Caitlin's photo shoot

I was going through the pictures and found the ones below. I can't believe I forgot to post these. These were from her birthday photo shoot. My baby girl is growing up and she's beautiful inside and out. She picked out the outfit and changed it several times before she settled on an old favorite.

 

Reproducing

Caitlin asked me last night if I was going to reproduce. I must have looked at her strangely because she then clarified for me. "You know. Throw that cup in a trash that will use it to make more stuff later."

I guess recycling is a bit like reproducing. =)

 ************

Several days ago I had a photo shoot for a family at Dogwood Park. The kids were out of school for fall break so I took advantage of the situation and took some pictures of them.

Caitlin followed me around the park while I checked out lighting. Dominic had his nose in a book so I didn't get as many pictures of him. But who can complain about books?!

My favorite!

 

 

Christmas Letter

Every year I have these great plans to write a Christmas letter, get our pictures taken, and send out Christmas cards. And it happens about once every 3 years. =)

So I'm a little late (they are still on the counter), but I actually made it this year.

I thought I'd share a few of the pictures to give you a sneak preview.

Merry Christmas!

Thankful Shots

Someday my life is going to slow down. But in the mean time, I'll be shoving some random shots on here to let you  know we are still alive.

And since November is ending I'll also post a few blessings.

Caitlin fell and hit the corner of her dresser drawer. So thankful that the only damage was this bruise.

 Dominic had special music for church last week. So thankful for his great school and teachers.

 Last week we went with some friends to the lake. So thankful for friends who drag us out for exercise in the cold. We had so much fun.

 Thankful for my adventurous little guy.

 Thankful for my silly little girl.

 Thankful we were able to spend Thanksgiving with family.

 I have been so very blessed. And I'm very grateful for those blessings.

Pre-Photo Shoot

Yesterday we went to the park to have our annual pictures taken. After the photo shoot I stood talking with the photographer and Jon took the kids around the park to get some energy out. So here are some pictures he took while I ran my mouth. 

I'll be posting the actual photo shoot pictures later. But here is a small taste of how cute my kids looked. (Wow! Not a bit biased am I?!)

These first two shots I took while Tamara took individual shots of the kids.

 They sure do love their daddy.

So do I!

 

 Caitlin was a little more cooperative w/ posing. 

Dominic was more into the action shots.

 

 

 

 Probably my favorite shot!

Fun!

We've been having a great fall. Just been a bit too busy to write about it. So here are some random shots of the fun we've been having lately.

Dominic's wonky teeth keep falling out.

We went camping at Rock Island with friends and had SO much fun.

 Dominic with a friend at the lake.

A field trip that we went on earlier this month to Autumn Acres.

At my cousin's wedding. Caitlin LOVES weddings.

It was a bit chilly at the outdoor wedding. 

So Kim (another cousin) and Caitlin were trying to keep warm.

Happy Birthday Caitlin!!!

Caitlin is 4 years old today!

It hardly seems possible that the chubby little baby girl with a mop of dark hair is now a big tiny 4 year old with golden brown hair and huge smile.

I had procrastinated in setting up an appointment for Caitlin's 4 year old pictures. Combine that with my laziness, our busy schedule, and my impending cold (or something) and I decided to try to do them myself.

So here are just a few of the tons of pictures I took yesterday. Caitlin and I had tons of fun!
And even though I got some good ones that I can use for her "professional" pics to send to family, my favorites are when I captured her being goofy.

Happy Birthday Caitlin!

"Mother" of six

 This week has been an adventure. For a good part of the week I've been babysitting four extra children. Going from two to six wasn't quite as hard as I was expecting. All four kids are sweet, polite and hilarious. I've learned (overheard or been told) quite a few things this week. Here are just a few -

1. "You can disobey the law until you are 12 yrs old. Because that's the youngest they send kids to juvie."

2. "I want Diet Pepsi. Because my mom won't let me have Diet Coke. It has too many chemicals in it."

3. "Your car is really messy. But it doesn't even come close to my mom's car. You should see it!"

4. One kid, on finding out he was meeting my husband for lunch.

Boy -  "OMG. I'm so excited. Do you think he'd give me an autograph?" 

Me - "Uhm, I guess. Why in the world would you want that?"

Boy - "Because Dominic said he was a pilot just for fun. That means he's super rich. Like the richest person in Cookeville and I just can't wait to meet him."

(I almost peed myself on that one.)

5. People were crazy enough to assume that they were all mine. Can you imagine having twin eight year olds and then one every year for four years. Who would do that? And the funny thing was that not one child corrected the several people who mentioned it.

6. God is watching over you! 24/7 God is watching over you! (The kids had found the VBS cd and were singing and do the motions to the songs.)

This week has been fun. I'm exhausted, but it was nice to spend time with these precious kids. Tonight when Dominic was asked what he was thankful for he mentioned the "awesome week because I got to spend time with my friends and make a cool new one." I am thankful too.

Below are some extra pictures that I took this week. I, sadly, don't have any pictures of the boy that I watched. Boys are super hard to get pictures of since they are rarely still. And since I haven't perfected my "stop time" machine I didn't get any usable ones.

Aren't these girls precious?! I asked them if I could keep them. It warmed my heart when they paused (at least I made the assumption it was because they were considering it and not because they were too stunned to answer.), but they finally answered with a no. =(