sisterly love

here are a few cuties! what a pair! big sis was fantastic! totally listened to direction and turned her poses on and off as needed and did whatever little sis needed to feel comfortable. super cute family!


you might as well sign this girl up for the lead in annie now!


what a cutie pie!


sisterly love


what love!

first big girl haircut

can you believe it?!! a child with this amount of hair has never been to a salon. she's always been styled by mom. well we decided that it was time to get her first official haircut (this way the trims by me in between don't get too crazy). we were trying to pump her up but not much seemed to be work. "no haircut, mom!", "i want YOU to cut it, like jackson's in the kitchen". i didn't have high hopes she'd follow through. especially since when we got there and had to walk up the stairs to go in she stopped short on the stairs and started crying and wouldn't budge. people went around her and gave us sympathetic eyes. i'm not sure if they were sympathetic because she was sad about her getting her haircut or if they were just plain sad that they might potentially have to get their haircut with a screaming lunatic in the nice peaceful salon....
anyway, a few tears and "i don't want to get my haircut"s later the receptionist produced a lollipop which, like magic, produced some smiles. our hair dresser was running late so we spent some time watching the other ladies get their haircut and discussing what was going to happen.


before, just a little wild and woolly.


sassy smiles with her lollipop while we wait.


getting her hair washed in the sink like a fancy nancy with princess shampoo!


good spirits for the actual haircut. don't be fooled, this was a M&M induced smile.


AFTER! not a whole lot different but neater.

busy big family

here's a handful of a family! twins just under two and a little brother! i love a challenge! and the mother! i don't know how she does it! she looked lovely (we also took some family pics) and she was calm and cool through the whole shoot. i went with the angle of lets-capture-them-in-action! because that was about all i was going to capture, these girls on the run! we had a beautiful backdrop, the grandparents house in the rolling hills and they even had horses! baby brother was not as eager to be in the limelight but sometimes that's the nature of a 9 month old, they get to choose when and where they want to do things! he was quite agreeable for the family shots and i couldn't really ask for more than that!


girls on the go!




we got a hint of a smile!

he returned!

for the first time in my life i set my baby in a strange vehicle, driven by a stranger, to be taken somewhere that i don't frequent. i'm not one of those weepy mothers who can't believe their baby is in kindergarten. i am genuinely completely excited and proud that he's there. i did stop a few times throughout the day and wonder "WHAT are they doing ALL day?" i knew his preschool schedule inside and out, this is just another schedule i'll have to figure out. the draw back of jackson, shall i say, is the lack of his communication skills? so i can't ask him how his day was and what he did, but the bonus is that we have people that tell us. he has a binder in his backpack with a note from the day. his special today was music and "He LOVED it!!!", he did a good job in PT, he ate most of his pizza, applesauce and apple juice, his art projects were his first day hat, and his "kissing hand" poem, and he played with play-dough (which i am skeptical about since he never wanted to play with play-dough before). all around good news. the best news was i sent him on this strange bus and guess what? he came back. although he didn't bound off the bus as excitedly as he bound on. i had to reach in a coax him out. something tells me he'd be more than happy cruising around with miss heidi in the big yellow school bus!
so i think he's set and we're going to do this all again tomorrow. in celebration he got to pick where he'd like to go out for dinner, surprise surprise CiCi's Pizza. (i'm not that organized to realize that he had pizza for lunch and i had already promised him pizza for dinner, don't turn me in to the nutrition police!)

first day of school!!!!

today is the first full day of school and i have one 5 year old boy who is READY!!!! he was very excited to put on his new backpack (which looks strikingly similar to his old backpack) and go to the bus stop! with such anticipation we actually had to sit patiently (or not) in front of our house for a little bit and then we made it to the corner with just a few minutes of waiting for the bus to arrive. living so close to school a nice perk is that the 4 kids at our stop are the only kids on the bus! the next block over starts the walkers and we just squeak in. miss heidi, the bus driver, runs the same area for the middle school an hour earlier and picks up lots of kids but with the elem. so close there are only 4 and it's the only stop. which is great in my mind! less time for J to think about getting into trouble. plus, aside from J and one other kindergartner there are 4th grade and 5th grade girls! what more could a mother ask for! they were both put in charge of making sure J doesn't
1. dump the contents of his backpack on the 2 minute drive to school
2. gets off with the backpack when they arrive at school
J was so excited he bounded up the steps of the bus and made his way to the 3rd row. then i had to scurry on after him and instruct him that miss heidi (and his mother) would prefer that all kindergartners would sit in the first row.
who knows what he's getting into today at kindergarten, but i have a feeling i'm going to have one tired little boy getting off the bus at 2:56.

the girls....

wendy


heidi


manya


caroline


& me!

these are my girls! friends from the start of college where we all got roped in to rowing crew (or were at least roommates with someone who did!) we just went on our annual girls weekend. what a joy to look forward to and what a good time was had by all. i hear of weekends that girls just partied till dawn, and those who were able to travel great distance on some exotic adventure. but i don't think that's what this weekend means to me. i like to just - be. just get around my dear old friends and tell stories from our past, laugh at the same old jokes, and talk about fresh new events in our lives. since we're all over the U.S. i look forward to this time to go and sit and - be. hang out at a coffee shop like i would love to do with all of them throughout the year. window shop and walk around town with out a care and just - be. the weather helped us out this year. in Breckenridge, CO is was 50 and chilly, and rainy! so we were forced to just hang out and - be, and i couldn't be happier. sure there were great adventures planned and I'm sure we'll get another chance but it didn't stop my good time one drop. to me, it doesn't matter so much what we do it's who we're doing it with. like trying to cram a year's worth of coffees, movies, and bottles of wine into one weekend! it's not enough. i guess it never will be, but i take what i can get. we chitter chatter right to the airport and then, some, even on the plane home. there's always something to say and the joy of being able to just - be, without all the little "mommy i need help"s, "mommy he hit me"s in the background. time to just focus on each other and ourselves.
i can't wait for our next trip and i'm excited to get started planning. like one of my wise dear friends just said "you just can't make old friends". you've got what you got and i cherish them immensely. i love that we all bring something to the table. different backgrounds, different careers, different lifestyles and such, but i think what makes us works is that that's what we love about each other. we're eager to hear from each other and learn what the others are doing. those without kids allow us to go on and on about them, and we crave to know what exciting adventures others have gone on that we have not been able to.
well i could go on and on. i just love this time we have together and i just get so excited when i hear anyone talking about their girls weekend. it translates into the same thing no matter who is doing it and where they are going, time to just - be.
be together
be free
be fun
be happy
be whatever you feel like being.....


the girls...


snow topped breckenridge, in AUGUST!!!!

cheers to jenny who was there in spirit and is certain to be at next years!

Danny Boy

check out this sweet angel! he really is as sweet as his big, beautiful eyes suggest! what a mild mannered boy and a big flirt! mom really wanted the big gummy smiles she's so accustomed to but nothing bowls me over like eyes that look like they want to know everything! and what's cuter than little piggies!!!!!