I take A LOT of pictures. Like, a ridiculous number of pictures. I love the click click sound of the shutter and the immediate gratification that comes with the digital age of cameras. I relentlessly follow my children around the house snapping away at their simple every day activites. I LOVE documenting who they are right now, in this moment... what are their favorite toys, their favorite movies. I am terrified of forgetting these little details about them. Anyone who has children is undoubtadly familiar with the simultaneous joy and heartbreak of watching your children grow and change constantly. Of course we want them to grow. We obsess about doing the things that will best help them to do so. But it becomes so difficult to remember what they were like two months ago, let alone two years ago. So I stand behind my camera and snap away! But sometimes I am so busy taking pictures I forget to take part in their play. So on our second day home, I did just that. I handed the camera over to the hubs and jumped around in a pile of leaves like a kid again! I am not going to lie, it was not as charming as I remember it being. I had leaves everywhere.... and I mean everywhere..... let that mental image simmer a little. ;) But it was so nice to be a part of one of those moments rather than just capturing it from a distance. It was such a good reminder to me that it is not just important to have reminders later, but to also LIVE in that moment now.

So here are a few shots of the little moments filled with big blessings!!!

Old school Superman via netflix.... I have to admit I liked this almost as much as the boys!



Motorcycle in the backyard through the leaves?? Why not!



Really, could he even look cooler???



Destructor doesn't know how to use the reverse button yet. This is his solution to get it back in our yard!







Ok, lets talk about why we don't do this as an adult. That pile of leaves is not as soft a landing for my 1** lbs as opposed to the 30 of my kids. Think before you leap people!!




Throwing the leaves in the air however as fun now as it was as a kid. Seriously, go outside and toss some lovely crunchy leaves around and try not to smile!!!



Hubby chooses to throw our children instead. They don't seem to mind.

Love this beautiful, smooth talking boy with every fiber of my being!!!

PS I promise I will not spend every post on this blog gushing about my kids and posting tons of pictures of them! We are living a slightly skewed reality right now in vacation mode. I am actualy hoping to give you all a couple of before and afters from some of my crafty endeavors soon. In the mean time, gush with me while I am in gushing mode. I PROMISE I will not always be here!!!

'Staycation" Day 1

I love to travel. I grew up in a family blessed enough to have the opportunity to go many places and see many new things. I hope to share with you all some of the HILARIOUS stories that have come with these family travels. But that is another blog for another day. We were not the family, however, that took vacation in order to relax. In fact, I am pretty sure my father could not define the word relax if his life depended on it. (Love you dad!) We took vacations to explore and see and do as much as humanly possible for a family of five. It was tons of fun, but we usually all returned from "vacation" needing a vacation. You know what I mean. The point of this rant is that the first time I heard the term "staycation"... well first I thought "what the what is that??? I'm a little slow like that. But then I thought, "Who would use well earned vacation time to just stay home?" Until now. We are on our second day of our first ever family "staycation" and I have to tell you, I am loving it. No packing scramble, no kids off schedule (as if we are that kind of family), No worrying about your kids crawling around on nasty hotel carpet!! (Is that just my paranoia?) We lazed around in our pajamas until 10:00 am. We introduced our children to Mary Poppins via movies on demand. We are just releaxing and enjoying time together as a family. My favorite activity from day one was Smooth Talker's idea, that we make a baloon that looked like each of us. Where does he come up with this stuff? Well, luckily the hubs is so good and creative when it comes to doing stuff like this with the boys. I stayed where I belong.... behind the camera. Anyone who knows me, knows I have no business trying to draw anything that is supposed to look like anyone!!! Here are a few shots of staycation day one.

"Hmmm how exatly do I draw your nose?"

drawing daddy's hair

practicing his writing.... on a baloon  Never miss a learning opportunity!!

a perfect likeness

a family full ofg hot air!

rare, but sweet brotherly moment

Smooth talker modeling the outfit he chose himself.... seriously!!

Welcome to Crazy Town!!

That is what this blog will be more or less. Why? Because I am the kind of person who has woken up in the middle of the night wondering what my first blog post should say. Composing and recomposing in my mind as if this is earth-shattering, life altering business here! I write this to welcome you into my insanely ordinary life with the intent of "letting it all hang out"! Well, not ALL  of it. Lets be honest.... Nobody wants that!!!! But as my profile says, I'll show you the good, bad and some of the ugly. ;) What is this blog all about???? Well, if you are a stay at home mom and you want to feel victorious about the job you are doing by comparing yourself to a crazy person trying to stay afloat, this blog is for you. If you are a young person looking for a new form of birth control, this blog is for you. (I am mostly kidding) If you are looking for some home/crafting inspiration, I will do what I can when I am not scrubbing lip gloss out of my carpets and crayon off of my walls. I'll throw in some of my "work in progress" photography and lots of stories full of love laughter and frustration from our humble abode! I hope you enjoy. Here is a sneak peek at a day in the life here in crazy town!!!


The good -
My smooth talker



 



The good -
My Destructor




 

The good -
hubs and boys reading together! Awww.

 

The bad -
Energy gu "bleeding" down my bathroom door



 

  

The ugly -
Proof my children nearly burned my house down while I was on a rare getaway with the girls!