A Kentucky visitor

We had a visitor at the beginning of September. Gram flew in to celebrate Landry's 1st birthday and I'm the slacker that just now getting around to posting about it.

She came the perfect time for me. I was so so overwhelmed at the beginning of the year and needed an extra hand. Dinners were cooked several nights and she was nominated to be on my party planning committee. She was a lifesaver!

  Miss Landry loved all that attention and loving that she got from Gram. 

We took a moment to enjoy the birthday present that we got for Landry. Her very own swing on our play ground. I think we made a good choice.

 

I needed a weekend like this, just family and time to just play. Life has been so insanely busy lately. I soak up every moment that's like this because I want my life to have more moments just like these.

 It seems like since we bought the swing for the kids, our playground has gotten a new level of attention. Campbell has FINALLY learned to swing by himself since starting Pre-K. I thought I was going to see that boy belly swinging forever. So now it's a race to the swings after school every day.

Sister even took a ride down the slide for the first time. I think she'll be out there running around with her brothers in no time.

 This was my favorite picture of the day. I love Julie's face in this and my allergy-ridden Nolan having a sneeze attack mid picture. He's usually the one who's looking away because of his over-reactive allergies when I'm looking for a nice family pose.

Thank you Gram for all that you do. You have no idea how much a cooked dinner can do for an overworked and exhausted mommy like myself. We can't wait until your next visit!

These are the days

It's a very rare occasion to be able to go outside and say the words, "Wow, what a beautiful day," here in Texas. But Labor Day weekend was finally full of several of those days. It was so great, in fact, that we went to play at the park four out of five days which might be more times than we went all summer. So if God's gives me this many days with my family that are this beautiful, you better believe that I'll be cramming it in til I can't go no more!

Isn't it amazing how much weather affects our moods? How rain can send you into a funk or into a feeling of having a fresh start? How snow can warm your soul and craving a bowl of soup? Well, heat just makes me crabby. It's bad, real bad. Since school started we've had no air conditioning at school FOUR days. Those poor kids have no hope. I have mood swings that could knock out a heavy weight.

But a perfectly sunny day with a breeze sends me into my rainbows and sunshine mood. And Labor Day weekend definitely had me in one of those moods.

Seeing my boys just run carefree while I just sit back on a blanket ranks in my Top 10 things to do with my children.

And if I could, I would have a picnic every day of my life.

Especially when I've got smiles like these coming at me so fast I can't catch them fast enough.



Even more so when I've got both my boys thinking their dad is the funnest, coolest dad in he world. Because, let's face it, he is.

Gosh, I love this picture. I think it might just be framed.

When life gets insane and I dream of good days, these are the days that I dream about.

In my dream land, we'd have picnics everyday and ride bikes or tricycles.

He can't quite reach as much as he's trying to grow up too fast. It gently reminds me that even though I feel like life is flying, I can calm down because he's still my baby.




We sucked the bejesus out of that weekend and we were passed out come Monday night. But I wouldn't have it any other way.


Did I mention these days make me giddy?

Labor Day Lens

Just in time for the holiday weekend, we got a new toy. Justin's company really emphasizes health and wellness. They have a program full of incentives and they give you "bucks" for every workout, doctor's check-up, etc. So we've been working out and getting all our little health assessments and worked up enough bucks to buy a new camera lens with our bucks. It was like Christmas seeing it on our front porch.

I'm in love. I still have SO much to learn when it comes to our DSLR camera, but I'm getting more confident as I use it. When Justin finally put the camera down, he gave me a chance to play.

And there was definitely opportunity over our three day weekend to use it. We went to the park every single day because that's how we roll when we've been locked up in the house for the months of June, July, and August because of the miserable stinkin' heat. I even told the boys they weren't allowed to play inside, they had to play outside because it was so beautiful. Seriously, how frightening is it to hear your own mother's voice when you're talking to your own children?




Sunny days + happy children+ family time = bliss

For the first time this weekend, I could actually taste fall. And, it tasted awesome.



I'm not sure if it was the new lens or their undeniable cuteness but my boys were working that camera crazy. I couldn't get a bad shot. Gotta love those days because they are few and far between. Normally, for every 100 photos I take, I might get 10 decent ones.



The more pictures I take, the more it fuels my addiction. I don't care if I don't have enough walls to possibly display the pictures or even enough memory on my computer. In these moments, photos are the next closest thing I can do to bottle them up and keep them forever.



And this is just the beginning of our weekend. Stay tuned for more. I told ya it was an addiction.