Happy Halloween

Here are a few from our Halloween...

Mallory was a witch- she wanted a costume with face paint so this is what we decided on.

Jillian kept going back and forth from Cinderella to Belle. She finally decided on the princess with the glass slippers.

Drew did not have a choice... he is the brave little lion and the cutest little lion if I do say so myself!

Although it was rainy the kids lasted 2 hours trick or treating this year! We went with two neighborhood family friends and they had a blast!

My Baby Turned 1

Well I'm a little behind in posting, a month to be exact but better late than never. My very last baby turned 1 on August 21,2013. It was as they say bittersweet. I'm not going to lie, it's been a rough year with this little guy. He has never been the greatest sleeper, in fact he pretty much never slept those first few weeks. I remember thinking how is this possible that he is a newborn and he doesn't sleep! He was the king of the cat naps: 3o minutes here and there. He also had acid reflux issues, constantly spitting up that only recently went away after we stopped giving him formula. But let me tell you this kid, this little boy of mine has brought me more joy than I could ever possibly imagine could come form one little guy!! He loves to snuggle and giggle. He adores his sisters and laughs the most when they are around. His first word was mama and that in of itself was enough to melt my heart! I look at him and I can't believe that I have this beautiful little boy to call me mama for the rest of my life. I can't believe he is my son. His gorgeous blue eyes, big lips, round cheeks, long lashes and traces of curly hair showing up. I know with all my heart he completes our family and I know with all my heart my sweet little boy is destined for great things! So although the last year has been full of ups and downs as we welcomed Andrew into our lives, he made our family that much better and we'll have the love of a son for a lifetime to show for it. Happy First Birthday Andrew Nicholas!!

 

We have a Preschooler!!

Just wanted to share some pictures of my baby girl's first day of preschool. My sweet Jillian Faith is officially a preschooler.

She was a rock star! No tears at all! Just "Bye mommy"!!!

She was so ready, especially after watching her big sister do it for two years!

I asked her what her favorite part was at pick up and she said "eating snack".  Let's just say I'm not surprised! ;)

This is so Jilly!! 

The Mom of a Kindergartener

My sweet Mallory Rose had her first day of Kindergarten last week. There were tears shed, by me, not her.

She happily walked down the street with her best friend, also in Kindergarten but in a different class.

She waited in line smiling and talking with her daddy and sister.

She walked away waving goodbye. And that was that. She was gone and I truly felt that this was the real first step in letting go.

Thankfully it's only half day Kindergarten but every day M-F she will be without me for 3 hours. Gone are the days of spending the mornings at the park with her, or going on fun field trips to places like The Botanic Gardens, The Children's Museum, or The Library, or just having lazy week day mornings at home watching Disney movies.

Now here we are a week into sending her off and she absolutely loves it and I can say with most certainty that I love being the mom of a Kindergartener!

 I love meeting the other parents and knowing that we are all in this together. We will likely watch all our children grow up together as they continue their school years.

I love the newness and the excitement and knowing that this is the start of something wonderful for her.

I love knowing that this is just the beginning and we still have so many years ahead of us living together as a family.  I may not be young *Ahem* but our family is young.

 I really am so excited for her. She's a lot like me in that she loves school. I remember being in kindergarten and I remember how excited I was to go to school.

There's something about knowing that your child will likely remember these moments that takes this parenting thing to a whole other level.

She will remember.

I will remember.

Together we will both remember these days and it really just doesn't get better than that!

Michigan Family Vacation

Well It's been nearly 6 months since I last posted. Life with three young kids is oh so busy and I've been working on putting time into my education blog so this little family photography blog has been neglected.

I miss it.

I miss writing and journaling our lives just for me. I miss not having to put a picture that's "Pinterest worthy" like I have to worry about on my education blog.

My goal is to hang out here more often. I love having this outlet to keep track of our family life.

I thought sharing photos of our recent family vacation would be the perfect time to start posting again!

Last week we spent 5 days and 4 nights in Michiana, MI near New Buffalo. We rented a house on the beach with good friends! The weather was perfect and we had a wonderful time.

37/365 (Valentines Day Photo Session)

Here's my makeshift Valentine's Day Photo Session set up.

I used natural light only thus the ugly grey-ish background paper (supposed to be white).

The heart shaped lollipops worked great for bribery!!




This is the photo I chose for my day 37. It's not my favorite of the set nor is it technically correct, it's cropped too tight, and they aren't even really smiling but it's a photo with all three of my kids. So it wins for that reason alone!

 


Some more from the session....