Pear Blossom

Every year I do a photo shoot with my kids on their birthday (or around it) … since Anthony just turned 10 (insane, I know!!) it was his turn to get in front of the camera.  We decided to do a sports themed shoot since baseball has been such a huge part of his year.  It was hot and very bright outside, I guess I could have picked a better time then 2:30 in the day … but it was the only time to fit it in so I went with it.  Anthony delivered exactly what I wanted, some serious, some silly and some sweet.  Here is just a small sampling from his birthday shoot.               Anyone that knows Anthony, knows how sweet and gentle he is.  He is always happy to entertain a baby, toddler or his 4 year old sister, he is gracious and considerate and loves to have fun.   Anthony has been a blessing since the moment he came into this world, Joe and I can’t even describe in words what a gift he is, we can only be thankful every day that we have him in our life!     

You plan, plan, and plan and then it’s all over in a flash!  That’s how this birthday party went, so much prep work and then it just flies by.  Anthony had so much fun, we rented a water slide for the kids … it barely fit in our yard (literally squeezed in) it was huge.  Anthony was just having the time of his life the entire party, everytime I saw him he had the hugest smile on his face.  I was a terrible photographer and took hardly any pictures at all, but on the flip side I spent time socializing with all our wonderful friends.  After I looked at the pictures I was so bummed I hadn’t taken more of the kids, more of our guests and so on …  

Here are some of the very few images I snapped 

Mads didn’t even think about going down the slide, she stayed in her little kiddie pool the whole time, and once she was cold and done swimming she took all her little girl friends into her room so they could destroy it in record time (that’s my girl!)   it literally looked like a tornado swept in.  Those girls must have changed their clothes 10 times! 

Joe and I have our roles, I’m the photographer and he’s the videographer … I think both of us failed in our jobs this weekend. 

Fun times!  Happy Birthday Ant Bear :)    

Madison just started swim lessons for the first time this year and it’s very exciting!  She has sat on the side lines for so many years watching her brother do everything, but this year it’s her turn and over the course of the year she will have her turn at swimming, baseball and basketball (well over the course of a full 12 months from now) and she’s really pumped about it! 

Madison is so funny during swim lessons, she is one of those girls that really lets the teacher now what she is willing to do and what she’s not … getting her face wet has been an issue, but you can’t go swimming and not get your face wet so she’s just going to have to learn to deal with it.   I am happy to report that yesterday she did successfully get her face wet, baby steps I guess.  The most important part is that she’s enjoying it and looks forward to it.   

Madison and I went to a party this weekend where some of the cutest guests were the furry natured kind …         

I never shared photos from my Big Bear trip, we went up there to celebrate my birthday!  well lets be honest, it wasn’t my first destination when thinking about relaxing, I was thinking more of the warm sunny sandy kind but the kids and Joe really wanted to go Big Bear and do some fishing and it happened to be the only time we could get away for a while … so I was happy to do a warm cozy birthday celebration in the mountains.  We had originally expected really warm weather, the forecast the week before was amazing … then out of no where the weather turned to icy cold, snowy, rainy weather (the day we drove up!) I hadn’t even brought warm enough clothes.  The first day was perfect, we visited our favorite pizza place, then we poured into the grocery store to divulge on our inner child and throwin anything sweet and yummy into the cart … we followed that by a movie, warm cookies, popcorn and some chocolate.  The second day we froze our butts off in the snow when we tried to go fishing, bad idea even though I hear fishing is best when it’s the coldest and we did catch 9 fish … still it was freezing!!! 

We had such a great time and the kids had a blast, which in the end is what makes me the happiest! 

My favorite Jack gloves  

yummy pizza 

This is how it looked when we went out to fish, but it got nasty so quickly, the sun completely disappeared and it started snowing 

Ok not the most flattering photo I’ve ever taken but I’ll share since it was so fine playing in the snow with the kids … and being beamed by many snow balls even though I was yelling “watch out for my camera!!!!!!!!!!!”   

My life is … non-stop baseball practices, baseball games and tons of baseball talk … we are a baseball family!  It’s been pretty wild these last two weeks, getting ready for summer vacation, school parties, teacher gifts, planning Anthony’s birthday party and all the games.  I think I strive on being too busy … which sucks!  I’m a bit behind on emails (story of my life!) but I’m hoping today will be a chance to get caught up on emails.   

So I’m terrible at taking pictures of Anthony’s games, I get so caught up in cheering that I can’t do anything else!!  I did manage to get some pictures of him pitching during one of his practices … isn’t he so cute!?! 

I’ve wanted to capture this shot for a long time …. my neighbors have an old time bathtub (original with the house), it’s totally gorgeous and I’ve always imagined it with over flowing bubbles and little heads popping out of it.  When Heather called me to tell me the kids were all taking a bath together after some fun sprinkler time I grabbed my camera and ran up.  I even added the neighborhood cat Frank … Frank is a fixture on our street and everyone loves him :)       

Ok so I have zero time to talk, I’m totally behind because of my super long weekend (which I milked like crazy!) I have a ton of things to catch up on at home … but … I couldn’t leave my blog so absent, even if the last thing I should be doing is blogging!  LOL 

I swear it feels like just yesterday when Melissa and I were taking the girls to Libby Lu’s for the first time, but in fact it’s been 2 years since that last visit!  This time Gracie got to join in on the fun and get all dolled up.  Madison has been asking me to go back every since.  Her hair looked pretty freaky IMO but she loved it so that’s all that matters LOL           A blast from the past :)    

Ok not that behind (get your head out of the gutters) BEHIND as in soooooo behind on blogging!  I realize the only way blogging works for me is to do chunks of posts at one time and break them up in pre-scheduled days, this way I only have to blog twice a week and it’s like I’ve blogged every day.  So I’m starting off my chunk :) First order of business … I’ve been tagged.  I am going to admit it, normally I just avoids tags and let them fall my the wayside, not because I don’t appreciate the tag or someone thinking of me but it’s more to do with the fact that A) I don’t really like talking about myself and B) I get too darn busy … but because Amanda admitted the same avoidance I thought that it was only fair to take the time to be tagged 

6 Quirks :) 

1. I hate to share drinks, I cannot stand to share a straw with someone else (especially you milkshake sharing peeps!!) it just makes me squirm and YES I’ve been known to wipe the straw after my own husband drinks from my drink … I know what you’re thinking … “but you kiss him” I know I know, I’ve heard it all … just don’t touch my drink :) 

2. I talk really fast, so fast, too fast.  I always have, my mom used to call me motor mouth I’ve tried to slow down but it feels torturous to talk sooooo slow.   I do put forth effort to slow down when talking with people I’ve first met, but it only lasts just a bit  

3. I have a love/hate relationship with email … love to read it/hate to respond to it!  I sometimes take a day or two to respond but I will always reply

4. OMG I cannot believe I have 3 more to go!  I’m going to consult madison on what is quirky about me (well weird in her book) Hmmm … she’s thinking … she says I say the wrong words all the time, which is totally right!  I constantly yell things out to my kids and because I’m so busy half the time I say the wrong thing … in my defense I think as parents we all do this!   

5.  I take a bath everyday, sometimes in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon and sometimes at midnight … I am absolutely addicted to taking baths.  Everyone close to me knows this, I think everyone I know has called me at some random time during the day only to find me in the bath … as to which everyone for the first time says “you’re taking a bath?”  LOL  It’s my way of relaxing, taking a moment for myself and the hot water (super hot) makes me happy. 

6. Idioms, just can’t get them right (no matter what) I always change up the phrase to make it terribly wrong.   If you’re lucky enough to be on the receiving end of one of my idioms you will surely have a barrel of laughs or a really confused look. 

I’ve got lots to post but until then here is a sneak peek at a wedding I did this weekend