see for miles and miles

 

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched-they must be felt with the heart.

Helen Keller

My two boys. You are like night and day. 

You show your love for each other so discreetly it is often only in photos I can find it.  Today Little One decided he wanted to hold Big Brothers hand.  Melt. My. Heart.

Your big brother let you lead him through the field and you loved it.

Today my heart is extra full.

I may not always see it but I feel your love with my heart.

 

the day the cat ruined my shot

I love cats.  I don't know which picture I like more!

This kitty loves my boys. Skitt-ish farm cat she is not!

 

 

 

 
 
This little boy loves the farm kitties.

Shooting in manual is going well.  The more I practice the more I learn. 

The farm is probably my favorite place to shoot other than the lake.  The lighting is so great and the props purrrr-fect!



Fall Farm Trip

 Aunty Connie Didn't waste anytime putting this boy to work!

He carefully washed each carrot when we got home while I baked fresh, juicy farm beets. Yum!

 Fresh air, fresh food and a perfect morning.  I'm not sure who had more fun, the boys or me!

 Goof ball of the day award goes to....

 I couldn't pull you off this fence!

 Or away from the hay bales....

Or the cat! You love the kitties!

 Yes, Sweet One, you are trying to feed a cat an apple!

Looks like you need to spend some more time at the farm!

Family Talent Night 2013

 The talent award goes to my buddy who snapped this shot of our little family!

I love a great family picture and this one tops the season!

 The talent was great but the visiting with friends was just what my heart needed.

I'm so lucky for good friends with great kids.

This big reader LOVES Go Dog Go!

His big brother is reading to us now!

Wow, summer 2013 sure has brought a ton of change and talent!

 

First Day of Kindergarten!

 Today was your first day of Kindergarten. Wow.

You woke up, ate breakfast, did Kumon, practiced piano, had a photo shoot and off we went.

Just us.

We walked.

You talked about the trees and birds.

I talked about listening to your teacher.

You asked about recess and snack.

I reminded you to listen to your teacher.

 

 You are 5.

You are confident.

You are kind.

You LOVE nature. Trees, birds, animals of all kinds.

You draw squirrels, Egypt and ninjas with equal details and thought.

You ride your bike with ease and grace.

You print your name (on the lines too!), numbers to 20 easily.  You can print higher but I'm not pushing it. Yet.

You read.  No just I and am. You read there and very and play.  Yeah, big words.

You love apples and eat 1-3 a day.  You drink milk. Lots.

You laugh for no reason. You laugh at your own jokes.  You love jokes.

Your smiles melt my heart.

You are so sensitive to those around you.

Piano. You practice three times a day.  Sometimes short sometimes long.  You always hop up on the bench without a complaint. 

You love money. We will work on leaning coin names soon.

You tolerate your brother but I'm guessing you wonder why he is so demanding when you are so laid back.  I wonder this also.

You love time with Pa.  You are careful not to tell me about watching too much TV at his house.  I am never sure what you two do but you are best buddies. 

You love fishing and are ready to eat any kind of fish you can find.  Your Dad recently surprised us all with $50 worth of Alaskan King crab from Costco-just for you!

You are an amazing little boy.  I love with a love that I can't describe.  You make me smile when I really need it and you spark my love for life.

You made me a Mom. You are my son and I love you so much exactly the way you are.

a little break...

 We went from this....

 and this.....

 ...and this....to....

 ...this!

My poor baby!

He will heal and I am thankful for that.

Uncomfortable but still able to be soothed by endless Bubble Guppy watching, cuddles, ice water and chippies. 

He picks out the gauze like stuffing and I find it all over the house.  Totally makes me laugh.

He was a trooper and the emergency Dr. was the best ever. (helps that she lives like ten houses away!)

He seems to forget about it sometimes but then remembers and gets frustrated he can't hold the drum and stick to play marching band.  Mommy holding the drum just doesn't work.  So we build forts and dress up like pirates and will let the bike get dusty while we give the wagon a workout.  So long water table, pool and splash park. Hello Zoo, long wagon rides, hot wheel ramps and trips to the library.  Ten days until our next X-ray.

building family

Before I became a Mom I believed families just happen.  Thinking back I realize my Mom just made it look easy.  My Mom made everything look easy, especially her secret recipes!

Now that I am a Mom and a Wife I realize that families are work.

Building a family is a job I love with my whole heart.  I could spend every minute of every day with my family and never get tired of it.  The time we spend at our cabin for some reason is all about family.  Just our family with a few other families mixed in every now and again.  We have made the decision for no TV at our cabin.  I love that.  We have no computer, I love that too.  We have the lake, the squirrels and the fox to watch.  This weekend we watched two fox play chase on our little deck and beach.  To me, that is way better than TV!

I never stop thinking about how I can be a better Mom/Wife for my family.  My loving/almost perfect husband makes family building time look easy too. 

I love this image and this is how I view family building.

One cast at a time.

Never sure of what you may catch.

Taking a break but never giving up hope.

manual

 Little Brother slept on a lawn chair.

I had ten minutes with my Ipad to do a quick tutorial on shooting in manual.

 I had to pay my model to sit at the end of the dock so I could practice shooting.

This picture made it worth every cent of that nickel he chose!

(Ok, we will be working on learning about money/coin values soon!  Ooooo, what a good idea for our discovery table!) He is so comfortable at the lake.  He could live in his swim suit and rain boots, great combo.

  He loves nature and could fish for days. 

 It makes me smile to see him so at home when we are together at the lake.

cherries!

The plump, sweet and perfectly yummy cherries grow right here in the prairies!

I still can't believe it!

Friends of ours have cherry hedges lining their property and invited us over to pick and steal a few seedlings!  I'm hoping to put the seedlings by the playhouse at the lake.

I've made cherry tarts, pie and hope to make some cherry jam later this week.  Cherry bread and cherry muffins sound good to me too!

I like store bough cherries but I loooove these prairie cherries so much I'm also ordering a few trees!

fish story

 This boy loves to fish.
He had given up his dream of working with his Dad to be a "person who teachers people to fish".
Perfect.

 Pa takes him 3 times a day most days we are up at the cabin!

 He is not a big fan of catch and release.

He would eat fish every meal if I let him.

He also comments on how their teeth look like rice :) So cute!

We put the giant fish back but ate the others for lunch.

I am not a fan of fish an dour next BBQ must have a burner so the boys can fry up as much fish as they want without smelling up the cabin!