Look Who's Five

Carter celebrated his 5th birthday this week.  I look back 5 years ago when he was born, and am reminded how busy life was back then.  The twins were only 11.5 months old.  I had three babies under 1, and Christmas was right around the corner.  Although Carter was a surprise pregnancy, he was the best Christmas gift I could have ever asked for.  He will always be the baby of the family and very special boy to all of us!

 He was really excited about his birthday cards with money and his presents!

 He was quite bashful with the birthday song singing though!  :-)

Happy Birthday Carter.... and here's to many more to come!!

Happy Halloween!

What gorgeous weather we have had lately!  It was a perfect night for trick-or-treating.   The boys were ready to go!!  Carter was dressed as Wolverine,

 Mason was a GI Joe commander Snake Eyes,

 and Spencer went as Iron Man.

 All of my little Super Heroes!

 There were plenty creepy and scary sights lurking around every corner.  Carter being the cautious one always had to assess the situation before heading in for the candy.

 Why, here he is now... assessing the situation from the back row.  Something tells him to proceed with caution!

 He's not so sure about this place and the strange growls coming from the front porch.

 Yep... I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to go up there.

 This is where he turns around and decides that the candy is DEFINITELY not worth it!

Fall Fun!

We have been thoroughly enjoying the weather lately and getting outside every chance we get. Last weekend we made a trip to the Pumpkin Patch.  A great time was had by all picking pumpkins in the patch and apples in the orchard.

Hooray, Hooray for our 1st Day!

Wednesday was a big day for the Ver Meer household.  It was the first day that all 5 kids headed off to school together. 

Carter had his first day of preschool...

... and the twins had their first day of Kindergarten.

Everything went very well, and I think the boys enjoyed their day.  One thing is definitely certain... school completely wears them out!  They are hungry and tired by the end of the day.  Fortunately they are ready for bed much sooner than they use to be.  I finally get a few hours of quiet time before I go to bed.

Tuesday was the big kids and my first day of school.  One of my paras brought me the cutest homemade gift I have ever seen!

I love all of the minute details and time put into it.  Thanks so much to Cathy for brightening my day and making my school year start off with a smile.

Just Plain Tired!

The month of August has been crazy busy around here.  From shooting weddings, to teaching SMARTBoard classes, to preparing for a busy school year... I'm completely tuckered out!  There are days when I get home and feel like curling up with a nice soft blanket and taking a nap, but there is just no time for that.  I think the tiredness is affecting everyone in the house.  Even the boys are feeling it.

I came home from my class last week and found Carter resting peacefully.  I wanted to curl up right there next to him, but there simply wasn't room.  You see... Carter was so tired that he fell asleep in the empty "toy box" tote.

Apparently all the work it took to empty the toys out was too much.  He just climbed right in and fell asleep.  It was the cutest thing ever! 

Even kitty Boo was wanting to hop in and curl up.

What a view!

After a dark and dreary day, I was sitting in my office and happened to peer out my window to find this.

It was a full, double rainbow. Unfortunately I didn't have a wide enough angle lens to capture it from start to finish. :-( Click here for product credits.

Master Chef Mason

Mason couldn't wait to wear his new apron we bought on Saturday. He always loves to help out in the kitchen, so I couldn't pass this apron up when I saw it at the flea market. He thinks he is quite the master chef in the kitchen! Here he is whipping up some delicious monster cookies from the Schwan's man, or the "food truck" as he like to call it. :-)

Grandpa Gerber's Gophers!

Once spring rolled around, our neighbor, "Grandpa Gerber",  started trapping gophers. You see... the pesky little critters like to dig tunnels in his yard.  The funny thing is that they only bother his yard and not ours??  It is as though they know where the lot line is. :-)  The boys were happily entertained during breakfast, lunch, and dinner as they watched a gopher now and then through the dining room window.   Grandpa Gerber successfully trapped three gophers and we thought the problem was taken care of.  Last weekend during breakfast Spencer said. "Look mom, a gopher."  Sure enough... there by the little tree on the lot line sat a rather plump gopher soaking up the morning sun.  Mason said with a chuckle, "Grandpa Gerber is not going to be happy about that." 

I thought to myself... how could you be unhappy about a cute little furry friend?

Then today we saw another...

A while later, we saw a few more!

Make that "7" total!! 

Now we know why Grandpa Gerber wouldn't be too happy about that!  :-)

Summer means weddings!

Summer is just getting underway and that means weddings, weddings, weddings! From attending them to shooting them, I'll no doubt be busy this season. We've had lots of engagement shoots over the past month and should be wrapping those up in a few weeks. Then the real fun begins... seven weddings in nine weeks! Here are a few pages from the wedding we shot over Memorial weekend.  Click here for credits.

"Carter"-man

Ever since I can remember, he has always wanted to be Spiderman!  You may recall this post and this post where I wrote about his love of the Spectacular man.  I mean, who could blame him?  Superhero status, cool outfit, super-human capabilities...  Who wouldn't want that, right?  Needless to say, I was not surprised to find him today wearing his mis-matched, two sizes too small, Spiderman pajamas and hanging upside down from the kitchen counter. 

Notice the "scary" Spiderman costume lying on the floor?  He likes to switch it up every now and then!

Ty's Senior Video

King and Queen!

Congratulations you two!!

As it turns out...

... I ended up with some decent pics after all.  :-)

One normal pic...

... that's all I've ever asked for!  Do you think I could get my own boys to cooperate??  No, instead all I get is this!  Well, now that I think of it... this is close to normal for us!