The Orchid

I like to receive flowers, but let's be honest; they're kind of a waste of money. They're expensive and if you're lucky, you might get a weeks worth of enjoyment from them. I can think of a million things that I would rather do with the money that's wasted on flowers.

My husband is smart though. He knows how I feel about spending money on a gift that's going to stop giving in a few days time, so for Mother's Day he bought me a living plant instead! That's my guy! I really like orchids and have been tempted to buy one in the past, but they're awfully expensive. So this ended up being such a thoughtful present from my sweetheart!

Kevin made me take pictures of the plant because he was so impressed with his taste in flowers ;) It took me a while to get around to it, but I'm really glad that I did! I'm thinking about printing one of the pictures and hanging it in our house.

Here's where you come in: I need help making my choice! Take a look at the photos below and tell me which one is your favorite by leaving a comment at the bottom of this post. And if you would like to check out a black and white version of each image, head on over to my photography blog and do the same! Thanks for all your help!

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Videos

Here are a few fun video clips that I've taken of the kids! These are from February and March. Zac is 8-9 months old, Anslie about 3 1/2. Enjoy!

It's Good To Be Little

When you're little you get to wear your pj's all day long, or wear mismatched shoes, have messy hair, or wear polka dots with stripes. You get to run around half naked, sometimes all the way naked, and nobody cares! Because you're little and no one expects too much of you. But the best part of being little is being able to play in the mud without any judgement at all. Seriously, what would you do if you saw an adult digging around in the mud, flinging it all over the place, rubbing it in their hair, or even eating it? So I say, "rock on little ones!" Make all the mud pies you can, while you can!

Denver Trip

At the end of March I packed up the two kids and the three of us headed out to Colorado to visit my sister, Tera. (Kev stayed home because he had to work.) Tera and her family have since moved to New York, so it was kind of a farewell visit for us. Not that distance can keep us apart :)

We had a lot of fun just letting the kids play together. We honestly didn't do too much besides care for our children side by side. We had a lot of time to talk and that was really wonderful! The slideshow below are some pictures from our trip. Some of the fun things we did (that you will see pictures of) is a trip to the Denver Museum of Natural History, a trip to a fun kid's play place called Monkey Business, Girl's Night Out dinner to The Melting Pot, Tera getting her facial hair threaded for the first time, and some pictures of the CRAZY unpredictable weather in that part of the country! The photos of the snow and of Anslie and Ethan stripped down to their diapers, and then snow again were literally taken in consecutive days!

Overall we had a great trip! I would say that I will miss my sister, but really we'll see each other just as often as before. It's kind of like that song, " Ain't no mountain high enough...." Love ya, sis!

Easter 2011

Easter was pretty low-key for our family this year. My dad and step mom were visiting and it was nice to have the company and extra bodies to cook for :) We started our morning early with church at 8:30am. Church always feels like the right place to be on a Holiday like this.

Zac fell asleep in the car on the way home so we rushed him up to his room and then surprised Anslie with her Easter basket. She was really excited about all of the candy! She is definitely a candy-aholic, so I made sure to find her a basket that wasn't filled with much else. I knew she would really appreciate that!

Once Zachary woke up we gave him his basket. I was surprised to see that, especially at his age, he was interested in the toys as much as the Easter grass inside of the basket! No candy for him though, which, if he knew any better, he would have probably been bummed about.

Almost everyone was able to get a good Sunday nap in and I was able to cook our Easter feast in peace. We had the traditional ham, a potato casserole, artichokes, and Hawaiian roles. Simple, but very delicious. We finished up with an apple pie and then headed outside for an Easter egg hunt.

Anslie had so much fun searching for all of the eggs hidden around our front yard that we had to re-hide the eggs over and over again. And I had a blast snagging a couple photos of the kids in the gorgeous spring evening light! Overall, it was a really nice day!

Family Update

It seems like I can't get my blogging act together this year! I guess now that Zachary is so much more active and my little goal to let my photography business "be what it will be," has actually kept me busier than I thought. So I'm very overdue for a blog update and I want to catch things up this week!

I guess we'll start from the oldest and go to the youngest? Kevin is working hard as always. He's joined a new group at work and his hours are changing a lot. It gets frustrating at times, never knowing what is schedule or days of will be from week to week, not to mention the fact that he gets paid a lot less if he has to work days, but we are managing. He still makes time for his family and that's what is really important.

I remember being really frustrated with not having a lot of business last year. Looking back, it really was for the best. I mean, come on! I had just had a baby, among other things. So I had resolved not to even try this year to get new business. Ha, ha! I love how we think our lives are going in one direction and God laughs in our face and sends us spinning in another. I have been busier this year than I have ever been! And it's a good thing too, with Kevin losing some income from his new detail. I've been able to help pitch in with the finances and it feels great to be able to help out with the family while doing something I am passionate about. I've made several new contacts and have been honored to work with some really wonderful photographers on weddings and I am growing in ways that I never would have been able to on my own.

Balancing home life with mine and Kevin's jobs is always tricky. Fortunately we have great kids and it seems to work out. Anslie is growing up to be such a sweet little kid. I think she's finally starting to grow out of her terrible twos. She's now three and a half years old, and such a princess! Don't get me wrong...we still have lots of tantrums and refusals to do anything I ask her to do. But every so often I get an "okay, mommy...." She's a great help to me with entertaining Zac, as well as a wonderful instigator of mischief. Her thing right now is calling Kevin and I by our first names. It's a little jarring at times, but I know if I just let her get it out of her system she'll get over it. It can be pretty funny at times though. Her favorite things to do are paint and cut (paper with scissors). She'll entertain herself for quite some time with arts and crafts. She also loves music and dancing. She's my little buddy when I watch shows on TV like American Idol and The Voice. Since she doesn't nap anymore, we enjoy quiet afternoons together while Zac naps, watching movies, tv, doing art, or she'll even play by herself in the play room for a bit. Anslie is becoming really vocal with her imagination. I love to hear what she is thinking as she plays with her dolls or play kitchen. She is really creative and so smart! She has a really great memory, too, so we have to be careful about what goes on around her. Kevin was amazed the other day when he took her to the grocery store with him and she asked to be weighed in the produce scale. When she was younger and we were so worried about her weight gain, we used to take her to the store and plop her on the scale to check her weight. That was when she was around the age of one! Amazing. Anslie is so sweet and wonderful and a little devil all rolled up into one. So I guess she is the consummate toddler!

Zachary has grown so much! He is 21lbs, which isn't huge, but I swear the doctor's scales are off! He feels so much heavier to me! Not only is he crawling like a madman, he's also starting to walk! I will post some videos at another time. He can stand on his own without holding onto anything and will take a couple steps before tumbling over. It's so cute! He says "Da, da" and "Ma, ma" but I'm not sure if he understands what he's saying or if they're just noises still. That's not to say that he doesn't communicate. He will shake his head "no" if he doesn't want something. If he's hungry and sitting in his high chair and wants a bite, he'll rock back and forth and click his tongue as if to say, "put that in my mouth." He's actually really vocal and quite loud! Zac also can wave hello and goodbye and give high fives. He's also a little comedian. He does silly things and then laughs. When we laugh, he does it again. He has this face that he makes that I am in love with! He squints his eyes and wrinkles his nose and gives me a big cheesy grin while tossing his head back. It's so sweet! Zac is certainly a mama's boy but he loves his daddy too. He will claw himself out of my arms or crawl over to the baby gate up in the hallway and shake it and shout until Kevin says hello to him when he gets home from work. This kid is so affectionate and doesn't have any problems telling you he loves you. He's quick to laugh and for the most part easy to please. Such a blessing to have in our home!

Our family is doing well. Nothing really big is happening, but I'm honestly okay with that. We're enjoying our lives, our home, and our community. I'm excited for this summer and all of the fun we'll have now that I'm not pregnant and Zac isn't such a small baby. I'm sure I'll have tons more to post about all of our adventures! (If I can keep my act together, that is:)