Denney Christmas

Mema surrounded by a bunch of handsome little men.

Look at the dimples in her chin. My poor angel was such a good sport to put up with changing her clothes and taking photos, even though she felt miserable! Shortly after this, she finally ate after 24 hours of no food and only a few sips of water. She puked about 45 minutes later at 6:15, about the time she would have been singing if she'd done her church solo. She was devastated and after she ate, swore she felt better and wanted to go. I'm so glad we didn't let her!

Memaw and the girls with their American Girl babies.

The quads.

Abby with a genuine smile! :-)

You can tell she didn't really want to do photos, but she's so accommodating....when she's sick! Haha!

Giggling Gracie.

The boys transformed into Super Heroes!

Ry and Blake with matching jammies.

It was so magical when Abby opened her American Girl baby, even though she was sick. I could tell she was excited...would have been a much neater reaction if she'd been well. Here she is thanking Mema.

I LOVE this photo!

My niece Gracie always shops for gifts at the Mini O'Bierne Crisis Nursery shop. We LOVE getting our hand-picked gifts, and she puts so much thought into them. She even got a gift for Gretchen this year.

What a cute photo of the three boys.

How Abby spent Christmas Eve and most of Christmas day.

Watters Christmas

My coloring is a little off. These are the first photos with my new lens. It's taking some adjusting! The white balance is so touchy. But the kids are adorable...even the grown-up ones, despite being a little magenta and blue!

Our Christmas update

So....it's bad when you haven't blogged in so long that you can't remember your password! OK, I've been naughty, but Santa was kind to me anyway. Merry Christmas to all! It was wonderful to see some of our family and celebrate Dennis and Eileen's 40 years of wedded bliss. We hope to see more family in January when we hold a little open house in their honor!
I hope you found peace, joy, love and delight in celebrating the birth of Christ this year. We certainly tried, but got knocked out by a stomach virus that included 12 hours of simultaneously puking children, followed by fevers and a little girl who barely got out of her bed for three days. She sat on my lap Christmas morning with her eyes closed while her brother opened her gifts and we told her what they were. She was RELIEVED when it was over and she could go back to bed. Interesting Christmas indeed and one we won't soon forget. She was devastated that she couldn't sing the solo she'd practiced for months on Christmas Eve, but we'll see if we can't get someone to let her sing it in January.
I got an awesome opportunity to take publicity photos on Saturday morning for a movie that is coming out in March. I managed to do it with a horrible stomach condition...maybe the virus or something else. Not sure but I took two sleeping pills afterward because the pain is so severe I couldn't sleep the night before and my stomach would not stop causing sharp pains. (Yes, I'll see a doctor if it doesn't stop...but I'm not up for the ER!) Anyway, I met with a family to take portraits and candid stills of their holiday festivities. It's for a movie called "Brothers at War," a documentary about boys from Decatur who had a brother embed with their respect units to tell the story about why these guys are willing to sacrifice so much to fight for our country. If you see any press about it, you might be looking at my photos! I'll try to post some soon, but first, I'm off to edit them!

Bragging

I have the most unbelievably awesome husband! OK. So I already knew that and so did most of you. All year long he supports my business, offering to help with it, with the kids, with the house, whatever needs to be done to keep our priorities in order. He puts everyone else's needs above his own and never complains! He has come to put God first in his life, which has made him a better husband, dad, friend, etc. He has become an ardent supporter of Dave Ramsey and is the first to make sacrifices so that we can meet our debt-free goal (check back with us this time next year...amazing things are happening around here!) He is always willing to lend a hand, help where needed. And he's the prayer leader in our house. Dan never gets credit, not that he wants it, but I have to brag on him. He is THE BEST. God has truly blessed me and our family!

Family Fun

This time of year, it is so hard for me to pull myself away from the computer. I have clients constantly sending emails, holiday cards to do, albums to make, etc, etc... So, I removed myself from the house on Saturday evening for a few hours and had the BEST time.

We unveiled a huge portrait at ShoeTopia on Saturday, and I stayed to take some great photos afterward. Then, I headed down to Girard to meet my family, who had already celebrated my nephew's birthday. We decided to have an imprompu dance contest after dinner. We had an absolute blast! When Abby and Dan danced together, I literally had tears running down my face from laughing so hard. It was such a great bonding experience. It reminded me of the importance of putting family first. These moments mean the world to children. I know because those are my favorite memories of childhood...when my parents got goofy and had fun with us. I need that reminder today in the midst of my very hectic schedule. I can't wait for mid-December when my slowdown hits. I'm looking forward to a dance contest reunion, and this time I'll have to grab the camera!

The kids in their costumes

Wow...I think one of my very first blogs was Halloween last year, so I guess that means I've been blogging for a year now. Time flies!!!

We offered Halloween costume portraits in the studio this year with a "sitting fee" of non-perishable donations for the Athens Food Pantry. It wasn't as successful as we'd hoped (of course, it was raining all night!), but we enjoyed ourselves and met a couple of potential new clients. My kids were less than cooperative for photos...what's new, you might ask!

Fear

My writings for our MOPS newsletter on the theme day of the haunted house (remember...this year's theme is Adventures in Motherhood, Mothering...something like that!)

My firstborn was yet unborn when I discovered that a close friend – who was probably about 30 – had just learned to swim. Big deal, you might think. Except to her, it was.
She is the most fearful person I’ve ever known. In fact, I couldn’t comprehend why anyone would fear crowds so intensely that she had never been able to enjoy a professional sporting event for that reason. She is also terrified of heights, elevators, storms, spiders, dogs, strangers and the list goes on. But water frightened her more than anything, and yet when her son turned 5, she signed them both up for swimming lessons.
Later, she and her husband let him pick out a dog – a big one, even. I know that my friend was really stretching beyond her comfort zone. I think we all do it, sometimes not by choice, as parents.
Abby knows no stranger, and so my bubbly then 2-year-old forced me out of my shell. I’ll never be the extrovert she is, but she’s nudging me along nicely.
Because I love my children and want them to see the world with fresh new eyes, I try very hard not to influence them with my own fears. I bet neither of them knows that the sight of a snake makes my heart race and my palms sweat. They can fear snakes on their own, but hopefully not by my design. Who knows – what if one of my kids holds the key to medicinal cures for poisonous snakebites, and I rob them of the opportunity to better the world because of my fear? OK…far fetched, but you get the point.
Even my husband, who’s admittedly VERY freaked out by spiders, isn’t letting on. In fact, Abby has a very interesting and rather large spider living in her window. We’ve studied it all summer, its habits and life – both online and through observations and of course, photos.
It kind of has me wondering – why do we fear? What did God have in mind when he designed this emotion? I’m not entirely sure what the opposite of fear is, but I would suspect it has traits of faith – confidence, peace and purpose. Fear must be a lot like hate. If we didn’t know and experience these negative emotions, then how could we possibly understand and appreciate the depths of their opposites. And I don’t know about you, but I’m not interested in a life without all the fruits of the spirit.
Besides, God is the solution to fear in Joshua 1:9 What a comfort and joy to know that with God, I can face all my fears. When we have those lump-in-the-back-of-the-throat, stomach grinding fears all parents get, we can always seek Him for a dose of peace. It is so amazing to me the “peace that passes all understanding” when we simply go to Him in prayer with all our worries. Yes, God helps us overcome fear!

Clowning around

Thought I would share the first column I wrote for MOPS this year...

I grew up with two younger sisters, but we often had another playmate -- especially when we were quite young. Before my dad started working long hours, he often attended our tea parties, played with dolls, came to “school” when our bedroom was transformed into class and let us fix his hair and paint his toenails. I particularly remember my mom’s horror when he let us do the latter on our beach vacation. “Larry, everyone will see that!!” But our opinion (which was that our cool and goofy dad lets us give him pedicures) mattered way more to him than what any perfect stranger thought.
He also rode amusement park rides with us, barked at dogs out the car window on our way to church and teased our friends when they telephoned. We thought he did it all to embarrass us sometimes, but the truth is he was always searching for a laugh or at least a smile. You might say he liked to goof off or clown around. He really has a child-like spirit (still does!), but most of all, it was an easy and natural way for him to express his love.
Goofing off isn’t so easy for my more serious-natured personality. Thank goodness I married a child-at-heart. But now that I have children of my own, I find it much easier to be silly. At my kids’ ages, they think it’s hilarious when I sing the wrong words to a song…. “Twinkle, twinkle little nose. How I wonder what you chin. Up above the mouth so high…” and so on. They laugh until it hurts, and it makes me laugh, too.
But I really have to take it to the next level…um, the physical level with my son. There’s something in a boy’s rough-and-tumble nature that requires wrestling and running. Recently, I grabbed him and put him on my belly while I laid on the floor. I recalled aloud how he used to lay on my belly when he woke in the middle of the night until he was 20 months or so. This time, I flipped him over so his back was against my belly and “fastened” him in with my arms and legs to see how long it would take until he could work his way free. I used all my strength to keep him buckled in -- a good workout for mom, and he was laughing as he used his developing muscles to break through the chains. “Again!” he shouted as soon as he was out.
I don’t always have the time to get on the floor and play like a kid with my own. But when I do, I know I’ll always be rewarded with laughter. And they’ll a lot of mileage out of the silly memories of mom pretending to be a baby, tickling them like crazy until their laughter turns to tears and letting them fix my hair and even makeup (I actually posted a photo of that one on my blog…very scary!).
I admit it’s hard to leave behind the kitchen sink of dishes or set aside the already intimidating laundry pile for a rousing game of house with the little ones. Still, ten minutes can go so far, and I believe it’s an activity that God honors. Why else would God give us children if we can’t enjoy the silliness and carefree nature of being very young? If we don’t enjoy it on occasion now, we’ll regretfully realize our next chance is when we have grandchildren.

Busy, busy, busy

Wow....I can't believe how hectic our schedules have become. I have tons of clients calling suddenly after an arid September. Plus, I took a job outside the home two days a week at the hospital in Lincoln. I didn't really want to, but the offer was too good to pass up. It's a temporary position for a year, so it will really help us pay off debt while my business grows. If all goes well, we could be entirely out of debt (except the house) in one year. God is so good!!!

OK, onto a couple other things:

Funny Ryker story--
I was picking up things around the house and tossed a "puppet" that he made at preschool (a paper plate taped to a popscicle stick) into the filing cabinet, uhm-hum garbage. Not long after he stomped into the room, flipped up the garbage lid while saying in the funniest tone of voice, "No, no lady! I made this at school." He closed the lid, and walked by me saying, "I still love you." Oh, I just about pee'ed myself crying!!!

Tonight--
Abby has a rotten cough that just seems to get worse instead of better this week. She couldn't breath out of her nose and was just crying about trying to sleep, so I laid on her bed and stroked her hair while she fell asleep in my arms. Does it get any better than this!!! I absolutely love these times, even though I don't have time for it all the time, but it's like God is shaking and me and saying, "Enjoy the peace with your child." I marvelled at her while I laid there...she was so congested and yet she crashed because she was safe, secure and loved in my arms. Sometimes I think I need that. I can't think or function or sleep. Life is a blur. My schedule is chaotic. And when I seek my Father's loving arms, I find peace and mercy and grace. I'll be needing a lot of that in the coming months, so I hope I don't forget to first go to the security blanket of prayer!

Enjoy this BEAUTIFUL weather!!

Preschool Trips

This is what Ryker's face looks like when he spins on the spinny-seat thingy at Washington Park. This is a freeze frame of a very fast spin...his eyes look kind of funny to me!

Here's Ryker "playing" miniature golf today at Knight's Action Park. The photos of him playing look less like minature golf than this...actually they look more like shuffle board or not even a sport. No big golf future here, I suspect! He was so excited to play the hole with the castle, so I decided it was a fitting spot for a quickie portrait. We are so blessed with the PreK program at Athens. We get to go on many field trips and do so many fun activities. Next week, he'll get to dress like a farmer. Not sure we have anything fitting! And then a weiner roast the following week. We really enjoy all the activities, and now that it's just me and Ryker, it's really a great opportunity for us to bond.

Oh, we were on our way home today, and there was this rather large piece of farm equipment in front of us on the highway. Ryker was playing, so I said, "Hey, Ry. Look in front of us. That giant truck has tires bigger than you!" He looked up, "Oh, yeah." I said, "They're HUUUUGE!" And then quietly, under his breath Ryker said, "I heard you the first time." Smart alleck!

Fog vision

The kids are always saying the cutest things that I never manage to write down....like when Abby, all serious and grown-up like, asked if urine was a disease or a medicine.
This morning, the fog was VERY thick. Normally you can see the elementary school from a good couple of miles away off the highway. As we're driving there, Abby said she could see her school. I said, "Really? I can't see anything at all!"
"Mom," she replied very matter-of-fact. "I have vision eyes."
Not to be outdone, Ryker shouts out, "I have clean-up eyes."
"What?" I said, not even sure I heard that correctly since it made absolutely no sense to me.
"Clean-up eyes, Mom," Abby answered on her brother's behalf. "You know, he can clean up everything that's in his way so he can see. He can clean up the fog. He can clean up that car that's in front of us and see through it."
"Is that what you meant, Ryker?" I asked.
"Yes!" he said.
I knew that's what he meant, because if he intended something different, he would have screamed at Abby when she answered wrong.
Hmmmmmmm.......they are even thinking the same. Scary!

The view from our window

Isn't it glorious what we get to wake up to every morning. I snapped this one morning last week, and it's my new favorite photo without people. ;-) This is the view out our bedroom window. There is nothing but fields and trees on two sides of our house. Of course, the sunrise only looks this gorgeous for a few precious moments on some days, but what a wonderful way to arise and greet the day. This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!

Before you get too jealous, in that line of trees are train tracks. We get to hear them night and day. ;-) But we're used to them now!

Soccer season has begun!

I just call this Portrait of a Boy -- notice all the dirt and the smirk...there's a lot of attitude and personality in the this piece. ;-)

This is Abby after she cut in and took the ball away from two players on the other team...go Abby! She rocked!

This might be the one time Ryker kicked the ball during the game. Don't be fooled...he is cute and all, and it looks like he enjoys what he is doing. However, his sole motivation was candy!

It was a tie game...so they're off to a great start. They didn't win any games last year, and it was a fight to keep Abby in the game. So, why, you might ask, are we letting her play this year if she hated it last year. Well, she begged...and begged and begged some more. We told her if she whines or refuses to play, we'll take the $40, plus money for shoes, shin guards, etc., right out of her piggy bank. She has done great at practice and went right after the ball several times today. She also picked her butt and wrestled with her brother, but this is preschool and kindergarten soccer. They HAVE to show off like that or it wouldn't be real. ;-)

Missy Doty

This is Missy Doty in front. She is an amazing 16-year-old girl and one of our former babysitters (the other was her sister, Jessica in back) until her family moved to Spokane. She has already decided to devote her life to mission work and was a real leader on our trip to Mexico last year. She is currently studying in a foreign country as part of the exchange student program, and she really needs your prayers, as well as her parents. I would be a wreck if I were them! I'm posting her dad's note below. Hi,Just a quick note to ask for your prayers. As some of you may know the Bolivian President kicked the U.S. Ambasador out of Bolivia today. Missy is in Santa Cruz and riots have broke out in the streets and they have been burning government buildings. We talked to Missy tonight and she is safe and assures us that the neighborhood she is in is safe. They did however close her high school early today because of the riots and school is cancelled for tomorrow. Missy is taking it all in good spirits and compared it to a "snow day with tear gas". It is a little hard for us to be so far away and not know exactly what is going on. Please do us a favor and keep her (and us) in your prayers. ThanksBob and Tammy

Financial Peace miracle

God's timing truly is perfect.
I was recently remarking that our finances were truly miraculous from Sept. '07 through Feb. '08. We lived in a house we could barely afford when I was working full time. Yet I quit my job in August '07 to concentrate full time on a very new business that didn't generate much income and had a lot of expenses. Throughout that whole time period, we paid every bill on time, tackled our debt, didn't use any new credit at all and got much closer to a true tithe. Every time I say these things, I don't even understand it; it doesn't make any sense. And yet it does. Because God was honoring our commitments to Him. We had signed up for Financial Peace that fall. We were scared, so scared in fact that we didn't even attempt a zero-balance budget because it was not even conceivable. We were so scared, we had no options except God. So we put 100 percent of our faith over our finances in His hands. And he honored that. He allowed us to sell our house in a market that was rotten. He allowed us to do the FPU plan, paying off debt, avoiding new credit, paying our bills and giving. He is SO awesome!
Recently, we've been struggling. And that didn't make sense to me. I earn more, our house payment is smaller, we've cut back significantly on expenses (no cable, no cell phones, no expenses related to a second car). I didn't understand it. We started our budget and made some pretty impressive changes in our lifestyle....you know, to live like no one else, so later we can live like no one else. Except it wasn't working. I was scratching my head. And then it occurred to me. I took back all control of our finances. I snatched it all away from God. I left nothing at all for Him. I don't think any of the decisions we made were bad, but we didn't include God in on them. When we left Him out, we also left out a way for Him to honor our decisions.
Today, I started the envelope system. It has taken us a year to get to this point....better late than never, right? It was so empowering. I came in on the mark on groceries and managed to add a couple things that should have come out of other categories. I have prayed about this, and I know that if I continue to pray over our finances -- in earnest -- God will honor us! That is just such an awesome feeling, and I couldn't help but share. :-)

Ryker starts PreK

Daddy wanted pictures of Ryker coming off the bus...this almost made me cry! He looked so tiny. He told us at the PreK open house the night before he didn't want to ride the bus (they do rides to let the kids see what the bus will be like) and he wouldn't be taking it home either. Ha! But he ended up loving it! He's the first one off...if he was the last one, I'd probably have to pick up since some kids are on it for nearly an hour! They have an aid, and it's a good way for the kids to get acclimated to bus riding. I still drop off both kids every day, which I'm so grateful I'm able to do!

Ryker sitting on the "R" -- his place at circle time in Miss Jan's room.

This is a self portrait Ryker drew when Miss Jan did her home visit. We hadn't seen it before the open house, and frankly, we were really impressed! All he does for us is scribbles. This actually resembles a person. :-)

Ryker is pointing out friends. If you click on this to enlarge it, you will see Ryker's photo on the "4," with his lovely hair and "wife beater" shirt I couldn't talk him out of wearing for his home visit.

Yesterday was so weird! I suddenly found myself in an empty house for 2 hours. Last year they both went to PreK, but Ry went in the morning and Abby went in the afternoon. Thankfully, our Mexico home group was preparing dinner at church, so I went straight to the church and stayed there most of the time he was gone. Today I'll be running errands -- child-free!!!

Laughter: The BEST medicine!

Let me introduce you to my mentors -- fellow Christian moms and friends from my MOPS group. Aren't they adorable??? This year's theme is "Adventures in Mothering," so we're ready to have fun with lots of circus and carnival-like ideas. Nancy Dixon, our amazing hospitality coordinator who's also worn just about every other hat imaginable, is apparently the one responsible for the clown noses that were in our welcome bags today. Nancy is being released from the hospital today after several days of complications from a surgery. So, to let her know we're thinking about her -- and to prove that we CAN laugh at ourselves -- we (OK, I) snapped this photo. The nice thing about taking photos is that you don't actually have to wear the clown nose. Oh, who am I kidding....I've been wearing it all day. But, there's no evidence, so nobody can prove a thing!!

Abby goes to kindergarten

That's her seat with the pink and purple backpack on top. This photo is taken from the loft, which houses the writing center. Anyone who knows Abby knows she goes nowhere without a notebook and pen or pencil. She'll spend lots of time here honing her "craft."

Here's Abby playing with dolls and dressup clothes. Kindergarten looks like a lot of fun! I'm hoping to volunteer one morning every week!

Here's Abby trying out her seat during orientation. We all got to experience kindergarten and a bus ride on Wednesday.

Here's my grownup girl in her "back-to-school" outfit. Tie shoes for recess and the shirt from grandma. She had a huge fit when the skirt didn't fit (too big!), but we still managed to make it to school on time -- miraculously -- after our late start.
Abby stopped to wave when she got off the bus a couple hours after school started. First full day is tomorrow...lunch at school???? Where did my baby go? I can still remember my own first day of kindergarten, butterflies in my stomach, pigtails in my hair. It's hard to believe Abby has been in my life nearly six years. The time has simply flown! I'm excited for her new adventure, but yes, I was misty-eyed when I watched her file out of the gymnasium into her classroom this morning. Her chin turned down, a sheepish grin widening in part elation, part embarrassment (there weren't many moms there!) as she passed by me on her way to kindergarten class. She certainly has grown up a lot, but as long as she still snuggles, hugs and loves on her mom, I'll be OK with that!

Abby's debut modeling job

Check it out!
http://www.shopshoetopia.com/

A year of Ryker

I found my pregnancy journal while we were making this slideshow for Ryker's birthday, so we combined it with the images for this fun little presentation!

Fishing on the Fourth

Here's my little tomboy, all dressed in pink, catching her first fish with Papa on July 5. She is not afraid of worms or fish. In fact, she will hold them without the slightest hint of squirming. Her brother? Not so much!

Catching up

Photos from Fourth of July...Ryker really got to know and bond with Jack Morino, the son of one of my college girlfriends. They had a blast together, swimming, playing and collecting candy at the parade in Towanda. The photo of Abby is a cute story. She just crawled up on Jill's aunt's lap and started singing to her. I guess they really bonded, too! How cute is Baby Ben??