Say Cheese

Leighton turned 3 in February and Micah 1 in January. I do like to commemorate the events with yearly photos. However, just because my husband blessed me with a nice camera does not mean I can get lovely pictures of my kids. Matter of fact just the opposite. They refuse to pose for me. Bribes do not work either. However, I was able to snap these candid moments of my children the other day and they are frame worthy in my book.

Leighton 3 years old

Brother and Sister Love

Now as for Micah there was no getting one year photos of him with out the help of my favorite photographer Ginger. What I love about her style is somehow she is always able to capture the essence of my kids and family in a way I never could, probably helps we have been friends since we were 15.

These were taken on a playdate at her house with our two girls running around and her baby boy patiently playing in his exersaucer...she is super mom for sure.
And I love them.

This sums up Micah in every way. Just look at that firey red hair and personality!!

Lo getting him to laugh.

And this, this is the picture I wanted. My goal is to take a picture of him in that tie over the course of his life. I did one at 6 months and 1year and I plan on: age 5--8th grade promotion--HS graduation--and college graduation. We shall see. It is good to have goals. :)

Thank you Ginger for the great photos!

#First World Problems

 Today I found myself annoyed by the "first world" problems, like:

1. How the other day I couldn't finish a blog post because I ran out of picture storage and now get the privilege to pay $5/year to upgrade to 20gb...

2. The reason I probably ran out of storage so quickly is that I never thought to decrease the size of my DSLR camera pics I post, those files are large, so now I get to do that...

3. And it is hot humid. I debate every night as to whether or not to turn our A/C on...but it is still only March.

4. I don't want to drive all.the.way across town for milk.

Wow, if those are my biggest problems right now, I guess I should call myself blessed. Not to go all "there are starving children in Africa" on you, but it is true. Even the worst case in America probably still has it way better than a third worlder. Just sayin' sometimes we need to just stop and thank God, not just on the holidays, but on Thursdays too that we have been blessed.

Even if when all you want just ONE good picture of your kids together it turns out like this!

So we are going to get an attitude adjustment and do some things for others, because true JOY comes from serving others first.

Happy Thursday.

Spring Break

Spring break was sandwiched by two absolutely glorious, beautiful, perfect weekends. The rest of the week was the meat of a soggy, rotten sandwich, but we did make the most of it.

I spent Monday through Thursday driving in every type of rain God has to offer, from light mist to torrential, I don't think my windshield wipers go that fast, rain. It.was.awesome. 1. I hate to drive and 2. Driving in rain is worse. Oh well, duty called and I survived.

Daddy Day Care was in full swing. Too bad they couldn't do much, but according to Chad the kids were angels. Of course they were mommy wasn't home. :) Leighton is always good, Micah, well he is a whole other story, but never fails daddy never has as many meltdowns as mommy. Figures.

Here is our week in review pictorial style:

Friday before reading her magazine in her wagon.

These two, well they aren't words. I had no idea 3 year olds could have BFFs, but they are. Are we worried what they will be up to in 10 years. You bet 'cha.

Daddy showing up a 5 year old. HA! While their parents all worked on their lawns and garages, we sat around doing nothing...we are great neighbors. ;)

These two love digging in the dirt...it's my excuse for not planting anything pretty there.

Showing off her brand new sparkly flip flops. Seriously, I just could eat her up she is so cute.

Then the rains commenced for 4 long days. Leighton begged to go "lick the rain" as she likes to say, I couldn't say no to that face.

Micah even liked it out there, he is full of surprises.

One night in between rains all the neighbor kids were outside. I had already put Clyde in his jammies, but he INSISTED on going out and if there is one thing to know about Micah, is when he insists, it is just way easier to give in {provided it isn't a "hill to die on" issue.} So out we went. Doesn't he look studly?! That is his new favorite outside toy...don't get it...

Grandma Rachel got Lo {and Micah} these Bible DVDs, they read Bible stories to her and intersperse songs. Lo loves the Baby Jesus one and sings and dances along to all the songs. I love hearing her sing.

A "quiet" rainy day activity. This is why I hate sensory tubs, yet it brings them so much joy...

By the following Saturday we were blessed with more gorgeous weather. So gorgeous in fact that the kids felt the need to don bathing suits in MARCH and play with sprinklers, water guns and water table. I mean for real?!

Daddy making up for not doing yard work the weekend before. Poor daddy.

It was a great spring break. The weekends were the best. I find myself continually praising and thanking God that He was in control and helped us land where we live. We have the.best.neighbors. Kids that we want our kids to play with. Parents we actually enjoy conversing with.  Bring on those endless summer nights. :)

KSU {A Walk Down Memory Lane}

After a long work week we decided to end spring break with a quick trip back to where it all started, the Story of Us that is; Manhappenin'. We met up with some of our "old" college friends who have recently moved back to KS!! Thus, making the trip down memory lane all the better.

We got there a bit early and just drove around taking in the town that is not even remotely the same college town we "grew up" in. So much has changed in 7 years. After that we meet up with the Lambs at Varneys were the kids terrorized the store, ok maybe that was only my kids, since theirs' can't walk yet...plus, it was the only place around with a changing table! I mean seriously are there no kids in Manhattan?! HA! After a lunch stop at the yummy Coco Bolos, we toured campus.

The customary sign picture:

I see future caps and gowns on them some day, standing in this very spot.

Evidently, this sculpture is called "the womb," according to Jon you have to curl up like a baby to fit...

Here is Lo with a little stick...when we went into Hale Library we told her it needed to stay outside. When we emerged from Hale she threw the stick overboard and said "daddy say I can get new stick..."

Here is her "new" stick! HAHAHA!

We are cool and have a nuclear reactor on campus...oh and I am pretty sure it is in full commission, if need be.

The Strong Complex. It was like living in a castle, compared to the other dorms on campus. They may or may not have been coveted rooms...either way this is where I met Chad, he lived in Putnam and I lived in Boyd. It is also were I met Jon and April who both lived in Putnam. Great memories made here. Maybe one day I will be dropping Lo off here...

Daddy in front of his hall with his girl.

This is pretty much sums up MW for the trip. Chillin' like a villain in his ride. He loves to be pushed.

Views of Campus: 1. The stadium 2. The Quad 3. The Old Stadium {where Chad abandon, my roommate Ginger and I after the homecoming pep rally...:) } 4. Hale Library {where I literally spent my entire junior year. I slept, ate, and study there hours upon hours that year.}

After our walk down memory lane, we headed over to a local coffee shop Radina's and grabed a cup of joe before hitting the road home.  Micah and CG {the Lamb's darling little girl} are both red heads! CG's momma is a red head, so it obvious where she gets it, our son not so much. I thought the looked like twins and people probably thought he belonged to them. :)

Micah is under the impression that sippy is a paci...it never left his mouth. Sigh...

Chad and I drove around town on the way home to see our old apartments. This was our FIRST married apartment. It was tiny and I have no idea how we lived there! HA!

The following year we moved across the street to here. Coincidentally, or not it was the same apartment April lived in before she graduated and moved back home. It was my favorite.

Then in December 2005 we said good bye and moved home ourselves. I really loved K-State. It is such a small quaint campus. It is where I came into my own and learned a lot about life. It is where I "grew up" and met almost all of my life long friends and of course where I met my hubby. Thus beginning our first chapter in the Story of Us.

Great trip, and a perfect end to a wet spring break! Thanks Lambs for coming up with the idea and re-living our "glory" days. HA!

Working Mom

So I am a working mom this week and daddy day care is open for business. Thus, why you probably won't hear much out of me this week. But I have really been thinking about working moms and man what a tough job you have. Balancing work, kids, meals, chores, down time, family etc...I am exhausted. So for all you working moms out there that do this 365, I applaud you and you are on my heart this week.

But oddly enough I have MORE time to get stuff done than when I don't work...why? Because I am making WAY better use of my time because it is so precious. I really hope I can remember that next week when I am wasting time on FB.

Now a quote from Leighton that melted my heart.

Leighton: Where's mommy? {I was already gone by the time she woke up}
Daddy: She is at work today baby.
Leighton: Why? I love mommy.

Bless her heart she doesn't understand when I go to work and she just loves having me around. What a sweet girl!

Have a great week!

Flying Solo {Zoo Trip}

On Thursday I took the kids to the zoo, by myself. I don't know why I found this to be so scary, but I did. Originally, we had plans with another friend to meet up there, but her baby girl was sick and needed her rest. Only problem was I had already told Lo about going. I really should just keep my mouth shut until we get somewhere, because it seems like all of our scheduled play dates no matter who they are always get cancelled last minute, and that is just normal, since you never know what mood your kid is going to be in...anyway, I couldn't bear to see her cry, so I said we would just go by ourselves.

We loaded up after MW's morning "nap" and headed out. It was a lovely day, perfect temp for the animals to be out and active, except all they seemed to want to do was sleep!

Micah was my biggest concern, I figured he would want to be held the whole time, but he did great! He loves to be pushed in his stroller, so he was a happy camper taking it all in! I realized after we got there that last year at this time we took MW on his first zoo trip! Amazing how much he has grown and now he can run around and enjoy the zoo.

March 2011

Side note: Doesn't he look like Benjamin Button {old man trapped in a kid's body}

Lo did amazing too. I don't have a double wide stroller, so she had to walk the whole time and she never complained once. Which is why we don't have a double wide, she wouldn't have rode in it anyway!

Isn't she just adorable!

First stop the barn animals:
Ride 'em cow kids!

Then we went to check out the sheep. Micah went right up to pet one, such a tough boy. Then that stinky sheep escaped and tried to eat our lunch!

Up next the penguins:

The Jungle {my favorite, right after the giraffes of course!}
This pic cracks me up because whenever I ask Lo to take a picture with her brother this is what she does--stands as far from him as she can get. Then I said please act like you like each other, so the she bombards him with closeness!

Most of the afternoon was spent wondering around because I can't read a map like my daughter can. Everything she needs to know about life she learns from Curious George!

At some point we decided it was lunch time and had ourselves a nice quiet lunch.

The gorillas:

Micah always thinks it is snack time!

Then we saw them, the most glorious animal God created, the giraffes. Even Micah recognized them {from all the ones he has in his room} proud mommy moment!

 

More napping animals...

 All Leighton wanted to see was the Tigers. Mommy could not find the tigers, I swear I looked at that map a 100x, finally asked a zoo keeper and viola--TIGERS!

They  were boring and taking naps too...

 

 

 

This is Lo being a lion, by brushing all her hair in front of her face, while roaring! What hoot.

We really wanted to see the chimps because we were told there was a baby, but once again I struggled to find them too! Thankfully, they were the last stop on our way to the exit, because nap time was quickly approaching.
Mommy and Lo being silly.

The baby chimp. I got some cute video of him, but too lazy to load it. He was really showing off for the crowds.

It was a great day at the zoo indeed. And I survived. Not sure what I was so scared of now...