Monday Musing | More Photography Fun

This was kind of a laid back weekend for us.  We got a lot of work done in the garage and can almost fit both of our cars in the garage.  This will mark the first time since moving back to Va that we can both park our cars in the garage.  Yippee!!  Now if we can just KEEP it clean and de-cluttered...well, that's another story.  :)

I also had my second mentoring session with Beryl, from Be Young Photography.  While she is a fantastic photographer, she is also a wonderful teacher and I learned SO much from her and am so happy to have stumbled across her Momtography 101 Class.  When I ended up not being able to take that class, due to a scheduling, she offered the option of a one-on-one mentoring session.  While this was a bigger financial investment on my part, I am so happy that I went for it, b/c I think than it will turn out to be an in-valuable opportunity.

For the second half of our mentoring session, Beryl came to our house and we did a mock photo shoot.
I'm so excited with how these images turned out.  We started in the front yard, but quickly moved around back to the play set, when the boys started to get restless...it was fun for them to play, and I got cute shots....of Tyler and Kate at least.  Luke just wasn't interested this time!

Working with Beryl was amazing and I'm so excited to be on my way to making my photography dream a reality!

Monday Musing | More Photography Fun

This was kind of a laid back weekend for us.  We got a lot of work done in the garage and can almost fit both of our cars in the garage.  This will mark the first time since moving back to Va that we can both park our cars in the garage.  Yippee!!  Now if we can just KEEP it clean and de-cluttered...well, that's another story.  :)

I also had my second mentoring session with Beryl, from Be Young Photography.  While she is a fantastic photographer, she is also a wonderful teacher and I learned SO much from her and am so happy to have stumbled across her Momtography 101 Class.  When I ended up not being able to take that class, due to a scheduling, she offered the option of a one-on-one mentoring session.  While this was a bigger financial investment on my part, I am so happy that I went for it, b/c I think than it will turn out to be an in-valuable opportunity.

For the second half of our mentoring session, Beryl came to our house and we did a mock photo shoot.
I'm so excited with how these images turned out.  We started in the front yard, but quickly moved around back to the play set, when the boys started to get restless...it was fun for them to play, and I got cute shots.  Beryl is a FANTASTIC teacher.  I can't speak highly enough about her.  Not only is she a great teacher, she's a wonderful lady and photographer, too.  ;)

Lucas is 2!!

OK...so this is a VERY long overdue post, especially consider Luke is going to be three in less than two weeks.  Oops...such a bad mommy, blogger, mommy-blogger!  Man, sometimes life just gets in the way of blogging.  But, I'd much rather be living life than just watching it pass me by, so if I have to "catch-up" on some blogs here and there (a lot more "here" recently, I will admit), that's fine with me.  This blog is more of a memory book for me anyway!  :)  I am going to back date this though, so it fits into the time correctly.  Hehe  Oh my goodness, doesn't he look like such a little baby still?!?  I think when I took this picture I thought he looked like such a big boy, but now...not so much.

So...on to Luke's 2nd birthday.  Of course it was a train party.  As is customary, we had a party at our house and invited all of the boys little friends, and several of mommy and daddy's too.  Because let's be honestly...at this age, the parties are really for Mommy and Daddy, right?  I don't think Lucas really even knew it was his birthday, except for the fact that we sat him in front of a cake and sang Happy Birthday to him.  :)

Cavity Free are We!!!

While I was in the hospital having Katelyn, there was a news story on the Today show that prompted me to call and set up dental appointments for the boys.  I had been meaning to do this for Tyler since last fall, but then I got pregnant and it slipped to the wayside.  The news story said children should have their first dental appt when they get their first tooth, so I realized Luke was overdo for a check up too.  I've heard great things about a local pediatric dental group, so we decided to check them out.  They were fantastic!!  They have a large open area with the chairs were the hygenists do the cleanings, so that if you have multiple kids, they can actually all be seen at the same time.  I was able to sit there and watch Ty and Luke at the same time, so we were in an out in less than 45 minutes.  Not only was the staff super efficient and speedy, but they were so friendly and patient, too.  Tyler was squirmy and Luke was a little uneasy with the "stranger", but both of their hygenists were so great with them.  And the Dr. was wonderful, too!  Final results??  Both boys were 100% cavity free.  Good to know all that ice cream they ate with Nana and Pap this summer didn't have any negative effects.  :)

Here are the boys checking out the awesome fish tank in the waiting area.  They had 2 nemo fish and a Dory.  Big hit!!

They gave the boys these cool sunglasses to wear, to protect their eyes from the super bright light.

Not only was this our first trip to the dentist, but it was my first outing with all three kiddos all by myself.  Luckily Miss Kate behaved herself, too!

 All-in-all it was a great visit.  Hoping our visit in February goes as smoothly.

Our baby girl is here!

After 39 long weeks, we finally have met our precious baby girl.

Katelyn was born Monday, July 26 at 11:12 in the morning, weighing 7 lbs, 11 oz and measuring 20.5 inches long.  That's exactly how long I was when I was born, too!  She's longer than either of the boys have been.  Let me tell you, this little gal has completely grabbed us by the heartstrings.  She is amazing.  Here she is just a few hours old, being introduced to everyone.  Can you see Luke's face?  He was so excited to see Mommy and meet baby Katelyn.

 This weekend, daddy was scared of having a little girl and today, holding her...he looks as comfortable as can be.  Everyone told him that having a daughter was amazing, but I'm not sure he really got it.  I think he gets it now, though and it is so beautiful to watch.  Hmm, makes me get teary eyed just thinking about it!

 The boys are in love with her, too.  It is so precious to watch.  Tyler is the proudest big brother and very protective of her already.  And Lucas just loves her to death.  The smile on his face when he looks at "baby" (as he is calling her, hopefully we'll get him to say Katelyn before too long) is so incredibly precious.  He really is taken by her.  I remember Tyler not being too interested in baby Lucas, but Lucas is so VERY aware of her...in fact, I'm thinking we are going to have a little trouble helping him to understand that she's not quite ready to play with yet!!  Poor little girl, with Daddy and these two older brothers, she's going to be one very loved and VERY protected girl.

We are so excited to welcome this little girl to our family and can't wait to watch her grown!

New Rooms for the Boys

With little baby girl coming this summer...isn't she cute?

Anyway...with new baby girl this summer, we had to do some rearranging of bedrooms in our home to make room.  Well...I guess we didn't HAVE to, because we did play with the idea of putting the boys in a room together, but since they are both such great sleepers, we decided that putting them in a room together might just be begging for sleeping troubles.  And, since we were fortunate to have bought a home with unfinished space for a 5th bedroom, we decided to finish out that area to give us room for all of the kiddos upstairs, and still have a guest room.  Our old guest room is the only upstairs bedroom with direct access to the hall bathroom that the kiddos will share.  I didn't want baby Kate being bothered by Tyler needing to use the restroom in the middle of the night, so I vetoed the thought of leaving everyone where they were and just transitioning it into the nursery.  And, b/c I am fearful of Lucas having easy access to a bathroom in the middle of the night, we couldn't just move him into that room and leave Tyler in his current room.  That being said, we had no choice but to move Tyler to the old guest room, Lucas to Tyler's room and put Katelyn in Lucas' old room.  Yes - musical rooms it is!  Haha!!

It was a bit of work to get it all prepped and moved, but I am so pleased with the results.  I love walking by their rooms and seeing how it all worked out.  I love how much more of a home a coat of paints makes a house feel.  After a year and a half, I'm truly feeling at home! 

So, for the room makeovers - I gave each of the boys a coat of blue paint and then a bold stripe through the middle of the room.

Tyler - of course - chose red...

 and it was green for Lucas!

Katelyn's room got a fresh coat of a beautiful light green with a brink pink stripe...so cute! I LOVE it! 

Lucas is 2!!

OK...so this is a VERY long overdue post, especially consider Luke is going to be three in less than two weeks.  Oops...such a bad mommy, blogger, mommy-blogger!  Man, sometimes life just gets in the way of blogging.  But, I'd much rather be living life than just watching it pass me by, so if I have to "catch-up" on some blogs here and there (a lot more "here" recently, I will admit), that's fine with me.  This blog is more of a memory book for me anyway!  :)  So...I am going to back date this, so it falls into the time-line, appropriately!

So...on to Luke's 2nd birthday.  Of course it was a train party.  As is customary, we had a party at our house and invited all of the boys little friends, and several of mommy and daddy's too.  Because let's be honestly...at this age, the parties are really for Mommy and Daddy, right?  I don't think Lucas really even knew it was his birthday, except for the fact that we sat him in front of a cake and sang Happy Birthday to him.  :)

Lucas is super into trains right now, so the theme for the party was "Two-Two, All Aboard for a Happy Birthday!"  Again, I tortured myself and made the cake.  I know, I know...Wegman's does an awesome job, but I really do enjoy it.  OK, maybe I don't act like it while I'm making it, so I guess it's the satisfaction of how it turns out that I like.  ;)  Oh, and they do taste pretty yummy, too! 

Luke had a really great time with all of his little buddies.  The weather was fabulous (maybe even a little TOO hot - at least for early April), so all of the kids got to play outside and had a ball.

We opened presents inside and that of course was a hit for Lucas.  He was amazed that it was all his!  And of course, Big Brother was there to help him out.  ;)

 It was a wonderful celebration of the past two years we've spent loving and nurturing this special little blessing.  I can't imagine our lives without him.  Happy Birthday Little Buddy!!  We love you SO very much. 

Lucas' Monthly Faces

2 Years!!

  1 Year!!
1 Year!!


11 Months Old

10 Months Old

Nine Months Old

Eight Months Old

Seven Months Old

Six Months Old

Five Months Old

Four Months Old

Three Months Old

2 Months Old

1 Month Old

2 days old

Woo...Pig...Sooie (sorry if I butchered spelling, Pop and Aunt Rachael)!!

Aunt Rachael sent the boys these adorable U of A (University of Arkansas for those of you who don't know that Pop and Aunt Rachael are alumni) t-shirts. Tried to get the boys to model them for you Rachael...haha!

Tyler did a good job. Now, let's add Lucas...

Aah yeah...doesn't really want to sit still.

"Ok Tyler, hold onto him".

"And Luke, you've gotta look at the camera."

And that would be the best we could do until the silliness began.

Uh-oh...Luke took a little tumble. Good thing daddy is around.