Ari's Birthday

I finally finished editing some pictures and did Ari's video for his birthday. This is over a couple days. We celebrated a day early and he got a card on his birthday and then another gift when we got back from up North. Disclaimer: The blue face in the last pictures are from an ice cream he had from the ice cream truck. It took a bath to get that off. Yes, that would be lovely food dye! Thankfully we keep that to a minimum these days. 

UnPlugging

This Summer has been the best summer for me since having kids. It is not like the other summers have been terrible. We are just finally at the stage of no nursing babe, or younger children. The kids can all manage themselves with just a little help. This has made going and doing things with me so much easier! I don't need to take 100 things just to get out of the house. I can grab purse, shoes and go. The kids beat me to the car every time. It is a wonderful thing. Consequently it has meant we are doing more, and I am loving it! I also have been working on unplugging more. Running my business was taking over things. I also was spending a lot of time downloading personal photos, so I have stopped taking so many.......odd for me I know:) Honestly though I am less stressed and it has been better. I also have used my phone for photos and just uploaded right away to print. Surprisingly they haven't been terrible for snapshots:) It will never replace my big camera, but it has been nice:) This week I will be catching up with posts though. I need to blog Ari's birthday and a couple of other things. 

So what have we been up to? 

Lots of bike rides. Eli has been riding his bike without training wheels for about a month. I think if he had his way he would ride all over town by himself. A  few more years, and I will let him. 

When we go to have Eli ride his bike the youngest two like to take the wagon and run around. This is usually the scene. I love watching them. They run and giggle and play so well together. 

We have spent a lot of time outside in the garden and just playing. I look at this garden picture and laugh because honestly a month later it looks like a jungle. The tomatoes have taken over and so have the weeds, but we will have a lot of veggies. 

The tiny sunflowers in the back of us are actually taller than the fence a month later. 

The kids have enjoyed the slip-n-slide. It is now gone as Anthony took a turn one Sunday with them and broke it. I happened to be inside, but the kids still talk about that day. They loved that he went with them. 

It isn't summer without popsicles.  They love their popsicles. 

We had two weeks of them being really sick in June. I at one point questioned whether Lilliana had whooping cough. Thankfully all my crunchy remedies and they were better. One night since Eli was feeling better I took him out for some fun play and pictures. I really loved this set. He is such a boy now. It is so bittersweet. 

I also did a blog post on my business page regarding light and the best time for photos. You can read it HERE. Regardless here are some of my favorite photos I took that day of the kids. 

Legos, there have been a lot of Legos. They play pretty much non stop if we let them especially Eli. 

This little boy has finally mellowed out and has an incredible love for cars. He sleeps with them every night. He will get up out of bed after we leave and collect them and fall asleep holding them or cuddling them. 

He also loves his daddy so much. Anthony has been working long hours and Ari misses him the most I think.





 


This sweet girl has been so helpful and I love it. She follows me around and always wants to help.

Summer seems is going quickly, but it has been so fun with these 3 crazy monkeys!! I wouldn't change it for the world. I have enjoyed Unplugging more and enjoying them.