Inadvertent Hiatus

Yeah I know it's been like a 87 years since I have posted. I have a couple of posts I started but never published. Why? I have no idea. It's been a long, hot summer! It's been great and we've all been really busy, trying to manage our days and my business and missing each other because of John's long hours.

Here are some things we've been up to:

1. Having 7+ photo sessions in 2+ weeks has put me really behind on edits and orders. My mom took Ben for ONE WHOLE DAY last week and I am so thankful cause I got a lot done!

2. My niece Anna got baptized on Saturday. I can't believe she is already 8!

3. Ben has gotten back into watching his Thomas movies again, after a short stint with GeoTrax and Planet Heroes (BAH!) I don't think I could stomach the lameness anymore!

4. My sisters came over last Tuesday to help clean and organize my kitchen. We've had a rotation of helping do some of that kind of stuff at each other's houses after we helped Ginny prep for Chrystal's wedding. My kitchen is now primped with the cutest blue and brown polka dot shelf paper EVER. I have awesome sisters.

5. My dad's birthday was last Wednesday. He would have been 67. For those of you who don't know, he passed away in 2000 after a 10+ year battle with Multiple Sclerosis. I love him and miss him!

6. Ben has been on a singing kick lately. He wants to learn the words to every song he hears. This is a completely new thing for him, and it's totally fun. It's much easier to keep him entertained at the store when we sing Thomas songs together!

7. John got a slight raise to his base pay last week. Every little bit helps!

8. I went on a road trip with two of my sisters to visit my nephew CJ, his wife Randi and his cute family in Temple, TX. Temple is a really nice little city! There were 5 little kids total so we went to the park, to the splash park, did some shopping (while my sister Ginny watched all of the kids so the 3 moms could shop alone!) painted our toenails and ate some great food! I got to take their daughter Lisa's 1-year pics since we've been trying to get together for a long time to get them done! Here's one of her and her sister, Mary. Aren't they so cute?

9. Ben actually took a nap today! Yay!

10. I'm looking into preschools for Ben. We're on the waiting list for PK3 at one local elementary school, but we won't know if we even qualify until they call us if they have an opening (so far there are 5 kids in front of us!) We will see what happens. I know Ben would love to go to school, and with all the photo work I am doing it would be great to have time to work!

Here's one last pic of Ben. He rarely lets me take his picture anymore and all I got out of him in Temple was this little melancholy face!