"A Whole New Animal"

Several weeks ago my super talented photographer friend Jes took pictures of my girls. I wanted to document Kennedy at 4 and Avery at 6 months. We met up at Waveland Historic Site  and honestly I didn't know how the pictures would turn out because Avery was fussier than usual and I didn't get as many outfit changes in as I had planned, etc.

Well, let's just say that when Jes dropped my CD off I was pleasantly surprised because these are some of my favorites Jes has ever done. Just when I think she can't get any better.......

It really is a miracle there are ANY good ones of Avery because bless her little heart she just wasn't herself that day. I had chalked her fussiness up to lack of sleep...that is until the next day a tooth shot through and then two days later another followed - poor baby didn't feel good!

One of my favorite things about Jes's photography style is that she catches my girls' personality. Don't get my wrong: I love a staged and cheesy picture just as much as the next Mommy, but I LOVE even more the photographs of them in action. You know - where she manages to get pictures of little faces or actions that are part of our every day existense but that I love and want to treasure forever. It's almost like in some of the pictures Kennedy was just playing in her own little world with no regard to Jes taking pictures and it's just natural. Does that make sense? Well, anyhow - I adore that part of her talent as a photographer and there are a great deal of those with Kennedy especially. Jes summed it up perfectly (this being the third year in a row she's photographed Kennedy) when she said "whew - she's a whole new animal this year". That she is: ;)

Oh my sweet little girls....the pictures of them together just turn me into a mushy mess!

I just know I'm going to blink and it will be time to do Avery's one year photographs. Oh my.

For those of you wondering - I faired well in my race this past weekend. The weather was amazing and the course was beautiful. My IPOD was loaded down with good praise and worship songs and I watched the sun come up over dewey horse pastures thankful to be out running and just having that time to BE. I finished in about two hours and ten minutes which isn't my best time but it isn't my worst either. I really wanted to be done at 11 miles, but I kept telling myself it was only 2 more and if I walked it would take me that much longer. I was SUPER sore after but am pretty much back to normal now so I'm really happy I did it. Courtney got some before and after pics but I've not seen them yet. When I do - I'll share....I'm sure we were all lookin' smokin' after. Ha!  =)

 

Fun Times

I know I've said this before, but I seriously can't believe how hard it is for me to find time to blog anymore. It is in part due to our slow internet connection, in part due to the fact that I must be sitting at the desk rather than somewhere comfortable or with my husband on the couch after work (subtly stating that I wish we had a laptop), but also majorly due to just having two kids and working part time...there's not much time left! I know there isn't anyone waiting with baited breath for me to post or anything, but I LOVE looking back over old posts and reading where we've been so I really want to keep blogging but man it's hard to find the time!

Speaking of working  part time I really haven't said much about how much I am adoring being home with the girls more. You know, when I first went from full time to part time I was working all day M, W, and F with some fill-in shifts when others needed off. Then, after I had Avery and our daycare bill began costing more than my mortgage payment (yep, that's right!) I cut my hours in  some more so now I only work part of T, all day W and every other Saturday. So...I have WAY more time with my girls than I used to and I am really enjoying it and feeling blessed by that time. I can tell that Kennedy is enjoying having more time together and Avery has become quite the Momma's girl so in her own way she's showing me she enjoys it too. We've been swinging:

Exploring new things:

Swinging some more:

My girls love to swing!

We've been baking ~

She doesn't really get the whole "less is more" thing ~ oh well!

So proud!

Despite being home more, I still have a hard time finding time to clean the house as well as I'd like. Last Thursday I cleaned ALL DAY (I'd like to state for the record that from the looks of our house now - YOU'D NEVER KNOW! So frustrating) so my girls kind of had to entertain themselves. At one point when I was vacuuming I turned it off to run and check on them real quick and this is what I found:

Love these sweet smiles!

In Avery news: she is sitting up on her own, eating all sorts of Mommy-made solids and using a straw cup ~ it's so cute seeing her hold that little cup up and use it.

When I was taking these pictures of her the other day playing in the floor in this dress I had serious dejavue of Kennedy and a picture I took of Kennedy in this very dress playing in the floor so I went on a mad hunt for it. It was a seriously odd feeling! Above and below are Avery... 

This is Kennedy:

Kennedy is a little older than Avery in the above picture so I went looking for one where they were about the same age and here is Kennedy at Avery's age now - I am still seeing LOTS of similarities. What do y'all think?

Kennedy's Aunt sent this fun little flip flop wood cut out in the mail and we had fun paiting it on one of my days off last week. It challenged me to the MAXIMUM to totally let her paint it - WHEW! She was so proud when it was all said and done though...

Thanks Aunt A!

I've been so thankful lately for Kennedy's ability to self-entertain. I mean, this girl can play ALL DAY by herself: seriously! I try to do stuff with her every day that I'm home but sometimes I gotta clean or work on the computer or do dishes or whatever and before I realize it half the days gone and she's still in her jammies (sad, but true). She'a all in to playing with her "babies" lately. I thought this particular picture of her playing with Funshine Bear was so funny:

Thankfully when Tim gets home, he plays with Kennedy and allows me to have some time with just Avery or vice versa. Not sure what they were up to in this particular evening - but I love the picture.

This past weekend we all went to see Janine and Josh for Josh's 30th birthday. I'm going to go ahead and admit to myself that Lord knows when I'll be able to blog about it so if you want to see all the bday pics - check out Janine's postings here and here. Janine's been doing some really cool things with photography lately after taking a class that taught her bunches so she snapped some pics of Avery that turned out really cute...I'll share those soon...hopefully along with Avery's six month and Kennedy's 4 year pics from Jes. 

For a total subject change - I'm running in my first 1/2 marathon since having Avery - THIS SUNDAY! Oh.my.word. I like to think I'm ready but we'll see about that. Hopefully I'll get to post about that soon too. So much to say...so little time. Ha!  

A couple of weeks ago, I flew to Charlotte, NC to meet my sweet new little nephew Declan. Tim's Mom and Dad were nice enough to keep the girls while I was away. This was my longest time away from Avery so it was hard, but I know they were spoiled rotten (proof in the pics below) while I was gone. Kennedy LOVES going to Nana and Pawpaws and had been asking when she was going to get to go again prior to this trip so although I miss her when she's away it's easier knowing she wants to go and enjoys herself so much when she's there. Now that Avery is sitting up more, she is ALL ABOUT a swing. I had first tried her in a baby swing not long before they went to stay with Nana so I had told her she'd love their swing and clearly: she did!

She enjoyed the swing so much that Nana sent it back with us afterwards so it's on our swingset in our yard now and we've been using the heck out of it while the weather is still nice. Avery says "thank you Nana!"

Aside from the girls having alone time with Nana and Pawpaw I love that while they are there (or while the family is there all together) they get some quality time with their Great Aunt Kahtryn and Great Grandma. Those ladies love these little girls and the feeling is mutual!

Great Aunt Kathryn and Avery

Smiles with Great Granmda

Crafts with Nana: my girl loves a craft

Tim and I always said that if we had kids they better be willing to seek Pawpaw out because he kind of lives in his study (praying, preparing sermons, etc.). I'm sure part of the reason we  feel like he's always in his study is because we are always there on the weekends (his crunch time). Well, Kennedy doesn't let that deter her...she just spends time with him there. We have so many pictures like this and I love it. I love that she'll just plop herself down up there with him amongst the MILLION books and just entertain herself and be close to him....it's really sweet.

So while the girls were away having tons of fun with their grandparents, I was getting some AMAZING snuggle time with this little man:

Whenever Melissa wasn't feeding him or getting some snuggles of her own, I pretty much just loved all over him while I was there so she could get some things done. You quickly forget how all consuming having a newborn is - it's a tired like no other so my main priority in "helping" was to allow her to get some rest (which I think she did). She and her husband Steve are doing exceptionally well as first time parents and he is one loved little boy.

Cheese!

Melissa and I laughed because although there was much accomplished in my short visit: we basically stayed in our PJ's all day every day. We did (thankfully) manage to get a couple of pics of he and I while I wasn't in my PJ's. =)

Leaving was bittersweet as it always is when I leave family, but I was so excited to see my girls and Tim too. I was really glad that Tim could get off work early to ride with me to meet his Mom in Morehead. I had this nervous, giddy energy when we were leaving to meet her and pick the girls up. It was like Christmas! Clearly the feelings were mutual:

Once we returned we tried to get back to our normal routine and for whatever reason Kennedy is showing more and more of an interest in her baby sister. Avery started cereal about a week before I left for NC and Kennedy has been ALL ABOUT helping to feed her (which I love and think is the most precious thing e.v.e.r!). Avery adores her big sister!

They were so cute this night that I captured some video. Love these sweet interactions between the two of them.