212/365

Big bowl of rocky road ice cream...perfect end to an otherwise ridiculously hot underwhelmingly ordinary summer day. Drown the "sorrows" in chocolate, I say!

211/365

Day Two Hundred and Eleven.

Hard to tell by this picture but while I was babysitting Ellie's bff, Claire today...Ellie totally snagged Claire's blanket (they both have the same blankets thanks to babysteals ;) ). She was carrying around two so happily today, and sweet Claire was kind enough to share without a fuss!

210/365

Day Two Hundred and ten.

The sounds of summer...a cicada that apparently thought our fence was the perfect place to shed his shell...there are tons of these littering our backyard. But I love their "songs" at night!

209/365

Day Two Hundred and Nine..

When bedtime stories go bad...

The full story can be found here.

208/365

Day Two Hundred and Eight.

That's what almost two inches of rain in thirty minutes looks like if you forget to cover the sandbox up before coming inside...

207/365

Day Two Hundred and Seven.

At least someone in this house is a morning person :)

206/365

Day Two Hundred and Six.

It's so sweet when they play nicely together...they were having a blast splashing each other, this makes up for all the times recently I've pulled them off each other kicking and screaming ;)

205/365

Day Two Hundred and Five.

First butterfly of the season for me, and it was fun chasing him down while Gavin yelled at him, "Wait Mr. Butterfly! Come back here!" I'm sure that butterfly will never come back!

204/365

Day Two Hundred Four.

I love how he was checking his hair in the mirror during bath time tonight... :)

203/365

Day Two Hundred and Three.

 At horseback lessons today, the highlight was not sweet Joker the horse...it was the cat. Gavin loved this cat, and Ellie chased it yelling, "Meow Meow Meow"...

She threw a little fit when it was time to go back inside, she did not want to leave her new friend!

202/365

Day two hundred and two.

Gav pointed out the beautiful colors in tonight's sunset :) "look at the colored clouds Mama!!"

201/365

Day Two Hundred and One.

Sweet Lacey and her last sunset...she is our neighbor's beloved fourteen year old dog, and sadly, she has been having a rough last few months. They've decided the kindest thing for her is to have her put to sleep tomorrow. She will be truly missed, even by my kids, they love to talk to her and pet her every time they see her. Tonight my neighbor brought her over to let the kids say goodbye (as best a 3 and 1 year old can!)...Lacey enjoyed a last few barks and tail wags with Wallace and Gromit too. We'll miss you Lacey!

200/365

Day TWO HUNDRED.
(how on earth is it the middle of July already??)

Another Macro Monday...I think my zinnias provide me with entirely too many pictures, they are my favorite flowers though, so I guess that's fine :)

199/365

Day One Hundred Ninety-Nine.

What a contrast from yesterday! Plenty of sunshine for tonight's maternity session! I love this location! So peaceful! :)

198/365

Day One Hundred Ninety-Eight.

 Dinner guests...

Spaghetti woes.

The highlights of our rainy Saturday.

197/365

Day One Hundred Ninety-Seven.

That pretty much sums up today...and if I'd taken pictures of Gavin and his drama, it would've been lots of angry eyes and yelling NO! At least Ellie's drama is just tears and squeals right now!!

196/365

Day One Hundred Ninety-Six.

Week two of horseback lessons...Grooming was pretty fun but the best part was getting to go "fast"...

195/365

Day One Hundred Ninety-Five.

beef. it's what was dinner...

194/365

Day One Hundred Ninety- Four.

I don't usually want to use a picture from a session for my 365 blog, but this session was so much fun! (And exhausting- climbing up and down and around with 3 kids!) But, I love these kiddos and their mom is so much fun! She's the perfect client- she rocks at coming up with outfits for her kids, and has tons of fun props to bring with her to boot! Anyways- the full sneak peek will be up on my photography blog in just a few moments. Be sure to check it out!

193/365

Day One Hundred Ninety-Three.

I'm sure the nature shots are getting a little boring, but I had to do this one for today. It's my night blooming cereus cactus that has these beautiful delicious smelling blossoms for only a few hours early in the morning :)

192/365

Day One Hundred Ninety-Two.

Spotted this really nice iridescent green beetle in the grass tonight, ran back in for the macro and started taking shots and at the end, realized he was dead :( I wondered why it was staying so still!!

191/365

Day One Hundred Ninety-One.

After all the rain, my zinnias are really happy :)

190/365

Day One Hundred Ninety!

Hmmm...give Ellie a fork for the first time and this is what she does....feeds Wallace her dinner ;)

189/365

Day One Hundred Eighty-Nine.

Gavin started horseback lessons today-they were in heaven! They got to bathe Joker (the sweet guy above), groom him a little, feed him treats, and of course ride him. Gavin seemed to enjoy it, next time they're even going to get tractor rides!!

188/365

Day One Hundred Eighty-eight.

Not a fan of firetrucks anymore....After the honked they horn without giving a warning- he was terrified of the trucks!

187/365

Day One Hundred Eighty-Seven.

I spent part of the afternoon just playing with Ellie after her nap while big brother watched a movie...she was being so sweet with her doll, Lila...

Me- "Ellie, what are you doing with your baby?"

Ellie-"Miwk! Miwk! Miwk!! (her word for milk...)I'm guessing she was attempting to nurse Lila...though after this she was walking around with a baby bottle and Lila seemed quite content!  What's your secret Ellie??- you never would take a bottle!! ;)

186/365

Day One Hundred Eighty-Six.

Enjoying the last bit of sunshine today!!

185/365

Day One Hundred Eighty-Five.

Happy Fourth of July! We enjoyed a big fireworks show at one of the casino's tonight (from the parking lot!)
I'm a nervous person around fireworks- and it didn't help that there were all sorts of crazies shooting them off in the parking lot before the actual show(and not just bottle rockets...I swear I think there should be a permit for the big ones...but we survived!) Gavin loved them, Ellie was unsure...overall, it was worth the drive and dragging the kiddos out way after bedtime I think!!

184/365

Day One Hundred Eighty-Four.

Ellie and Gavin had fun playing in the sand box while dinner (tuna steaks) was on the grill :) Gav dumped several buckets of sand on her when he thought I wasn't watching...luckily she just giggled!!
I took these with my new-ish 35mm f/2 lens. I'm loving it a lot right now for the wider angle! Sometimes I feel too close with the 50!!

183/365

Day One Hundred Eighty-Three.

We took Gavin to see his first movie today, Toy Story 3. I had grand plans of documenting the whole thing- but Gavin was a handful and this was the best I could get while we waited to go into the theater. He loved that popcorn, he kept reaching his little hand down in the bucket...he was mostly good for the movie, he keeps asking to watch it at home, so he must have enjoyed it.

182/365

Day One Hundred Eighty-Two.

Tried a little experiment today with my remote and new tripod. I got one of those cool grippy tripods like this...
I attached it to the middle seat rest in the back of the van...and using the remote (at stop lights and when we first left their school)...got these shots of Ellie on the way home... I would take like 4 in a row, but the first 10 or so were the most amusing as she ripped her bow off and then gave the camera a death stare :)