My little helper

My sweet son loves to help me with chores.  (We'll see how long that lasts!)  This morning, we worked together to clean the hummingbird feeders and fill them with freshly made hummingbird juice, water the plants, fill the bird feeders with sunflower seeds, and sweep the porch.  He was such a great little helper. :)  Of course, afterwards, there was plenty of time for playing with bubbles and swinging on the swing!

It's....... BASEBALL SEASON again!!!

My son's first baseball practice was today.  He was so excited!  He just loves the sport.  I love watching him play.  He looks SO grown up out there!  I can't believe how TALL he is getting!  He's such a perfectionist and works SO hard.  He was nervous before getting out there today, but he had a blast!  It was great to be back there again this year.  Oh - and I am thrilled to have been hired as the official photographer for all the baseball teams this year!  What an exciting job and an honor!  :)  It's gonna be a great season!  I saw this scene and had to photograph it. :)

Christmas Cactus

A dear friend gave me this beautiful Christmas cactus a few years ago when she moved away.  I think of her every time I walk out the door and see it on my porch (at the least). :) Well, as you can see, it is blooming again!  It really amazes me how it flowers every December - February each year!  How does it "know" what time of year it is?  So fascinating...  Well, if you are interested:  the plant is photo-thermoperiodic, which basically means that it blooms when day and night length are approximately equal and the temperature is cooler.  Cool, huh?  It's the science geek in me, I guess, but I think it's really neat!

New grill

I bought my sweet husband a brand new, fancy barbecue grill for Christmas this year.  It is NICE.  I got an AMAZING, can't-pass-up sale/deal!  It really is a beautiful piece of machinery.  ;-)  Mr. Chef cooked us steaks, hot dogs, potatoes, and corn on the cob tonight and loved every minute of it with his new toy.  :)  Here he is enjoying cooking our meal.  Isn't he cute? :)  He cooked so the kids and I could play on the trampoline and unwind after a LONG drive home from Jupiter....  It's so nice to be home.

My sister

I did a sunrise maternity photoshoot with my beautiful sister today.  We got up super early and arrived at the beach with coffee (decaf for her), bagel, egg and cheese sandwiches, and the camera/tripod ready to go at exactly 6:40am!  It was COLD out - 55 degrees...not a good thing when you want your sister to expose her tummy with barely any clothes on.  But, she was a trooper.  I made her stand dangerously close to the ocean spray...she got a bit splashed... but she toughed it out.  :) We think it was worth it.  The sunrise was completely amazing, and the shots came out great!  Here is one of many shots I took today.

I am so lucky to be blessed with such a best friend/treasure in my life.  My sister is sweet, patient, genuine, loving, warm, and just plain wonderful.  I love her dearly.  We finish each other's sentences...It is just so awesome.  There is nothing like a sibling....   I couldn't have been luckier to have her as my first maternity shoot "subject".  Isn't she gorgeous?

Grandparents

The kids and I travelled to Jupiter to visit my family this weekend.  We had big plans: throwing a baby shower party and doing a sunrise maternity photoshoot for my sister, watching my brother-in-law play drums at a gig at a local bar, buying new shoes for the kids, getting my hair cut... just to mention a couple of the things on our to-do list.  Hubby had to stay home to work and get some chores around the house done.  :(  
My parents took us all out to dinner tonight to celebrate my birthday at my favorite restaurant (Classico's Italian Restaurant).  I snapped this shot of Nani and Papi with two of their grandchildren while we were waiting outside for a table.  The kiddos were being goofy, and I caught my dad laughing at their silliness in this shot.  I love the relationship that my children have with my parents.... Can you feel the love?

Smoothies

I have always fed my kids really healthy food.  I made all their baby food. I'm a puree'ing professional!  I'm a firm believer in "you are what you eat".... organic as much as possible, fruits, vegetables, no packaged garbage, very little sugar, etc.  It's been hard at times when they got picky, but the one saving grace has always been SMOOTHIES.  The deception is genius!  You can seriously hide anything in them.  I've been known to put spinach, kale, pumpkin, butternut squash, etc, in my smoothies.  They have no idea.  Heh heh heh... (that is my evil laugh) ;-)  My kids have a smoothie every single day.  They come running and yelling "Yey!" when I serve them.  Seriously.  :)  Today's mixture: kiwi, cantaloupe, banana, watermelon, frozen strawberries, avocado, almonds, ground flax seed, yogurt, probiotics, and orange juice.  YUM!  It feels SO good to know that my children are eating such good, healthy food everyday.  The leftovers get made into ice pops, and Mommy gets the rest! :)  Win win!  Here's my cutie-pie drinking his smoothie while enjoying a little Sesame Street this morning.  (Check out his hair!!!)