A Story

I have been cleaning up my pictures in the past couple of days. Just sorting through them, trying to delete the ones I don't want to keep. I am not doing so well. You see, I have a story in all of them. Even the duplicate ones. They all tell a story that is etched deep in my heart.

This one is a favorite. Thanksgiving Day 2011. Children praying before their meal. It is such a beautiful sight and I remember how in sync they were with one another. Praying. That is in itself a wonderful story.

This picture is just happy. Blowing kisses to a Daddy who watches from afar. Giving it her all to make sure the kiss gets there. Sweet.

Eyes. These eyes look at me all the time. Deep into me. The story to be told here goes something like this. "You are my mommy and I love you. You make everything better and for that, I am so thankful." Little girl, if you only knew how much better you make things for me.

A true love story. Two girls being read to by their Nana. Looking at her like there is no place they would rather be right at that moment. Listening to every word that comes from her mouth and knowing that voice is full of love.

A Pair. Oh, they are such a pair. I giggle when seeing this picture. How wonderful that, at this young age, they do exactly what their mommy tells them. Right down to the cotton ball tails I made sitting at our kitchen table. Watching daddy fuss at me because I want to catch that perfect shot. Telling me that I need to calm down. It will come. He's right. I just hate to admit it.

Music Together. These girls love their music class. We play the CD over and over. Sleeping in the car is the new favorite. Watching them act it out is just priceless.

Little boys walking with their mommy to see the parade. Excited and anticipating the grand finale. And when the grand finale gets here, their shy way of clinging to mommy.



Celebrating Birthday's with loved ones. It really doesn't get any better than this. Blowing out those candles with that one most important wish. That secret that only they know.

Of course not all pictures come with the perfect story. Much like our life, we have speed bumps. We have to back up and start again. A LOT. Our life isn't perfect. Nothing is. But it is our story and we wait, with great anticipation for each chapter to begin. Some chapters are more exciting than others, but we are the story. The good and the bad. All of it. The best part of it all? We write our own story. I can tell you one thing. I love my/our story. Each chapter is special to me and I am writing this book with a wonderful husband. Together, our story is full of love, laughter and heartbreak. But, we just keep going. Reading and writing, because in the end, it is a wonderful, amazing story.



All Good Things

must come to an end. Isn't that how the saying goes? I guess, but in our case, they are just beginning. Where shall I start?

Here,

We are back to just the four of us. Our company has left. We are still smiling. Good food and conversation were the setting for the grown ups and lots of play and laughter brought smiles to the kiddos all weekend long. We had such a wonderful time. All of us. I have never understood how such a good time can take forever to get here and in a flash it is over. Kind of like vacation. You wait all year long. Anticipation and excitement and then bam, it's here. You blink and it is over. I am sad it is over, but looking forward to our next adventure. Miss you guys.

Our girls had sad hearts when they left, so we opted to make the afternoon lots of fun. With beautiful skies and warm weather, everyone had the same idea we did. We finally found a park that had two swings open and we were off. The Bean has taken up with her monkey. It goes everywhere with us. Swinging is no exception. The Bear forgot about the swings when she saw the slide and ducks.

                                                                      Great shot daddy



They are so different, my two. I love it. The both bring something different to our family. Occasionally we will catch a day when they are both on the same page.It doesn't happen very often, but when it does, I can't stop smiling. Yesterday was one of those days. My sweet girls. My heart. Outside my body.

We are back to our normal, weekly routine. I am refreshed and the weather is beautiful. It feels good and we have so much to look forward to. So many good things to come. We have a beach trip planned in a few weeks. The grandmas are going. It is going to be so much fun. Easter is creeping upon us too. What a wonderful time of year. The good Lord has blessed us with so much. No ending for us. Just beginnings.

Happy Week.

The fun has begun

Uncle Andrew, Aunt Sarah and "baby" Landon are here. We are having so much fun. I don't want to think about them leaving. It makes me sad. Our home is filled with all kinds of extra laughter and love. Just the way I like it folks.

This little fella has stolen my heart. He is in one word, edible. Oh, my. Yummy.

Lot's more to come.

Go Fly a Kite

And that is just what we did.

On one of our semi-warm days a week ago, Daddy pulled out our $ flag. For the record, I stink at flying a kite. He, on the other hand is just great at it. It is so much fun to watch the girls when they are witnessing something for the very first time. How in the world did that flag stay up in the air? Would the birds eat it? The questions were endless. The Bear really got into it. The Bean, not so much. The sand table was more her speed.

I think I lost 5lbs that day running with my camera in tow trying to catch the perfect shot. Do you know how hard that is? Shew.

We hope to find a good flag when we head to the beach in May. I feel certain we will have some pretty good winds in South Carolina. But for the moutnains of Virgina, it wasn't too shabby.

So, the next time someone tells you to Go Fly a Kite. Do it. Trust me. Good Times, I tell ya. I know two little girls that had a great time.

Meet Tiny and Easter....

These sweet bunnies have come to live with us until Easter, when the Easter Bunny will then take them home with him. He's a smart one, that Easter Bunny.

This experience has been absolutely priceless. Both girls have taken right up with the bunnies. The Bear wants to let them sleep with her and the Bean keeps saying " good kitty". Too funny.


Gracie was with us on the morning that the bunnies came. She came up with the neat idea of doing a scavenger hunt for the girls to find the bunnies. It was so fun watching them run from room to room and then the final room, when they opened that door to the laundry room, oh my. It was too funny. They didn't know what to say. The Bear wanted to know if they were real. The Bean asked if they would bite her. We put an old blanket down and brought them into the living room. Being rather frightened, they didn't go anywhere. The girls brought them colorful balls to play with and laughed at every little move they made. They are so soft and really are quite sweet.

The bunnies are now in a house outside the home.(thank you Uncle Thad and Aunt Ginger). They seem happy and I know that I am. As cute as they are, they are still bunnies and well, we all know what that means.

I have big plans to do some great Easter shots of the girls with their new friends, so hopefully I'll be blogging them soon. Wish me luck. Between the kids and the bunnies, it ought to be interesting.

Easter is on it's way. I know the weather doesn't seem like it, but the new colors and new life coming out of the ground tell us it is so. We are enjoying out of town family next weekend. We can't wait. It will be a busy week, but busy is good and that just means that fun is around the corner.

Happy Week!!

The Bink Mystery..Solved

This is just a short drop by post. But, so worth it. You will love this.

For about a week now, I have been trying to figure out how the Bean is getting her binks. They are on a semi-tall dresser in a basket. NOT easy for her to get to. At first, I thought maybe her sister was helping her out, but she denied having any part of it. But she is still pretty darn cute.

So, the other evening, I heard a crash. The kind that makes a mom go running. Not so bad that I was scared, but more like "i am going to catch a very funny moment". So, I did like any good mom and grabbed my camera. THIS is what I found.
 

 

The crash I heard was toys being dumped out of the toy box bin and as you can see, she was using it to climb on the dresser. I watched and laughed for a few minutes. And as you can also see, I took pictures. Then I remembered it really wasn't a good idea to let your kids climb on their dresser, so I got her down. She was so determined and so proud though. We had the talk about how you don't climb on things becuase you can get hurt and she seemed to get it, but something tells me she will be back at it again.

The things is, I am well aware that we need to start the process of getting rid of the bink. I am just not ready. She is my baby and my last. I don't want her to grow up anymore than she already has. It makes me sad. On the other hand, she is healthy and growing like she should, so I am very Thankful for that. We'll get there, but I think I'll hold on just a little bit longer.

I Play,They Play,We all Play

I have a something new. Something wonderful. Something I never thought I would have. My sweet, sweet husband surprised me with the "ok" to get my new toy. My new Canon 60D. It is in one word, amazing. Just like the subjects it caught over the weekend.

I have found that this slowing down and just enjoying has many benefits. For one, we have more time for this.

And this.

One thing is for sure. They aren't slowing down. A fun afternoon trip to the lake taught me that they can "do it themselves" much more these days. Even if we wanted to help them, we can't. Because they help each other.

I enjoyed catching all of their togetherness and fun. But, their daddy, well, he is enjoying the new toy too. I might add, he is very good at it. Sometimes, I think he is better than me. But, shh. Don't tell him I said that.

They laugh when pushed higher. They scream when their tummy tickles. They talk about the important stuff. You know, what is pink and what is in the sky and how when they get bigger they will push their daughters on the swing. There is no song in the world that can compare to that sound. It is pure music to my ears.

The colors outside are starting to scream spring. I am so glad. We have so much to do outside. So many plans for spring and summer. The girls can't wait to go camping. On our way to the lake yesterday, we saw a few campers. They were basking in the warm sunshine, and oh I wanted to be there. Until night time when the temps drop to 40 degrees. Yeah, that is when I would want to be at home. In due time. Right?

Jumping from one slide to the other, they were almost impossible to keep up with. But that is ok. Even though a very cautious daddy kept telling me to give him the camera so I could stand right behind them. I guess one of us will always hold the camera and one will be right there. That is what we parents do, right?

Ohh, notice the intent in her eyes to head to the water?

We opted to bring out the bikes yesterday afternoon in search of the perfect peddler. It didn't quite turn out the we way we planned. Ten minutes into it, she had fallen over and had her first wreck of the season. That was all she wrote. We have put it up for now and we are thanking our lucky stars we have two big wheels. Looks like they will be getting a lot of use.

notice the monkey  in the back ground. you can't take your eye off that dare devil for a minute.

I know this post is kind of all over the place, but that is just how I feel today. I am kind of all over the place. Trying to settle into another week with a fun weekend in the works. We have company coming to visit in a few weeks. The Bear is so excited and has many activities planned for us all. It is going to be big fun.

With my new toy in tow, I promise to bring more updates to you. Goodness knows the pictures will be coming in hot and heavy. Oh, my new toy also has HD recording. So, as soon as this geek squad mom figures that out, I'll be sharing some video too.

Happy Week out there.