Today

Here I am. This month is flying by. I want to blog, but don’t quite know what to blog about today. So, here’s a little post about something.

Lately, I’ve been trying to remember that the kids are not going to be little for long. Kevin will not be so small that I can curl him up in a little ball, and hold him in my arms. Ethan will be taller than me very soon, and will not want to sleep with his stuffed animals forever. Brooke will be out of her adorable toddler stage soon, and on to new chapters.

Whenever I see older kids, I sometimes think, “Oh, yeah. Our kids will be big like that one day.” My greatest fear is that I will regret not savoring the moments of them being little, when that day comes. I know that today is given to me once. I’m so incredibly lucky and blessed to have these three darling, little spirits in our home. This is what I’ve been trying to do more.

Look into their eyes. See the light shining in them, and the excitement as they talk about something they love.

Really care about something the care about. Kevin’s glow stick toy broke. It was from the dollar store. He was pretty bummed about it. I think we’ll swing by the dollar store again today.

Ethan loves being able to do stuff all by himself. I try to give him lots of opportunities. He does his morning chores great. Unloading the dishwasher is becoming very easy for him. I’m trying to teach this kids to work. Each morning, we eat breakfast, and then do some chores. Ethan can do more than Kevin, but it’s a start.

Ethan loves being tickled and wrestled with. The boys love it when I chase them around the house, even if I’m too tired to do it. They just run screaming with joy, and then we collapse and laugh.

Brooke is too cute for words. I love this 16 month old age. She’s so delighted over everything, and is a snuggler. She laughs, plays peek a boo, and hands me food when she’s eating it.

I tried to get up early again to get computer work done, but didn’t make it. Got up around 6:15, and will go jump on the trampoline, but just wanted to blog this. These kids are so precious, and teach me so much. Some days are very physically exhausting, and barely survivable, but life is still good.

My friend recently quit FB, and I’ve been thinking about the good things of that. She has more time, and less distractions. I am trying to be on my phone less, and in the moment with my kids more. Hug them more, and listen to them better. They are my gifts.

A recent trip to the dollar store. We enjoyed the balloons:)

That’s it for today. Time to bounce and feel amazing:)

Daily life

Catching up with some shots of daily life that goes on around here:)

Brooke is really doing great. She’s pulling herself up to a standing position everywhere. She is now cruising along the couch, hanging onto it carefully as she moves around, and crawling up on all fours. The boys never did that. They just did the army crawl. She’s almost 17 months. We love her.

One day while the little kids napped, Ethan and I were ‘organizing’ the shed. We went through a lot of my old stuff. Camping gear that brought back lots of memories of camping with Mom. It was nice to slow down for a moment and remember.

Anytime Shaun is off work, we make pancakes for breakfast, these ones HERE. Made this recipe over and over and over again. So very good.

I have been working on creating some family picture books on Blurb. It’s quite simple, and I love finally doing something with all the pictures I’ve been taking. I ordered this book below, an Instagram pic book. Can’t wait for it to come!

Does this happen in your family? Dada comes home. He tries to get a bite to eat, and the kids are all over him to eat his stuff, even though it’s what they ate for dinner just an hour ago? Crazy, silly kids.

This picture cracks me up, because it shows you just how hard we crash sometimes when we try to pull a late nighter. This was at 7:30! We’ve been trying to have Fridays be Family Fun Nights. We let the kids pick between watching a movie, playing some games, or a sleepover in the tent. Our boys are SO active, for almost all day. They wear Shaun and I out. 4-7pm is the most exhausting time of the day. I am on my feet for the entire time getting dinner ready, outside playing with the kids in front yard, taking care of Brooke, bathing kids, moving and moving. Right now, I can’t imagine these hours of the day not being exhausting. It just simply is. So, when we try to stay up late, (Late at 7:30, ha! I know:), it usually doesn’t work. We are so tired. Which is why when I go to church activities at night, I have to try hard to not sit down in a chair and pass out. I have to be somewhat with it and social, but it just feels so good to sit down and not move for more than 5 minutes, and to visit with grownups after being with kiddos for a long day. We are just so darn tired from these active kids. I wonder if it will ever get physically easier during these hours when they get older. I can’t imagine it right now.

Usually, before 4pm hits, I’ve been getting on my knees and saying a little prayer to help me survive the next few hours. It’s been helping a lot. I try my best to have dinner prepared before these hours, but some days not.

Anyways, this was one of our Friday nights. We were trying to watch a movie. I just had to take a pic:)

Ethan was enjoying playing around with my props for photo sessions. I was getting ready for a fun shoot last week, and he looked so adorable.

Here’s our little group, with my friend’s family for our models. They are always so willing to come help us practice and keep learning photography. A couple of little girls freaked out when they saw our models, and wanted to get pictures with them. They thought they were from America’s Next Top Model. It was fun:)

Ok, time to go get breakfast done. Hope everyone is having a great week!

A day at the park

The time is fleeting this morning. I pulled myself out of bed at 6am, only to realize that I need more time before the kids arise. Tomorrow, we’ll try 5:30. Need to work on my talk for church. Shaun and I get to speak in church this Sunday. Argh!! I get so nervous to fill 10 minutes of time. Drives me crazy, but it will be ok.

We had a nice little walk at the park this weekend. I was able to catch a few shots of my darling, incredibly active kids who rarely hold still for a picture. We have sweet candids and glimpses into their precious, little souls right here:)

Happy, little Kevin. My bucket of giggles.

Energetic and passionate Ethan, who is in a sweet stage of loving his stuffed animals right now. Had to take them to the park for the fun, too.

Our princess, (I vowed I would never use that term for a daughter, but here we are using it often at home. Sheesh:) Brooke. At 16 months, she’s emerging with her cute personality. She was especially enjoying the nature here, while I was rolling around in duck poop, trying to catch a shot of her looking at me. The sun was just setting. Supreme golden hour at its best!

Love my family. Praying this week to listen to them better. To foster better relationships with them. That there is a huge one that takes constant, daily effort. I hope I can do it better. I love being a mom, even though it’s the hardest job ever some days. It’s worth it:)