we ate LOTS of cake, we had LOTS of fun, and we learned ALOT to boot!

I Blinked and a Year Went By

Just 9 1/2 short months ago, I was balling my eyes out in my car after dropping off my baby at his first day of school. Although he wore the same size as he does now and probably wasn't a pound lighter, he was still my baby. Here is my baby in his new school digs, Sept. 2009.

But look at him now. There is very little baby left in him. Dropping him off at school has become second nature to me. And for him as well. We both adore his teachers, his school, and his classmates. Here is my big boy, on his last day of school.

We are both sad that it has come to an end and we look forward to what next year's school year will bring.

It's Official

Drew has entered into my FAVORITE stage when it comes to photographing children. He can sit up (YAY)!! He can laugh and smile with the greatest of ease (I can pretty much whistle or snap my fingers and he thinks it's hilarious)!! He can't really go anywhere quite yet (awesome for more reasons than one)!!! Plus he's getting cuter by the minute and even, dare I say a bit chubby? With Evan, this stage only lasted about a month, and then he was crawling all over the place. But I am thinking, since Drew was premature, maybe this stage will last a little longer? A girl can hope.

Red Sandhill Cranes

This morning we fed a family of four, Red Sandhill Cranes, who were by no means afraid of us. This is how close they came to Evan, Drew and I. I used my 50mm lens here, there was no zooming involved.

Beggers Can't Be Choosers

I would have preferred that Paul got a shot of Drew and me where I looked all hot and stuff. Maybe less emphasis on my less than perfect smile, perhaps where my skin looked a little less blotchy. But I suppose beggers can't be choosers... and any picture of me with my boys is a picture to be valued (at least by me)!

Jumperoo

This is sadly, Drew's home away from home. He spends more time in this Jumperoo then I would like to admit. But he loves it, so thank goodness for that. The unfortunate thing about it, other than the fact that I don't get to hold him as much as I would like to, is that I get the song that it plays stuck in my head for hours upon hours!

Buddies

Here is Drew and his bud, Baby Kevin. Baby Kevin looks so serious here, but believe me, he is a very sweet, cuddly and happy baby. They have been buddies since birth. Baby Kevin has about 5 lbs on Drew, but is 6 weeks his junior. They are so cute together!!!

Just Because

A picture of Evan for you to enjoy.....just because he's cute.

MIA

Sorry I have been MIA lately. A whole week without a post!!! Meema must be going nuts!!! Our time has been pretty much taken up with swimming! I spoke too soon a couple of weeks ago when I said that Evan liked swimming. We hit a major wall last week and he pretty much refused to enter the water with a major tantrum for the last 6 or 7 lessons. Miss Berit, his teacher, is so patient and loving. She has been taking it very slow, so as not to enhance his fear of the water even more by pressuring him to swim. And I think her tactic is working. Since she is taking it at a snails pace (AKA Evan's pace), he is starting to get more confident and starting to get back into the water. Today he swam without a single tear shed. And Drew is loving it too, now that he can sit up at the side of the pool and watch Evan swim. Just look at his smile? These pics are taken with my point and shoot, so I apologize for the quality. But I really need to start taking more candids and less posed shots, so here goes!

By the way, I failed miserably at the 5 day embrace the camera challenge. I was suppose to take a picture of myself with the kids once a day for 5 days, I made it to 3. I guess that's better than nothing. I just hope I can keep it up, maybe once a week or something!

Girl's Night Out

I am so lucky to have such great friends here in Orlando!!! We try to stay sane by doing a girls night out atleast once a month. This week, I get to have two Girls Night Outs! Of course we always end up talking about our kids. But it's still nice to get away and have some time with adults!!

Father's Day Picture Playdate

There is nothing more fun to me, then taking pictures of little ones!! So I will use any excuse to do it! With father's day coming up I thought it would be fun to have a playdate where I take pics of the kids to give to their daddies. And because some of my friends have different school schedules (some are Tuesday and Thursday, instead of our Monday, Wednesday, Friday) I am having another playdate next week with more friends!!! Now I suppose I need to get started on Evan's picture. I took a test shot here, but I need to get one where he isn't so sweaty!!

I thought these turned out cute! I wanted to have everyone holding their arms out so I could write "guess how much I love you" underneath, but some of the kids were too little to follow directions. How cute is the one of Reagan picking her nose? Of course I got other shots that she can use, but I think this one is hilarious!

Happy Birthday Pop Pop

Happy Birthday to Pop Pop Hinson. His Birthday is actually on Saturday, but Evan wanted to start the celebration early!!!

Embracing the Camera: Day Three

If nothing else, today I learned that I cannot for the life of me take a decent picture when I am not looking through the view finder. I can't focus the camera and I have a hard time even getting us in the frame. These 3 pictures are literally the only ones I got of like 30 pictures where you can even tell it's a picture of Evan and I! I was going to have Daddy take a picture of us when he got home from work last night, but I blinked and I missed him!!! He got home after the sun went down and left at 5 am!!!

And because my scrap booking days are on hold for now (who has the time for that?), my blog has become my scrapbook for my kiddos. So for that reason, I need to share an adorable thing Evan said yesterday, otherwise I may forget it.... As I was checking the temperature of my London Broil last night with a meat thermometer, Evan looked at me and said "Is the meat sick Mommy?" So sweet.

Embracing the Camera Challenge Day 2

Sorry this picture is so small, please click on it if you want to see it larger. Taking a picture of yourself and two squirmy little boys is harder then it looks. I know I make it look so easy breezy (I kid) but really... it's not. Evan is already at the point where Drew isn't allowed to touch him. If Drew grabs onto Evan's shirt, Evan comes and tattles on Drew. So I had to keep making super funny faces (come on, they are super funny, right?) in order to get Evan to forget about the fact that Drew was tugging on him.

My super serious little boy and I had a really fun date last night. I took Evan to Disney World after Paul got home last night from work. I am not brave enough to take both boys to Disney by myself and I was having trouble finding a sitter for Drew yesterday (the last day of my 4 day pass), so I just took Evan for a short evening trip. We had a blast! We only stayed for a couple of hours, but that's the beauty of living 10 minutes from there. And it was good to be alone with Evan for a bit. He has to share me with Drew pretty much 100% of the time, so he really enjoyed having me all to himself. That and all of the fun Disney rides of course!!

Embracing the Camera Challenge: Day 1

Ok, so there is a blog that I follow written by a local photographer (check it out here if you would like) and she is doing a challenge for all of us Moms out there who are constantly taking pictures, but are rarely in any pictures with our children. I am so guilty of that and I know I will regret it later. But who has time to do their hair and makeup? And who wants to be in pictures with out makeup... NOT ME!!! All those years of breastfeeding and pregnancy has done a number on my skin. But I need to get over it. That's what photoshop is for, right? So every day this week I will post a new picture of me and one or both of my boys. I am a day behind, as the challenge started yesterday. Better late than never!!!

Happy 8 Months

Happy 8 Months Baby Drew!!! In some ways, I feel like it was yesterday we were visiting you in the NICU twice a day, me with a heavy heart and tears in my eyes almost 24/7 and you with tubes down your nose and throat and IVs in your scalp. And in other ways, I feel like I have been wishing you would sit up for months now. It seems, the more you can do, the happier you are. And now it's official... you are one of the happiest little boys I have ever seen. You are finally sitting up (as of this week, and are a bit tipsy still), you are rolling all over the place ( no need to crawl when you can roll across the room) and you are enjoying all sorts of different baby foods. But by far, your favorite thing in the world to do, is watch Evan. Other then when you are super tired, the only time you fuss is when Evan is sleeping and you are wide awake. It's as if you are trying to wake him with your cries. As soon as he wakes up, your tears dry up and you immediately start giggling with glee!! At one point, I must admit, I was hoping time would go by a little faster. But this was when you wouldn't nurse, wouldn't sleep more then an hour or two at time and were pretty much miserable every waking hour. But now, we are having so much fun with you, I want to stop time and enjoy every second over and over again. You are so adorable, your blue eyes mesmerizing. Your smile so wide. Your sweet little neck my favorite place to kiss. I am so sorry your first 6 months were so difficult, but it looks like you are making up for lost time. Happy 8 months buddy!!

Happy Birthday C-Girl

Eight short years ago, the perfect dog was born. Corky, if I could clone you, I would. You are amazing and loyal and sweet. You are man's best friend and then some. Of course, that isn't to say we love you more then your sister, Farley. But you certainly are easier to take care of at times.

Tackling Mama

Here is what a typical afternoon entails in our house. Cuddling with my two boys on the couch, each fighting for my attention.... but I don't mind it one bit.

Prepping for Father's Day

Perhaps one of Paul's presents is going to look something like this.....in a nice frame of course!

Daddy Duty

Here are the all the Daddies taking time out of their busy work schedule to be the boy's "special guest" at their school picnic. I just love this snapshot that Mrs. B got of the Daddies holding the babies. Too cute!

Evan's First Swimming Lesson

We finally put Evan in swimming lessons. I started a bit late, living in Florida. Most of my friends put their kids in when they are infants, or at the very latest, one year old. When Evan was a baby, I read some new research on the subject that proposed that early swimming lessons can cause a fear of the water. And I have actually seen it happen with many of my friend's babies. But you gotta weigh the pros and cons. Living near so much water, the risk of drowning is definitely there, no matter how "on top" of your baby you are. I am a bit over protective of my boys (me? what? no.). So I think I will use any excuse to not do something that is scary for me or for them! I sware, everything I dread in life, never turns out to be as bad as my vivid imagination will make me anticipate. And this experience is no exception. I found an amazing private instructor for Evan (yes, we will soon be living on welfare, she is so pricey). But every penny is so well worth it. She is so loving with him. It's all about creating a love for the water. It's a very gentle way of showing him that water isn't scary, all the while teaching him how to swim. He actually cries very little and so far, he looks forward to his lessons. The only thing he isn't too fond of is "monkey hands", as you can see in the picture. That's what she teaches him to do if he falls in the water, you grab on to the side of the pool and shimmy your way down until you hit some stairs. She makes the funniest monkey sounds when he is doing it to try and make it a game, but he just isn't having it!

Much Needed Girl's Night Out

Thank you Jen, Christina, Kristen, Dawn, Carrie and Stephanie for a MUCH needed Girls Night Out the other night. So much fun!!!

Silly Evan, Silly Mama

Evan is making silly faces here, purely so he can prevent me from getting a decent picture of him...I am convinced of it!

On the subject of being silly...I dialed 911 the other day. Was Evan choking? No. Did I start a fire...Nope. Was there an accident...Negative. Did I hear the garage door opening at 5:15pm and automatically assume that someone stole my garage door opener out of my car and was coming into "get" us? Yup. You would too if you husband hadn't gotten home before 7pm on a weekday...well, EVER!!! No joke. I dialed 911, because my husband got home early.