So much to do...

We just finished a wonderful 4 days with my bro, Brian and his family. It was SO MUCH fun! I have so much to post about...I just don't have any time! Of course I would be summoned for jury duty the day after my family leaves!

Here is a little something that John and I have been working on for the past few weeks. Tonight we are doing a film festival for the primary kids at our Church. Each class was suppose to pick a story from the Book of Mormon and make a movie out of it. I'm SOOO happy with the results. John did an amazing job editing it! Many thanks to my other bro Mark for his consulting help!

Enjoy

the a team from lisa henderson on Vimeo.

Embarassing

I ran errands for the second day in a row with my kids.

Its down right embarrassing.

Caleb thinks he is so grown up that he can do whatever he wants. So he is constantly disappearing to go where he wants to or trying to put things in our car that he needs. Or he wants to push the cart but does more damage to anyone or anything within 5 feet of him.

Davis is off in la-la land and oblivious to anything around him. Carts, cars in the parking lots, and where mom is.

Beckham is officially a little Houdini and gives people heart attacks every 30 seconds with his cart theatrics (especially women over the age of 50). He somehow can get himself out of the belts of the carts. I don't know how, but its pretty amazing-and frustrating. Yesterday he took his first fall out of the cart. Thankfully he went into the basket and not on the floor.

Top that all off with constant "I have to go potty" (their favorite trick to pull when they are bored). Constant running in and out of people and cutting them off. Constant crys of dismay when Mom wont buy EVERYTHING we pass.

I'm so discouraged today.
What happened to my children!?!

What a difference greenery makes!

I love it!

There is still so much to do, but I'm happy to say that the biggest expense is over. Now we can add things more slowly as we can.

Here are the future plans...
It feels so good to see the vision in my head start to become a reality.

Our family at work...

Caleb brought these home from school today.
I love them.

Me teaching joy school. John riding the elevator up to his office.

Caleb painting.

Just another day of work here in our family.

Venice fullfilled

11 years ago this spring, I went to Venice.

I can not believe that it has been that long. I loved Venice. It was unlike anything I had ever even imagined. It spoke to my innermost soul with its rustic charm. Its impact on me to this day is evident in our home. I wanted our home and my decorating to give the feeling of that rustic Italian charm.

Before I went to Venice I was not fond of geraniums. I remember my Grandma Irene having them on her table in Seattle and thinking there were so many flowers that were prettier and that smelled nicer. Venice changed that for me. Everyone had flower boxes of red geraniums outside of their windows and in a city that is build on water that was the only greenery most of the time beside the luscious vines.


It was a girlish dream that took hold on me and came back with me. One day I would have red geraniums outside my windows. I told John my dream and it was either that we were made to be soul mates or my passion lit a fire in him too, my dream became his dream.

This weekend we fulfilled that dream.
It may seem like a simple thing.
To me its like having something lost found again in your soul.


We planted ivy with them so that they will be full and green year round but each spring we will fill them with red geraniums. The windows are not done yet. We will eventually be putting up big rustic shutters with iron fastenings. But for now, our budget is spent. You will have to wait until Tues or Wed for the big picture when the landscapers are done.

And I couldn't talk about Venice without talking about the gelato. This was the first time I tasted amaretto gelato. I don't think my taste buds have ever had an experience that comes close to this one.

(Please don't judge me by my looks in this pic-we were fresh from living 3 months in Romania and hadn't showered in days after sleeping on trains and having no access to any sort of mirror and sink. Right before this we had walked a mile or so out of the city on a little path that ran along the water. We saw this beautiful storm come in over Venice and it didn't occur to us that it was coming our way. It hit us hard with a mile to run and no cover. We were soaked! Then the sun came out, we walked around and dried and ate gelato. It was the last shower we would get for about 5 days)

2 years of waiting....

Today they are placing the sprinklers in our front yard. We have waited for over 2 years to have some landscaping, sometimes patiently waiting and other times not so patiently. We have saved and saved. The money we have to do this landscaping was mostly earned from Biolife (donating plasma), John cleaning the Sunroc office, garage sales, Craigslist sales, photography, and a little help from our tax return.

We will also be getting garden boxes!!! I'm so excited to grow our own food. The funny thing is that both times we have had a garden we have moved just as the food is started to ripen. I have some anxiety that we are cursing ourselves to have to move in the fall.

Even though we have saved just for this expense its hard that we are not more confident in the economy. We are so excited but if something happens will we regret not having another month worth of cash available....

This has been our boys all day today...

Poor workers are trying to get it done but they have Davis sitting there carrying on a conversation with them (even when they are not responding). Its so funny to just listen to him.

"Hey my name is Davis. Da-VIS. Hey did you hear me, I'm Davis. Whats your name? My name is Davis. Excuse me. Excuse me, I'm Davis. Hey you! I'm Davis."

I keep reminding him that they are working and not there to talk to him. It lasts for about about 2 minutes and then hes at the window chatting away again.

By Monday we will have curbing, drip systems, sod, and garden boxes in.

I'm so EXCITED!!!!

Just in time because in a week and half we have Aunt Kate, Uncle Brian,and cousins coming!

My first loose tooth

That's right!
Its almost time for the awkward stage to begin!

All Done!

I have stayed up a lot lately trying to figure out my whole photography name/website.
Like A LOT of mental energy.

• Would I still like the name Sweet Pea Photography in a year or so?
  
• What domain name I should try to get that was easy to remember since all the ones that I wanted were taken or like $2400 a year.
• What type of template should I use?
  
• Did I want to have someone do it and then have to rely on them when I needed to change something

I kept going back and forth. Then I found out that blogger now has pages that can be added. I was so happy. I really like blogger and I feel like there are enough people doing back end things on it that information is easy to find.

In the middle of the night one night I decided to use my lisahendersonphotography.blogspot.com and mess with the format and HTML myself. I also decided to just use Lisa Henderson Photography as my name and use a sweet pea as my logo. I did buy the domain name lisahendersonphotography.net and will have my blogger forward there after I sit down with Scott and figure out the one little hitch with it right now.

Ive spent the last week or so working hard and learning a lot but its all done (for now) and I'm really proud of it. It was no small feat (for a computer illiterate like myself) and made me use new programs like Photoshop Illustrator and new HTML hacks that I hadn't done before. I also designed business cards and am ordering them today.

There is still a lot I want to do and features I want to add that I am going to have to research but for now I feel a great sense of relief!

If you have some time go check it out here!

Dear Caleb,

I just needed to take a minute today to write you a letter. Its not for you, its for me. I needed to remind myself of my purpose and my mission as your mother. Not as a mother, but specifically as YOUR mother.

Not every parent gets a chance to raise a close to exact replica of themselves in personality, but I do- in you. I have the unique ability to remember how you feel and I know how to help you in a way that no one else can.

I KNOW how you feel. I remember. Its hard to have such a strong spirit in such a little body.

You are amazing, sensitive, smart and I know you are trying to figure out your world and exert your independence over it. Your independence will one day be one of your greatest strengths. You will have pride in it and it will empower you to do whatever you want to in this world. You are so brave and so strong and you will make a difference in this world with your leadership and abilities.

Your strong spirit is one of your greatest gifts but you have to learn how to control it and channel it into good things. If you don't learn this it can become your biggest downfall. I don't want to break your spirit through discipline, and I never will, but I have to train you. You may not like it now, but you will be even more angry if I let it go and never teach you the discipline and ability to control yourself later on.

I am recommitted son.
I will not lose my temper.
I will get frustrated but I will no longer talk about it.
You are too important to me. Your future is too important to me.

We will get through this stage. You will shine like you always do and I will be in the shadows beaming and so proud of you like I always am.

I love you so much!

Love,
Mommy

Big Boy Beckham!

Something about the fact that he can do this all himself amazes me!
He is getting so big and he is SO independent and busy!

ps. I'm very sorry for my annoyingly high voice :)

Vote at Janey Mac

Go here to win a $25 gift card just for voting which template you like the best.
Its a great deal too because only 12 people have voted so far and 3 of those don't count!

The odds are good!

Maybe you had to be there...

When I was in Romania we took all sorts of pictures of their signs that they have posted. I have an entire scrapbook page dedicated to the funny signs that they have. They were made even funnier by the fact that we didn't read Romanian.

Here were some of the signs that made us laugh:

Today on Fox news they debuted Romania's newest sign and I laughed so hard:

Only in Romania...
You can read the story here

Our Davis is into his letters

Like R-E-A-L-L-Y into letters.

He loves to write them and have me quiz him on the sounds and he is good.
R-E-A-L-L-Y good.
The only two he doesn't get every time are g and j.
Not bad for being 3 1/2.

He also seems to think he can write words.
He is especially stuck on one "word" that he writes.
He is now writing it everywhere...

Poor kid has no clue what he is writing...

Spring Break

We have some serious playing to do this week.


I have some serious connecting to do with Caleb.


We have been at each other the past few weeks. I think some time without a schedule where we can just be together is going to be really good for us.

On our schedule:

Lunch at Pirate Island Pizza
Blueberry pancake breakfast with Daddy
Fiesta Fun Center
Lunch at Costco
Go for a bike ride
Invite a friend to his cooking class
Swimming at the rec center
Invite a friend to movie night on Friday
Watch Kaylie all day

Its a good thing I think a clean house is over rated :)
We are going to have fun this week!

ps. if you like vinyl go check out Janey Mac. Each Friday we will be doing a giveaway and it doesnt close until Wednesday. Tomorrow is my first day of posting a craft. Each Tuesday I will be posting a craft/decorating idea on the blog. Check it out!

It happened

That moment when you look at your baby
and suddenly you see a toddler.

I remember that moment clearly with both Caleb and Davis.
Monday it happened with Becks.

Everything about him is so much more grown up.
Hes more of his own person and he interacts in a different way.
His little personality is really starting to take shape and
he doesn't need me like he use to.

I thought I would be more sad about this stage coming,
and I was a little bit right at first.
Right now though all I feel is a great sense of adventure for what is coming and the new stage of life we are entering.


My baby is no longer a baby!

Pranked!

Last night as I was crawling into bed I saw a bump on my pillow. I tried to pat it down only to hear a large rude noise. John was in the bathroom and I said, "Joooohn" thinking it was him that had put a whoopie cushion in my pillow. He answers back, "what you were the one who did it." Thinking I was accusing him of making the noise.

All of a sudden we hear loud and out of control laughter coming from the boys room.

These two sure got me last night!