I really love these of Ella Reese. It is a brief moment that I was able to capture her sweet little girl side. Because usually she is displaying her active wild side. I love her so!I like this one ....blurry is good sometimes too!

We had this prickly bush in our backyard that Dean found out with his face....

Cora played with us for a day. The girls had so much fun doing girly things.

ER is doing her hair....

sweet cora

dean pics....

happy saturday!

I took these the other day. I have tons to catch everyone on with the fam....so hopefully this will tie you over till then. I plan on doing a "Summer Summary Series". Like that? s-s-s-.
Till then....Don't forget to wash between those piggies! Dean signing that he wants something to eat

kisses from sissy

ER was helping Dean to write....she showed him them let him have a turn

my new wallpaper on my computer...LUV this one below!

Pamper day with me sistas !

Since I have months worth of picture I have not posted of the fam and kiddos...and the thought of opening those folders right now ( choosing, quick edits and resizing) makes me feel slightly sick ,..
I thought instead I would post a recent Saturday where my sisters and I went out for some spa treatment and haircuts at Salon Azure. It was super fun.
My big sis Doris lives in Philly but is in town for a bit. So we took some girl time together!

Sharon showing off her manicure

My piggies

getting my hair chopped

Pic of us all with our new hair do's with Cindy our awesome salonist.

Doris with baby in belly~ Due after Christmas!!!! I love this pics...it is very Doris to me for some strange reason...

Cindy cutting away

I really like this picture

Have a great week!

We are still here...

We had a blast at the beach and I have awesome family pictures to show for it! You can't even see the kids faces..but I love them. This is our family right now. Two squirmy kids where the only way to get them to be still for a family picture is to throw them on our shoulders.



I actually did not take a lot of pictures while we were at the beach...sand and cameras do not mix! So I did get a few...I will post them later. Later meaning..hmm....maybe in a few weeks?

I have a bazillion pics I want to update everyone with. But it will have to wait for now. So sorry!
We are packing our things right now. We have been living with Sharon and Lon for the past 3 weeks or so? And we are moving to Ryan's parents for the next month till we get into our new house. In the meantime the kiddos are ever changing and growing in affection for each other. And Ryan's biz is picking up and keeping him busy. I am growing in this strange season right now of being homeless and being a stay-at -home- mom in places that are not my home. Trying to adapt to the challenges and changes that such an environment change can have on our kids.
But I am ever thankful to God for his sufficient grace to me!

It is so strange being in this kind of limbo. Living somewhere else and yet I am not really attached to our new home. I have only seen the inside one time. We saw so many houses that by the time we got to this one we didn't care as long as it had a roof and four walls. So in a sense I really do feel homeless,..but not sad or anxious about it. Strange huh?

I love my family!

A few quick stories about the kids:

-we put Dean and ER in the same room. They will be in the same room at Ryan's parents so we decided to just go ahead and get them use to each other. Well of course they love to laugh and play and keep one another awake. Well the crib Dean is in was jimmy rigged on one of the hooks that keep the spring/mattress up. One night they were both jumping in their beds laughing etc...and Ryan went in to check on them. And to his terror he could not find either child. He yells for me and as I turn around Dean is standing in front of my and starts to belly laugh. So hard that the pacey in his mouth falls out. After investigating, Dean had jumped so much that the broken corner of the thing that holds up the mattress had fallen/broken and Dean had squirmed his way out of the new opening. And ER probably excited at such an escape, ran out the room along with Dean. Of course we were terrified, but laughed out loud once we put them to bed. Every other night we will go in to find ER in Dean's crib as they jump together.

-We figured out after a few days that the door to the Master bdrm would open if you just pushed on the door. We had safety handle locks everywhere...but found this out when.....

I was looking for ER and ran around upstairs and got a whiff of nail polish in the air. In extreme fear I ran to Sharon's room (master) , knowing that she had painted ER's nails earlier that morning...and found her at their nightstand painting her entire hand and foot. And yes, she did get some nail polish on the carpet....! But to my amazement, only two drops hit the carpet. And by drops I mean like if you hold up the nail polish brush in the air and let it drip. And then one more drip on the nightstand. And Sharon and Lon had just gotten the night stands like a week ago! And on top of it she was standing in a puddle of pee. So after cleaning everything up...I later tell Ryan and he responds " Well, guess what...you are getting a new nightstand!" Which I am. We replaced theirs.

-I have a ton of other cute stories about Dean as he is approaching 18 months. Like how he started to cover his head with a blanket and run blindly around cackling laughing. Or how he does EVERYTHING ER does. It is so cute to watch. He will follow her, sit where she sits, mimic what she says,...everything.

How he will bow his head and close his eyes when he prays. How he will charismatically will toss his pacey behind him and start beelining it to the bathroom when you ask if he wants to brush his teeth.

And ER has cute stories too,..I suppose I just remember the destructive ones off hand. But she will hold your my face in her little hands and kiss me on my lips. It is so sweet. And sometimes she will call Dean " buddy or little buddy" because we do.

Well, enough for now...off to pack to our next destination!

Off to the beach!

We leave Saturday morning for our summer vacation and I just HAD to post this picture. I will sometimes think of this pic and laugh to myself. Ryan was making a fire in our back yard and he did not see Dean behind him mimicking him.
That is Dean these days...the copy cat. Whatever Ella Reese does, says, motions...Dean does. Most times it is adorable and other times it is dangerous.
Ella Reese is about 95% Potty trained. She will exclaim loudly, while running to the bathroom, "pee pee coming! pee pee coming! pee pee no come....!". The sound of the lid of the toilet being raised...." pee pee..you can come now." One time she ran by on her way to the toilet yelling
" Vaminos!". ( I have no idea how to spell that )
So in the spirit of blogging, I post this one picture and refrain myself from wanting to post a dozen more. I got some getting ready for the beach to do!

Pictures in JULY!

I am running a photo special in July. And it is truly special !! (check out the price!). Ryan, who is also my photo manager/sidekick, and I had a business meeting this weekend. In attempt to increase income this summer, we are promoting this special. So come one and come all ! Tell your neighbor, friend, mother, grocery bag boy, bank teller, strangers...whomever!

p.s. If you have already booked with me for July, or are in discussion with me to book for July- this special WILL apply to you! Lucky duckies!

And also...Thanks everyone for all your encouragement lately with this amazing gift that I am so grateful to enjoy!

I love this grass!

So after rescheduling due to rain, I finally got to take pictures of Lucy. There was a small window of dates to reschedule, so we settled on the Andrews coming to my crib on their way out of town to Chattanooga. And boy am I glad we did! Since I look at my yard all the time, sometimes I feel like I lack inspiration. But then...I found this patch of beautiful shade mix grass that Ryan seeded last year and I knew I had to plop Lucy in it. It was glorious!
We sold our house and closing date is June 26th. So if you want some shade grass love as well, I can certainly book something for you !
Any takers?
More of pretty Lucy soon!

It's SOLD!

The first person to see the house Wednesday night put an offer on the house! After a counter offer we settled on an agreement last night!!! We got more than what we have hoped to get!
And yesterday Ryan went with Lawrence ( our realtor) yesterday and found a house! We went later that day as family to see it and we are in love. So we MAY put a contract on it today.
We are completely thrilled and cannot believe how fast the Lord is orchestrating all of this. But please pray about this new house. Ryan is not totally at peace with this home. But regardless, we are still confidant that the Lord will provide the perfect home for us...even if it is not this one!
Here is a bird nest we discovered in a tree right by our door. Every time we leave or come to the house...the mama bird would fly out so fast and scare us. Why it built the nest so low in a tree and so close to the house...I don't know. I got this pic out of the front window because it was raining. The bird kept trying to get back to her nest since I right up in the window so close to her. In this pic she saw me and quickly flew away after I got the pic. You can kind of see one of the blue eggs that had not hatched.

Whenever I ask ER to smile for me...she gives me a cheesy unattractive smile. So one day as I was taking pictures of her...I told her to give me a Cinderella smile. And she delivered!

I think this pic of her hair is neat...I love her hair!

It's On!!!

Our house is on the market! We have had a busy past few weeks and we have both, well Ryan mostly, have worked our tails off. So I sit here, floor just mopped and our house looks better than it ever has!
You can check out our listing at http://www.kaarmls.com/ and our MLS# is 664778. Here is a list of things we have done ourselves...And all done in the past month
Fresh paint in kitchen/dining
Fresh paint on kitchen cabinets
Can lights in kitchen
Fresh ceiling paint in main living areas
Tile in hall bath
Fresh paint in master
Scrapped the popcorn off ceiling in master and painted white
Can light in master
Tile in Wash/Dryer area
Hardwood in pantry, linen closet and coat closet
Crown in both bathrooms
Finished trim on kitchen cabinets
Touch up stain on outside back cedar siding
Landscaped- Ryan moved some bushes from back to front..raked, pine straw ..the whole 9 yards Painted both vanities black plus new hardware
Carpet in all bedrooms ( someone installed it, Ryan just pulled the old stuff up)
Organized/cleaned the garage
Packed half of what is in the house into attic- de-cluttered

So who gets the award for the most amazing man ever!!!??? Ryan Prince!!
He was able to do all the above and still engage me in conversations, take me on a date, play with the kids, work a few jobs with his biz and still maintain his sanity!
Babe, I wish I could get one of those huge gold cup awards they give away at the Master Golf tournaments. You deserve it!
And as I type...he is taking Ella Reese to McDonalds on a special date because she pooped in the potty. And when he gets back he will still continue to work on the house.
You are supercalifragilisticispialidotious Ryan!

Yard work....and letting ER help


ER and I put these two caterpillars in a pot last week and they spun into cocoons!

So if you would all pray for us in the coming weeks...

Pray that as we look at house- starting tomorrow- that we would hold very loosely the material things of this world. Our home is heaven! And as we look at home after home, our tendency would be to crave a perfect dwelling place here on earth. And if it is God's plan for us to stay in this home, ...that we would be perfectly content and grateful to remain here!

Thanks family for letting me and the babies stay with you for days and nights the past few weeks, and thanks friends for asking us how things are going and praying for us!

LPP

I've been posting recent shoots on my LPP blog....so if you are bored head on over!

snack time = happy time