Andrus Family Photoshoot

I had a blast this weekend taking the Andrus' pictures! Go to my other blog to see more of their photos and to see them larger!

Lots of Randomness

Last week: For Brianna's Joyschool fieldtrip we went to the Folsom Zoo. I had never been and really enjoyed the miniature zoo! It was nice and quick and not too crowded. I brought along these 2 little 'monkeys'! Brianna and Sailor get to hang out for one full day almost every week. They love it, and I love having a play partner for her! Sailor's brother was in the hospital that day, so she got to come on the fieldtrip. Friends!!!

After taking cute pics of Bri with the deer, we then saw a sign that read, "Do not pet the deer, they have tics and have been grazing among poison oak!" Fantastic! That deer has been licking her fingers for like 5 minutes!

Panda enjoyed the zoo from the stroller! We then rode the little train, but I didn't get any pics!

This week:

I have 7 piano students, and 5 participated in our "annual" recital. I've been teaching for 2 years, so I guess "annual" doesn't sound too impressive. I do think I get to go down on record for the shortest recitals ever though. Because I have so few students, and their songs aren't particularly long or difficult, we're usually done in 15-20 min! Add in some refreshments and their out the door in under 30 minutes! I don't know about you, but I love being able to see them show off their work, and then we can all get on with our night. I'm so proud of them. They have all come a long way and I'm so glad I'm able to teach them a little of what I know! Brianna wanted to be in the picture, and I have taught her some piano, but she didn't participate in the recital. (I don't think being able to find middle C and pound on random keys is all the impressive yet!)

Bri having fun. She loves to have her picture taken and either do weird poses or action poses. I as taking pictures of Panda and Bri was yelling, "Take one of me flying!"

Panda loves hats! She loves to sign hat anytime she sees anything on someone's head, be it a hairbow, clip or hat. Apparently the play kitchen has some great hats to try!

This little girl is walking like a pro. I spent half the day at church just chasing her around. She thought she was big stuff and kept walking all around the Relief Society room and trying to get into people's things, pulling the table cloth off, etc. I spent most of the class following her up and down the hall instead. Do I really have 6+ months til nursery?

Andrew's Indoor Session

I posted one more session of this adorable little guy. As always, go see my other blog for the full sneak peek and larger photos!

Weekend Full of Photos

I had two really fun photoshoots this weekend! I feel so blessed to be able to take portraits at important times in people's lives! For a sneak peek and larger pictures of the photoshoots go to my other blog. Here are a few smaller ones!
If you are interested in a photoshoot, contact me at erinnoel8@yahoo.com for current pricing. I say current because I am working on revising my business plan, so my prices will be going up sometime this summer!

Strutting Her Stuff!

Miranda is walking! She thinks she's hot stuff too! Here she is in action!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Miranda's favorite thing to do is cover her head and take off until she bonks into something and then laughs hysterically!  It's a ritual at bedtime as I'm trying to get her ready for bed...there's always a good 15 minutes of her putting her pajamas on her head and laughing and running into things!

Lite Brite Patterns

Brianna LOVES to make patterns lately!  She takes blocks, crayons, lite brites, or anything you can think of that has different colors and makes a pattern!  She played with her Lite Brites for hours yesterday making different patterns.  One of her favorite patterns was "Your Turn, My Turn! It's a pattern mommy!"  And she had seperated the colors out each into 2 piles for both of us to pull from.  Most of the piles were evenly distributed too!  I love watching her learn!

Easter Weekend

We had a great Easter weekend, despite the gloomy weather! It's been so nice and sunny that it was strange to have such a cold and wet weekend! But didn't stop us from having fun!

On Saturday we took the girls to an allergy free egg hunt held by a local children's allergy group that I just joined. It was cold and Brianna was painfully shy, but she enjoyed herself anyway. None of the eggs contained candy but only had toys and stickers so every kid could participate! It was so nice not to have to tell her she couldn't eat something! (Chad is still recovering from his injured knee, so he sat on a bench with Miranda in the stroller while I helped Bri.) She was determined to find a pink egg, but the big kids gathered everything up so fast that she had to settle with just a few and no pink ones. I wish they had divided the kids into age groups, or given limits on amounts. Some kids had at least 30 eggs! Brianna's fancy hair do! Easter morning was filled with excitement. Brianna couldn't have been happier with the gifts Grandma sent and the Princess and Prince toy I found for her. It helped lead to a quiet afternoon so Chad and I could enjoy General Conference.Miranda had fun too! She felt inspired during Conference on Saturday to start walking. She's only taking 4-6 steps, and they are very wobbly, but she's consistently doing it. She is very proud of herself too! She should be off and doing "real" walking soon!Rewind to Friday night and we had our friends, the Leach's, over to dye eggs. Brianna and Sailor are best buddies and would spend every waking moment together if they could! The men sat in the background and talked while Robin and I helped the kids dye eggs. I think more dye ended up on their hands than on the actual eggs! And just after the little girls got a manicure! Hope you had a wonderful Easter too!

Head, Shoulders, Knees, & Toes

This post is mostly about knees and what not to do. If you have a weak stomach you might not want to read it.

I had the opportunity to play basketball this past Wednesday evening. We started about 9pm and had been playing for about an hour and a half when it happened. I was chasing the guy I was guarding around a screen and my leg buckled. It felt like it snapped completely in half. I heard bone rubbing against bone as I went down like a sack of potatoes. After screaming and smacking the floor with my hand a few times the pain subsided enough for me to open my eyes. This is what I saw:

This photo is not me but this is EXACTLY what it looked like (except it was on my right knee and I try not to wear shorts that short.)

My kneecap was completely dislocated and on the outside of my leg. I was trying to convince the guys I was playing with to help me straighten my leg so that hopefully the kneecap would snap back into place. They thought I was crazy because my body was going into shock.

One of the guys went to the freezer to get some ice. He came back with 2 frozen loaves of bread. He put one on my knee where the kneecap was supposed to be and the other on my kneecap that was just hanging out on the outside of my leg. He put a little too much pressure on the kneecap and I asked him to remove it. After he pulled it away, my leg twitched a little bit and BAM, my kneecap just slid back in place where it was supposed to be.

I felt like a million bucks at this point. I had the guys help me over to the stage so I could have my leg hang off without any pressure. After a few minutes I tried to put a little pressure on it. I started to black out. I had to lay down on the stage for a few minutes. They then helped me out to my truck. I started to black out again and ended up laying down in the parking lot. At this point I was able to receive a Priesthood Blessing.

Once we got to the ER, Erin was able to come meet me. They took xrays and confirmed that everything looked ok. The doctors were very surprised that the kneecap reset itself based on how far out it was. I knew it was because Heavenly Father was looking out for me.

I finally got discharged about 3am. I then had to go to my truck on my crutches and full leg demobilizing velcro splint. I had to remove it and then drive the stick shift truck home on my busted knee.

I missed one day of work and am recovering nicely. I am so grateful for the Blessing I received and for the worthy men that were able to administer to me in the parking lot right next to the Sacramento Temple. It is definitely something I will never forget! I mostly felt bad for my wife. She had to find someone to watch the kids so she could come up to the hospital. She kept asking me if this was an April Fool's joke.

I wish!

Easter Dresses

Here are the girls Easter Dresses. A full post can be seen on my other blog http://www.erinnoeldesigns.blogspot.com/
I used the left over fabric from Brianna's comforter, so this project helped off set the cost of the bedding!!!

Happy Easter!