Melt

Lily has such a sweet, sensitive heart and these days I've learned that if I tell Lily something I HAVE to follow through or she just really has a hard time. But on this day I made the mistake of telling her too early that we were going to spend the afternoon with some of her little friends. When our friends had to cancel because of illness Lily was just so sad. So, in an attempt to cheer her up we did this little creative activity. We made our own round rainbow crayons! First we broke up and sorted all of Lily's broken crayons and removed any paper from them. Then I broke them up into small pieces and Lily choose different combinations of colors to put into each muffin tin. We put them in the oven at 450 degrees for about 5-6 minutes (or until the wax was completely melted). Lily and I were both fascinated as we watched the crayons slowly melt and swirl in the oven and we were thrilled with how they turned out! Not only is it fun to melt wax, but coloring with round rainbow crayons is just as much fun!

Fall Break

Me and My Girl

Walking hand-in-hand through the magical woods with my Lily

Caterpillar!

Watching the planes that kept flying overhead

The cattail fairy wand!

So, our much anticipated fall break wasn't all that we were hoping for. Joe hurt his back the first day of our break and thus many of our plans had to be changed. But...one of the days we did have a beautiful afternoon at the Fields Pond Audubon Center. I just really love this place and it was absolutely gorgeous the afternoon we visited. We enjoyed a picnic lunch (with Eli learning to drink from my Nalgene bottle) and then headed off for our own little adventure. I am continually amazed at the imagination of our little girl and this day her imagination was at work full force! We all had a great time as we tried to cross the "cattail lake" to reach the magical woods. Lily loved finding and using her cattail fairy wand, crossing secret bridges, and discovering a very friendly caterpillar. A relaxing, beautiful fall day living out the imagination of a very creative three year old!

Spike!

I just love this little boy's hair!

It's been seriously spiky like this since July and I adore it- it's so perfectly Eli! Joe thinks it's a little goofy so he tries to smooth it down from time to time (but it doesn't usually work)!

So I had to post these today because lately I've been noticing that his hair is becoming a little more tame and it's making me a bit sad. I don't know if it's the lack of humidity or that his hair is just getting longer, but it's only spiky like this every now and then these days. He is just as adorable as ever, but I had to post these so that someday I can look back and remember his spiky days!

Common Ground

Lately we have had precious little time off. So a few weeks ago Joe took an "extra" half a day off so that we could all go to the Common Ground Fair (one of my favorites)! It was a little crummy out- drizzly and cold, but the real rain managed to only fall while we were driving. And once again I didn't feel like we were able to spend enough time there, but it was fun and I'm so happy that we went. You can see that the hay jump was one of Lily's favorite parts (we should seriously set one of these up in our backyard)! We also enjoyed visiting all of the animals and we all were amazed by the shepherding dog show (those dogs have unbelievable control and obedience)- even Eli seemed entertained for a while! And on our way out we visited a local alpaca farm where I shot these fun pictures of Lily and her new friend! The owner of the farm showed Lily how this one likes to give "kisses." Back in August Lily got an alpaca stuffed animal from her Nonnie & Grampy (after being such a brave girl during a trip to the emergency room). She named him Albie and she LOVES him. She brought him to the fair and the alpaca farm and it was so funny (and amazing) to watch the real alpacas respond to Albie. Every time she put Albie near the fence the alpacas would suddenly get really interested (as if Albie was a real baby alpaca)! Oh, did you notice that they actually had a real baby alpaca (too cute)! I think alpacas are just so sweet and adorable and this trip left me once again trying to figure out how to convince Joe's parents that they must raise a few in their backyard!:) Seriously, if we had more land, traveled less, and could fund the start up costs I would totally be sold! But for now I'll just try to convince my in laws (maybe these pictures will just melt their hearts) and plan another family outing sometime to this wonderful little farm (and fair)!

Ashley & Corey

This is Ashley and Corey- aren't they cute?

I did these engagement pictures for them recently.

They met in high school, but didn't really get to know each other at all until they started dating after they graduated- isn't that fun?!

I had such a fun time doing these pictures for them and it has very much motivated me to keep going in my blossoming little photography business. In fact, I had a children's photo shoot today, two more children's shoots tomorrow, two more next Tuesday, and another engagement and possibly two weddings in the works! And I'm off- we'll see what happens!

500!

This is officially my 500th blog post!!!

I only know this because my blog keeps track for me. It's kind of crazy to think that I've done 500 of these and oh my word I can only imagine how many pictures I have posted!:)

So, in honor of my 500th post I thought I would share with you today why I blog. So here are the top 3 reasons that I blog...

1. To share just a little bit of our daily life with our family, friends, and ministry supporters that are far away (and some that are near too)! It just makes me happy that this is one more way my parents can feel closer to their grandchildren.

2. This is basically my scrapbook! My mom is a great at scrapbooking. I, on the other hand, am still trying to finish our wedding scrapbook (it's been almost 8 years now). But as you know, pictures (and stories) are important to me. So the reality is that I'm just not going to get done very many scrapbooks. But, I can do a pretty good job at keeping up this blog. And...I can actually have this blog printed into books (my sister-in-law did it with her blog) and someday I will have this entire blog printed so that my children can enjoy looking back and remembering all the big and little things.

3. Not always, but sometimes it's relaxing. I do it for our family and friends and the kids too, but I also do it for myself. I guess you could say that sometimes it becomes a little bit like my journal. And let's be honest, I also love having a place to share my pictures!

So, there it is- my top three reasons for blogging- just in case you were wondering! I hear from family and ministry supporters from time to time who share that they check my blog everyday and that it brings them a bit of joy. I didn't necessarily plan on this, but it is a wonderful bonus! Thank you to all of you that read my blog and that care for me and my family- we are very loved! And I'm excited for what the next 500 posts might bring!:)

P.S. As you know, I just can't post without adding pictures and these are from one our recent family hikes. I don't have more because my battery died shortly after we started the hike (which I think secretly made Joe a little happy)! It was a fun hike on a beautiful day and I just couldn't resist Eli in his adorable new hat or snapping a few of Lily as she "hunted for treasure" in the woods!