the holiday card

It's a Christmas miracle. The Sluys family annual holiday card will be arriving in your mailbox... (drumroll, please)....

Before Christmas.

Cue the gasps and disbelief. I actually don't send Christmas cards, I send new years holiday cards. My family celebrates traditional Christian holidays such as Christmas, Easter, etc, but in an effort to be more inclusive of my amigos who have happy Hanukkahs and joyous Kwanzaas, I like to keep the scope more broad. I know there is that whole debate going on in facebook land, with most people saying it's stupid to get bent out of shape if someone wishes you a happy/merry/joyous holiday you don't celebrate, but I guess I sort of see their point, although I personally am not offended. If you wished a white chick on the eastside a joyous kwanzaa she'd probably look at you funny, but no one thinks anything of assuming everyone cares about Christmas.
Anyway. I digress.

To be honest, the only reason I'm getting them out on time this year is because I now use a website that minimizes all the work for me. I have an address book already on it, and all I have to do is select the picture(s) and design, and they print/address/stamp/send them. It's perfect for this busy mama.

We did this year's holiday photo shoot nearby this year, just out on Camano Island. Big mistake. It was like 16 flippin' degrees out, not even counting wind chill (it's windy here). Next year, I'm doing my photos in August. Ugh. Anyway, this was the best I could do under the circumstances, with fading light and all of us trying to get it over with as quick as possible due to the cold. The only one of all of us isn't my favorite, I didn't even notice until later that the tripod was crooked! Haha... a few are a little blurry too, but I put them in there anyway~

Me + Kid (s)...

Jeff + his girls...

What they thought of my photo shoot.

I call these the "Mommy, you suck" / Rudolph the red nosed reindeer pics:

You dialing CPS yet??



Due to my very real concerns of my children turning into popsicles and losing some brain function, we took our photo shoot inside.

(In case you were curious, no, baby avie did not partake in the full festivities. She lounged in the comfort of the warm car until it was time for her photo to be taken, and then only briefly was outside, and was zipped into jeff's coat unless the shutter was released. Clearly, I love her more ;-))

I actually have more I wanted to add (yes really) but my computer is now acting up, and it's late even by my standards (Like past 3:30 AM...yikes)



So, I guess those bootiful photos I was going to grace you with, will have to wait for another day. (I mean, darn. Because there aren't enough here already!)

Hope everyone had a most fabulous time shooting their holiday pictures, and I hope it was warmer than ours! Sending lots of virtual love and hot chocolate your way!!!







gobble gobble

We spent this fine turkey day at my dad's house this year. It's just about the only holiday I'm NOT working this year, so that in and of itself made it a good day (of course I worked the two days before and at least the next 3 days after...can't recall my schedule beyond that, it's all becoming a blur...but yeah, I "had the holiday off." Whatever.)

One exciting thing was that my brand-new niece was there! Meet Mina Lee. She's adorable. So glad that her and Avery are so close in age! (Mina is six weeks, so they are four-something months apart). 
 

As always, Aili and Andie love this tea set.
 

My sweets. Andie and I get along the best when she is asleep ;-)

 Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of the fabulous food (if you care.)
In anticipation of said fabulous food, I did not eat all day, and waited patiently for dinner at 6pm. So there were no pictures being taken, only turkey, stuffing, and gravy being shoveled in like a pig at the trough. I even wore stretchy pants and a dress, once again, in anticipation of the festivities. Only amateurs wear jeans or tight pants to a holiday meal.

Next, came some beautiful family portraits.

Our attractiveness knows no bounds...

 Us Sluys women sure are hot. If it wasn't for the fact that about half my family is missing in these pictures, I swear this is the holiday card that would have shown up in your mailbox this year...

 

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Joyous Kwanzaa, peeps

At our holiday dinner, for me, there was a lot of THIS:

...Which explains why I was so entertained by THIS....
 

 (I would be an AWESOME children's book author, just saying).

And then, I was sort of sad that there were no pictures of Jeff and I that night. So, I took one:

 

  (No, the husband is not stoned. I think. I wasn't with him all night, so I suppose it's possible. It was past his bedtime, though.)

 

He woke up, a little. Poor guy had no idea what he was getting into when he married me. 

Annnnddd in a totally random, not-at-all-related photo(s) from today, here is what it looks like to have 3 kids and 2 working parents:

 

 That is called, doing laundry for 5. Yeeeaahhh those little girl socks stretched from one end of the room to the other (not all pictured here). Having 3 girls may just be the death of us. Looking at this picture kinda makes me wanna go shove an IUD up myself right this very second with no delay makes me realize just how cute my little family is, even though it can be more work than you could possibly imagine.

 

thankful

It's that time of year again, November, when facebook feeds are littered with 2 things, guys sporting mustaches for cancer awareness, and others posting daily "what I'm thankful for" posts.
It's a nice tradition I suppose, to be thankful and express that.
Life just seem so damn hard lately. And it's not for the usual reasons, not just because of working, or because I have 3 kids under the age of six, or because Aili has started regular school with homework and benchmarks to meet. It's not just because Andie is a challenging (to me) three-year-old, one who makes even the task of getting out the door to do something fun like a party or play date an absolute chore. It's not because I have a little baby that is still nursing, and am pumping milk for her too, and in the back of my mind I am thinking 'oh yeah, I think she has milestones she should be meeting, too, and i need to maybe help her with that...?
It's not because I have baby weight to lose, and I want to go work out more, and I miss that, but I feel guilty sometimes spending more time away, spending an hour or two at the gym while Jeff wrangles the three little ones. 
I guess it is complicated.
That's a stupid answer, but that's all I've got, for now. 
But this isn't a post about that.
 It's the cold time of year again. This past week as I'm driving home from work it's been in the high 20s, which is just too darn cold for me, thankyouverymuch.

Some pictures from around our yard. Because if I am going to freeze, I would at least like to be freezing with the sun out, that is much more enjoyable. Also, I like to take pictures of the ice crystals. 
I am thankful for the hobby of photography. 
I dedicated a whole blog entry about that here, how photography helps me to understand both myself, and life, better. How, along with good music, it is my "therapy." 

I am thankful for this girl...

I just love little babies so much. Whatever will I do, when there are no more babies for me? I mean, besides the ones at work. I'm not counting them. Obviously.

But this girl, she is the icing on the cake. She is the epitome of sweet. Her smile can light up a room and her giggle is my light. 

Someone else really loves her, too. 

 I love how good of a big sister she is. I am so glad that I didn't have my kids completely bam-bam-bam, because watching her love on baby Avie with an almost maternal sense is just so heartwarming. I look at her and can see the great mother she'll someday (maybe, if motherhood is what she wants) become. She likes to bring the baby upstairs in the morning, change her diaper, and play with her. 

I am thankful that although Andie is a terror, she is also so affectionate. She is going through a very "kissy" phase. She is always kissing us, hugging us, asking to go "uppa" (be picked up), and telling us that she loves us. 

 You'll have to ignore the lack of make up and dirty ponytail. Aili has taken to borrowing my camera/iphone (among other things...) and taking pictures. Maybe she is taking after her mama?

I am grateful that my girls are so different. Aili is more like me: looks like me (only prettier, lucky girl!), acts like me. She is so empathetic, and I love that. It does remind me of myself though, and then the mama in me gets worried. Because she is my child, and I never want her to hurt as bad as I have, and I want to save her from heartbreak and unfairness and the general lack of karma there seems to be at times in this world. I know I can't though. I can only love her, and pray.
And then there is Andie. I love that she is opposite of Aili, and in fact, is different from all of us (and no, not just in looks, although it does seem that perhaps the mailman impregnated me). She is spicy and lively. She may be so difficult to parent, especially at three, but I don't think I will ever need to worry about her standing up for herself, or getting taken advantage of, or having her heart ripped out by someone who never deserved it in the first place. Andie Lucie will be  survivor, I am pretty sure.
Not sure yet about Avery...I can't yet picture her as a teen or a grown-up.

I am thankful for my husband (He is not home to take a picture of). I am thankful that he loves his girls, that he wants to be a god dad for them, and is so very involved. I am so thankful that he is also in the medical field as well, that he understands when I come home in fear that I may have not done the best, that maybe something different could have been done, that I might have hurt someone's child. There is no possible way to understand that fear, unless you are also in a related field. Not just the bad, also the joy and elation. The responsibility of knowing that you have the power to save, or end, someone's life, if you make a mistake. I know plenty of people do it, but I just can't picture being married to an accountant or programmer or something (no offense, anyone...also very necessary jobs, just very different).

My mind is typically very busy...what I want may change throughout the course of a day, a week, a year.

I want to move to Australia, and deliver babies at home

I want to travel back to Africa, and take my children and show them real life, where priorities are getting water, not ipads or trendy clothes. And I want to help.

I want to open a birth center on the central coast (of California)

I want to go back to school, and be surrounded by brilliant people, throwing ideas around about life, theology, and philosophy, and about health care reform.

I want to stay at home more, spend more time coloring with crayons and enjoying the simple life.

What I want may change as often as Andie changes her clothes (well, maybe not THAT often!).

And, I am so very thankful that I may possibly have the chance to figure that all out. 

Andie sure is goofy

Taken from our front deck