A few weeks ago, the girls had a birthday party at the zoo and I convinced my dad to tag along for the day. We have an amazing zoo, birthday parties there are fantastic AND you get a free day at the zoo out of the deal. First up, a photo with the birthday boy, James. Please ignore Ella's awkward face/smile. There is a lot of that in this post... she had a very loose tooth on the top that was moments away from falling out and she couldn't do much with her mouth. She's barely eaten, brushed her teeth or smiled, but was far too anxious to pull it. That is another story for another day! Part of the birthday experience at the Birmingham Zoo is getting to pet some animals. I don't remember what all we saw, but the girls did get to pet this snake and a ferret. Sophie wasn't shy at all! Next ...
sophie
A Very Merry UnBirthday!
Now that I've had a chance to recover from the unpredictability of the day, looking back on Sophie's birthday is such a treasure. She is the happiest child and there wasn't anything that could have ruined the celebration for her. She was so excited for all of her friends to be in one place and she was truly enthralled by every little detail of the day. I know you won't be surprised when I tell you I didn't take any photographs that day. Having a talented sister is a dream come true. You haven't enjoyed a birthday party until you weren't forced to lug around your camera all day and stress over whether you missed any precious moments. Fortunately for me, I was able to enjoy the day with my family, knowing that she didn't miss a thing. The party invitations were sort of a last minute ...
The Mommy Wars
I am long overdue for posting pictures of our Easter. But, as I was uploading the photographs earlier this week, all I could think about was how our Easter baskets would be perceived by perfect strangers. Did we do enough? Did we do too much? How sad that those are the thoughts that ran through my head. I've been thinking a lot lately about the wars we wage on each other. In fact, I almost blogged about it several months ago, but convinced myself not to rock the boat. Sometimes when I'm laying in bed at night scrolling through social media sites, I have to shake my head when I see what we say about each other. Why are we, as mommies, so mean? I'm not pointing the finger, I'm guilty of it myself. We are constantly comparing ourselves and when we feel like we don't measure up, we turn on ...
Perfectly unexpected
Josh & I used to talk about how we wanted a house full of children. Five, maybe. I just knew we'd have them all by the time we were thirty. What were we thinking?! After Ella was born, we negotiated and decided three sounded better. Then Taz arrived. I know that every child is different and that your life changes drastically with each one. Ella was a learning experience because we had never done it before. Sophie was a learning experience in a completely different way. She is challenging and causes you to question even the best parenting advice. She is the kind of child that inspires birth control and helps you decide that two children feels just right! She is a whirlwind. She came in quiet, but she is anything but. She's energetic and fiesty, her laugh is infectious and she is ...
Around the house
After I found myself unexpectedly at home for the day on Monday, I decided to resist the urge to be lazy while Josh was working and try to accomplish a few things that were lurking on my to-do list. Our house hasn't been really cleaned since the holidays and I can always find an excuse to avoid those mundane tasks if at all possible. One of my favorite bloggers posts about her days sometimes and I wonder why I don't take "every day" photos like that anymore. Just pictures of what I'm doing instead of pictures of events. As Ella gets older and I question what to share publicly, this kind of blogging really speaks to me and I find myself gravitating towards that kind of sharing. When Josh caught me taking pictures as I worked, he laughed and started drafting a blog post out loud for me, ...
Crappiest Christmas Photography Ever
In my defense, we were so preoccupied with enjoying the moment that I didn't take many pictures. I so wanted to see the look on their faces when they opened each gift and couldn't wait to see how they reacted to our surprise, that the camera was kind of an afterthought. Add to that the fact that my camera was a trillion years old and there is absolutely no natural light in our living room and the few pictures I did get are blurry and the color is wonky. Even photoshop couldn't rescue me this time! Just pretend they are beautiful and rest assured that we got the entire morning on video for posterity. Although we managed to get through the entire morning without a single pajama-clad photograph as a family in front our tree, I did set up the tripod as we were walking out the door for lunch ...
Remember Christmas Eve?
Christmas Eve seems like so long ago! We started the day much like we do every year and celebrated Christmas with Josh parents. We were having such a good time that I managed not to sake a single picture of anything significant. No gift opening, no food eating, no family fun, nothing. Just pretend like you saw cute pictures of my kids and their cousin Bella in adorable black Uggs with stockings the size of a small car! We were exhausted when we left, but per tradition, we met my parents and KCory for candlelight communion at our church. When we arrived home we were greeted by three VERY cute, pajama-clad boys who wanted our help spreading reindeer food and getting excited about Santa's arrival. We sprinkled glittery oats all over both yards and ran around squealing for a bit before ...
Our Big Surprise!
My girls were beyond thrilled with their Christmas gift this year. The most exciting part was the instant gratification; we were leaving in two short days! The video of them "opening" their gift is precious, but we've been celebrating Christmas, taking down our tree, packing and driving for the last 72 hours, so I haven't had time to even think about uploading images and video yet. I have plans to fill your January full of Christmas cheer and our Disney Experience, so bear with us just a few more days. We are currently soaking up the Happiest Place on Earth with our favorite two people in the world! ...