Heart Shots - Part 1

Remember when I used to post "Heart Shots"?  Those shots that may not have been technically correct or mean much to anyone else but that speak directly to my heart and I love?  Well I was going through some older files tonight and found a few more I needed to share:

After getting herself dressed Miss Em walked into my room where I was getting dressed and said, "Aww dude, your shirt matches me!"

 At the park after the last day of preschool, McGee and big cousin Brady.

Dinner out at Rubio's to celebrate the last day of school for my boys!

Not My Children! Monday

A new version of "Not Me! Monday" for the record books (aka blog):

 - Miss Em is did NOT start surprising us with her presence after learning to climb out of the crib.  She is NOT now moved into a nice little toddler bed!

 - It WASN'T my son who I found at 6 am in the dining room eating the last of the chocolate silk pie straight out of the pie plate!  His response when I walked half-asleep into the room wasn't an excited, "Hey mom guess what?!  This chocolate cake is making my coughing ALL better!"  Nope, it WOULDN'T be my kid who would wake up when everyone else is still asleep, sneak out to the fridge and eat the last of that delicious pie!  And the tell-tale sign that woke me up?  It couldn't have been just the fact that I heard his very loud humidifer get just a notch louder when his door opened and it took me a few minutes to actually get myself out of bed to see what he was up to when I didn't hear him going to the bathroom.

 - Only about 45 minutes later it WASN'T my two children whom Daddy found munching on cold leftover piggie-in-a-blankets and donut holes and sitting in front of the television.  NOPE, our kids DON'T sometimes act like they own this place and can do whatever they want.  In fact, McGee HASN'T been overheard saying, "You know, God says we should do whatever we want to do."  Uh-uh, NOT my child!

 - Miss Em has NOT moved from her crib to a toddler bed and immediately exploited her freedom doing the above and going into her brother's room early in the morning to wake him.  What is this I've heard about kids who won't get out of bed until their mother comes to get them???  NOT here, and I seriously mean NOT here. :(  When I tried to tell her not to wake her brother up McGee's response to me WASN'T, "But mom, I like when she comes and wakes me up, I want her to do it!"

 - This image is NOT what I saw as I peeked in at Miss Em last night:

 - And yes, she has already fallen out of bed a couple of times, but it hasn't woken her yet. :)


 - Miss Em was NOT found hauling water in a plastic toy shovel from the bathroom outside.  There were NOT drips of water everywhere to the point that not a drop of water ever actually made it outside.  I WASN'T at least a tiny bit glad that at least she'd obeyed me when I said not to turn on the hose. 

 - My poor fair little Miss Em did NOT get a sunburn on her face thanks to her mommy forgetting to think about any sunscreen and having her spending a few hours out in the sun.  Mommy did NOT just think it was a red face from the heat of running around...and was super sad/guilty when the red face stuck around overnight. 

 - These are NOT a few of my new favorite images taken that day we had fun in the sun:

I put together some little Valentine gift bags for the kids.  I told McGee that after nap and quiet time they would have a goodie bag from Mommy.  The bags were on the kitchen counter all ready to go.  Neither child seemed cooperative with nap/quiet time but both were supposed to be in their rooms reading their TAG books quietly.  I was working in the office and somehow missed McGee sneaking past me, but I did hear when he said, "Mommy I'm going to put my new dinosaurs with my old ones."  I went in to find he was in Miss Em's room, had gotten both of their gifts bags and passed hers out to her.  They had both opened theirs and were quickly opening everything in sight.  Good, obedient and patient little children?  Not so much.  Cute and fun to be around?  Absolutely!

Valentine's has never been a huge holiday for Daddy and I.  I mean who really needs one specific day to declare their true love?  Shouldn't it be done daily, through word and deed?  Despite putting together the bags for the kids, I didn't get a single thing for Daddy and didn't even make him a card this year!  After hanging out with his friends this afternoon he brought me in a Valentine gift - this pink bag filled with hand soap in the scents I love from Bath & Bodyworks.  This may not seem romantic, but the fact he noticed I haven't had any of these in quite a long time and then picked out the scents I love (even though he doesn't like them), meant a lot to me.

Here's to my Valentine, my best friend, my love.

You've made me laugh from day one.

Your kind eyes and smile have made me feel loved and adored for the last 16 years.  Your mad skills in the kitchen don't hurt much either. :)

Your love for our children shines through in the amazing dad that you are.

 Our children are blessed by the strong example you are setting.  Your son thinks you are the greatest person to wrestle with...EVER.

He giggles like CRAZY and BEGS you to tickle him!

But it's the BIG bear hugs he loves the most!  We love you and wish you a very happy Valentine's Day!

Later in the evening Miss Em and I enjoyed some pre-dinner dancing in the kitchen.  It was a blast and made me realize how much I love having a daughter!

12 on Thursday

I've been MIA from this blog a bit lately as I've wrapped up a month long photography workshop with Brooke Snow and have been busy living life, but I thought I'd share with you my top 12 photos of the week:

Always making faces

She wanted to play WAY over here by herself, I thought this depicted her independent attitude perfectly.

Goofy girl!

Cheese!

I turned around from the stove and found her on the countertop trying to get more crackers!  She wasn't very happy when I made her get down, but I love her legs stretched out behind her - and don't miss she's wearing new mermaid panties. :)

We had some Jesus music on and she was really getting into her praising with hands lifted high!

My handsome Mr. Thoughtful...

I love this one of him, wish it was sharper (in focus)!

"Mommy what's this???"

"It's a dead worm Em!" - McGee

"Oh - cool!" - Em

Hope you've enjoyed a glimpse of our week - more posts to come soon!

I Heart Faces - Orange

The theme this week at I Heart Faces is "Orange" so I'm submitting this pouty pic of my boy from our trip to the pumpkin patch with his preschool class.  Does anyone else get this look when the camera is pointed at their 4-year old??? :)

UPDATE:  FYI - I won 7th place out of 487 entries!

All Aboard!

A few weeks ago we had a fun family morning taking a train ride using our free passes with our museum membership.  McGee loves trains (as most toddler/preschool boys do) and has ridden on light rail/BART, but never a real steam engine train.  We arrived early (I was the first in line!) and were excited to board when they called for passengers. 

Waiting to board

I LOVE this image - my husband's eyes light up and sparkle when he's really happy and I love that I was able to capture that here when he was enjoying a moment with his son!

The train ride was 6 miles up, then we stopped, the engine detached from the train, drove up a ways and then came back on another track to hitch itself to the opposite side of the train and drive us back where we began.  Confusing explanation?  Well the kids enjoyed being able to go up to the front and watch it all from out the door!

The train ride was great, but we thought we top the day off with some lunch and ice cream at Gunthers!

I love days like this with my family!

Favorite Faces

"Love That Shot" is having a link-up with "I Heart Faces" featuring our "favorite faces".  I took some pictures of the kids this week that I absolutely LOVE so this was perfect for me to participate in!  I'll be sharing more pictures of the kids individually in a later post, but for now, here is one with both of their faces that I hope you'll love as much as I do!  I liked this image in color, but really fell in love with it when I created the black and white conversion.