at the doctor's office

day 123/365

ella had to come along with me to an appointment. well, when you stay at home with your kids and you have a whole lotta stuff to do, if a kid has to go with you to an appointment, they go with you to an appointment.  my kids have gone with me to pretty much every doctor's visit and hair appointment that i have ever had. they even went with me for an ob/gyn visit once. not. kidding.

how do you like these apples?

day 120/365

the day we went apple picking and the kids has fun. a lot of fun. ella also ate apples that she picked right off the tree and that made her happy.

mini-a-fur golf

day 119/365

we took the kids miniature golfing at this really cool spot in reston, va. the whole place was this awesome indiana jones-ish/adventurer theme and i was in heaven (editor's note: i had a mad crush on one harrison ford when i was younger and i LOVE the indian jones series. i will also throw out random quotes if the situation calls for it and it ALWAYS calls for it.) some of the stuff creeped out the kids...ella in particular, but they both had a great time and we stopped keeping score at around the 2nd hole. that's when it became this mad free-for-all where it was more polo meets miniature golf, but they were having fun, so that was the best part. getting pictures of them wasn't so easy...so this shot took a ton of coaxing and begging (on my part).

crab meets crabby

day 118/365

i have driven past this restaurant (can you guess what type of food they specialize in?) a million times and always wanted a picture. my husband was there to make sure that she would stay put, so i could grab my camera and run across the street to take this. at first i was like "can you give me crab hands ella?" as if me saying "give me crab hands" to a four year old is going to make any sense. as expected she looked at me like i was nuts. "ok then, how about your hands on your hips?" that, she understood. oh and before this was taken, we had gone shoe shopping for her were we bought five pairs of shoes to the tune of a whole lotta money. i would have been happy if it was me!!

the swing

so honored to have my image as a featured top 10 over at spark!!! go check out the other amazing work this week too!!

 

the bridge

day 117/365

it's this little bridge that's behind our house that extends over this very narrow stream. on that bridge was this teeny, tiny, pocket of light that i asked her to sit in. i would have liked more, but that's what i had. i love the look on her face here, but if i stare at it too long, gone is the four year old that i know and in her place is this older, wiser, beautiful being that i love more than anything.

"you have a beautiful heart ella" i told her one day.
"oh mommy," she replied "you're so silly. i don't have a heart."

yes you do, my sweet girl and you have no idea just how beautiful and wonderful it is.

my kid...the ballet dancer

day 116/365

she and i are a lot alike. well, i see myself in her. she loves to dance, will stop whatever she's doing to start dancing. she also likes to play soccer...and so she's starting that next month. but, for now, it's ballet and tap. and she loves it.

she does smile...

day 115/365

ok..i have to be honest, my kids do smile. a lot. like all the time. here is proof. they also laugh...a lot. i swear.

i mustache you a question...

day 114/365

she has this awesome sense of humor. she gets the joke. it makes me laugh and baffles me all at the same time. i mean, she's only 4, but she. gets. the. joke.

she who will only pose for a minute

day 113/365

it's true. i'm lucky if i can get maybe 10 shots before she's like "ok i am done now mommy"...or, more likely whining "are you dooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnneeeeeeee nowwwwwwwwwww????"

my little footballer

day 112/365

this year, we decided to go a different route and try the little dude at flag football. he was nervous, very nervous, but it's in my heart to make sure that my kids have the attitude that you can do anything you set your mind to. anything. so far, he likes it. and that's a very good thing. he's also very proud that his father loves to practice throwing spirals with him in our yard. very very proud. 

the fort

day 110/365

fort: a place to keep you safe from da funder and da wain

update: so honored to have this image featured on Light Inspired as a featured top 10 for the week!!

the talker

day 109/365

aka the complainer. honestly, i love her more than life itself, but holy moses can she talk...and complain...at great length. she's funny though, i'll give her that. so when she works humor into her ramblings, that makes it tolerable. ;)

ice cream at night

day 108/365

even though she and her brother didn't really eat all of their dinner, i decided that our busy day together deserved some "sert" before we went home for baths and bed.

it was a very nice couple of days...

i am beyond thrilled and honored that my image here was featured on two incredibly major sites...clickinmoms and beyond the wanderlust.

 

i heart faces photo challenge

this photo was submitted in the i heart faces photo challenge. click here to see more entries!!




 

under the bleachers

day 105/365

so my son started playing flag football this month. ella looks forward to the practices a lot because she pretty much just plays with the other kids her age that are there to watch their brothers play.  neither one of us has a clue as to how flag football is played, mainly because i watch her run around the whole time and also because i haven't a clue as to how football is played. i know that there is a ball and you have to run with the ball from one end of the field to the other without having your flags "stolen" by the other team or whatever, but that's it, that is as far as my knowledge of the game goes.

krispy kreme

day 104/365

she woke up today and shouted "hooray!! school starts today!!'  unfortunately, i had to remind her that, school actually starts on monday, not today.  after several tears it was decided by myself and my husband, that krispy kreme would remedy the situation. a doughnut decorated with a pirate made her happy.

lonely puppy

day 103/365

i love the light in our house. hold on, allow me to rephrase that. it took my friend meredith actually telling me one day to explore the light that i had here, before i did start to notice it...but now i seek it out and love it. the playroom to the leftt gets a ton of light during the day, pretty much all day. it's also the hottest room in the house in case you're wondering. opened the door more, shut the closet and bathroom doors,  add in a cute little stuffed animal that was just laying around to bask in that light and here it is...lonely puppy.

hello 2nd grade!

day 102/365
the 2nd grader

it's official, my son is now in 2nd grade. he is actually excited about it believe it or not. he loves his teacher and says that she's nice...so that makes me happy. he also met his new best friend the other day, but totally forgot his name.

my family

day 100/365

so we headed into dc for labor day because my husband was working and the kids had one more day before school started. well, for roman school is starting, ella has another week. anyway, it was hot as all get out and we decided to leave the sweet confines of our air conditioned car to walk around the gardens behind the smithsonian information building. holy moly i was drenched in sweat trying to get pictures of the kids. oh and to get this shot, i had to lay down on the ground. getting up from that position required me to make sounds that i shouldn't have needed to make. i am getting old.

monkey hat

day 99/365

allow me to bore you with the story of this monkey hat. my son has an angry birds one and my daughter has this monkey. i freaking love when she puts it on. love. it tickles me to no end to see my daughter in her mismatched clothes (she dresses herself and i gave up on the whole "clothes need to match" thing a long time ago) and this hat atop her head. so i dragged her into the garage (cause garage lighting is da bomb) and took a few pictures. i'm pretty sure that she is getting really sick of my picture taking at this point, but i'm hoping that she'll get over that pretty quick. i mean, come on, it's a monkey hat people!!

the apple

day 98/365

me: ok roman, i need you to put this apple on your head. can you balance it for me?
roman: ummmm...why?
me: because my theme for this week is fruit and i had an idea to take a picture of you here with an apple on your head.
roman: (blank stare) huh??
me: can you please just put it on your head?
roman: is it clean? won't someone think i'm weird??
me: yes and no they won't. i will only take a couple of pictures, it'll be fast i promise. just please, put the apple on your head.
 roman: can i eat it after?
me: yes
roman: ok.