Turtley AWESOME!

I snapped a few pics of Super Sam this afternoon in his "turtley awesome" outfit!

I have to confess to having a bit of an obsession with onsies that say funny things. He has a "mommy's new man" onsie too which totally cracks me up. I've seen a few in stores that have literally sent me to my knees laughing. One of my favorites has a bottle on the front and said, "I'll take a bottle of the house white"...I could put a new one on him everyday! He's busting out of most of his summer duds so I figured I better catch a few cute shots of him before he chubs up anymore!



Also...I have been longing to figure out how to add cool texture to photos. I am working on a special photography project and really wanted to be able to texturize the final project (I'll definitely share when and if my little projects works out!) My sweet and talented friend Nic helped me out by directing me to a couple of greats sites and giving me a few helpful editing tips. Here is a shot I took of J last summer that I think looks pretty cool with my new found texturizing skills!!

If this kind of thing excites you as much as it does me you should check out this spot!
It is going to take me a bit of practice to completely figure it out but I can't wait to try out a few more of my favorite shots!

into the woods...

Well miracles never cease...and as proof I actually got some sewing done this week! This fun little "forest critters" jumper will be hitting the bay first thing in the morning. Ivylane is doing an "Into the Woods" launch this week so be sure to check in and see all of the fabulous listings! Here is a little sneak of the set I will be offering!


Could she be any more coy???

Click here to go directly to my listing (and to see more pictures of my cutie)
Click here to shop all of the IVYLANE listings!!!

the funny thing about the imagination

I have never had a good sense of imagination. Ask my Mom. I didn't play as a kid...no dolls or house (unless you count popping the heads off of my sister's Barbies...that probably doesn't count though right?!?)

So when my girls ask me to play with them, I'm never quite sure what to do. Call me practical, a realist, or just plain boring...just don't ask me to play Polly Pockets.

But today J's long lashes were beating feverishly and I found my self agreeing to a round of mini princess play.



The cliff notes version of what we played:

So you can see there are 3 princesses and a King in the "swimming pool" having a swim party (seems just a little fishy to me!) The short prince on the elephant is filling the pool for them with cool crisp water.

The wild boar is teaching the dead dolphin how to swim in a pool (since he is used to swimming in the ocean).

These three ladies in waiting are watching the swim party with rapt attention.
The littlest princess is oh-so-small because she got dirty...her Mom washed her and accidentally put her in the dryer! And in the background is a dinosaur farm where all the dinosaurs are dead and you can walk around and look at them (see my post about our recent museum trip for a bit of an explanation!)

Try as I might I will never get it. But I must have done something right as J was highly impressed with my talking boar ;)

Kick'in It

Today was A's first day of the Victory Soccer Camp with Goran Hunjak. I don't know if she played well or not...but she sure looked adorable :) She is just getting started playing and will get to play this fall on the kindergarten team at her elementary school. It was unusually cool and rainy this morning and the kids had a blast playing in the rain. I lurked around for a few extra minutes to snag some photos of her...until it started to really rain and J, S, and my trusty D80 ran for the car.

A wasn't overly enthusiastic about me taking so many pictures...did I embarrass her?!?! Surely not?!? She eventually agreed to pose for me a couple of times. Although she said that I now owe her a Littlest Pet Shop since she worked so hard modeling. Man that girl has some business sense about her!

OK...here she is in all her cuteness!



Heading out on the field. There was actually a kindergarten group although A apparently thought she deserved to practice with the big kids...that's my little over-achiever!


Setting it up. She looks a bit "Kung Fu" in this shot which really cracks me up!

Wet, worn out, and extremely HAPPY! By the way...I took this shot about 10 times (I was trying to avoid the unfortunately placed background) but even with some editing and cropping I was unable to really save the shot. Just look at how cute A is and try to avoid the rest :)

Four more days of kick'in fun for A this week! Too bad that I have four more days to listen to J complain about how boring it is to be home with me while A is away!

All smiles!

We're all smiles and cooing here now that we have our tummy issues resolved! Sam is now 6 (almost 7!) weeks old and has changed so much over the past few weeks. Besides the smiling and "talking" he is sleeping 6-8 hours and rolling over! He's lost almost all of his hair on top...going for the "male patterned baldness" look...it is coming in much lighter underneath. His eyes are still an undetermined color...sort of a dark slate blue that changes depending on the light. But when he fixes them on you and flashes a smile that you know was only meant for you it just melts your heart! He is chubbing right up too. I'm guessing he is between 10-11 pounds now...definitely out of his newborn duds and losing that "new to this world" look.

Still loving him like crazy!!

Things I would have captured if I had my camera

We just got back from our week on the road and of course I took my camera with me. But did I remember to use it...of course not. So in lieu of sharing wonderfully mood evoking photographs I will have to resort to a list of Top Ten Things I would share had I thought to pull my lonely camera from its case.

1. Sweet cousin snuggles in the morning over sugary bowls of Cinnamon Toast Crunch

2. Enough cooing and smiles from S to melt your heart in 10 seconds flat

3. Sisters chatting into the wee hours of the night about nothing and everything all at once

4. Max the dog posting guard under the kid table and scoring a giant hot dog (I'm thinking this may NOT have been dropped on accident)

5. Cousins splashing in the new 15' swimming pool in the backyard

6. Listening to The Pastor's repetitive questioning "did I buy too big of a pool" (and YES you did but remember this is America the Land of Excess)

7. The look on J's face when I bought her the Princess Ariel swimming toy she has been coveting ALL summer at our neighborhood pool

8. Littlest Petshops hanging precariously upside down from the rim of Mimi's metal (and highly magnetic) coffee table

9. Gigantic dinosaur bones at Morrill Hall and the amazing remains of the Whooly Mammoth

10. The living museum the cousins reenacted in the basement where they posed like the dead animals we viewed earlier at the museum. I especially like the dead cat that died while rolling over in its sleep.

There you have it!

giddy-up

The girls have been waiting anxiously for horse camp to begin. We have been counting down the weeks! A is a true horse enthusiast but we couldn't resist signing J up for some lessons as well. So they were both up early this morning in their jeans and boot rearing to go meet their horsey pals "Beau" and "Bob". They are taking lessons at some stables south of town for 6 weeks. Hopefully they will both enjoy it enough to continue this fall! P took all the pictures for me through the viewing window so you will have to pardon some of the technical issues ;) A is timid by nature but really wowed us with her ability to jump right up on her horse and take charge. J didn't have any problems either...but we didn't expect that from her personality!

Here they are learning how to brush their horses


Walking into the arena


Learning to walk their horses



Riding backwards :) Love this little smirk J is giving us!

A taking her job a bit more seriously

Such a fun morning for them! I can't wait to watch them progress over the next couple of weeks!

So...things may be quiet here over the next few days. We are heading to Nebraska for a week with "Mimi","Baboo", and "The Writer". The girls are looking forward to some seriously fun cousin time!

And a quick Sam update: Doing MUCH better on the Nutramigen formula. I think we are going to go broke feeding him though! We are slowly weaning him to the bottle and he is SO much happier! We are already seeing major improvements and hoping he will feel even better once he is completely weaned. I'm trying to move on...and just relishing having a HAPPY baby again :)

I want this so bad it hurts

Isn't this gorgeous? Oh my...I can't believe how badly I want it. No...I NEED it.

I can't believe I am even going to share this information with you. But if you want to enter to win this quilt too you must go HERE.

I'm brainstorming for a funny video entry...will post later if I get creative!

Rub a dub

We have had a rough couple of weeks with a cranky baby who can't be consoled. We've tried everything. We originally thought Sam had reflux but when the medication didn't make him more comfortable we opted for an allergen-free formula. We are working on transitioning him over the next few weeks...but WOW...what a difference in him already! Our formerly fussy guy is slowly transforming back into his charming self :) We are hoping that he will be much more comfortable after we get him completely weaned. His pediatrician suspects a food allergy (most likely milk or wheat) but even diet changes haven't fully solved the problem. If anyone has any experience with this please feel free to leave some ideas (or encouragement!) in the comments :)

This morning while he was happy and full we took a little bath. It was fairly momentous as he didn't cry for even one moment :) I thought I would share him getting squeaky clean!

Not sure what to think....hmm...maybe I DO like baths!

All clean!

Must be in the water

So pretty much everyone I know is pregnant or has just had a baby. I don't know if it is some type of local water epidemic or what...but women around here are dropping like flies! The good news is that I get lots of chances to work on my photo taking with all the new babies around!

Meet Ava. She is 3 weeks old and just a tiny peanut weighing in at a mere 6 lbs. She makes Sam look like the jolly green giant :) She came to my house yesterday to play! It was an unusually cool and rainy July day so our lighting wasn't great but we still had a wonderful time together!

Thanks for the friendship Marisa and for letting me be a small part of your gorgeous baby girl's life!

One happy month

S - soft silky hair
A - another sleepless night
M - magical moments
U - unconditional love
E - early morning cuddles
L - laughing at your funny faces

E - everything we hoped you would be
L - living out our dream
L - little changes every day
I - imagining you all grown up
S - silly little smiles

Our lives were already full but God graced us with another child to love. It is hard to believe that we have already loved this little miracle for an entire month. He is so beautiful to us!!










We love you with our whole hearts Samuel Ellis.

Dear Grandma...and other thank yous

Dear Grandma,
I love my airplane outfit! It is special since Daddy likes airplanes so much. Mommy has dressed me in it several times already but today I insisted she take my picture so you could see how cute I am! Thank you for making me such a hip little guy!
Love,
Sam


We have been getting presents in the mail daily welcoming Sam to the world. So many lovely gifts from friends and family....too many to share all of them here. But as I am able to capture Sam in some of his outfits and such I will try to post them for everyone to see!

This GORGEOUS necklace came a few weeks ago and I am just now getting a proper thank you out to my dear friend Ann of Swede-at-Heart. I have worn it nearly every day and received so many compliments! To get one of your own...click HERE!


I have been working on some one month portraits of Sam...hoping to post those tomorrow...can he REALLY be one month old?!?!? Sob!

Fourth Fun

We just got home from our first road trip since having Sam and we are all pretty exhausted. My sister (The Writer) has the perfect party house...a huge 3 story Craftsman mansion with pink trim and enough rooms that the little girls are lost for hours! We ate, lit some fireworks, talked, cuddled the baby, and ate some more. I didn't get nearly as many photos as I would have liked. Sam (aka Mr. Grumpy Pants as J has now named him) had a fussy day Friday and wanted to be held. And since my role in my family is usually "photojournalist"...there aren't a whole lot of photos to share. But we did manage to take a few :)

Here is Sam with his "Great Gaga". She was thrilled to meet him and I just love this picture of them together!

A and J enjoying the smoke bombs

My sweet lil firecracker

The three littlest girls...they are completely inseparable!

A and J taking a break from the fireworks to pose for me!

Sam sacked out (finally!) with Daddy! I was so proud of myself that I even had a little Fourth of July outfit for him. I waited to put it on him until the festivities began...then he promptly peed all over it...I guess I'm still learning about having a little boy!

Mommy time!

I had to include this shot too...that wrinkled brow! Now I know what he will look like as an 80 year old man :)

Hope you all had a wonderful, family-filled, Fourth of July! We are all off to take a good long nap!