Whimsical ME

Self Portraits

My friend and I are doing some self portraits this week.

Here's mine from yesterday.

If you are interested to see more come to my Facebook Fan Page, Julyssa Schenk Photography and become a fan and SAY HELLO!! ;-)

Day 7 Week in My spectacular Life (lol)

It looks like Christmas threw-up in my home, eh?

Good times and awesome memories ... and ... lots of picking up.  The kids were still at their sleep-over so I had some time to pick up the mess before they came.  Nadya and I enjoyed some time together too before the kiddos came home.

Nadya saying, "ooooooooooh" ... yea, BIGmongous (as Dylan used to say) MESS!

Along with picking up the mess, I also had to get ready for a newborn shoot.  This was my set-up.

Thankfully the session was all through when Nadya woke up.  The older kids were bribed with $5 and a cookie if they stayed up stairs and didn't fight ..... they were awesome!!!  Not a beep was heard for 3 hours.

Nadya didn't know what to think of the little babe when she came downstairs.

We went outside to enjoy the afternoon chill.

Here's Naday saying, "Yo, B push me already, will ya?!".

Adam spent some time figuring out the helicopter.  He got it to work after some internet help and some help from MOI, cause I'm awesome.

LOVE

this sweet note from my beautifully-tender-kind-hearted Nyomi.

Evidence:

Adam on Facebook.

Until NEXT year, baby!

Day 6 Week in My life

On with the show, right?! 

Get it together Julyssa!

haha.

 

Christmas morning, rise and shine.

Thankfully, the kids gave us a slight break and woke up at 7:30am.

On Christmas Eve, Nyomi wrote Santa a note.  She really wanted to hug the Elf and since the Elf can't be touched (for fear of losing it's magical  powers) ... Nyomi thought it wise to ask the big boss for permission.

adorable

Santa signed his name and circled YES!

They found reindeer noses in their stockings and it took me a while to get a picture of both noses lit up at the same time.

He asked for 2 things this Christmas; A Captain America Shield and a Thor Hammer.

Nyomi asked for 2 things this Christmas;  A razor graffiti scooter (she got a light up wheel scooter) and a BBQ play set (she got a tree house because I didn't know what she was talking about, she was pleased).

After going through stockings and playing with Santa's gifts we had a delicious breakfast that Adam made.

Nadya received 2 things from us this Christmas ... this car from Santa and a dog from us.  She LOVED both of them.

She didn't understand the unwrapping of presents and began to throw a tantrum ...

... until she saw what was under the wrapping and her face lit up like a star.

This year I loved taking photos of the kids reaction.

Nyomi's first DOLL and it looks just like her.

This is the face Dylan made when he saw that I had given him JEANS for Christmas.  so NOT fair.

Abuelita gave Dylan a helicopter for Christmas and it was such an awesome gift.

Until

daddy couldn't figure out how he made it work in the first place.

so

the kids waited and waited for their turn to finally fly the copter, but their turn didn't come until a day later.

The scooter quickly became and indoor scooter for the time being and the kids enjoyed themselves, but also fought like crazy because Dylan wanted to ride too.

Adam and the kids got to talk to Uncle Casey (adam's bro).  We got to see their little baby who was just born in December.  

After visiting with Uncle Casey and baby N., we went over to partake of a lovely evening with some friends.  We had some yummy food and then we went outside to enjoy the very cool evening.  Nyomi's friend got a gymnastics bar and they enjoyed themselves.

The kids had themselves their first SLEEPOVER that night.

They had an absolute blast!

Day 5 (Christmas Eve) Week in My Life 2011

Most of the time

my kids

sleep in different areas of the home.

Sweet Nadya is mostly always very pleasant in the morning when we change her diaper and get her ready for the day.

uh-oh

what did you do Adam?

I love how Nyomi has set up her doll house.

And they are stilllllll sleeping.

My tree has been secretly decorated by the little people in my home.  So sweet.  But don't do it again, ya hear?!

The Elf did remember to move this morning and left the kids a darling little note.

A bath for all three at the same time saves me time and makes them reallllly happy.

Nadya was the splashing queen.

Nyomi devouring her spinach quesadilla.

Sparkles FINALLY received his funeral.  Kind words were spoken and toast on her behalf (sparkles is a girl name).

Nyomi flushed.

and she cried for the little fishy.

But

tracking Santa on the internet proved to be a great distraction from the sadness.

Making Santa's cookies while Nyomi danced to some jingles.

AND

the tracking continued the whollllllllllllle night.

While I made dinner ----- Chicken enchiladas, spanish rice and strawberry salad the kids made the icing for the cookies.

Our fancy dinner.

Somehow I always manage to leave some wrapping to do on Christmas Eve, 'tis the Season for procrastination.  Adam and I finished up the wrapping and got the tree all ready for the morning.

good night.

Day 4 Week In my Life 2011

I was trying on my winter hat (we all went to Colorado to spend some time with family).  I love this hat so soft and warm ... and cute.

I went shopping with Jen and this is what I wore :)  Don't mind the serious "look", I was concentrating on getting myself in focus ... and please don't mind the smeared of lovely little hands-mirror.

Clearly, we have zero imagination or consistency with mr. elf ... he's in the same spot, which we got grief for from Nyomi ........ oops.

My little drama queen.

I don't know why I don't have many more pictures of Dylan in the fridge he practically lives there.

He made Adam breakfast.

This is when Adam takes over "camera duty" (or cameraface).  He took care of the kids while I had some girl time.

Didn't I say Adam took care of the kids?  Yes, well now you know for sure cause check them out.  They look like they roollllllllllllllled out of bed and got in the car.  Hair--crazy, outfits -- crazier ...... me laughing when I saw the pictures.

They went over to help a friend make some garden boxes.  Adam really went to LEARN how to make them so he can make one for my home :)  Thanks FRIEND!

She adored Adam.  Adam likes the attention of the older ladies :)

Clearly, I was not taking care of them ..... see what happens!!!  Nadya had her first sip of High-Fructose-Corn-Syrup (sprite) without my knowldege. 

She went for another sip ... but doesn't really like it.  Thankfreakinggoodness.

The kids LOVE, Love, LOVE eating at Praradise Bread CO.

As soon as I got home Adam went out with some of the guys.  I had some time with the kiddos.  It was fun.

The kids were doing their karate moooooooooves.  These are some of my faves.

Nyomi is more of a spinning karate girl.

Dylan takes it seriously.  He has some great moves and high kicks.

Good night moon.

Day 3 Week in My Life 2011

Happy NEW Year!!!

I'm back from a lovely vacation with family.  I will blog about that when I'm through with my awesome week in my life.

Here's Day numero 3.

 

Nyomi has always slept in this position.  I always laugh when I find her like this ... and so glad I had my camera this time.  And not really sure what happened to her jammies.

Getting ready for her Christmas party at school.  She wanted to wear Red and Green and I improvised.  She wore a red shirt from Valentines Day and a green flower pin that we have had for years.  She didn't care.  AND she wanted the bumpy hair ... gorgeous long hair.

I haven't been the best a keeping up with my sink, gotta get back into that nice habit of keeping it clear of dirty dishes.

My breakfast.

The other kids slept in so I had a quiet breakfast.

Nadya is my little shadow and this is how I usually see her ... at my legs begging me to pick her up.

Having some snack on the kitchen floor.

I've been reading again.

Nadya cleaning up the mess from snack time.

The ELF.

We are not very creative with the elf.

When there is goofing around

there is laughter

and

sometimes

there are tears too.

Dylan's hand art.

Nyomi was super excited about her last day of school.  She came home and played with her favorite toy (paper dolls) ... and I love that I was able to capture her other past-time of whistling.

Dress up time.

Dylan playing with puppets.

She loves to smell her blanket.

We had a death in our family.

I accidentally killed (by changing him into his new water too quick) Sparkles our beta-fish of over 4 years.  I was really NOT looking forward to telling the kids.

Adam started telling Nyomi what happened to Sparkles ... and she wasn't too sure she really believed him.  At one point she started smiling and laughing thinking that we were kidding.  

AND

then she took a look for herself.

AND

the tears and sadness commenced.

She's such a little tender-hearted girl.

I know it's just a fish, but it's really our first LONG-TERM pet and the kids did really love Sparkles.  

Dylan was a little clueless about what was going on.

Our neighborhood carollers were a nice break in the sadness.

need a little giggle?

Almost moments after I posted yesterday, my downstairs ceiling started leaking!

I ran upstairs to find Nyomi simultaneously taking a shower and a bath and the water had spilled everywhere and through the tile and downstairs.

Holy freaky-deek.

(Is that how you spell that? ahh, whatev)

So

to lighten the mood, I took a picture of my little guy.

His hair is sticking up because of some paint.  He took a bath and somehow it didn't come off, so it was a 2-bath-kinda-day, the ones that BOYS JUST LOVE TO PIECES (haha!).

Hope you laughed, giggled or smirked -- either way, hope you had fun!

Today.

Today.

I feel like I'm a ticking bomb.

watch out.

This is my warning.

I feel like all of the Holiday stuff and "other" stuff is just coming to a head and I still have LOADS of laundry to do and some packing.

I accomplished my Week in My life for 2011.   I just finished uploading all of the images (100's of them) and then I need to go through them .... and it gives me a headache just thinking about it, but it's worth it and NO ONE is MAKING me do it (I guess, I am). 

I digress.

So, today is no bueno.

Perhaps, the monthly visitor is gonna pay me a visit pronto?

Or perhaps I just really miss my running - my prozac.

I had a dream last night that I was running so fast and it was sooooo fun and I had NO pain.  Oh what a lovely dream.

Today, I'm going to do 5 loads of laundry and then I'll stop.  The kids will eat the sugar and the snacks ... and I will not fight about ANYTHING.  There will be messes everywhere and I'm just going to let it happen.  The crying will happen and I'm just going to let them work it out.  I'm going to put some awesome music in my ears and I'm just going to go with the flow. 

I will not bite my nails or pull my hair out.

And on a good note.

My Nadya looks beauuuuuuutifuly-stylish this morning.

AND

if you read all of that,

you are pretty freaking awesome!

xoxo

 

Day 2, Week in my life 2011

Oh my goodness!!

So check it out.

Adam and I go to bed at a decent time, maybe 11pm and when we woke up the clock said it was 7:55 am

Nyomi is supposed to be ready to go in the car at 7:40 am!!!  
You can imagine our panic as we jumped out of bed and rummaged around our room in a complete frenzy, especially because it was my turn to carpool.

Thankfully, my carpool gals were okay with the craziness ... and it was an absolute crazy morning but I still managed to snap a few shots, cause I thrive on crazy, lol.

Adam tried to tame the mane but it wasn't working ... so rushed ... ugh.

Our bedroom at a quick-messy-glance.

Tidy.

We managed to get Dylan to preschool on time.  He had a pj Christmas party.  He was excited and looking forward to the fun morning.

Okay, here I am.  I do exist.

Adam could have told me that the shirt I was wearing made me looooook fat (I haven't been running, so I've gained some weight) and that my jeans made it look like I had a penis (yes, we use those words in our home).

It's so fun to receive Christmas cards!!!  Next year I'm sending out a bundle.

Nadya waking up is usually pleasant and wonderful ... what happen?

Oh there she is!!!

I could have told her that her cute hair was sticking to her lovely face and making it look like a uni-brow but whatevs... she looks just as adorable and maybe a little more.

Ruuuuuuuuuuun Nadya, ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuun!

Model in the making?  On our way to pick Dylan up from school.

He LOVED the party and the "best part was that EVERYONE was wearing their jammies".  He received some treats ... and well, it went bad.  He has a thing with things being "whole" (I think a lot of kids go through this), so when his beloved candy cane broke, he LOST it!!!  I tried to snap a picture but I was driving, so I accidentally focused on the seat, but you can still make out Dylan's tantrum.

OH 

AND

we went to Costco... really??? What was I thinking?  It was CRAAAAAZZZY! 

When we got home he was still crying.  I asked him to go upstairs to finish up the crying and he told me that he couldn't control himself.  haha.  Gotta love him.  I told him he needed a nap because that usually means kiddos are tired.  

After a few minutes, I found him here.

All 3 kids decided to fight and CRY.

Adam comes downstairs and says, "I'm so glad we only have 3!" ... to which I said, "I bet if we had 5, we would say, I'm so glad we only had 5 and not 7 or 8!! We would make it work."... haha!!!  It is hard to listen to them cry sometimes ...... but we wouldn't trade it for the world, but perhaps for a weekend off? eh?  Yes, I think so.

Because of the aforementioned crying, I sent Nyomi to bed without finishing her homework.  We agreed that she needed to nap so she needed to go to bed and she would finish her homework in the morning.  She said okay ... it was 7pm.  

BUT 

after a few minutes

she was walking to the action again.

She finished her homework and had some fun.

I watched some X-Factor.

I'm so torn with the last 3 contestants.  I really do think they all deserve to win.

My friend Becky and her daughter-ex-sitter-extraordinaire came over to visit.  They don't live here anymore and WE MISS THEM BAAAAAAAAAAAD!  Becky is an awesome friend that I have been able to confide in ... there aren't that many people that I can really trust with the junk in my trunk (the other trunk).  And Sierra has been the greatest babysitter EVER!  You know kids tell it how it is.  They have always said lovely things about her --- she always plays with the kids does crafts and enjoys them --- the kids didn't ever tell me that she watched TV or sat them in front of the TV as entertainment, and that has meant the world to me!

We had so much to catch up on ... way past my bedtime, but so worth it!!!!!  

 

Day 1, Day in my Life 2011

I'll let the photos do most of the talking.

I did say, MOST, right?

Right.

Sometimes I can't help myself.

 

Early Morning, still dark out.

That diaper box to the right are presents from Aunt Summer and her family.  Dylan thought he was getting a shipment of diapers and was quite dissapointed ... until we opened the box and he was able to put the presents under the tree.  Very exciting!

Ugh... this is what happens when I let lose for a day or two. 

My kids enjoy eating toast... just toast.

We are sanding our cabinets and we will be painting soon.  Don't mind the messy cupboards.  Oh and wiped, washed, scrubbed and mopped.  I'm bad to the bone.

Adam makes us Green Smoothies on most mornings.  Nadya loves hers!  

Nadya woke up really late because she had a long night.

Adam came home for lunch and brought us some Cafe Rio.

Played with the kids while we waited for Adam to come and while Nyomi napped.  

Nadya has been sitting in this "M" position for a while now, my brother sat the same way growing up.

AND 

Daddy's home!!!!

hooray for me and the kids.