A little each day…

My boy is becoming more independent with every step he takes. I’m loving this age! He has been helping me more and more like carrying in the groceries, holding doors for me and picking up after himself. Wow, our hard work is paying off! Sure, he still has his “very strong willed” moments, but God made him that way and He will do great things in life. We just know it. His Nonni is pretty sure he will be a Tennis Pro or Professional Baseball Player.

I have so many pictures, but not enough time to blog during this Fall Season, so I’m just going to give little snippets of our life in pictures.

How handsome is this boy…and he knows it too and so do the little ladies. I’m not proud to say that he already has a few “girlfriends”.

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I decided that every Thursday will be baking day with the kids. I am NOT a baker at all. I don’t really even like it….I’m starting too but I really want to have the kids remember the little things we do together. My baked goodies stay home though because I do not trust my baking skills at this moment. ha! I’m a cook and cooks don’t like to follow directions but I hear in baking you are suppose to follow the directions.

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Abel has an extreme sense of smell. To the point it is getting REALLY annoying. I told him I am close to taking him to the doctors to have them put a plug in his nose if he keeps complaining that everything smells bad. (Of course, I am joking.)

This girl REALLY enjoys baking day.

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She makes this face a lot.

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And before she falls asleep she puts her arms up. She has been doing this since she was just days old. So sweet!

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This bunch is a fun group to take to the pumpkin patch.

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Natalie thinks and acts like she is WAY older then she really is.

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Some of Abel’s classmate and wonderful teacher.

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His first girlfriend, Mia. She is a cutie pie.

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She runs ALL THE TIME!

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We have to keep reminding my dad he is not 25. He ended up really hurting his back after this adventure. Love you, dad! Don’t the doctors say, “Do things that will keep you young.” Well, my parents are firm believers in that but end up hurting themselves along the way.

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This is Sage’s dear friend, Lila. Sage adores Lila and says her name all day long.

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We are trying to enjoy even the rainy days.

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Sage loves watching the rain outside. She can’t get enough of it and says “wawa wawa wawa”.

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She is starting to find interest in her baby dolls. When she isn’t body slamming her babies dolls (wonder where she got that from?) she is feeding them.

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I set a goal for myself to try and at least get one picture a month of the kids together. My friend, Heather, snapped these and realized just how hard that goal will be for me to reach. I had this cute vision with a fall theme of the two kids together, however, Sage freaked out making it impossible to get the picture I wanted unless I was in it.

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That’s all for now.


The new kitchen!

This kitchen is from God! A week before the flood, my mother was babysitting the kids while we were shooting a wedding and as she sat in the kitchen feeding Sage she said a little prayer to God…“Dear God, they really need a new kitchen, but I know they can’t afford it.”

God answered her prayer because this kitchen is seriously something out of a magazine. And Seth and I weren’t praying for it even though we knew we needed an updated kitchen. It’s a dream and we are so very grateful to God for sending it to us in a blessing in disguise.

There are a few minor things to be done like decorating, some new bar stools and a finished back splash. The back splash isn’t complete, but you can get an idea of what it is going to look like if you look above the sink area (a project I am taking on myself).

This is what it looks like when you walk into our front door.

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The bar area is where we had a wall (talk about closed in!) now we can see into the dinning room and part of the living room. HUGE CHANGE!

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The floors are heavenly. My mom calls them “crumb colored” which is true! You can’t see anything. Doesn’t mean I stopped cleaning though. The floor people did a great job finding a match to our 1960′s hardwood in the living room.

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Today I photograph my niece, Natalie, for her 6 month portraits. Sage tagged along, but for some reason the girls were huge grumps.

I was able to snap one picture of Sage without her screaming her head off. What a grumpy face though. If you look closely there is a tear on her check.

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Natalie is gorgeous and such a mover! She is already crawling and pulling up at 6 months which made her a bit tricky to photograph. Most 6 months old just sit there and let me snap away.

Lots more images coming from her session….

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Playmates

Somehow a week flew by and I didn’t get one post up! I don’t like that.

I didn’t get my camera out this week, so these photos are from last week. After we shoot a wedding, I’m usually a bit burned out from the camera and need a short break . But it will be in my hands a lot the next few months and hopefully I can manage to get some pictures of my own kids too.

They started hugging all day long! This makes one happy momma when I see all this love. The other day in the car, Abel told me that Sage was admiring him. ha!

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And kissing….keep it up kids!

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Moving on…

Abel has known his buddy, Owen, since he was 14 months!

Let’s look down memory lane…aren’t they so cute!

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Look at these two boys now. I can’t handle how big they are getting!

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Same couch too and it is looking its age.

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Heather and I realized Sage & Levi are the same age as when the boys met. Crazy how time flies and how quickly our little ones grow.

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And then there is my dear sweet nephew, Josh. Somehow he is already 11 years old and is definitely the sweetest 11 year old I know. He still hugs and kisses me and that melts my heart! Abel ADORES his cousin Josh. He tells strangers about him. He tells them how big Josh is and that he is his hero. Sage also can’t get enough of him. I asked my sister, Kate, if we could steal him some days after school.

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I had my sister take a picture of us because I needed to freeze this moment of us at the same height! Soon I will be looking up to him. Seems so strange as I remember holding his little body when he was just minutes old. He did inform me that he wouldn’t be happy if I posted these pics of him on my blog. Sorry Josh!

My nephew!

 


Abel’s 4th Birthday Party Recap!

Better late than never, right?

We shot a wedding the day before his party and happen to just be shooting a lot the month of May & June (4 weddings in 6 weeks!) so the amount of images we are uploading on our computer right now is a bit ridiculous! But I’m finally getting to my boy’s party.

Abel so enjoyed his party! Thanks to my awesome parents, Abel’s Nonni & Poppy, for opening up their big backyard to Abe’s tot friends. The kids ran around throwing water balloons and spraying each other while the parents enjoyed staying dry on the deck.

The gang, although we are missing a few who didn’t want to be in the picture.

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It might seem crazy that we had a “Treasure Egg Hunt” but Abel requested it and let’s face it, what kid doesn’t like a good egg hunt. It was a success and then that was their goody bag to take home. Win! Win!

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I love the action in this shot. Check out how much Poppy is into this water game.

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Love his face in this pic! Pure fun!

Abel having a blast!

Her cuteness is sometimes just too much! Her knees! Oh, how I love those knees!

Hot Stuff

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Tia was really getting into it!

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This volcano created a few tears, but it was so fun!

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I wanted a picture with the birthday boy and this is what I got….

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hmmmm….not sure which one is better.

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He would pick up the biggest strawberry, take a bite and put it back on the platter.

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She sucks on her bottom lip when she is around big crowds.

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My kids are such blinkers.

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Love the birthday chaos in this shot.

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Happy Birthday, sweet boy! You are loved…so very, very loved!