1st Day of School! (a few weeks late)

The girls have had a great start to the school year!  Emerson is in her 2nd year of preschool and Avery is a 1st grader this year!!  So far they are LOVING school!!





Emerson, 4 years old





Avery, 6 years old



i.heart.piggies.



Emmy piggies




Avery piggies



Sleepy Shots

My favorite part of any day is when the girls wake up.  Whether it's first thing in the morning or, by some crazy odd happening, one of them wakes from a nap (very RARE), I love their sleepy expressions and cuddly mood.  Emerson fell asleep yesterday afternoon for 2 hours!  I snuck a sleeping picture and a few after she woke up...

Tired girl



Hi Mommy




Why are you doing this to me right now?



Summertime Fun!

Just some randoms from the last few weeks...



Sweet Emmy-loo with her pearl necklace on



Taking a dip in the Columbia River



Sweet Avery monkeying around



Enjoying the River

I'm a lucky mama!!xoxo


Raspberries

A couple weeks ago we went to Arlington to pick raspberries.  We had so much fun!  We couldn't stop picking so we went home with 25 pounds plus a flat of strawberries!  The girls did a wonderful job picking.  I was surprised by how much they were into it!  Sweet memory!

See why I call her my Pistol?  Covered in berry juice and mud! Avery was proud of her picking!

4th of July!!

We were in Eastern WA for the 4th of July.  The warm sun felt so good compared to home!  The girls went on a 4th of July Boat Parade on Alta Lake.  Daddy even snuck in a few days off and made it over too!

Is it finally summer?

Ever since school got out, my girls and I have been keeping very busy!  It's been hard though because we haven't had the greatest of summer weather!  The week after school got out, I did pull out my camera, dust it off and took it in to be inspected... All is well and I've been trying to use it each day!  I've neglected my love of photography (and this blog) and my heart has an empty space I'm trying to fill again.  I'm trying hard each day to rededicate myself.  It seems tougher as the girls get older... and boy are they growing, but I have to nurture my two greatest loves: my sweet family and photography! 

Here are some shots of the girls from late June.... Avery is 6 and each day I'm more convinced she's going to be some sort of model... but the brain this girl has is AMAZING!  She keeps me on my toes and for the first time ever since leaving college with my teaching degree (years and years ago), I've completely resigned myself to the fact that there's a reason I became a teacher... It's because of Avery!

 And here's my beautiful, sweet, energetic, pistol!  I call her my little pistol. My family says she reminds them all of my little sister, and sometimes Em does remind me of Katie.  But she has such a sweet, sensitive, caring heart and pleasing nature (so does Katie, of course). I guess she is a lot like my sis!  She also keeps me and her big sister on her toes!  Emerson turns 4 in a short couple weeks and she wants to be a Paleontologist!  She knows everything and I mean EVERYTHING there is to know about dinosaurs! 

When the sun came out briefly at the end of June, we headed out to the beach.  The girls were pretending they were mermaids and I love this picture!  It speaks volumes of their relationship... Em is always following Avery with adoring steps, keeping up with her sister.  And Avery loves it!

So silly!!! xoxo