my boy...

i took a few shots of the kids the other night for a post on the giveaway blog...i was so happy with the images i came away with of my boy. he only gave me a couple minutes, i don't think he was feeling very good, and it was almost bedtime. but hey, you get what you can, or at least that's what i've learned when it comes to shooting my own children...make it fun, come armed with surprises, and when they are done, let them be done. anyway, i can't believe how grown up he looks in these photos and how much of his personality shines through. he was having fun hamming it up a bit for me for sure!

love this one! that sneaky little grin...he must get that from his daddy ;)

my sweetness. he really wanted his horsie in the photos for a bit...who am i to tell him otherwise?! cutie pants!
stinker!!

this was actually the first time i've photographed my own kiddos in a while, especially hollis...he's not a huge fan of the camera these days...i have to say, even though it didn't last long, we had fun together!
xo,

a

Read more...

it's getting hot in here...

so let's go swimm-m-ing... sydney spent part of the day with us and we decided to head to grans house to spend some time in the pool. we have been hibernating in what feels like a cave for about a week now. it's just too hot to do anything outside. miserable. but the kids are going stir crazy and i seem to have lost all patience {whatever i had}, so off to the pool to get rid of some of that crazy energy!
we had so much fun and sydney is such a sweetie. we love her and were so happy to have her spend some alone time with us! Maddy came and spent a day before i went out of town, so syd had to have her own day, too. ava is trying to talk auntie christina into a spend the time sometime before school starts...she is a very persistent little thing! that's for sure!
ava has come so far this summer in her swimming. she does so well and as long as she has on her goggles is like a little fish. if the goggles come off, we're in trouble. she doesn't like that water in her eyes...can't say i blame her!
here she is in all her mermaid glory!

Read more...

iphone photo love

bo bought me an iphone for mother's day and i LOVE it!!! it has become my camera stand in on many a family outing and even around the house, when things happen and i don't have time to run and grab the camera. i am trying to work on the fuzziness of some of the photos...but here are just a few of my little cuties from the week we had!

my girl before going to sydney's 7th birthday party...she insisted on wearing the hat...

at grans house...playing in gran's shoes...girls got attitude...
a bed i FINALLY found. i have been searching for one for our room...then i find out bo hates them. good thing this one is a double, perfect for ava's room! {and some photos, of course!}

me and my boy. snuggles...always good.

hollis looking cool after an evening swimming at gran's house...yes, we hang out over there lots. and we love every second.

ava before ballet class. she looked so cute, i had to snap a photo.

my mom's friend jean took this photo of hollis. i loved it. had to include it. that's ava's hat...she refuses to wear it. he loves it. i think it is now his...watch, not she's going to want to wear it all the time...isn't that the way it always works?!

xo,

a

Read more...

playing catch up...in no specific order.

i know. it's been a bit since i've updated the blog with photos of the kiddos and what we've been up to. mostly we were hit with a viscious bug a few weeks ago and it took a couple weeks to cycle through the family. hollis, then ava, then, of course, me. it was so bad my mom had to come get the kids for a few days. i just couldn't do anything. it was awful! but we are better now and ready to get back into the world! just a few random photos from the past month or so...i have lots from ava's birthday party and her four year old photos to share...coming soon, i guess!

we made some cute cards for father's day! we are so lucky to have so many wonderful dad's in the lives of our children. their daddy, uncles, grandpas, and great grandpas!

this was the night before ava got so sick. little sleeping beauty! we had spent the day swimming and out in the sunshine.
love this shot of bo and hollis. we got rid of that rocker yesterday. kind of painful. we rocked both babies in that rocker. i'm so sentimental it makes simple and logical things more difficult than they should be.

my little man. he LOVES to sleep! {& i am so thankful!}

father's day. bo had to work, but he got in a few stories before he took off!

ava and her horses! she loves them so!

now this just cracks me up! hollis will ride anything...ANYTHING. matchbox cars, stuffed animals, hats...if he can sit on it, he can ride it! and the life vest was a nice touch :)

my little fish. we are getting this girl out of water wings this year. she is doing so good. still not a strong swimmer, but we are getting there! going to my mom's later today to practice!

bo and i celebrated our 6th anniversary on the 11th. i was so.sick. he remembered and brought me these beautiful flowers. we are going out this week to celebrate! better late than never, right?

we spent a fun day out at the lake with the family. ava loves her maddy and sydney. it is so fun to see these cousins together! they have so much fun and i love that ava has such sweet girls to look up to.

so, that's all for now. i'll try to get some more updates up soon for my few loyal readers :) i adore ya'll and love that you enjoy keeping up with us! i'll try and spice things up for you soon!

xo,

a

Read more...

kids, quilts, thoughts....

life is good. we have been loving this spring weather, soaking in the sun every afternoon. i might even bust out the sprinkler sometime soon if this weather stays so pretty...i can already hear ava squealing!

so many things i have been loving lately....

this quilt for our bed {on the wishes list for now}, would look awesome in our bedroom.

this quilt for missy ava's room...it's perfect! i saw it on a blog this week and after years of searching for the perfect quilt for ava's room, i knew this was the one! so it's ordered and on it's way! lucky girl!
these two for sure, always loving them!
we went to the zoo wednesday and while we were waiting for daddy to get ready, ava felt like climbing up in hollis' crib for a little brother/sister time! so cute! i think she remembers that it was hers at one point in her life and i think she is missing her monkeys and fishes!
hollis was loving it!

went walking the other night, both kids sacked out at the same time...had to take a picture, who knows when it will happen again?!

newsflash: ava "got" how to work the pedals on her tricycle! you should have seen the look on her face...it was like, "did i just do that?!", awesome! gonna try and get it on video for ya'll! it's pretty incredible! {do i sound like a proud mama, or what?!}

hope your days have been sunny and full of love,

a

one more thing i'm loving...one of my favorite bloggers husbands {got that?} started his own music blog...i am in love with several of his songs, but can't stop listening to this one. they just seem like the most adorable couple, the kind of people you want in your life because they would make it even richer.

& this guy...wowza. totally inspired to attempt a video of my littles, where they are right now, in this moment...we shall see what i can come up with. he is amazing! you have to check out his video...i can pretty much guarantee you will fall in love with these children & this family..i mean, seriously, i wonder if they would consider adopting a married mother of two?! ha! they.are.beautiful.

Read more...