lil' stinker...

This morning while we were playing outside with some friends, I asked Avery to lay down in the grass so I could take her picture... imagine my surprise when she actually did!!!

still alive... still no 10on2sday

So... I could probably make this into a 10on2sday post, but I'm a bit tired and don't feel like it.  But I do want to share some of my favorite pictures from the last few days... I have a bajillion (yes, that is now a word...) to go through so maybe I'll get around to posting more... (hopefully)  I wouldn't hold your breath, though, since I still have Hawaii pictures I haven't touched...

But, really - we had such a great time this past weekend... as my Aunt put it... the kind that fills your heart and keeps it full for quite some time!

Hey!  (for the Arizona crew...)

Mom, I have to admit I'm glad we got the kids in this picture...

The 1st day...

In lieu of a 10 on 2sday post, I am finally getting around to posting Evan's 1st day of Kindergarten pictures!! 

He has been having a great time at school so far and has come home excited and ready for the next day!  I think he is loving the freedom and 'responsibility' he gets now.

It's definitely been an adjustment for us.  Mornings are certainly more chaotic getting everyone out of the house in time, and having him gone is just weird right now.  The first day the girls kept asking where Evan was, and I think we were all watching the clock that day.  They still ask for him.

The best quote I've seen in a while was from a friends' facebook status last week as all the kiddos were starting back to school: 
A Mother's job is to teach her children to not need her anymore. The hardest part of that job is accepting success!

 

 

 

10 on 2sday

1.  Last night we took Evan to his Kindergarten open house.

2.  I only almost cried twice.

3.  Today Evan and I went on our last lunch date before school starts... tomorrow.

4.  I savored every quirky thing he had to say...

5.  I took him to get his hair cut today.

6.  I did get tears in my eyes at one point as I thought about his very first hair cut, and how quickly the years passed by.  But I held them in.

7.  We laid out his clothes and backpack.

8.  I thought about how much he has matured over this summer.

9.  He is SO ready for Kindergarten tomorrow.

10.  And all I could think of as I kissed him goodnight, was wondering if I am ready for tomorrow...

VEGAS, baby!

Dan and I took a little weekend trip to Vegas, and here is a little peek into how we spent our time...

See... Vegas... except it looks TOTALLY boring during the day time (and from way up high):

waaaay more fun-looking...


mmm... Mimosa...

We ate at a place called Hash House a Go-Go...  the tagline to their restaurant is "where you go to over-eat" (or something similar to that)... the portion sizes are seriously ridiculous, but OH sooo good... just don't plan to finish your meal or you might go into cardiac arrest...

This was Dan's... mine looked far less 'pretty'

When we first drove to the strip it was so weird to see everything look so small, yet it was so ginormous.

There were plenty of interesting characters walking the streets... at all times of the day...

Case-in-point...

who let this guy in here????  ;)

As an after-thought, Dan was a little concerned about what else might have been placed in that hand at one time...

The strangest part of this trip was just how many small children were there.  I never would have imagined Vegas as a family vacation destination.  Not only did we see lots of small kids, but they were out late at night on the strip...

Now... when we left this show, we both commented that Evan would have loved to see it...

There were so many pretty things if you looked up...

This was my attempt at getting a nice shot of the Bellagio fountain... which I have to say, is a pretty amazing sight to see and hear... 

I had a chance to get a little girl time in...

I still haven't written my matron of honor speech... eeeek!!!

And spend some time with my favorite man...

(funny story about this picture... we took it standing in front of the mirror in our hotel room, and the first shot we took, we were looking at ourselves, not the camera.  Duh.  Ok, so that doesn't sound as funny after I just took the time to write it out, but oh well...)

Scrumdidlyumptious...

I just had a scrumptious salad tonight with dinner, thanks in part to the beautiful yellow and red tomatoes I pulled out of MY GARDEN!!!  I've been taking pictures of the progress of my garden, but haven't been real great at posting them (no surprise) - but really, the after product is the best picture anyway!!!  It's a far cry from my attempt last year!!!  :)

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.