Happy Day!

Woooo!

Man did we look young! Doesn't seem like 12 years ago!

Still remember the head spinning happiness of that day.

I was with you and that was all that mattered.

Happy to be sharing each day with you ever since!

Everyday Girls

I generally take more photos on special occasions or excursions. We love to get out and do something different and fun as a family. ...But sometimes you've just got to appreciate those everyday kind of days when you're not really going anywhere - the house is cluttered up with toys and laundry, the kids are just being silly and you're just enjoying the moment and (mostly) ignoring the mess!

If you know me you know I love to take pictures - of my girls especially. I could post a ton of photos (way more than I do) because I think they're so cute. It's really hard for me to delete even the blurry ones and the awkward facial expressions - sometimes those are the best! I have such a hard time choosing just a couple of photos to share - so what was going to be just a couple quickly turned into 20+ photos. Oh, well! They make me smile ;) Here they are in no particular order:

Fashionistas

Laundry and little ladies

...with big personalities!

Cheers to Dad playing Tea Party!

Socks!

Super girls!

Dressing up in doll clothes to play Camping

Strolling Lamby around the neighborhood

Stopping to look for buried treasure

Sweet :)

Wanting to match and both fitting in the shopping cart!

Little crack up

Mama Love

Daddy Love

Hats

More hats!

What could be more fun!?

The End!

Still getting the laundry put away...

I know I have been pretty absent from my blog here lately. I haven't felt like I could take much time to record my thoughts much for some time. Just managing to keep up with the day to day. Life is so busy - even when you keep your extracurricular activities pretty minimal like we do. Next year - with Lily starting school - is going to rock our world! I don't want to think about it too much! It will bring both good and sad changes. She is already growing up too fast! Sierra is too! I will miss our laid-back mornings with both my girls playing around me in their pj's. I am glad to have my baby still with me at home, but she thinks she's a big girl already and acts like it. She doesn't say many words yet, but she gets her point across, and she gets around, and up, and on to, and right in the thick of things! I just can't count on her to stay a baby for very long. I promise to do a blog post all about that little character the next time I can manage to stay awake this late. For now I probably have a busy day ahead so I should really just go to bed.

Just wanted to check in and update our family photo with the one we recently took from a visit to a nearby Lavender Farm. What a great place for photos! Mike wanted to practice taking photos of people (he mostly takes photos of objects in his studio), and it was just fun to check out this beautiful place as a family. He found out about the farm from one of his window clients. If you haven't been keeping up with us in person - Mike is learning photography and trying to transition over to being a full time stock photographer as soon as he can make it happen. We've been searching for the right career for him for some time and think this could be it. We hope and pray (and invite anyone who will to pray for us - we could use a little success)!!! This is just the business model Mike has been looking for and we are very excited about the possibilities it has to offer. Hopefully down the road it will allow Mike the time to paint again as well. And hopefully I can make a go at it too once our girls are both in school or not so demanding of my time. So far it has been pretty slow going, but if anyone can make it work Mike can. He is the hardest worker I've ever known, and while I am am talking about him - such an awesome dad! He's been working so hard at photography when he isn't doing windows, he is exhausting himself, but he still makes time for our girls and puts Lily to bed every night with a plethora of stories and more patience than I can muster with that girl who is so good at dragging things out you would just not believe how little we can actually end up doing in a day.... I love to watch him with our children, and love to see their eyes light up when he comes home. I am so grateful to have him in my life as my loving husband and the father of my kids! Thank you for all you do, Mike!!!