Fall Family Photo's

Get ready for a photo overload! Over Thanksgiving weekend our good friend Stephen Wagner, , was able to shoot our family photos for 2009. It was a crazy busy day around here and we didn't end up getting to the park until 5:30 leaving us with only 20-30 minutes of good light. The wind started blowing and Miles happy mood didn't last to long but we pushed on and did our best to keep smiling.

I have to admit, I was a little nervous that we wouldn't have to many good shots with all the negative factors but some how Steve pulled it off! I just got the disc last night and was overwhelmed with all the great pictures! Steve is a great photographer and has a way of finding the right angles and making the shots work. Thanks a million Steve, I know these pictures will hang in our home for years to come. I love the lighting, editing, and incredibly hot models in all these photos, ENJOY!

What's going on.

Things are as busy as ever around here but we have reached a few mile stones I simply must mention!

1. AJ is potty trained! I had been racking my brain for the best method in which to go about potty training him when he came to me on Sunday morning and said, "I need to go poop on the potty Mom." Really!?!? So I took him in there and he really went! I was shocked to say the least but I went with it and put him in a pair of big boy underwear. That was 6 weeks ago and he has only had 3 poop accidents and 8-9 pee accidents. I am elated! So many people told me that they will let you know when they're ready but I always thought that was ridicules until it happened to me. To help encourage him I taped Halloween size M&M's on the bathroom wall and every time he was successful in the bathroom he got a potty treat. We also took him to target and let him pick out his own underwear (which he loved) and told him if he pooped on Buzz lightyear or Lightning McQueen they had to go in the garbage, which they did. I was not about to clean poop of a $0.40 pair of underwear and throw them in the wash, after 3 pair went in the garbage he was done with accidents! Congratulations AJ, potty trained at 2 1/2 (30 months.)

2.Miles is on the move! I have never seen a little one move around as much as Miles does already. He loves to kick to flail his arm anytime anywhere. He is starting to find toys and does all he can to reach them and get them in his mouth. He is also a rolling machine. After his bottles he usually has some playtime under his hanging toys on the Ottoman while I work on house stuff but those days are over! He has almost rolled off the Ottoman twice now so I have had to move him to the floor, but that couldn't stop him. He now plants his feet on the floor, arches his back, and pushes hard to skooch himself along the floor. It really just moves him farther and farther back until his head hits the couch and is forced to stop. He also dose this in his crib, which is why I find him with his head stuck in the corner of the crib after every nap. I now understand the reason for bumpers. He may only be 4 months only but I think he is already sick of just laying around.

3. Sleep training. Miles has been sleeping from 7:00PM -7:00AM but still waking up at 11:00 and 4:00 to eat, RIDICULOUS! So we decided it was time to sleep train. After much deliberation I decided to try the pick up, put down method by Tracey Hogg.....STUPID (opps, I mean silly, we don't say stupid anymore.) I know that this method has worked for at least two of my friends and Lyndz but this was not the method for us. In pick up, put down you stay in the room and talk to your baby to comfort them if they don't calm down you pick them up until they stop crying but the second they calm down you put them back in the crib while reassuring them with your voice if they cry again you pick them up again until they are calm and then...right back down. This process usually take 60-90minutes the first time and gets less and less over the next two weeks until they are sleeping through the night. Well 5 days was enough for me, I was in there for 2 hours at a time and he would just get madder and madder, so we went to the cry it out method like we did with Age. We are, however using Tracey Hogg's dream feed technique where you go in at 10:30 and feed them a bottle while they continue to sleep, it works great! 3 nights into the cry it out and he is already doing way better. Last night we did the dream feed and he didn't get up till 6:45 for a bottle and back to bed until 8:15. He has been sleeping from 7:15PM-8:15 we are still working on it and he still cries 5-25 minutes some night around 4:00AM but it's working way better for Miles then PU/PD.

I am seriously in awe at how fast time is passing as our boys grow up. We are so proud of them and feel truly blessed to have them for our sons. Here's a few pictures of our boys in the tub. They love being in the water especially together, please note how concerned AJ is with their modesty

Across the street......

Don't ask me why, because I really have no good reason for doing this today, but on our way to the bank I decided to stop and take a few pictures of Miles and AJ across the street from our house. This is a really pretty boulevard with beautiful grass, tree's, and shrubs. Last Monday it was beautiful and green, Wednesday and Thursday the leaves turned yellow, and by the weekend they were all off the trees! It went way to fast.

I really wanted to get a few pictures with the boys outside before the rain arrives for good so I thought, "Why not now!" AJ has croup and Miles was starving but I did the best I could on my own. It really is pretty impressive the shots you can get in 5 minutes, literally!

Anyways here's a few of my favorites, I know there's more of Age but you can't really get to much of a 4 month old with no one there to help out!

This is AJ's, "I'm sick face." He jsut looks so sad, it melts my heart!








No one will ever believe this but I just spell check my blog and I actually spelt Boulevard right!!!! I am over the moon!

Interview's

Daya is one of my favorite new Portland friends and is full of good ideas. The other day on her blog she mentioned how her parents us to record little interviews of them from time to time and how much they loved to look back on them, so I thought.....GREAT IDEA!

Here is our first ever interview with Charles Alexander James. He has Croup right now so you'll have to excuse the voice but it came out pretty cute I think!

Next up 4 month old Miles. I think I will try his again when Aaron is here to help me since I'm not great at filming and supporting him at the same time but this is what i was able to get today.

Pumkin Patch - Take two

Friday afternoon was beautiful here. The leaves are all changing, the air has that crisp fall chill, and the sun was shining which ment perfect conditions for a second take at the pumkin patch.

As soon as the boys where home we piled into the cars and made our way to a new pumkin patch called leipoled farms. There was so much to do, see, and eat! I would definatly recommend it to any family living in the area. The best part was that our boys are so young everything was FREE.
It was $5.00 for a pony ride so we just let the boys feed the horse and sit on it, with out going any where. Same thrill minuse the cost!

You can see how excited Miles was to get out of the house and be at the pumpkin patch because it's so diffrent than what he dose at home all day, lol.This was a tuff one to pri the boys away from, if it was up to them they'd still be going round, and round, and round..... This was so fun! It was like a sand box but full of dry corn kernals, I think Lyndz and I enjoyed it more than the kids.
I thought this one would make Grandpa Hill really proud, what grandfather dosen't dream of seeing their handsome grandson as a beautiful flower!
Of course everything is a photo shoot, much to my husbands dismay, but here are some of the cute shots we got whilt picking our pumpkin.









Here's AJ helping me get the hay off my bum after sitting down for family pictures. He was very conserened about me and my dirty pants.
Here are the boys with their winning pumpkins, they were hard to find but well worth it! Dust and Aaron both picked 36 pounders while Age and Becks both came in under 3 pounds.


We couldn't go all day without a family photo. I tried the selftimer but Lyndz had to help me out in the end.