Finally some pictures from Ryann's BBQ

Okay, here are the very late promised pictures of Ryann's BBQ birthday party. Sorry the pictures aren't the greatest...I was messing around with my camera settings trying to figure things out!

More boating...

We took the kids out on the boat again today (and probably will again tomorrow!) Doogie, Jayde and Ryann pretty much rode the tube the entire time...we were out on the boat for about 3 hours. I even got on the tube today and took CJ with me (Doug drove very slowly), we tried to get Jaxon out on the tube with me but he just wanted to stay on the boat with Daddy!

And yes, I know I still haven't gotten pics up of Ryann's BBQ birthday party. But I will...soon! :)

Boating

Okay, I know I still need to post some pictures from Ryann's birthday party (and I promise I will get to that soon!) It was a nice family BBQ by the way and the kids had a lot of fun, Doug put the slip and slide out for the kids to play on. They all got wet...well except for Jaxon! Doug took him down it once and he didn't not like it! LOL! My little man really doesn't like to get wet, atleast not that way. He likes to move into things slowly and cautiously unlike his siblings who seem to dive right into things!

Yesterday we took the kids out on the boat (we are going out again this afternoon as soon as CJ gets up from his nap). Jaxon has fallen in love with the boat ever since Doug took him out in it a couple weeks ago. Every day it seems Jaxon asks Doug to go boating! Yesterday was CJ's first time on the boat, usually I stay on shore with him while Doug takes the other kids out. This time though we got to go to and he loved it. Though he got tired of having to sit with me after a while and wanted to go explore the boat and he wasn't too happy with me for telling him no! Doogie, Jayde and Ryann rode on the new tube we got (a three seater). It got interesting when some of them would say slow down and someone else would be screaming "faster, faster!!" I particularly thought it was hillarious when we would go over bumps and they looked like a bunch of bobble heads back there (especially Ryann!) So we toed the kids over to Bateman Island so that the little guys could get out of the boat too and play. There wasn't much beach yet, since the water is still pretty high but they still had fun. Jaxon, even out of the boat like to stay right next to it. I think he was worried about it floating away without him! He did venture a little into the water (which was a bit chilly still though most of them didn't seem to mind it!) to get his feet wet. Doogie, Jayde and Ryann jumped right in the water and had a blast and I think CJ would of too. In fact Doug got on the tube to while we were on the beach and the three oldest took off into the water to get on too and before I could stop him he (CJ) went zipping into the water to catch up! He tripped and fell face first in the water (don't worry they were all wearing life jackets) but he still was having problems pushing himself back up out of the water so he could breathe. I was rushing through the water trying to get to him without falling in myself and yanked him back up. He was fine, and I think he learned a lesson...he was a lot more leary of stepping into the water after that.

All in all though it was alot of fun and it's nice that we can do things like this as a family. The kids are anxious for CJ to get up from his nap so that we can head out again on the boat! In fact I think Jaxon woke him up yesterday when he was napping. I had told him that we would go when CJ got up and not too long afterwards I caught him in CJ's room! What a little stinker he is...but he sure looks cute in his boating gear (as does CJ)!

Crazy Weekend!

Saturday was chalk full of things to do and get done! Doogie and Jayde had a baseball game that morning and usually I just hang out and take pictures...but this game I got promoted (or demoted...) to standing behind the catcher and getting all the balls they missed and basecouching first base. It was fun though, I haven't done that part of the game for a while now. And the kids are all just improving so much from game to game. Doogie had some great hits too!

Then Doug and I had to leave the game a bit early and head on over to the golf course! No, I didn't play (and neither did Doug). I've only golfed a couple times in my life, I had fun, but I just don't have the time to develop a golf game with 5 kids! Nope, my job this time was taking pictures. We were there for the 2009 Cougar Golf Classic and I got asked to take the group pictures. That was a crazy experience (fun...but crazy!!) and I would probably of done things a bit differently next time. Doug was my driver, he drove me all over the golf course catching up to all the different groups and getting them all to pose nicely for me. Actually everyone were really good sports about getting their pictures taken (either that or they already had a couple beers and were feeling pretty good! Hey, most Cougs know how to drink! ;) ) So anyways though, it was alot of fun joking around with everyone while we were taking pictures. And you know if a couple of the pictures turned out a little bit blurry...well I'm just going to have to blame them on the jello shooters! For the most part though, the pictures turned out pretty good and I had a few people tell me "great pictures" and also alot of thank you's! Though I did feel a bit bad about the 1-2 blurry pictures...but nobody seemed to mind (except me!) Anyways, I hope I get the opportunity to do something like this again for the Cougs!

Today, we are ending the weekend (which by the way has been just beautiful, nice and warm just like I like it!) with a BBQ to celebrate Ryann's birthday. We should have family arriving shortly for it. And right on que Mr. CJ has just woken up from his nap! I will try to pull the camera out and get a few shots of everyone having fun!

Ryann at 5

Pictures of Ryann at 5 in her birthday Duds! Grandma and Grandpa got her the boots and Mommy and Daddy got her the sundress and cowgirl hat!

Happy Birthday to my Ryann

Still hard to believe she is turning 5 today...where does the time go? She's growing up whether I want her to or not! This is her last full week of preschool, they go tomorrow (Friday) and Monday and then Wednesday they have a class picnic. I got the honor of making the teacher present this year (even though I'm not the parent coordinator!) I guess you could say I got recruited because I was more artsy than her and she didn't know what to do.

Ryann's such a fun kid, is always keeping us on our toes and a joy to be around (well most of the time!) There are times when she drives us up the wall and we have to double check and make sure it's not her blood sugar that's making her act out or if it's just her being her! I think that's pretty accurate for most kids though. Here are some of Ryann's favorites at the age of now 5!

Ryann at 5
Size (clothes) 5/6
Size (shoe) 11
Favorite food: salad
Favorite animal: doggy
Favotite colors: pink and purple
Favorite games to plays: starwars, princess and kitty cat game on the Wii
Favorite toy: bike
Favorite thing to do: play at a friend's house
Favotite places to go: Chuckee Cheese, Olive Garden and Red Robin
Favorite movies: Sleeping Beauty, Dalmations
Favorite TV shows: Wow, Wow Wubzy, Little Bear, Toot and Puddle, Mermaid

Anyways, these are just a few of her favorite things (can you hear that song from the Sound of Music?) So Happy Birthday my little peanut! Can't believe it's been 5 years since I was in the hospital having a c-section with you. We are so very lucky and blessed to have you in our lives. We love you very much.

We also want to wish Zach a very happy birthday as well (Zach is Ryann's cousin who gets to share this very special day with Ryann. They are one year apart. Makes it easy to remember birthdays when they get to share them!)

So Happy Birthday Ryann and Zach!

Ryann....

Ryann is now blogging!! Check her out!

http://ryannsmusings.blogspot.com/

Mother's Day Pictures

Okay...so they aren't exactly the pictures I wanted to get. Things were just crazy as usual on Sunday and with me being sick I just didn't get everyone organized (not to mention showered) in time for me to do anything. But I did get some fun pictures of the kids playing in the yard. My promised Mother's Day shoot as been postponed to later on in the week. I also noticed that the only pictures of Doogie I got were in the group shots...think he must of been in the house at the time. And the group shots aren't that great...they were too busy eating their popsicles to want to pose for me! Next time I'll have to hold out on the popsicles until they pose for me!

Happy Mother's Day and pictures from Game 9

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's and Grandma's out there! We won't be doing too much this year for Mother's Day, since I finally came down with this crud that seems to be going around. I did tell them that I want a photoshoot for my Mother's Day present where they all cooperate and look at the camera for me! LOL! Yeah...we'll see if that ever happens, but I can hope!

The kids had another baseball game yesterday and the weather was beautiful for it (the last few games had been rainy, windy and cold!) So it was nice to have that sun out and shining. I decided I had enough "batting" pictures and decided to move around the field and also get shots of the kids running down to first base. I love some of the expressions I caught as they were running (one of the kid's likes to stick out his tongue when he's running!)

So anyways, hopefully I'll be posting my Mother's Day photo shoot pictures soon (as long as everyone cooperates!) And we are wishing all of you a very Happy Mother's Day from the Crowes.

Busy, busy, busy...

Whew! I know I've been horrible at updating lately. It's getting towards the end of the school year which means for some reason everything starts kicking in high gear. I'm helping out with the school yearbook for Doogie and Jayde's school so that has been keeping me busy (and a tad stressed!), I'm also helping to do the end of the year teacher present for Ryann's class and lately it seems like I'm in someone's class helping out every day of the week! Thank goodness for grandparents who can watch the other kids for me during this time. Anyways, all the pictures I seem to be taking lately seem to be of baseball or school activities! So I need to start pulling my camera out for other things.

We've also been fighting off this darn cold that seems to be going around (no, it isn't swine flu!) Last week we were in the Dr.'s office almost every day with someone, including ER visits, Jaxon was in a couple times and then Jayde was in for her ear (she either ruptured her ear drum or had a really bad infection, she had pus coming out of her ear) either way they treat it the same way.

Last Monday, we were up in Spokane for Ryann's diabetes check up, which went fine and we also took an insulin pump class. Just one of the many hoops our insurance company makes us jump through to get a pump for her. We are hoping to get one by the time she goes to elementary school. Getting a pump would just make our lives (and of course Ryann's) so much more easier.

Ryann's birthday is coming up, and she is pretty excited about that. She checks the calendar everyday to check how many more days are left. I was going to do a family party the day of her birthday (a Thursday) but found out that Doogie has a music performance that night (and they also have baseball practice) so I think I will be doing it the weekend before her birthday since we (or atleast Doug and Ryann) are planning on going up to Seattle the weekend after her birthday to walk/run in a diabetes race. Ryann is pretty pumped about that and has been calling it her race! I might not be able to go because I got hired for a big photography job! I'm pretty excited about it! I originally turned it down because I knew we were going to Seattle, but Doug (being the great supportive husband he is) told me that I just couldn't pass up that opportunity and that he would take Ryann up to Seattle so that I could do this. So while I'm bummed about missing Ryann's diabetes race I'm also very excited (and nervous) about this oportunity and I also know that there will be many more diabetes races to do.

So anyways, nothing really super exciting happening. Just fighting off illnesses, playing baseball, going to school (the kids) and upcoming birthdays and photography jobs.

Seventh Baseball Game and Team and Individual Pictures

There won't be any pictures from game 8. I went for a while (it was raining out) but I was too busy chasing the three little ones around and didn't get an opportunity to take any pictures.

I took the oportunity to shoot some pictures along with the photographer who was taking the team and individual pictures. I think alot of them came out pretty well! Practice, practice, practice and eventually my photography business will get off the ground!

Fifth Baseball Game

There won't be any pictures from Game 6. We in Spokane for the day for Ryann's Diabetes check-up and also working on getting her a pump.