Heartsongs Music Together

A few years ago my friend, Ashley, told me about a music class she did with her daughter, Katie. They Loved it. So, I took Suzy for a trial class and she couldn't stop talking about it. Plus, her language seriously improved, almost overnight. So, we are doing it again for the summer session. I signed up before Andy was 10 months old, so both kids could go for the price of one. I'm not sure how I'll do it in the fall. Maybe just Andy while Suzy is at school or something. Or, maybe I'll go ahead and do both. I'll keep you posted. Until then, I'll give them some free advertising because it really is an AMAZING program. (And I'm not easily impressed with sensory motor type stuff.)

Here's Suzy with the gathering drums. She wanted to wear her TuTu this day. So funny.
Andy actually really likes it, he just wanted the camera at the point of this photo.
I love how it's so multisensory. Lots of rhythm, singing, visual interest, dancing, etc.
I'm not sure who loves it more - Suzy or Andy.
Miss Vanessa is wonderful. She also teaches a special ed class which, of course, makes her even greater in my book. :)
Suzy adores Miss Vanessa. I seriously hope this was a kiss. Recently, she has begun this weird thing of pretending to bite me. She opens her jaw and just puts her teeth on my skin. Kinda like a Labrador Retriever. I digress....
Andy loves Miss Vanessa, the guitar, his teether, and Heartsongs! If you ever want to join us, we go almost every Wed morning and they have free trial classes. :) It's well worth your time!

Next Year....

This site has the cutest little birthday shirts. So fun! I found it on my neice's facebook page. Marketers Dream, I am, I am.... la la la.

Simplycolors.com

Golf with PawPop

Things are finally slowing down here for about a week before we head up to Indiana. I had a great conference this past weekend and to celebrate, we had brunch at the club with Pawpop after church on Sunday. Suzy just adores her Pawpop and has been looking forward to this all week.
I had to include this photo. I love how they have the exact same expression. It even accents the "Smith cheeks". Priceless.
Here's a new face I'm not so fond of. "Moooommmmy.....Andy 's ....... blah blah blah." Can you just hear the whine? I know I post often about how great my kids get along. Here's a glimpse to show you we are a "real" family.

This, however, is how I prefer to portray our kids. Andy smiling and watching his big sister. So loving, so adoring...
Strike a pose, buddy, strike a pose.
Now this... THIS makes me smile. This is a classic "Every new OT must study this" photo. It gives me hope that he will someday be an academic superstar. He's practicing to copy from a black (er, white grrrrr....) board someday. Good weight bearing and shift in the upper extremity, good reciprocal movement in the lower. Holding the ball to form good arches in his hands to hold a writing utensil and cocontracting the neck and eye muscles as he looks up. This, my dear non-OT friends, is why crawling is such a big deal. Granted, not doing this will not make a kid less happy, friendly, smart, etc. It just really helps to give a kid an "edge".
And here is our little Superstar's newest super power.
He took his first steps this weekend. I believe Pawpop was proud, indeed.


By his face, I think Andy was proud too.
I realize this picture is blurry. I still love it. Can you see some jealous little arms on Pawpop's back? ;) I'm just glad he's strong enough she didn't knock him over like she so often does to me.
She truly is not neglected. Just had a rough week without her momma.
What's a trip to the club without a golf cart ride?
I would have loved to stay longer, but it was 100+ and little man has his Daddy's ability to handle heat. His poor little face was soooo red!
Thanks, Pawpop for the fun day and wonderful memories! We love you and look forward to Grammy joining us next time.

My five minutes of fun

I have tons of actual work to do today with a huge deadline tomorrow for the Rehab Summit Conference. However, I stole a few minutes during nap to play with one of my favorite photos from yesterday. Thanks, Carolyn, for showing me some cool Photoshop stuff!

Happy Birthday Sweet Baby Boy!

This week is busy. Crazy busy. But today.... today was all about Little Man. I'll post more next week about the day and I'll actually edit some of the photos I took. But for now, here is a sneak peak at the cutest little birthday boy I ever did see! Love you sweet boy!



I love it. Suzy is sitting ON the table, feeding him. Friends, this is my life. :) I love it.

Happy Birthday, Andy! (And Gwyneth, too!)

Yeah, Suzy!

Suzy FINALLY ate a peaunut butter and jelly sandwich. Yes, this is the child we have to coax to eat syrup. ;) We made little chocolate race car pretzels for Andy's party tomorrow. I set a timer and she and Rebekah had a "race" to see who could eat their entire lunch within 20 minutes. The prize for racing was the race car. Five minutes later....
Sweet girl, I know it's hard for you to try new foods. But, I'm very proud of you!
I believe it was worth it and we will finally be able to go on a picnic with semi-healthy food!
Yeah, Suzy!

Happy 33rd Birthday, Rob

This man loves me. He let me dress him up in my silly hat.
And he didn't complain at all when I brought home a pink ice cream cake. Sure, I could blame it on Suzy's passion for pink and he probably would have thought nothing of it. But, I can never lie and had to rat myself out and confess that when you wait until the night before, pink is your only option. But, I DID get the icing in blue! Yeah, that fixed it.
Happy Birthday Sweetheart. I love you so much. Thank you for not minding that I'm not a "detail girl".

Sweet Suzy

Fairy Princess

Suzy has been very into imaginative and dress up play recently. This is one of her new favorite outfits. I love this age and watching her creative little mind. It's so sweet, innocent, and downright adorable.

More Andy Fun

Budda Belly Baby. Reminds me of a Sumo Wrestler.
So Big. So Proud. He was walking towards Suzy here.
Future NBA Allstar, if the whole Sumo thing falls through.
Strike a Pose. I'm too S--- for this shirt......
Yuka Yuka Yuka. He cracks himself up.

One

Seriously? ONE?!!!

One Year Portraits

I've been having lots of fun with this new lens. It's a bit bulky, though, so I'm really glad I just rented it. I doubt I would use this as my "go to" lens on a daily basis. But, to try and get Andy's one year portraits, it's been great! As an added treat, Rob bought me a Wacom pad to help me edit some of the photos I'm taking. Then, he's also letting me have another private lesson with Photoshop guru, www.carolyncoffey.com. She teaches the retouching class at ACC. Love her!

Here are a few shots that I took this morning that Carolyn may be helping me with tomorrow.
Oh, and if we weren't busy enough lately, Andy is starting to take some steps! He's so proud of himself.
Suzy is such a great big sister. I love how great my kids get along.
Andy's face when Suzy showed up at the playground. One day, I will make a storyboard of his reaction. I caught it in several shots. Soooo cute!

The shirt is a copy of Amy Rose's Little guy. Loved the idea! I may actually make one out of fabric and sew it to a onsie. This morning, I just made a quick Crayola scetch at the kitchen table.
Sweet boy, I can't believe you are almost ONE! gulp, sigh... We love you so much.

Headshots

While I had the fancy lens, I decided to take some head shots of myself as well. Rob was a great photographer. These were taken just outside our garage. The kids were "down" and the sun was setting. We couldn't get too far from the house and needed to work quickly. We only took about ten shots. I needed an updated photo for our new website and the California Conference in October. I like the second ones and Rob likes the first. Any thoughts? I need to send one in by tomorrow. I'm guessing they will print them in black and white.




It will be our little secret that I'm wearing my pajama pants and flip flops on my lower half. :)

Hit or Miss

I'm having lots of fun with my 85mm 1.2 rental and new camera body. I'm crazy busy with work stuff this week, but it looks like I will make all of my tomorrow deadlines for some courses coming up this fall. Yeah! A special thanks to Rob's mom for helping me get over 100 pages of text edited in just three days. Phew!

So, anyhow. This lens really is amazing. Unfortunately, however, it's very hit or miss. For example...


BIG MISS! Dang, it was such a cute expression.

But, five seconds later... BIG HIT! I love this shot. It really captures all that is Suzy. Love you, sweet girl!


Blog readers beware... I have all day "off" tomorrow to play with this fun lens! Prepare yourselves for photo overload next week! Muuuwaaahhhhhaaahhhaahhh!

Eb and Flow

So, it's been two weeks since I've posted. Well, I've been busy. Not just anyone busy - Marti busy. If you know me, that says A LOT. It seems like life is like that for me. I'm always busy, but sometimes in different directions. I'm the type of person who throws myself into all kinds of things and I need to prioritize often. Right now, blogging is not a huge priority. I will catch up in about a week. Right now, I am working on a new webcast seminar for August 21st, a new 80 page manual, six hours of a new DVD, Rob and Andy's birthdays, the California State conference in Oct (500 people and a deadline for all paperwork of... July 16th. I started on it yesterday.....), a new tankless water heater installed today, radient barrier installed Thur and Fri, a new fence installed last Thursday, Tree trimmers on Saturday, and my entire downstairs painted a week ago. So.... I've been a bit busy and will continue to be so until I can get all my "work" finished. 'Tis the season... Oh, but I did rent that fun lens so when I'm not frantically doing "work" I'm takin' all kinds of bloggy post pictures. I promise to post more later. I just wanted some of my blog friends to know life is good... just busy right now. Thank you, sweet Rob, for cleaning the kitchen and living room for your own birthday dinner. I love how you understand my manic sprees.... Muuuuwah!

Suzyisms

Today, Suzy got a Jelly Bean before she ate her breakfast. Why? Because I traded her for a booger. From now on, if a booger gets in the tissue and not her mouth, I will replace it with a Jelly Bean. Why do we need this new incentive? Because according to Suzy, "Boogers taste good." I'm just hoping Jelly Beans taste better. ;) "G" - wanna give it a try with me? I may be on to something!

Yesterday, Suzy wanted eye makeup before we went to the store. I told her she didn't need makeup because her eyes were so "young and beautiful". She then asks me if my eyes were "old and tired." I guess they really are. When we got to the store (without makeup on either of us), I did not get carded when I bought Rob some bear. It was the first time in my life I wasn't at least asked for id. I hate 35..... I guess I need to start wearing makeup.

Suzy was so sweet yesterday. We made a care package for her friend, Katie, as they prepare to fly to New York tomorrow. Most of the morning was spent gathering items for the gift bag. Suzy wanted to also send her some "cards". She then started to make cards for some of her other little friends. I just love her caring and generous little spirit. At one point, she announced, "Lane will have to share with Brynna (his sister) because I don't want to run out of my supplies (post it notes and tape)." So sweet. So funny. Such a hoarder - like her momma.

I love three and a half. It was a tough journey for Suzy to get here. But, man, I could stay at this little "vacation spot" for a while. I hope you don't get tired of the stories. But I'm told this time goes by so very fast and I want to remember all these precious moments before we get to the teenage years.....