Day 60 of 366

Day 60: February 29, 2012 
It is Leap Year!!

Only my son!!  Crazy hair day at school.  Remember his hair, because when I get all caught up Parker will have a lot less hair!!

Day 59 of 366

Day 59: February 28, 2012

Some new photos for my Mudroom!  Thanks Sarah for the idea!!  

Day 56 - 58 of 366

Day 56: February 25, 2012

 Adelyn and Thaxton enjoying a nice day with a Tea Party by the window!!  I love my children.

Day 57: February 26, 2012

Kyson sitting up all by himself!!  Way to go kiddo!  But, please slow down.  Mommy wants you to say little for awhile longer, please!


Day 58: February 27, 2012

 It was one of those day to relive old memories.  My college life are contained within these pages.  I was obsessed with my camera even then.  And now, the book is nicely locked back away, so my children don't see it for another 30 years if ever!  :)

Day 55 of 366

Day 55: February 24, 2012

A day with Grandma Kay and Papa!!  I love the fact that my children have the time with their great-grandparents! I have so many wonderful memories of my Great-Grandma Ruth.  I remember spending weeks with her.  We would spend time in Scandia, Kansas.  I loved hearing her stories about growing up, flying planes, and days at the ranch.  I wish I would have know when I was younger to remember all of those.  I hope my children enjoy and cherish these memories they are making with their great-grandparents too!

 

 

Day 51-54 of 366

Day 51: February 20, 2012

Teaching Parker to do laundry!!!  This was the smarted thing I have EVER did!  He does a great job!  His motivation......he can keep any money he find.  Which with Rob, Parker will probably be rich soon.  Good job Parker.  I'm very proud of you for helping out.   (p.s.  Don't mind the really crappy iPhone pictures)

Day 52: February 21, 2012

 

So, now you get the rest of the story. I know this is coming a week and a half late and way after Rob hinted to it on his post, :) but I'll fill in the missing details.

Rob and I went out to eat for our 9th Anniversary.  On the way home we stopped in Aurora at the truck stop.  Rob ran in and came out with this incredible cheesy left over from Valentine's Day, on clearance, fake rose.  It was awful.  :)  It smelled of cheap perfume in the intoxicating way.   And if you know Rob, he totally added to the cheesiness with his smartalec comments and attitude.  Anyways, we continued home.  Just as we were turning at the four mile corner, we ran out of gas.  Yes, we were just at a gas station, but I guess Rob thought running out of gas seemed like a better idea.  Wow!! It was a memorable Anniversary to say the least!!

Day 53: February 22, 2012

Happy 9th Anniversary Rob.  There is no way I can top your post, so I won't even try.  I am thankful for the last 9 years and the 4 beautiful children that came with it.  I love you!

I am taking a studio light class.  And, my first assignment was to take a photo of myself for my profile picture.  I will admit it was incredibly awkward and difficult.  I am extremely to critical of myself and my photography, so adding them together was a disaster.  :)  But, I made it.  

Day 54: February 23, 2012

This was an exciting day.  Due to a little emergency, I had 5 extra children.  Until after school was out, I had 5 children under 4.  And then after school, I added 4 more.  :)  It was a crazy but fun day.  My house, the children, and me all made it through alive.  And when Dakota came and helped out for awhile, I even got a shower.  Thanks Kota!!!

Snack time!

Adde, Jag, & Brynna watching a movie.

Day 50 of 366

Day 50: February 19, 2012

We have started cleaning out the basement. We are going to start getting it finished up. We are tearing down walls to make a family room, redoing the bathroom, moving and remodeling my studio, and turning one of the existing bathrooms into a changing room for my studio. It will be awesome when it's done.

While Parker and I were going through some totes of stuff, we came across the magazines I had saved from the week of September 11, 2001. Now, I know he had learned a little about it last year in school with it being the 10 anniversary and then the death of Osama bin Laden. But, I struggled with wither or not he was ready to look at these magazines and some of the images that were in them. He really wanted to see them, so I finally decided that we would look at them together so we could talk about what he saw in them, I could sensor some of the ones I thought were too mature and we could talk about the actual events and answer any questions he had.

I remember standing in the check-out line at Wal-Mart last year when the anniversary edition magazines were out. I watched a man with his 5 or 6 year old daughter flip though these magazines. I was astonished that this man would show his child an image of people jumping to their deaths from the towers. And, now here I was. Granted, Parker is older and images from 9/11 are still all over TV and the Internet, but I wanted to preserve his innocents for as long as I could. So we began our journey.

I had a couple of goals in my head. First, I wanted to approach this is a truthful way. Second, I wanted to make sure none of this scared him. Third, I wanted him to understand what an important day 9/11 became to us. And lastly, I wanted him to understand all about the kindness, generosity, love, support, patriotism, resolve, resilience, and determination people shown during this horrible time.

Before we started, I asked him if he could tell me exactly what he was doing a year ago. He looked at me like I was crazy. :) I told him that I could remember every detail of that day, just as the rest of America could.  So, I shared my story (the short version of course). 

I was a sophomore at Chadron State College. I woke up to a MSN message (yes that was when MSN was cool) that said for me to turn on my TV. I asked what channel, and she responded "ANY". I turned on my TV right as the 2nd plane flew into the 2nd tower. I was with my good friend Matt at the time. I remember being confused. I remember being scared. I remember not knowing what to do.  I remember feeling completely helpless.  I remember we both called our parents. And, for what seems like days we sat in front of the TV watching CNN. We watched in awe as the Pentagon was hit, the Towers collapsed, and the speculation swirled around whether or not the White House was a target, and later the fate of Flight 93. 

As we looked through these magazines, he saw images of the attack, the aftermath, and the chaos.  But, I also showed him the images of the thousands of people standing on the streets holding flags and signs that said Thank You.  We looked at images of candlelight visuals.  We looked at images of the heroes.

I don’t know if what I did was right.  I don’t know if he was old enough to see some of these images.  But, I do know my son.  His curiosity is never ending.  I just hope that I was able to guide him down the path of these events with a gentle touch.  Someday I am sure he will want to read the stories himself.  We’ll cross that path when we get there.  As I know, I will have to do three more times with my other children and they will with their children.  After all, 9/11 has become a defining moment in our history.  Where were you?

Day 49 of 366

Day 49: February 18, 2012

I have been working away on pictures!!!   I can't show you the real work get.  But after the client gives away the surprise I can.  :)

Day 48 of 366

Day 48: February 17, 2012

My mom came over today to be my model for my Lighting class I am taking.  But I can't show those as they are top secret.  Or in other words she would kill me for putting them up here since she hasn't seen them yet to approve.  :)

I had all the kids running around while we were trying to do this.  And of course once they seen "G" getting her pictures done, they wanted to also.  I can never get them to sit still on their own.  So here is some of the photos I took today.

I LOVE this picture!!!

Parker was so funny.  He had to go get his hair wet,
because he said it looks better wet!  :)  And he is
only 8 1/2.  Oh boy!!!

Thaxton was so adorable.  He was being silly all by himself.  Once we put his hands over his ears and mouth, we had to get him to put them over his mouth too!!  Hear no evil, See no evil, & Speak no evil.  :)

Day 43 - 47 of 366

Day 43: February 12, 2012

I think the kids were happy to have us home!

 Day 44: February 13, 2012

I completely forgot that I had taken a similar photo earlier this week.  COMPLETE LACK OF SLEEP!!

Day 45: February 14, 2012

Happy Valentine's Day!  Kyson had a good one.  He is got to eat baby food for the 1st time.  He actually really loved his green beans. 

Day 46: February 15, 2012

Adelyn helping me with my Studio Lighting class!  She did a wonderful job.

Day 47: February 16, 2012

Adelyn doing a really good job putting a huge puzzle together by herself.

Day 42 of 366

Day 42:  February 11, 2012

While Rob and I were hanging out in the hotel room in Omaha, I tried to teach him how to use my D700.  It doesn't really have a auto mode like  my other cameras.  So he had to take pictures in manual mode.  He didn't do to bad.

Day 41 of 366

Day 41:  February 10, 2012

 

Rob took me to Omaha this weekend for Valentine's Day/ Our 9th Anniversary.   It was nice to get away from everything and relax.  AND EAT AWESOME FOOD!  We left Friday morning and came home Sunday evening.  Just what we both needed to recharge.  We ate at Brother Sebastian's on Friday night.  It has been a couple of years since we had been there.  Rob proposed to me at this restaurant.  :)  Then it was off to the Double Tree downtown.  I missed the kids of course, but it has been a long while since we have been gone alone.  It was really hard to leave the baby for the first time, but he was in awesome hands.  Thanks Stephy and Sami.  You girls are the best.  This weekend wouldn't have been possible without you two.

The view from our hotel room.

Day 40 of 366

Day 40: February 9, 2012

Kyson will be 6 months old on on the 11th.  :(  I had to get a photo of him in this shirt before he out grows the darn thing.  It is absolutely adorable.   He weighing in at 15 lbs 6 oz.  He is rolling across the room, and he starting to try and scoot himself around.  It is definitely bittersweet.  I am thrilled that he is such a wonderful baby, and I enjoy watching him learn new things every day.  BUT, I wish I could keep him little forever.  But since I can't, I will have to make the most of this time and cherish every little moment.  Isn't that what life is all about anyways?

Day 39 of 366

Day 39: February 8, 2012

The left overs from our big snowstorm.  Now that everything is melting, there are lethal icicles all over our house.  They are very pretty though.  Got to love Nebraska.

Day 38 of 366

Day 38: February 7, 2012

I know!  I know!!  I am getting pretty lame.  Things have been CRAZY around here this week.  Parker was sick.  Then, Rob was sick.  So, I think this crap has hit everyone in this family and maybe we can be done with it.  Yeah right!  Haley Sintek Photography is crazy busy.  So, I am left to being a stay at home mom with a full time job.  It makes for MANY 4 am nights.  But, I am loving every minute of it.  Or, maybe just until my alarm goes off.  Hence my best friend below.  I don't know what I would do with you.  {HUGS}

Day 37 of 366

 Day 37:  February 6, 2012

Not much time today.  :)  These are the new metal print samples I got in the mail today.  I am totally in love with them.  They are sooo awesome.  

Day 36 of 366

Day 36:  February 5, 2012

Today, Parker was being my model for a photography class I am currently taking.  He did great, even though I heard "Hold on just a sec mom" about 100 times.

Also, I wanted to share this video.  I found it the other day when I was looking through old discs for a photo of Adelyn.  I made this in 2004 for Rob for Father's Day.  This was the same Father's Day that we got a call from the Army that he was put on pre-alert.  So, it made this video even more special for him.  Even though, I still think that it was crappy of the army to do that on Father's Day.  :)  I remember Parker watching this video about a million times a day for a while.

Just a disclaimer so no one yells at me, there is a image about half way through of my son "drinking" a beverage.  Just wanted to note that it was EMPTY, and he was just chewing on it.  And, it wasn't my fault, ummm "G".  :)  And sorry it was old and didn't transfer all that great.  But, you get the idea.

You can also watch it bigger here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DR58oOvHPX4

Day 35 of 366

Day 35: February 4, 2012

Parker, Adelyn, and I enjoyed our 8 inches of snow.  And, I think I might of had more fun then they did.  It has been years since I went out played in the snow and built a snowman.  I am usually in the house with the little ones.  But, it was my turn this time.  We had a blast building Mr. Snowman and his adorable baby.  Even if some mean person stole Mr. Snowman's glasses.  :(  Thanks for the great day kiddos.

Getting ready to go outside.

Adelyn, Parker, and Bo playing in the snow.

Parker, Mr. Snowman, Adelyn, & Baby,

Parker loving on Baby snowman.

The Snowman family.

Enjoying a cup of Hot Coco and warming up.