My day with Beau

Lainey's class took a field trip to Remlinger Farms today.   I decided it was a good day to let Beau play hooky from preschool.  I had to explain what playing hooky meant and of course, now he wants to play hooky everyday since it means not going to preschool.

I had a great time hanging with my boy in spite of it being a very rainy day.  We didn't let the rain bother us though. We rode all the rides that were open, had a yummy lunch, picked out pumpkins and all in all, had a great day together.  It was fun having him all to myself and while we ran into Lainey a few times, mainly it was just us and our friends, Mrs. L and Ruby.  Beau has now decided that he and Ruby are best friends.

He's trying soooo hard not to put his fingers near the donkeys. The donkey kept poking his head out and looking at Beau like, "come on, you know you want to let me nibble on your fingers!"

 No amount of photoshop can remove the green color cast from a photo when the canopy above you is green. For the record, the round thing in the middle that we spin the ride with, was silver. 

 These two will start kindergarten together in two years. How cool is that?

Thanks for showing Mommy a fun time Beau!!

Is it just me?

I've been thinking about quitting Facebook lately.  I don't know if it's the election and all the mean posts that seem to dominate it or what but it just isn't fun anymore.  And since I've joined Facebook, I haven't updated this blog or taken as many photos with a camera that doesn't have a phone. Seriously, who uses the phone anymore? It's just a camera with a phone to me these days. And I am not one of those people that can take super cool pics with their phone and do Instagram. Have I stunted my growth as a photographer with Facebook?  I think I need to find more creative, rewarding outlets for my energy and time. 

These two are growing up way too fast and I'm not documenting our lives as well as I'd like to.  

A rare, dry, fall day

It's very rare for us to see dry leaves on the ground in the fall.  When it happens, it's fleeting because fall equals rain here.  So when I saw these leaves on the ground outside school and the forecast called for a dry day, I grabbed my camera before we picked up Lainey and set about bribing the kids to get some pics. 

 Not his best smile but the smile I see quite often, making it his smile. 

 Ms. Sassy Pants attempting a glamour pose. 

 The sweetest, more tenderhearted, sensitive person I have ever met.  Just don't ask her to share her ice cream. 

 One day, maybe flattery will work with these two. For now, a set of raquetballs and a book do the trick.

Some more pics of all the kids playing. What a memorable fall day and reason #143 that I love our neighborhood. 

A New Frontier

Tonight is the night before Lainey starts kindergarten.  I'm excited, scared, sad and everything in between.  I can't stop thinking about the day we brought her home from the hospital and the big grin I had on my face every time I looked in the backseat and thought, "there's a PERSON back there and she's ALL MINE!"  Her and I have spent the majority of every day since.  For the first time, she'll be away from me more than she's with me (if you don't count her sleeping).  Her world is expanding and changing and I'm so excited for her but sad that I'm losing a bit of her.  My fear for quite some time has been that she wouldn't be ready.  But all the signs seem to be telling me she is ready.  She's reading like a rock stars, doing math and very excited about learning new things and making new friends.  I have to let go and I want to let her go but I'll admit-I'm envious of her teachers and all the people that get to see her grow every day.  That's been one of my favorite things about being a stay at home mother; seeing her blossom and grow every.single.day.  Now I won't be there to witness it.  So, the process of letting her go begins for real.  I have a funny feeling it won't be me that breaks away first from our goodbye hug tomorrow morning.  I really and truly feel like a mother tonight.

 If you think I did just one First Day of Kindergarten photo shoot, you don't know me at all. 

Our traditional, in front of the door to measure our growth shot with a new tradition of her writing her name to show how her handwriting improves over the years. 

3 1/2 give or take

I meant to do a post when you turned 3, then I meant to do one when you turned 3 1/2.  Here we are, post 3 1/2 and I'm finally getting around to it.

You are:  very concerned about letting everyone you meet know that you aren't 3, you are 3 and a half.  It's a BIG deal apparently.

You are: a flirt. Daddy taught you to raise your eyebrows say, "How you doin?" like Joey from Friends, a show you'll probably watch years from now and think how silly all the people look and how old fashioned they are.  In Wenatchee recently you asked our waitress if she could home with us. You're trouble in the making little dude.

You are: not a fan of nicknames. You are Beau. Not Beau-man, Beau-meister, Meatball (my favorite), Beau-arino, just Beau.

You are: CRAZY! You will jump off of anything, climb anything, touch things you shouldn't, taste things you regret later, and basically, try anything. Especially if you think it's funny or if someone laughs.  How we haven't visited the ER with you yet is beyond me.

June 2012

You are: funny. I love your sense of humor. It's wicked and naughty, both of which are necessary for developing a good sense of humor.

You are: Athletic as all get out. You have been able to hit live pitches for months, your swim instructor, after one session of lessons told us  you're an "advanced, advanced three year old," you can flip like a little monkey in gymnastics and have a great arm. I have yet to find a sport you're not good at. Remember how much Mommy loved you and kissed your owies when you become the pro baseball player you told me you'd be ok?

April 2012

You are: Mine even though you like to frustrate me by saying you're Daddy's.  Ok, you're both of ours. But you have been my little man since the moment you entered this world and you'll always be my baby, no matter what.

August 23 2012

I love you 154 Just Beau.

XOXO Mommy

A moment to remember

A recent conversation between Lainey and Daddy:

Lainey found a 4 leaf clover in the backyard so I told her to make a wish. She whispered something inaudible and then asked me to make a wish. I started thinking and she asked me if I made one yet.....I said I wasn't sure since I had so many thoughts in my head so she asked if she could make a wish for me? I said yes so we whispered to the clover that she wished that Daddy could think of some good wishes! Perfect!!!!

the hits just keep on coming

Lainey suggested we take some "pretty pictures" today and who am I to turn that down?  I am LOVING this phase and praying it lasts for a very long time! I took advantage of the situation, and decided to try shooting in my bathroom. Due to all the white that's usually found there, it's usually a good place to find some decent light.  And I'm happy to say, it worked, even on this dreary, soggy Tuesday. 

I let Lainey be in charge of what she wore and what we shot. She decided she wanted to be Rapunzel and have a picnic with her bears.  I dread the day I can't fit her in the frame. I had to stand on the step stool from the bathroom to get this shot and her feet still got cut off. Of course, when I switch to a full frame camera I'll buy myself some time. (hint hint Daddy!)

I threw in a book and had her read to them.  I wish I'd had a copy of Goldilocks and the Three Bears though!  That would have made a cute photo shoot even more precious. 

She is pretty perfect. I have to say.  Except for her other current phases:

1. A strong resistance (picture gagging) to trying to new foods.

2. An inability to fall asleep in her bed the first time (or 5th) we put her in it.

and that's all I can think of right now. I am nothing if not blessed to be able to call this sweet, beautiful precious girl mine.

Bug, I love that you are developing a love of reading, that you are a self proclaimed "friend of bugs," that a pill bug was named your best friend, that you love God and always remember to pray before you eat. You are a rockstar sweet girl!

Miracles to happen

I have a blog post (or 10) from our Hawaiian adventure but am a little overwhelmed with ideas. So, I'll just procrastinate for a bit longer.  One wonderful side effect if you will, of our vacation is that Lainey seems to have taken a liking to having her picture taken.  After 8 days of hounding, pleading, nagging, bribing, and all out groveling on my part, something clicked and now she's very cooperative.  As you can imagine, I am on cloud nine!  Ever the sneaky Mommy, I've been making a point of taking her picture every couple of days just to keep the idea fresh in her mind. And boy am I loving it!

This is just a sample of our little photoshoot this afternoon.  Never have I gotten such great eye contact and lovely smiles. Thank you SO much Bug! I LOVE LOVE LOVE taking pictures of you beautiful girl!

Bribery

Every once in awhile, when the light is right and the kids are agreeable, we take some photos.  It didn't take Beau long to learn that I can be easily talked into giving them Skittles or some other rare treat in exchange for his cooperation.  

He starts out all serious and focused. 

Then we hit the silly phase.

and in a matter of just a few minutes, we've hit the bored stage.  Time to shake things up.

Oh how I love this boy's genuine smile.  It warms my soul and it's what gets me out of bed in the morning. 

Somebody overheard the word candy and decided to see what she needed to do in order to feed her sweet tooth.  She can't let her little brother be the only one to get a treat. 

It's worth every piece of candy and every quarter I've handed out.  If they only knew how priceless they and these photos are to me, their piggy banks would be full and their teeth rotted. 

Five. Five? Seriously?

My favorite picture of you and I, taken when you were 3 weeks old.

My new favorite picture of you, taken the day before you turned five.

*****

Laineybug, Buggles, Bugalicious, Bug,

I know I say this every year but I truly cannot believe you are five years old today. Four seems so young and five seems so much more mature to me for some reason.  You are, without a doubt, my favorite girl in the entire world and really, one of my favorite people in general.  I can't think of any way that I could love you more but I know that tomorrow, I will love you more than I do today.

I can remember what it felt like waiting for you to arrive. Your Daddy and I were so SO excited to be parents and super excited to meet you.  Every time we saw you at the doctor's office on the ultrasounds and heard your heartbeat we got more and more excited to hold you and love on you.

The day you were born began like any other day. It was Friday and a friend from out of town was visiting and Daddy and I planned on going out to dinner that evening with him.  I drove Daddy to work in Seattle so that we wouldn't have two cars and on my way home, stopped at my favorite paper store, Paper  Zone (which recently went out of business, breaking my heart) to pick up some paper to make thank you cards for all the lovely gifts we received for you.  While waiting for the store to open I got a couple of phone calls from friends asking if you were here yet. Nope, not yet I told them.

I was at home making some cards when your birth-mommy called me and said she was going to the hospital but wasn't sure if this was "it" or not.  I immediately stopped making cards and got our stuff together: mine and daddy's suitcase and your bag of new clothes, blankets and diapers.  I called Daddy and told him to come home NOW but he reminded me that I drove him to work!  So I hopped in the car and went to get him from work.

We drove down to Tacoma and we were so excited that I don't even remember driving there.  When we got to the hospital, the doctor was in with your birth-mommy and so we waited out in the waiting room.  Grammy and Grandpa arrived shortly after us and we prayed for you and  your birth mommy and couldn't hardly contain our excitement. I was going to be a Mommy!  A little while later a nurse came out and told us it was ok to come into the room so we left Grammy and Grandpa and went in.

Pretty soon it was time for you to make your grand entrance. It wasn't very long, about 15 minutes and you were here! I looked at the clock immediately, wanting to know the exact time you were born. 2:56pm on Friday, March 2, 2007.  The hospital was nice enough to let us stay in a room there so we didn't have to leave you at night, although I did have to give you to them at night so you could sleep in the nursery.  Nobody told me that I was only supposed to give you a little bit of your bottle at every feeding.  You were so hungry that you drained it dry!  We couldn't figure out why you were so cranky at night.  The nurses thought you might be allergic to your formula so they kept switching it, which couldn't have helped matters but really, you were mad because your tummy was so full!  Ooops! I'd been in charge of you for all of two days and I'd already screwed up.

Finally, on Monday, we got a call from our attorney letting us know that you were officially ours and we could take you home!  Daddy drove your birth mommy home while I got to have you with me. I couldn't get over the fact that there was a little person in the back seat and kept looking back at you.  When we got home we introduced you to Cooper who thought you were extremely interesting and stayed by you and Mommy.  We took you around your house and showed you the room we decorated just for you.  You were home at last.

My life has never been the same since that day. It's like my life began the day I walked in our house with you in my arms.  Where I couldn't imagine myself as a mother, now I can't imagine not being your Mommy.  I love you so much Bug that it brings tears to my eyes and makes my heart hurt a little, in a good way.  I thank Jesus every day for bringing your birth mommy and I together, and Beau's birth mommy for that matter.  Jesus has a plan for all of us.  Sometimes, most of the time, we don't know what it is, but He always knows what is best for us. And you and your brother are the best things  that has ever happened to Daddy and I.  We are so blessed to be your Mommy and Daddy.  Happy Birthday sweetpea.

I love you 152 baby girl,

Mommy

Bunny Birthday

Beau insisted he wanted bunnies for his birthday party.  Last fall we attended his friend Annabelle's birthday party and it apparently made quite an impression on him.  Do you have any idea how hard it is to find party supplies and paraphernalia in January that are bunny related AND remotely boyish? Freakin impossible! I was forced to get crafty and make his invitations.  They turned out ok.  It wasn't what I had in my head but as so often happens, the vision in my head rarely translates to real life.  So with a color scheme in hand, invitations mailed, Bunnies for Birthdays booked, and relaxed a bit. Until yesterday.

I told everyone the party started at noon, thinking we'd all eat and then the bunnies would arrive, play for an hour, have cake and be done.  As it turned out, the bunnies were an hour late, leaving this lover of schedules stressed out. I didn't plan any activities for the kids which left nine kids, aged 2-5 running around my house, no bunnies, no cake and not nearly enough booze for their parents.

Just as we started to open presents, the bunnies arrived and a whole new kind of chaos ensued.  I think everyone had fun. I know Beau did and it was his birthday after all.  Now I have to talk Lainey out of having a bunny party for her birthday. No way am I going through all that again!