Home grown haircut!

My little Olivia...she says she is Mamaw's "Girly girl" :) My girly girl decided to give herself a home-grown haircut. Where was I?? Good question. We had just had baths and gotten everyone ready for the day...strangely enough she had been growing out her hair and her bangs and I thought to myself "wow they are just long enough to stop pinning back...I love her long hair" We trimmed the back to keep it healthy and I set the scissors on the counter as we headed out the back door for some time in the sandbox and weed-picking for me! Liv went inside to go potty and not 3 minutes later did she appear on the back step, scissors in hand, saying "look at my beautiful haircut!" At first I thought she must be talking about the trim but as I squinted and focused in closer I realized something very important was missing...the front of her hair!! It was reminiscent of Jim Carey in a certain favorite movie...how on earth am I going to fix this!?? I explained it was now short like daddy and she was pretty excited about that and got really silly - these, friends, are the photographic proof lol.

Haircut with milk moustache to match... :) she thinks this is hilarious...still

Bangs anyone?? :)

And this, is the finished "repair work"

And the dramatic expressions to match :)

My sweet Olivia...full of life, imagination and very little fear of anything adventurous.

Speed Bum

The incredible, edible...

I could just eat him up! :)

Sweet boy...so full of wonder

He is nearly always smiley. His whole face smiles....

Can you even stand it!?

My wonderful little Levi...

Don't you just want to smooch his little cheeks...neck...tummy...whole self!? :) I love him so.

Aren't they wonderful?

I think so too...just absolutely precious in every way :)

Smile for the camera!

Welcome to the world sweet boy!

I love photography and enjoy photo shoots...namely portraits, people, families, etc. but I rarely have time to do it! A friend and doula client recently had a sweet baby boy and I was able to do some photos for them on Friday...what a sweet family and a precious baby :) Here are a few of the first shots!

How'd we get to 4??

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I was making a photo CD today...and while it was burning I clicked through some older photos of Olivia...comparing and wondering if she and Levi looked similar. I took photos of her on a weekly basis. Ok maybe even more often :) I was surprised at how teary-eyed I was just looking back on the past almost 4 years. I wanted to reach into the photo, pull her sweet baby self out and snuggle...wow...

How did that go by so fast?
Did I hug, snuggle, cuddle enough?
Did I soak in the joy and wonder of every smile, giggle and new discovery??
Did I miss any opportunities to make her babyhood wonderful?? HOW IS HER BABYHOOD OVER!? Can we do that just once more?? Please?

Man - if I feel this way now I don't even want to know what it feels like to wake up and drive her to kindergarten...a driving test...college...her wedding. It makes my stomach feel sick, my heart feel excited for her and my mind reel. Ok, Liv...slow down...mommy isn't quite ready for school in a year and all the growing up that will seem to go much more quickly than it already has. At the same time...I am so excited. I'm proud of you and my heart has wonderful anticipation about all you have to offer and what wonder those who are blessed enough to know you will discover in you.

I love you so much - you are my sweet girl and so precious :) There is no better Olivia anywhere in all the world. I love your singing, your imagination, your desire to please Jesus, your bravery, spunk and your nurturing heart. I don't want to miss out...Jesus, remind me of this when I wish the hours away in anticipation of 'bed time' on difficult days...thank you so much for my sweet blessings. Words are simply not enough.

Thank you Jesus.

Slowing down

Sometimes life gets busy and while you realize it's getting busy, the intense pace doesn't occur to you until you realize just how fast the days go by and how much is packed into them... "SSSSTOOOOPPP! I WANT TO GET OFF!" Remember getting on a ride as a child only to realize it was much faster, bigger and scarier than you had imagined? Sometimes life feels that way. We want to be grown up, bigger, get a license, be 21, get married, have kids....etc. etc. etc. only to realize how big, busy and fast life becomes.

I've felt like getting off the ride a few times lately :).

We're slowing down the pace of life in our house...no school for the summer...less TV and more conversation...fewer appointments and more family time at the park...more friends over for dinner and less facebook...more attention on relationships and community and less on getting 'stuff' done. It's nice. Except for the school part we may just have to keep this up!!

I hope you're all able to slow things down a bit too...it all goes by so quickly - no sense in letting it all fly by only to realize what you've missed.

T