Behind the Scenes. . .

Ah, I finally get to sit down tonight and combine two of my favorite hobbies. . .picture taking and writing. Usually when I snap shots of my children, I am in the midst of chaos (hmm. . .I wonder why?! :) ). . it's not until later when I look at the photo, that I am able to reflect on how truly precious these little ones are. I'm thankful for whoever created STILL photos. . .it's as if I'm able to pause these cherubs for an instant and capture their smiles, chubby fingers, playful spirits, etc. Now, I don't typically take pictures when they're whining, throwing fits, etc, but that is kinda a fun idea. Instead, I capture moments of family fun. Ever wonder what is REALLY going on in the photos I take?!!! Want a little backstage pass, or if you will, "a behind the scenes look" at our life in picture?

For starters, Ainsley and Bridger. These two cousins truly do have a special bond, and it's picture perfect, but am pretty sure Bridger did NOT want to hold her hand in this photo :) We had just gotten back to my moms house after our pizza picnic in the park didn't go as planned (it involved napkins flying away due to wind picking up, the sun and warmth disappearing, and clouds and cold appearing). . .Behind the scenes on shot #2. . . looks as if little brother is watching and learning how to climb the fence from big brother. Well, he was, but backstage I had just lifted all of the neighborhood girls over the fence :) And see these happy faces after seeing "Mr Twister?" We had just worked through some tears since Mr Twister let Porter choose a blue balloon even though he said not to choose a color. Ainsley had obeyed and not asked for a color and got red instead of purple. . .as Ma in the Laura Ingalls Wilder books we're reading says, "All's well that ends well." Thus the smiling faces with balloon hats. No picture of Trey. . his balloon popped. . apparently he didn't care though.Wonder why these photos of Trey aren't larger?! If you look closely you can see the snot all over his face :) And the pics of him with his shamrock shake. . .he wasn't letting that go after finally getting it from his big bro :). . .Backstage with these two sweet little cousins who are only 9 months apart. . .think I got baby fever when I held Bridger for the first time :). . .age appropriately Bridger was making me laugh by holding as many possible sand toys as he could. . think they're at the "mine" stage?! Thanks Bridger for stopping and posing with a smile for me. . he was saying "cheese". . .
Am pretty sure Ainsley was saying, "just hold on a little longer so mommy can take our picture."

Being silly comes naturally at our home. . .behind the scenes, the littlest sibling was given the broken glasses that didn't stay on his face :) LOL Oh, how I love you kids!

Porter really is "all boy," but I had told him to go get dressed and this is what he came out in, thinking he was really funny, so off we went on a wagon ride around the block. What you don't see is when Porter jumped out of the wagon while I was pulling it and got his sisters clothes all muddy. And what you don't see is a sweaty mama from pulling them!
Backstage at a Chuck E Cheese birthday party for Ainsley's friend Eliana. . .we had a fun morning together!! Not a whole lot going on behind the scenes. . .other than me thinking one of the dads was really one of the other dads, but that's just typical flipflopmama fashion.

Behind the scene in these photos I was thinking that I can't believe when Ainsley was Trey's age, Porter was already born! Just in case you're wondering what that would look like. .

Speaking of sweet babes, Ainsley and I enjoyed going to my friend Jenny's baby shower this wknd. . .Jenny, Nikki and I lived in the girls dorm together in college, and in an on campus apt. Behind the scenes, I am just so excited for Dan and Jenny to be beginning this journey of parenthood and I'm wishing Nikki lived closer too so we could mommy together. . .Ainsley played "baby shower" the rest of the afternoon. I heard her saying things like, "Did you find out what you're having? I want a girl." :)

GooF was at a computer competition this last wknd (he took the college guys in the minivan) so the kids and I ate happy meals Fri night and Chinese chicken Sat night (and Ainsley got to sleep in mommy's bed :) ). We delivered a meal to a wonderful woman/friend from our church who has cancer. After we left her house, the kids were asking how she got sick and Porter said in his 3 1/2 yr old way, "maybe she ate some garbage." Ainsley assured him that that is not true. Porter said in his 'I'm a man and I need to fix things' sort of way, that "We need to find out where God lives and go and tell him we don't like sick." I assured him we can talk to God by praying and we did just that. Please be in prayer for Tami. . . she is such a loving mom to her 2 sons and so generous to have invited us to her house for a meal this past summer, along with working every Wed night in the church nursery. I MISS her smiling face and warm heart in the nursery on Wed nights :(

If you could see what I see in the next pics, you'd see Porter filling his teaball thing full of rocks to shoot out, and him figuring out the somersault. . .

What I didn't capture in photos this wk was Trey saying, "Love Loo" for "Love You" for the first time and Trey saying, "Jesus" for the first time when I pulled out his Bible Story. Tonight when my dad asked him if he wanted more milk he said, "More please" :)

I also didn't capture the kids having Trey say a word and then just GIGGLING when he said it bc he wouldn't say it quite right. Oh, the moments to cherish.

Tomorrow morning Porter has his second speech appt. His first one he walked right in, gave the speech teacher a hug and said, "I love speech class." Then he invited her to our house to watch a movie about letters. He likes seeing Auntie Stephy and her class after speech :)

And now, what you don't see behind the scenes is my husband going off to bed, so off I go too. . .