Beaches, Books and Ballet

I've had some busy weeks.  Hence the neglect of the blog.  Here's a few little nuggets of what we've been up to.

The kids started eating their cereal as it's intended- with milk.


Morgan's been driving this little car around the house every day.


The kids spent a few days at Grandma's house and then a few days at home with Grandmama while Mark and I went to FL for his work conference.


We knew it would be a busy week of meetings so we went a day early and drove to the beach.








Most of the week looked like this.

I worked tirelessly on my new website and business plan for my new photography business.  I figured it probably would have taken me a month to accomplish all that I did in those days of uninterrupted productivity.  It was fun, too!  And okay, I did take a day off to enjoy the hotel spa.

Taylor's been quite a big help lately.  Here she is helping Charlie get ready for T-Ball.






I love this home plate victory!


It was his last game so he got a little metal at the end of it.


Charlie designed his own board game.  It is called 'Mousetrap'. It may not look like much to the untrained eye, but it's actually a complex set of paths and traps.  We play buy moving our pieces (those small rectangular pieces of paper) and then he tells me what happens.  My favorite was when he said he was a dad now so he didn't have to listen to any rules.


The game gets little additions each day.


After spending one day home with my kids, I left again for the whole day to shoot Mark's Aunt and Uncle's family reunion.


Mark came with me to assist, but we were back in time for some cuddles before bedtime.


Taylor's breakfast companion:


We've had a house guest this week while my sister is on vacation with her big kids.  Addison has decided that I'm the closest thing to her mommy so she cries whenever I leave the room. She does seem to appreciate all the care Taylor has been giving her though.


Meanwhile, my baby is getting bigger and bigger by the minute! (She turns two tomorrow!!)  Here she is enjoying some pre-dinner entertainment.  I looked up from cooking to find her sitting at the table reading.  (That is not a real candle.  Grandmama bought those for us to use in our windows at Christmas time.  We enjoyed a few candle light dinners with them.)


Reading is a pretty big deal in our house.  The kids have inherited my and mark's love for books!


Even spiderman books.


Here's my big boy at the super market enjoying his treat from the bank.


Morgan's thumb is healed.  After 30 doses of antibiotics and many rolls of gauze and tape, her appendage has finally healed.  Her thumb sucking has decreased considerably as a result.  In fact, we went almost a week before I saw her sucking it.  Now she only does when she is extremely tired.


(I told her to make a mad face)


She's also been enjoying eating at the big table although she can't seem to stay on her bottom.


Taylor's been enjoying dance class.  I love the watch the huge smile that emerges during every class.


I've implemented a new rule (borrowed from a friend of mine from church).  When the kids fight, they must sit on this step and hold hands for 5 minutes.  Then they have to each say something nice.


Their nice comments?  Charlie: "hi"  Taylor "I like you a little."


I made them do it today in the car and it worked surprisingly well.  They do need to work on their nice comments though.  This time each just said 'sorry'.

Phew.  I'm glad I finally got those posted.  I'm longing for the day when my business is fully established as is my new routine.  I am being very conscientious about how much time I want to spend working at home as well as being sure to allot full days of just family time.  I'd also love to be able to spend time on my personal projects again.  I have not liked the way my personal photography has suffered lately, but I am now getting so close to a happy medium.  And soon, very soon, I will post a link to my new website!! Hang tight and I'll try to jump back here sooner rather than later!