Vacation Bible School

A couple of weeks ago, my baby  big boy, Evan, went to Vacation Bible School. Since this was his first experience at any organized school setting (where I left campus) I had to document the event with photos.

I had to really debate with myself as to whether I was going to lug my camera along with me (along with Evan & Preston) to school. Ideally, Jeff would go to work late and help me take the boys to school so I could take pictures. Well, ideal isn't reality. So, I did not bring my camera along. Doing the math, I think I would have been responsible for 60 some pounds of precious cargo (camera and boys included) and that was just too much on day 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 of school.  In fact, Jeff was gone this entire week of VBS on a work trip. The timing of VBS was not short of divine intervention as it helped give us structure and purpose and at the same time really helped Evan blossom socially.




Day 1 at school did not go well. His Elmo bag (he was the only kid that I noticed that brought a backpack to vbs) was stocked with 2 pairs of underwear and pants. Well he went through both of them on day 1. Ugh! But rewinding to the drop off on day 1 -- I had to literally peel him off of me to hand him off to his teacher. The tears and screaming made a real scene, but I was strong, and Evan did indeed complete his first day.

Monday night I had to do some real consideration on whether or not I should pull him from VBS. It wasn't fair for the other kids to be around our potty-trained child who refused to use the potty. (He told his VBS teacher, "I use the potty at home.") Well, I had decided to power through to Day 2 and if he was as bad again, I would pull him from the program.

Well, Day 2 came and the crying wasn't quite as violent at drop off.  We got really familiar with the potty before and after school and he did great! No accidents!! Yay!

Day 3 and 4 were both great for him (and me) too. Evan had no tears and he continued on his accident-free streak. Friday was the family picnic celebration. It was really nice. I got to see how Evan had progressed from his pre-pre-school experience to five days later. The celebration on Friday was mostly outside. Evan did cry a little bit saying he didn't want to leave. This experience gave me real confidence that come August, when 3K starts, that he will be just fine.

           

Zoo Day!

Preston

Peacock

 

 

It has been a challenge keeping up with my pictures and the blog lately.

We had a trip to the zoo a couple of weeks ago where I was able to practice some photography with subjects other than my boys. They literally run or push the camera out of the way lately. 

Photography at the zoo is an interesting topic to me because I always was one who said, 'really, are you ever going to look at that random elephant shot again?' I mean it's at the Milwaukee Zoo, it's not like a safari where you came face-to-face with the creature.  Well I am now one of those people!

It is giving me a chance to further my photography skills and giving me other subjects that I can potentially put up as art in the house and that's what I am going for if you see more zoo photos in the future. 

I have a lot of blog drafts in the hopper so you'll see much more, very soon. Thanks for hanging in there with me!

Jamie

A couple of weeks ago, an awesome friend of mine, Jamie, (as seen in these photos) asked me to take family photos for them. I was so awesomely flattered as this was my first 'non-family' shoot!

Woo-hoo! Going into it, I was so excited, flattered, nervous, anxious and just ready to do it.

Jamie and her family were awesome! Not only were her and Chris the cutest couple, but their kids were just so adorable too! Beautiful, handsome, gorgeous . . . Just a few of the adjectives I can use to describe this family.

           
Jamie had such great ideas for posing and her creative genius is something I really need to tap into. So if I ever get a photography business off the ground, maybe she can be my consultant! :)

I came away from this shoot with so many great photos it was hard to narrow down a choice few to put on my blog but I was finally able to do it. Probably a part of the reason it took me a couple of weeks to make this post ;)

Thank you Jamie for this opportunity. I had such a wonderful time photographing your family. You all are so beautiful (and handsome) and I hope you enjoy the photos. I cannot wait to do another one for you down the road.

Happy Birthday Alyssa!

My favorite niece celebrated her 8th birthday last weekend (with her true birthday being today!)

The kids all had a blast! A great and beautiful day.



Some of my favorite pics . . .

Happy Birthday Alyssa!!!

(And yes, that is Layne grilling an elephant and apples.)               

Brewer Outing

  Memorial Day weekend, tailgating, comfortable weather and Brewers - it was a great day to spend some quality family time. I was able to snap a few photos. Here they are!

I am limited by the number of photos I can put on a blog post, so here is the link to my google picasa album.

https://plus.google.com/photos/104855146261100723827/albums/5882846413092113281?authkey=COWSvNm-qJDU8wE


                          

Moments in May

May has been a busy month so far! I’ve had many favorite moments in May already!

Mother’s Day was great! I was able to have some time to myself to actually get ready for the day without the boys in my bathroom space. This getting ready was especially nice, because it was more than just my usual mascara, yoga pants and a pony tail. It was, as Evan would say, “A really special treat!”

My gifts were great too! I got photography swag from the boys. A nice camera bag (woo hoo – no more stuffing it in random mom bags!), a scalloped hood (an accessory for the camera, not an article of clothing), and a variety of lens filters. On top of camera basics, I’m now super excited to try out all my accessories.   I was so excited, that on the very blustery Mother’s Day morning, we all went to the park. That was crazy. I think the temperature gauge on the car said 37 degrees. Really? What were we thinking? We lasted about five minutes, but I did get to try out some of my new stuff. (no photographs from the park made it on the blog, it was too cold and I got nothing good there!)  I then got to enjoy a nice afternoon out shopping with Andrea.  For dinner, Jeff grilled some delicious steaks. It was a really great Mother’s Day. Thanks again boys!

Following our freezing Mother’s Day, some warm weather finally made it here!! We broke out the water table and even took a trip to the technically closed, Pewaukee beach. The boys loved it. Evan especially loved it. He had no qualms about walking right up to the water and going for it. (He had no complaints about the seaweed or anything!) Is this my son? I have a feeling we will be regulars at the beachfront this summer.

Our playset has gotten a lot of use this summer, as have the bikes! Evan loves his tricycle. I’m happy to say that we are now proud parents of a real peddler! That is why I had to throw a couple pictures of Evan on his tricycle. In the last week or so, he has mastered peddling and he is very fast! This will be yet another mode of torture for Preston but hopefully he will just get really fast at running ;)

The sad picture of Preston . . . Well, he’s teething and has had a cold for awhile. That pretty much has been his May so far.

My final happy moment was this week when Jeff & Evan had their first Brewer outing together for the season. Good practice for our upcoming LanGer Brewer game this weekend. Evan loved every second of it (so I hear) and we are excited for more games!