All Good

And There Was No Bribery Involved

I decided to do an impromptu photo shoot with Kyler today in his crib (pictures coming later), and after Ryan sat watching me for a while, he said, "Mommy? Will you take my picture too?" I almost cried with joy!

So after wiping his mouth and running a comb through his hair I asked him where he wanted to do the pictures. "In my bed, like Kyler." Well, alrighty then.

And here is the result. Look how spectacular it can be when you have a willing (and dang cute) model.

I had some fun playing around with a bunch of different effects (like you couldn't tell).

Fourth of July - Two Weeks Late

Yeah...I'm really good at keeping on top of blogging within a day or two after an activity occurs. I can't believe I'm two weeks behind in posting these photos! Oh well. I won't bore you with the details of our day, so here are the highlights.

A SO-SO PARADE:

 

MY FAVORITE PHOTO OF THE DAY:

GOOD FOOD:

MOTORCYCLE RIDES WITH PAPA (my second favorite photo of the day):

FIREWORKS:

AND EXHAUSTED BOYS:

The Wild Week - Thursday

So I was just sitting here at my computer, thinking, "Well, I'm not quite ready to go to bed, and I don't want to edit pictures right now, so what can I do?" And then I remembered, "Oh yeah. I've got a blog!"

On Kyler's birthday a couple of weeks ago we decided to take the boys to the zoo for the first time. We've been meaning to take Ryan there forever, but something has always come up (too hot, too cold, work, school, sickness, etc.). But we finally did it and we had a great time. Ryan and Kyler both loved it and Kyler would say "Hi! Hi! Hi!" to anything furry he saw. (He said that to a HUGE spider crawling across our garage the other day--yes, it was furry.)

My sister Kellie came with us to help, which was SO nice.

Ryan's one goal was to see the tiger. And we did.

He also thoroughly enjoyed the monkeys.
And also this little cat/tiger-looking guy. It took us a while to convince him that  there was in fact glass between him and the tiger.
This was the best family photo we were able to get. Ah, the joys of having little ones who refuse to look at the camera (and a big one who refuses to give genuine smiles for the camera):

And this is what our little birthday boy looked like on the ride home from the zoo--just plain hot and tired.

We really did have a great time, though, and I'm looking forward to taking them back (maybe when it's a little cooler).

Next post: our Fourth of July activities.

Want to win something?

I'm not personally doing a contest, but if you go over to the Simple Scrapbooks Studio Blog, you can have a chance to win something cool from Wendy! She's featuring my website and all you have to do is go to the website and figure out which photo on there is of her sister!

Here's a hint for you: there are three photos of her sister--and in the photos she is with someone else.

My New Favorite Flower

While this may seem like a stupid post, I'm so excited because the first flower I've ever planted in my life bloomed today! I planted a bunch of annuals and some bulbs this spring, never having done it before. And look what was greeting me this morning, all covered in dew (okay it was sprinkler residue).

Yay! Go me and my dahlias!

The Wild Week - Wednesday - A Day Late

Yeah, sorry. I said I'd post these pictures yesterday, but I didn't. And I don't have a good excuse. I just didn't, but here they are now.

On Wednesday of our wild week we decided to take the kids to Lagoon, the local amusement park near our house. I loved going there when I was young and even had a season pass a few years. And yes, I even worked there for a loooong time when I was a teenager. But it was fun. Anyway, neither Matt nor I had been back there in many many years, so we decided it was time to take the boys. And actually...it was REALLY fun. I had so much fun letting Ryan run from ride to ride and get excited about them. Kyler even got to ride a couple of rides! So here are the photos:

Our nieces Allie and Amelia came with us to help us with the boys. And it was so nice to have them along, especially since Amelia was just under the height limit to ride all the kiddie rides with Ryan!

Fun on the Merry Go Round.

For years my mom has been telling me the story of how when I was just a baby they took me to Lagoon and let me ride the little boats. She told me about how they looked like complete idiots as they were smiling and waving to me, taking photos, and shouting at me to ring the little bell. I swore that I would NOT be that way if Ryan and/or Kyler got to ride the boats. As Matt will attest, I think I was worse. I swear the whole park was watching me make a fool of myself yelling things like:

"Hi Ryan, honey!"

"Kyler! Kyler! Yay! Look at you, baby!"

"Good job ringing the bell, Ryan! Let Kyler have a turn now!"

"Big boy Kyler to ring the bell!"

"Look at mommy for a picture! Look right here! Kyler! Ryan! Look at mommy!"

Okay, but how could I not have freaked out as I watched my two little babies go around and around in the boats. Gosh, it was cute!

 

 

We really did have a great time, but we were all so hot and tired by the end of the day. Our little Kyler was still all smiles, though!

 

Stay tuned for the Thursday activity...the ZOO!

The Wild Week - Monday and Tuesday

A couple of weeks ago Matt took the entire week off of work and we LIVED IT UP! We packed so much into every day, and every day came home exhausted! I took a ton of pictures, so I thought I'd just start with our Monday and Tuesday activities.

Monday was the annual Snow family tea party, hosted by Matt's mom. She always goes above and beyond and this year was no exception. Here is just a sampling of the AMAZING food we had:

The party was "girls only" and everyone was instructed to wear a hat. Next to each of the little girls' plates were mini scrapbooks to put photos and journaling in.

After lunch we went inside to play games and give manicures and pedicures.

All of Matt's married sisters and sisters in law had girls to bring. The night before the party I mentioned how glad I was that I didn't have any girls, because I was really looking forward to just going by myself and not having to worry about taking care of kids. But once I got there and was watching all those girls, I got really jealous that I didn't have a girl of my own to bring. Oh well. Maybe some day...

On Tuesday we woke up early and headed to the lake after my morning photo shoot. We spent the whole afternoon enjoying the water, beach and boat. The boys had a blast and Ryan even got on the tube at the back of the boat. I did bring my camera, but we had to hike quite a ways to the beach and the camera was inadvertently left in the car. I thought about hiking back to get it, but I figured it wasn't worth risking sand and water damage.

So sorry...no photos of Tuesday's fun day! Stay tuned tomorrow for Wednesday's activity...

Wow! Wow! Wow!

I'm so excited to FINALLY announce that

MY WEBSITE IS LIVE!!

It took forever for me to get in gear to get it all done, but there you have it. Please look it over and let me know what you think! If you have any suggestions, critiques, etc., I'd love to hear them.

And for all my clients: As of this moment I will be using my new pricing system listed on my website. If you have already booked an appointment with me, the price I quoted you will remain the same. But for anyone who hasn't yet booked an appointment, please refer to the website pricing.

I'm so excited!

OT Update

Thanks, everyone, for all of your kind comments about Ryan. We met with the therapist yesterday and it was good. She said that he definitely has a problem and we spent a long time discussing his eating habits and going over what the root of the problem may be (reflux when he was a baby, a nasty case of the flu when he was one, etc.). She said that it's going to be a long process, but we're working toward the goal of getting Ryan to at least try new foods and not be afraid of them.

And while I was there, sitting in the waiting room with Ryan, a woman walked in with her severely autistic 14-year old son. I had been feeling sorry for myself that my little boy had to go to "therapy" and all of a sudden my whole outlook was put into perspective. My child is mentally, physically and emotionally healthy (despite his eating problems). I truly am so blessed and thank God for these incredible (and often undeserving) blessings every day. Seriously, it blows me away how lucky I am.

Terrible Twos?

Since I have nothing to compare the "terrible twos" to, I just assumed that Ryan's terrible twos were as bad as it was going to get. Uh...no. As we quickly approach his third birthday, he is all of a sudden a little less than sweet. While screaming in anger at the top of his lungs gets him nothing but the time out chair, he still does it daily. While hitting and pushing Kyler gets him nothing but the timeout chair, he still does it daily. Don't get me wrong, there are moments when I look at that little face and still get butterflies in my stomach because of his pure beauty, but I think we're venturing into some uncharted territory here.

And, in one hour from now, Ryan and mommy are headed out to meet with an occupational therapist. Ryan's eating problems are worse than ever. He has slowly dwindled down to literally 3 different things that he'll eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I tried to get him to eat a tiny mandarin orange the other day and he was in tears and traumatized over the thought of having to put it in his mouth. So please wish us luck and pray that there's hope ahead for this little boy--who, when it comes right down to it, is the apple of my eye. (Oh wait..he doesn't eat apples...is the granola bar of my eye.)