picture love.

Once again... I am in love. 

Totally in love with these pictures. 

I love the smiles and expressions Cory captured on the faces of my big kids...

Oh, how I wish this little miss would have smiled. Or looked at him.  =)

It's not a smile, but she's at least looking at the camera...

 We tried so hard to get a smile...

But this is the only one we captured...

We drove to a new location and Cory got out of the van first. He gave me some quick directions on what to have the kids do and then he went and hid. He was laying face down in the grass, trying so hard to capture some happy on this little one's face.

But she just wasn't having it...

These serious head shots were the funniest though. He took them right after the group shot above. He whispered to me to have Lawson move off to the side and then Sophie laid her face down in the grass. Gretchen is still sitting on Sophie's back. There is no way she was taking any pictures by herself.

But even without smiles... I adore these pictures.

Oh, how I love these little people! 

(All photos by Cory Keller)

lawson.

Found this paper from Sunday School... 

What amazing thing is God doing in Lawson's life?? 

Helping him get out of bed.  =) 

(It does take a lot of effort some days...)

PlaneJane.

I have super exciting news for anyone who is local!! (Wichita, Andover, Hesston, Hillsboro... you are considered local, too!) The PlaneJane girls are coming to my house this weekend!! 

Remember PlaneJane?? All the fun, colorful happiness? Colorful, fun and cute. All things I love. 

This was the whole reason behind our super fun road trip to Abilene this summer... Shopping for PlaneJane jewelry! I see Gina and Danielle nearly every morning and I'd be willing to bet that at least 1 of us is wearing something from PlaneJane everyday! We love it! 

They have lots of fun stuff besides jewelry, too! Keychains, wreaths, birthday calendars, cute notebooks and clipboards for lists (you know I love something cute to make lists on!)... so many happy things! Perfect for Christmas gifts!!

Every color you can imagine. And every single one of them will make you smile. Promise. 

Those of you that sell jewelry and usually just wear your own stuff (I know there are at least a few of you out there!), these can be perfect gifts for the little girls in your life! Sophie bought one of their $3 charms at Beki's Fall Barn Sale and wears it all the time. I'm planning on buying more as Christmas gifts for my sweet nieces!) 

Mark your calendars, put it on your schedule, tell your husband you need to be gone for awhile... and come buy something that will make you smile!! And then buy some things to give as gifts that will make other people smile! We promise lots of happy things... yummy snacks... and fun conversation! Come see for yourself!! Everyone's invited! 

It felt weird putting my address on here... so if you are local and interested in coming... just send me an email and I'll send you my address. You could also look in the phone book or something fancy like that.  =) 

I hope to see lots of smiling faces Saturday morning!! Even if I've never met you before... you are welcome! Come join us!! 

baby calf.

The kids were super excited to visit Grandpa's vet clinic awhile back. (Lawson's always excited to go... but Sophie and Gretchen were extra excited this time, too!) They were all anxious to see this little gal... 

A 9 day old baby calf. Inside. (She had hurt her legs somehow and couldn't stand up well by herself. My dad was keeping her inside, but taking her out to see her momma a couple times a day.) 

Our little Gretchie loves cows... but she wasn't too sure about being this close to one. Even a baby one.

Gretchen preferred to watch from a safe distance. And to stay on Grandma's hip.

 As if bottle feeding her wasn't enough fun... then they got to take her on a ride. =)

Dad loaded her in the back of his truck and we drove across the road to where the momma cow was. (Sophie is dressed oh so appropriately for working cattle.)

Yep... that's a little bit of terror you see in Lawson's face...

Back with momma...

 These are cow-loving little kids, but they prefer to love them from a distance. I can't really say I blame them. =)

advice.

Sophie and Lawson have asked if they can start getting an allowance. 

Corey and I are trying to figure out the best way to start this. 

(Ok... mainly me. He's just kind of going along with me.)  =) 

I want to tie it in to chores somehow, but am trying to figure out the best way to do that. 

We tried daily chores for awhile this summer and it just wasn't working out too well for us. 

Mainly because Corey and I don't enforce them enough. Too often it gets to the end of the night, we have put them all in bed and we realize that we didn't have them pick up enough of their stuff. So then we end up doing it. Not proud of that, but it's the way it is right now. 

So I'm thinking that we need to come up with some kind of weekly chore system. Things that need to be done over the course of the week (or that can all be accomplished in one day if they choose to wait...) and that doing a satisfactory job would result in an allowance. 

I found this idea on Pintrest and really like the concept of moving the clothespins... 

(Sorry... no source was listed with the picture.)

The kids have suggested a dollar a week. I think Corey and I are cool with that. 

What I'm thinking right now is to come up with 10 chores... and they can earn a dime for each chore.

* Cleaning their room 

* Closets organized

* Cubbies organized

* Their spot in the van clean (and food free)  (Seriously... this one would be huge!) 

* Write a letter/kind note to someone 

It would obviously be easiest on them if they kept this up throughout the week and didn't save it all for Saturday. But... if they did, they could still get these things done. And honestly, I'm thinking of doing it this way because I know Corey and I won't be on the ball enough to make sure that daily chores are getting done. (at least not at this point in life)

We would also like to start working on the whole saving/spending/giving concept with them. I've heard of people having 3 different jars and putting a little in each jar. How do you do that when you're dealing with dollar bills?? (I realize you can do coins instead of a dollar, but don't kids think it's more exciting to get a dollar bill than to get 10 dimes?) 

So what do you think? Is there a better way to do this?? 

What other chores should we add to our list? 

Thanks for any help or suggestions! =)

roly-poly.

And here she said, "I squish it."  =) 

summer sledding.

Who needs snow?