Family Pictures

I don't know about y'all, but I am super excited for Christmas! :)

It's true, I might be one of those people who listens to Christmas music in October and I might be one of those people who starts Christmas shopping in September. So of course I'm thinking about our annual family Christmas card and my favorite part of that card...the pictures!

The fall leaves are so beautiful right now that I knew we had to take advantage of the beauty before they all die and fall off the trees. So I roped the family into a quick, camera remote/self timer photo shoot this afternoon.  The kids were awesome! The bribery was quite simple this time...smile, cooperate and be done in 30 minutes, or don't smile and cooperate and we can come back next week and do this all over again. :) Thankfully that seemed to do the trick! We actually got all these pictures in 25 minutes!

I love this sweet family of mine!

(And two of Hannah because I can't decided if I like the serious face or the squishy face best. What do you think?)

11 months

Today Hannah is 11 months old.  Can you believe it?!  I can't.

Except when I look at these pictures and see that they are proof positive that my baby is growing up! (that and the huge mess behind me on the floor because my baby can crawl and get into everything!)

She is definitely growing up.

I would maybe think about being sad over that fact, but she is just so much fun that it is hard to be sad about it!

How we love this baby girl!

 

We did our monthly photo shoot in Hannah's bedroom this morning and it was a lot of fun!

I finally captured some of her "tricks" she has learned lately. :)

First up we have her "squishy face." She makes this on command and it is so funny! I absolutely love the squishy face!



 

 

Next up we have the sticking the tongue out and moving it back and forth really quick. Grandpa Henke just got her doing this one this weekend while they were here visiting and it is quite cute!

 

And here are just a couple more pictures because they are too cute not to share:

So adorable! And now I better start planning the 1st birthday celebration, it will be here before I know it! We are all super excited to celebrate this cute baby girl!

Henke Family Photo Shoot

Hello!

I am so excited to post these pictures!

Last June we went to Utah for our summer vacation.

We went to see our family and also because it was my mom's 50th birthday and we wanted to help her celebrate...whether she wanted to, or not. :) 

On her actual birthday we went to the temple and then out to Kneaders for dessert...yummm. 

Then a few days later we took family pictures. I just absolutely LOVE how they turned out!

I owe a big THANK YOU to my awesome father-in-law, Steve, who came and took the big family shots of us all together, and the ones of all the adults together.  They turned out fabulous and they really are treasures! Between myself and my brother, Todd, we managed to get the rest of the smaller family shots.

I feel like these pictures are so real. They capture who we are as a family, craziness and all, and I just can't say enough how much I love these pictures.

But I probably have said it enough...so here they are. :) Enjoy!

Photo love

I don't know if you've noticed, but I love pictures. :)

I love taking pictures.

I love looking at pictures.

I love scrapbooking pictures.

I love hanging pictures of my favorite memories and my favorite people on my walls. I want to be surrounded by moments shared with people I love. 

Yeah, I'm a bit obsessed. 

Anyway, today I'm loving this picture:

Precious, isn't it?

It's my Grandma Henke and Hannah back in March when we were up in Utah for a spring break visit. I just love when I manage to capture sweet moments like this. So if anyone ever wonders why I'm a bit obsessed with always having a camera with me, this is why. Love it. 

The baby who *almost* crawls...

In this picture it looks like she crawls, right? Well, Miss Hannah's got you fooled!

This silly baby girl will get herself in perfect crawling position, reach for what she wants and grab it...then she sits back down! It's so funny! It seems to me that it would be more difficult for her maneuver herself back to sitting than it would be to just crawl away, but she's got that maneuvering thing down pat. The crawling thing, not so much!

Ohhh, but she is CUTE! And happy, happy, happy, too. :) She is full of smiles and cuddles and happy baby sounds. 

Yeah, I'd say she's got this whole 'melting Mom's heart' thing down pat, too!

Moments

I'm pretty sure anyone who has raised children, or is raising children, would agree that somedays you have to look for and hold onto those little moments of joy to help you ride through the, umm, 'less glamorous' moments of being a parent. Well, today was a pretty great day and I had little moments with each of our kids that just made me really grateful for the opportunity to be their mom. I thought I better record those moments, you know, store them away for future days when I need a little sunshine. :)

Joshua: Tonight as I was getting the kids in bed Joshua was begging for time to read the Book of Mormon. Of course I couldn't refuse that, so I let him read in bed for a few minutes. When I came back in to tuck him in bed he told me that the Book of Mormon was his favorite book and he loved reading it. He has been marking his favorite verses as he reads and the other day he told me he has found all kinds of great "power verses" to mark (anyone else think that sounds just like his dad?). :) I'm so grateful he is discovering the great spirit that comes from reading the Book of Mormon!

Grace: I got a call from Grace's first grade teacher tonight. She was calling to talk to me about a spelling test Grace missed when we were out of town last week, but she also wanted to let me know what a wonderful girl Grace is and how much she loves having her in class. At the end of each day in their class they pick someone who was really well behaved to be the 'teacher's pet' the next day.  Grace was chosen to be the teacher's pet a week or so ago and was super excited about getting to do it. Well tonight her teacher wanted to tell me that Grace was chosen to be the teacher's pet again today but she let another girl in her class be teacher's pet because she had already had a turn. What a girl--I am so proud of her!

Hannah: This baby girl is such a happy and easy going baby, for which I am very grateful! I love getting her out of bed after she's been asleep because she is always so happy to see me.  I've been trying to teacher to say mama pretty much since she was born, and she's finally caught on. I hear Mamamamama all day long now and it's music to my ears! :) I love it.

So those are my moments for the day. Pretty good moments, I think. I love my kiddos!

And They're Off!!

Yep, yesterday was the first day of school.

Isn't it crazy how fast the summer flies by?!

We did have a great summer though.

Lots of fun activities as a family, which was perfect!

And now the big kids are off to school!

Joshua started 3rd grade and Grace started 1st grade.

It is going to be a great year, I can just tell!

At their school this year they have a new principal and a new assistant principal, 

as well as lots of new teachers.

Both of their teachers are new to the school.

It's lots of changes at one time, but we feel really excited about the changes!

We have been so impressed with Joshua and Grace's teachers, as well as the new administration.

They are great ladies who really seem to care about our kids, which means a lot to me.

And the kids are so excited for school this year, which also means a lot to me!

Every day I ask them what their favorite part of school was that day.

Neither of them could pick one yesterday.

There were just too many good things, they said.

Oh how I love to hear that!!

Love those cute, happy faces! Here's to a wonderful school year!

Because They're Cute...Really Cute.

yep.

That's it.

I don't have anything else to add.

They're just super adorable. :)

Have a great day!

A little reminder

It's just a normal day around here. The big kids are having a few moments of getting along (thank heavens!), Hannah is asleep, and I am procrastinating doing the dishes and laundry by cleaning up my mess of a craft room. For the last year it has been a dumping ground for all kindsof paraphernalia, so I'm bound to find some real treasures as I clean!   Of course, technically right now I'm just sitting in my messy space writing a blog post. :) I'll get to the cleaning eventually....

I was looking around trying to decided where to start when I found this:

I remember when I made this little wall hanging for my craft room. It was about three years ago, back when we were trying to have another baby and were unable to.  I was feeling full of happiness and sadness all at the same time. Happy that I had these two adorable little kids who filled my life with so much love and joy, and yet so sad that there wasn't any other little ones to share that love and joy with. I would often sit in here and try and work on projects and I would just end up sitting here crying instead. Those months and years were long and very hard for me. 

But look where three years has taken me! I feel so very blessed!! Hannah is almost 8 months old and I can't help but watch her grow and be constantly reminded of the many blessings we've received in the last year or so. I am grateful to be sitting on this side looking back, but I am also very thankful for the things I learned during those hard years. I know Heavenly Father is aware of us on an individual level. His promises are real. Sometimes blessings come now and sometimes they come later and sometimes they come in the eternities, but I know when we are faithful, they come! Isn't that amazing? I'm grateful for this simple reminder today!

Back to the cleaning....bleh...

Because everyone needs a reason to smile today :)

Just in case you haven't found a reason to smile yet today, I thought I would help you out. I'm nice like that. :) Check out these pictures:

Are you smiling yet?  I know I am!  These kiddos make my heart happy. 

It's going to be a great day!

end of year AWESOMENESS!

Well, the end of the school year has come and gone and we are in the full swing of summer...YAY!!

I love having my kids home for the summer.

Except for maybe yesterday when they were fighting most of the day. Didn't love that so much.

But I was only called a mean mom once and only one of my children screamed that they wanted to go back to school, so I think we will survive.

Ahhhh...Summer! :)

I really do love it!

Anyway, here are a few pictures from the end of year celebrations.

First up, Grace's Kindergarten Celebration:

She was a nervous at first, but once she got going she was singing her little heart out.  So cute.  She had informed me beforehand that she would be the loudest girl singing, and she was definitely giving it her best shot! :) I am proud of Grace and all she has learned this year.  She is a great reader and loves to do math.  She's one of those crazy kids who likes doing their homework. Not sure where that trait came from, but we'll go with it!

And here is Grace with our favorite Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Ellis.  Both Joshua and Grace had her and we just think she is awesome!  She is having a baby and moving this summer so we will miss her!

Next up, Mr. Joshua and his 2nd grade awards assembly:

Joshua received an award for reading as well as a citizenship award. 

This kid is an awesome reader! He reads well beyond his grade level but the thing that gets me is his fluency and comprehension.  I'm pretty sure he can read faster and remember more than I can when I read!

I was also proud of him for getting the citizenship award.  His teacher and other staff at the school have often told me what a good kid he is and I love that!

WAY TO GO JOSHUA AND GRACE!!!!

HAPPY SUMMER!!!!