lunch with b

tuesdays and thursdays raelyn and garret are both in school.  so this past tuesday, brenna and i had a picnic lunch together up in her room at her little table.  
this table and chairs used to belong to my cousins.  i remember sitting at it when i was just a few years older than brenna.  my aunt gave us the table a few years ago.  i needed some tlc and we painted it up.  it is perfect for the girls room. 

milestones...

garret is growing up so fast right now.  a few weeks ago he mastered tying his shoe laces and Sunday night he lost his first tooth.  well not really.  before he was even two, one of his front top teeth was knocked out while he was rough housing.  i remember crying so hard that night.  i cried way longer than he did over it.  i even slept with him that night in his room.  i was such a baby.   i know it was nothing life threatening but i was sad his smile would be a toothless one for quite some time.  well of course i have grown to love that toothless smile over the years and now that the first one that was ready to come out on its own has happened,  we celebrated.  he was scared at first about it actually coming out.  it probably is pretty scary not knowing what to expect, but once it came out he was excited.

being silly... (look at how crooked his teeth are from that fall when he was a baby.  he now has a cross bite and the other top baby tooth is behind his bottom teeth.  dentist said not to worry, we will just need to watch as his adult teeth grow in)
we put both teeth ( i had saved the first one) in an envelope for the tooth fairy.  this was such a fun night for me, i remember being a kid and being so exited to see what the tooth fairy left.  back then it was quarters. (i just love the above picture by the way.... one of my favorites of garret.)
garret got dollars.  one dollar bills but hey it was still paper money.  

back up...

so how many of you actually back up all the files on your computer on a regular basis?  i have been pretty good at backing up my photos especially since i have taken photos for other people but i have NEVER backed up ALL the other files on my computer.  over 5 years worth of files.... is GONE!  my hard drive crashed about two weeks ago.  i am still trying to process who much information i have lots.  it is really depressing.  we have made a few attempts at recovering the information ourselves with no success.  so then we took it to a local computer guy, he said he couldnt get it either but could recommend someone.  so now we have to decide just how much my information was worth.  hard drive recovery can get VERY expensive.  anyone ever had this problem and know of a good place to take it?  if you have been lucky enough not to, please back up your info!  you wont regret it.  

if you have made it down to the bottom of this post and you visit my blog from time to time, let me know you are here!  it is interesting to talk to some people and they say, "yeah i knew that, i read it on your blog", but you people never leave me a comment.  so now is the time.  let your voice be heard.  let me know you  are here.  thanks,  it encourages me to keep it up.  

russ+ashley=caleb

caleb is here! these pics were taken on his one week birthday.
he was so hungry when i got the camera out.  he wanted to eat those little hands.  it was so nice visiting with ashley and getting to hold caleb.  i just LOVE newborns.  


ha ha a SMILE! this kid smiled the whole time i was there.  gas of course. 

sebring- labor day 09

yep, just getting around to labor day pictures. a lot going on here at the wid house. like every other house that has children in it i suppose. we werent able to get a summer vacation in with the family b/c of a busy camp season (which is a good thing) but i was really longing for our family to get away for a little while. slow down, say yes to the kids more then we say no, jump on the beds, sleep when we are tired and eat when we are hungry. i have been going to sebring for 20+ years now! and dave almost as long. that is crazy, but it is one of my most favorite places in the world b/c of all the things i just listed above. i love that we can share this with our kids now too. so packed up the kids and headed out of town on thursday. we stopped in charleston to see kristin and hang out for the night then hit the road again on friday. it was a lot of driving through the kids awake time and it was a really hard trip. dave and i both decided we would be driving through the night. when we got to the hotel we went right down to the beach and let the kids play. we had subs on the beach for dinner that night. it was a great kick off to a relaxing fun filled, sun filled weekend. on to the pictures. donuts for breakfast every morning, thanks to daddy.
my parents came and met us there too.  it was so nice to see them and for the kids to spend time with them.  i think both the grandparents and the grandkids enjoyed it equally.
the water is so clear and clean.  it was also very shallow so the kids could play in the water about 100 ft from shore and it was only up to their knees.  it felt SO good to just let them play and not be correcting them. 


brenna is just a few weeks away from being 2!  she is starting to look more like a big girl and not so much baby anymore.  
clean white sand!  
daddy still has the moves.  he is barefooting backwards in this picture!  look at how awesome the calm the water is.  perfect for barefooting. 
kenzie knee boarding backwards, practicing her 360's
garret was brave and tried knee boarding for the first time too.  he did great. 
princess of the boat.  rae is still such a little peanut.  she fit perfect up on the arm rest of the boat so that was her little perch for the weekend. 
all the kiddos, mackenzie included.  she does a great job with the kids. 

the wid kids... i took a lot of pics to get to this one.  some are pretty funny.  when i have some more time i will share them.  

thanks for reading

we've got eggs!

a couple of weeks ago our chickens started laying eggs. we got just one for a few days and now we are up to 4 a day. we have 5 chickens so we are hoping to get all 5 laying. the chickens all lay their eggs in the same nest. it is so funny. we made a box for each of them to lay in but they all choose to lay in the same one. maybe this is normal? i am not sure. but it wasnt what i expected.

 
the kids LOVE going and collecting the eggs. raelyn likes to go out first thing in the morning. you can tell by her jammies. 


we have made a few things with the eggs. we have scrambled them, made an egg casserole, and cookies. it is so fun to use something that OUR chickens produced. it is such a cool learning experience for the kids too. they know that the chickens are here to do a job, provide food for us, not to be our pets. dave has even talked to them about eating one of the birds. not sure we will do that, but the kids seem to totally understand. 

i cant believe i am writing a post about the chickens in our backyard. never thought i would see the day

family shoot

my friend malinda asked me to take some family photos for her. of course i said yes! i just love doing this. i met malinda through MOPS. she is beautiful inside and out. i enjoyed meeting her husband and the cutie kiddos. so here are some of the pics.



gorgeous blondies...







squishing berries and holding on to that feather for dear life.  boys!  

lady in waiting

i had the pleasure of photographing some of our new friends the other night. russ is the music minister at our church and his wife ashley is due to have their first baby in about a week. she is a beautiful mom-to-be. they were super fun to photograph. here are some of their pictures.