Summer Recap: Part 2

While I'm in the mood I just have to get this blog up to date with some memories I cherish!

Baby Jack's 1st Birthday Celebration

I adore my little brother Rich, always have, uh...that is, after I got used to the idea of being a middle child.

He's 9 years younger than me, and I've gotta give props to Mom because this kind of age difference really is a perfect balance to not fight much as kids and but still close enough in age to foster a strong relationship as adults like we so easily do.

He's handsome, caring, wise, gregarious, give-you-the-shirt-off-his-back-in-an-instant-kind-of-guy. And he married beautiful, brainy, talented, ultra-funny Rachel. And now they have a son, Jack...who is perking up to have those same wonderful qualities of both of them.

I'm so proud to call this family my own. And lucky us to have this little guy in our lives. I'm going to enjoy cheering him on in life just as much as I still love to do for my brother.

Our family gathered together in late June to celebrate his first birthday, and as the official family photographer, I'm always there to capture the action. I'm going to apologize in advance for the amount of photos...but I wish you knew just how dang hard it is to pick and choose the piddly amount of photos that make the blog cut. I decided, ah..what the heck...to just throw a lot up on here to make up for all the lost time until I get into a regular rhythm of adding posts.

So....here we roll...

  Did I mention how much I love my whole family? Can you tell? Cause I do. I do. I do. I do.

Summer Recap: Part I

Please ignore while I get this blog back up to date and record some wonderful summer memories with my family and friends.

Seaside Vacation--May 2010

We visit Seaside, Florida every year as family and have been for the past 10 years and Shawn many years before that with his family. It's a little slice of heaven to me and the memories made there are precious beyond words. This year, we stayed in beautiful Seacrest, just outside of Seaside and met up with our beloved Nana & Ye (Shawn's parents), Aunt Jennie (seriously, hands down the best aunt in the world), and absolutely ADORED Uncle Day-Day (David).

These are just a small sampling of the many photos I must take (like it's a drug), there's a lot. Every year, I make these photo memories into a little book for the girls to treasure and we love, love, love to look at them at bedtime and dream of the next time we get to visit our second home.

 Nana performing a very serious operation on "ChipMUnk".

Sunday Snapshot

Perfect case in point of why I need to document better for my family....I'm in the midst of organizing and editing photos from some sessions I've been doing lately and ran across a folder on my computer dated an exact year ago today. I couldn't resist opening it up to see it was filled with my little Kate running around the backyard, playing hard as she always does. Look at what a little baby she still was just a year ago....

 and now look at her...

She's so stinkin' funny. She spends literally half of her time getting sheer joy out of trying to make us laugh, singing songs and dancing, smiling these million watt smiles like she is above, and then the other half of her time she spends just as mad as a hornet at the world, because it takes very little to set this firecracker off. She's unbelievable headstrong and so.....two. She wears the age like a fine wine.

And as I look through an impromptu photo session that took just minutes to produce, how can I not chuckle at her little personality coming out  frame by frame. Because I get just as many of these kinds of looks....

 That would be her going "....UGH!" at me....

   as I do these...

in a matter of mere seconds.  It's hard in those tantrum moments to deal with as a mom, but in hindsight, it's so hilarious of how absolutely psycho this age is. "This too shall pass." I say that a lot.

She's beautiful, courageous, fearless and unstoppable. Before I even knew this little gem, Kathryn Mei Lin, I had a strong feeling she was a powerhouse. Something told me, that her special need wasn't really going to be so special.....

I just knew she was going to set this world on fire with an inner strength and strong belief in herself that there was nothing she couldn't do if she set her mind to it....

 and so far, so good. 

Our Latest Addition to the Fam...

We are nuts, but just barely a year after bringing our Kate home, we decided to adopt again. He was just too sweet and gentle of a little guy to pass up....introducing our 2.5 pound fluff ball, Rudy Hercules....

As you can imagine, the girls are ecstatic. We've teased Leah that we should have named him "George" after that bugs bunny cartoon. She loves him in that ever-loving, but smothering, I just want to squeeze you tight and dress you up" kind of way.

And yes, while puppies are a tremendous amount of work...and I have had so many people say to me...full-time job, side photography business, two children, and you added...a dog? What are you thinking?!?!

My gut told me I needed something on my lap late at night to keep me company while I edited photos, that my girls would need that unconditional love that only a pet could give you, and that adding this little guy would bring us a lot of joy. I'm so happy to report that I was right.

On a side note, holy cow...I'm loving all these new updates to blogger. It's a good excuse to start adding some more bits and pieces of our life on here. I miss blogging sometimes, especially when I go back and see what we were doing on a particular day, such a great way to capture and preserve memories.

Must. Do. Better.

I had to think really hard about what my password was...

It's been that long since I've plunked down photos or words on this blog. I've been very neglectful this past year. And I'm already stinking as a fair mom to my youngest baby. I've done exactly like I thought I wouldn't do and didn't take many photos, didn't write down much and didn't take much videos.

What is it about that second kid that throws you for a loop?

I've resolved to do better. I must do better. Got that whole sibling equality thing to worry about. Kate's Journey video, like I did for Leah, is currently in production hopefully in time for our first anniversary of meeting each other for the first time. That's my first test to see if I'm committed to the cause, keep your fingers crossed.

So, with that in mind, let's me chat about Kate for a minute, she deserves a little air time...

Spend a little time with this chica, and you find yourself saying..."EWWWW...your so darn cute, I want eat you up!" Smack your lips and start kissing her all over. And instead of looking at you like you have something growing out of your nose, she throws her arms around you and hugs you really tight. It's been a long year of building trust...but she just gets it now. She knows she is here to stay, she knows we love her very deeply and she is happy, truly happy.



She overcomes obstacles with zero hesitation and makes her way through this world bravely. She has not yet noticed that her hands are different, and it certainly hasn't stopped her from jumping the farthest, swimming the longest, climbing the highest...you get the point, born determination. I'm going to have the time of my life cheering on this little dare devil.



Now, this blog post wouldn't be complete without mentioning big sis. She'll be the big FIVE in just a few short weeks. She decided when she was three to start growing her hair, and the goal was for it to reach her bottom..it's been scary as it was almost getting there! Last weekend, she came to me and said, "Mommy, I want my hair up to my chin."

"Are you absolutely sure?" You've been growing your hair for years!"

"Up to my chin, I'm sure!" Leah tends to know exactly what she wants, so off we went and got it chopped to a super cute bob...



Last week, she was in love with the new look, but this week...eh, not so much. She got huge crocodile tears because I couldn't french braid her hair like I did for Kate one day this past week (big mistake). So, now our plans are to grow it back to at least "the length of Hannah Montana". Oh brother, I've got the feeling this is the beginning of a very long emotional roller coaster.



Her official "Look at me, I've lost TWO teeth" photo.