Happy Birthday Cadon!

HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY TO THE COOLEST DUDE I KNOW!! 

WE LOVE YOU CADON!! =)

**Quinn's 12 week post to come...

Go check out this amazing looking family on the Locke Photography Blog. I think you might recognize some of them.

www.ashleylockephotography.blogspot.com

And for some immediate enjoyment - my cute kids!

And just for fun - a behind-the-scenes shot of trying to get 4 kids under 5 to cooperate for a picture :)

Family Pictures Up!!!!

Yay!
Our family pictures are posted!
If you want to check them out go here:

ckgphotography.net/ckgblog/2011/07/21/the-locke-family/

I will OF COURSE also be posting them once I get the CD. But go ahead, check out that amazing looking family. ;)

11 Weeks

Today Quinn is 11 weeks old! Time FLIES. It's crazy.

Unfortunately Quinn spent this morning at the doctor's office! He has been super fussy the last few days and I thought it was his tummy bothering him but it was an ear infection! Poor guy! He hasn't even had a fever so I didn't suspect that in the least! Bummer! :(

He is still SO sweet and so calm. If I could just sit and cuddle that boy all day long that's what I would do. He is perfection.

Here is the big boy on his 11 week birthday today!

When I took him to the doctor today he weighed 13 pounds. He gained 14 ounces since his last visit 15 days ago! I thought this sounded like a lot but the doctor said that an ounce a day is exactly right for breastfed babies!! She said he is totally normal and great!! =)

These are from yesterday, look who finally decided to participate in tummy time!

The kids and I have been staying at my mom's house the last few days. Cameron had her ACL surgery on her knee last Thursday. This week my mom had to go to work and my dad had to go out of town so the kids and I moved in and took over to help Cami throughout the day. She's STUBBORN (wouldn't ya know) and refuses almost all the help, but I feel better at least knowing I'm here in case she falls or something. After all, we wouldn't want to miss that photo op. ;)

Well I forgot to pack jammies for Paiton so she has been wearing Titi's shirts to bed, which she thinks is totally cool, and I remember that being an awesome part of childhood too.

Somebody is obsessed with Baby QJ. Ok lots of somebodies, but mostly this guy:

Oh Uncle B. Such a softy.

**PS - Please forgive that 99% of the pictures I post are from my phone. I do have much better ones on my cameras but I don't have time to post them all here. Sometime I'll do a "good photo dump" and put them up. Until then it's phone pictures :) **

Mommy/Daughter Date!

Before Quinn was born Paiton and I used to have LOTS of Mommy and Daughter dates. Whether it was just to Target, or to get a snack, or whatever - it didn't matter, we had lots of fun together. Since Quinn was born we haven't had an opportunity to do that just the two of us. She is SO good with Quinn - so kind and loving to him and never jealous or mean - but I thought it was time for her to have some special time like we used to. She is such a big help to me and I don't know what I'd do without her, I'm the luckiest mom ever!

What Paiton wanted to do was go see Winnie The Pooh at the movie theater. She has been wanting to see a few movies for awhile but ultimately that is the one she picked! :)

Our first stop was U-Swirl for some yummy yogurt!

Here is the yogurt creation P made!

There was a big Grand Opening party going on when we went with a big bounce house and lots of kids. Paiton thought that was great and she jumped in the bounce house for a long time before it was time to head to the movies!

Dancing outside the theater:

Paiton got a kids pack at the movie which consisted of popcorn, fruit snacks, and a lemonade. Then we settled in for the movie. It was really cute!

She was tuckered out by our date, but we both had so much fun! She is definitely my built in best friend!

Then we came home to this boy:

His sister sure missed him while we were gone. As soon as the movie was over she said "Are we going to go see Quinny the pooh now?" ;)

Sneak Peek

We had our family pictures done last night by Ckg Photography. Carissa has done pictures for us for years - possibly even a decade! She did Lurcook family pictures before Brandon left for boot camp, our engagement pictures, our wedding, Lurcook/Locke pics when I was pregnant and when Cadon was little, and our Locke family pictures the last few years.

Paiton was not nearly as happy/cooperative as I had hoped so I am really not sure what to expect picture-wise. She posted a sneak peek at one for me last night so I'm passing it on to you! :) Hopefully we get some more good ones I can share!

10 weeks

Quinn is 10 weeks old today!! (And look at that - 3 posts in two days, including his ten week post on his actual ten week birthday! Woohoo!)

I cannot believe it's been 10 weeks since this perfect little bundle of joy entered our lives. I remember being panicked when I found out I was pregnant and worrying about how I would ever love a second baby like I love Paiton.

Then came Quinn. He is my little soulmate. I love this boy. In a weird way that I don't understand, I needed this little baby. He is so calm. So sweet. So loving. And he smells.so.good.

He definitely completes me, and completes our family. I miss him right now, and he is fresh and clean from the bath and laying right here next to me. It's crazy.

Here he is on his ten week birthday:

And of course, can't forget the princess!! :)

And once we start taking pictures....it's kinda hard to stop :]

And take a good, hard look at the next picture. It is proof that I have the two cutest kids in the world. LOVE IT!

Locke Photography and Melaleuca

Ok, time for an annoying post! ;)

As everyone should know now I am going to be losing my job in the coming months. Due to Medicaid cuts in Idaho (MAJOR cuts), in 2012 my job will be gone. Starting this fall, every month I will be losing a handful of clients until eventually I am down to the few that I get to keep, which isn't many. Even before all of that happens however I will be getting a pay cut! NOT GOOD.

Of course this comes at a very bad time in our family. We are absolutely swimming in medical debt after me giving birth with no insurance, Quinn being hospitalized for jaundice, and ALLLLL of Paiton's doctor's visits, tests, the sleep study, surgery, hospitalization, and at home breathing treatments for her Croup. The medical bills in this house are completely unbelievable. Because of this I knew I had to find a way to make money. Putting my kids into daycare and going out to work isn't an option. We need every penny coming in and paying for daycare just wouldn't make sense.

I am trying so hard to start advertising Locke Photography and trying to get that going so that it could hopefully make enough money that I could only do that for work. I am revamping my website and once it's done I will post a link to it. In the meantime - if you know anyone in our area who needs pictures, any - senior, family, engagement, wedding, etc., please refer them to me. I would really, really appreciate it.

The other thing I am doing to make money is using Melaleuca. If you haven't heard of it before, don't worry - I hadn't either. My boss has been using it for awhile now and kept talking to me about it and I wasn't really too interested. Then one day she showed me the products and the catalog. Visit www.melaleuca.com to see some of the products, but they sell a lot of things - cleaning agents, make up, body care, over the counter medicines, weight loss shakes, "Gatorade" type drinks, vitamins, body wash, etc. It is all natural and really great for you and for use around your house. It is also based out of Idaho! Support Idaho! ;)

The way it works (in a nutshell) is that you basically purchase a membership. It costs $29.99 to join and then you get the "member" price on everything, which is significantly cheaper than the regular price. I have a lot more information I can give on this but I don't want to bug everyone reading this. If you're interested - PLEASE email me!! I would love to get you more information. You can also make money by joining, which is exactly what I'm trying to do! Help me get my bonus and join! :) I really promise that I love the stuff. I was pretty skeptical at first (as was Matt), but everything I have tried so far I have really loved. And it makes me feel better knowing it's all totally safe for my kids to be around! And if you join this month you get a free first aid kit!!

CALIFORNIA FAMILY/FRIENDS - if you're interested in helping yourself (and me!) out by joining Melaleuca, my boss is at her beach house in San Diego this week and will be doing a presentation on Sunday. She said any and all of you are more than welcome to go - so email me if you want info - that's what finally made my decision for me was seeing and trying all the products!!

Ok thanks for listening to me, and remember - refer to Locke Photography (in fact, if you refer someone to me, I will give YOU a session for 50% off!) and email me about Melaleuca!! If you would be willing to put any Locke Photography business cards at your place of employment I would REALLY appreciate it!

9 weeks and 2 months!

I can't believe my sweet baby boy is TWO MONTHS OLD!! It doesn't seem possible. Tomorrow will mark his 10th week of life!! Crazy!

This was him on his 9 week birthday:

He is so smiley and sweet. He LOVES his sister and she LOVES him. They can't get enough of each other. The first thing Pation says when she wakes up is "Where is Quinny?" she always tells him "I missed you while I was snoozing!" It is VERY sweet. She has never said a mean word or done a mean thing to him. She is very loving and kind. Last night she absolutely melted my heart when she said "Thank you for my baby brother. I love him soooo much." She is a very special girl!

Last week Matt's Grandma Genevieve (Paiton's Great Grandma Genevieve = Triple G), Aunt Jennifer, and cousin Ryan came to visit from California. We were glad we got to spend a little time with them. One day we went to Roaring Springs, we thought Ryan would like it. He and Matt went on every single ride and did everything at the water park that day. :) I think they both had fun!

Paiton sure did. So much so, in fact, that she crawled in Quinn's canopy and took a little nap!

Rocking the cool shades:
And Quinn rocking his!
On the Fourth of July Quinn turned 2 months and the whole country celebrated with him! ;)

I think Quinn is looking quite "Lurcooky" in this picture:

The next day he had his 2 month check up!

He shocked us with his weight! He weight 12 lb. 2 oz.! That puts him in the 60%, which is much better than the less than 20% he was in at his 2 week check up! He definitely filled out! He was 22 3/4 inches long putting him in the 50%. An average boy! He was totally healthy and got his shots. Matt got one too! Pertussis has made a come back and is very, VERY dangerous to babies. It was really important to me that Matt get his vaccination, especially since he works with grimy kids every day! ;) Both my boys were so brave with their shots!

Clean baby!

I am hoping to be able to start swimming again at the Racquet Club at night. Well Paiton found my goggles and insisted on wearing them the rest of the night. :)

Paiton got extremely tired in the car one day.

My beautiful girl!

Quinn taking a nap with Titi

Just being cute! Those eyes melt me!

Quinn meeting Triple G for the first time

Paiton playing in the pool with Kylie:

Hi!

Boy cousins - Ethan and Quinn

This is a little bit older of a picture, but Quinn is wearing his SUPER cute hedgehog onesie from Nannie!!

Last weekend there was a big car show in Boise and a Cruise downtown Saturday night. Matt's dad put his Mustang in it and we went down to ride in it. It was a lot of fun! Paiton got to ride in in too, top down and everything! It was being filmed and shown on TV so we told Paiton to wave because she was going to be a famous movie star and her response was "Well what movie am I in?" ;)

I LOVE this picture and I think I know someone else who will too - Grandpa Chris!!

Paiton loves Grandpa's car and talks about wanting to ride in it. We have taken her a couple times, she thinks it's pretty cool. She knows it's a Mustang and throughout the car show when another Mustang would drive past she would yell "Mustang!" and point at it!

Ready to go for her cruise!

Quinn enjoyed his first cruise. ;) He slept through all of the engine revving except for when it was time to eat, then he ate and went back to sleep!

Grandpa, Grandma, and Paiton coming around!

Paiton and Kylie hanging out:

Popcorn break!

LOVE my boy so so much!

On our walk back to the car we stopped so Paiton could play in the water fountain!

Quinn is still SUCH a good baby. He hasn't been feeling good the last few days and has been pretty fussy. He can't get enough of chewing on his hand and I hope, HOPE he isn't teething already. Paiton got her first tooth at 3 months and I would like Quinn to wait a little longer!! He is so happy and so sweet. I don't know what I did without him. He definitely completes our family.

And as always Paiton is keeping us on our toes with her wit! Here's a couple examples:

~We were out driving one day and Matt had to slam on his breaks. Paiton's response "Whoa! Slow down there buddy!"

~We were driving another day and Paiton said "Mom! I want to go to that owl place!" After looking around we realized "that owl place" was in fact Hooters. When I told her we weren't going there she replied "Good. That owl really freaks me out." Hahaha!!

Paiton will be starting preschool on August 30th. She is more than ready! She has been asking to go to school since she was just little and she can't wait. She will be going to Carolanne's - where Brandon, Spencer, and Cami all went! We are pretty excited for her to start that, I know she will just love it. And let's be honest, I'm pretty excited to get her "school supplies". :)