the Johnson's

back to a few photo sessions from earlier this year.

I talked about how I traveled with my mom and Stella to Omaha to visit with my cousin and her family. well while we were there we had to take advantage and do a little photo shoot too.

These kids stole my heart!

love them all to pieces! 

 Mr. Bradley is such a handsom little man 

he's got the best parents and his siblings just shower him with tons of attention.

can't wait for our next visit and photo shoot.

not sure when but it will happen :)

Decades of Maternity pictures

I am so excited to show these off!

I am a HUGE fan of history.

I am sure that's not a big secret since I have the biggest soft spot for heirlooms and passing down antiques.

a dear friend of mine has been working hard. clearing through her mother's house after her very sad passing. Her mother collected and saved so many awesome treasures over the years and I am so grateful for Jen to graciously to let me barrow a few items of clothing for a maternity photo shoot project I have been itching to do!

Maternity photos is still a relatively new idea. 

most grandmothers/great grandmothers roll their eyes when new moms take pictures of their belly.

ad that got me thinking what would it have looked like if women from different decades had taken these type of pictures. I wanted to have the edits also reflect what the picture would actually look like if taken during the time frame.

So my wonderful sister got off work one day for me and we spent the whole day driving around Cincinnati finding locations that would work well with the outfits/ theme of the decade.

we sat in my car and she did all my hair and makeup and took the pictures for me.

we got lost, and I was attacked by a bee and she recused me. we had lots of stares and a group of drunk guys whistling at me and she shhhed them away

she's awesome

ok

come travel in time with me :)

1900's

 1940's

 1950's

 1960's

 1970'S

I am so in love with them!!

and a HUGE thank you to Jen, Jeri and my Husband for doing their parts in letting me have a fun day of creative freedom! love you guys!!

Home school preschool: music week

My house is always full of signing.

even the mundane topics are sung. 

like "I am taking a bath. Taking a bath."

or 

"we're going to the store! going to theeeeeeee store!"

I am not gifted with the beautiful voice I wish I had. 

my husband is a really good singer but he is not one to actually sing in front of people.

Julia also seems to have a good voice.

she is not afraid of signing in public though

she sings all the time and listens to the radio 24-7.

Miss Belle takes after her mom but no matter how tone deaf we are we belts out a silly song every chance we gets.  but of course only as long as Belle doesn't think anyone is listening to her.

I guess that part comes from her daddy.

So this week in Home school preschool we learned all about...

MUSIC.

we sang:

do-re-me from the sound of music.

she checks this soundtrack out from the library every time it's her turn to choose the CD.

We read:

I'm good at making music (I can only find the Spanish version on the internet but the English was at the library)

Sing my song

activities:

she crafted a drum.

using this tutorial as a base, but just with supplies we had on hand.

 the next day we played a guess what this instrument is game. 

I hid all the instruments in a box and played them while she pointed at a picture of the instrument. of course afterwards she had to test them out herself. this made me regret choosing music as a topic because we typically do preschool during nap time!

 We then incorporated her numbers. she had to put the number of strings that was listed on the guitar. My dad plays electric guitar in a band. here is a sample from a few years ago.

 (I love when they do this song because even though it's a "fiddle" song I love how my dad has a awesome solo part.) 

she was so excited about this project she made me cut out a guitar after so she can practice like Papa John.

 Then we attempted to write a song of our own......

This didn't go so well.

It asked her to come up with a topic and then brain storm some sentences to sing about the topic.

I just don't think she's completely ready for that kind of  creative writing experience because all she  would say was:

Red

yellow

blue

green

and yes we could make a song with the colors of the rainbow but I didn't feel like she was actually grasping the concept of putting your own made up sentences into a song that went with a topic. But like I said she does it all the time without thinking while she's using the restroom or cleaning up her toys. so maybe I just didn't push her hard enough. but instead we just listened to other songs that kids made up and she followed along with the words in a book.

We also watch Disney's Fantasia. 

I loved this movie growing up and knew my little artist would too.

the stories and cartoons go so well with the music and she was hooked.

we talked about the different moods that went with the music like angry or happy, sad or scared.

Her workbook included the triangle shape and number 5

 plus she had a little test of all the numbers so far. (0-5)

she did awesome! 

We continued to recite our prayers and she even recognizes them when we say the 'our father' at church on Sundays now! we might look a little silly doing our little dance/sign language to the prayer while everyone else in Mass are just holding their hands out but I am OK with that.

Even though we didn't write our own song I still felt like she learned a lot and had fun. Friday was our scheduled day off of preschool and she actually got kind of upset she didn't have work to do.

sneaky grins and all

I read this study about how Daughters are more likely to care for their elderly parents than sons. 

I told my Hubby that we are set for when  the time comes that we are too old and need help wiping our behinds :)

These three test us, push us, and make up want to pull our hair out!

 But they also give us more Joy than anything possibly could.

I always sneak in one last kiss on each forehead before I head to bed at night and I am always taken aback. they look like beautiful angels and I fall madly in love with being their mommy and all the hard stresses of the day just go away. I thank the lord for my blessings and ask him to make me the kind of mom they need.

we are awaiting yet one more little girl into this bunch! I am so excited to learn about her personality and how she will fit with our family puzzle. how her big sisters will include her in all their games and stories. o the memories they will create with each other. 

I look forward to the adult thanksgiving dinners where we all sit and talk about their childhood. listening to the wedding toast they give each other as bridesmaids at their weddings. 

I am sort of rambling here but I just have so much love and hopes and dreams for my girls that I feel like I am going to burst!

and I wanted to post these pictures before it gets too far into fall that it just seems weird they are shoeless and in shorts and sun dresses.

We have extremely hard days and I am sure someday all too soon with 4 teenage girls the hard days will be HARD! 

but the good out weighs the bad

the dirty looks and mean words are not true feelings

The drama is never ending

but the love isn't either!

and in the middle of a fit I turn to my husband and say

"someday it will be one of them taking care of us. which one do you want?"

they sure do have that sneaky grin down right?!?!

Belly cast

funny how things change 

I always thought a belly cast was such a silly thing to do.

and a waste of money

and weird

and what the heck do you do with it afterwards?

 but

after 3 pregnancies and coming to terms with this being the last

I thought I never plan on having my body looking like this again.

I don't want to forget

or regret not doing a belly cast.

besides pintrest has some super cute pictures of after baby inside the belly cast that I can not wait to recreate!!

so I convinced the hubby and kids to pull up their sleeves or just take off shirt (Stella) and do a little craft project for me.

I found this video that explains the how to's of belly casting

we watched it and then got started.

 the hardest part for me was sitting still.

I kept thinking I want a picture of this or that but I couldn't move....

 after I was all plastered (figure of speech, I don't drink while pregnant hehe)

I had to sit some more.....

and watch as the girls and Brian tried to clean up

it was so hard to just sit there!!

I am not wired to sit 

ugh!

 the finished cast!

some tips/side notes:

*wear OLD clothes! you will get messy!

*the kids loved it but they stressed me and the hubby out more than helped, I almost wish we would have just waited til they went to bed.

*I didn't want to include my boobs but others do. 

*I still have no clue what to do with it after I take the pictures with the baby inside...... I don't want to hang it on the wall so I will probably just store it in the closet or something.