10 on 2sday

1.  Today is the girls' 1/2 birthday.  2-1/2 years.

2.  So the girls are continually asserting their independence these days.  Sometimes in ways I don't really care for...  (surprise, surprise)

ie: soap in a 2 year old hands is essentially soap all over the bathroom...

3.  I suppose I should explain that the hand washing by themselves isn't necessarily a bad thing, but they are helping themselves without my knowledge... and that's what leads to soap all over the bathroom.  floor.  toilet.  sink.  their bodies.

4.  I'm guessing potty training is coming around the corner for us.  Last week Avery has requested to do her business on the potty, and actually went.  I don't want to get into the graphics of it, but... you know what I mean... Not long after, it was Brynn who was asking to do the same thing.  It hasn't happened again for the past few days, but who knows.

5.  Today marks the 1 year anniversary of when I had my first hired photo shoot.  It's totally fitting that I had my first senior photo shoot of the season tonight!!  I can't wait to post the sneak peek!!!

6.  We took the family to Adventureland over the weekend for Dan's company family day.   Here are my favorite pics of each of the kiddos:

8.  This was the ride that Evan was the most excited to go on.  The girls got excited to ride it too...

9.  Brynn and Evan had a blast...  Avery did not.

10.  I'll close with this:

...which is what I want to be doing now... except I think I'll try not to fall out of bed.



didya notice I skipped a number?  I just did when I previewed it.  but I'm not gonna fix it...

10 on 2sday

whooo boy... where to begin...

1.  It's entirely possible the girls weren't the ones who dismantled the door knob cover.  A couple days after the incident Evan made some random comment about getting stuck in the girls' room.  We asked him if he was the one who took the cover off and he answered yes.  We never really know what that means.  It could mean yes.  It could mean no.  It could mean he's just running us through the ringer.  I put the cover back on the door knob and they haven't escaped since...

2.  Yesterday was Dan's birthday.  We did a family celebration over the weekend, and yesterday I pulled off the first surprise of our marriage.  (I am terrible at keeping surprises from Dan).  I dropped the kiddos at daycare and stole Dan from work to take him to lunch.  Not a big shocker or anything, but it wasn't something we've ever had a chance to do... When he got home from work... we had our obligatory 'dance-in-the-kitchen-to-red-skies-at-night'.  The girls think he's pretty awesome.  I agree.

3.  Evan picked out Dan's birthday cake this year... 

4.  In the past few weeks I've been to my friends bridal shower (well, technically I helped host it) and another friends wedding and I didn't take a SINGLE PICTURE at either event!!  Now THAT is news.  I must admit, it was nice being able to just enjoy the time and not worry about being the photographer... there were plenty of others documenting the events, so I just got to sit back and enjoy!  


5.  The kiddos had swim lessons a couple weeks ago.  I ended up having them all in private lessons.  I had planned it that way for the girls - that way I could be in the water with their instructor and it could be one on one.  They all did great!  I can't even describe the pride I felt when Evan 'conquered his fear' and went off the diving board by himself.  By the end of the two weeks he was running and jumping off!

Seriously... this hair...

6.  This is one of the many reasons I should never try to be productive while the girls are awake:

This has happened enough times that I should know better... and yes, we have tried locking the pantry... it didn't work.

7.  Evan starts kindergarten in less than a month.  Yes I just said that.

8.  I have been working on cutting pop back out of my diet.  I knew I had a problem when I was starting to drink 2 pops a day last month.  I've been doing alright with it... and most importantly, I'm not beating myself up for having a pop once a week now.

9.  Evan was supposed to have surgery this week to remove the tubes in his ears.  They've been in there for over four years now and it's time to get them out... but he has swimmers ear right now, so the doctor postponed the surgery.  He had some drainage that cleared on its own a couple weeks ago, and the doctor couldn't see the tube in that ear... so I'm hoping there is a chance the tube in the other ear will finally plop out on its own and we can avoid the surgery all-together!!

10.  We have been having some nasty hot and humid weather around here and last week we had a storm roll in and provide a little short-term relief... with the storm were some of the craziest clouds I've ever seen...

Pumpkin.

this is what we're up against...

We thought we were smart.

Slow. 

But smart.

Ever since Brynn figured out how to open doors several weeks ago, we've been struggling with 5am wake up calls and trying to keep her in bed at night.

Well this week was the final straw. 

Last weekend we had the kids in bed, and settled in to watch a movie.  Red Riding Hood.  (good movie, a little scary)  Perhaps the scariest part was the first time the big bad wolf was revealed and came terrorizing through the town.

And then a silent moment in the movie...

...broken by the whisper of a 2 year old...
 
scary tiger...

Dan and I looked behind us, then at each other...  

oh crap.

she discovered the world doesn't stop when she goes to bed.

{Side note: I was about 6 or 7 when I first made that discovery.  We were at Hume Lake over New Year's and I remember waking up sometime in the middle of the night and realizing NO ONE WAS AROUND except me and my younger cousin.  Found out later they were all ringing in the new year... WITHOUT ME!}

So we worked on getting Brynn back to bed.

Fast forward a few days later and she does the same thing.  (she is a stealthy, stealthy child)

Except this time she won't go back to bed and it became a game to her. 

We didn't want to do it, but reluctantly decided she needed to be "locked" in her room using one of those door knob protector things on the inside door of the girls' room.

It was a glorious two days.

The first day they slept (or stayed in their room, whatever) until 7am.  The next day it was 6:30am. 

Those were the good ol' days. 

Today.

They dismantled the darn thing.

This picture...

...represents about 85% of the pictures I have of Avery.  Blurry, out of focus, and doing what she does best... running away when I have the camera around.

just a picture...

...one of my favorites from 4th of July... just as the sun was setting before we watched the fireworks...

10 on 2sday

1.  I know I'm not supposed to wish away these younger years with my kids... but I sure am ready to be past the terrifying parts of it where the girls don't understand danger and think it's funny to run away from you...

into a parking lot...

with lots of people leaving at the same time...

which happened...

last week...

as we were leaving the pool...

2.  HeeeEEEEeeeY!  Speaking of the pool... I've taken all 3 kiddos a couple times now!

It's a big deal for me!

As you might be able to tell with all the exclamation points!!!!!!!!!!

I have a wonderful friend who is willing to help me watch one of the girls, so there is always an adult with them.  Evan gets to run off by himself.  Thankfully he does well on his own.

3.  Last week while we were at the pool Brynn was paying close attention to all the sunbathers at the edge of the pool... and decided to join them...  I debated whether or not to run and grab my phone for a picture...

I'm sure glad I did. 

4.  I've been thinking of going back to work more and more these days.  I had a chance to apply for a part time job recently, but ultimately I ended up not pursuing it.  Too many work days...  but it's odd how just 3 years ago I would have KILLED for a job with the hours I turned down.

5.  We decided not to list our house this summer.  Too many reasons to go into on this blog, but at least we made a decision...

6.  Dan and I got to take Evan to see Cars 2 last week...

(notice his shoes on the wrong feet?  He says he likes it that way...)

7.  After nearly 3 years without an actual desk... I finally got one last week!!!  (that's big news in my world!)  I still have to work on getting all my stuff sorted and in place, but it feels GREAT to have a dedicated work space (that isn't our old kitchen table)!

8.  We took the kids to their first official fireworks display last night (read: legal).  They loved it, all but the mosquito bites... mostly they loved the freedom to run while we waited for the show to start...

9.  I enjoyed the chance to shoot some fireworks after reading tons of 'how to's' on the blogs I read.  Here's my favorite...

10.  Avery still doesn't open doors yet.  (really, why would she?, her sister can...)  It's only a problem for her when they start playing in the closet and Brynn decides she should stay there...

He's in my heart

I'm not sure why I never posted this, but last month I had a super sweet conversation with Evan and typed it into a blog post that I never posted...



Evan:  Jesus is really in my heart

Me: how do you know?

Evan: I asked him

Me: when did you do that?

Evan: I don't really know, but I love him very much

Me: well, I am glad he is in your heart

Evan: Tomorrow, when I wake up in the morning, I am going to ask God too, I want them both in my heart.


My sweet, sweet little man...

10 on 2sday

1.  Brynn opens doors now.  We've been enjoying our time up until now just waiting until they finally figured it out.... I was hoping that nap and bed time in their big girl beds would be so routine, that by the time they figured out how to open doors it wouldn't be an issue coming out of their rooms at those times.  Not so.

2.  It's creepy.  Brynn is my stealthy child.  One day after nap she opened her door without me hearing it, so when I started walking towards the bedrooms and saw a small child standing in the hallway, I got a little creeped out...

3.  The other problem with Brynn opening doors...  she is the one that leaves the room, and she closes the door behind her leaving a screaming, upset Avery behind...  oh the life with twins...

4.  Potty training sucks.  It was miserable with Evan, and I'm not looking forward to it with the girls.  Avery asks me all the time to go sit on the toilet and go potty.  Some times I oblige, other times I try to change the subject.  She never actually does anything, she just likes to play around in the bathroom.

Until one day.

She peed.

Then she decided she no longer wanted to wear a diaper.  So we went and bought big girl panties.  I washed them.  I dried them.  I pulled a pair out of the dryer for Avery and she put them on immediately.  That lasted about 30 seconds and then she took them off, handed them back to me and said "ah done!"

5.  Speaking of being "ah done," I've been considering buying stock in bandaids these days at the rate in which Avery goes through them.  Evan has never wanted anything to do with bandaids.  Avery LOVES them.  Brynn is completely indifferent.

6.  Evan's filter is broken... or just non-existent.  He has been pointing out (literally) physical characteristics of strangers that non-5-year-olds would find rather rude and offensive.  *insert large sigh right here*

7.  Evan's last t-ball game was tonight.  Me and the girls didn't go.  Partly because his game crossed over their bedtime.  Mostly because it's too much work keeping them out of trouble...

8.  We finally got our fence fixed!! 

9.  If you need pumpkins this fall... plan to come to my house...

10.  I've been making some changes to my photography blog... slowly... I also recently did my first newborn session, and LOVED how it turned out!!

Hawaii :: the Flowers

again... I can't think of any words...

Happy Birthday, Joslyn

Happy Birthday to my sweet niece who turns 7 today.  We got a chance to do a little mini 'session' last weekend at my parents house and I was so excited for a chance to capture her gorgeous blue eyes!  She is such a beautiful little lady with a personality to match!

Lots of love to you, Joslyn ~ I wish I could sing you happy birthday in person today...