{The Bales}

Now here is one stinking cute family. Meet the Bales, Aaron, Lizzy and the sweet red headed Faith. I love red headed babies because it reminds me of my own. Faith and my daughter look A LOT alike :), but Faith has tons more hair than Lawson (who is very jealous). Faith was a mommas girl the day we did this shoot, it was very sweet to see. I'm going to be honest and say I think I totally weirded her out. This crazy looking lady with a big black box in front of her face, who wouldn't be freaked? But we did get some really good shots!!!! 

 Lizzy have amazing hair!

Some Dadda Lovin

Hello there ridiculously cute child

  

Eyes Eyes Eyes

 To keep Faith happy, Aaron had to keep playing Backyardigans (I do not know how to spell that, I hope no children get offended) music. She loved it.

We did a few Mom/Dad shots and I love them all!

Your a lucky lad Aaron.

A favorite.

 

This is the face that Faith made at me a good portion of the day. I think we were bonding.

And the lovely Casey, they are best friends, it's pretty sweet I guess.....

Have an Awesome week!

{Amanda & Sean Conn}

This past May I was honored to be asked to be a bridesmaid in a wedding of two good friends of mine and Lee's. Amanda and Sean exchanged their vows to one another on May 8th of 2010. It was a beautiful wedding, but the thing I remember the most how fun their day was and the days leading up to the wedding day. I also remember all of the love that was with this group of people. It was amazing to be a part of this chapter in their lives. So thank you Amanda and Sean for inviting my family and I to be a part of your life.

 Anywho... since the wedding I fell like I have gotten much closer to Amanda. She is hilarious, sweet, hilarious, dirty, hilarious, and caring. That sums it up. Her and Sean have a relationship that most people want, with excitement, and laughter. I think Amanda keeps Sean on his toes, there is never a dull moment with her. So may I introduce Amanda and Sean....

  

One of my favies

Another favie

Amanda your Gorgeous!

 Love.

One big happy family

Have I told you lately that I love you....

{Bringing Out the Dragons}

Day 2 of Lent.

This is my fourth year participating in Lent. My first year I was awfully pregnant with my son when the season started. I chose to give up listening to the radio, especially while driving, hoping I would use that silence to chat with the Man upstairs. It was hard, but I took steps toward being closer with God. It wasn't brutal, but it was very quiet in my car (until my son came at the end of March). My second year, I'm sorry to say, I can not remember what I gave up. My apologies. During my third year I chose to give up sweets and sleeping in. At that time our daughter was 5 months old and our son was 2yrs old :). So to lose more sleep then was necessary was quit the sacrifice. I would wake up at 7am and meet my friend Jill in my in-laws game room. We would sip hot tea and occasionally do yoga or just vent, and pray for each other if needed. I really enjoyed that time. It was time to be an adult and to really "wake up" with out kids around. This year I am fasting from sleeping in (again). I am trying my hardest to wake up before my kids do so I can have alone time with my self and with the Lord. I feel it will help me live each day more for the Lord if I start off with Him. I also want more discipline with reading His word. The most common way for me to communicate with Him is through quick prayer or worship music. It is wonderful and it is productive, but I want more. Next, I will be fasting from Facebook. Yikes. Ouch. The agony. Most people won't admit this, I am usually one of them, but I love Facebook. I love seeing pictures of other people, and other peoples kids. I love connecting with people and sharing my kids with them through pictures. I love seeing peoples sense of humor on a daily basis through their "Status Updates" and "Wall Posts". I am a Facebooker. I am a Facebooky.

I got the name of this post from our Pastor at church (Ed Gungor). He refers to Lent as a time to "let the dragons come out" because of the suffering that takes place when you go with out something you love. Like, coffee. Some people mutate into something from the Exorcist when they don't have their coffee or their "dragons" come out. It causes a void in your life. So instead of giving into your need for coffee, you hand your need to God. You let Him walk with you through your suffering. You fill your void with God.

I am human and I , like many other people, get caught up in the false loves of this world. I get tricked into thinking that I need to sleep in order to be a better mom, or to work harder. I think that I need Facebook to stay connected with people. I forget that I need God to be first in my life in order to be a better mother and I need to work for God in order to be a hard worker. And I need to love more like God loves in order to be a better friend and connect more to all of the great people in my life.

For the next 39 days, I will be digging huge hole in my soul, and filling my holes with the Light of the Lord. I will let the light shine through me, in hopes that I can be a light to my kids, husband, and friends.

So, there will be LESS of this......

And this....

And MORE of this...

And this...

And this...

Have a Great Day!



{Sleepness Nights}

Last night was kind of a rough one so to speak. Lee and I were up a little late chit chatting, that wasn't the smartest night for us to do that. 1am rolls around and Elijah comes into our room saying "Momma the doggies are barking at me and trying to get in my room." (We don't have doggies, so either it was neighborhood dogs or a cute 3yr old dream). He climbed in bed and snuggled up to his dad and told him what happened, dad replied half asleep, "I won't ever let the doggies get you, I will protect you". That sort of my my insides go to mush. I let him lay in our bed for 10 minutes then carried him back to his bed. He woke up as I laid him down, "Momma lay down with me". How on earth do you say no to that? I of course laid down and he wrapped his arm around me and held me like a teddy bear. His face smelt of something sweet and so did his hands. I think as a parent your child always has this scent that warms your soul, and that one spot on their face that you love to kiss. I can't resist their cheeks and nose. Lee likes to kiss their forehead. I would lose a thousand nights of sleep for that.

Next would be Lawson. (Yes, when my kids choose to wake up in the middle of the night, they only do it together, one after another.) Around 1:30, after Elijah was sound asleep, Lawson woke me up to an awful belly cry, the one that screams "I don't feel good or I have soaked myself". It was the "I don't feel good". She had a fever, poor gal. So I went to work fixing her up, Tylenol, ice water, and some TLC. She seemed to be doing better and not so good for me, she wanted to play. We went through this cycle again and again until around 3:30am. I finally brought her to bed with us. With Lawson, I don't get as much hands-on love in return as I do with Eli (of course that is just the age, and I am fine with that). Lawson has a distinct scent too. When she wakes up she smells of heat and some sort of puppy breath :) I love it, she is my little puppy. I love the way she stands up in her crib when she sees me at the door, and falls over from the shakiness of just waking up. I will miss the day when her and her brother are too big for me to hold, and I wont get to feel them tuck their arms under their stomach as they lay on my chest (yes Elijah still does this). So, because I will miss this one day, I will cherish it now, and I still would lose a thousand nights of sleep for that.

Here are some pictures of my beautiful family sleeping (something we are really good at). These pictures are all from my phone so they are not going to look the best, but they are of the highest quality to me :) Enjoy.

Please note dad in the background.

Happy Friday everyone!