Baking with Mommy!

I have been so busy that I don't want to neglect taking pictures of my own kids, Corey asked me to bake some cupcakes for a Bake Sale at his school and I had the kids help which means even more work for me (having the kids help me ie they would crack the egg and get all the shells in it), but they had fun. Don't worry, I unplugged the Kitchen Aid before she put her finger there to lick it!

Olivia LOVES cupcakes! "Mommy, cupcakes are yummy!"

Multi-tasking!  As I was baking, and letting the kids help me.  I also was playing around with my NEW camera lens that I LOVE!  It's a prime lens which is a great starter lens for photographers it has a Bokeh effect which means it's sharp on the focus point and blurry on the background.  See how Olivia is blurry?

Another example of bokeh. 

The kids working on writing.  Thanks Pinterest!

Olivia is getting so good at writing her own name!  She has even been drawing pictures that actually look like people.  I need to take a pic the next time she draws "her baby."

I'm super excited that I have been busy with this photography stuff.  What makes me happy is that people I have taken pictures for already are asking me to take pictures for them again!  My goal was to start taking pictures for friends this year to start my portfolio but I think I have enough pictures to get started plus people are PAYING me for what I enjoy doing! :)  I saved enough money to buy a new lens, photoshop which I should be getting soon (right now I have Lightroom) and soon to be new computer!  So, now I have to think of a business name,  logo, website and business cards.  I am so excited but I am so uncreative when it comes to names! :) Plus the name I really wanted "Bella (which means beautiful in Italian) Photography" is taken in Ohio.  Everyone uses their name and I wanted to be different but I also have read that picking a name (other than your full name) can be or sound cheesy.  It will probably end up being Joanna Andres Photography.  

No pics but stories...

I haven't been good about taking pictures this past week because I have been so busy taking pictures of other kids...which is good!  But I don't want to neglect blogging so I will write about some things the kids have said to me.

The kids are getting really excited about Christmas and even though I want to try to focus on the next holiday, Thanksgiving, they keep seeing things in the store and will tell me that they want that for Xmas.  I told the kids they can ask for 3 things from Santa because I really don't want them to ask for too much but to learn that it's also about giving.  Olivia told me today that she wanted to ask Santa for a new stroller for her baby, a present for her baby and a car for her baby.  Nothing for her...just for her baby.  Isn't that sweet? She also told me she wants to chew bubble gum but she has to wait until she turns 17.  I think one time I was chewing gum and she asked me if she could have some and I told her she had to wait til' she was 17.  I didn't realize she thought I was serious! :)  Also, in school the teachers will ask kids questions each week to each kid and I love that they post their answers outside the wall where we wait for the kids.  They asked "What's your favorite food for Thanksgiving?"  Olivia said "snacks."  Then when we were home eating dinner I asked Olivia what we ate for Thanksgiving and she said Pizza!  Corey and I realized she's only had a Thanksgiving dinner 3 times and probably doesn't remember any of those!

Luca really LOVES pre-school.  He told me that he didn't want to go to Kindergarten and that he wants to stay in pre-school.  He is soo good at telling me what he does during school and will always tell me about the books they read which I think is great b/c it tells me that he's paying attention.  I also love that sometimes they will play "library" together and Olivia is Ms. Kate (the librarian at our library who does storytime -which they love her!) and Luca is Mr. Brian (who does the singing storytime once a month at the library).  I will have to tell Ms. Kate and Mr. Brian that tomorrow when we go to the library.  Luca is working on his site words and is doing great.  He can also put sentences together on Corey's I-pad. 

Trick Or Treat!!

The kids were pumped that it was finally Halloween!

Corey brought a pair of these glasses home that he got from work.

For the past three years that we have lived here we have never trick or treated in our own neighborhood b/c there was only Luca and Olivia and one other child, Luna, that lived in our neighborhood .  We had one other family move here this year that have four kids.  We got a mass email from a neighbor saying they would like to give out candy, then several other neighbors also said they would, too!  So we decided to go trick or treating in our own neighborhood.  We have maybe 20 houses in this community and most of them had candy for the kids (even though we were the ONLY trick or treaters) I think our neighbor Luna went to a couple of houses but we went to ALL the houses with their lights on.  Two neighbors even dressed up which I thought was so cute! They were so excited and said "In the 10 years we lived here we have NEVER had trick or treaters!" They were so happy they gave the kids a ton of candy.  Some neighbors weren't home and left candy in a bowl on their porch.  The kids loved it, although Luca said "Are we the only ones trick or treating?"

The houses are pretty far apart because there are still many lots available for sale.  Luca got tired and said "Can you just go trick or treating for me?"

The kids got to pick out their pumpkins (at the grocery store b/c they are half the price than at the pumpkin patch).  We also let them pick out which design they wanted carved.  This one is Luca's.

Olivia picked the witch design.  Corey is very good at carving pumpkins!

Yay!  They are done and they got LOTS of candy.  They also look like fat pirates because I had them wear 2 pairs of pants, a shirt, sweatshirt and their winter coats all under their costume because it was so COLD out!  They looked more like overweight pirates but they still were cute!  Happy Halloween!

My little pirates

I take a picture of the kids in this chair with this ghost almost every year. They are getting so big!

http://joanna-andresfamily.blogspot.com/2009/10/my-pumpkins.html

http://joanna-andresfamily.blogspot.com/2011/09/1st-day-of-music-class.html

http://joanna-andresfamily.blogspot.com/2010/10/moms-n-munchkins-family-halloween-party.html

My BIL bought me a mini camera stand so now I can try to be in more pics so my kids can remember what Mommy looked like when they were this age!

This was at the Dublin Spooktacular.  We go to this event every year and it was 80 flipping degrees (this was last Thursday).  I'm not excited that it will be in the 30's tonight for Halloween. :(

More of their buddies.

Like Mother, like daughter...Like Father, like son!

So if any of you saw the pictures I posted on Facebook from our Halloween party...you will understand these pics. Corey and I were a white trash couple. I was the guy and he was the girl. I was so happy that the kids slept through the entire party! Corey did a good job of getting the kids tired by taking them to Greaters to play, to the mall and to McDonalds to play even more while my sister and I were preparing all the food and deco.  The kids were asleep by 7pm which gave us enough time for us to get dressed for the party without them seeing us. The next morning we had our wigs, teeth and shoes laying on the floor and the kids got a hold of it and I HAD to snap some pics...

This CRACKS me up!

Olivia's Conferences

Today was Olivia's 1st conference at school and the teachers had nothing but GREAT things to say about her.  They told me they LOVE having Olivia in class.  Olivia does a great job rotating around the class, has a great attention span, asks great questions during circle time, always raises her hand, is always the 1st one to do what the teacher asks, puts her toys away when asked and they said she has very good large and small motor skills.  She loves to do art and always knows her alphabet and numbers when asked.   They told me she has made two really good friends Anna and Reese (which O talks about them all the time).  The teachers said they are very similar to Olivia in which they are soft spoken, rotate around the class and are good students, too.  So proud of her!

The conferences were running behind so as I was waiting outside the classroom door another couple came out of their conference.  They told me that the teachers told them that their child should do a playdate with Olivia.  I'm assuming that's a good thing! 


Luca's conferences were good, too.  Their teachers I think have a different style (Olivia's teachers are VERY detailed and send us a long email of everything they do) Luca's teachers are great, they are very to the point I think I have already blogged about his conference.

Luca did tell me that he was the "news guy" today in class.  I wasn't sure what that meant but he told me that he told the class about how he got to go to the Farm with his sister, Momma, and Papa and he got to play in the corn with his friend Landrick and Olivia's friend Alina.  So sweet.

Boo at the Zoo featuring The Avengers!

We took the kids to Boo at the Zoo this weekend and they had a blast. Luca said that he wanted to be Spiderman because he knew the Avengers were going to be there and he wanted to be a Super Hero.

I love this picture of the gorilla with her baby sucking his thumb...some days I feel like this Mommy, too!

Stretching...

The gorilla moved too fast that I only got a butt shot, but he was standing right behind the kids but I didn't catch it in time.

We met up with some friends at the zoo.

Monkeying around...

The zoo featured the Avengers.  They had a brunch you could pay for and meet the Avengers but it was $80 for the entire family I decided just watching them through the parade would be fine!

Luca was pretty excited to see Iron Man and Captain America.  Check them both out waving at them.  Olivia is so sweet.  Everytime she sees a book at the library with Super Hero she grabs it for Luca.  The other day we were at the grocery store and she ran and grabbed an Avengers Puzzle and said "Luca!  Look the Avengers!"  She doesn't care for the Avengers, she's more into princesses but she knows her brother loves it and always picks them up for him.

Leeds Farm

Corey had the day off work today and Luca also had no school today so we took the kids to Leeds Farm!

It was cold but all these activities warmed them up!

Olivia loved zip-lining!

So did Luca!  Corey and I had his 1st conference with the teachers and we had a good report.  They said he is very social, participates during circle time, and has very good fine motor skills.  They did a writing activity and they said he did well.  He has made a good friend, Paul.  Luca says he's his best friend and the teachers were saying that everyone loves Paul because he's the tallest in the class. They said that the first couple of days of school Luca was attached to Paul's hip, but now he's social with all the other boys, too.   Paul is having a Birthday Party this weekend at Cosi so it should be fun!

Luca loved zip lining, too!

I love this workers expression.  He seems so happy?

Oh my gosh another pic of me and my kids...this isn't normal! :)

Olivia asked me to ride with her.  I remember riding with her a couple of years ago and Luca was by himself crying the entire time. 
http://joanna-andresfamily.blogspot.com/2010/10/fall-fun-at-corn-maize.html

Petting the goats.

I love how Olivia's hands make me look like I have super tiny hands. :)

Corey took this great pic, one of my favorites!