Here are some more excellent pictures from a recent photo shoot with a friend. These ones are my favorites of the little man. And then at the end of the post, there are some of my favorites of them together.
He wasn't really lovin' this photo shoot like his sister was.
See...I told you.
But we did manage to trick him into smiling enough to get a few good pictures.
Here's my favorites of them together.
I just LOVE this one of them reading together on the bench. Such a perfect "big sister and little brother" look for them.
And just you wait til tomorrow! I'll be posting pictures of the little babe and I'm guessing you'll LOVE them. I know I do.
Last week all three of our kids had some semi-professional portraits taken. I say "semi-professional" only because technically these ladies aren't professional photographers. However, they are both studying and taking classes towards being just that. I think the photos look fabulous and I bet you wouldn't have known who took them if I hadn't told you. I'm so glad that these ladies made the time this week for my request and that they were so eager for the opportunity to practice on such lively models. :)
Here are a few of my favorites of the little missy.
Hello! Is anyone still out there? Boy it's been a while since I was on here and blogged last. Longer than I usually take between posts and MUCH longer than I like. Life is just moving a long at a quick pace lately. Shawn is back from his 12 day moose hunt, school is in full swing, and our little babe is growing and rightfully requiring a lot of attention. So needless to say, the blog has suffered a bit. We haven't paused in making blog worthy memories, so hopefully I can get some things posted very soon. They may just need to be a little light on the journaling.
This post for example, has been sitting as a draft for nearly 5 days! Time to get it published. So here goes...
The first summer we lived in Alaska, I took our little missy on a walk. We went on the Brotherhood Trail (for you Juneau-ites). And I took this picture of her being little miss independent and walking by herself rather than being in the stroller. She was 15 months in this picture.
2006
My dad loved this picture and suggested that I take a picture of her every year in that same spot. So I decided that was a good idea and I have done just that, except that I know it's not the exact same spot, but same trail. We recently took a walk on this trail again this summer--now with three kids--and I took their pictures. So here's a look at how they've grown over the years.
2007--2 years old (almost a big sister)
2008--3 years old
2009--4 years old
2010 --5 years old
(I have no idea why she has her leg like this. Just posing I guess!)
And now for the little man...
2008 10 months old
2009--almost 2 years old
2010--almost 3 years old
And our little babe...
2010--4 weeks old
And some "together" photos
2008
2009
and 2010
(with a hint of a rainbow in the top left corner)
Taking these photos is a tradition I hope to continue at the end of each summer. It's been fun to watch these little weeds grow.
First of all, I wanted to say thanks for all the nice comments left on my First Day of Kindergarten post. I didn't realize I was writing such a tear jerker! Of course, I got myself all emotional writing that post, but I didn't expect to make so many of you all weepy. I'm flattered that many of you were touched. Thanks again for your comments. And just so you know, now that we're 1/2 way through the second week, the first day jitters and emotions have given way to familiarity with the routine. Although I must admit that each morning when she gets out of the car to head off into school, I get a tinge of those same emotions as I send her off. I suppose it may not get any "better" but will probably continue to become more familiar and therefore easier.
************************
And now for today's topic...
At the end of last month, we had a couple of celebrations that I wanted to highlight on the blog.
One of those celebrations was Shawn's birthday. I suppose there are some advantages to marrying a younger man. But being teased about always being older than him is definitely does not fall into the advantage category. I'll always be older and he'll never catch up to me--as he likes to remind me--but at least this year he moved from being just plain 30 to being "30 something". So now at least we're both 30 something.
And thanks to our chickens and my grandma's angel food cake pan, Shawn got his favorite cake for his birthday. We topped it will whipped cream and raspberries. And since we had 11 egg yolks left over, we made a double batch of coffee ice cream in honor of Shawn's birthday. It's his favorite and understandably it has all been consumed. (Even though we still have some other ice cream flavors that we made even earlier in the summer.)
Did you notice? He shaved his mustache!!! (Karen and Marilyn, I'm sure you're relieved.)
And for his birthday he got a shiny new pair of....ATV ramps to be able to get the argo into the back of the truck. It was a group gift from many and he is very thankful for them. The kids also decorated the wrapping paper while he was gone at work.
**********************************
The other celebration that we enjoyed at the end of the month was a baby shower for our little babe and me. It was such a beautiful evening and I really enjoyed spending time with so many wonderful ladies. They really "showered" us with some amazing blessings too. One of which was a group gift of cloth diapers. I'm really looking forward to using those soon.
I'm really thankful for all the ladies who came and also for my friends Lela, Janet, and Dana who planned and hosted the shower. They thought of everything and it was a really fun night!
Janet also made these delicious cupcakes for the shower. Don't they look like they could be in a fancy recipe cookbook? And they were as good as they looked!
I'm so thankful for moments like these to celebrate. God is so good to give us these special times in our lives to enjoy.
I can hardly believe we've had our precious little babe for a whole month now. On one hand, so much has happened since he was born that it seems he's been with us much longer. But on the other hand, it seems nearly impossible that he could be so old. And actually, in these pictures he was 1 month old, but as I type this he's 5 weeks old and kicking around in my lap.
For his first year, I'm going to try to do something some friends of mine have done with their babies. I'm planning to take a picture of him on his monthly birthday with the same little stuffed animal. Then as the year progresses we can really see his growth.
He really is a good little baby and such a blessing to us all. (Even though he started fussing when I typed that last sentence. I can tell it's gonna take a while to type up this post!) But for the most part, he sleeps well--even at night--, eats well, and is less fussy than our other two. I'm really thankful for all of these things.
And yes, I did buy this onesie for him. I personally think it's just perfect! :)
Our little man is quite the loving big brother. He does his share of "helping" to take care of the little babe. But really what he does best is...
...give his brother kisses. Really, the boy can't stop giving the little babe kisses. He usually asks me now, but whenever he's within a few feet of his little brother, he instantly wants to give him a kiss or five! But I suppose it's a pretty cute "problem" to have.
This day seemed to come a lot faster than I expected. Since recently giving birth to our little babe and noticing similarities between him and his sister at the same stage, the idea that she could be old enough for kindergarten just doesn't seem possible. An on our actual day, we were dealing with some extra stress and emotion due to Shawn's job. I don't talk specifically about his job on the blog, so if you don't already know about the situation, you can check my facebook page or email me. The gist of it is that Daddy had to miss the first day of kindergarten and momma was a bit more teary than usual. Fortunately, we had a friend come over and stay with the boys while I concentrated on getting her off to school. That worked out pretty well.
Her nerves started kicking in the night before. She was worried about knowing the kids in her class, finding her friend from church on the playground during recess, where she would eat her lunch, etc. I guess she's my child! :-)
I managed to keep it together until I noticed her nervousness in the classroom. She couldn't seem to find anything interesting to work on. I was by the door and coat hooks, but she came over to me with tears in her eyes. That's when I couldn't choke back the tears very well. There were just so many emotions going on...I was worried about Shawn, wishing he didn't have to miss this moment, and then it's just so hard to see your kids struggle with new things. Fortunately, I have the peace that for one thing, God is protecting and caring for her--even better than I can do--and she has a great teacher this year.
A few tears fell in the classroom, but I kept thinking of my friend/aunt Megan and her experiences taking her daughters to preschool last year. So like her, I tried to hide my tears as much as possible in the school and then let it all fly when I got to the car! I even surprised myself! I had thought this day would be easy since we did preschool last year. But there's something about kindergarten and being at school for 5 hours, 5 days a week that feels like such a big step. Bigger than I had realized before this day. My baby really is growing up. And even though she's only gone for a few hours (compared to an older student), I really do miss her. It felt strange to fix lunch for just the little man and myself. **Seriously, you should see me right now! I'm tearing up just typing this! I know...I'm ridiculous!**
Her teacher called my during lunch and told me that she didn't cry much after I left and that she really seemed happy after recess. I'm sure it was because she saw her friend from church (in the photo below). I'm glad they have each other for at least recess.
She was still a little unsure of things at the end of the day. Not quite as happy as you might expect. When I asked her why she didn't eat all of her lunch, she got a little upset and said that she didn't have enough time. And that I gave her too many crackers so all she could eat was her sandwich and crackers! (Silly momma, what what I thinking!) Figuring out those new routines can be a bit confusing. So I explained to her that she didn't have to eat every single bite of each thing before she moved on to the next thing. That seemed to make sense to her.
The good news is that day 2 went MUCH better. She wasn't worried or nervous when she got to school and she was much happier when I picked her up--much more like herself. She even excitedly told me that she had made a new friend from her class. So it seems we may have had a bumpy start, but things are turning out just fine.
Thank you Lord for watching over my sweet baby girl. Help her to learn many new things, make good friends, and bless those she's with.
