This Is Life

Meet Paul.  He’s about to venture in one of the most memorable years of his life…senior year!

Paul is a great kid.  He loves football and listening to music and he’s really looking forward to his senior year.

Would you look at those gorgeous blue eyes!  Paul, I think the ladies at school are going to like this one!  (Did I just say, “the ladies will will like it”…I’m gettin’ old!)

Paul chose to go to Monument Park for his photos.  There were tons of cool areas.  I like these next few, in front of the massive monument doors, the best.

Hello yearbook picture…

Paul was kind of the strong, silent type.  But he seemed to relax a bit more after he put on his Steelers jersey.  (And no, my husband is not happy about having a Steelers jersey on our blog…) 

I think we called this one his “bad-ass” pose.

Wait, no. It was this one. For sure.

“Show some teeth, for your mom.”  Good job, Paul. 

Congratulations, and GOOD LUCK Paul!!

We had an awesome time in Hilton Head this year and I have lots of photos to share.  Last year, when we returned home from vacation, I wrote down a quick “Top 10″ list of my favorite moments.  I’ve looked back on it lots of times this past year and it’s made me smile. So this year, I made a “Top 10″ again, in the hopes of evoking a smile, especially when we’re up to our eyeballs in snow this winter.  In no particular order, here is my HHI Top 10…

#1. Laughing, a lot.  Life has been so busy with a newborn and three kids, I loved just laughing.

#2. Watching my girls jump in the pool.  I was so proud of their bravery and Anna cracked me up.  She would stand at the edge,waiting for me to catch her, pointing her little finger at me saying, “Are you ready?  (Except in “Anna talk” it sounds like “weady”) Weady, mommy, Weady?  Weady?” 

#3. Peeking at my boy while he slept in the pack-n-play in the room we shared.

#4. Breathing, relaxing, calmly holding each of my children, at separate times, on the balcony while looking at the ocean.

#5. Going out to dinner.  Okay, this one was a stressful memory, but SO our life right now.  Everyone HUNGRY, baby tired, hot, eat-as-fast-as-you-can, hurry the girls along, minimize crying, leave restaurant ASAP with meals that either a) went uneaten, or b) were not enjoyed…Also a nice reminder of why we like to stay in for dinner on vacation.

#6. Spending the week and some good quality time with my parents.

#7. Inside jokes that we ran into the ground…i.e. Cate’s “You’ll freak your head off!”, or Anna’s “It’s the bestiest as a shooting star!”, or Dad’s, “That’s a good little program!”

#8. Holding my baby boy while he slept, on the beach.  Pure heaven.

#9. My surfer girls.  The girls LOVED the ocean this year!  And watching Corey play with the kids too.

#10. My birthday on the beach.  My kids showered me with love, my Mama made me dinner, my husband took me out for a beer. Excellent.

Phew! It’s been a busy week here at our house! And I promise beach photos are coming soon!  For now, here’s a post I’ve had ready for a while, just now getting around to posting it!  Have a great weekend, all!

A few weeks ago we tried cereal with our big fella.  As you may have guessed, he LOVED it.  I mean, he loved it like a fat kid loves cake!  I remember the girls taking a good two weeks of trying before they were able to get any of that cereal stuff even in their mouths!  Not William.  He had it down from the first spoonful.

The girls love to “help” feed him.  They LOVE it, and Will doesn’t seem to mind, so long as no one takes too long getting the next spoonful to his mouth. 

Now, he’s up to 2 meals a day, eating apples, pears, squash, sweet potatoes, and hopefully, carrots tonight!  Oh! And he’s in the big boy high chair too! (And if you were wondering,  yes, he is always this happy). 

The other morning I came into the kitchen to this adorable site.  Both girls love to help Corey make coffee and on this morning, I loved the way the sun was shining on this little ritual.  I’ll admit, some days I scream…like “Can I get a little peace and quiet?!” or “Isn’t it bed time yeeeeet?!”. But lately, I find myself yelling, “Stop it!  Someone please stop making my kids grow up so fast!” I just love each of their stages right now, and some days I have trouble catching my breath as I try to keep up with savoring every moment of each of their stages.

So, we’re just back from an amazing week spent at the beach, and (surprise, surprise) I have lots of photos to share!  But first, you have to see these photos of our friends Taylor, Joanna, Noah, Grace and Hope, a beautiful family I had the chance to hang out with before vacation.

Oh my…where do I even start with this delightful family?! They are bursting with love, they are happy and finally, complete.  After having two wonderful children, they discovered that they had more love to give.  They learned about children in Ethiopia and their need for safety, family, love and hope.  And so, meet Hope.  She is 9 months old and is one happy, and lucky, little girl.

Grace was taking my picture here. 

Noah and Grace are super cute with their new baby sister.  Seriously, can’t ya just feel the love?!!

Big brother, Noah.

Little/Big Sister, Gracie.

Taylor and Joanna have waited a long time to have their three babies all together. Priceless.

Sisters.

As the story goes, Joanna saw a photo of an orphan in a yellow dress and that’s when she knew.  Many months, delays and disappointments later, Joanna now has her sweet baby girl in her arms, in a yellow dress.

I know! Those eyes! Those cheeks!! How do you not just want to eat this baby up!

Love.

Thank you so much {W} family.  Your love and your family are simply beautiful.

So…finally…some Anna-birthday-photos! We had such a fun time celebrating our little Bugga’s birthday this year!  We started the day off with a birthday donut…

Sharing with Big Sis+eating on the counter = lots of fun!

On her actual birthday, our little family of 5 went to play at “Pump It Up”, it’s one of those giant-inflatable-bouncy-house-places.  It was SO MUCH FUN!  The girls had a blast!  After, we went to a super fancy dinner at McDonalds, or as Anna says, “Old McDonalds”.

Then home for a birthday cupcake, with 3 candles, to make it official.

The next day we had Anna’s birthday party. It was, as you may have guessed, a Cinderella party.  My mom and I have started a tradition of making, no, creating the kids birthday cakes.  There’s something so special about having a little time together with my mom, on the birth day of my own kids.  Here is our Cinderella creation…

This is Anna seeing her for the first time. She LOVED it!

The party…sorry for some of the teeny tiny photos, there were so many, I just had to include them all!

And some of the amazing people that helped to make her birthday so special.

Anna had a fantastic 3rd birthday!  She is so loved by so many people and for that, we are thankful.

Oh, and if you’re thinking of making a Cinderella cake someday, be careful…turns out Cinderella Barbie is a bit of a party girl.  At first, she wanted us to leave her sticking out of the cake all scantily clad, and by the end of the night, we couldn’t keep her away from the booze!

Oh {C} Family, how I loved getting to know you all!  You were so fun and easy to talk to, you put me at ease from the very start.

Meet Bill, Nancy, Billy, Taylor and Maya.

They are laid back, silly, and fun!

These three kiddos were SO GOOD!  You know how you can tell right away if kids are going to be, you know, good…or not.  These kids were goooooood.  Nice, funny, respectful…

Oh, and super cute too!

Love these next two.

Big brother, Billy.  I owe Billy, big time! He saved my life from a giant human eating frog!  Well, there was a frog. And I did almost sit on it.  And Billy did pick it up for me, and put it back in the water.

Beautiful Taylor.  Taylor reminded me a bit of my oldest daughter, in that she was full of things to say.

Little Maya.  Maya was somewhat unimpressed with my jokes, but smiled for me all the same.

Thanks you guys! I had so much fun photographing you and getting to know you!  I’m already looking forward to our next time!

“Making the decision to have a child is monumental.  It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.”

So, here are the rest of the photos of beautiful baby Eva.

Eva is the daughter of our best friends Emily and Kevin.  They have survived their fist year of parenthood and I must say, have done an amazing job!  Eva is a happy (and very lucky) girl!

Eva is just on the verge of walking, this made it nice for photos since she couldn’t run away too fast!

This is sooooo a one-year-old stance…wide legs, hands out and ready, curious eyes…

Eva’s Grammy wanted a photo of her granddaughter with some flowers…I’m thinking she’ll like this one. 

Gwaaahhh!! I just LOVE this last series.

Eva’s necklace is the one her Mama wore at her wedding.  Good idea, Em!

Such. a. beauty!

Em and Kevin, thanks so much for trusting me with these photos of your beautiful baby girl.  She is awesome and your family is simply adorable.

It’s hard to believe that 3 years ago today, our beautiful little Anna arrived into this world.  If memory serves, the very first thing I said about my daughter, just after she was born, and  was screaming at the nice nurses were cleaning her up, was “Oh!  That one is feisty!”.  And three years later, our first impression holds true…this one is feisty!  She’s also cuddly and sweet, kind and loving, silly and giggly, dramatic and imaginative, smart and stubborn, and some day, she’s going to set this world on fire!

If you know Anna, you know that in her 3rd year she’s had an obsession with Cinderella (or, as she says, “Cindawella”).  So it seemed only natural that for her birthday photo shoot, she got to be Cinderella. Needless to say, she loooooooved it!

It was actually hard to get her to smile because she was so in character!

Waiting for her prince…

Not that I could choose a “favorite”, but if I had to this one would be it… It’s just so “Anna” to me.

Well, this one’s very “Anna” too. She’s SO silly and giggly and always has a different expression on her face.

How cute is this…The first thing she said after opening up her new Cinderella dress was, “Did we get a new prince dress for daddy to be my prince?!”

Love love love this girl.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Baby Girl!

Baby Dylan is likely to be Will’s best friend.  Both Dylan’s daddy, Scott, and Corey grew up sailing together at Atwood Lake. Dylan’s pretty mommy, Abby, and I have already discussed the possibility of trouble the boys may get in to.  Here is the sweet boy at 4 months (he’s almost 5 months now…yes, it’s taken me that long to post these picts).

Love the drooly-baby-can’t-keep-fingers-out-of-mouth-stage. 

Dylan’s daddy, Scott, is a huge Marley fan.  This one was for him.

We took a little lunch break in the middle of the session and while he eats, Baby D rubs his hand all over his little head.  It is SO cute!!

And just a few of D and his mama…

Thanks for coming over, Dylan, Abby and Dylan’s Nana!   I loved getting to visit with you and take some photos too!  Looking forward to the next time!