Portraits of a Teenager, Part Three

Here is the final installment of the photo shoot with Katy. She wanted some pics that really showed the color in her hair and I think we almost got that. I handed her my MP3 player. She was curious as to what I had on it. It's why the funny face because some of it she just doesn't like. I told her it was for working out and it had a good beat for that. There was some real face making over my choices of Lady GaGa and Beyonce. Oh well. The last pics she is really smiling and laughing. I told her to imagine James falling down the stairs and it got a great laugh. Siblings are so cruel!

I will have some new pics of Jack and Abbey soon. I am waiting on a pair of pants to be washed up first. They are a bit overdue for their 6 month pics considering they are a week shy of 7 months! Where did the time go? This time last year it was still sinking in that we were going to have twins, we didn't even know for sure (well I knew because of the dreams, but Jason didn't) that they were in fact boy and girl.

Prayers and blessings everyone. Enjoy the kids while they are there for you to cuddle and not complain about it!

Portraits of a Teenager, Part Two

Here is the second part of the photo session with Katy. These are all just random faces that I had her make at me. Yes, there are red streaks in her hair. Yes, the back of her hair looks rather purplish.

Katy had been wanting to dye her hair black and then get red streaks and purple tips in it. I was very much agains the black. Her natural color is so dark anyway. And being a teenager, though she vehemently denied she would, I knew she would get bored of the look and want to change it, only to find out that dying it that drastic color had made it so the only way to get it out is to bleach it all, or cut it all off. She, of coarse, took this as opposition and decided it needed to be done all the more.

I talked to Jason the night before I went to pick up Katy because I had a "PLAN". I knew Jenn was OK with the color streaks, but not really with the black, though she understood why she wanted to do it. When I got there, I asked when Katy was going to get her hair done. The answer was an I don't know. So I offered Katy, with Jenn right there to say no, if she felt she needed to (she knew I was going to ask, I had mentioned it to her on chat the night before), that if she agreed to not do anything thing black that I would take her the next morning to get the colors put in how she wanted and that I would pay for it. Jenn looked at her and said "I'd take that deal." As you can see, Katy took it.

So here she is once again in all her goofy teenage glory. I hope that you all enjoy the rest of your week. Prayers and blessings.

Portraits of a Teenager, Part One

While Katy was here for her mid-winter break, I took the advantage of a sunny day and set her up in our "stuido" and got out the camera. I wanted her to be comfortable and not stiffly posed with a half ass fake smile. I pulled out my Game Boy and MP3 player and let her play around with those. I ended up with 36 pics that I REALLY liked. I'm going to seperate them in to 3 different posts of 12 pics a piece. 36 is a lot to scroll through all at once!

We always love having Katy here and it would be great if she could come down more often. I know that as she gets older, the once a month we see her may get even more scarce because of her commitments to other activities. I think that will just have us cherish our time with her even more. Here is the first set of 12 pics. The last pic it looks like she is upset. That's not accurate. I had told her to just start making random faces at me and I am rather certain that she was trying not to laugh at me.

Prayers and blessings everyone. I hope you enjoy the time you have with your children while they are still there to enjoy.

Funky Fun Friday

Jason and I went out tonight. We had fun, I guess. Word of advice, don't go to the symphony if you've been up all day chasing children and working and what not. There just isn't enough going on to keep your attention so you just sit and zone out listening to the music and find yourself sliding down in your seat and drifting off which isn't a good thing when you are wearing a knee length skirt and a pair of heels.

Well, now that I got past the run on sentence of the century, how was your week? Mine was off kilter if you hadn't noticed.

I got my flyer in the mail for Jo-Ann's and I got an email from Lion Brand Yarn. Oooh. There is a very simple pattern for a very nice scarf in the email. Oooh oooh the yarn for the scarf is on sale, 2 for $4! Usually it's $2.99 a piece. Woohoo!!! I'm going to make 2 scarves. One for my FIL for Christmas, and one for my Secret Santa for the 4 or More Mommies. I may do one for the Secret Santa for the March Mommies as well, but I don't know who I'm getting for that so I don't know if a scarf is right for them, they may live in Cali or Florida or some place like that! I may even do one for my dad, and I wonder if Sue wears scarves? I know Linda does. I won't be getting all of that yarn this week. Just the yarn for FIL and the Secret Santa.

Homer is out of work. I talked to him. I guess he's getting unemployment. Yippee for him. It does mean that the child support we receive will be greatly diminished, if we see it at all, go figure. Oh well, we've made it on tight before, we can do it again.

I'm looking at doing Angel Food Ministries for December. For $30, the box of food seems to be a good value. If we like it, I may get more the next time around. It would certainly help stretch our food budget and with the freezer downstairs, it won't go to waste.

I'll be contacting my case worker on Monday to let her know that we won't be receiving the child support. I also have to call the Friend of the Court to see if they actually garnish child support from unemployment. I have therapy on Monday evening too. I missed last week in favor of sleeping. Go figure.

I need to get the dining room cleaned up by Tuesday evening. I want to set the tree up then. Well, put it together and string the lights. Wednesday, I'll be driving to Muskegon to pick up Katy and Emily and then doing my last minute dinner shopping.

Emily is Katy's younger 1/2 sister. They share the same dad. She is Jenn's daughter. Chris cancelled on them for Thanksgiving, so I offered for Emily to come here if Jenn didn't have plans with her family. So Emily is staying from Wednesday to Saturday when I bring them both back up north.

Emily is related to us in a weird kind of way. It's almost like she is a cousin to the kids. But not at the same time. With Chris off living his own life, barely acknowledging his children, I feel like someone should be there to be Emily's 2nd family. Everyone has one, or at least they should. So Emily will be coming down with Katy for visits and that kind of thing. What's one more kid after all, right?

Prayers and blessings everyone, I hope that your weekend is filled with fun and family and all that makes you smile and feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Happy Birthday Katy Beth!!

Happy birthday Katy! I hope you have a really great day! I know you are at school today. I hope that the dinner you have is tasty and the gifts you receive are wonderful! We will see you at Thanksgiving and we will celebrate then!

Katy is 11 today. That big age of transition and growing. Being an almost teenager, as she reminds me, is full of angst and self doubt and fear. It is also a time of change and growing and learning.

Katy is a smart beautiful well rounded girl. I believe in her, and her ability to grow and adapt to the changes that will be coming in her life. As everyone who has ever been through it knows, teenagerness (is that even a word?) brings about so many changes in ourselves, in our bodies, in our way of thinking.

Katy has the support and love of a lot of people. I know she will handle the coming years with grace and dignity.

By the way, I'm not saying she won't become mouthy and moody and all that teenage crap that every parent dreads. I AM saying she is smart enough, and loved enough, and encouraged enough, to know that no matter WHAT she is dealing with, she KNOWS she has someone she can go to when it seems to be too much, as it will, even though to us adults it won't really look like too much.

Katy impressed a judge this year. He couldn't believe she was only 10 at the time. He felt for sure she was much older, simply on how she handled herself. He called her funny and smart and mature. She wasn't afraid to speak her mind and be heard. Now, if a girl of 10 isn't afraid to tell a judge what she wants, I really believe she will do well as she gets older.

I think the challenge for us, her parents, will be getting her to come out of her shell a little more, to, if not lead, at least not be so willing to follow. It has been difficult to teach her that she can say what she needs to and not worry so much about how who she is talking to will feel about it.

Prayers and blessings everyone. Remember to enjoy your loved ones at every age, for soon, it will be past and you will wonder where the time went.