126/365

Today I am thankful for safely making it to Fayetteville for my baby sister's college graduation. The drive was extremely and surprisingly uneventful. The girls did amazing - not a single real cry for a 6 hour travel time. Pretty awesome. It is going to be crazy while we are here. I have 6 sessions scheduled over the next few days, Justin's birthday on Friday, and all of the graduation hoopla. It is so lucky that Justin is with us on his birthday, that rarely happens. My parents, all of my sisters, my aunt, and John and Wyatt will all be here. So much fun.

I had my first session tonight and it was lots of fun. The sun was actually out and it was just a gorgeous day. I will post the sneak peek probably some time tomorrow. I have to get some rest tonight.

Some days I just don't feel like making my girls do much, if anything, for pictures. They had such a long day and were so excited to be out of the car and playing that I just snapped a few random shots. This is all I have for today. I want to brag on Lucy for a minute. She has done really great playing with Liza today. She kept telling Justin and me in the car that she promised she was going to play nice, and she wasn't kidding. I love it when she can just be herself and have fun, even in an unfamiliar situation because I know that is hard for her sometimes.



She wanted to figure out how to get up these stairs so badly.


I have to say that this might be the cutest baby in the world. This is McCoy, Liza's little brother. I can't wait to take more pictures of this pumpkin.

125/365

Today I am thankful for this adorable little routine between my girls in the morning. Lucy gets up first. She comes in and watches a show or 2 while we all wake up. The first thing I do when she wanders in our room in the morning is tell her a big GOOD MORNING LUCY!!. She says, "Good Morning Momma. I need snack and milky." Everyday. So I go down and get her raisins and milk. Everyday. We lay in bed while we wait for Annie to wake up - well, Lucy watches a show and I just might doze off to sleep! :) This is the part I love - when we hear Annie start talking, Lucy yells at the top of her lungs, "Momma, Annie is up. I go get her!" So Lucy and I go to Annie's room. I always let Lucy run ahead of me. The second she pushes the door open, she screams, "Good morning Annie!!" And both girls squeal with joy when they see each other. And I smile as big as I can even though I am dead tired. I love this moment in the morning. Even though once the day gets going and Lucy becomes increasingly less patient with Annie, I know at this moment that they love each other and just how much joy they bring to one another's lives. Love it.

Justin got home this morning!! Yippee. We hung out around the house, played together, and just got caught up. I ran a couple of errands while the girls and Justin napped. I had my playgroup mom's night out, which was so relaxing and fun for me. I am so tired because Annie's sleep has been very disrupted lately. Her teeth are for sure the biggest culprit. When I go in and get her, she is grinding her teeth and it makes my skin crawl. I despise that horrific noise. I am hoping for a decent night sleep tonight. I really am exhausted. So, good night!

Is it just me, or does Lucy look extra big and extra beautiful in the pics today?

124/365

Today I have two thanks. First, I am thankful that about three minutes ago Lucy was laying by me in the bed and she grabbed my cheeks with both of her little hands and said, "Momma, I love you soooooooooooo much." And she followed it up with a kiss. Heavenly. Also, this is so cute, she is reading "Are You My Mother" to herself right now and she knows almost every word. Cuteness.

Today I am also thankful for my girls really, really cooperating with me so that I could get two sessions done today while the weather was cooperating before we leave for Fayetteville for a few days. And when I say they cooperated, I mean I had no childcare and still got the two sessions done. The first was for Parker - the newborn session. They actually came to our house and we got the pictures done while both of my girls napped. It is a miracle that worked out and Annie woke up just as we were finishing up. It was so much fun! Then, I actually took both girls with me to my next session. Crazy - yes, but also necessary if we were going to accomplish getting a picture ready for graduation invitations. Mandy normally helps me with the girls, but she couldn't today, so I said if we were going to get the pics done before I left the girls would have to come along. Annie stayed in the Ergo on my back and Lucy either watched a movie or sat in the stroller. Just so we are clear, I would generally never do this in a million years. It is way too hard to focus, but the shoot was for an 18 year old boy, not a wild toddler who would be easily distracted by my little ones. They were really good the entire time. I was so lucky because it could have been a disaster. If the weather would have just cooperated with us the past week, none of this would have had to happen, but we made it work and I am really pleased that we got them both done.

Annie had a great morning at therapy. We rushed home and took Lee Lee to the airport. :( Then it was time for lunch, nap and work. I also got two sets of proofs delivered tonight. Quite a productive day. Lee Lee should be proud! It was so nice to see the sun today. The gloomy weather was getting really, really old.

Okay, I am off to work on pictures so I can get a sneak peek up on the La La Blog tonight. I don't know if I can get both sessions up today, but definitely by tomorrow.

These are from playtime after lunch and before nap. Both girls love blocks. Annie has decided peek-a-boo behind the curtain is her favorite game!

123/365

Today I am thankful for all of the millions of things that Lee Lee has done around this house while she has been here. My mom is amazing. She goes nonstop and does it all in the happiest of ways possible. Our house is so clean right now and my girls are so happy. Lee Lee can somehow manage to do it all. When she sees something that needs to be done, she just does it - right that second. There is no laziness in saying that she will do it later, like I do. She has endless amounts of patience. Really, I wish I could be a whole lot more like her. She has helped me clean the entire house, get the garage and driveway completely swept off and clean again, do about 7 loads of laundry, weed the flower beds, do everything with the girls, etc. She just goes and goes. She has encouraged me to take naps and rest while she just works away. Mom, really, thank you so much.

We talked Lee Lee into staying an extra night. Yippee! She was supposed to leave this afternoon, but she is not going until in the morning. We got the house all ready for our open house this afternoon and then she and I took the girls to Costco. Love that place. To all of my sissies - mom got a Wii Fit!! It is on the next time we are all home. I can't wait to see us all battle on that thing. That will be loads of fun.

Mom and I are off to watch our Sunday night shows. Have a great night!


Have I ever mentioned how much sister hates having her diaper changed or getting dressed after bath?? Today she just flat out escaped.

122/365

Today I am thankful that Annie pulled up on her own tonight! I had just said that it was her bedtime, but we let her play a little longer. My mom had pointed out that the bench in Lucy's room (without the cushion on it) was the perfect height and size for her to grab and pull up on. She has never pulled up on anything except for holding onto our fingers. She has come close, but just couldn't get all the way up. But then tonight she scooted over to the bench, we moved the cushion for her, and up she went! She even sat down and went up again. Mom and I cheered for her and of course she was quite pleased with her accomplishment. Go Annie!! Luckily, I was in there taking our pictures for the day and caught it all on the camera. Yeah!

The weather here has just been crazy. We never get this much rain. Our yard is completely underwater. Our garage flooded today. They are building a new house next door to us and it caused massive amounts of flooding on our lot. Such a huge mess and more rain is coming. I had another session rained out today. I have to say, seeing the sun would be really, really nice.

We just stuck around the house today for the most part because of the weather. We did get out for donut Saturday, but that is about it. We just played around the house a lot. I wish the weather would make Lee Lee have to stay another day! We really don't want her to go tomorrow.



I did it!








And just in case you were worried that Annie was sad today.........

121/365

Today I am thankful for an early bedtime. The girls went down really early tonight and I am too. For some reason, I got a horrible night of sleep last night. I couldn't fall asleep or stay asleep, so I just got up after Annie took a bottle at 5:30 and started doing some work. I am exhausted from a busy day and can't wait to get under the covers and go to sleep!

I got to do one of my sessions today. But it was too dark again for the newborn. One day we will get Miss Parker's pictures done, I promise Suzi.

I hope everyone has a great weekend. Nighty night.