little spohia

Ive posted only a few of the TONS of photos i took at Sophia's 2nd birthday party. Check them out of flickr!

the beckoning of lovely

family of 15.

I think I set a record for myself - photographing so many people in such a short amount of time! I had the privilege of photographing this beautiful family over the weekend. This picture was so silly. I wanted to get one of them all jumping up at the same time but with so many of them they all wound up hopping about at different times and wound up laughing harder than they jumped!

I also photographed the sweetest little girls 2ND birthday this weekend. It will be a week or two before I get some of those photos up. I maxed out my computer with photos so I'm having to do some cleaning up.

We've been pretty busy over here getting used to the new school schedule and working full time at the preschool. I'll have some new pics up soon! - PROMISE!

Kaiden's FIRST day of school!

Kaiden was pretty nervous once the first day of school finally rolled around. He was so nervous he was having chest pains! We went out for "first day of school breakfast" and that seemed to calm his nerves just a little. We all chatted and joked and tried explaining to Kaiden that it was EVERYONES first day of kindergarten today. No one knows each other and everyone will be making friends - its a new and exciting time!

He was a trooper and sucked it up. He looked so adorable with his over sized backpack but it turns out they don't use backpacks at his school - bummer. Good thing he has a cool matching lunchbox to use!

Here's a picture of Kaiden trying to look excited about being left here with all these teachers and kids he doesn't know. He's not good with change and this was a BIG one. He wandered around a little as we watched him go, coming back to us a couple times for some quick hugs, and almost getting cold feet once. I think it was harder for me to leave him!
A tear or two started falling from my eye when we were getting out of the car to drop him off. I looked at Kaiden and said "Why do you have to grow up? You're in kindergarten for goodness sake!!!". He held my cheeks and wiped my tear and said "I have to grow up mom. But I'll always be your baby." Yes, yes you will little man. The tears fell hard as I turned my back and walked away from him nervously checking out the other kids on the playground. Why cant there be a magic pause button? I know I've said that before but SERIOUSLY. Just for a little while? Its going way too fast.

:: spontaneous ::

Late this afternoon, with thunder clouds looming in the distance, Kaiden had the grand idea to go to the YMCA water park. We've been wanting to go all summer but never seemed to have gotten there. When I heard him ask to go all I could think about was all the planning it would take - it's going to rain soon, I need to pack a bag, get snacks ready, sunscreen on, we don't even know if they are open, I don't know where my membership cards are...... and the list kept going in my head.

But Kaiden was so excited to go that I had to go with it! I threw on my suit, forgot about the sunscreen, grabbed a towel and ran out the door. I was a little concerned about the rain but thought hey, even if we only get 30 minutes to play it will be worth it right?

It turns out we spent 3 hours there! The weather was beautiful, the rain stayed away, and we didn't even need sunscreen because it was overcast.

We had a blast running around playing tag, hide and seek, splashing in the fountains, and swimming like fish.

The big event of the afternoon was the water slide! This is the first time Kaiden has gone down a water slide on his own! He's such a good swimmer now that he's confident in himself to swim to the edge of the pool after he gets off the slide. He was so proud of himself he was almost glowing!

I'm so glad I didn't listen to all the reasons I was trying to make to not go today. Just letting things go, not worrying, and making things simpler is much more enjoyable. Kids don't have that problem. They live in every moment and it's a beautiful thing!

chicken update

I went to check on the chickens over the weekend and boy have they grown! As soon as I walked up to the coop Mr. Bird started getting real feisty. When I stepped in he attacked me, pecking at my hands and feet! OUCH. What happened to my sweet little chickens??? I know he's only trying to protect his lady but I remember when he would willingly hop into my lap for attention. Now just like all boys who grow up, he's more interested in the ladies.

It took a good five minutes of swatting him with my shoe to get him to back off from me so I could see the other two. He kept doing this great show of flapping his wings(I guess this was supposed to scare me off?). He does look pretty bad ass though!

Look how tall Winston is! He probably comes up to my hip when he's standing tall like this. He wasn't mean at all and let me hold him as he was talking away. He even showed off his cock-a-doodle-do call!

Miss Gretchen was just the same and seemed so tiny compared to her boyfriends. She's a pretty little thing and seems to enjoy all the fighting and attention over her.

I miss those birds! But I'm thankful still that I get to go back and visit them to see how much they've grown. I can't wait till Gretchen starts laying eggs!

blustery day

Our time at the beach was cut a little short with the afternoon showers looming in the distance. The water was choppy which made for great wave riding and jumping but not so good for relaxing in the water. Every time we turned around another wave was knocking us over! The current was really strong so Kaiden got a good lesson in rip current safety. If I let go of his wave board he was taken 20ft away from me within seconds. He thought it was really fun to be going so fast but it made my stomach turn in knots.

When I asked Kaiden what his favorite part of his trip to the beach was he replied....

"Farting in the deep end!!!"

Oh dear.

its raining. its pouring.

A storm blew in this evening. Before it got nasty we went out to play in the sprinkles and wind. Kaiden kept laughing and crying out, "This is SOOOOO MUUUUUUCH FUUUUUN!!!!! Yippee! Yippee!", as the wind would carry him and his umbrella away.
When the storm was in full force we sat on the porch to eat our supper. Listening to the thunder and rain, it was a perfectly lovely evening.