a real day

i've started a new branch in my photography-it is called 'a real day'
see the pictures on the babydayphotography blog- a real day. i am so grateful to this family for letting me spend a morning with them. some of the pictures will be used in the IDC footnotes newsletter and hopefully this will lead to more opportunities with this type of photography.
here is one real morning for us...

the weather has been unpredictable-one day we are in short sleeves running in the meadow then the snow comes again and leaves us indoors. right now it is a combo of rain and snow out there-so the girls have invented a new game with the storage containers...

one morning last week-the sunrise was so beautiful that i ran up to the meadow in my pjs trying to freeze it in time-i don't know how landscape photographers do it-mine never really live up to how great it looks in the freezing cold while the deer scatter and the colors cover the whole big sky

one of those pretty days we got out the sidewalk chalk for the 1st time on the farm

another fun game-see how long you can jump on one foot...fun for hours :)

grant had his last basketball game of the season-he has improved so much in his knowledge of the game and his willingness to be aggressive on the court-plus i think he genuinely enjoys it which to me is the most important thing...

my friend nadia-came to the farm on sunday with her husband and little boy. i haven't seen her in years-and it felt so wonderful to reconnect with such a good friend. we laughed and watched the kids run around-the weather was a little too cold to stay out for too long and we found our selves making plans for when the weather finally is consistently warmer. her little boy is adorable-and it is so awesome to see her and neb as parents.

you can see more of these pictures here

i'm dreaming of spring-but trying not to fast forward life too much...

grant's birthday party

it was a very full birthday celebration-starting on the 18th with blue pancakes...

that night we had a full moon cookout-first one since last fall. the kids had hotdogs and sticky marshmellows and anticipated the party day to come

on saturday morning -after grant's basketball game we took a tour of kansas city in our drive over to the  college basketball experience at the sprint center. luckily we were not in a hurry and the caravan of 6 cars all made it downtown.

ashley made 4 delicious kinds of cupcakes-she is starting her own business because she is crazy talented in just about everything she does-including making scrumptious cupcakes :)

 

the kids had fun playing on the kid size court, playing pop a shot and climbing on the oversize goal-thanks ashley for taking my picture-

upstairs they have some interactive exhibits to compare yourself to real college basketball players

then we walked across the street to the pizza bar-

the party continued at beth's house-brett decided to take a nap and grant opened a few presents

we were trying to take the emphasis off presents this year-but i do love his smiles when he is excited :)

brandon-you will be happy to know that he got a pair of leather work gloves-so no more blue and white polka dots when he is using his hatchet :) 

thanks to everyone who was able to come-one of the reasons we were trying to deemphasize gifts is we want the kids to value people's time-it takes a big time commitment to come to a full day birthday party and spending time together with friends and family should be the most highly valued present :) 

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the birthday weekend continues...today is another beautiful day-roy and dale got to play this morning before having to head back to OK

anneliese said "we are playing mommies watching the game"

happy 7th birthday to my little boy who is growing up so fast :)

i love this place

bobby sent me flowers on valentine's day-it was very unexpected and i loved it

the weather is finally warming and with that comes the thaw-it has happened remarkably fast-first big puddles but then today the wind came along with 70 degrees. It has been a magical day of discovering the farm that was under snow for so long. we dug up mole hills, climbed on stumps, made wings out of brome grass, made cookies for grant's birthday, and emily has a new use for the felt mask.

tomorrow grant turns 7-
it's been 7 years since we became parents
i love him so much it hurts a little-
and i love that we are here on the farm and getting to experience all the wonder that each day brings

happy valentine's day

a snow man sort of morning

grant was sick on thursday and friday :( he is fully recovered now and is better about remembering to take his medicine than i am.  the girls had dentist appointments-they had been looking forward to this for weeks. dr. kellie henderson in lawrence is worth the drive. we also discovered we could access netflix through the wii-so after several days of no snow play it was time to get back out there...
and the snow had changed so much-it was hard and crunchy and stuck together. so it was time for another snowman. but not until grant and emily played several rounds of king/queen of the snow mountain.

an assortment

the garage is turning into the wrestling zone, the indoor trampoline area and has provided some needed space during this cold cold winter

when the girls and i went to the pool party last saturday, bobby and park made a large ramp in the meadow for the boys to fly over. i was sad i didn't get to photograph that crazy event, but grant replayed it for me on sunday.

i don't think i will ever get tired of the those walking up the hill pulling a sled pictures...

red faced and ready for hot chocolate

 emily worked and worked on this picture-and dutifully gave me the descriptions of each part-her creativity continues to expand as she is finally holding her writing utensils appropriately :) you have to watch out for those grumpy red sheep :)

anneliese had her see to learn vision appointment today-i highly recommend Dr. Julie Anderson-she was so thorough, patient, and had a tea set in the lobby :)