much more. I still have my own life, and even my own business (2 of them) that I juggle on the side. But first and foremost, I am a mother. And for all the crazy looks and comments I get, it was interesting to hear a doctor tell me that she wanted to have that. That she envied my lifestyle.

It made me feel validated in my decision to drop my plans of Veterinary medicine. My first born changed every decision I had previously made about my future. Everything was put on hold. I am far from perfect; actually--I was that person chain smoking before I got pregnant with him. But I quit the day I found out and never looked back. It was one of the hardest things I ever did. But I did it to start a lifetime of making the right choices for my family and my children. (note to those moms still chain smoking with the kids---you CAN quit! Do it for them!!) I am a totally different person because of them. Yes, I make many sacrifices for their happiness. Yes, sometimes I feel bitter that I do because I feel "robbed"...but only for a few tiny seconds. Then I watch them look at me and smile and I see the future in their eyes. I forget about anything I gave up for them, because I didn't really give anything up. I GAINED so much more. Unfortunately, it took a doctor to make me truly realize that. ;-)

FREE ONLINE READING PROGRAM~ FUNNIX ~VALUED AT $249!!

2011-01-29T07:22:00.000-08:00

I taught my 6 & 7 year old that were both struggling readers how to read with this great book (I HIGHLY recommend it).

Because of the real strategies the book provided (teacher each letter sound and truly sounding out each letter), they became quite proficient. Once I heard the author of this book created this great online program, I had to check it out. Then another local homeschooler just passed along this AMAZING deal on it. FREE to anyone in January only. After that, the program becomes $249. It has the beginning teaching phases (Funnix) and then a program for readers that have begun reading and need to strengthen and challenge their skills (Funnix 2). They offer a great placement test here so you know where to begin with your child/students. I wish I would have heard about this sooner to give more of you an opportunity to get this, but if you follow my blog, you will get these deals as soon as I post them...so if you like them...click "follow" and check your google or blogger reader daily as you never know when I will post the next great find!

ONLY 3 DAYS LEFT ON THIS SO GO GET IT NOW!!

Race to Nowhere

2011-01-26T16:52:00.000-08:00

So I have been hearing a lot about this Documentary , "Race to Nowhere" regarding the pressures parents and schools are applying to our children. I finally managed to get into a screening of it last night and felt really empowered as a homeschooler and even opened my eyes as a parent, but even more so...it made me want to advocate for all the other children out there. The message is so simple, it makes me wonder why these thoughts and ideas haven't been presented before. Some of it seems radical to parents, while others are totally behind it. The basis for this film is that we are putting way too much pressure on kids to be everything---not only that, but to be the BEST at everything. It's unrealistic and sets them up for failure. Why not focus on the child's strengths and emphasize and empower them with those? Why do we ask that they be the best at EVERYTHING and not simply one or two things?

It questions the methods of teaching at this time and the constant testing. It questions the unnecessary homework being dumped on kids by the truckload after teaching them for 7 hours of school. It opens your eyes to the fact that these children today are being robbed of their childhood. They are no longer allowed to be free thinkers, problem solvers or even just average and happy.

It made me realize as a parent many of the mistakes I made when my kids were in public school by getting caught up in the trap of asking about homework, quizzes and tests and not as much on friendships, highlights and other social parts of their day. We are sending a message to these kids that their worth is determined by a letter grade on a piece of paper and they deserve so much more than that. Are we even looking at their other talents, interests and anything/everything else they may have to offer the world other than a test they have been forced to to memorize and regurgitate only to forget it over the next few weeks? What happened to the real learning opportunities? The teachable moments? The real life experience. We all know there is so much more to learning than a piece of paper and cramming random facts into our brain. Learning has to have meaning and purpose and when it does, it is actually retained.

Imagine the possibilities if a child is encouraged to follow their passions and interests and taught more about them. If we focus on their strengths and know that as they develop (because the all develop differently), they will get the other stuff that they might struggle with today.

We live in a world where we are trying to raise baby geniuses. One of my favorite quotes from the movie was when the narrator spoke of this and said (not exactly, but close)...these babies should be sucking on their fingers and toes, not sitting through lessons with flashcards (Your Baby Can Read, anyone?). That really stuck with me. How very telling that is of our society today. How many of us have fallen for that? We want our kids to be smarter, faster. We are robbing them of their childhood and it isn't right. There is a time for them to learn what they need to learn and they will (faster & easier, when they are ready), if we don't make them hate schools and learning by teaching for tests and not for life. But the message they are currently getting is that we want them to come home with trophies, and "A" letter grades. Setting them up for complete disappointment and failure if they get a "B" or a "C" or if they lose the game. What are we teaching them? According to the students here, we are teaching them to either cram until they make themselves sick (and play the game), or to cheat. Neither of which is preparing them for a real life and future.

Their self esteem is suffering, their stress levels are rising and depression and teen/youth suicide is on a major uprise. I cannot even begin to do the justice this film does by interviewing the teachers, parents and students and getting to the bottom of these issues. I highly recommend you see it. Track down a local screening and go to it. If you can't find one, HOST one. Then get all the parents, teachers and people who care about this and future generations and do something about it. Speak to the school districts, principals and government. Tell them that we are taking back our children's future. They are more than little robots. Some of the suggestions made are throwing out homework altogether. That has got to be my kids favorite piece about homeschooling. Once we are done, we are done. Then the evenings are all theirs, and ours as a family. They can play and think and explore, they can relax and bond with their family, they can get bored and find new things out, they can create. They can do so much if we allow them to. But they can't when all they are doing is school and extra curriculars and homework. We need to stop "resume building" with our kids and start "relationship building", "self building", allow them to become who they were meant to be (that we often don't give them enough (if any) time to figure out). We have so many people graduating college and still not knowing what they want to do with their lives and we wonder why.

Another thought is to remove the grading system and replace it more with a portfolio of their work. What does looking at a letter grade really tell us about a person. When we hire people at a job, we need to know a lot more about a person that a letter grade based on how well they tested in a subject. We need to know chartacter, experiences, talents, beliefs and even goals. Why not set goals with each child and track their progress in accomplishing those goals?

Ugh, I could go on and on...but I'd rather you see the film and form your own ideas, thoughts and opinions (like we should be teaching our kids, lol).

Here are some quotes from the film that stand out (they are close, but not exact)

I can’t really remember the last time I just went outside and ran around
We do whatever it takes to get an A
When I had kids, I didn’t think that the only time I’d see them was for 20 minutes at dinner
These kids are so overscheduled and tired … I’m afraid that our children are going to sue us for stealing their childhoods
We want the best for them [so] we put pressure on them to be what we want them to be
[All of this pressure] ends up turning kids into little professionals
I figured out that not eating gave me more energy … but it still wasn’t enough to get everything done
My school principal told me [when I tried to return from a treatment facility for anorexia and anxiety] that she didn’t want the teachers to have to worry about me – I was too much of a distraction for them [and other students]
We lose boys because they tune out and we lose girls to depression
The countries that outperform us on international tests actually give less homework than we do in the United States
At what point did it become okay for schools to dictate how we spend our lives after the bell rings? [regarding homework]
Parents need to educate themselves that homework isn’t going to make their students any smarter
When American kids encounter questions [on international assessments that don’t look like what they’re used to from their rote practice], they fall apart
These tests that they do so horrible on - they don’t test my kids on the curriculum, they test them on their culture and their culture isn’t represented on the tests
I tell my [urban] students that learning is power – to do whatever you want to do in life, you have to be a learner and you have to care – that is not what the district wants from me as a teacher
If we forget this [question] or do a different one, then we’re going to get in trouble and we’ll lose 5 minutes of recess [4th grader]
Your 6–month-old is supposed to be sucking on his toes and thumbs, not doing flashcards
[Students say] ‘The teacher doesn’t care – it’s just busy work - why CAN’T I just copy my homework?’
The point of education is to learn, not memorize
It’s impossible to cover all of the material for the AP course in one year. Literally impossible.
After my daughter passed her AP French exam, she said, “I never have to speak French again.”
So much of [kids’] time is structured. The only unstructured time they seem to have is the time they spend on the computer.
What’s happening these days is that kids aren’t getting a chance to find out what they love to do.
They’re 4 or 8 [years old] and they’re resume-building
Parents say ‘My child is a good kid.’ No, they were a good performer. You never found out if they were a good kid. You just know they’re a good student, not a good solid kid.
I stopped trying because if you don’t try, you can’t fail.
I think that success in America is measured by how much money you make, not how happy you are in your life
The environment and culture are so competitive that kids don’t feel like they can ever let people see their true selves
If you’ve always had As, there’s only one way to go and that’s down, so that B feels like a failure
We need to redefine success for kids … We have to get off this treadmill together. [We have to discuss] what does it take to create a happy, motivated, creative human bei

Here is CNN coverage of the film. Here is a small clip of highlights covered on Dr. Phil.

If you didn't click on the link above, here is the trailer.

**UPDATE**I also found a great blog post about it here. Very nicely worded.

If you want to do something, start here..."like" their FB page, find a local screening and join the grassroots movement. Make your voice heard. Blog about it. Facebook about it. Share it. At the very minimum, this will open your eyes to the pressures a parent gives and help you to ease up on your own children and demand your school stop applying unnecessary pressure as well.

"You have to be smart, but also you have to be pretty, and also you have to do sports and you have to be involved in the arts, and you have to find something unique about yourself, because if you don't know yourself before you do all that, you're going to lose yourself."

~Kelly 9th Grade

Ugh, Poor kids...

There is another film out there right now changing the nation as well. I have not been lucky enough to see it just yet, but am doing everything I can to find a local showing. It's called "Waiting for Superman" I suspect it is doing a lot of what Race to Nowhere is and that is challenging our current educational system. If you can find a showing near you to this film as well (or at some point get your hands on a DVD of either)...Do so!

Here is an extensive interview of Katie Couric and the filmmaker of "Waiting for Superman".

CBS "The Talk" is due to cover it tomorrow Jan, 27 2011. I will post what I can find on that as soon as I can get it.

Teaching to Tell Time...Learn to Read Online Curriculum BONUS!

2011-01-25T09:50:00.000-08:00

Okay, for any of you that still have kiddos that need tolearn to tell time (the old fashioned way) LOL…darn those digital clocks! Wefound a great little tool on a site that I love (apples4theteacher) yesterday and my kidsthat I have used multiple strategies with on this finally got it! We have tried story books, workbooks, amanual clock, etc. to not really gettingit. This just really helped with themdoing it over and over until they got it. I helped them count the minutes by 5’s until they were able to dothemselves, which they were doing fine after a few runs of it. Now they are doing it each day for practicejust so they will eventually be able to “know” by memory and not having tocount by 5’s. They really took toit. Hope you all can use this! Click here to go!

Learn to Read Curriculum BONUS:

I have also had another homeschooling friend pass along this AMAZING DEAL and I always believe in paying it forward and sharing the resources for ALL kiddos so please DO try this one, it is TOO good to pass up.

The coupon code givesyou 1 free year
subscription.

http://www.mightybookjr.com/Mightybook_Jr_Home.php

Use coupon code: learntoread

HAPPY TEACHING!!

Our decision to homeschool...HOT BREAKFAST! :-)

2011-01-01T14:01:00.000-08:00

Okay, so many people, including my friends (who am I kidding--mostly my friends, lol) have decided I must have lost my mind this past year when I made the final decision to homeschool my kids. Okay, I admit...in the beginning even I had to question my sanity. The comment I hear most often from friends is "I could never do that", or "I don't have the patience for that" and I just smile to myself now thinking about how much more sane our lives have become since I made that fateful decision. Patience. I don't know that I would say it is my strong point...but definitely not my weakest either. As I reflect on this past year and our homeschooling challenges and successes, I find myself feeling most grateful for the mornings we spend together as a family.

Let me flash back to last school year in the mornings (when they still attended public school).
6:30 a.m. Me: "Time to wake up, it's a brand new day!" (Turn on lights) Kids: no signs of life
Me: "Come on, sleepy heads, it's time to get up." (opening curtains) Kids: *Groan,* grumble, sigh* (this goes on a few times and I scurry between kids rooms repeating myself.
6:45-Me: "I said WAKE-UP!!" Kids: *groan,* grumble, *open eyes,* roll over and shut them again*.
6:50 "Do I have to get out the water?" Kids: *stretch *groan * grumble* "No...we're up"
Me: "Get up, get dressed..we gotta go." (Leave the room to ready myself)
7:00 (expecting to find dressed children, find them still sleeping) "Ugh!!!" "Splash!" (the water being dumped in the faces) Kids *screams and cries* finally moving out of bed but moving like slow paced zombies.

This is just the beginning of our mornings last school year...then came the, "I can't find my...." that was GUARANTEED to happen EVERY morning by one or more of my kids. How this happened to us every morning never failed to amaze me as I went to bed the night before feeling *uber* prepared knowing that Allan had lovingly packed their lunches and they were safely packed away in the fridge, I had tapped into my OCD just enough to layout the full week of school uniform (blech) choices for each of them in their closet dividers. So what could go wrong?! Always something. Homework missing. a folder. a shoe, a sock, a glove...a backpack...a BACKPACK?!?! How do you lose a whole BACKPACK?!?! It happens. Believe me. This is not even counting breakfast, which on many days was a pop-tart in the mouth on the way out the door. Many times the kids were such zombies, they didn't even feel like eating yet because they weren't quite awake enough yet to enjoy it so they opted for school breakfast instead (which they claim they never had enough time to eat before the school staff started yelling at them to throw away their trays after only 2 bites--Gabe HATED that, still gripes about it to this day if brought up). Isn't breakfast the most important meal of the day?! We (and the school) never seemed to have enough time for a good one for my kids. Now we rush out the door in the bitter cold *wince* to get in the car and head to the bus stop. Tori (the baby) is the least happiest of all of us for the horrible injustice. She has literally been dragged out of a warm bed, cozy and sleeping into the crisp wintery morning chill that Kentucky provides. This doesn't even address the many times we pulled up to the bus stop just to see the bus driving away and me silently cursing that I now had to drive all the way downtown and back, thus adding another hour and a half to my day of getting the kids off to school. Okay, so it wasn't always silent. Many times, I found myself blaming whichever child I felt made us late that day. This definitely wasn't a good start to anybody's day, especially whatever child felt the wrath that morning. I didn't intend to be so mean, I was just tired, flustered and stressed by the public school mornings we went through each day. Along with my nagging came Tori's crying. Why? Because she wanted more sleep and wanted to be laying in a warm bed nursing and cuddling with her momma, that's why. So she made sure every one of us were just as miserable as she was strapped to an infant car seat...cold, tired and hungry.

Then there were the times we didn't make it to the back door of the school in time and I had to walk them through the front, sign them in to the office and walk the *hall of shame* for getting my children to school 5 minutes late. They were handed slips of paper to take to class with them stating they were to be marked "tardy" (this did oodles for their self esteem, I'm sure). Just one more negative to set the tone for the day. So just when I finally get home and breath a sigh of relief that my kids are safe and sound and thriving at school, I open the fridge to get myself a glass of orange juice to see that one of my dear children has left that lunch Allan lovingly packed for them. :-/ Yup, that's right...another trip to and fro the school to ensure they all have a good lunch...*sigh*

Fast forward to the present. Morning...8-9 a.m. Kids voices whispering is heard from my bedroom. Baby sound asleep warm and cozy next to her momma. Me slipping out of bed to check on the kids who are using the early morning to sneak in a little free computer time. They smile and greet me. I warm up the griddle and like the best short order cook, start taking orders for eggs, pancakes, oatmeal and toast. The kids dribble into the kitchen and we all talk, laugh, eat and enjoy our hot breakfast at our own leisurely pace (because no one is rushing us) and start our day off right. I often smile and flip the eggs over easy that Cayleigh just ordered, the eggs in a basket Logan just ordered and the oatmeal Gabe requests thinking of those ever stressful mornings.

I felt extra warm inside when we get to make fun "Snowman pancakes" together (Cayleigh's special recipe) and mini-pancakes the size of silver dollars that my Grandpa used to make for us when we were little (and that Cayleigh loves to stack).

Our mornings start off right and at our own pace. Tori wakes to a morning feeding and then a warm breakfast herself while the kids work on their writer's journals. Our day begins right so guess what? It continues on that way. No stress. Just love. We explore and teach and learn from each other. We play games. We do things at our pace and follow our interests. We go places and learn things hands on. We investigate things in our world. We watch Discovery and National Geographic movies together by the fireplace. We create things. We laugh, we learn and we love. When I need a break? That's called "free time" when they play outside, in the art room or in the play room. I can call it whenever I (or they) need it. I'm not running on someone else's schedule and sitting in 30 minute carpool lanes at the end of the day. I don't have to rush through a dinner so I can help three kids with different homework and test preparation, just to throw them into a bath, then off to bed and feel exasperated that we never get any real family time. I'm through with that. I've caught on to the secret that it doesn't take more patience to homeschool than public school. We have actually simplified our lives. There is no chaos like there was before. It's amazing how much more peaceful things become when the rest of the world can't demand things from you. Our evenings belong to us, as a family. We can spend them together relaxing, bonding and spending quality time together. We took our lives back. Our mornings start out like they were meant to. Right now, I realize that why I homeschool is because this is where I am supposed to be. Where my Heavenly Father wants me to be. Home with my children. Teaching them and loving them. The rest of the world's stresses can stay out there. I don't feel them anymore. My kids have learned more in this past half of a year than ever. I as their mother know exactly what they need and where they are, I can focus on things as they need them, not as the school district tells me to so they can pass the next test for their "school report card". Not only are my kids doing fine, they are thriving. So the next time someone asks me why I am so crazy to homeschool, or where I find the patience....I will simply say, "I do it for the hot breakfast." and smile...because I know what that all entails.

Egypt & Mummies Unit/ Making Pharaoh Masks & Barbie Mummies!

2010-12-21T21:50:00.000-08:00

Okay so I know I am WAY behind in my keeping you all up on our homeschooling journey this year, but if I was regularly posting like I would truly like to be, I would have to question my time spent with the kids. I seriously don't know how to find the time for this, but I am trying hard as I see it as a journaling/digital scrapbooking sort of record of what we are doing. Allan (the geek) also enjoys it as he is off to work and misses so much of what we do.

So here we are, covering in December something we learned in October (oh well!) ...here it is! This has to be the funnest unit we have done this year and we learned SO MUCH! First, I talked to the kids about the fun things we were going to do that week as we learned. I mentioned to them how excited I was for us to make Pharaoh masks and Barbie doll mummies. My boys were as excited as I--- but my 7 year old, Cayleigh was upset at the idea of making monsters out of pretty dolls, even after I explained we wouldn't be using hers and would pick up some at the dollar store just for this project. It was more about the fact that "mummies were monsters" in her eyes. When we began learning about mummies and why they did it, she came to understand that they were not monsters at all. They were usually royalty-- well cared for and very loved people that believed by doing these things, they were protecting and preserving their bodies for the afterlife. They did mummification out of love. Once she realized that, she was sold. YAY!

Next, I found all the National Geographic Documentaries I could find on the Pharaohs, Pyramids and Mummies. My kids are very visual learners so this really helps to set the tone for what we are learning. I also rummaged up some books like the Magic Tree House and the Usborne Book of World History. These books were EXACTLY what I needed to cover the basics without overwhelming with too much info for their little (but genius) minds. hehe

I found this great free lapbook template for Ancient Egypt and assigned each of the kids different pieces to the book. I had one draw pictures of examples for thier mini-book, another would be researching info on the computer about their mini-book, another would be cutting, folding and gluing minibooks together. It's a team effort so we can end up with a nice take away from our unit. I always have them sign their name on/in the mini book they did so we can later see who contributed what to each book we make. Below are some pictures of our Egypt lapbook. We are very proud of the effort that went into this one.

During our unit, we had plenty of art/craft time to try to recreate some of our own Egyptian artifacts. :-) First, we made our very own pharaoh masks. The kids proudly hung them in the classroom. I don't think they are going anywhere anytime soon. LOL
Below are the basics to how we made them (and how much fun we had making them :-) )

Logan stirring the flour paper mache mixture....

Another benefit of homeschooling...no uniforms, LOL!

Okay I had to include this one...even though my kids have NEVER seen a Friday the 13th movie, they know this mask represents a scary character named "Jason". They were killin me with the funny re-inactments of "Jason goes to Egypt"! LOL. So yes, this was what I found at the dollar store to give me a base to make our pharoah masks. We hot glued the paper cut out to the inside of it and went to town tearing and gluing strips of paper to our masks.

Yes, it was VERY messy! But FUN, I swear!

The finished result of DAY 1. I did use laminated placemats to help cut down some of the mess and also to give it something that would (hopefully) peel off okay the next day without doing too much damage.

Now, just to let them dry :-)

DAY 2: Logan hard at work with the gold spray paint (and yes, it became an obsession...gold sprayed EVERYTHING!...we'll talk about that in another post altogether, lol)

Finished Project, 2 coats of Gold Spray paint...now (you guessed it) DRY! Yes! Onto the hand painting...

Cayleigh begins her Diva masterpiece...

Gabe makes his tribal version...

Logan stays very traditional.

After that, we HAD to make our Barbie Mummies! Check out our exciting step by step of that super fun process...

Then we waited 40 days...(not really, we waited 40 minutes to simulate).

We learned after our pharaoh masks that we prefer the glue solution to the flour solution as the flour paste makes an odd smell and can attract little bugs in warm weather. We will be using a glue/water solution for all future paper mache type projects.

And for my usual ending Tori post....what did Tori get herself into this week?
Dried Indian corn of course! It was our sensory table theme for the fall in our craft room and I think it's safe to say that she REALLY likes it. :-)

Melissa & Doug Deal of the Day!

2010-12-03T09:26:00.000-08:00

Can I just say how thrilled I am to have found this deal?! Had to share in hopes to help many of you find these great prices in time for Christmas for your little ones! I already had the decorate cupcakes on my littlest one's list, and I've been eyeing that tiered special occasion cake since my 7 year old played with it at the Parent Teacher Store the entire time I shopped...so HALF PRICE seemed pretty great to me! Plus I get FREE shipping with Amazon Prime. Yes, I went a little crazy on this one! I also found the little horses that my daughter was begging for one day. We are going to have such a FUN Christmas! My kids already LOVE the sets we have like the Pizza, sushi and fruit cutting sets. They love the velcro attachements and play with them for hours in our play kitchen. HAVE FUN, this one is TODAY ONLY!!

Tori's First Break

2010-11-15T20:30:00.000-08:00

Alright, I have one older child that is familiar with the term "break a leg" because he enjoys acting and may actually pursue a career in it one day. My 18 month old on the other hand learned the term quite literally about a week ago when her sweet older brother, Gabe was holding her and accidentally fell. Somehow I don't think she was wanting to pursue an acting career at the time.

Poor little gal, I had no idea it was broken until the following day since it happened at night and I put her to bed after consoling her. It was when i put her down in the morning that I quickly realized what had happened. Poor thing fell straight to the ground, she couldn't put an ounce of pressure on that leg. Dang, I felt horrible that she suffered all night with that pain and I didn't have a clue. It's times like these I really wish they would come out of the birth canal talking. :-( In any case, I took her to a new local children's hospital that I absolutely fell in love with that day. They diagnosed her with a broken tibia and splinted her. They don't believe in casting the first week in Louisville, so let's just say it has been a VERY long week (hence the Facebook countdown, so sorry for the confusion, Britt!! LOL)

The kids loved the mini door sized just for them. Tori loved their version of kid wheelchairs. Allan ended up picking one up for the house for her as well, hehe!

It's now been a week and they are ready to cast my little diva. So off we go to the Children's Orthopedic Doctor today and this is what we ended up with.

The splint comes off...

Waterproof Liner...

On goes the hot pink layer...

Adding the Diva's sparkles

adding the finishing touches!

End result...for my little punk princess!

Her fashionable and function-able (waterproof) cast! :-)

Dang this thing is HEAVY!! We'll see how well she lugs this thing around. I sure hope she can figure it out, my back can't handle all the lifting anymore!

The good news: Doc thinks this will be a quick heal --- 3-5 weeks instead of the initial 6-8 weeks we were told by the ER doc. :-)

**Fingers crossed**

Homeschool Human Skeleton Unit Study...Dem Bones, Dem Bones!

2010-11-09T22:31:00.000-08:00

Okay, well we didn't really intend for our Homeschool to be based on unit studies, but after how wonderfully our 50 states study went, I realized rather quickly that this was the way to go with my group. So here we are in October and I am thinking of nothing more than HALLOWEEN! Yes, many of you know that it is my favorite time of year. I met my husband at a Halloween convention, mind you! So naturally our unit studies this month will revolve around this fun time of year! The first week we decided to theme it SKELETONS so we learned all about the bones in our body. I first begin my units by searching Google for any and all ideas for my topic and then printouts, art project, math studies, etc. Then I search all the kids bookcases for books relating to the subject (yes, we have a lot of books...so far, we haven't had to go to the library!) We did wonderful, we found our Dr. Frankenstein's Human Body book (my oldest LOVES this book!)

as well as our Usborne Human Body book. Both had alot of information about bones.

Next, we headed for the dollar store and bought two class mascots (a small, plastic skeleton and a large cardboard skeleton). We played lots of games online regarding the human skeleton and found all the numerical points to remember about the bones in our body, (12 ribs on each side=24, 33 vertebrae in our spine, 206 bones in out body by adulthood about 270 as a baby, etc.) we focused on those numbers alot for math pieces. We learned all the names of the bones (both common and scientific) and Logan was really good at remembering the scientific names as well as the common while Cayleigh & Gabe were able to focus mainly on the common names at their age and learning level (example...mandible=jawbone, patella=kneecap). At the end of the week, we played a game to see if they could name every bone on our class mascot, "Bucky"...I was going to award the one who knew the most a prize, but to my delight, they all knew at least the common name for all of them! They were ALL winners!!

We made a Human Bones Lapbook. This is a great way I can keep/showcase each of the kids work on each unit. I can give out various assignments on our subject and at the end of the unit, we compile, organize and assemble our favorite handouts into our lapbook. Some of the information we find is best to print, cut and paste (especially for the younger kids to get involved) while others are artistic representations altogether. Many things my oldest son has found he likes to type up himself and print and cut as he really likes to type. It doesn't bother me much as long as it's a good mix of print, type and art from all my kids. Even the typing and printing enhances their computer skills.

I love lapbooks because they fold up neatly and can be placed on a bookshelf. They don't always work for every unit as we used a 3 ring binder for our 50 states unit and made laminated pages for each state (2 sided) with state flag, flower, bird, capitals, etc. on one side and the state quarter with interesting facts on the other)...that would have been WAY TOO BIG for a lapbook. The idea for us is to have some kind of "take-away" for each unit. It will likely grow into much more in the future, but lapbooks are fun, easy and small. There are also lapbook kits that can be found online if you don't feel like braving one yourself. We may start offering these ourselves when we find the time and energy to do so (free, of course). We can also use them as a review tool when we want to review a particular subject or perhaps delve deeper into that topic. Here are some photos of our hard work :)

Oh, and I can't forget the ever promised photo of what fun Tori found herself in this week while we were busy learning, LOL......

Not sure if she passed or failed on this one...LOL! What do you think??

50 Nifty United States!

2010-09-19T21:19:00.000-07:00

Well pretty quickly into this venture I realized we would do really well with Unit Studies. I think it was when I was talking to the kids about their cousins moving from Kansas to California, then our weekend trip to St. Louis to meet them, coupled with the weekend trip my Geek comic loving husband took to comic fans favorite convention, Comicon in Chicago when I began to realize these words had no real relevance to my children. They were desperately lacking in terms of Geography. And while my initial aim when we began the homeschool journey was to focus first on the very basics (reading, writing, math) before introducing any other subject, I realized I could "juggle" it in a sense where we could still do those basics, but perhaps intertwine it with a theme where they would be learning something else interesting and new at the same time. I didn't know then how well it would turn out for us, but since I introduced the "50 States" Unit theme, we have learned SO much and kinda secretly snuck in the basic as well as other subjects simply by covering such a broad unit theme. :-) While I happily laminated a US Map to decorate our classroom with, I began brainstorming of ways we could bring the map to life. I started thinking, "could we visit each of these states?" "Is that a possibility for us right now?" While I decided that may be a bit aggressive of a goal, I realized it might be easier to make friends with people in each state, maybe pen pals and that's when I found "postcard kids", a group of people around the world that happily exchange postcards, many for projects just like ours. So we set out a goal to swap postcards with another child in each of the 50 states. When we get a new one, we put a sticker on our map. The kids LOVE receiving them and seeing what each child wrote on their card; some leave interesting facts about their state, others tell us about themselves.

The even better part for me is that my kids get in their own "writing" time by composing their own postcards. Plus they are learning about the basics of mailing a letter, where the name and address goes, stamp, return address, etc.

and whoever gets the classroom job
of "mailman" LOVES checking the mail for new postcards! They all love taking their own postcards out. :-)

I decided to choose spelling words for them based on our Units and their levels so for example Logan is learning how to spell each and every state, while Gabe and Cayleigh will get easier choices like, map, state, flag, etc. We also began making our own flashcard game. Each of the kids were involved in making the cards so they seem to be very invested in the project. We played once and had a lot of fun. It helps us to recognize the state shape and then to match up the state to it's capital. The best part is I found State shaped silly bands for prizes as they matched them up! They LOVED it! :-)

Then I decided to have each child research and present to the rest of us a new state each day (research, public speaking) and they are doing great! We learn basic things like what the state flag looks like, the state nickname, capital, flower, bird, etc. (Speaking of, did you know that 7 of the US states have a cardinal as their state bird?) We also chose to incorporate the state quarters in their research and we learn about why each state chose the design they did. Initially for my younger ones, this opened doors about coins and counting them (Math), and now we are even collecting them. This opened even more doors as we learned because most states choices involve a great deal of history, geology, environmental science, political science and random geographical facts about each state. Once they are done presenting their papers, we laminate them and are compiling them for an awesome State book (publishing) we can save and treasure forever. Now, I've just gotta figure out how to bind it!! We found a fun book
that tells interesting facts about each state that Logan (reading) to us while I drive us to the park on park days to get our social time out with other homeschoolers and I quiz them after each state to see if they were paying attention (reading comprehension). Speaking of Park Days, I thought I would post a few pics of their newest friends and fun they 've had there.

On Weird Science Wednesday (we came up with fun "Special Area" things to do each day), we do fun science experiments (from our 501 Science Experiments book)
and try to tie them in with our unit, so one week in our newly created outdoor classroom,
we "made mountains" (since we just discussed the mountain ranges on our maps) trying out different natural elements to decide what made the most solid structure. It got messy fast, but the kids really enjoy getting this type of hands on learning (who doesn't?).

Each child collected an object (rocks, acorns, sand, dirt) and they built a mountain out of it. We dumped water on each to determine which held up the most to the weather. Then we decided to mix them all together and see how that held up. That one was the most fun for them as they got to get really messy and team up together to make it extra strong!

By the way,we are REALLY loving our outdoor classroom! :-)

I found a really cool game called 10 days in the USA and we play that on "Thinking Game Thursday", it really helps all of us to have a better understanding where each and every state is located. We like it so much, we plan to keep it just for a family game night after the unit is over. :-) I also found a 50 States cookbook (health, practical living, home economics) where on our final week of the unit, we will create and taste test dishes from each of the fifty states that they are famous for. :-) We have also been learning a new song called "50 Nifty United States" (music), which we plan to sing in front of some neighbors and friends (performing arts). So you see, this is why I have fallen in love with the idea of unit studies. Everything is woven together so it means more to the child learning. Dots are being connected. We love it so much the kids have been making their own "unit theme" ideas. I have placed them in a jar which we will draw from to dictate our next unit. There will be certain times of the year I will choose relevant unit themes however, to connect the dots even more if that time of year has a focus on something we can learn about.

Our next Unit? Halloween, of course! We will keep that one going the entire month of October with a special focus on different aspects like Week One: Mummies & More (Egypt), Week Two: Creepy Crawlies (Bats, Spiders, Rats), Week Three: Candy (how it's made-candy making class, field trip to candy factory, science with candy), Week Four: Skeletons (Human Bones). Needless to say, we are pretty excited for October!!

And just as a funny way to close each post, I'll show you some of the fun things Tori got herself into while we were knee deep into homeschool....:-)

Covered in Maple Syrup from her head.....

to her toes!!!

Homeschool, here we come!

2010-08-24T21:39:00.000-07:00

Wow, I realize I have always been one of those people that puts a LOT on themselves. I'm not an idle person. I'm a mover, a thinker, a creator...a mother, and I'm very active in all of those things. So....most people thought I was a little bit crazy when I decided to open my own accessory line, Punk n Posh about three months after my last child was born. Then, pretty much everybody thought I was crazy when I partnered with my good friend, Cindy and opened up yet another business about six months later. So yes, in the first year of my fourth child's birth, I successfully launched two new businesses that keep me very busy. Now...for those of you that still held on to the notion that I might not be crazy-I have decided to homeschool my older three children this year. Yup, I'm certifiably crazy, I know. But thank goodness for it, cause we are LOVING it! While I know I haven't been the best blogger on the block, I decided this may give me another reason to post. I've been pretty busy posting pics and blurbs to my Photography Business Blog, but have seriously been neglecting this one, I know. So the random postings are about to return (I will try to post weekly, not a daily kind of person, sorry!) I will try to post more about what we are doing, what the kids are learning, new photography tips and of course whenever I can get them from the hubs...geek tips as well!

We just got through our first week of homeschool and we really enjoyed it! At this point we are eclectic homeschoolers as I like to be able to pick and choose the best spelling programs, websites, etc. for my kids and so on for each subject. We will be practicing Waldorf teaching styles and methods into our daily learning.

So we started out our week setting up our classroom space, schedule, introduced curriculum, etc. My husband brought up a large table for our classroom (I heard it was pretty important to have your own quiet space for class so the focus can be just that, class!) so I re-vamped what should be our formal dining room into a classroom. Who needs a formal dining room anyway? What a waste of good daily space that can be used so much more effectively! :-)

DAY 1: Desk & Laptops

Day 2: I woke up with the kids already up and waiting on the couch eagerly with their laptops on their laps! I think they were pretty geared up from our first day and couldn't wait to get started! I thought it was cute so i had to snap a few pics...even the baby was into it!! ;-D

We added our own in-boxes and hall passes (the kids insisted on the hall passes, go figure!) they made these during art/craft time with cereal boxes, wrapping paper, glitter, paint and any other art supplies they could get their hands on!

They definitely added some color and organization of our folders and notebooks to our classroom desk/space. :-)

So it turns out Gabe really likes spelling. Okay, maybe he really likes www.spellingcity.com and it's super fun spelling games that help him with his spelling words for the week! Love that little guy. :-)

Another fun thing we learned about homeschooling is we can make lunch time learning time as well! We decided to have a little challenge with our A-Z Spaghettio's to see how many spelling words they could spell with them. Okay, it was a little messy, but everybody got their spelling words right on their test! Hands on learning is the way to go!

Okay, so Gabe chose the easiest word on his list first..."GOT"...but he "GOT" better, I promise! Logan's words were based on his Math unit that he started with, which was "Taxes"...so he had some pretty difficult words to be digging out of his Spaghettio bowl! LOL. Look, I made them "Eat their words" hahaha....Ah, what FUN! :-)

The last day of the week I saved a pretty fun art project for them...SAND ART! Oh, did I forget to say "messy sand art??" ah, well, the joys I tell ya! ;-) They had way too much fun for me to complain. Here are some shots of their creations.

Just in case you were wondering what my adorable little muchkin, Tori is doing when we are deep into instruction time?.........

FINGER PAINTING...WHAT ELSE?!?!? (With Chocolate Pudding, what could be better than that?)

And we ended the week with a celebratory trip to the Neighborhood Pool. Pretty Darn good week. I'll post something next week about how week 2 went! Thanks for dialing in! :-)

Let me just ask one question...do you think the kids had fun much at the pool?!? LOL, I just LOVE Logan's jump of the diving board here! :-D

I HEART FACES WEEKLY PHOTO CONTEST~TEENS

2010-06-21T13:30:00.000-07:00

Okay, this is my first entry in a photo contest...I've been watching them for a while at http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/ and I just couldn't resist this one as my VERY FIRST portrait model, Quinton, is a teenager and he just so happened to have given me the most awesome photo shoot ever! What a model!! I had an extremely hard time picking one photo from his shoot because they all turned out so dynamic. I finally settled on this one because it framed his face in tight and well, it is i <3 faces, right!? This kid is only 15 years old, just lost his father days before the shoot (an army soldier who just served in Iraq), is in two different rock bands (you can see a tiny peek of his accoustic in the lower left corner) and has one of the deepest minds you would ever meet. He is extremely loyal to his girlfriend; cherishes their true love...remember those days?! He is way too grown for his age, but still maintains an innocence that is somewhat mysterious. I was thrilled to get to know him that day and have never taken better images since. I was surprised he was up for the shoot considering his tragic loss, but he thanked me later and told me how good it was for him to get out and focus on something else. Everytime I look at this photo, I know what is going on behind those eyes and what that is happens to be way too deep for you or me to understand. They say the eyes are the window to the soul. I wish I didn't have to see the sadness in his. But on the same note~ this kid is a survivor, is extremely talented and I am proud to call him my nephew. Man, he set the bar extremely high for me because now everyone wants their picture to look as good as his. What can I say...his unique style, facial structure, eyes and soul made this shot. I only captured it. Love you, Q!

The Posh Puff!

2010-06-11T12:18:00.000-07:00

I haven't really talked much about my other company....Punk n Posh. It's a hip accessory line with uber cute punk and posh pieces that kids, teens and adults can wear to express their inner star! The pieces also make great photography props (for all you photogs out there!). Which brings me to my point. :-D I've just released a fab new item called "Posh Puffs" which are super glam adorable puff pieces that come in a variety of colors and can be clipped to headbands, hats, belts, hair and flip flops for various kinds of posh looks. I was so excited to release them once I took my girls pictures in them-they turned out so adorably *squishy* cute! I mean humbly speaking and all my girls are superbly gorgeous, ;-D (hehehe) but after a zillion pictures I have taken of them, I needed something to change their look as well as the look of the photo. The posh puffs did just that. The photos speak for themselves. The good news? They are a gorgeous photo prop that will only cost you $8...that's it. So you can afford to buy one in every color and be prepared at your next photo shoot you want to foof up the Poshiliciousness! yes, that is a word...I created it! ;-D

Or ~you can try to get one for free from this blog ;-D !! That's right, I will be giving away one Free posh puff per week for one month. What do you have to do? Just leave a comment here telling me how u like the photos or the puffs (and which color(s) you would choose if you won and I will draw one per week. If u share my direct link to my webstore or facebook fan page to your blog or facebook status and comment here that u did I will give u another entry! One more for twitter! Tweet about it! It's that simple. Hope u love the posh puffs as much as I do! These photos truly warm a mothers heart~I know mine is melting now...

Continuous Motion....I GOT IT!!

2010-05-31T11:57:00.000-07:00

Okay so I have to say I am sooooo excited for TWO reasons! 1) because being the slow blogger I am, I just realized I can update my blog from my iPhone (poolside baby, yeah!) and 2) because I was able to get an AWESOME continuous motion shot! I may be more excited than I should be but nonetheless I am, shall we say--"tickled pink"?!? So I have to start with the fact that I was inspired by Scott Kelby in book one of his digital photography series that I blogged about a few posts back (my eternal thanks, Scott-you truly have made me a better photographer ;-D). I have to say that when I read his page regarding continous motion I was fascinated with the idea (probably as excited as I got when I learned how to "paint with light" and shot a complete heart I drew with two light up swords my kids had at the local firework spectacular, Thunder over Louisville-I would totally blog about that if I didn't lose the photo to a BAD HARD DRIVE...total other story...I will recreate the photo and blog all about that another day!) and seriously wanted to rush out to the local outdoor extreme skate park (I still plan to go!) but in the meantime I had something much more important to attend to...Kindergarten graduation.

Yes, my little man was graduating Kindergarten and in his eyes that meant he wasn't a little kid anymore. Oops gotta take a break for food, (free cookout at the neighborhood pool- can't pass that up!) Needless to say he also made a point to tell mom and dad that he wanted a BIG present (since he was now a BIG kid of course!) and hinted that he wanted a new motorcycle (he doesn't ask for much, does he?!) Being that he already has a motorcycle (Fisher Price Harley Davidson), but the batteries that it takes have been dead for a year, I decided it was time to cough up the $80 to buy the kid new batteries and bring life to the dead Harley. Alright, I know--I am seriously getting to the point. So I went to the adorable boys graduation and brought him a small gift (and by small I mean in size-can't exactly haul a Harley jr in the school gymnasium!) and I was playing with my new lens (which I happen to have a love/hate relationship with) and managed to capture some super cute glimses of little mans excitement for his new game-the self titled "game boy" happens to LOVE Mario (who doesn't?). Dang, that boy can melt my heart with those baby blues...

Soooooo when we got home he found his beautiful piece of heavenly blue plastic waiting on the front porch, was he excited? Ummm, yeah...you could say so. It was while I was somewhere between happy dreamy bliss from beautiful images like these:

(beautiful to me because of the sharpness where I wanted it, the bokeh where I wanted it, the nice color that the lens translated to my LED, and the most beautiful subjects I could ask for in my humble opinion!)....

...to complete frustration from blurry shots like these (see why I have a love/hate relationship...bad bokeh!?):

when I realized "I can take a continous motion shot of my little man riding his little heart away". So I pulled back into the files I store in my brain sorted under "Scott Kelby" and started adjusting my settings. I started clicking continuously when little man gave his sister a lift and prayed for a miracle. I got it!! Not only did I get it, but I really got it! I LOVE the expression of I intensity on his face, love that my little chicka was looking over at me, nailed the sharpness on my subject and the blurry motion suggesting their movement that I was looking for AND was able to keep plenty of room for the motorcycle to go, making for a much more interesting composition.

WOW. I did it. I'm so proud of myself! And I think I'll like this more than any race car, dirt bike or skate trick I'll catch like this in later days. I got my first continuous motion shot and it rocked because it is special to me, because it shows the free spirit, unbridled fun my babies were having. I love it and I am SO thrilled. As a mom. As a photographer. This is one for the portfolio kids ;-).

Wanna know how I did it? Okay, here is the recipe (you did all this reading, you deserve to reap a benefit here I know!) slow down your shutter speed (something below 1/60th of a second or where you would usually need a tripod-the slower, the more motion you can show), click the shutter and pan (follow) your camera around the moving subject in the same direction and relativley same speed they are going. Be sure to be shooting on continuous and be sure your subject is in focus. That's it. Your goal is to have your subject in focus and the surrounding area to show a motion around it. I plan to do ALOT more of this. I can think of so many fun ideas with this besides the obvious ones I mentioned above (long run on the diving board, waterfights, races (kids, bikes, cars, horses..whatever!, even babies first steps!) This can be a super fun trick that only the pros know so I truly hope I can help some of u other newbs to find the joy I have with this great technique!

Till next time! BTW: Working on the Kandy Pop Photography website now...should be up and running very soon! Thanks for all of your support!

Warmly,
Kass

Kandy Pop Photography?! WHAT IS THAT??

2010-05-24T15:31:00.000-07:00

Alright...here it is...so my friend tells me she received such an overwhelming response to the family photos we took of her family (Davis Family) and people are inquiring about how/where to get them done. I'm told they especially love the collages (thank you!). So she and I decided to try to offer our services to the public for a small fee so we can support our "habit" (shall we say?) We LOVE Photography of all types but at this time realize we better start charging a little something if we want to continue to grow in this field (as most of you know, it's an expensive habit! We want new lenses! LOL) We will be working on a new website/blog to showcase our work there and I will let you know as soon as it's ready! We decided to call it...are you ready?! Kandy Pop Photography cause if you "meld" our names together (Kassi-Cindy), you get "Kandy" and "Pop" cause we are ALWAYS "popping" off pictures! You know we had to do it Hollywood style, cause that's how we roll! ;-) Okay, okay...So we'll never be "Brangelina", but we can definitley rock the "Kandy Pop" by being behind the camera rather than in front of it! Hey, who knows, maybe we will be shooting Brangelina one day!! LOL (still, mayyyybeeee!) :-) Plus we also think the name suggests bright, fun, friendly photos and that is what we are all about! We LOVE color, kids, fashion and most importantly, we LOVE to have fun and this is going to be such a super FUN adventure! We are now offering a special promotion as we launch this new business so get in while you can, because we are only offering this low price to the first FIVE takers in the Kentuckiana area:

$100 Opening Portrait Special:
1 hour
2 Photographers!
10 Fully Edited Digital Photos
2 Personalized Digital Collages (similar to the Davis collages on the previous post)
1 Entry to win a Global Entertainment Acting Scholarship complete with professional photos (includes makeup artist, hair stylist and photographer, acting lessons and the chance to meet agents who may be looking for someone like you or your child to be in their next film, commercial or print ad!

You can leave a comment here, message me on fb or mlm if you are interested, or if you have my digits, just call! We hope you're interested in this truly FANTABULOUS offer as we guarantee we will capture your family, children or personal portraits in a dynamically unique and creative way! We can also supply bright and fun accessories from my Punk n Posh line if requested in advance. Tutus anyone?!

BTW: We also have experience in shooting for actors/models so if you need shots for your portfolio or ZED or Comp Cards, we can help you to create the many looks agents are looking for as well as create/design your cards! More to come on that soon!

Photographing the Davis Family

2010-05-19T06:15:00.000-07:00

I was very excited when my friend,~C~, approached me about taking her family pictures; not only do I think she has a beautiful family (her two girls also modeled for my Punk n Posh line!), but I worked out an amazing trade (don't you just love bartering?!) LOL! Okay, so this friend has been taking Photography classes right along with me at the local University--so guess who took my princesses FIRST birthday pics?! (I'll actually be posting a piece on that soon! FUN!) You guessed it~C~! It felt so nice to not be the one behind the camera that day...to be able to focus on my sweet baby girl and still know I would get all the important pictures I will forever cherish of her on that special day. I HIGHLY recommend this to all! Hire a photographer on your children's special day so you can focus on them and not be hidden behind a camera the entire time! It really took a lot of stress off me and allowed me to enjoy her super special day even more!

Okay, so back to the Davis Family shoot...my first FAMILY shoot. A family of 6. Talk about intimidating! Maybe I should have started with a family of 3 first to get my feet wet, he he! ;-) There are many challenges when shooting that many people...especially on the entire family portrait shots. Like getting them all to have their eyes open at the same time, all of them looking at you at the same time, trying to keep little ones who run out of the shot in the shot (wink wink), trying to keep them all natural and several more. But the benefits that come from these challenges fill my heart with a "warm fuzzy" that I have never felt before. To see and know that I captured their beautiful, fun, endearing family in so many memorable ways just fills me with such a joy! What a great gift to be able to give to people! This brings me back to last summer when I had my first realy family portraits taken. I say this because before having Tyson (Legend Photography) shoot us, we had only been captured with a quick flash in a studio at JC Penny or some other quick portrait photographer. It is so different to have an image of your family that speaks to you..literally. Something that really shows your family's true style, personality and love for one another. Something that will become an heirloom. Tyson, you melted our hearts with your work of our family and our little Tori and I hope to be able to give that gift to many others in my life. Pay it forward, pass it on.

I know I still have so much to learn in the Photography world, but I promise to do the best I can with what I have and what I know. I am quite pleased with the results. I hope the Davis family is too. They are so beautiful that it didn't take much to make a beautiful image out of them. But that super cool tough guy car of ~T'~s made it unique and brought their own style to the shoot. Those adorably fun kids brought so much flava I had a hard time keeping up with them (especially my auto focus!)!

What a special thanks I have for them to let me in on their lives in such a personal way and for them trusting me to capture a sliver of moment in time for them!

BTW: Wanna know what got those vibrant colors? My new Polarizing filter...LOVE it! ;-)

5 AWESOME GAMES FOR YOUR PC OR MAC~NAME YOUR PRICE!!

2010-05-13T07:59:00.001-07:00

Okay, this one is going to be brief. It's a GEEK tip from the hubby and a GREAT STEAL for you! He's found a GREAT website that let's you download 5 awesome games for whatever price you want to pay toward a charity (I'm sure you could pay $1 for all-depends on what you want to donate to the charity and you will get ALL FIVE GAMES!!) The site has been checked out by my Geek husband and is deemed 100% safe and virus free.

I don't know if you know anything about these games (I really didn't), but I know for a fact that the "World of Goo" is a SUPER fun game that my kids and husband both LOVE. Here's a demo video of the UBER creative game that allows the player to make creative things with goo that attaches together like legos but much cooler!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/m2R1FZZMDZ93C/ref=ent_fb_link

My 9 year old son rates it a 9 out of 10, with the 10 being the coolest game ever (which in his humble opinion is Little Big Planet for the Playstation 3) which is probably thee most creative game ever made because it allows the user to create their own levels and video games like a real game designer! So given that, I would say it's an AWESOME game at an INCREDIBLE deal. Here is just one of the games on amazon if you paid full price:

http://www.wolfire.com/humble

Five games for whatever you want to pay. Package valued at $80. YOU PAY WHAT YOU WANT/CAN! This is the website...includes World of Goo. Deal only offered for a limited time depending on how much money they raise...right now it's only ONE WEEK! Watch the video, check it out!

THANK YOU SUPER GEEK (My husband) for providing this VERY COOL DEAL!! Mwuah! You Rock!

After you download them, be sure to come back and comment at how much you love them!

GREAT BOOKS FOR PHOTOGRAPHY LOVERS!

2010-05-10T07:57:00.000-07:00

, I know, you haven't heard much from me lately. Remember I am new to this and am trying to find the time to work in blog writing along with mothering four children, juggling the PTA duties I have as VP of Ways & Means, photography shoots, photography edits, cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, homework with kids, time for husband, nursing baby and preparing for my neighborhood spring Yard Sale! Did I say YARD SALE?! Yup! I did! The only thing I love more than getting money from de-cluttering my house at our nieghborhood yard sale is finding other peoples random junk at a steal of a price and RE-cluttering my house! LOL! Anyone else have this problem? Ah, well...it's the little things that make me happy (and crazy!) hehehe. Anyhow, I've decided for now that nursing time seems as good as any to write so I'm going to try to keep these short and to the point and hope to pass along some good tips I have learned to you during my 15 minutes of sit down time!

I've been reading this GREAT book by Scott Kelby that introduces you to basic digital SLR photography in a light, easy to follow book with quick tips for most situations along with snappy photos that speak to you. I have loved reading this book so much that I just ordered books 2 & 3 and can't wait to receive them! They are easy to read in the carpool line while waiting for the kids, at the doctors office and even the bathroom (I told you I don't have a lot of "free" time! LOL! ;-) So, if you are wanting to learn more about photography and don't have the time to read a long 'wordy' book about photography and want to pick up so me quick tips from the pros, I HIGHLY recommend this book and most likely the other two as well! He has a fun quirky sense of humor that keeps me interested and awake unlike many technical "know-how" books I have read. It's pretty dang affordable too and I am super glad I found them. He also includes recommendations he has for accessories and breaks them down into 3 categories (small budget, medium budget, no budget!) so you can get the best tested accessory/equipment for your personal budget! Each page focuses on a different tip/topic and includes a photo for demonstration. He speaks in an easy to follow tone that makes you feel like you have a good friend that just so happens to be an awesome professional photographer that is sharing his top tips with you for taking amazing pictures. He teaches you how to get your photos "tack-sharp", how to shoot portraits, waterfalls, weddings, landscapes and more without losing you in a huge page filled with words. He also makes you laugh a little while you learn (one one page he talks about the importance of shooting at dawn & dusk and mentions that when someone asked a National Geographic Photographer if that was really the only times to shoot landscapes, he beat the man with his tripod-he was totally joking, but made his point while getting a chuckle out of me.) ;-)

I also just ordered the tripod he recommended from amazon (in my price budget) and can't wait to get it as I know I won't regret it since it has been recommended by someone (my new friend-lol) who has so much experience in photography and is probably thinking about alot more than I would when looking at tripods! I also ordered a wireless remote and am looking forward to doing some slow shutter shooting that will be "Tack-Sharp"! I will definitely post these pics as soon as I take them!! Anyhow, I hope you take the time to pick up a copy of at least the first book...I don't think I have learned more from anything else I have tried (including classes at the University!) and I am actually thinking about taking his online courses next because I like his style so much! Good luck to you all, hope you are all clicking that shutter button as often as I am!

Photo Editing/Photographic ART....YEAH BABY!!

2010-04-15T21:48:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I promised to provide cool tips I learn as I go along my creative processes and I'm beginning to see the true value of photo editing. Especially in the social networking world we live in today when we are sharing so many photos of ourselves and loved ones in ways we never really had before. Everyone's a critic (or so they say) so for me, it's pretty important that the pics I post look great (especially if they are critiquing how many wrinkles have shown up on me since the last time they saw me or how many chins I have added to my collection~LOL!). So I thought I would share some basics on editing that I have learned as a "newbie" to all this.

First and foremost, a picture just isn't a picture until it is edited. :-) I know, a real true photographer should get it right the first time-in the cameras-without any help, right? Wrong. Unless you have a camera that is worth more than your car, you will have to do some editiing to bring the best out of that photo (and even then, magazine ads and professional photos are edited before going to print). So for many of us, the question becomes, HOW? Well, there are expensive programs like Photoshop that not only cost an arm and a leg, but also take QUITE a bit of learning to really use correctly. There are so many tools that even a professional has endless capabilities! Most people using this program have gone to school for years just to learn it. Yes, there are other options such as Photoshop Elements, which cost a lot less and therefore have less to offer BUT one could be perfectly happy with this program to completely edit a photo and create a masterpiece.

How easy is it? Well, it's easier...but you should still take at least one (maybe more) class on it to really know what you are working with. What do I recommend for the newest beginner with no experience and that wants to be able to get editing right away without even taking a class?? Picnik. It's SOOO fun, SUPER easy and yes, Google just acquired it to its mini collection of the world wide web ;-) so those guys must find it fun, too!

What can you do with Picnik?! Alot, really. Not only can you apply pre-prepared effect (layers/masks) to your pics, you can also retouch photos, remove wrinkles (yes!), airbrush your skin to be flawless (totally flawless!), give yourself a suntan...heck they even have something called "Insta-thin" that will make you look skinnier (yes, it works!)! That makes it worth the $25 annual membership fee alone!! You can also PLAY...which is really, really fun. You can make cute little hearts and flowers around your photos, make frames for them or round the corners (my favorite). You can doodle around them, you can stretch out faces into hilarious carictatures and you can even turn yourself into a "Cullen" with an amber eye color or a blood thirsty vampire with red eyes! Or you can make yourself into a total zombie or ghost just for fun and giggles! You can bet that myself and my 9 year old son have done a lot of just that!! I'm not trying to sell a membership here...I get no kickbacks or anything like that. I just think it was a very well designed, user friendly FUN program that I get alot of use out of. But if you don't want to shell out the cash right away, many of their features are FREE! Try them out and see if you think it's user friendly enough for you. If it is, I think you should try out the premium services, but if nothing else take full advantage of the FREE ones!

After many months of editing photos I have learned that just the editing portion itself is an art. It takes time, talent and a good eye. I've learned that by taking these steps, not only are you a photographer...but you are a PHOTOGRAPHIC ARTIST. The cool thing about that is you don't always have to be a great photographer, have an expensive camera or go to school to learn how to produce such grand images...you can be a Photographic Artist if you prefer or, even better...you can be BOTH! :-)
Recently, I have edited some friends photos that I have not taken, but wanted to see what kind of "magic" my editing/art could create. Here are some examples...see what you think!

This family picture was really nice on the left, but lacked the "oomph" I was able to give it with a few clicks on "vibrance", then did some color correction to the dad in the photo's face because he had a "racoon mask" from sunglasses and a sunburn to even his skin tone out. Then I did a "Cine-Scape" mask/layer over the entire photo and got this cool vintage feel to the photo. Now the photo is really worthy to be framed. The editing changed the photo from "nice family vacation photo" to "family portrait session photo" and this was taken with a point and shoot Canon. Editing a point and shoot photo can make a home/family photo become a professional photo just like that (and she didn't have to spend $200 on a photographer!~LOL)

This one was an assignment a friend of mine took in an Advanced Photography Class at Uniersity of Louisville with me. She was shooting in low lighting conditions with a Canon Rebel EOS SLR camera. I loved the water drops that sat on the flowers in the pic, but yearned to see more detail in the flowers in the foreground. I used "Vibrance" to brighten the colors (the blue came out really nice) and used the lightening tool (Dodging or Highlights) on the front petals. Now I can see exactly what I wanted. Not any major changes needed, just tweeked the color and lighting for detail and what a difference it made. I rounded the corners as well because I like most pics that way for web viewing (not print).

I loved this photo of a friend of mine's little one. I didn't take this shot...another talented friend of ours did and she did a beautiful job. She looked like an angel to me in this photo and I wanted it to be even more ethereal (this is where that Photograpic Artist thing comes in). I applied a "Lomo-ish" mask/layer to it because I knew that gives a very bright focal point and a vingette around the edges. Now it looks like heaven's light is shining down on this sweet little angel. I also decided to add her first name to it by the "add text" feature. I like to do that to personlize photos as an "introductory character" piece. Totally optional to do so...makes the picture more fun, but can be removed if you prefer it to be more serious.

This picture was funny to our family because we knew what we were looking for when we saw the stairs, but on film it didn't translate to the cool edgy feel we were envisioning in our minds. The photographer is a brilliantly talented man that did everything right when taking this photo, but his camera alone (a super divine Canon SLR) could create what we were really looking for. Before I knew how to really edit, I thought this was an "unusable picture". The guys look tough, but the stairs and surrounding atmosphere looks weak. It needed a grittier feel to it to make it more masculine and urban feeling. After months of toying with Picnik, I went back to this and was able to do exactly what I had envisioned the day of this shoot. Los Chiccos de Clifford...translation, The Clifford Boys (just a personal artistic choice that I thought added to the urban feel we were aiming for). I applied the "gritty" mask/layer, cropped in for a closer shot and found the perfect tough guy text for the words I chose (they have lots of great fonts to choose from). My boys love it! I also added some fake tattoos for fun because I didn't like the Lagoon Amusement Park stamp on my step-son's hand and thought this was much cooler for this shot! The one I added to his arm just balanced it out (what can I say, I have WAY too much fun editing!)

Some photos have many possibilities and it really depends on the personal preference which is best. I shot my neighbor's child holding our new bunny and loved the sweet look of the photo. I played with it at home and really can't pick a favorite. The first is straight out of the camera, which is quite nice, but a little soft or dull in color for my taste. The second shot I applied a "Black & White" layer/mask and added a "Vingette" which gives it a very classic, touching quality. The last shot is a layer called "Cross-Process" which I quite like on many photo's that gives it a cross processed "feel" that if chosen on the right picture, can be especially beautiful. If I really had to choose, I would most likely choose the third...I really like how it brings out her eyelashes and the skin tone makes her look "porcelain" and actually makes the picture "softer" without taking away (actually adding to) the color in the picture, but I would be happy with any one of them. This is an example of how subjective editing can be because many people choose the B/W one and some prefer the untouched original. Remember, just because I am a huge fan of editing, that does not mean that every photo has to be edited.

Another great example of the subjectiveness is my Snow Faerie photo I shot for my Punk n Posh fashion line webstore. I actually took this as one of my first "real" photos with my Nikon D3000 I was given for Christmas. I didn't have any schooling in Photography at the time and didn't really know how to achieve all of what I was looking for in a photo at the time so I simply shot on "Auto". I was very pleased with the pictures that came out, but wanted more from them. I knew I loved the "blurry background" effect (Bokeh), but I didn't know how to achieve it through my camera lens at the time. I played around with the tools on picnik and was able to simulate the Bokeh on the bushes in the background. Look at the bushes in the B & W example and you will see how they were before I blurred them in the other 3 edits (if you are interested in more on Bokeh, I plan to do a blog on it very soon!) I also really wished I was able to catch the photo of her while the snow was falling, but we missed it! Lucky me, I found a "snowfall" layer in picnik that made it look like she was out in the snow (I told you this stuff was fun!). I came up with several pleasing edits and still can't decide which one I like most. I put it up for discussion on my facebook page and got mixed results...everybody loved them and each had their own favorites for different reasons. It's all subjective...some people like super bright colors, some like black and whites, others like soft, muted tones. So it really depends on if you are editing for yourself or if you are editing for others. If you are editing for others, it's nice to provide them with a couple of artistic options and let them choose what style they like.

Here is another example of options. My friend took this artisitic photo of her son while on vacation. It's an amazing picture with many artistic qualities to the pose, style and composition. It needed more to bring out it's full potential. I played with several different layers, techniques and masques and decided these two were the best. I gave both edits to her so she could choose which style she liked best. Especially since I wasn't the one taking the image, I don't know exactly what she was going for with the photo when she took it. These are simply my interpretations of it once I saw it. One is a gritty, artsy feel that you might see at an exibit while the other has a gauzy, glowy feel to it that pronouces the light and shadow beautifully that you would probably see on mom's wall :-). Options. Have FUN with them!

I LOVE this photo. After the editing of course. I can't really explain what I love most about it. I guess it's the bright colors, the joy of seeing a baby with a big ball for the first time, the spring air I can practically breath in when I look at it. I just love it! The initial pic on the left is just an "OK" photo. But after editing, it became something magical. The was also a VERY simple edit. I used a "Boost" layer and then rounded the corners. Voila! Done. 'Nough said! :-)

This is just a handful of edits I have done that I am really pleased with. I'll post another editing piece soon about how to make a person look perfected i.e; airbrush discolorations, blemish repair, wrinkle removal, fixing double chins and even making you look like you've lost weight if you'd like! Hope you learned a thing or two...till next time!

LAST BUT NOT LEAST, THE GEEK TIP OF THE WEEK:

Control + Shift + Escape

Try it next time your computer locks up on you (mine did twice just while writing this blog!) No, it doesn't re-start your computer, that is Control+Alt+Delete. It pulls up your Task Manager to show you everything you have open and what might not be responding and causing the "lock-up". You can choose the "end" the portion that is not responding, or you can just select "switch To", highlight the other window/program you would like to work on, and give the piece that is "not responding" some more time..sometimes it is just slow and will work itself out. Got it?

Control + Shift + Escape!

Hope that helps you from having to do a total restart on a lock up when you don't have to! GOOD LUCK!

Much Love from The Geek and The Sheek!

What we'll post....

2010-04-08T11:30:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I figure rather than just boring you with our family updates we can make this thing pretty darn entertaining and you might learn a thing or two while you're here! I will be posting "how-to's" of many different crafts, painting techniques, accessory making, recipes and photography tips and tricks. Allan will be providing a "Geek tip of the Week" for you with something cool and techie that you may find helpful on the web or with your computer. We'll do our best to provide photos and links wherever possible. Hope we can prove to be helpful and provide some useful information for you and your family at some point!

Looking forward to sharing!

Kassi

Who we are....

2010-04-08T00:49:00.000-07:00

Okay, I am one of the late Blogging bloomers I admit it. I think almost everyone I know has a blog but me. Weird for me because I am usually ahead of the trends and since my husband is a total computer geek, you would think he would be up on this as well. Hmph...I don't like being behind. :-( Maybe it's the 5 kids we're keeping up with that's made this such a not so "hot" priority?! Either way, it has taken my 15 year old niece to kick my butt into the current century on this and got me with the program (not only is she hip to the blogging world, but she currently holds the fastest texting fingers record to date!)

I guess I should start with the introductions---my name is Kassi; I am a mother, entrepreneur and artist. I love to create things whether it be through painting murals, creating fashion accessories and clothing (I run my own line- Punk n Posh), new recipes in the kitchen (love to cook!), making fun crafts and art projects with the kiddies or making some random home decor item! Yes, I am all over the place with my talents and yes, I have a hard time focusing on just one. I know there are others like me out there and I hope to one day find some serious support group for us scatterbrained artists~LOL.

My most recent creative outlet? Photography. I L-O-V-E it! My husband started that one when he bought me a Nikon D3000 SLR camera. I'm not so sure he would have done it if he knew what a monster he would create! I immediately signed myself up for classes at the University of Louisville and have been hard at work with it since. I seriously think everything I see I can visualize a beautiful photograph in it now...it's like you see life differently once you really look at it through the perspective of a camera lens. It's amazing and romantic and I'm totally in love...with my camera :-). Which brings me back to my husband...the geek.

Is he truly a geek? Well, technically I guess he is...he is ahead of the vast majority when it comes to "techie" knowledge, gadgets and "how-to's", he is a serious "gamer" (as in PC games, console games and especially arcade games) and yes....he really has enough comics to open up his own store in his own personal collection. So by all definitions, Allan is a geek. But---he also happens to be one of the most laid back, personable, cool, attractive and funniest people I have ever known with a dynamic, magnetic personality and that by all definitions is a rock star. ;-) Yes. that is my husband-the rock star geek...or at least when it comes to Guitar Hero that is... ;-0

And that leaves the kiddos...also commonly referred to by myself as my "chicklets". ;-)

A.T. is Allan's oldest, who already has a little tot himself named Kyran. He is truly his father's son and quickly but naturally follows in his fathers footsteps with many of the same qualities and interests I mentioned of his father above.

Next comes Logan. He just turned 9. He has got to be the sweetest kid on the planet (or so his mom says)...he is thee best cuddler I've had to date and he has a calm, tender way about himself. He loves Science and wants to be a master chef one day.

Following Logan is Cayleigh-almost the exact opposite of Logan. She is a total clown with a hilarious sense of humor. She is ALWAYS making others laugh (even when it gets them in trouble) and finds it most diffucult to be serious. She has a passion for music and says that she will be a singer/songwriter one day. At age 7, she has already begun the songwriting process...heavily influenced by the popular Miley and Taylor, of course.

Next on the totem pole is Gabe. He is definitely the loudest one of the bunch but still has a very sweet heart. He is my strong boy with a big teddy bear heart. He has loads of energy, tends to be goofy along with his big sister and I believe I have seen the future with him one day being that big defensive linebacker that slams his head against his locker while screaming to rile himself up before a big game, but then coming and picking up his mother off the ground while hugging her after the win. Granted, he is only 5 now. but I'll laugh if he turns out to be anything else. :-)

Last but certainly not least is the baby, Victoria. She is a true blessing and we simply adore her. She is certainly spoiled rotten by our whole clan, but we don't really care. She has HIGH needs and can be very demanding, but we all answer her call regardless of what ever we are doing. Yes, we all realize we are raising a monster...but what a beautiful monster she is. We don't know a ton about her personality, likes and dislikes yet as she is not quite a year, but we have already seen her true love for music already as she smiles and be-bops to ths music she loves even when she is upset and it turns her bad moods around in a split second. She is also a bit of a "softie" as we say around here since most of our clan can take a good tickle, joke, play session, etc. with the best of them and laugh the whole way through but little "Tori" can break out in a smile or begin to cry at the drop of a hat~and we never know which one we're gonna get! She's very sensitive~LOL. She crawls like a champ and is trying her best to "toddle" around the house...she's going to be walking, then running VERY SOON! Regardless, she fills our hearts with more joy than we ever thought possible and she completes our family perfectly.

We also have an angel in waiting, Avery. It was a very painful loss but we know we will all be united again one day and are most grateful to our church and it's gospel that we have that knowledge. I think the most difficult part for me is that I see all the great things my other kids have grown to be and it just hurts to not be able to see what Avery would have been in this life. It feels like broken dreams. But I know there was a purpose for it all...I'll learn what that is some day. Until then, Avery is one of the many angels we feel around us every day.

So, that's us...wish us luck on our new blogging venture...I hope we can keep up. thanks Lexi Lou! ;-)

Sincerely,
Kassi Clifford