Photography by WAC

You may know that our dear Winston has a love for our selfie stick.  He enjoys taking photos with our phones and even my big camera.  Because of the enjoyment that he gets out of taking pictures coupled with the arrival of Truman, we purchased Winston his very own camera and gave it to him as a Big Brother gift!  

I knew that I wanted a "real" camera for Winston.  The toddler cameras I looked at contained too many gimmicky things and I knew that he could handle it.  So we purchased him this Nikon CoolPix camera.  It is blue, it is waterproof, it is shockproof, and it has easy to use buttons!  

It is adorable how much he enjoys taking pictures!  Something will strike him and immediately he is off to find his camera and snap a few photos.  They are not always clear and there were a lot of finger shots in the beginning but he has learned where to put his fingers and says, "Say cheeeeeese!" before every click.  :)  For me, I love seeing what is important to him and what life looks like from his point of view.  

These are a handful from the first few days of him having his camera!  

Do your littles have a camera?  If so, what do they take photos of?  

Happy Valentine's Day!

I can't quite remember how I found out about Big Love Ball, I just know that I did and I needed one in my life!  In brainstorming ideas for Valentine's Day photos, using the ball came up as an option that both Benjamin and I really liked.  We invited Noah, Salem and Penelope to join us for the photos and was pleased as punch with how they turned out!  

These cousins are to precious!  I am thankful that they live close that we can not only take cute photos together but that they can play and grow together.  Winston is quite taken with Penelope and remembers to be gentle when he is near her.  And she just coos right back at him when he talks to her.  We didn't grow up near cousins and I know how much I love mine.  I am eager to watch them in the years to come!

For me celebrating Valentine's is a time for me to pause and offer thanks to the One who gives love unconditionally.  

"We love because he first loved us."  1 John 4:19

Jesus' love is immeasurable and swallows all of me up.  He loves me despite of my unloveable parts.  And because of that I love and follow Him with my entire life.  He is the reason I wake up in the morning and for that I will sing His praise!  He has given me everything I have and for that I am thankful.  

I couldn't imagine my life without Benjamin and Winston.  I found myself thinking back to my college self and trying to remember what I thought life would be life when I was married and had a kiddo.  All I know is that it is better than my 20 year old self ever hoped it could be.  God is faithful and just.   He is generous and loving.  He has given me more love than I ever thought my heart could handle and on top of that I get to do life with these two.  Blown. Away.  My days are full of Thomas the Train, snacks, painting, crafts, singing in the car, in the house, in the yard.  Full of jokes and laughter.  My days have times of tears and frustration, of tantrums and hurt feelings.  Times of teaching and soothing, of cuddling and reading.  With each of these words I have precious memories attached.  I try my best to be thankful for each stage of life we are in appreciating what we have yet looking forward to the excitement of the next!

And because Elmo is never far from where we are...  

Hope that you are able to spend Valentine's Day with the best people in your life!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!  

Wishing that you remember the true reason for all of the festivities and the giving of gifts.  Hoping that you steal away a few moments to reflect on the greatest gift we have in birth of Jesus.  What a glorious day it is, indeed!

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus;

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 

rather he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

And he found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death - even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the Glory of God the Father!

Philippians 2:5-11

New Orleans Day 2: Walking around Riverwalk Marketplace

Once Benjamin was free from his lectures, we visited Gallery Rinard.  We fell in love with Matt's work the first time we were in New Orleans.  We have a collection of his pieces and may have found another to add to our own Gallery Rinard!

Winston passed out somewhere between lunch and arriving at Gallery Rinard, so after leaving the store we walked back to the hotel for a little downtime before the Alumni reception.  Each year at the AAO, the ortho schools host a reception for alumni to eat a few hor d'oeuvres and say hello to people they hadn't seen in a year or more.  

When Winston woke up, we headed out to grab a bite to eat and then took a leisurely walk along the Mississippi River stopping at the Riverwalk Marketplace.  The weather was great, there were boats sailing by and birds in the air.  Seemed like the great time to take a few photos!

This is Winston's "cheese" face.  It melts my heart and I never want him to stop doing it!

My heart fills with happiness and love when I look at these.  Winston is my little buddy through and through.  I am so thankful for his sweet, joyful, comical spirit.  He can be quiet and observant, taking it all in one minute and bouncing all over the place the next minute.  His little sense of humor continues to develop and I have a feeling we have a little trickster on our hands! 

We rounded out the night by catching up with people, having a very bubbly bath and watching a Daniel Tiger courtesy of the mini iPad!  

Kid-Friendly Dinner at Gordon Biersch

Winston's outfit can be found at Crazy 8: shirt, hat, shorts {similar}

{New Orleans Day 1: Jennings Gator Chateau}

{New Orleans Day 2: Audubon Aquarium}

Bunnies!

Much like last year, I wanted to get Winston's pictures taken with live bunnies.  I called up the place that we got them taken last year to learn that the location closest to us was closed for transition.  Knowing how much I wanted pictures with bunnies, Benjamin started a search online and found a lady who was selling bunnies in the neighborhood next to us.  He emailed her to see if we could borrow them for a few minutes and she said yes!  

In our minds, we were thinking that these would be tiny bunnies that we could hold in the palm of our hands.  When we arrived, we discovered that the bunnies were 9 week old were 5 pounds each and called California meat rabbits!  They were very calm and some of the best subjects for our photos! 

 Winston was cracking up and enjoying being close to the bunnies!

One of my favorites!  He was just so adorable!

Easter photos of 2014 were a huge success!  A big thank you to Benjamin for making this wifie's wishes come true!  

Hear Ye, Hear Ye!

These two...

 are having a baby!!!

We are so excited to have a new Little join our family!  Noah and Salem are super excited and Salem has successfully carried the wee one through the first trimester!  She had good health through the first twelve weeks and we are continually praying that continues during the next six months.

I cannot wait to be an Auntie!  And it's going to be fun to see how Winston reacts to another tiny human being around.  Little Johnson will arrive in September, 2014!

Congrats, you crazy kids!  Y'all are going to rock as parents!

Happy Valentine's Day!

It's the day to celebrate love!  

These days we love spending as much time as we can with this little cheeser!

He brings joy and light to our life!  His facial expressions and personality are so comical.  He is a precious tiny human!

 Who LOVES Hershey Kisses!  

Who ate about 4 of them during the time it took us to take these photos.  You just think he's being sweet to give me the kiss...however he is asking for it to be unwrapped so he can enjoy the chocolatey goodness!  He is a chocolate lover!  

 Just like his mama.

We wish you a very Happy Valentine's Day from our family to yours!

Outfit: Gap Kids

August iPhone Faves

Bath time is my favorite | Hands down the best honey | We have a fireplace | Pumpkin Spice Latte

Going bananas | There's no place like home | Baby in a tunnel | Drinking from a straw

Swangin' | Sleepin' | Delicious morsels from Max and Juli's | Cherry popsicles time

Daddy and Winston | Fancy night out with the Bailey's | Baby in a bucket | Smiling

July iPhone Faves

Cute Baby Smirk at Torchy's | Lulu baby | Winston at Houston's | The favorite place for my hand

Freebirds | We have brick! | Snuggle time with Lubaby | Playtime!

My daily banana | Sweet eyelashes | Monstor PB&J | Lulu loves keeping an eye on Winston

Crazy morning hair | The Golden Toothbrushes | One box packed! | Lulu loves her pillow fort

Under the Big Top!

Last weekend we were on our way to meet our friends, the Blairs, for dinner when we passed a massive red tent in a field between two exits in Allen.  I caught a glimpse of a sign that said "Carson & Barnes Circus" which caused me to squeal with delight!  I immediately started googling the circus to find information on the show times.  The next available times were on Sunday.

And they had elephants.
Plans were made to go.

What up Carson & Barnes?!  Congrats on 75 years!

Tent that caught my eye....

Sam and Ben along for the adventure!  

Ready to go in and claim our seats!

After standing in the cold for the previous show to end, we went into the Big Top and claimed front row seats right by the entrance where all of the acts enter into the center ring.  Once we got as comfy as one can on bleachers, the vendors had started walking around selling everything from sodas to light up swards.  

Hubs bought me popcorn.  Clearly the boys were not as excited as I was....

The show started and lasted longer than two hours.

It was full of high flying tricks...

Daring feats of balance...

Weird, uncomfortable twists and turns...

and elephants!

Even though it was freezing cold, the entire experience of sitting ring side at a traveling circus was magical! 

Lulu vs. the Squirrel

Springtime brings sunshine, cool breezes and squirrels.  Squirrels that lay on top of our fence.  Lay on top of our fence and sun themselves.

And when the squirrel lays on our fence it causes Lulu to go crazy.  She sees the squirrel, charges and then spends the minutes that follow trying to climb the fence.

Look at the air that she gets!

Squirrel realizes that Lulu has some ups and decides to lean on the opposite side of the fence to blend in a little more.

Lulu is not fooled...

Then, Squirrel decides that it needs to be hidden a little more and pulls this move....

What?!  Crazy Squirrel!  

How are you holding on to the fence like that?  I decided I had to find out.  So I climbed the fence to get a little closer look...

After snapping this photo, Squirrel took off on a mad dash sprint down the fence and then bolted into a flying leap onto the roof.

Which made Lulu chase her down, bark and pace back and forth beneath the roof.

Squirrel - 1; Lulu worn out from barking and pacing.