Joy of Love ~ week 3

Day 15: Kiss.  This is one of my favorites!

Day 16: Together (Self portrait).  I was supposed to set up the tripod and take a pic of us.  This is a good as it gets!  I only got to take about 2 pics before Wade was over it.  He's like a 2 year old that way...LOL! 

  

Day 17: Staying in.  Elise let's her big sister play with her.  Sometimes she's into it and sometimes she's not!

Day 18: Going out.  I didn't do this day.  We were supposed to bring our point and shoot and just have a stranger take a picture of us out.  But I kept forgetting to grab our camera...oh well!

Day 19: When they're gone.  When Wade is gone I set the Alarm.  It gets creepy when he's not around....hard to sleep!

Day 20: When they're home.  Wade plays with the girls.  They are playing go fish on a Sunday afternoon!

Day 21. Hands.  Nora's hands being creative!

Valeniversary

Can you pronounce that???  Don't worry, neither can I!  But that is pretty much what this time of year is for us.  We got married the weekend before Valentines day.  It usually works great b/c when we go somewhere for our anniversary it's always empty b/c everyone is saving time/money for the next weekend of Valentines day.  But this year we weren't able to get out on a date until the weekend right before Valentines Monday!  Wade is always trying to make date night more interesting so this time he surprised me with dinner on the dining cart of the Arkansas-Missouri Railroad.  

It was really fun.  The best part about it was that we were stuck with each other for almost 4 hours.  Don't worry, that was a good thing!  Usually we eat and run to a movie or run to go get the girls.  Rush, rush, rush.  But that night he couldn't go anywhere even if we wanted to.  So we had a nice long discussion.  I think we even talked about things we had never talked about before.  So, KUDOS to Wade!!

Our babysitters (Memaw and Pepaw) snapped this pic of us after we dropped the girls off.

Me in front of the train!

Our table...Vinyl tablecloth...how romantic! LOL!

The conductor gave me a rose as I got on...sweet!  Wade got a little jealous!  LOL!

Our desert!  HAHA!  The date was definitely about the journey and the ambiance.  Definitely not about the food.  As we got off the train I glanced at the HARPS grocery package the cake was in.  I'm not hating though, It really was fun!  

Then a couple days later Valentines day came.  We never do anything big time or expensive for Valentines.  Wade usually takes the girls on a daddy/daughter date.  But, he was pretty sick this year so we stayed home.  The girls and I made him this card and he LOVED it!!  Really, he couldn't stop looking at it and smiling!

That night we had the missionaries over for dinner and the girls helped to make a heart shaped pizza!  It was DELISH and you can't go wrong with the company when it's the missionaries! 

All in all...it was a FUN and GREAT Valeniversary!!! :)

Joy of Love ~ Week 2

Week 2 of my "Joy of Love" submissions!  I have a couple favorite from last week!!!

Day 8: Promises.

Promisse of forever and a bunch of tiny little toes!

Day 9: Passions

Nora LOVES to draw and create.

Day 10: Space. Where they are comfortable.

Elise is Comfortable in our arms.  She LOVES to be held.

Day 11: Dreams.

We dream of NOT having to worry about this...

Day 12: Eyes

Audrey's big beautiful Eyes

Day 13: Mundane Routines.

We do this A LOT around our house!

Day 14: wedding band

Wade showing off his wedding band and giving a "thumbs up" for marriage! ;)

Good Ole 2/14

Happy Valentines Day to all our family, friends and well...our web stalkers!  LOL! :)  

The girls gave these with some candy to their class.   Much thanks to eighteen25 for the cute templates.

And the girls and I gave these "photo booth" pictures to Wade in a homemade card.  He loved it!  Thanks to the Paislee press for the idea too!!

Joy of Love

As I mentioned in other posts, I've joined this project/class from Willette Designs.  She is a photographer who has a photography business as well as offers classes and tutorials on photography. For the month of February she is offering a free on-line class.  I found out about on Facebook and immediately signed up.  I just loved the thought on using my down time to learn more of my craft.  Every night this month she sends out an email with a photography assignment along with a certain photography tip or lesson to work on.  So far, her tips have been things I'm familiar with, but I have REALLY enjoyed learning and understanding it all even more!  Rather than posting them everyday, I decided to post them once a week!  

What I really like about these daily assignments is the idea that I am capturing my loved ones in everyday life.  What ever they are wearing (matching or not), however their hair is (mostly not done), whatever they are doing.  I love this idea and am so excited to have these posts in my Blog Book when I print it out.  

  So here they are, Week one...

Day 1: What they do.  Nora "does" girly girl stuff. 

Day 2: How they look.  Audrey looks "pouty" a lot.  But it's adorable! 

Day 3: Now and Then.  Nora with portraits taken of her when she was 6 months old.

Day4: What they wear.  Wade wears these funny glasses when he's on the factory floor.  He doesn't wear them around me often, but I just think they are funny so of course I had to take a pic of him wearing them.

Day 5: Love to Hate.  I love my hubby, but I HATE how he leaves his "stuff" on the bar in our kitchen everyday when he comes home.

Day 6: Who THEY love.  My hubby loves his little girls.

Day 7. Generations.  My three little girls with pictures of their (L-R) Paternal GREAT grandfather, their maternal grandfather as a child, and Wade and I.

7 years...

Has gone by SO fast!!!  And we have three beautiful (and active) little girls to show for it.  Above is a picture of us when we were dating.  I'm gonna say it was Dec. 2003, about 2 months before we were married.  I just love this picture!  I love how I am smiling and I love how he's looking at me.  Once upon a time my hubby adored me...lol, just teasing.  He still does!  Not sure I deserve his adoration, but yet I have it.  I think I blogged last year on our anniversary that he really is the only man in this world that could put up with me and I still believe it.  I've actually learned a lot from Wade over the last couple years.  He's taught me to be less selfish and to be more thoughtful.  He is one 100% percent thoughtful, that man!  We actually make a great pair.  I'm the face of our duo and he is the brains.  What I mean is, I am the social one who makes all the friends and he is the one who observes EVERYTHING.  It makes for some real interesting conversations.  I am always in awe of how much he observes.  I'm always to busy talking.  You gotta beware of those "observers" ya know!!  LOL!

I'm actually very excited for this year.  We have our third (and most likely final) child and a lot of change on the horizon.  I'll blog more about that later.  We are actually more working like a team thee days than ever before.  I think we've finally figured each other out.  Or I've figured HIM out rather.  I think he figure me out a LONG time ago.  That's an "observer" for ya! :)

Anyway, not sure what were doing for our Anniversary, but he's got something lined up on Saturday night.  Uh oh!  I always get worried about his surprises.  It's because he's SOOOO thoughtful.  He thinks about things I've mentioned or watched me do something and then he plans something according to that. It's always something super sweet, but what I REALLY want is usually a shopping spree or something along those lines...LOL!  But, I've learned to appreciate that side of him.  I've learned to appreciate the simple things...which is why I adore him so much!!  What can I say...opposites REALLY attract!!

I love you Wade!!  Thanks for 7 great years of marriage and friendship!!  Gotta sign off before it get too corny up in here!  ;)

Above is a floral arrangement I put together today...Just trying to be thoughtful!  Not that Wade likes flowers, actually he hates it when I bring home some type of floral decor (ask me about our first big fight as a married couple sometime...funny) but this is kind of symbolic...if you will.  I love hydrangeas and when we bought our first house before we had kids ( I can't even remember that life...lol)  wade bought me a green hydrangea and planted it in our yard.  The next year when it bloomed it was blue.  Apparently they can change colors depending on the minerals in the soil.  Anyway, we lived there for 3 years and it grew bigger and bigger.  I was sad to leave it, I almost dug it up!  But I thought about that today and went and bought the blue hydrangeas at hobby lobby.  I already had the green ones, so I made this.  I think Wade will get a kick out of it when he gets home!

happiness

 This picture just makes me happy!  I think it shows me their personalities SO well!

Speaking of happiness...day 2 of "the Joy of Love" the assignment was  "how they look".  Below is the photo I submitted.  I snapped this picture of Audrey as she was pouting.  Yep, this is how Audrey looks ALOT!!  Thank goodness it's such a stinkin' cute little face!

We've Made it...2 whole months!

Elise is TWO months!  YAY!  That means better sleep for everyone!  I would say less feeding, but she still eats about every 2 to 3 hours.  But she's a sleep CHAMP at night!!  She actually sleeps from about 9:30 pm to about 6 am.  Every once in a while she'll wake up around 3 to eat.  But, as of late, she's been sleeping around 8 hours...STRAIGHT!  LOVE IT!!!  I have to say, she is pure joy! Maybe because she's #3, but I'm just able to enjoy her so much.  I don't get stressed out  (as much...LOL).  I am actually sad she's growing.  It's just sad to think I will never have a little baby again.  It's also enjoyable to think about what a different Mom I am with ELise than I was with Nora...Even Audrey.  You can already tell this little girl is gonna get away with anything.  I hold her when she wants to be held, even if she wants to sleep in my arms. I let her eat when she wants to eat.  Yep, schedule is COMPLETELY out the door with this little girl.  I admit...being a seasoned mom has it's perks!  LOL!  We pretty much go with the flow around here.

So here are some stats:  She weighs 11lbs and 7.6 ounces, 24.5 inches long...that 98 percentile, yep, she's gonna be tall!

Below are some pics I took of her today with the help of her biggest sister, Nora.  Nora helped place her and stood behind me to make her smile.  It worked!  Nora is a great helper!

Today started a photography class I'm taking online.  It's a free class that a photographer I found on FB is doing.  She emails you assignment and some tutorials.  It's the whole month of February and it called, "the JOY of Love".  Assignments are focusing on your loved ones.  Today's tutorial was pretty basic, it's about finding light and something I already KNEW, but having an assignment about it is really gonna help me focus on it more.    The assignment was about what your loved ones "DO".  When Nora walked into my room dressed in all pink with pink tulle and a big pink umbrella, I knew I had to take a pic.  My sweet Nora loves to "DO" girlie girl!! :)  This was the pic i submitted to her: 

 It's not graded or anything, she just wants to see it.  It's kind of fun!!  You can join me here.