Saturday, October 30, 2021

Family Pictures 2021

I always love our family pictures each year. There has never been a year when I've been unhappy. This year is, of course, no exception. Eva truly is an amazing photographer. She has a unique ability to beautify things. The back story here is the weather was awful. We were meeting at 5:00 to shoot pictures at Lake Runnymead Conservation Area and at 4:40, when Daniel was picking Jackson up from the bustop and I was putting the final touches on the kids outfits and hair, it was pouring rain. The forecast had showed rain all day but no rain in the evening but wouldn't you know it didn't rain a drop all day and held out until the evening. I was so discouraged. For a couple reasons. Getting ready for pictures is exhausting. I didn't want to do it again. And. We didn't really have another free night in the near future. Eva came over and we discussed our options. The rain subsided a little bit and we saw some blue skies to the north. She decided to drive around and see if there was a spot nearby we could shoot if the rain took a break. Well, she succeeded. Just a stone's throw down the road, behind Lake Center we gave this wooded road a try. We had to hop in the car 1 time to wait out some rain but after that, not only did we get a beautiful rainbow (you'll see that pic below) but we got the most beautiful golden sun through the trees. It was perfect. The rain and humid, muggy air did a little number on my perfectly curled hair (a slight frizzball resulted) but other than that, I couldn't have dreamed of anything better. 



































Sunday, October 24, 2021

What We've Been Doing In September...

Homework. This kid races through his math and gives me, literally, every excuse in the book for writing. "I'm hungry, I have to use the bathroom, I'm so tired - can I go lay down. My leg hurts, etc.... on and on and on." It would be amusing if it weren't maddening. Still love him, though. And love his cute concentrating face. 
We celebrated Ila Peach's birthday together!
Labor Day. It wasn't all working. We enjoyed a really nice day out on the lake but we put in our time working in the morning. Here's this kid pressure washing!
More quarantining. This girl finally got her turn. She had to quarantine for the week. Good thing she is such a delight. I didn't mind one bit. We had fun doing school work together. And going to breakfast with Grandma. 
We got to take care of Crewbie one day... and we went to our new Culver's in town! Delish!
Godad had a birthday! He turned 75!! Wowzers! We took them to dinner and it was a very nice evening together. 
Our handsome and stoic dog, Rosco. Portrait style. 
This kid has been begging Daniel to take him fishing and he finally succeeded! Not too shabby!
Ivy's sweet friend Holland is always bringing her things. Plants, games, etc... he is so thoughtful. This time....? A papaya. This required morning smoothies. They were delicious. Thanks Holland!
My cute spirit shirted kiddos. 
Yes, he sometimes still falls asleep in my bed. And I snuggle him to pieces before I move him to his own bed. 
This girl gang game is STRONG!! Love these cute faces on our Parade of Homes Tour - St. Cloud Version. 5 of us are building homes right now. Crazy, right? So we've gone a couple of Sundays to tour each other's homes to see the progress. It's been so fun! And the girls love it. Actually, all the kids love it. Can't wait for when they are all done!!
These 2 lucky guys were able to go down to the Miami game!! It was a tough loss but they had a great time. Spent the next day fishing... those pics will show up next month