catch up

I'm getting further/farther behind on my blogging. It has taken a back seat to laundry, a beautiful day outside, cleaning the house, and all the daily things that go on around here. I apologize to all you faithful followers who check here day in and day out and are deeply saddened by my lack of posting... kidding. There aren't too many of you out there ;)

Caught this one this morning. I intended to post my 17/52 tonight but realized I have absolutely NO photos of Peyton alone (plenty of him with the other kids). I made a goal last week to take more photos of my eldest... and I failed. Try, try again.

My 17/52 post will be late (yet again) so try back tomorrow. I promise I'll have it done some time tomorrow. I'm also promising Dave to have laundry clean and folded (all nearly TEN of them)... eeekkk!!! ;)

16/52

"a photo of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013"

Peyton: gamer.
Lia: long drive won.
Austyn: waiting for the 'bus.'
Tayt: always ready for the camera.
Nash: rare.
Drew: breakfast on the road.
Meg: stunned.

This has been yet another crazy week. I feel like I say it every week. Nothing new really :) I'm wayyy behind on my weekly photos. I'm wayyy behind on my laundry. I'm wayyy behind. Period. I'm hoping to get back on track this week. Key word: hoping. We also made the plunge and got my new computer (that is magnificent!) for editing photos so I'm beyond excited to be working on it. daily. Yay! My guess is I'll be doing more on the computer now that it's more magnificent to work on. Key word: magnificent!

new favorite family tune

While this may not be new to some of you, it's fairly new to us and we enjoyed jamming out to it a couple times on a road trip we took today. Hope you enjoy!

gettin busy with the Smith's - episode 01

After some great inspiration, we have attempted our own rendition. Ours is not quite as adorable, but we're going to work on it. Hope you enjoy!

**Many thanks to Casey for putting this together for me. Soon enough I'll have my own Mac to play with and put these together. :)

15/52

"a portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013"

Peyton: green eyes
Lia: doing the eyebrow
Austyn: just plain cute
Tayt: boy through-and-through
Nash: lovin his new bike
Drew: always moving
Meg: always moving

Every week I want to visit some of the wonderful blogs who participate in Che and Fidel's 52 Project and every week I forget or am lacking time to sit at the computer. Maybe one of these weeks I'll get a chance to look through the 250+ blogs who are participating. Such a great project Jodi has going on!

prayers please

While I know nothing more about this family than what his parents post on their Facebook page, Saving Treyden, we've been praying hard for this family. My heart aches for them. I pray God heals this little boy and they are able to experience life's great gifts with him just as Dave and I have experienced with all of our kids. I cannot begin to imagine what this family is going through daily or even hourly with baby Treyden, but I do hope they find some sort of peace knowing how many people are praying for them. We'll sure continue to do so! And I'm asking you few readers to do the same. We believe in the power of prayer, and surely believe miracles can happen!

photo courtesy of Cassie Kurtzweil's FB page

Please also consider making any donations for this family at their website! I think we can all imagine what their medical bills alone are.

** unsponsored post **

Mall of America 2013 Wish List

Every year for quite some time now, we've been making the 2-1/2 hour drive to the Mall of America. This year I was going to opt out because we're headed to Florida this summer, BUT I have some gift cards for the mall so Dave said I could go. Yay, Dave! I'm beyond excited! so to prepare for this next week, I've come up with my wish list... granted, most of these things probably will not be purchased because of my minuscule wonderful budget, but I thought I'd give it a go. I'm also loving my cousin's wish list and my sista's wish list for the day as well :) (I'm obviously behind on this 'project') ;)

I'm always searching for new tops. Unfortunately, I'm terrible at picking out anything but boyfriend tees and even worse at choosing patterns. Here are some I'm liking. And those yellow shorts... those might come home from Minnesota with me. I *need* some new shorts for the summer. And I know the sistas would agree!

I cannot remember when I purchased my last pair of sneakers. That is probably a good indication it's been wayyyy too long since I've had an update. I am *not* a runner so I can't really justify purchasing these, BUT I do save quite a few lives... so that might serve as my justification while splurging ;)

A long, long time ago I swore off skinnies. I was mistaken. I now own a couple pair. Granted, I don't wear them very often because I'm afraid for what my behind is doing to other fellow citizens, buttttt I try. occasionally. And now I'm thinking they'd be nice, comfy, and a welcome and possibly easy change to my current wardrobe. 
Also, I want the pooper all the way on the right to be mine.

I'm also looking for some new cardigans. Not entirely sure these are what Casey and Megan have in mind for me, but I know they'll tell me when we start looking at the mall. ;)

There are a couple other stragglers like these that I've loved ten times over. My cousin just recently made the leap and I'd love to join in :) Mallory and I are hoping there is a buy one get one free deal... yeah, right! ;) 

Anything other than 'granny panties' as Dave calls them are always on the list. 

And since my children and nephews somehowww got into my already extremely slim pickings makeup bag while I was gone last night (I still haven't choose who will replace my items... Mom... Mallory... Megan!) and also while under the supervision of my mom, my dad, Megan, AND Mallory used my eyeliner as football eye black... I need to replace this for sure and may think about purchasing something like this... Neen will know justttt what I need. She's a professional ;)

The countdown continues and we now have 3 whole days until Starbucks in hand we dominate the mall... quickly!

bonnet not blizzard

It is now safe to say the weather has gotten the best of all of us. Almost everyone in the central Wisconsin area has mentioned in some way or another how they are ready for spring and/or summer. I have now jumped on that bandwagon. Just before Mother Nature gave us a couple days of 40-degree weather, I was okay with the snow. But today as it's sleeting against my windows and freezing cold in my house forcing me to drink hot cocoa, I declare spring can start any time now. Poor Meg doesn't even know the outdoors exists! In hopes of moving some of this snow off the ground, she will now be sportin' her bonnet instead of a winter hat. Let's get this show on the road!

Easter!

Our Easter morning was the usual Sunday morning for our house, but also included searching for hidden eggs after mass. After eggs were found, candy was eaten, playing began, and Dave and I prepared for an early supper with my family. Since Mother Nature decided to leave a nice little layer of horrendous beautiful snow for our Easter this year, we decided a meal was enough for the celebration. No filled plastic eggs were hidden repeatedly in the muddy back yard, and to be quite honest, I don't think the kids even noticed we left this part of Easter out. We'll just add it back in next year... maybe.

Drew's face here...stop...I can't handle this much cuteness!

thanks to Drew's godparents for the crown :)

ham

serious shooter

the meal

ended the day with a little yoga. this girl has talent!

most of the time her hands were straight out, parallel to the floor...amazing balance :)

I'm trying to get in front of the camera more. It's hard. This is as good as it gets. 

And of course, I love to have more photos with Dave :)  he kinda makes my heart go pitterpatter ;)

and then this happened... my whole life!

God is good. Thank you for all our blessings. We are *truly* so happy!