Happy 3rd Birthday Sam!!

 

We've been celebrating our little, big boy this past week.  Happy 3rd birthday to you, Sam. I think my heart has grown twenty times bigger since the day you were born. I love your sense of humor, your bulldozer hugs and the way you sing and dance like nobody's watching.

Being your mom is the best. job. ever.

Cousin Camp

We've been fortunate enough to spend a ton of time with our cousins the last few weeks.  These photos are from yesterday at Chambers Elementary or, "The Castle Park".  We all brought lunches and played for about 2 hours.  The kids had a blast acting out imaginative games, swinging and chasing each other.  Unfortunately for us, Joey was at a play date.  Don't think I left him out or anything!!!

From left to right & top down:  Evan 4, Charlotte 8.75, Jane 5.5, Evan, Jane,
Claire 8, Luke 5.999, Maria Grace 3.5, the girls & Sam 3

4th of July @ NW Trek

It was a really fun day.
The End.

You fell for that?  Ha!  We started off the day with a traditional Red, White & Blue breakfast (Beebe's Baked French Toast - I'll give you the recipe.)  Then we headed for NW Trek.  It's pretty awesomely beautiful there, and we hadn't been there since 4th of July when I was pregnant with Sam (9 days from his birth), and I blended in with the bison.  Anyway, the day before we'd gone to see CARS 2, 3D and Sam couldn't give up his glasses.  He wore them all around the park, sans lenses, and I kept calling him Urkel.  We had a wonderful time checking out all the animals from our tram ride and from exploring the park.  You should totally go sometime.

Will we ever swim again?

Sam hopes so!


A to the K

Conclusion of VBS

Charlotte was chosen to speak at church today as our kids shared some of their VBS experiences from the last week. She did a great job speaking in front of 2 very large crowds.

A to the K

Cheering on the Pilots

It was an awesome day to enjoy a 9 o'clock baseball game.  Usually I hope for an 11 or noon game so the weather has a chance to improve, but it was gorgeous this morning and Charlotte did an awesome job playing catcher and left field.  Of course, for Charlotte it's more about how she'll accessorize her uniform and what creative hair-do she'll create.  Today was no exception. 

She was the prettiest catcher you've ever seen.  ;)

Can you spot me in this shot??

I had fun using my zoom lens today.  I was really trying to work on my action shots and using shutter speed to stop motion.  I also played with flash, flash compensation and exposure compensation.  Just trying to practice some of the stuff I learned in class a few weeks ago.

Sometimes I forget to watch the game because I'm so entertained by Sam and his antics.

"The name's Sam Kiehl, and I've got a juice box.  What's it to ya?"           Looks like Sam is signaling the players.

B&W's

So here are some pictures of my baby, okay, so he's almost 3, but whatever, indulge me a sec.  I took these tonight right after dinner as he was goofing around in the backyard.  The last collage includes Sam partaking in his favorite past-time, puzzles.  He's SERIOUS about puzzles.  Which is good, since he got about 20 of them for Christmas.  (Half of them are hidden in a closet for later.  Shhh...don't tell him.)  It's fun to just watch Sam explore the world.  He's so curious and adventurous and, well, I just love him to pieces.

 

 

While I was shooting tonight, he asked me, "What's your name?"  I said, "What's my name?"  He replied, "Your name is Mama-cita."  Hilarious.