forward it back

sweet cousins

i was reminded the other day when i reread my first post as to the why and what i wanted this blog to be. one of the 3 things i wanted it to be was a place to share pictures that i took for other people. funny though because shortly after i wrote that last summer i decided i needed to take a break from doing pictures for others for a few different reasons. i never technically started a photography business and i certainly didn't have people knocking down my door but it was enough that i was feeling overwhelmed and like i was neglecting my family. i am confident i did the right thing. i am so busy with my boys, i know that this is just a short season i have with them and it won't always be like this.

however, when i was asked recently by my friend to do pictures of her kiddos and their cousins i couldn't resist. you see, i grew up with the wardlaw family at my church. there are 3 boys and my brother was really good friends with one of them and my sister and i may or may not of had a crush on one or two of them:) of course now they are grown and married with kids and up until a couple months ago 2 out of the 3 still attended our church along with their parents. one of the families just moved to seattle to help start a church. our church lost a wonderful senior high pastor in that move but they are following God's call and will do amazing things in seattle i am certain. their wives are wonderful and have both been teachers to my kids at different times. they recently went to africa for a trip of a lifetime together, the 3 brothers and their wives. i couldn't help but think of my 3 boys and pray for their future wives and hope that they'll be close like the wardlaw family.

the seattle family was just back in town so we took the opportunity to do pictures. now after that long explanation you can see why i really wanted to do this, of course the fact that their kiddos are extremely adorable helps too!

the girls are all sisters and the boys are brothers. you can tell they love each other so much it's so sweet!

it was so flippin' hot it was ridiculous! these kiddos were troopers though. the boys wanted to be done after the first couple shots but thanks to the bribing with some pez candy we made it through to the ultimate bribe for the end...lollipops!

i loved the blue door! this picture is definitely one of my faves, they are precious!

i had told them early on that i brought suckers for them and they said both of their moms brought suckers too. then one of them said "wow--this is our lucky day!", so cute! when we were done i pulled out these lollipops and they were very excited, their moms said "those are the kind that they always beg for but never get and have never had". i hadn't intended on doing pics with them but they were all sitting so intently how could i not?!

we ended with a good-ole' wardlaw kiddo hand huddle--"yay! we're done!"

you guys did a great job, thanks so much for letting me do this for your families. i hope these pictures bring a smile to you faces just as they do mine:)

365--week 23

see i knew i'd get behind if i gave myself permission to slack off a bit for the summer! i am sure gonna try my best to kick it into gear and catch up. we have been busy-busy and this momma is tired-tired at the end of each day! (this week's pictures are from june 4th through the 10th)

to recap a bit since i still don't have an "about me" or an "about this blog" page, i am doing project 365 or "project life". taking a picture every day. there is more of an explanation about it here from my first week of pictures. also, my very first post telling a little bit about myself and why i started this blog can be found here . i can't believe it's almost been a year since i started forward it back!

let's get to it...

day 155
a long afternoon spent weeding in the garden. sunburn. sore back. sore knees. a quick scrub and off to baseball--whew!

day 156
oh man--let me tell you, watching porter play t-ball is quite comical but oh so fun! i love it, from making dirt angels in the ground with his body, to his hands down his pants, to walking off the field in the middle of the game to tell me something, to wearing his hat backwards with the tag sticking out front and more...i love it all!

day 157
this was a picture "out take" from jeremy's birthday at the fire station. this is more true to how things really are than the nice picture i posted of all of them here . :)

day 158
my poor little guy! he was sick this day with a fever of 101, thankfully it was only a 24 hour bug. this was the day that easton and cooper started their science camp so it kind of worked out good so i could just veg out with him most of the day. boy did he sure try and convince me he was better once his brothers got home though!

day 159

and 100% back to normal playing outside in the water the next day!

 

day 160
unfortunately for cooper, science camp and church camp over lapped by a couple days so he only got to attend science camp for 3 days. he was really bummed and i think it mainly was because he had a crush on one of the cute girl counselors. i found him making this card for her. he taped the crackers to it and gave it to easton to give to her. he's a little sweet heart! (she wrote him a nice little note back and did he ever like that!) of course he came home from church camp with a crush on someone else!

 

day 161
another one of my babies growing up and off to camp--sigh.

 

i have so much coming up in the next few weeks. praying for patience and for more time in my days...that can happen right??

 

have a great week friends!
xo

  

 

365--week 22

this summer is flying by just as i knew it would. it's been great so far although i have already had some days that i wish they were all back in school--today being one of them! that's normal though right?

to clarify since this post is late, this group of pictures is from the week of may 28th through june 3rd. just another slice of life...

day 148
wow--we can actually cross "taking naps" off our summer list! yeah right, i wish this was a regular thing but cooper got poison ivy AGAIN and was up all night crying and itching. this is the effects of good ole benadryl:) look at his amazing lashes by-the-way. this picture just makes me sigh when i look at it. even at 7 years old he's still sweet as ever to watch while he's sleeping.

day 149
you might remember from week 21's pictures that jeremy helped the boys build some things with his tools. well this is the canoe that easton made. they found this frog in our yard so of course it needed to ride in the canoe which is floating in our little plastic pool! too funny!

day 150
all i can say is these were delicious and lasted all of about 10 minutes!

day 151
this was the opening weekend of our city's new aquatic center. pretty fancy for our small town, the boys love it but i still prefer our old rinky-dink public pool. i could have my eye on all 3 of them no matter where i was. that's not the case at this pool. i'll get used to it though:)

day 152
this was another hurry-up-and-grab-the-camera-quick-before-he-moves moments. he was just chillin' there rocking back and forth on the swing with his little tooshie hanging out and i don't even think he realized it!

day 153
i took the boys to barnes and noble on this day to spend the gift certificates that they got for Christmas from my sweet grandparents. (i purposely save them for summer) it's not particularly close to our house so when we do make it over to this area we (meaning myself) always have to stop for a treat at blue chip cookie. just a small wonderful little cookie/ice cream shop. i always get a certain cookie but the boys of course get ice cream. i almost let them take it in the car, thankfully i changed my mind! not that it would've matter too much--my van is the nastiest, stickiest, crummiest thing ever right now!

day 154
porter loves to write on himself for some reason although cooper was the one who drew on him today. he almost spelled 'wolverine' right:) we were at the arboretum exploring, pictures to come.

 wishing the sun would come out here, it's been overcast and raining too much for almost a week now. we went to the library yesterday and  we're gonna go to a movie today. still crossing things off our list though!

have a happy happy day!
xxo

our summer list

every summer i always make a list of the activities and things i want to accomplish with the boys but i've always just done it on my own and written it in my notebook. i got inspired to involve the boys in the actual making of the list when i saw meg's summer list on her blog, "whatever" . thanks for the idea meg!

we made our list over memorial day weekend and the boys loved being a part of it and they thought getting to write whatever they wanted was fun too. the very first thing cooper wrote was "take naps". i was like "what?!...seriously?" i have no idea where that came from because the dude hasn't taken a nap since he turned 2 but hey--momma likes that idea!

we have this hanging in our kitchen and have already crossed a few things off and added a couple new ideas as well. everyday now i hear the question "what are we doing off our summer list today?". i love it! although i had to explain that momma needs some days just to be home to do other fun things like laundry and cleaning toilets! ughh.

this week easton and cooper have been at "camp invention" and tomorrow morning i send off cooper to church camp for the first time. the spending-the-night-away-from-home kind of camp...sigh, another one growing up on me!

summer is here folks! and i'm lovin' it!!

happy b-day to my handsome fireman

some special days have to be spent at the fire station so the boys and i grabbed a couple of tippins french silk pies for jeremy and his fellow fire fighters after church and headed that way.

the boys still love climbing in and out of the fire trucks, especially porter. he wanted to check out every inch of that fire station. they love seeing where their daddy sleeps and works out. they especially love seeing their pictures in his locker and our family picture on the bulletin board etc.. they love him so much!

so happy birthday honey, you've finally caught up with your "old lady"! LOL! (i can already hear your sarcastic comments--i know i know, i'm still older!) whatever.

365--week 21

just in case you didn't notice, my usual friday post is my tuesday post today. i know...really late. with the boys being out of school and the holiday weekend i hardly had time to sit down at the computer, or sitting down at all for that matter. i'll tell you i've been kind of frustrated as to how to make this work, my blog that is. most of the blogs that i follow are women who are all in the midst of motherhood (a lot with more than 3 kids too!) i do not know how they do it AND sleep too. i do have other stories and photos i'd like to share just lack of time. so for the summer and as a way to put less pressure on myself my posts will be very sporadic. i am still doing the 365 project but i'm just not going to promise it will be posted on fridays. i hope you enjoyed this memorial day weekend and that you do stop back by every now and then.

a quick look at our week...

day 141 this was last friday after jeremy left with the boys. i looked around and noticed that porter and tape were taking over! i always display their artwork or whatever they are proud of for awhile but when it gets full we take it down and start over. i took most everything down (except my special portrait) in prep for summer time artwork display.

day 142
lunch with my dear friend who let me tell you is an amazing photographer and queen of self portraits using the timer on her camera but the look on her face here is "you-are-totally-embarrassing-me-girlfriend!" LOL! she was a great sport though--thanks friend!

day 143
my guys made it home safely sunday evening. jeremy was pooped!

day 144
i wanted to do this picture of easton and cooper and it just broke porter's heart that i didn't want him in it. he was off crying and trying to write on his own hands while i was taking e and c's pic so you know i couldn't leave him out!

day 145
i thought it was so cute how easton had his batting glove hanging out of his back pocket. plus i love his little buns:)

day 146
ring pop evidence at the ball fields.

day 147
the boys are becoming more and more interested with jeremy's tools and wanting to build things. thankfully jeremy was home and spent the afternoon helping them build stuff. easton built a canoe, cooper built some big wooden box thing, and porter made a self portrait out of wood.

first week of summer down. we made our summer list this weekend and had a family meeting about chores and responsibilities and being a family team. the boys were bored to tears unfortunately.

as always, thanks for taking the time to stop by. have a wonderful summer!
xo