Birds, Birds, Birds

{catching up on some unfinished posts from the past several weeks}


Looked out our window at the tail end of a rainstorm and saw this:

they were everywhere and chatting it up like they were attending
a stake Relief Society meeting!


This hasn't been my favorite tree in our yard...
until today.
It's actually a pretty interesting tree to
investigate up close. And I love the rain drops
clinging to the berries.

Something quite revealing

So Amanda informed me this week that she just wants to use the same valentine idea as last year... I said "GREAT! -- what do you want to wear this year? How should we do your hair?" She tells me that she just wants to use the same picture as last year. Weird.

I did some more digging and with all the forthrightness of a 9 year old girl she told me that she *hates* doing photo shoots with me because I am picky and mean and I stress her out. Say wha?? At this point I should have taken a gulp and nodded my head and retreated. But no, I dug deeper... cause I like the punishment. Apparently I am a perfectionist with no patience... and I suck all the fun out it. Nice.

So I am flashing back to all the times I've tried to arrange the kids for photos and remember how much of a fight it has always seemed. I've always figured Amanda was just being difficult because she was hungry or tired or just didn't take direction well. Has it always been me all along? Am I just a bad director of photography? I feel like such a tyrant now.

So the question is: Do I attempt to convince Amanda to take a new picture and do everything I can to treat her like one of my paying clients and have all the patience in the world for her? Or do I just let it go - and reprint last years photo... or (GASP!) do I buy those cheapo grocery store valentines?

Christmas 2009 (the lost photo's edition)

So I thought I had lost all these photographs from Christmas but today when I was "cleaning house" I found these at the tail end of a photo shoot I did around the same time! How cool is that? These were taken when Poppy George and Grammy Jess came by later that afternoon. We had a wonderful meal of ham and some other stuff and some really yummy apple cobbler and baked apples and oh, did I mention it was all so yummy!?

Christmas 2009

It's taken me a while to post this because I've been busy... living life, instead of documenting it. Ya know what I mean? Sometimes it's just so peaceful to sit back and not worry about taking pictures of everything or writing about everything, or thinking about how you might write about something... you know - just living in the moment and holding it all in and keeping it for yourself.

But then sometimes you gotta just let it all bust out onto your blog... like this:

This would be the fantastic train set that Santa found 3 months ago and took completely apart so it could be stored in the attic at our house and then set up with Daddy on Christmas Eve. Notice the great attention to detail in creating a perfect scene... notice how large and hard to miss this beautiful train set is...

now please take notice that this is what Hayden totally flipped out with pure Christmas joy about.
Not to worry - the train table and trains grew on him... a few days later. {{{grrrrr!!!!}}}

Amanda's top gifts were a box of about 25 chapter books donated by Santa's elves, a mp3 player that mommy stood in line for 3.5 hours for on Black Friday. Yes I did.

Santa also brought her a FurReal pet that she now thinks is a little creepy, and a Taylor Swift Karaoke CD. She loves her figurine from her Aunt Pam and found time to clean her dresser off just so she would have a proper place to display her.


I do believe this was Samantha's favorite part of the Christmas season. The lifespan of the gingerbread house that Amanda built was exactly 23.4 seconds... and then it became a gingerbread tent city... and then Samantha dug in.


Samantha received a baby doll from her Grandma Lee that she took to immediately. We have about a dozen pictures at different times and on different days just like this one:


She also received some fun toys and much appreciated warm clothes for these crazy cold days we've been having here in Florida.







On Christmas Eve we took the kids out for a walk around city hall. It was nice to get out and walk with the kids as a family. Sadly, we don't do this enough. Perhaps we will do it more now.



p.s. the kids receive a ridiculously large gift card for a bookstore from their great Aunt Laura. We're still wondering if it's a mistake. If it's not, I see a huge bookstore shopping spree in their future... or several smaller sprees spread throughout the year. What do you think? Should we let 'em blow it all at once or spread it out over the year?

Amanda's 9th Birthday!

Amanda couldn't bear to leave any of her friends off her party list and I our bank account couldn't bear to pay for a full-on birthday party, so we compromised and had a birthday playdate at the park! It went well and she had a great time with her friends! Unfortunately I ran out of room on my camera to take very many any pictures. :(



After the party we took Amanda to Build-A-Bear Workshop to pick out her birthday present. She picked out this cute puppy. She's totally in love with it and can't wait to get a real puppy...



The birthday gift that totally sent her into squeal-mode was from her Grandpa Lee --- her very first camera! She's loving being the other photographer in the family and has already taken over 300 pictures. She's started her own blog and will be posting her photos soon!

Amanda also received some birthday money and gift cards that I am hoping she will use to buy a camera case. Though I have a feeling Toys R Us is calling her name... sigh :)

Gove Family Christmas Card!

This is it!
We are officially GREENish!
(formerly known as too-poor-to-send-out-100-real-cards-to-everyone-we'd-like-to)

and if this were a real card the inside would say this:

12 events of the Gove family, 2009 edition

1. Amanda was baptized.
2. We bought a house in Florida.
3. Amy photographed her best friends wedding.
4. Samantha celebrated her 1st birthday!
5. Hayden learned to use the potty... sort of.
6. Samantha learned to walk.
7. Both of Amy's sisters came to visit and sweated it out!
8. Visited Kennedy Space Center and Universal Studios.
9. Went to the beach more often, but not often enough!
10. Michael got promoted!
11. Hayden celebrated his 3rd birthday at Disney World!
12. Amanda celebrated her 9th birthday!

and it would also say:

Merry Christmas!
May you find Joy and Happiness this Season...
and throughout the year!

when Christmas photos go terribly wrong...

okay - maybe not terribly wrong. But just not how I envisioned they would be. If it hadn't been such a windy day and if I hadn't decided to take pictures right after church when the kids are way tired and the shadows are deep, my vision might have been realized... but alas, this procrastinator of family photo-taking screwed up. So these are the best of the bunch... I can't decide if I should bother printing cards this year... Oh well - that's US!

p.s. the photographer is in NO WAY at fault for my disappointment - she was a total doll to put up with my lack of direction and my daughters lack of cute shoes... she even let Amanda borrow her shoes (yes they fit!). I actually think these pictures would have been just fine and dandy if it were not for the fact that our "girl hair" is so flyaway-ish.

Dear Daddy...

come home soon.

things are getting a little dicey around here.

I've made an effort to communicate...

but can wait no longer. My kids need their mom back and a liittle Christmas cheering of the house! I promised Amanda that we would decorate the house today and we will! We will, however, save the tree till daddy gets home. Now...gotta go find some corny Christmas tunes!

Used and Abused

I guess you could say I've been feeling a little used and abused lately. I've done my share of punching back, mind you, but it's not like it made me feel any better... I'm at a bit of a crossroads where neither path will be traveled painlessly and that has made me very anxious (as in panic attacks AGAIN....yay). I honestly don't know what to do. Following my instincts and sitting tight believing "this too shall pass" did not work... in fact it probably made things worse. So, now that I have finally taken some action to defend/clear my name it's too late - I'm yelling into an empty auditorium.

I wish my hubby wasn't on a business trip - I could really use his listening ear. I guess I really will have to handle this on my own and just continue praying for guidance. So far my prayers have been answered with messages from the Ensign and one particular blog post that has lifted me just a bit. But I still see no end to the distrust I have for some who I used to call my friends and will now have to endure seeing at least once a week.. I have to find peace and strength and humility and balance them perfectly.

Yeah.... I know.