A Day {or Hour} at the Beach

Remember a few weeks ago when The Sanders Family was stuck in Florida? If not, click {here} to get caught up. But if you recall, we took advantage of our flight home getting canceled and went to the beach. We didn't have much time, but it only takes a moment to make lasting memories.

Here are a few of those memories from our day {actually, hour} at the beach...

Gabe loved the waves...



While Chloe wasn't so sure...


So she sought refuge by holding daddy's hand...


There was a pier close by...


And just as I was taking photos of it, the birds flew into view...


The birds then landed on the sand, and caught Cooper's attention. Look at his face {click on the photo to see it larger}...


I knew what was on his mind. Sure enough, Cooper {much like a dog} loved chasing after those birds...


There was some hunting for sea shells...


Chloe excitedly brought me shell, after shell, after shell...


Cooper, like all the kids, loved the beach and could be seen with a constant smile on his face...


Gavin enjoyed the beach too, taking part in a refreshment while lounging in the sand...


Gabe left his mark...


And we said one last goodbye to the ocean, until next time...


Believe me, with our current chilly Midwest temperatures, I wish I could go back there.

But for now, I'll just dream.

Black & White Wednesday - Gavin

Once again, it is Black & White Wednesday over at Lisa's blog, The Long Road to China. Thank you so much Lisa for giving me an excuse to display my love of Black & White photography! It's also a lot of fun to blog hop and see what everyone else decided to capture in black & white.

This week I chose to use a photo I took about a week ago of my youngest, Gavin. He turns six months old on Jan. 31. I can hardly believe it's been six whole months since we were blessed with little Gavin Jace's birth into the world. Our family wouldn't be the same without his constant smile! Seriously, this little guy is always smiling :) What a joy God has given us through him.



I chose to make the photo very light. I think it looks angelic and serene. And to contrast, Gavin's eyes really pop and sparkle. {Click on the photo to see it larger.}

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Gabe's Cast

We've had a little mishap in the Sanders household. Let me start from the beginning...

It all started with Jason and I having a date night this past Saturday. We very rarely have date nights and since it had been so long, we thought it was about time. So we ventured out for dinner and a movie. Meanwhile, my mom came over to watch our kiddos.

We left around 5:30 p.m. and told my mom that bedtime that night should be around 8 p.m. For some reason when Grandma is around, Gabe thinks it's time to pull out all of his stalling techniques for bedtime. He doesn't try these with mom & dad, just with grandma. Of course, grandma is a bit of a softy. I guess that's what grandmas are for, right? So when Gabe asked if he could pretty please have the door cracked open, Grandma said yes.

Bad idea.

A few minutes later, Gabe then decided that there was too much light in his bedroom to fall asleep, and instead of asking Grandma to shut the door for him, he decided to do it himself....from the top bunk of his bunk bed. He reached out, couldn't quite reach the door, so he reached out a little more...and a little more...and just a little more. Until, you guessed it, he FELL out of his bunk bed, onto his outstretched arm.

Ouch.

There were a few tears, but nothing too bad. Gabe sucked it up and went to bed. My mom called to tell us what had happened, but since Gabe wasn't complaining about his arm hurting, there were really no worries.

The next few days, Gabe mentioned a few times that his arm was a little sore. But of course it would be, falling on it from the top bunk. And despite these very few complaints, he continued to do everything the same. He played hard with his arm. He showed no cause for concern.

Fast forward to Monday afternoon. Gabe had a doctor's appointment I had already scheduled for a re-check due to an illness he had a few weeks ago. Just as the doctor was finishing up the re-check appointment, Gabe happens to mention his arm was a little sore. The doctor, just to be safe, ordered an x-ray, all along figuring Gabe's arm was most likely okay since he had gone on, life as usual, for the past two days.

Wrong.

Instead, the appointment resulted in this...


That's right. Gabe had what is referred to as a buckle break on his arm. It's really not too bad of a break, but requires a cast.

I was shocked. And at the same time, was so thankful that Gabe said something about his arm, otherwise we might not have ever known and it might not have healed correctly.

But with the cast, which the doctor says should stay on for about 3 weeks, Gabe's arm will heal and be good as new.

On the bright side, Gabe is excited to have a cast. He really thinks it's pretty cool, and will enjoy showing his friends at school today. He also loves that he got to pick the color: black.

The bummer is that he will now have to miss the end of the wrestling season. Gabe was sad about that because he truly loves the sport. Oh, and that he still has to do his homework. Upon learning that he was going to have to have a cast, Gabe happily replied, "Yes! Now I don't have to do my homework!" To Gabe's dismay, the doctor assured him that he will still be able to write. Big bummer ;-)

And mom's bummer...trying to get a six-year-old, active boy to be careful with his arm. Gabe is all boy, through and through, and he loves to play rough. This could prove to be a challenge for me.

I asked Gabe what he learned from his fall. He smartly replied, "I'll definitely get out of bed before I try to shut the door next time."

Wish it would have been, 'no more playing around and stalling at bedtime.' But, at least he learned some sort of lesson I guess.





What a goof...

Swimming

My kids LOVE swimming! When we stay at a resort on vacation where there is a swimming pool, every morning starts with the question, "Can we go swimming?" They just love the water, and love to be in it. So when we discovered that our Florida resort had four swimming pools, two lazy rivers and numerous child pools, my kiddos were in heaven. I don't think a single day went by during our seven day trip where we didn't spend at least a little time at the pool.

And of course I took lots of pictures. I know...me, take lots of pictures? Shocking, isn't it, ha ha. {Prepare for photo overload} Here are some photos from our water adventures...

This first one is a photo of Gabe, Cooper and Chloe, humoring mom by stopping for a moment, a very brief moment, for a quick smile...


Here's Cooper and Chloe on the lazy river. {Don't worry, we didn't send those two out all by themselves! Dad is actually hiding underwater, holding onto the raft.} They LOVED riding in the inter-tubes. Gabe, on the other hand, enjoyed swimming in the lazy river, laying on his back and floating along...


Here's Cooper coming out of the water slide. This must have been one of the first few days of vacation, because by the end of the week, both Gabe and Cooper were flying off that slide with absolutely no help from Dad. Independent swimmers, they are...


Here's a closeup of Gabe...


Chloe and Dad in the 'hot pool,' as Chloe refers to the hot tub...


And our little Chloe...


Another shot of Gabe, basking in the sun's rays on the side of the pool...


And Cooper, all covered up with his towel...


I love swimming pictures, because it's easy to capture a child's natural joy, like in this photo...


We really had to watch Chloe. She'll dive right in the deep end, that little dare devil...


And here's the three kids under the water mushroom in one of the child's pools...


Here's me and Chloe, ready to go swim...


And the siblings again...


By this point, you might be wondering, "Where was Gavin?" Well, mom forgot to pack his swim trunks. Poor guy, but with so many suitcases to pack for four kids and two adults, I'm bound to forget something, right? So, Gavin spent his time either lounging on a blanket beside the pool with mom or dad, or in his stroller. Don't worry, he had a good time too...

Disney World 2010

I've finally edited some of our Disney World photos. As promised, here are some of the highlights from our visit to The Magic Kingdom last week.

The kids did really well! We got to the park shortly after it opened at 9 a.m., and we stayed until it closed at 9 p.m. That's 12 hours! As you can imagine, we did have some interesting moments with our four young kids in tow for 12 hours. After all, with a five-month-old, two-year-old, four-year-old, and six-year-old, and only two parents, there's bound to be a few moments where it isn't all fun & games. Unless, of course, you have perfect children and perfect parents, which we don't and are not.

We had so many people tell us things like, "You're so brave for taking four little ones to Disney World all by yourselves." But we don't think of it as brave, but instead as parenting without fear. There's going to be ups and downs, but it's all memories, and much better memories if you look at life as a daily adventure that the Lord has blessed you with. We certainly don't have all the answers, but our advice to others is to go about living life with young children with a laid back, go-with-the-flow kind of attitude. You'll have so much more fun if you do, and your kids will have so much more fun without having to deal with stressed out, up tight parents.

But back to our day. Enjoy some photos from our fun day! It was a blast, and we definitely will make plans to take the kids back to Disney in years to come!

{As always, click on any of the photos to view them larger.}


Chloe's favorite: Meeting all of 'her princesses,' as she calls them...






The boys' favorite: The Pirates of the Caribbean. And they've never even seen any of the movies. Guess there's just something about boys & pirates. And by the way, Jason and I couldn't believe how much this actor playing Jack Sparrow looked like Johnny Depp. Maybe it was him??? :)


We went on a lot of rides of course...


Met many Disney characters...


Including Winnie the Pooh, and Tigger too! {And notice Jason by the 'Mr. Sanderz' entrance to Pooh's house. An appropriate photo opportunity...}


Gavin slept for most of the day in his stroller, but was held a few times, and I've got pictures to prove it...


Another favorite was the Main Street Parade...


And of course, just spending time together...


Our day ended with fireworks at Cinderella's Castle...


...which the kids watched with amazement, and lots of 'ooohs' and 'awes'...


What a magical place!

Black & White Wednesday - Chloe

I love black and white photographs. There's something so very timeless and classy about them. So when I ran across Lisa's Black & White Wednesdays on her blog, The Long Road to China, I just had to join in!

By the way, if this is your first visit to my blog, welcome! My name is Angie. I'm a stay at home mom of four young kiddos...Gabe, 6; Cooper, 4; Chloe 2 and Gavin, 5 months. I also do freelance graphic design and recently added portrait photography to my business. Busy, yes. Blessed, definitely! My husband, Jason, is a youth pastor and county supervisor. We are high school sweethearts that will have been married ten years this summer! Hooray! Thanks for stopping by my blog. I'd love to 'meet' you, so please feel free to leave a comment!

Here's my photo for this very first Black & White Wednesday. It's a photo I took about two months ago of my daughter, Chloe.



And here it is in color, so that you can see the difference...



I do love it in color too, but like the way the black and white shows the catch lights in her eyes. They just sparkle.

Thanks for stopping by!

We Made It

We're home! Hip hip hooray!

Our flight home from Florida, after being rescheduled three times, arrived safely back at our local airport this morning. What a relief to be home safe. With our unpredictable Midwest weather, who knows when we would have made it back if we hadn't made it back today. Freezing rain and snow is in the forecast for the rest of the week, so thankfully God parted the fog just in time for our plane to land!

Now we are all looking forward to sleeping in our own beds tonight, after sleeping in various hotel beds the last week. Well, most of us slept in beds. One of us slept in drawers...


Yes, that's right. We put our baby in a drawer to sleep. After we checked out of our comfortable condo right next to Disney World in our first attempt to fly home on Sunday night, we've been sleeping in one-room hotels ever since. Not the most comfortable, or spacious, sleeping arrangements for a family of six, but we made it work.

And on second thought, I don't think Gavin minded it too much...


Many, many more photos from our long, long Florida vacation to come, after I get a chance to sit down and edit the thousands of photos. And no, I'm not exaggerating about the number of photos ;-)

Stay tuned!