Lots to talk about...

Cary was in Europe with several of our youth for a missions trip for two weeks. They had a great time and accomplished a lot. Cary has lots of pictures on his facebook if you'd like to see. While he was gone, the boys and I stayed busy to help the time pass quicker. It was a long trip, and at times my house was a bit crazy, but we survived. :) Cary's been home for 5 days now, but now he is on a trip with his company for the weekend, and then he leaves on Monday for another 3 day trip. I'll be glad when things slow down a bit for him. I think he will be too. :)

So here are a few of the happenings from the last few weeks...

Pool Time
With all of the rain we've had this summer, this was the first time we've been to the pool all season! The boys had so much fun, and even Carter loved it. As soon as I started to lower him into his floatie, he was kicking his legs a mile a minute.
This year is Caden's first year to be out of a baby ring. He liked the freedom as long as he could touch, so we spent most of our time in the baby pool.


Sweet baby:


Carson LOVES to swim. Loves it!




Walk, boys...




Every day pass times...
We've also spent a lot of time in the backyard, and Otter Pops are an every day occurance. :)

Carter has 7 teeth now...and boy are they a mess... poor boy definitely has braces in his future...






Pre-K
Carson started preschool this week. Thankfully, Cary was here for it. We took him on Monday for a bit of a meet and greet. The kids got to have a bit of school for an hour, while the parents met the teacher and saw how things would work. Then Carson's first real day of pre-k was on Wednesday. HE LOVES IT! He goes Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9:30-1:00. It's a great amount of time. On Friday when I took him to class, one of his classmates was hysterical about his mom leaving. Carson just kind of walked past the scene with a sideways glance as if to say "it's not that big a deal." When I went to pick him up that day, his teacher told me she had to share something that Carson had said that day... he told her "God made me not miss my mommy, so I should get to be the line leader." Ha!! Well who can argue with that? :)











Spaghetti
Carter has also been moving to more solid foods lately. We're trying to move completely away from baby food, but he more stuffs and swallows than chews...

Anyway, a few nights ago we gave Carter spaghetti, and he ate two whole plates of it! A few fun pictures...




"This is GOOOODDD..."


"No REALLY it IS"


A few pics of Carter's first "piano time" with Cary:

Playing with my lens wide open

Carter was SO tired when I was taking these, but he LOVED being in the grass. He kept examining the grass and leaves around him tasting them and looking at them, and tasting them again, and I took pictures. :) More of these later...

Milestones

Two milestones I want to post really quick before I forget...

Carter pulled himself into a standing for the first time today. He's been pulling up onto his knees all week, so I knew it was just a matter of time. It was really sweet. He pulled up because he was trying to see me hiding behind his crib rails. When he succeeded, he got the biggest scrunchy grin and shook his head back and forth, which is a true sign of glee for Carter. Every time I've put him in his bed since has been a bit rough though... Normally at bedtime, I lay him down and cover him and walk out and he goes right to sleep, but today, each time, he's crawled to the end of his crib and stood up...then he doesn't know what to do. Hopefully he'll figure it out quickly and it will lose a bit of it's novelty. :)

Carson just left to go on his very first campout...a Father-Son campout. He is SO excited. He's been talking about wanting to camp outside for a year now, and he is just thrilled that he's going. I'm so excited for him and can't wait to hear all about it and see pictures. I'm hoping to be able to put some pictures up here....if I can scrounge the files from anyone. :)

Lately...

We've had a lot of fun lately...I've been busy with SugarBowl Photography, and thankfully, keep booking new appointments. I just posted a sneak peek from my latest session on the SugarBowl Photography Blog

Last week we got to celebrate my Great Grandma's 90th birthday. With so many of my extended family in town, we took the opportunity of taking family and generational photos, and I felt so special when I was asked to capture photos that I hope will form memories for a lifetime. My Great Grandma is a woman worth honoring, and her children have and continue to rise up and call her blessed.


This week, Cary's mom, DeAnne, is visiting, and we've been having a great time. We had a community 4th of July celebration on the 3rd, and then we got to go to an Outlaws (pro lacrosse) game on the 4th, and witnessed a spectacular fireworks show. Carson didn't like it at first, but dealt with it as long as his ears were covered. After the show, he told me, "Mommy, i didn't like fireworks before, but now I do!" So I guess the show was up to par. :) Caden of course was mesmerized. I was concerned about what Carter might think because he was just so done by the time the show started, but he LOVED it! He would quite down and just stare at every firework and then when there was a transition in the show, he would cry again, only to become absolutely silent and wide-eyed with interest when the fireworks would start again. So funny! We have picnics and fun things like that planned for the rest of the week. It should be fun! Other than that, we have been doing this nearly every day:






TA-DA!!! (It's moment's like this that make me call Caden a "fruit-cake." These moments happen a lot, because he's started coming up to me when he thinks he's funny saying, "I a fruit-take, Mommy? FRUIT-TAKE?? :))))) " This kid cracks me up. :)






"ROAAAAAARRRRRR"

A Good Night

The boys played outside tonight while I was giving Carter a bath. Carter loves bath time. He does the same low excited giggle for bath time and meal time. It's like he's so happy he can hardly stand it. Love that kid. He just sits in the bath content as can be and splashes so much he gets even the person tending to him soaking wet.



When I went to check on the boys and bring them a snack, they were both sliding down their Fisher Price slide with orange soccer cones on their right feet. According to Carson, they were pirates with peg legs, and the slide was their pirate ship. Silly boys. The pirates enjoyed their chocolate chip cookies.

I Heart Faces, Week 24: Let's Here It for the Boys

Haven't entered one of these for a while, but when I saw the category, I new exactly which pictures I would enter, so here goes. :)



Kid's Entry
This is my fave right now from my brood... I think because it makes me laugh every time I see it, and Caden was so proud of himself, and even held the pose for me. That kid is hilarious...



Adult Entry
This is my favorite from the last senior session I did, which happened to be a guy. I probably love it more than I should...but that's okay. :)


Feel free to click on either of the pictures to make them larger.

Come check out the other entries at iHeartFaces.com. The entries get better every week!

An Engagement Session and A Trip to the ER

First, I had an engagement session on Thursday, and I just put the sneak peak up on my website...

http://SugarBowlPhotography.com, click on Blog... If anyone is interested in these things, on the right side of my SugarBowl Photography blog, there is a button to subscribe for updates.

I know my last several posts have been about my photo sessions...I suppose that is because that is the most exciting thing going on right now for me. I've had lots of business lately, and I'm loving every minute of it! I'm loving feeling challenged.

We're doing well around here... Summer is in full swing crazy. Cary's been gone all week at our jr. high youth camp. He was the speaker this year. I got to go up for Monday night's service, and he did so well! There were at least 50 kids that responded for salvation or rededication, and I've heard equally awesome reports from each night. He comes home today, and will be at camp each night next week for sr. high camp, and that's just the start of our summer. I'm buckling down for the long haul. :) The boys are doing good, and are enjoying the mild summer weather, although I'm looking forward to warmer temperatures so we can visit the pool. Carson and Caden are as funny and imaginative as ever. Carter's finally cut 3 of his top 4 teeth all in one foul swoop...and I expect the fourth one any time now. He's so easy going...love that boy.

We had our first emergency room visit about 3 weeks ago. Carson had been playing outside, I was getting Caden ready to join him, and feeding Carter all at the same time...that's pretty normal. Caden was looking out of one of our kitchen windows, and I heard banging on the windows. I thought it was Caden, so I told him to stop. I heard more banging, and told him to stop again, and that was the end of the banging. A few moments later I heard a kind of panicked cry. I wasn't too concerned because it stopped pretty quickly, and Carson cries like that sometimes when he's frustrated. A few minutes passed, and I hear banging and Carson yells, "MOMMA!!! Let me in!" So I walked towards the door and told him to come on in, and he told me he had locked himself outside. He said he didn't want Caden to come out. LOL! So I open the door, and the first thing I see is blood - horror movie style - smeared all over our back door. Then I look at Carson, and he has blood all over his hands and face, and I can't tell where it's coming from. I'm trying to find the source of bleeding, and wiping him up and yelling for Cary to come upstairs and asking Carson what happened, and Carson calmly says...."Welllll....I hate to say it...." Which basically means he's been up to no good and doesn't want to get in trouble. I ask him again, and tell him that I need to know how he hurt his finger. and here's how the conversation went:

Carson: Well...I was playing with an ant... and it bit my finger.
Mommy: Carson, ants can't cut your finger like that.
Carson: But I was really mean to it, and it bit me really big.
Mommy: Even if you get a really big ant bite, it doesn't look like that. Tell me what happened, Carson. I won't get mad, but I
need to know what you did.
Carson: But it was an ant!
Mommy: Carson...tell me the truth.

During this conversation, Cary has joined us, seen all of the blood, and has started scanning the yard where Carson insisted he was bit for anything that could have cut him. Then I happened to turn my head, and saw the broken window.

Mommy: Carson, did you break the window?
Carson: SIGH Yes.
Mommy: How?
Carson: Well...I through a rock at Caden (he was looking out that very window) and the glass broke.
Mommy: Why were you throwing a rock at Caden?
Carson: I wanted it to bounce back at me.

humm.

As best as we can deduce... we think the rock sat in the broken part of the window, and Carson, not wanting to get in trouble, pulled the rock out of the window and cut himself. He cut the padded part nearly clean off of his middle finger. We tried to get the bleeding to stop, but after an hour, Cary ran him to the emergency room where they gave it an ice bath - evidently that helps with clotting, and glued it shut. Carson was a trooper and never cried. He must have been nervous though, because when the doctor came to see him, Carson rattled off,

"Hi! I'm Carson! I'm 4! I threw a rock and broke a window and cut my finger, but the ant didn't bite it." LOL!

When the doctor had Carson all cleaned up, he instructed him to stay away from those ants. :)

Here are a couple of pictures that Cary took on his phone of our emergency room initiation... with 3 boys, I'm sure we'll become regulars.

Senior Photo Session

I had the coolest senior photo session ever a few days ago. So fun! Check out the sneak peek:

SugarBowl Photography

Just in case the link doesn't work for some, go to SugarBowlPhotography.com and click on the blog link.

Bridal Portrait

I got to do a Bridal Shoot for a sweet friend of mine on Sunday... Go check out the sneak peak! :)

SugarBowl Photography

CONGRATULATIONS TINA BINA!!!!

I'm so behind. My baby brother Austin graduated from High School 10 days ago, and I'm just now blogging about it!

Tina, I'm super proud of you, and am so thankful that I've gotten to be closer to you these last 4 years! I'm so glad you're staying in state for college and we'll get to watch you play lacrosse for years to come! You should be so proud of yourself and all of the honors you have accomplished. I can't wait to see what all God has in store for you! You are changing your world! Love you, Tina Bina!

A few fun pictures from the day... *I also need to get the ones from my dad...he has all of the ones from the actual ceremony.



Tina and his awesome friend Kacy (this pic is SO them!)


Tina's other awesome friend, Tyler and Caden...they are best buds. Caden ADORES Tina and his friends...I pray that my boys have friend's like Tina's...that they will be as much of an encouragement and be just as uplifting to each other. Good friends provide good accountability. They are awesome!


Mom and Carter:


Tina and Carson playing the slap game:


LOL! This picture CRACKS ME UP!!! "Caden, show me your sword."


Cheers & Jeers
Cheers: To my brother graduating with honors, and all of the unseasonable rain we've been having that is making everything so green.

Jeers: To me being old enough that my brother (who is a DECADE younger than me) could be a high school grad, and all of this unseasonable rain that caused me to have to cancel a senior photo shoot today. bleh.