New camera

From my wonderful family, I received my first DSLR camera for my birthday. I've been looking at them since Rhiannon was born but just couldn't make the purchase. Now I'm wishing I hadn't waited so long. It's so much fun!
I got the Nikon D5000. And a couple of lenses. And this NOVEL to read how to use the thing. I have a lot to learn but have been inspired by friend Shelby and her incredible pictures. Sure, her kids are the cutest subjects you have ever seen but her pictures are truly beautiful.
Last week, I was trying to take pictures of Henry as he woke up from his nap. The natural lighting in his nursery is pretty good but the flash kept popping up resulting in some not so great pictures. I was getting pretty discouraged.
Later that afternoon, I go to catch up on my blog reading and Shelby had found my answer. The lightscoop! http://www.lightscoop.com/
This product allows for more flattering lighting in indoor photos by redirecting the pop up flash to the ceiling or walls. I'm sold!
And Shelby is giving away one on her blog. Check it out!
http://bringingupmadison.blogspot.com/
Oh and when I figure out how to download pictures, I'll post some! Good luck with the give-away. Not really. I hope to win it. Hee hee.

Chaos

I truly love these pictures. This is my life. Look at my living room!!! Oh my. And there is nothing better than holding my sweet boy with my little monkey Rhiannon climbing all over me. I wouldn't trade my messy, cluttered, chaotic life for any other.

Dress Up

Rhiannon's class this summer consisted of 6 little girls. Mrs Shauna, her teacher, also has two girls of her own. So she's a pro at entertaining little girls. Every Wednesday was Water Day so the kids would come to school in swim suits and would play outside in the water toys all day. Mrs Shauna also had themed days.

Pajama Party Picnic

Princess Party Day (she did the girls hair and gave them manis and pedis!!)

Rhiannon really enjoyed dress up days becuase she's really into dress up right now. Every day when I get home, she's wearing something different.

Here she is wearing pajamas, rain boots and hat.

This yellow "dress" is actually a skirt. Check out her "glass slippers."

I just noticed that like all of these pictures are in front of the tv. I swear that we're not tv junkies. That's a lie. But I really do limit how much Rhiannon watches. It's just the only time Rhiannon is still long enough for me to get a picture!

Weddings and Butterflies

In early June, we attended a wedding down in Lagrange GA for Dr Amanda's nephew, Drew. Russ was the ring bearer in Drew's parents wedding many, many years ago. We went down on a Friday for the reahearsal lunch, catered by the Varsity! Yum! The wedding was at 7 Friday evening so we decided to stay overnight in a hotel. It would also be our first hotel stay with both kids. All in one room! We thought it would be a nice trial run since we would be heading to the beach with the kids a couple of weeks later.

I was really excited about Rhiannon watching the ceremony because she's all into dress up and weddings and such. I thought she would enjoy seeing the dresses and hearing the music. Nope. She slept through the entire ceremony. In Henry's stroller because he refused to sit in it. While Russ paced with him, Rhiannon snoozed away.

After her lengthy 7pm nap, Rhiannon was ready to party. She danced and danced and danced until we pulled her off the dance floor at 11pm. Henry enjoyed the reception too. He tends to like loud noise so I'm not sure if it was the music or all the people but he was just as happy as he could be. When we finally made it back to the hotel, way too late in the evening, both kids and Mommy fell asleep easily. And slept like rocks all night long with Rhiannon snuggled between me and her Daddy in the King size bed.

We learned alot from this trip. (1) Rhiannon is a dancing machine (2) we really need a king size bed and (3) we can all survive in one room so we were ready for Myrtle Beach in a few weeks.

Before returning home the next day, we visited Callaway Gardens.

I have to first explain one of Rhiannon's favorite books. My little priss pot LOVES Fancy Nancy. For the Moms that may read this blog. These books are fantastic! I highly recommend. Thanks Amoo for giving Rhiannon her first of the series. In "Bonjour Butterfly" Fancy Nancy attends her grandparents anniversary party, stays in a hotel, and goes to the butterfly garden the next day. So, we decided to go to the butterfly exhibit at Callaway after our hotel stay. Cool right? I also need to mention that Mommy loves butterflies so I may have been more excited about going than Rhiannon.

What do you wear to a butterfly exhibit?

Butterfly wings of course! Oh and you must also carry a princess wand. . .

My sweet boy.

Bonjour Butterfly!!

Henry's Dedication

In June was Henry's dedication at Riverbend Baptist Church. Our church does a baby dedication twice a year. When Rhiannon was dedicated it was just she and one other baby. For Henry's there were 14 babies! So they were split between two services. We usually attend the 9am service so that was our time slot.

I love our church. I love the people. I love the pastor. For me, it's home. I grew up in this church. It was the church where I was baptized when I was 10. We have been members all my life.

Here we are on stage. Notice the family here beside us, Kyle and Emily and their sweet baby girl McKayla. Kyle and I were born 5 days apart and he also grew up in this church. He was my first boyfriend at the ripe old age of like 4 and we also grew up in the same neighborhood. So, we think it's pretty cool that McKayla and Henry are 2 months apart and were dedicated together.

Rhiannon walked up to the stage with us but then decided that she would rather go sit with her grandparents. Henry did really well. He never cried and made it through the service without throwing up all over his Mama. Those were my two biggest concerns. However, I should have more concerned not of what would come out of his mouth but more with what could come out the other end. During the final prayer, Henry let out the biggest FART! It was so loud that the people in the second row started giggling. I just knew he had ruined his sweet outfit so as soon as we walked down from the stage, I went immediately to the nursery to change him. And nothing. Just a lot of gas. Typical man.

Upon returning home, we tried to get some pictures. Here is Henry in his nursery.

And a few pictures of the kids together. This rarely ever happens. . .

Mother's and Father's Day

Jump in the DeLorean folks. We're heading back in time. I finally have a weekend with nothing to do. Well, I think I'm supposed to be helping my brother move. Crap. But for tonight, I can sit at this laptop with my happy juice (Blue Moon Summer Ale) and blog. I'm like 3 months behind so I'll hit the high points.

One thing I should add is that I got a new fancy pants camera. I have no idea how to use or how to download the hundres of pictures that I have taken in the past week. But once I finish reading the 8 million page novel that I bought to help me with my tutorial and figure out how to use the thing, you will be sick of all my pictures.

Here we go. My first Mother's Day with two babies!

My little Mommy Rhiannon with her baby in matching dresses.

And Father's Day.

Rhiannon like her Daddy often closes her eyes for pictures. Henry is throwing gang signs. What a thug.

B

I know, I know. I'm way behind on my blogging. I have a ton of happenings from this summer that just haven't gotten posted. Stay tuned for some back tracking this weekend to catch up! But I felt like I should share today's experience.

To start with, I should introduce "B". B is Rhiannon's lovey. Short for "Bunny". A stuffed bunny head attached to a soft pink blanket dress. And she's Rhiannon's best friend in the world. Rhiannon received B at her church dedication on Mother's day in 2008. It took a few months for the friendship to blossom but by the time we had Christmas pictures made in November of 2008, the two were inseperable. Rhiannon would kiss (suck on B's face) until there was a nasty brown circle around B's nose. B would smell like strawberries, milk, goldfish. . . whatever little Rhiannon's grubby hands had been into. Washing her is a challenge because you have to take B away from Rhiannon to put her in the washing machine. I usually do this late at night so that I can return B to Rhiannon's bed before she wakes up.

When we realized how strong of a bond Rhiannon had with B we thought it would be a good idea to find a replacement B. We found out where the church found her and made a trip to Dillards and found another bunny like B. But we needed new bunny to get worn in like B. So we tried to replace B with the new bunny. Rhiannon immediately knew the difference and named the new bunny, "B2". She decided she needed both B and B2 and they both started sleeping with her at night. B is usually the only one lucky enough to leave the bed.

I think that maybe I'm just as attached to B as Rhiannon. She's a member of our family. We make sure we have her before we leave the house. We tuck her in bed at night. We dress her up in doll clothes. We give her food at the dinner table. She's our babysitter, entertainment and playdate.

Today, I got a distressing call from my Mother (Rhiannon calls my mother "Momess"). Rhiannon and Henry were staying at her house for the day and my mom called to tell me in a whisper. "We don't have B." What? Where is she? I immediately text Russ to see if he's seen B. He tells me that she (because B is a girl of course) made it into Momess and Godfather's house with Rhiannon. (My stepdad wanted to be called Grandfather. Rhiannon decided to call him "Godfather") So, we know she's there. Somewhere. When I arrive to pick up the kids after work, B was still missing. Momess convinced Rhiannon by some miracle to take a nap without her. I think she should be thankful that the pool and sun had made Rhiannon so exhausted that sleeping without B was possible. But as soon as she woke up, she asked Momess if she had found B. So, after dinner the search continued. We searched garbage cans, under couches, in cabinets. In one closet, we found B2. Not sure how long she had been hiding in that coat closet or how B2 made it from Rhiannon's bed all the way to Momess' house. But no B.

At 8:00pm, I had given up. It was Henry's bedtime and after 7pm he's done with all of us. So, reluctantly we pack up to leave.

As I place Henry in his infant carrier and lower the shade on the top. . .

There is B. Hiding in Henry's carrier all day long.

Apparently, Godfather had threatened to take B to school with him and Rhiannon decided to hide B from him so that he wouldn't take her.

It would have been nice if she would have shared that information with us 11 hours earlier.

But, he search is over and B is tucked into bed with Rhiannon. And we can all rest easier tonight.

B and Rhiannon - November 2008 (Notice how clean and new B looked then. When we show Rhiannon this picture, she says it's B2 in the picture because B2 still looks this new.)

B and Rhiannon - April 2010