Bookworms

It was library day today! Our local library has a reading program for kids, which we decided to do today. For every three books they read, they receive a prize, and when they read 12 they get a t-shirt. Well, for little kids like F, I feel like that's a bit too easy. Picture books take all of 5 minutes to read, and they're read to him! We check out between 20 and 30 a week lol, so we finished the whole project this afternoon. I hope the library understands that...

Anyway, here are some photos from our massive book reading session today. Enjoy!

J

Catching up

I was unable to post yesterday due to the fact that I was working an overnight and didn't have access to wireless. I did photograph yesterday though! My favorite of the day was of the kids' toy room. I love how colorful children's rooms are, simply because everything made for children is brightly colored. It brings a lot of happiness to my soul to be in a room that's so colorful. It's hard to feel sad when things are so bright and cheery. :)

Today was the second half of my overnight. I made it home at noon, after a surprisingly easy night with the kids. They slept in, and woke up in wonderful moods, so I really enjoyed my time with them. :) C and I spent some time walking around Mill Avenue this evening, which brought lots of interesting photo opportunities. My obsession with light fixtures continues (there are a few more in my folder for today :P), and we spent some time looking at the old mill. C told me ghost stories while we were photographing, so now the photos creep me out lol.

Here are a few of my favorites...enjoy!

J

Eff

This is the kind of day we had.

A has been pretty cranky lately, and she reached her peak today. Luckily, she was feeling better after a nap. :)

Not much else to tell today, so I won't waste any time. I'm ready for bed anyway...

J

Stuck on repeat

I feel like my posts are getting a little lame... One of these days, I'm going to have to talk C into doing something adventurous with me just so I'll have something to talk about other than my work. Sigh. Soon, I promise there will be something interesting soon!

In other news, F made it through yet another day with no accidents! Things are going swimmingly in that regard, and I couldn't be happier. Soon I'll only have to change one kid's diapers! Woohoo! :D We went to Imagination Avenue again today, at F's request, and actually tried out the storytime for the first time. Both kids really enjoyed it, much to my surprise and delight. We were too busy having fun to get photos at that point, though. :P

Enjoy the photos, and I'll post more soon!

J

Poop!

Lol it's a true sign of your occupation when the most exciting part of your day is poop. F had two breakthroughs today! He came and informed me he needed to go potty, and then proceeded to poop...in the big potty! It was wonderful, and he was all smiles for the whole afternoon. We made a big deal about it of course. :P We marched around the house singing "Hooray, hooray!" A did some clapping and laughed along with her brother, and we hugged and high-fived for a few minutes.

We went to Imagination Avenue again this morning, which is always a blast, and A rode in one of the pedal cars for the first time. She was thoroughly entertained. :) After work, I hung out with some friends while everyone else in the house was gone. No sense in sitting home alone when I could be playing a game! Now that I'm home though, I'm definitely ready for bed.
J

Progress!

I feel like we're really making progress with the whole potty training thing. This is the second day in a row that F has gone accident-free, and I'm super proud of him. :) He hasn't quite gotten the concept of letting me know when he has to go (I just take him every 45 minutes whether he thinks he needs to go or not), but still...no accidents is wonderful!

We hit Imagination Avenue today, and stayed for two hours. Both kids were nice and exhausted when we got home, so I got quite a break this afternoon. :P I always enjoy spending time there. I've gotten to know the owners really well, so I always have someone to talk to when I go. I also made a nanny friend and we meet there on Wednesdays with our children. It's pretty awesome. :D

Enjoy the photos, and I'll catch you later!

J

Baby food

My photos today are from afternoon snack time. We had our library trip this morning, so no camera there (last time was a bit too chaotic for that). We picked out some pretty awesome books, so I'm excited for reading this week. :)

We made it through another day with no accidents! I was very proud of F, since he can be pretty lazy about using the potty sometimes. I feel like we'll have a breakthrough soon though. Fingers crossed! I'm going to head off for dinner and some familia time...later!

J

Time to catch some z's

This has been one heck of a day. My photo for the day is totally unimpressive, and I know I can and will do better, but honestly, there was little time for it today. C and I made our Sunday morning breakfast this morning, and then it was time for an afternoon of pampering before our engagement photos this afternoon. K came over again today to help with my hair and makeup, so we picked her up first, and then spent a few hours painting toenails, applying makeup, and curling hair. It was so fun!

The most fun part of the day was definitely our photo session though. Our photographer is wonderful, and we had him laughing hysterically the entire time. C and I are jokers, and we have a hard time keeping straight faces while getting our photos taken. We were goofing off majorly, but our photographer thought it was great. We got a little sneak peek at some of our photos, and they look amazing! I'm soooo excited to see them, but we have to wait til next weekend to get our proofs back. :/

Since I was the subject of nearly 1000 photos today, I don't feel bad about not taking my own. :P Here's a photo of where I'll be for the next 8 hours. Enjoy!

J

Girls' day out! :D

This post is for yesterday, because I ended up staying up really late with friends and didn't have time to post. I had a girls' day out yesterday, the first one I've had in quite a while. C and I have our engagement photo session today, so I went out to find some new outfits. I haven't gotten new clothes for myself in two or three years, and I've lost a lot of weight recently, so I really needed to.

I went out with the wife of one C's friends, someone that I've grown pretty close to over the last year. We get along really well, and always have fun when we're together, so it was a good shopping excursion. :) The best part of the whole thing was that finally, after all these years, I could go into any store in the mall, whether it was Charlotte Russe or American Eagle, and find something that actually fit and looked good. It was wonderful! I've never felt so good about myself, and I'm really looking forward to having that shine through in our photos. :)

Here are a few shots I snapped at the very end of the night last night. Don't judge. :P

J

I struggle with forward motion

I feel like this Relient K lyric (the title of this post) is appropriate for today. I spent all morning at the doctor with F (he's had a cough for a month, Mom and Dad were tied up, so I took him to his appointment), then spent the afternoon running errands. To top it all off, we had company over tonight. Good company, but still, I feel like I've been on the move all day.

I had trouble getting any photos of still children. A figured out walking while I was on vacation, so she toddles everywhere now. Normally she'll stop for a break, and I can snap a few shots, but not today! Despite the fact that I always use the sport setting on my camera (it's supposed to get clear pictures of moving subjects), it never seems to help me. I think I need to have better lit areas in order for it to work. The shutter has to stay open too long to be effective. :/

Here are the ones I did get...enjoy them. :)

J

 Baby on the move!

 A's angry face :P

Kuba on the couch

Busy busy!

We had lots to do today! I took the kids to the store today so F could pick out his prize for being accident-free yesterday. We weren't quite as lucky today, but I think he'll catch on pretty quickly as long as I'm consistent with it (and remember to take him to the bathroom on time). Once we finished at the store, we headed over to Imagination Avenue to burn off some steam. It totally paid off, since both kids napped for well over two hours. I got my longest break in quite a while, and it was glorious!

C and I spent a nice, relaxing evening in catching up on our shows. Normally I don't like sitting around like a lump, but it's nice to do every once in a while. :P

Here are some photos from the afternoon with the kiddos...enjoy!

J

Normalcy

We took our weekly trip to Imagination Avenue today. Things are slowly settling back into the routine we had established before I left for vacation. I got F to sleep in his bed for the first time in nearly two weeks (not sure if I mentioned it, but he's been sleeping in a "nest" on the floor since he went to back-up daycare), and he made it through the whole day with no accidents! Progress!

The moon was huge and golden tonight, so I tried getting some photos of it. Sadly, I do not have a zoom lens yet, so they aren't as spectacular as they could be. Still, I think they turned out more interesting than they could have been. :)

Enjoy!

J

Can't judge a book by its cover

Unfortunately, I didn't really get a chance to use my camera much today. A is cutting 3 teeth at once, and she was quite a crab today. There were numerous instances of her standing in the middle of the room whimpering as she clutched her security blanket. It was pretty awful for all of us.

We did make it to the library today though. Normally we go on Mondays, since the library opens at 9 instead of 11, but it was closed yesterday in observance of MLK day. We headed out for a quick trip before lunch, and found several entertaining books to add to our book bags. Dinosaur Vs. The Potty by Bob Shea, and Jungle Drums by Graeme Base were the two favorites of the day. :)

I managed to snap a few good shots while in the library, while trying to keep F from throwing random books in the stroller and keeping A's paci in her seat. It was difficult, but also a good lesson in multitasking as a photographer. :P

Enjoy!

J

First day back

F and A were ecstatic when I walked in this morning. A finally figured out walking (while I was on vacation, of course), so she toddled over to me as fast as her little legs would carry her and proceeded to launch herself at me. F welcomed me with a squeal and a giant hug. It felt pretty good to be missed so much. :)

I took my camera along with me today, and got lots of photos during our morning outside play. Those two are a crack-up, and I never get tired of the faces they make on camera. :P Enjoy!

J

It's pretty good to be back :)

It's been a nice, relaxing day back at home today. Though vacation was spectacular, it'll be nice to settle back into the routine C and I have established over the past year. It's crazy, but I actually missed working. I'm pretty sure F and A will give me a great welcome when I get to work in the morning. I spoke to F on the phone Friday, and he couldn't wait for me to be back, so I'm really looking forward to seeing him in the morning.

I didn't really take many pictures today, and the one I have to share is certainly not my best work, but I'm satisfied with the fact that I got to unwind before launching back into the demands of my work week. Here's a photo of the most adorable puppy on the planet! Hopefully I'll have more to share tomorrow...

J

Sad day :(

Because yesterday was our last day in Sioux Falls, as well as a ridiculously long afternoon/evening of travel, I didn't get a chance to update last night. You'll get two posts today! :)

Yesterday morning we got up a little earlier than we had been on vacation so that we could spend as much time as possible with my family. We ate breakfast together and played Hand and Foot (Mom's new favorite game) with some friends. By the time we were leaving for the airport, everyone was dragging their feet a little, but spirits were still pretty high. I was so proud of my mom...she didn't even cry when we said "see you later" at the airport!

I was happy and sad to head back to Arizona. On one hand, it was wonderful to be with my family and have access to my friends whenever I felt like hanging out. But on the other hand, I missed my puppy and the life that C and I have started on our own. Strange as it sounds, I even missed work. Hopefully we'll be able to visit my family again soon! :)

Here are some photos taken at the airport in Dallas. We were having a little too much fun with the camera. :P Enjoy!

J