Need Help Deciding on Headshots

Hi Everyone!!

My friend just took some pictures of my kids for me and I need your help deciding which pictures I should use for the kids head shots.  Please help me choose one for each kid.

THANKS!!!

CONNOR'S PICTURES

 #1

 #2

 #3

ELISSA'S PICTURES

 #1

 #2

 #3

 #4

 #5

ARIANA'S PICTURES

 #1

 #2

 #3

 #4

 #5

NOAH'S PICTURES 

 #1

 #2

Family Updates and Family Fun

I haven't written for a while on my blog, so I thought I would give everyone an update.  Last Friday, we met with an Talent Agent for Elissa.  She is going to represent her and Connor and eventually Ariana once she takes some acting workshops and learns the industry terminology.  That makes them very excited because they will get some work soon, hopefully. When they do, I will be sure to post it!  :)

My friend Leisa offered to take new headshots of the kids.  I can't wait to see them.  She does an amazing job with her camera and Photoshop.  When I get the pictures back from her, I will post for you all to see.  I will need help choosing the best pictures so I can get the headshots printed for the Talent Agent.

Ariana is doing a musical for her school in April called "Into the Woods".  She is playing the part of Rapunzel.  Not sure how she feels about it, but I am sure she will do a great job!

Connor is getting over his cold and starting to become more independent.  He is fighting me with everything I try to do for him including putting on shoes and socks, or even feeding him.  I decided to let him try to feed himself last Saturday night because he kept taking the spoon away from me.  I recorded part of this experience for you all.  Enjoy...

Click here (if  you choose the video below without clicking the link, scroll down on this page and pause my music playing in the background so you can hear).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoJ9VvwJLY4




On Sunday, we decided to enjoy our last warm day of the weekend because we are expecting rain for the next week or so.  We took the kids outside and played ball in the backyard.  Connor is starting to hit the ball.  He is so cute and Dan is excited for this!  He has Noah to play catch and other sports, but it has always been his dream to have a son of his own to do this with too.  Now, he has two boys to play.  Perfect!  When Connor gets older, he can catch, Noah can hit, and Dan can pitch and vice-versa. The girls like to play, but not as much as the boys.  Noah is doing really well with catching too!  He is a natural.  I will most definitely sign him up for Baseball next year.  We missed the sign ups for this year already.  :(

Here are some pics of the kids playing in the backyard...

My Baby is on You Tube!

Well, last night I went to bed early and left Ariana up playing on the computer.  She asked me if she could upload a video to you tube that she must have created sometime yesterday.  I am always behind my kids 100%  in whatever they love to do.  Ariana loves to play her guitar and sing.  I'm not particularly fond of her song choice, but anyway, here is the video she posted yesterday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UK4CGqLBaHY

Elissa's Party City Pics ARE IN...

I just received some of the pictures that are going to be used for the Party City catalog this spring.  Elissa participated in two birthday party scenes, Hello Kitty and Disney Princess.  They want her back for more and said she was really great to work with.  She used her money from the party city shoots to buy lots of hair and jewelry accessories.  She was so nice, she bought some for her sister too!!

PRINCESS SPA SCENE

                                            

PRINCESS PIN THE ...

PRINCESS DECORATING CUPCAKES

PRINCESS CUPCAKE SCENE

PRINCESS WALL ART

PRINCESS BIRTHDAY PARTY SUPPLIES

PRINCESS BALLOON

HELLO KITTY PIN THE BOW

HELLO KITTY DECORATE BALLOON

PIN THE BOW - HELLO KITTY

HELLO KITTY PARTY SUPPLIES AND JEWELRY

These aren't all of them, but you get the picture.  She loved doing these because they are like real birthday parties to her!!  Guess she'll do more for them if she wants to.

Goose Eggs.. Why do they have to happen?

My poor baby fell on his head today.  I was at my friend's house and he decided to climb on stuff and  fell right on his head.  I can't keep him from climbing on stuff anymore and falling.  I wish I could because it breaks my heart when he gets hurt.  He is a typical boy, I guess. You should have seen his bump swell up immediately after.  We put ice on his head for a while and the bump went down considerably, but he still has quite the bump on his little head. My poor baby.

Some snapshots of the kids...

So yesterday, I decided to take some snapshots of Elissa and Connor.  Here are a few for you all to see and a video of Connor playing.  I will get Ariana and Noah on here too if they sit for me.  Enjoy...

A little bit of this...A little bit of that...

So, I had to take my daughter, Ariana out today for some art supplies for a Kite project she was working on for school.  While I was at Michael's, I decided to buy some canvases for this Photo Mod Podge project I was going to work on with the kids pictures.  Click here for a tutorial of this project which my friend Leisa and her sister came up with on their blog The Sassy Pepper http://thesassypepper.blogspot.com/2010/11/mod-podge-photos-on-canvas.html.  They are so creative.  And, since I was at Michael's, I decided to buy some spray paint for my bamboo candle plates in my living room and for my basket on top of my cabinets.  I wanted to make them both a reddish wine color.

Bamboo Candle Plates Before...

Bamboo Candle Plate after with Candle (Red Wine color)

Dinner was a success!!!

And after I painted the candle plates and my basket, I decided to try a new recipe for dinner.  I saw a little blurb in Better Homes and Garden this month about trying a Pea Pesto Sauce instead the regular pesto with pine nuts to cut out fat and reduce calories.  They didn't list any measurements at all, but it listed the ingredients, so I decided to give it a whirl.  This is what I came up with.  

So here is the recipe in case any of you were interested in trying it.  You can make this strictly vegetarian style and drop in some peas to add color, or add chicken.  

Pea Pesto Sauce with Pasta and Chicken 

1 bag frozen peas (thawed but I heated them up too)

1 - 2 cloves of garlic minced

1 - 2 tablespoons of fresh basil 

1-2 small lemons juiced 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

dash of pepper

1/4 cup of shredded parmesan cheese (not pantry style)

olive oil

So while I was boiling my pasta, I whipped up this pesto sauce in my food processor.  If you don't have a food processor, you can always use your blender.

Add all ingredients except the olive oil.  Puree and gradually add olive oil until smooth and creamy. You will want to add enough olive oil until you reach the consistency of thick spaghetti sauce.  Once the pasta is done, drain it and toss with this pesto.  I added cubed chicken which I also cooked while waiting for the water to boil. 

The kids were a little surprised with their green pasta, but they all went back for seconds and so did Dan.  I was good and stuck to my one serving.

Try it, you might like it...  Happy Eats!

Kids, life, and mood..

This week flew by!  I spent most of the week stressing about the usual stuff.  We had lots going on but what can you expect with four kids!  Most of the week was spent calling contractors over to give us a bid on the loft upstairs. The landlord wanted me to get more estimates, so I had to make sure I kept up on the house all week too! 

Today a guy came over and he was really nice and to me, seemed like he would do the best job.  His design included a closet being built up from the downstairs closet and saving floor space.  If this was my house, I would do it his way.   I hope the landlords pick him because this would give Ariana more room for her stuff and save the floorspace.

A couple days ago the landlord was here too pulling out the Goji berry bushes on the side yard.  Elissa was too cute helping out.  It reminded me of the Karate Kid with Mr. Miagi and his apprentice.  I had to laugh because he was this little Asian man who barely spoke English and he was trying to explain to her how to help with minimal words.  He also took out a tree under the grapevines that was infested with bees.  Yep another bee hive here.  This time we saw that they were the huge black bees who drilled into the tree and made a home out of it for the last year or two.  Come spring I hope we can actually play out there without worrying about getting stung.  Here is a picture of Elissa carrying one of the bushes to the landlords car.  He wanted to save some so he could replant somewhere else since they are so expensive to buy in their current state.

My Weight Loss efforts....

All week long I worked out for over 1 hour per day.  I even watched my calories and I only managed to lose .6 pounds.  I feel so discouraged.  I only lost .6 pounds last week too.  I don't think I will ever lose this weight!  Kelli on the other hand lost another 3+ pounds.  She is at a total of about 15 pounds in 1 month. I guess I will have to even eat less than I have been to lose more.  We will see how this next week goes.

New Furniture Addition

On the bright side, we bought a new couch from Costco which we really like. Finally, the whole family can sit in the family room and watch a movie together.  Here is a picture of our new couch.

We had to move all the other furniture out of the room because it was so massive.  That's is fine though because our front room was pretty empty so, adding the chaise lounge and two tables in there filled it up.  It isn't the best fit, but it works ok and the kids like it.

Well off to do my Saturday errands.  I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend.  I wanted to give a shout out to my Mom.  Happy Birthday Momma!  xoxo :)

Elissa's Party City Shoot Today...

Today was pretty hectic to say the least.  Friday night I got a call and Party City wanted Elissa to come back for another party scene - Disney Princess.  I said sure, but wasn't really comprehending how chaotic it would be for me there with all three kids. The kids had a minimum day today, so I needed to make sure I picked everyone up, drive Noah to Rachel's house and then drive to Pleasanton by 2:30.

Earlier today I had to call around to get bids for the landlord so they could build the room on our loft and I even had a contractor here this morning doing a bid. Additionally, I needed to get Elissa's stuff together and make sure Connor was fed, napped, fed agaIN, changed etc. and eat lunch myself all by 12:45.

If it weren't for my friends and family (thank you Betsy) for lending me some dresses for Elissa's shoot, I don't know what I would do.  They wound up using a pretty blue dress my sis-in-law lent me for this party scene since no one else wore blue there today.  That's fine with me because I personally feel she looks her best in blue. :)

Here are some pictures from the shoot.  Keep in mind they are not professional pictures by any means, but thought I would give you all a peek at what went on behind the scenes.   Hope you all enjoy them.  As soon as I get links to the real pics I will post them for all to see.

This is her posing with other girls.  The director wanted them to pass this blow up crown from head to head.

Here she is with another cute girl posing for the Princess spa scene, but this was in between takes and the ladies were helping get the girls ready for the shots.

Elissa made some friends during down time and one girl even brought all her Polly Pockets for the girls to play with. 

Another picture of them playing.  This little girl here with the curls was such a cutie pie.  Loved her hair.