po-dink town {pictures}

A couple of weeks ago I came up with the brilliant idea to take the kids to Po-Dink Town to snap a few photos of them in a couple of new (to me) locations. I still hadn't taken Ethan's "school" pictures yet, so off we went. While this seemed like a good idea in theory, I guess I really didn't think it through very well. Mainly because I didn't bring anyone with to help wrangle my crew.

We started out at a cool building just off the main drag where I took some individual shots.

Ethan had the privilege of being my first test subject.

He tends to be such a ham that it's hard to get a non-cheesy smile out of him.

He's certainly going to be a heartbreaker.

Maya was up next. I really love photographing her. Partly because she has the most eclectic sense of style and partly because she is simply photogenic.

That sassy look on her face? 100% real. That's just how she rolls. She pretends she doesn't want her picture taken even though she truly loves it, so she sort of semi-cooperates with me. She goes where I ask her to, but grumbles the entire time while posing.

She's a very complex girl. I am already quaking in my boots just thinking about her teenage years. Somebody please prescribe me some Ativan, STAT!

Then it was Brenna's turn. For some reason, this is the only picture I took of her that I really liked. That just happens sometimes.

After Brenna, Elliot was up. I took a bunch of shots of him that were adorable, however I wasn't paying close enough attention to my (faulty) metering in my camera and over half of them were over-exposed.

I did get a couple though. He was pretty cute, too. He knew just what to do in front of the camera and was very good at flashing his pearly whites. Even if his "smile" did resemble more of a grimace.

Last up was Wyatt. He had been hanging out in his car seat up until this point and was definitely getting a bit antsy. Combine that with the fact that he's an almost-two-year-old boy and you get a subject who refuses to sit still.

So I just chased him around with my camera for a few minutes.

Then I put him back into his car seat and we took off for our next location. When I had scoped out Po-Dink Town the day before, I came across a very cool blue building. (It may have been on private property. Don't ask permission, ask forgiveness?) As it turns out, it was an even better spot than I realized. In addition to the building, there was a pond, some big rocks, and some cement pipes. Of course, it was a bit tricky to focus on taking pictures when I was trying to keep Wyatt from certain death, but it was still fun. My biggest goal for this area was to get a picture of all five of the kids together.

Attempt #1 at least captured all of the kids together in the same frame.

Then we found the cement pipes.

In true biggest sister form, Brenna helped her littlest brothers jump from pipe to pipe.

At one point, poor Wyatt got stuck between two of the pipes. Being the shining example of a mother that I am, I took advantage of his precarious position to take a couple of photos before helping him out.

I also made two more attempts at getting a picture of all 5 kids together on the pipes.

Still not exactly what I had in mind.

After jumping around on top of the pipes for awhile, the crazies eventually decided to climb through pipes. An activity that caused my claustrophobic sweat glands to go into hyperactive mode. Thankfully they all made it out. Phew!

It was clearly exhausting though. Maya had to take a little rest on a rock.

At the end of the day, this was the best picture I snapped of all 5 of them. It may not be your typical family picture, but I happen to love how it so clearly shows each of their personalities. And they love how they were treated to Happy Meals at Po-Dink Town's Germland McDonald's when we were done.

Dessert Friday! {blueberry boy bait}

Every Wednesday evening during the school year, my hubby and I attend a small group. Given my love of baking treats that I've never baked before (which, up until a couple of years ago, consisted of anything but chocolate chip cookies), many of these nights I will bring a snack for the group. Meaning that on those Wednesdays my kids get to watch me put a decent amount of effort into preparing a dessert that they can see and smell, but are not allowed to eat. As I was putting some apple pie into the oven for this past Wednesday's group, it occurred to me that here I was, once again, making a dessert for my friends all the while telling my very favorite people that they couldn't have any. Hence I decided to begin implementing Dessert Fridays. Every Friday (with some flexibility allowed for holidays and birthdays and such) I am going to bake something for my family. This week I chose what I was going to make, but from here on out I'm going to let the big kids take turns picking something. Enter *Blueberry Boy Bait. I came across this recipe while searching through the archives of one of my favorite cooking websites, Cooking for Seven. To find the recipe and some great pictures, check out Smitten Kitchen.

As with most baking recipes, this one begins with mixing the dry ingredients; in this case flour, salt, and baking powder.

Next, heft your 30 pound mixer over to the counter by the sink as it is right below the only window in your kitchen. Then throw in some butter (unsalted....venturing into new territory for me), brown sugar, and white sugar.

Then turn on you mixer to medium-high and sit back and watch the batter become fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time mixing until they're just incorporated into the batter after each one.

Then add in some flour...

...and some milk.

Once the batter is combined, fold in the blueberries. I used frozen and they worked just fine.

Mix up some cinnamon and sugar...

...and use your cute little spoon to sprinkle the mixture on top of the cake.

Or if you're impatient like me, after a couple of spoonfuls just sprinkle it right from the bowl. You lose a point in the cuteness factor, but gain one in efficiency.

Pop the cake into the oven and go get your sick boy who woke up too soon from his nap. He'll be very cranky and won't really know what he wants until he sees applesauce. He'll be way too tired to use the appropriate eating utensil, so he'll just attempt to drink his applesauce straight from the cup.

When he throws a tantrum because you wiped his face and gets applesauce everywhere, he'll need to be put in a time out. He'll look pitiful, but it's for his own good.

As enticing smells begin to fill the house, you may begin to notice a bit of drool dibbling down the chins of everyone in the house. Including your own.

If you timed it right, the cake will be ready for your kids to eat just as they get off the bus. A perfect snack for a crisp fall day.

*We didn't actually call this Blueberry Boy Bait in our house. We called it Blueberry Cake. We aren't interested in attracting any more boys to our house for two reasons. 1) Our girls will not be allowed to date until they are 30. 2) Boys eat. A LOT. We already have 3 boys (plus one husband) living in our house. We don't need anymore bottomless pits roaming free in the kitchen.

Not Me! Monday

It's time for Not Me! Monday over at MckMama's Blog! This week, one lucky participant will win a spot in her first ever online photography workshop. Giddy up! Not Me! Monday's is all about sharing your less-than-perfect moments of the past week, all while stating that these are things that you "did not" do.

This week, I did not start getting sweaty palms and heart palpitations just thinking about the fact that I had to go in to the dentist to get some cavities filled.

Finding myself unable to procure child care for Wyatt, I did not just strap him into his stroller and bring him with me to the 90 minute appointment. At no time during said appointment did he practice his Houdini skills by getting himself out of his straps and climbing out of the stroller.

I did not keep my eyes closed tight and squeeze my hands together for the entire appointment. My fears were not founded as they certainly did not have to give me novocaine three times during the procedure.

There is no way that I was so traumatized by the appointment that upon arriving back at home I fed my boys some lunch and promptly climbed into my bed to take a nap.

I am not stressing already about the appointment I have scheduled for next week to fill more cavities.

Not me!!

pictures {school}

UPDATE:

Look! No blob! I guess it pays to know people who have Photoshop skills that are far superior to to mine (which are admittedly sorely lacking). Thanks Dan and Carly!!

This year I made the harrowing decision not to purchase any of the pictures of my kids taken at school. It was a choice made at the last minute as I was filling out their school forms (side rant: it is so incredibly ridiculous to me that in the age of technology I still have to fill out the exact same registration papers for each of my kids. every. stinkin'. year. Someone please explain to my why this is not a process that can be done online where parents are required only to view the information every year and enter in any changes). As I was trying to decide which pose/background color/overpriced package I wanted to purchase to wind up with mediocre pictures of my kids that would be left forgotten in some random box in our house, I was struck with sudden inspiration. I decided that starting this year, we would have a new school picture tradition. One that would be significantly more inexpensive and result in much better photos of my kids. I decided that this year, I would be my kids' school photographer. So far, I have only taken pictures of my girls, but photos of the boys are soon to come.

Every year, I let the kids choose one "accessory" for school. Maya's choice this year was a feather for her hair. Her favorite color this year is orange. Hence the orange feather. It actually suits her eclectic style quite well.

Brenna wanted a blue streak in her hair. The dye I picked up is supposed to last 6-8 weeks. Perhaps their test subjects never washed their hair? It actually washes out in about a week.

My dear sweet friend Erin asked me if I would take some pictures of her family as well. I'm always up for a new challenge so I agreed.

Emma is one of Brenna's very best friends. They have literally known each other since birth and are only three months apart in age. She wasn't entirely thrilled to be photographed, but I still got some good shots of her. Of course, she's such a beauty that it would be hard to take a bad picture of her.

This sweet boy did not make my job easy. He was much more interested in playing than posing, but I did get a few good shots of him. And then he was off to fly down our driveway on a skateboard.

Halle is the poser of the family, but it still took a bit of coercing to get her to cooperate. Once she got started though she was a perfect subject.

I picked up this cool chair at a thrift store for $8. Score!

Family pictures are definitely out of my comfort zone. I was thankful to have good friends to practice on.

A little behind-the-scenes shot...

...and a little, well, behind shot.

Erin also wanted a few shots of her and her husband together as they haven't had them done since their wedding. Twelve years ago. Now if I just knew how to get rid of that green spot on Mike's shirt, we'd be good to go. It's not as noticeable in the black and white version, but I really like the colors in this one. I won't tell you what we were talking about to actually get a smile on Mike's face.

I couldn't resist getting a picture of my chubby little guy on the new chair. Don't worry, he does have a diaper on.

north shore chronicles {part II}

On day three of our North Shore trip, we loaded the troops up in the van and headed even further north to Grand Marais. We had been warned that even though it was only about 30 miles north of our campground, it was considerably cooler there than where we were staying. Thankfully we heeded the warning and brought along our sweatshirts. Unfortunately, the cold air caused us to forget that the sun was, in fact, still shining, and we neglected to apply sunscreen to our faces. Most of us came through the day unscathed, but poor Wyatt got burned right on one chubby little cheek. To add insult to injury, in the days following it started to peel making it look like he had a patch of dried mucous on his face that his mother kept trying to wipe off. Poor baby.

Our first stop was the beach where my sisters and I finally gave my mom her long overdue Mother's Day gift and we all searched for sea glass.

Wyatt didn't care so much about looking for sea glass.

He was content to just pick up stones and gaze introspectively over the lake. Either that or I snapped this picture right before he decided to see just how frigid the water was causing me to have to trudge back to the van to find him something dry to wear.

Elliot wasn't afraid of the icy water.

He dove right in...

...and rather exuberantly threw his rocks back to where they came from.

Kolby had a method to seeking out the beach's treasure.

Kenna, on the other hand, just wanted to fill her bucket with any stone she could find.

Kyleigh clamied the best find of the day. A heart-shaped piece of sea glass.

Poor Brenna searched and searched and searched and came away with nothing.

All that digging made us hungry. We walked down to Sven and Ole's Pizza for a delicious lunch where the older three kids were ecstatic because they got to have pop (soda or coke for you non-midwesterners) with their pizza. After lunch, it didn't take long for our full-bellied boy to conk out in his stroller. As it turns out, the wisest move at this point would have been for me to take him out of his stroller and put him on my back in his carrier instead. Because where we went next? Not exactly conducive to pushing a stroller. There were certainly some flat areas, but I wound up carrying him in the stroller for much of the treck out to the lighthouse. Not impossible, but not the best way of doing things, either.

Thankfully, we did have the foresight to have Elliot hitch a ride on Aaron's back.

Somehow, Wyatt slept through me picking him up and putting him down all the way out to the end of the pier. (He did wake up on the way back though.)

We even managed to snap a picture of all of our brave little adventurers together.

And look! A family picture! With all of us! Together! In the same photo!

{And this is the part where I interrupt our previously scheduled programming to tell you why I prefer to shoot in full manual mode on my camera. See this picture here? It was shot in auto mode. As was the picture below it. And while they are okay pictures, they just don't look quite the way I like them to look. And seeing as I am not a master photoshopper, I wasn't able to make them look how I wanted them to by editing them, either. And now back to the show.}

I even managed to get in a picture with my mom and sisters.

When we left the lighthouse, we walked to the other end of the "island" we were on. As we were walking, we looked out on the lake and saw a real live pirate ship. See it?

We also saw a cool looking birch tree.

The kids were less fearful about plunging to their deaths on the rocky cliff than I was. I was much happier when they were all back on solid ground.

The beauty of Superior will never cease to take my breath away.