three silly little monkeys

the middle girl

After listening to her older brother's "interview" last night, sweet Teagan insisted I do one for her as well. Here are her answers. 

What's your name: teagan claire collier

How old are you: 4

Favorite color: pink and purple

Favorite food: apples

What do you want to be when you grow up: A doctor and a surfer

Do you like winter or summer: Summer

Why?: because you can run through the sprinklers

Least favorite food: broccoli 

Favorite game to play: Small paul matching game 

Best friend: Addy

Best boyfriend: Nathan (hope you read this Katie, she still loves him ;)) 

Favorite flavor of ice cream: chocolate chip 

boy in the snow

I interviewed Koren tonight and here is what he had to say. 

Favorite Color: Yellowish and Greenish

Favorite Movie: Beyblade

Best Friend: Callen

What Do you Want to be when you grow up: Surfer or a paleontologist  

Favorite Place: Hawaii 

Favorite Sport: Soccer and skiing and tennis

Favorite Game: Checkers

Favorite Vegetable: Carrots

Favorite Fruit: grapes and oranges

Least favorite food: olives

Favorite food: pb&j, peanut butter cups

Favorite thing to do after school: Go to the gym (cross sport) 

 

 

18 Months

In 2 measly days my littlest monkey will be 18 months. A whole year and a half. Sigh. I guess i'm over the whole I-don't-have-a-baby-anymore song but it's still a bit depressing. 

Lockie however is pretty pumped to be one of the Big Kids. He is pretty much sailing through the toddler stages and following right along whatever Teagan is doing. He is spoon/fork feeding himself through every meal, wanting nothing to do with the lids on his sippy cups, is going behind the curtains to do his business then telling me he's pooped, grabs his fuzz (blankie) and num (binky) and heads for his room when I tell him it's time for a nap or bed. As much as I love his independence I believe Oscar is loving it the most as he's gained about 3 pounds of food falling from the table :) 

Lachlan's three most favorite activities are brushing his teeth, taking a bath, and feeding Traeger. We now have to spell out those words if we don't want him to hear so we can skip having to brush or bathe again. 

Favorite words right now: 

Papa. Baabaa (his sleep sheep). Tee (teagan). Ball. Ma Ma pees (milk please). Hot which he will say when he sees a firetruck. Oz. BuhBye. Op (open). Bowl (to put all his snacks in). Bath. Brrr. Tanks (thank). 

Oh Lockie, you make my whole day each and every day! 

blah...

What a wierd day today was. I woke up excited to see everyone's 10 on 10 project then by the time Koren had left for school Lockie was a fussy whining mess. I thought he was just being cranky and tried to ignore him. He persisted with throwing fits, crying over everything, and being just a plain ol' grump. Since I knew MOPS was not going to happen as I would never have been able to leave him in the daycare I figured a quick trip to the park would help him get out of his funk. 

Not so much. He was a bear the whole time and as soon as we got him home he decided to get sick everywhere. I then felt like the world's worst mom for not thinking his bad mood could be the result of something other than his attitude. At least I was able to snap a few keepers while we were out :) Good news though we are all now feeling a LOT better and it seems like maybe we just had something off to eat. 

After a nap and a bath Lockie was back to himself, silly dude. 

My Girl and Her Love for Glue.

Yep, that's right Teagan has a seriously LARGE interest in cutting and glueing. I'm all for messy arts and crafts. I actually really try and promote doing some sort of art project every day. But, i'm getting a bit tired of cleaning up.Yesterday while Koren was at school and Lockie was napping I let her sit at the table with the art box. 2 Hours later she was happy to clean up, wash the glue from her hair, and help me clean up all the scraps of paper floating around the house. Let's hope that patter sticks (no pun intended...)

Sweet girl. 

Last of 2011

Well it's New Year's Eve and soon I'll be scribbling 12' over all my checks as I'm still struggling to remember what year it is. What a fantastic year it has been. So many great things have happened as well as some major grief. It's been a year where we have really felt what having 3 children and a busy household is like. It's also been a year where the older kids have become independent and a huge help each day. Let's recap just a little: 

* lot's of skiing at Mission Ridge with Koren. 

* Took my mom and Lockie with me to a photography workshop in Texas where I was introduced to an amazing community of photographers with the same style as myself and shared the experience with a great friend from Spokane :) 

* I ran 2 half marathons and a few 10k's

* Teagan was busy with dance and did fantastic with her first recital. 

* We coached the first of Koren's soccer leagues and helped with the 2nd come Fall. 

* We had to say goodbye to Mimi Ruby and wish everyday that she was here for so many reasons. 

* Teagan completed her first year of Preschool while Koren graduated from Kindergarden. 

* Tennis became a new favorite family sport. 

* Started a major remodel on a home we hope to be in this Spring. 

* Took a trip to Las Vegas with friends. 

* Lots and lots of park playdates with more friends. 

* I travelled solo to New York for the first time. 

* Learned how to balance being a business owner and being a full time mom. 

* Discovered how much fun Skypeing was with Uncle Donnie & Auntie Hilari. 

* Justin and his dad took Traeger to South Dakota. 

* Started up indoor soccer again. 

* Family vacation to Kona, turned into thoughts of how to reside there longer each year. 

* The start of first grade and pre-k for the older monkeys. 

* Watching Lockie go from being a baby to a loud and expressive toddler. 

* Created a class that has been so fun and fufilling to teach other moms the joy of taking photos. 

* Snow in November! 

* Enjoyed a wonderful Christmas surrounded by friends and family. 

I know I am leaving so much out, but it really has been a blessed and amazing year! I cannot wait to see what 2012 has in store! 

 

6.5

As much as the blog as been Lockie obsessed the past 17 months, there are two other little awesome monkeys who need a bit of a shout out. 

First up is Koren. At 6 1/2 he is one sweet kid who brings so much joy to our lives. Along with the joy he also brings some big kid attitude that I'm not always prepared for. I know that that each kiddo goes through different seasons of learning and pushing their limits and as much as I'd love to say it's always easy the past few weeks have not been. We've been dealing with the talking back, whining, and just being a poor sport for no reason. I know that deep down that's not really him and he's just testing the waters but man i'm ready for this to pass. I think that being on holiday break from school and steering away from a set schedule is partly to blame. Looking forward to a little more normal here soon enough. 

The great thing about Koren is for all the negative traits he's been displaying he has 10 awesome ones. The sweet sensitive boy who is so kind and considerate makes me love him sooo much! 

Christmas in a Nutshell.

This Christmas I left my camera on the shelf and decided to just BE in the moment. I'm a little sad now looking back that I don't have all the visual memories of the fun that we had over the weekend but I'm also recharged and excited to momtoging it up again. I needed a little break. 

This year for the holidays we spread it out over 3 days making sure to spend time with all of our family. It worked out really well and the kids were able to enjoy their time, and play with their new gifts without feeling too overwhelmed. 

Koren asked Santa for a BB gun, totally against my wishes. I had no idea that Papo Santa was helping make that one come true for not only Koren but little sister as well. Even though they are safely locked up in the gun safe in the garage I'm still getting used to the idea of my kids wanting to be hunters like their daddy. 

All Teagan wanted was  bean bag chair. Yes...that's it. Koren had a list a mile long of random crap and my sweet little girlie wanted one big plush chair. So of course I couldn't just get her the Target version. Justin and I took a little trip to Seattle last Thursday only to find out at the Land of Nod that they were completley sold out of all bean bags. Thank goodness for Pottery Barn Kids. 

Little Lockie was actually way more into the whole present opening than I expected. After his big sister and brother would help unwrap with him he would take the gift and say, "ooooohhh" then would hold it out and say" op  op op!" as in OPEN. He was pretty funny and really enjoyed everything that he got. Blocks were the big item for him this year. 

Lots of fun was had. Spoiled kids. Great food. Football. Day after shopping. Can't wait until next year! 

Open House

 

Catching up slowly but surely... 

The first part of December was a wee bit crazy around here. We returned home from Kona and 2 days laters it was time for the Grand Opening at the newly remodled MKC PHOTOGRAPHY and Nicole Conner PHotography studio. Nicole and I spend the last 2 weeks of November cleaning,painting,purchasing furniture, re-painting, and so much more to get the space ready to share. It was a super fun night full of all our closest friends and clients! Here's a little snippet of the place just before everyone arrived. 

17 months.

Hello Lockie Dearest, 

You are now a bit past the 17 month mark and growing like a weed. For you to be visibly bigger is a big deal. You are getting taller and look so much more like a little boy instead of a baby. I'm not really sure how I feel about this. 

My favorite thing is your new and expanding vocabulary. It's fun to hear you mimic your brother and sister and follow commands to a t. Here's a short little clip of you being your goofy self after dinner and don't laugh at my silly voice! 

 

Love ya L-Man!