Baby Bryce

Sarah Jumper was my best friend all throughout highschool. We have hilarious memories of all the silly things we used to do together and we love to get together and reminisce. Her name is Sarah Dillard now (we had to laugh when she finally ditched the last name "Jumper" and I picked up "Runner" - too bad we didn't have those names at the same time throughout highschool - that would have been too much!) and she is married with an adorable little family. It is so funny when we sit and reflect on our highschool days and the fact that we are both mommies now. We can't believe how fast life moves and I know we have a mutual appreciation for each other and how far we have come from those silly highschool times. I am so glad that we have managed to stay friends over the past 15+ years.

I had such great fun taking photos of her newest addition Bryce Michael Dillard and his big brother Jack! Bryce is so adorable with deep eyes and lots of dark hair. We didn't have much time since Sarah was in town visiting from Seattle and had many people to see while visiting, but here are some of my favorites.

I love cute baby feet.

Poor Bryce was done by the time we got to taking pictures with Jack but Jack was a good sport about it. Look at that big smile!

This Weekend Is Not My Own

This has been Micah's quote all weekend long. We had an activity almost every waking moment this weekend - most of which Micah had to be coerced into. On Friday night we had a church event, then I was at the scrapbook Expo all day Saturday (8-5), then we attended a friend's "trailer-trash bash" on Saturday night; Micah had to take apart and transport a new play structure all day Sunday and then we went to one of my old highschool friends' house on Sunday night. It was a fun weekend but it sure was busy and I think poor Micah is actually happy to go back to work tomorrow! A couple of pics from the weekend:

The Scrapbook Expo. This is an annual event that we count down for all year. It is SO fun!

Taking one of the scrapbooking classes
At the "Trailer Trash Bash" Check out Micah -a little too authentic looking!! We were cracking up all night!
The party was very well done with tons of props and decor. Not sure why we took a picture with the tent...

Continued Attempts at Being a Real Photographer

I continue to soak up knowledge wherever I can get it in attempts to be better at photography... reading, spending hours looking at other photographers' blogs and practicing!! My poor kids : )

I really love taking pictures and learning new things about how to get better. Recently I had the opportunity to take some pictures of my friend Sara's new baby boy Isaac. He is about 6 weeks old and SO adorable. He was such a good baby during our whole little photo shoot. He was wide awake almost the entire time and he was so good. We waited around to get some sleeping shots and he finally dozed off just as we were packing up. I'm so glad he did because I love his adorable little sleeping poses! Here are my favorite pictures from our time together with a slideshow of the rest of the pictures! I have 3 more shoots planned over the next couple weeks so lots more practice in store! :)




SLIDESHOW:

Dress-Up Fun

Haylie waited in eager anticipation for her birthday party over the last several weeks. She was so excited when it finally came - mostly just because she couldn't wait until all her friends came over, and then there was the cake part too...

We had a "dress-up" party so all the kids wore dress up clothes and we had a bunch of extra ones that they played with as well. Here is a group shot with almost all of the kids.

We also "dressed up" gingerbread men with lots of candy. (Below is Haylie's friend Jack from Seattle. She was so excited that he was in town and could come to her party)
Most of the kids were caught eating more candy than actually went on the gingerbread men. I stopped Haylie in the middle of shoving a huge handful of chocolate chips into her mouth. Regardless, she was in a sugar daze for most of the day.
The kids were so cute trying on various hats and shoes, etc! We had baskets full of Haylie's dress-up clothes and things I picked up at the Dollar Tree.
OK us adults decided to play a little dress up as well!
All in all it was a great day. Haylie absolutely loved her birthday. She keeps telling me about her birthday party when all her friends came to her house. She loves to be with people and play with her friends more than anything. Thank you to all for making her feel so special with your presence!

My Favorite Girl

Dear Haylie -

I just don't think I could love you any more than I do. Today you turned 3 years old! As you said this morning when we all gathered around your bed and sang Happy Birthday, you are not two anymore. You waited and it finally came. It is October and you are 3!

I can't believe it has been 3 years and I can't imagine what we did with our life before you came into it. You are the most amazing little girl and your Dad and I love everything about you. You have the biggest heart and you love other people more than anything (especially your cousin Kiley). You are a great big sister and you always make Mommy and Daddy proud. You are so smart and have a wonderful, silly sense of humor that I didn't even know you could have at 3 years old. We thank God every day for the gift that you are to us!

You have been so excited for your big birthday #3, from helping mommy and grandma make cupcakes for your class to preparing for your party where you can see all your friends. I hope to savor these moments forever, seeing your eyes fill with excitement and anticipation and watching your smile spread across your face.

Nothing in the world will ever compare to how much we love you and your brothers. You are Mommy's most favorite girl!

Finger Physical Therapy

Micah's finger is now in the healing process. For those that missed it you can check out the background here.

He went to the doctor this week where he got his stitches removed and learned all sorts of new things about what happens when your bone comes out of your finger.

First he got a nice new little pinky cast...

Next, he will be going to finger physical therapy for 6 weeks where he will practice bending his finger with the doctor for 30 minutes. He even has pinky excercises to do every day. Apparently he needs to re-learn how to move his little finger. The pinky finger stabilizes the hand for gripping and it is essential to get it working again. Try holding your pinky finger stiff and gripping something without bending it or using it... He also learned about the "buddy system:" soon he will be able to remove his cast and strap his pinky to his ring finger (the one without a ring anymore), which will serve to stabilize the pinky and help it move.

We never knew this would be such a big process of rehabilitation for his pinky. We have gotten a kick out of it though!

So You Think You Can DANCE DANCE DANCE!!!

We almost didn't make it. The odds were set against us, but many heroes saved the day and in the end, DANCE prevailed!!! First our babysitters weren't available - then Annie to the rescue. Annie - thanks so much for babysitting last minute. Between Isaiah, Haylie, James and Raider, you had your hands full!!! Then Rob and Danielle forgot their tickets and had to run back to their house before we left. Good job on the speedy round trip Rob. Then halfway to the show I realized I forgot Megan and my tickets at home, and the adventure was just starting. Luckily my tickets were the kind you print off ticketmaster so we drove around trying to find a Kinkos and calling anyone we knew who lived in the area. Apparently they were all at So You Think You Can Dance because no one was home!. Finally we pulled up in front of a Metro PCS store and I proceeded to beg the store clerk to let me use his computer. He tried negotiating for me to give him one of the tickets but gave in and let me print my tickets. Thank you Metro PCS guy!!! And then we were off to the show. We were so excited we actually made it.

The show was soooo great. We LOVED it! They did many of the best dances from the season including one of my favorites - the orange jumpsuit one.

The show was hilarious too - they did a whole bit about Gev liking Courtney and it was so funny!
They did the briefcase one - Bleeding Love - I love that one!

And the door one... If you didn't watch Dance I have probably lost you by now.

And they did No Air with Kadee and Joshua

It was such a great show! I think I took like 200 pictures - I don't know why but I kept taking pictures of every routine. It was just so fun!