iPhone pictures. Not Really.

I don't have an iPhone.

I really only want one so that I can take pictures and videos and immediately publish them to facebook or my blog or at least save them to my hard drive. Currently, I have to bust out the ol' digital camera when I want to take a picture. Then I have to dig the usb cord out of my junk drawer to upload the photos to my computer. Or, I can take pictures with my 2 megapixel cell phone and text them to my email account and then save them to my computer. Basically, my life is super hard.

Dylan said that since I never leave my house, I don't need an iPhone. His old iPod touch should suffice. Or my camera, usb cord and laptop. If I'm at home, it doesn't need to be convenient. Hellooo, I totally leave my house at least twice a week! He obviously doesn't feel my pain. 

  Well, since whining and complaining aren't getting me anywhere, I'm trying to embrace the technology that I do have and have been having fun taking pictures to document even the little things that go on around here. Here are some pictures from today. Enjoy!

(ps. VSCO cam people, please don't hate because I'm still using instagram. i'm taking one baby step into technological enlightenment at a time!)

Emma went to  Build-a-bear for her birthday with her grandparents. She built a bear that personifies herself perfectly.

 

We've recently discovered a show on PBS Sprout called Noodle and Doodle. It's like a craft and cooking show in one. While I find the show ridiculous and think that even though they're supposedly creating things that kids can reproduce, they aren't at all. But, my kids LOVE it. Of course. The other day we saw an episode where Sean (the real person character) taught kids how to make their own book backpacks out of recycled cereal boxes. Yeah right. Well, Grady made one today all by himself. He only asked me at the end for help attaching the straps. Needless to say, I was impressed!

 

I married an engineer. Then had his offspring:

Little miss Stella is a rolling machine! I'll put her in the most un-messy part of the floor and turn around and find her across the room tangled up in who knows what. Yesterday I found her eating a lego guy. I guess it's time to teach the boys to put away their bouncy balls, marbles, legos, coins, etc.

So there you have it. A little snippet from our life today :)

Seven

It's really hard to believe that our firstborn is now seven. An age that is half grown up and half little kid. An age where fairies and princesses and make-believe are still acceptable, but iphones and computer games and real-life things are more important. An age where personal opinions and preferences begin to take precedence in every single aspect of life. An age where independence is trying to rule, but mama and daddy are still very much needed. And even though this maturity seems a bit scary to her parents, I think this year will be the most exciting yet.

A Really Big Deal

Emma had her first piano recital on Sunday. She has been agonizing about it for weeks (months, really). Losing sleep at night over it. Not able to eat because of it. 

Most days, we'd have a conversation that went something like this:

Me: Emma, you need to go practice piano.

Emma: I don't want to. I hate piano.

Me: No you don't. You love piano. You just don't want to play in the recital.

Emma: I NEVER want to play piano again.

Me: Well, you need to. So go practice.

Emma: Fine. I'm gonna practice. But I'm very mad that you're making me play in the recital....

and on and on and on....

Because of her extreme distress and because her piano teacher is a saint, we gave her 3 choices:

1. you can play by yourself.

2. I can sit up there with you.

3. You can play a duet with your teacher.

This was a pretty big decision for her that she agonized over (I'm not exaggerating), but finally she decided that she'd play a duet with Ms. Jane.

Phew.

We tried to coerce encourage her as much as we could (neither of us is known for the gift of encouragement) :

"Emma, you're going to do SO well."

"As soon as it's over, we'll take you to go get a treat."

"Daddy loves listening to piano more than anything in the world. You're going to make him so happy."

"Emma, if you throw a fit and make a big deal about it, everyone is going to be watching you. If you play really quick, your turn will be over really quick and they'll start to pay attention to the next kid."

"Elijah is playing two songs and you're only going to play one, so it should be really easy."

Poor girl.

Anyway, all weekend long she complained about a stomach ache. And she couldn't sleep at night. And she'd be talking about her recital as soon as she woke up. She didn't even want to wear her fancy dress- just her plain ol' comfy one. As we drove to the recital we asked how she was feeling (she looked a bit green) and she said she was mad at us. Oh well.

When we got to the church, she wanted to sit by her cousin Elijah (not me or Dylan). And when it was her turn, she went up to the piano, made a last ditch effort to convince her teacher to play her part of the duet on the high notes (audience side of the piano), and when that didn't work, she did what any self-respecting six-year-old would do....

she played her song. beautifully.

Way to go Emma! We are SO proud!

6 month stats

Emma

14lb 12oz, 26.5in

Grady

16lb 6oz, 28in

Landon

16lb 6oz, 28.5in

Stella

18lb 8oz, 28.5in