Update

A Preston and Peyton update is WAY overdue.  Here you go.

Preston is 4 years and 11 months old.  He is energetic, creative, talented and intuitive.  He still LOVES to play with his trains and also is very interested in books, cars, firefighting and puzzles.  I love that he cares deeply about his friends and always wants to go and play.  I also loves how he asks me to read to him every day.  I can't wait to see how much he will grow this next year of preschool.

Peyton is 2 years and 3 months old.  She compassionate, creative, energetic and sweet.  She LOVES to play with her babies and is very interested in little toys, puzzles and books.  I love her sweet smile and warm hugs.  Also, those eyes are a killer.  Now, if only I could get her to let me put her hair in a bow...we are working on it.  I am excited for her to have more time to play with her friends at 'school' in the fall.

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Organization

Some of you know that I am gifted in the area of organization.  I'm not sure where it came from.   My dad is what I like to call 'an organized mess' as he always has a pile, or two or more and things are in the pile...somewhere.  Steven is similar.  He keeps things in piles, bins, etc... which make things appear organized but not really organized.  My mom was NEVER organized...ever.  Where did I get my organizational gifts?  I guess you could call it a gift of God.   I am constantly thinking about things around my house that I can organize.  I'm not kidding. I love to organize papers, clothes, toys, etc...  Just today I organized my new IKEA kitchen items.  I'm not kidding.  These knives, spoons and forks are now all in one bowl in a drawer.  The cups and bowels are also organized by shape.

My life 'feels' better when everything is organized.  

I also organized Peyton's summer clothes this afternoon. I took out the clothes that don't fit and put her dresses in one drawer, pjs in another and shirts/shorts in another drawer.  Now I can find her clothes quickly and it is wonderful!  One area, however, that I am not very organized in is meal planning. I try really hard to feed our family healthy food but my time limits this goal.  At least I keep fruit and vegetables around the house.  I'm on the right track.

Maybe I can improve in this area...after my busy season with photography.  We shall only see.  I'll try to keep you posted.

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Horses

This past week I had a photo shoot at Longview Farm Park.  Steven and I decided to take the kids so that he could hang out with them while I took photos and also check out the beautiful horses.  It was great!  Preston was even able to help feed the horses their snack and loved it!  Sometimes I wish we lived on a farm or had a large amount of land so that we could have our own horses. I guess we will just have to head back to Longview more often to visit our new friends.  

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Garage sale

Have I mentioned before how much I love garage sales.   Well, I love Garage Sales.  Its a chance to find really good clothes for the fraction of the cost.  Seriously, I never pay full price for my kids clothes...but I am thankful for those that do and then sell them a year or two or more later.  Today I 'made out' with a whole bunch of good stuff at a garage sale.  I scored 4 dresses, a pair of bloomers, a pair of pjs, 2 long sleeve shirts, a sweater, 3 pairs of tights, a puzzle, letter cards and a pair of Kean shoes.  All for $48.   Oh yes, did I mention that these are REALLY nice clothes. I know for a fact that the polka dot dress on the left side of the picture is a $36 dress from Kelly's Kids. I know that the Kean shoes retail at REI for $24.95.  Yeah, I scored big time.  Oh yes, I also picked up a super cute newborn hat that I am going to save for a future photo shoot with a client.  I am just so stinking thankful for garage sales and the cute wardrobe my daughter now has planned for next summer!  

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Today

Today has been a really good day so far.  My children woke up at a 'normal' time, we all ate breakfast together, I took the kids to the park, we treated ourselves to lunch at McDonalds and had the entire play area to ourselves!!  Yes, all mother's out there know that this private playtime is priceless!  Plus, the play place at this particular McDonald's was clean and inviting.  A win overall. 

I also took the kids to the new Marshall's store near our house.  What a wonderful shopping experience at this clean and quiet store. I even found a new shirt for a great price along with 2 books for the kids.  Now, my kids seem to be content and playing nicely together.  Will this last?  I am guessing so.  I am 'planning' on an early dinner because Peyton does not seem to want to nap.  No worries.  She will fall asleep before 7pm. I guarantee it!  How is your day going?  

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Goals for the Week

I have three goals for the week: 

First, spend some quality time reading with my kids.  This includes going to the library to check out some new books. Because I have been so busy the past few weeks I have let reading time slack a little bit. I hope to pick things up again starting this week. 

Second, I would like to wash and put away ALL the laundry in our house.  While most of the laundry is already clean it is sadly sitting in 3-4 laundry baskets and the dirty laundry is quickly piling up from the weekend. I would like to return my house to some sense of order and be able to find clean clothes when needed.  I think this is a reasonable goal.  

Finally, I would like to start my fall photography calendar.  I have recently been flooded with a lot of interest in my photography and don't want to let things fall through the cracks. SO, I am going to start working on my calendar this week and hopefully keep things in order. I'll keep you updated.  

I think I may start setting goals every Monday! 

Happy Father's Day!

The Dalbey Family had a wonderful Father's Day.  Here is a picture of us out to lunch at Noodle and Co.  I love the way that Steven cares for our family. He is kind, compassionate, humble and sacrificial.  He will do anything to care and provide for our family.   Thank you, Steven, for being a wonderful daddy to our children.  

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I hate bedtime

I'm not really sure when it started but all I can say is that I hate bedtime.  Why?  Because it takes my kids between 1 and 2 hours to go to bed every night and its killing me.  The introvert/Katrina time that I desperately need is being sucked away by my kids struggling to fall asleep at a decent time each night.  Yes, the TV is off. Yes, I read them a story. Yes, I pray with them each night.  Yes, they eat a good dinner and have plenty of exercise.  I just don't know what happened.  They both used to fall asleep by 7:30pm sharp.  Even as I am write this post I had to stop and go help the kids fall asleep. I just sang 'hush my dear' about 20 times.  Thankfully, it worked.  Sadly, it is 9:04pm.  I started the bedtime routine tonight at 8pm....  I keep praying that this is just a temporary glitch in the schedule and everything will be back to normal in a few days.  I don't know.   Does anyone else struggle to get their kids to go to bed?  Certainly I am not the only one.  Sometimes I feel like a 'horrible mother' because I compare myself to other people who seem to have this bedtime thing mastered.  Am I crazy?  Well, I am going to try and enjoy the next 1.5 hours to myself.  Maybe I can get some editing and cleaning done...maybe.

#dalbeyfamilyday

For those of you on Instagram or Twitter you can find these and more pictures by searching #dalbeyfamilyday.  This past Saturday, after a long week at camp, the Dalbey family blocked off the day for some needed family time.  To celebrate we headed to the zoo and had a fabulous time.  We even splurged and rode the train.  $15 well spent even though you don't get to see much.  Here are a few pics from our visit.  Oh yes, I am so glad we live so close to the zoo.  We didn't have the time or energy to see all the animals last Saturday so we will just have to go back.  No problem.  

Have I mentioned that Preston loves trains :) 

Peyton loved to be like her brother and also loves trains.  

The whole Dalbey family on the zoo train.  No bad.  

Here is another quick picture of Peyton in the Children's zoo area.  

Preston wasn't fazed by the huge elephant mouth...I hope he doesn't think this is OK to do in real life?!  

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The kids

While Steven and I were directing the Zone camp last week our kids were busy having the time of their life.  OK, we were all able to have some great family time while at camp but needed some extra help during camp meetings, scheduled activities, etc...  This year our dear friend Kaylie came to the rescue and came to camp for a few days.  The camp has a giant water slide, lakefront activities, playground equipment, etc..  You know, all those things that kids enjoy.  Here are a few of my favorite pictures.  First, Kaylie took a picture of Preston and I coming down the giant water slide.  Preston went down this slide at least 25 times in a period of 3 days.
Here is a cute image of Kaylie and the kids.  They love her so much.
Here is a sweet picture of Peyton at the Lakefront.  While she is too young for the water trampoline and iceberg climbing wall, she had a great time playing in the sand and wading in the water.
Both kids keep asking if we can go back next year!
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We have been busy

Dear friends and family, it has been a busy couple weeks for the Dalbey family.  While I had many intentions and thoughts about posting something I never found the time.  I am, however, planning on catching everyone up this week so look out for some cute photos, event updates and random reflections.  I hope and pray that everyone is well. Blessings, Katrina 

I leave you with a family photo taken this past week at the Zone camp.  Sorry the photo is not in focus.  Not everyone knows how to use my camera :) I'll also explain the Zone camp and our involvement in another post.