a bazillion loads of laundry to fold + mommy’s deep hatred of folding laundry = lots of time outs for tickle fights

…so the other morning, the family went and said goodbye one last time to Grandma. It wasn’t as sad as I thought it would be, don’t get me wrong, there were tears, but it really was a beautiful morning. It only rained a little bit, bringing out the worms onto the road. The kids were having a ball and it served as our entertainment while we waited. The kids were oblivious. How do you explain such a morning to a 5 & 3 a year old? I’m not sure how to explain it to a 27 year old…

So putting aside the great sadness of the morning, my family came together and did what we do best…we laughed together, chatted, talked about nothing really. We made jokes and doted on the baby, we stared at my sister who is wonderfully newly pregnant (and I’m so excited about it I could just burst!)

I debated whether to blog these photos, since they are all so personal to me and most of the world out there that views this blog won’t understand at all what is happening in them, or even why they are personal (catching worms? personal?)…but my family will understand…and these are for them. Nothing special, but very special.

We all went out to lunch afterward at her favorite restaurant…she would have loved it.

So what to do now? What else?? Live life, love each other, laugh, tell jokes, catch worms (and follow with great amounts of hand sanitizer), don’t sweat the small stuff (easier said than done) and trust that the God who made heaven and earth is All Powerful and All Knowing. He is taking care of our loved ones and we will see them again one day……

This one’s for mom!

~ Bath time ~

*For anyone who is interested, this was shot with my d200 and new 28-75 2.8f lens with the black & white setting in camera, iso 1600 (dark bathroom!), 2.8f, 1/100. I really love the black & whites straight out of the camera. I ran a light defog on the photo and added some grain for a filmy look. It’s amazing that I had to ADD grain, with an iso of 1600 there should be an absolute ton of grain, but I find that taking the photo in b&w really minimizes the grain.

*and with that….I am caught up!! I’m so enjoying taking these pictures each week. I just got that new lens so maybe I can take advantage of it this week and try something different. We’ll see!

We visited the snow a couple weeks ago. Jeremy luurrves the snow, I in a few words *do not*. (I blame my Father because he took us to the beach and not the snow growing up…give me an ocean over a mountain Any Day!) But since I love my man, I’ll bundle my babies up and walk around frozen ice for a few hours. :) This was the first time I had taken any photos in the snow. Any of you out there looking to me for guidance on taking pictures in the snow…please do not! Man it is difficult!

This photo SO my children…Abby the Helper, Lily the Joyful, Zach the Cranky. I love ‘em all so much.

I know Lily is getting a ton of attention with my weekly photos, but she’s pretty much the most cooperative lately! I know I need to get Zachy in some pictures. I’ll work on that.

I really love this photo :) There’s saliva ALLL over the window!! I’ll let her do pretty much anything for a photograph!

Week 28 was taken back during Christmas week. Wow I am so behind. I think some people would have given up by now, but really, I think this is a lot of fun. I still have about 3 more weeks to catch up on, and with 3 little ones I’m catching up slowly, but I will! My plan is to be caught up by Friday when I will post Week 32. Hmmm….can I do it in 2 days?

So anyway, I got lucky with this photo! I guess I wasn’t paying attention and didn’t take a scheduled photo of me & the kids that week. So I went searching…and found this one :) :) Can you find me and Abby?

And that is Lily’s first ornament right in the middle there from Grandma…

I’m catching up on the pictures that I had to put on hold when my computer crashed. We had a lot of fun over the holidays and we were able to spend some quality time with Jeremy’s parents. We visited the train museum and no matter how many times we go there, it is still pretty fun :) I took my week 27 photo that day too.

He really loves playing with trains.

Betcha’ didn’t know I was taking a picture of you Grandma :)

Yeah, she dug the trains :)

The Fam’

Week 27

…her babyhood…and her first tooth.