The Past Two Weeks

Oops.  Somehow I've allowed two and a half weeks to pass without a post.  Just when I was getting into my groove of a relaxing winter, February began with a bang.  After a month of no professional photo shoots, I had a week of soccer shots everyday followed by three individual sessions.  This of course led to hours of editing, ordering and packaging which translated to less hours spent in front of the computer for personal use.  It did make me appreciate my 'month off' even more and made me realize how much I needed it.  Alas, here are the moments that occurred in between all the aforementioned tasks.
Taylor and Charlie finally beat mom and dad at Beat the Parents (after we modified the rules a bit for them).  A celebration was in order.



Taylor lost her other front tooth.  (Grace pulled it for her on the bus.)


Taylor had Nation's Day at school. Each class had a different country to represent.  First grade was France.


Taylor and Mark finished the first Harry Potter book. (More on that later)




Morgan has officially stopped asking to be called 'baby'.  However, now she has about eight babies that she insists on sleeping with and carrying throughout the house.  She's named them Mommy Baby, Daddy Baby, Charlie Baby, Taylor Baby, Morgan Baby and Grandma Baby.


That little one whose hand she's clutching is Morgan Baby.




As mentioned, Taylor and Mark finished Harry Potter.  So we all watched the first movie together.


Taylor and Mark were quick to point out the movie's inconsistencies with the book.


Despite many trips to the potty, Morgan has yet to actually do anything on it.  Sigh.


We all watched the Super Bowl together in the loft.


I use the term 'watched' loosely.


Taylor sat in so I could get my settings right on an upcoming photo shoot.




Oh, how I love that smile.


Charlie sat in, too.  You can see he was thrilled about it.


I hate to use the term, but Morgan has entered her 'terrible twos'.  She saves most of the drama for her mama.  Lucky me.


I started taking an online photography course.  Here was my assignment on using window light.


My mom gave me an exercise video to do at home.  Taylor has been doing it with me.




Charlie jumps in every once in a while.


Speaking of jumping.  Who can resist a good bubble wrap popping?




Taylor started gymnastics this week. (Charlie starts this weekend.)


It is a very happening place, and was hard to watch her.


This was her very first time on the balance beam.  The coach spent a lot of extra time with her showing her proper technique.


Next time I will bring my other lens.


Finally, here's a shot from yesterday.  Charlie was hanging out in his sisters' room during his rest time.


I hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day.  I will post about our day of love this weekend!

Good Days

I have really, really been enjoying this winter.  It's just such a great time to slow down a bit.  Our society is so fast-paced, and sometimes that is disheartening.  It's like we forget about what is truly important.  Lately, I've been reflecting on how I view my days.  I tend to feel like I had a good day if I was productive, and if I failed to be productive, than my day was a wash.  Well, I've realized that I get to define what constitutes a good day. It doesn't have to always be measured in how many loads of laundry I finished or how many new professional endeavors I pursued.  It can be measured by how many games I played with the kids or how many minutes my family spent interacting together, all five of us.  And by those standards, I've had some really fantastic days lately.









I admit that I feel like I've done a good job in prioritizing family dinners.  I have no problem eating an hour later if that means that we can all eat together.  However, I still do not understand why my children find it so hard to sit in one place during meals.  They are constantly in motion.  I've never counted how many times I say "sit down" during meals, and honestly, I don't want to know.


We finally got a few snow flurries on Friday.


I am writing this on Saturday and today was a wonderful day.  It started off with ALL THREE kids sleeping in.  Charlie was the first to wake up at 8:30.  Honestly, that has never ever happened before and it was glorious.  And then all the kids decided to cuddle in our bed together.  I loved it!








Much like mealtime, no one stayed still for long.  Still, I just found myself looking from one person to the next and counting my blessings.


Mark and Taylor are determined to finish the first Harry Potter book this weekend. They have about 40 pages to go.


When we finally rolled out of bed, I decided it was a chocolate chip waffle kind of morning.




After breakfast, we played Fluxx, Monopoly Deal and Backgammon.  Then we retreated to different corners of the house for a bit before thinking about lunch.


During the kids' rest time, Taylor came to me and asked me to pull her other front teeth.  I tried, despite my squeamishness, but was unsuccessful.  Still, I think it will be out by Monday...


Following dinner, we decided to play another new game from Christmas called Beat the Parents.  It's a trivia game with individualized questions for kids and adults.  It was quite fun especially since mom and dad won!


We finished the night with homemade brownies, more Harry Potter, and a few Elmo books.  All these games must have worn Mark out, because he was asleep before the kids! (Or maybe it was his afternoon tennis match that did him in.)  So I am going to use the rest of the night to read some photography blogs and tutorials and then call it a night myself.  Good night all!

Our Week

I hope everyone is enjoying their winter so far.  We are once again enjoying our little hibernation and spending lots of time together indoors.  Here's a few shots to recap the past week.

Charlie was Super Star Student last week.


He got to bring in a special treat as part of his super star week and decided on these little snowmen heads.




We've been loving having Aunt Julie here again.  Morgan finally bonded with Julie during her holiday visit and it has carried over to this visit.


The day Julie got in town, Mark picked her up from the airport and brought her to my mom's house.  We used the opportunity to have a nice dinner followed by a game of cards.  I brought the ipad mini knowing Morgan would need some entertainment as well.


Then the girls snuck off for some girl time before heading home.


The next day we celebrated Uncle Chad's birthday at grandma's house again.


It's a tradition to give the birthday boy or girl toasts on their special day.  The kids are starting to get into it.  Charlie's toast:  "You're thirty-seven.  I'm glad you're not eleven."




I took a few photos in charlie's room this week for my 365 project.










We had a girls' night on Friday night and enjoyed dinner and a movie together.


On Saturday, Taylor's school had an adult-only fundraising event so all the kids had a sleepover with Grandma and Aunt Julie.  They decided to make it a safari-theme and went all out making it special for the kids.  I took two quick photos before heading out and then snagged some photos off of Grandma's camera to check out the rest of the festivities.




The kids ate dinner in a 'cave'.








I'm told Morgan loved wearing this hat.




They finished the night watching a movie. Jungle Book, of course.


The next morning cousin Grace pulled Taylor's third tooth.




Monday was MLK Day so no one had school.  We decided to brave the Dayton Mall and go to Momtopia.


There was a juggler/ventriloquist performing that Charlie found particularly funny.


Afterwards we let the kids play in the indoor play area.




My mom must have been feeling guilty about declining my birthday request for a cookie cake from the mall so she treated me with one.  We took it to McDonald's where the kids got their monthly fix and enjoyed it as our dessert.