Halloween

The ninja and pirate had a blast trick or treating tonight in our awesome neighborhood!

Sunset after soccer

Today, after soccer, as we were driving home, the boys and I saw the gorgeous sunset and had to go pull over and watch it for an extra 5 minutes.  It was fun watching it together. :)  Sometimes you just have to take a second to stop and smell the roses.

Family Halloween Fun

The kids and I had a fun-filled day preparing for Halloween today.  We baked Halloween cookies, painted pumpkins, and had a lot of fun with our Halloween massacre....oops, I mean pumpkin carving....tonight.  :)  Hubby had to work late, so we designed and carved the poor pumpkin by ourselves.  I set up the camera on a tripod and did some timed shots.  Hilarious!  Check out my younger son with the play chainsaw and his FACE as my son pulls out the guts.  Classic!

Newborn pumpkin love

I did a really fun newborn photography session today with the most precious little baby girl!!  We put her in a hollowed out pumpkin, and I couldn't believe how soundly she slept in it!  SO adorable! 

Best friends

We spent the afternoon at my son's best friend's birthday party at the park.  They've known each other since they were 4 and 6 months old... hard to believe how fast time flies....  They look so grown up to me.  I love their friendship. :)  

Halloween across the street

This is the scene across the street from our house right now.  Our neighbors sure take this holiday seriously.  ;)

Pumpkins everywhere

We went to the pumpkin patch today...yes, AGAIN.  :) While my younger son ran amok, I took some pictures of all the pumpkins...just playing around.  I love this time of year, and I love the color orange. :)

Halloween party buddies

Tonight, the kids' school hosted a great Halloween party at a local restaurant, Boondock's.  Kids in costume got to play mini-golf for free.  There was a costume contest, lots of treats, goody bags, and friends.  We had a really nice dinner with great friends.  The kids had a blast!  Here they are looking at me over the balcony.  My son is the ninja, and his friends are a storm trooper, and a pirate. They all said "We don't have to smile in our costume, right?".  I agreed and they all gave me this stare.  ha ha!

Fun at the Pumpkin Patch

Today was my younger son's preschool class's Pumpkin Patch field trip. Those kids are adorable!  They had story time, sang songs, and seemed to have a lot of fun!  They even got a free mini-pumpkin at the end of the trip.  :)

A visit with my nephews

I have spent the last day and a half with my adorable, sweet nephews.  They are amazing.  I just love them to pieces.  They make me so happy.  I read so many stories to my older nephew - he just climbed into my lap and snuggled in.  SO awesome!  And, I had a blast swinging my nephew in his swing outside.  He just giggled and smiled the whole time.  Family is really everything, isn't it? 

Girls' weekend

My closest friend, Liz, and I went on a long awaited girls' weekend to Amelia Island for a wedding photography workshop this weekend.  This was the first time I've been away from either of my children for more than one night since they were born!  I was scared, but having Liz there with me made it so fun and totally worth it!  We've been friends for 15 years, since we met while I was in graduate school in 1997.  I just love her to pieces.  She's been through a lot lately...  more than most people would be able to handle.  I would do anything to take away her pain and life's difficulties and hurts from her.  However, what she doesn't see at the moment is that she has survived, is super-strong and extremely talented.  She is an amazing mom. She should be extremely proud of herself - I know I am proud of her.   I hope that she enjoyed this weekend as much as I did!  We sure learned a lot and had a blast shooting together.  Best part:  waking up at the crack of dawn to watch/photograph the sunrise together.  One day, we dream of going into business together.  It is amazing how much we have in common and how we could talk for hours without getting bored or running out of things to say.  We both have our masters in marine science, both work as biology teachers, both are obsessed with photography, both have two children....we even have the same birthday! We've come a long way, and I guess, we've changed a lot over the years, but we'll always be friends through thick and thin. 

I wanted to get a picture of us together, so I set up the tripod and did a timed shot of us in these beautiful woods.  

Sunrise

My best friend and I woke up super early to watch the sunrise (with our cameras, of course) in Amelia Island this morning. It was amazing.  We had so much fun - we didn't even talk for over an hour, but we were so involved in our photography that it didn't matter. I absolutely loved that kind of kinship.

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Amelia Island retreat

My best friend and I went on a girl's weekend for a 3 day Photography Wedding Workshop/Retreat to Amelia Island today. We spent our first night photographing this beautiful bride and her husband on the beach.  

American Kestrel

I saw this male American Kestrel today on a tree in our neighborhood.  Isn't he beautiful?

My pumpkins

My son had his guitar lesson and then Art class with Ms. Connie today at the church (they did an Edgar Allen Poe, "The Raven" project - really awesome!) so afterwards, of course, we had to visit the Pumpkin Patch.  I managed to get a couple shots of the boys sitting in and among the pumpkins before we left.  I love this time of year! :)

My son's soccer team photo

I took the Tunas' soccer team (my son's team) photo today at practice.  Would you LOOK at these cuties?  

Finished Fort

My husband is almost done building the fort for the kids...just some finishing touches and a rock-climbing wall and it'll be good to go. Would you look at this masterpiece built from SCRATCH!? These kids are so super lucky!

Swinging upside down

Today I snagged a picture of my son while he was swinging in the yard.  I yelled his name and he looked back at me.  :) My husband has almost finished building the most amazing play fort down there.  He added the slide and a big platform right in the middle of the trees this weekend - it's an awesome fort/treehouse.  The kids are so lucky and excited!  

Lazy Bones in a Tree

My son refused to change out of his new jammies after his nap today.  Here he is in the tree in our yard.  He happily played all afternoon in his pj's in our fort, on the swings, on the slide, and in the trampoline.  Too cute for words...

Simple pleasures

Lately I've been on a quest to simplify...  I'm trying to slow down, enjoy little moments more, smell the roses, do less "have to's".  This is hard for me...it goes against my nature...I'm pretty type A.  ;) I easily find myself feeling guilty if I say "no".  I've currently got two jobs going, and I'm a stay-at-home mom.  I'm busy.  However, I've noticed that when I manage to SLOW down and re-prioritize, it feels good, and my family reacts very positively.  I've been scaling back on activities, one sport/season per kid, insisting on family dinners more even if we're slammed with "things to do", and trying my best to de-stress daily life.   I don't necessarily believe we should always be running around from one activity to the next, stressed out and missing out on life in the process...especially kids.  They should have free time to just "be" and play and, gasp, be bored.  My children are happier when we are not "overbooked".  I spent about 45 mins this afternoon just pushing my son on the porch swing. We sang songs and just talked and spent quality time together.  It was awesome.  Later we quietly worked on two puzzles.  I'm going to play cards with my older son now.  This evening, we will enjoy some family time, dinner together, and then we're going out to a movie with friends.  Nothing else.  Isn't that enough?  This is the good stuff.  I don't want to miss it.  

A really good day

Today was a really good day.  I volunteered in my younger son's preschool class this morning from 8-11am.  It was awesome!  The kids were great and seemed happy to have me there.  I helped out with letter crafts, read them a great book about camping, played with them in the playground (I pushed the kids on the swings a zillion times), helped them at snack time, helped them line up and wash hands, watched them sing songs and do shapes and colors, and I even got to take a bunch of pictures.  The best part was witnessing my little boy starting to come out of his shell, to participate and to make friends.

Tonight, I made a special family dinner: lasagna and then harvest pie with whipped cream for dessert.  To top it off: as I was putting my older son to sleep he was talking about his two best friends: Jakub and Jack.  I said, as a joke, "Don't forget about me." He said, "Oh Mommy - you are waaaay beyond a friend.  You are the best friend and person I love the most in the whole world, past and present, and in all the 'googleplex' infinity.  You are above and beyond my best friend."  I just wrote it down as soon as I came out of his room so I would never forget. Seriously.... it does NOT get better than that!  

Now onto movie night to spend with my hubby and a glass of wine.  Life is really good.  :)

Guitar "concert" tonight

Tonight, we all gathered around my son in the the living room so he could play all the songs he has learned so far on the guitar.  It was amazing!  He is becoming this little rock star right before our eyes.  ;-)

Watching Animal Planet

My son watched some "Frozen Planet" on Animal Planet with me this evening.  He loves nature shows almost as much as I do!  Can't even tell you how irrationally happy that makes me.  ;) He turned off all the lights, got one of the bar stools and set it up right smack in the middle of the living room. So funny.

Just doing a little light reading on the couch

Tonight after dinner, my son went to his room and came out with a big pile of books that he said he wanted to read.  (Look at his pile!) Of course, my younger son had to copy his brother and went to get some of his own books to "read" to his Tiger.  This worked out well even though he can't read yet because he knows the words to so many of his books by heart. The two of them were so adorable lounging around reading.  

My boy's first soccer portrait

This is my silly little goose posing (sort of...) for his individual soccer portrait this morning before his game.  I was the photographer for all the soccer teams this year!  Today, I shot ~60 kids' photos, and next Saturday I will finish the remaining ~70 older kids.  It went pretty smoothly despite the large number of kids, heat, and chaos, but I think I may have suffered slight heat exhaustion by the end of the 2.5 hrs...phew!  I didn't know I could sweat like that! Ha ha! 

At the park with my sweetie

My son and I went to the park this morning for a little bike ride.  

He stopped at EVERY single water fountain.

It was really fun!  He even helped me scout out areas for my soccer photo shoot tomorrow.  Check out his shirt.  I'm not sure any of the water from the water fountains made it into his mouth. That is NOT sweat.  ;)

Hello little one

We saw this young deer today at the edge of the woods.  I love seeing dozens of deer on a daily basis when we're out walking.  Pretty darn cool (unless they're eating my plants)!

My gymnast

My son is improving so much in gymnastics!  He has become so flexible and is now doing back handsprings almost by himself!  He amazed me tonight! He smiles the entire time too - he has a blast! It's so great to watch and photograph!  The best part of the night was when Ms. Jan (his gymnastics teacher) told me that my son is a delight to have in class and that he is always polite and respectful.  That made me very proud. :)

Here he is with his best friend on the bar:

And look how flexible he is!  He's doing a back bend on his elbows!

Uh oh...sick baby again

My son woke up after his nap with a runny nose... again....poor little guy.  :(  I guess school is really "strengthening his immune system"....ugh.

Swinging

My sons adore their new swing set!  My younger son, particularly, wants to swing ALL the time.  "Higher, Mommy! Push me higher!"  This is what I have been hearing A LOT lately....  My husband did good when he built this in our yard. :)