212/365

Day Two Hundred and Twelve.

This was the face he made at me as he tried to army crawl towards me. He's smiling but I feel like crying. Why must he grow up so fast?!? For what it's worth...he's better at army crawling backwards...the big kids think that's hilarious for some reason ;)

211/365

Day Two Hundred Eleven.

My dad mentioned mowing the grass today. I knew that meant if I was going to capture any of the mushrooms growing in the yard (thanks to all the rain), today was the day.
So I shimmied up and down and all around their yard this morning, taking plenty of mushroom macros. I never found the stereotypical red with white dots, but had fun with what I saw. Of course the internet was entirely too slow to share more than one ;) Gavin thought they were cool, he said bugs and mice and critters can hide under them when it rains...I think maybe he's seen one too many Disney movies ;)

210/365

Day Two Hundred Ten.

Another early start. Crazy kids and dogs equaled me strolling around way too early. Loved all the dew everywhere though :)

209/365

Day Two Hundred and Nine.

Owen enjoyed his visit with Mimmie. He cooed and giggled and wiggled all across her floor. (Sadly, he can almost get up on all fours! Right now it's all the way up on his knees and elbows...and I'm reminded that his big sister was crawling at 6 months.)

His big brother enjoyed Papa's tractor, we had to drag him off of it in fact :)

208/365

Day Two Hundred and Eight.

I tried to find the beauty in just about everything today, but it was one of those days where the kids were insane and I just needed a break. I wandered out into the hot and sticky, mosquito- ridden outdoors today quite a bit. I got plenty of more traditional flower shots but thought the underside of this zinnia was captivating for some reason . I guess it's not always what's most visible to the world that is the most interesting {to me anyways}. Just my reminder to myself to dig deeper. Try to see both sides of the story.

Hopefully the macros aren't getting too old. I'm honestly not in the mood to shoot pictures of my kids. I'll just say everyone has managed to find my last nerve today and fray it just a little bit more. Even the dogs. I'm hoping a visit to my grandparent's house tomorrow puts me in a better, more pleasant mood :)

207/365

Day Two Hundred and Seven.

This picture took an hour to upload. I think I may have to go to text only blog updates until I head home :( I'm too impatient for this slow computer/slow internet. Boo.

206/365

Day Two Hundred and Six.

Phew. I'm not sure how much the blog will be updated while I'm home. This "high speed" internet my parent's have is a joke. It has taken 2 hours to get this post up.
All that complaining to say, I love being home, wandering around the garden, sometimes with helpers, sometimes without. And I made it home in time for the black-eyed susans :)
Hopefully, the internet will cooperate a bit more for me tomorrow!

204/365

Day Two Hundred and Four.




Ellie girl is at the beginning of the "princess" stage I think. She found these dress-up shoes of our niece, and could hardly be pried out of them. She even went to bed in one of them tonight (after losing one somewhere).
I bought her a set of them and can't wait to see if she loves them as much!

203/365

Day Two Hundred and Three.





There's really no words for this. I finally made it back to Tuscaloosa, almost 3 months after the terrible tornado that destroyed half of my college town. I felt so displaced and sad, I can't imagine what it was like that day and in the following days for everyone. :(

202/365

Day Two Hundred and Two.



This cup belonged to Andrew when he was little and Gavin is obsessed with it. He only wants to drink from this cup. (I think someone misses Daddy a bit but won't admit it!)
*Update, sadly Gavin dropped the cup and it being 25+ years old, it broke despite being plastic. Just like the plate we used to have that matched :( He was devastated, and thankfully Poppy was able to glue it back together, it doesn't really hold water well but he is happy to have it back to play with at least!*

mobile blogging

I'll probably be mobile blogging for a few days/week or so while I'm out of town. :) Looking forward to a trip home!!

200/365

Day Two Hundred.

Gavin is ob.sessed with camping lately. So I used the last bit of his birthday money to buy him a pretend camping set. He built his "campfire" and then roasted his "marshmallows".

And Owen let me know how he felt about the jumperoo. Or maybe this was his opinion of the day?Or his {almost} in tooth? Ehh...let's just say little man has been uncharacteristically UNhappy today.

199/365

Day One Hundred Ninety-Nine.

O tried cereal for the first time today {not a fan!}...it's kind of our time honored tradition of Daddy feeding them first, see this post. It's a comparison of all G and E at 4 months (Owen is 4 months still and it's amazing seeing how alike they all look!) And after breakfast, Daddy had to leave :( It's going to be lonely around here- but we have tons of stuff planned to keep us busy and hopefully not too quiet!

198/365

Day One Hundred Ninety-Eight.

Ellie's first braided pigtails :)

Tonight was the birthday party of our sweet next door neighbor. The kids had a blast at the swim party. We got a little worried, it rained twice today when it hasn't rained almost all summer! But the party had great weather! The other picture is of Olive holding the card Gavin drew on for her. He drew a picture of her and wrote her name... We're still working on that whole writing thing ;)

197/365

Day One Hundred Ninety-Seven.

Sweet boy just loves bath time. We've been experimenting with A holding him and us washing him really quick with ALL the kids in the bath. Ellie LOVES to help try and wash him! Gavin too! But it can quickly get overwhelming and I HAVE to have A's help, so I'm sure we'll be moving back to Owen only baths very soon. :-/ But he's enjoyed it while it's lasted!

196/365

Day One Hundred Ninety-Six.

We had our MOPS steering retreat tonight and on our way back from getting ice cream, we stopped for me to take a picture of the skyline across the Red River. I took a very similar picture last year, but wanted to try it again :) We had a blast tonight, but I'm definitely missing the big kids. (Owen is with us because he doesn't do bottles but he's being a sweet boy so far!!)

195/365

Day One Hundred Ninety-Five.

This picture problem doesn't do anything for anyone but me. A even asked why I had a picture of the back of Owen's head... it's his so sweet little bald spot. I love it. I love to scoop him up and kiss him on it, the big kids rub on it if he's having tummy time (gently). It's just such an endearing little detail of him that will be gone far too soon. Once he can sit up on his own, his hair will grow back and cover it up :( And that's just more proof he is growing up too fast!

194/365

Day One Hundred Ninety-four.

Gavin came busting into the house after dinner with this {dead} wasp? thing. At first I was all..."No No don't touch it might sting you!".
And he yelled, "it's dead mama! Can I CRUSH it??" and I almost said yes. But then I said, "No No let Mama take a picture first" ;)

So it's dead. And I don't know what it is/was. But it did make for a fun macro.

193/365

Day One Hundred Ninety-Three.

He had all eyes on me...until Gavin came by to show him a picture he'd drawn (of dinosaurs)...

OH, and I'm totally excited that I was featured on one of my favorite photography blogs today.
Check it out here on The Maternal Lens.

192/365

Day One Hundred Ninety-two.

It's my motto anyways- but it came in handy at tonight's maternity/family session. Let's just say- I'm pretty sure I'm never shooting downtown ever again. For assorted reasons!

191/365

Day One Hundred Ninety-One.

Off to save the day. Tons more to come on the family blog ;)

190/365

Day One Hundred Ninety.



She fell asleep in the floor at 10 am. Life is rough when you're two. Too bad I couldn't join you sister. Mama could've used a nap then too!

189/365

Day One Hundred Eighty-Nine.

The kid is like a sand box magnet...thankfully today she refrained from eating it like she does at home...She had fun playing with friends this morning at an especially hot play date. Unfortunately, the kiddos didn't want to nap at all once we were home, not even Owen. So I was exhausted all afternoon and now at 11 pm have insomnia. Fabulous! :)

188/365

Day One Hundred Eighty-Eight.

I got up at 5:15 this morning, all because a dear friend knew exactly what would cheer me up. She texted me yesterday and said, "you seem down, let's go to the blueberry farm!" Being a photography geek like me, she also knew I wouldn't mind going at the crack of dawn; both because we were both craving delicious sunrise light for our pictures but also b/c she is 9 months pregnant and after 7 am it's pretty miserable in Louisiana ;)

So we packed up our kiddos and headed out to the blueberry farm. I'll do a giant post on the family blog later and feel free to stop by her Project 365 and compliment her awesome shots too! :) And she was right- all I needed was an afternoon editing fun shots like this and I'm in an amazingly better mood :) Sometimes taking a break for personal projects is so worth it!

187/365

Day One Hundred Eighty-Seven.

Sometimes I just look at them and think...they are too cute and imaginative for their own good. :)
Gavin stole Owen's blanket today and wanted a super hero cape, Ellie had to copy big brother. They were both not happy for long since the blankies wouldn't stay tied. But while it lasted, they had fun flying around the living room, begging me to be a bad guy ;).

They will probably be beyond excited when my kidsteals.com find from yesterday makes it here!! I was going to save it for Christmas but I don't think I'll make it that long ;) (If you don't feel like clicking the link- just know it's super hero capes/mask sets for the big kids)

And yes- Ellie had a fwa there for a little while even though she's been so good about just nap/night time the past few weeks. Apparently super heroes need fwas ;)

186/365

Day One Hundred Eighty-Six.

not a happy day for little man. mean old teeth.

185/365

Day One Hundred Eighty-Five.

Right before the sky fell out and the rain poured down, (Thank God for rain we so desperately needed!) I dragged the kiddos outside and made Daddy cut up the watermelon {before dinner}. Ellie girl enjoyed her watermelon until big brother decided he didn't like it, and then it was hard to convince her that she really did like it (sigh). But I got the picture proof I needed to compare to last year at least, and as a bonus- everyone crowded in for Owen's tummy time, and I have an updated "all my children" picture.

P.s. here's Ellie girl last year with her watermelon...

184/365

Day One Hundred Eighty-Four.



Sprinkles {and the delicious ice cream they covered} really do make everything better.

183/365

Day One Hundred Eighty-Three.

Oh how she enjoyed the cupcake at her best friend Claire's birthday party. :) Look for more of Claire's party on the business blog later!

182/365

Day One Hundred Eighty-Two.

The year is half-way over. I can't believe it. Sort of like I can't believe that Owen is four months old today. Or that he looks so different from this picture below (which seems like it was yesterday!)