Beach Days– Part 1

I am so thankful that Hurricane Irene only set us back one day!!  We were going to leave early Saturday morning but had to wait until Saturday mid afternoon to leave.  We arrived about 8:30 pm Saturday night!  The trip down was God sent!!  Ryder slept the entire time and Maddox was GREAT!!  We let him have his passy the whole way and bought a DVD player to go on the headrest…money well spent!!  We only stopped one time and that was to eat supper!!  I pray the ride home goes that smoothly!!

We were about 20 minutes from the beach and the sky looked like this!!  God’s creation is just miraculous! 

Ryder was happy to be out of his car seat!

I heart all pics of Mawmaw holding Ryder!

Sunday morning we headed down to the beach.  There is a story behind the traveling gnome.  I think I have already told the story but if so…I’m going to tell it again b/c it has even more significance now.  The gnome was a dirty Santa gift that my Mom ended up with this past Christmas.  Nobody really wanted the gnome b/c…what do you do with it?  Well, Mom decided to start taking it everywhere…vacations, events, etc. and take a picture of it.  Fun idea, right?  She also decided to wrap it up and bring it as a dirty Santa gift this year so that another family gets it and can carry on the new tradition!  Now, the gnome is more treasured b/c my Aunt Helen who recently passed away was the one who brought the gnome as her dirty Santa gift.

Ryder’s first time on the beach!!

Thank goodness for our tent!  My skin does not need more skin cancers!!

I don’t think Maddox is a sand lover…at least not right now.  He doesn’t care for the ocean either!  He gets it honest…Chris nor I love the sand or water.  Chris loves the beach b/c of the fishing and I love the beach to just sit under an umbrella and read a good book or magazine, take a walk along the breakers and let the water hit my feet or just sleep!! (oh yeah…people watching is fun too)

Ryder has found his hands and has been sucking on them like crazy!!  He has found his thumb a few times…too cute!!

Oak Island doesn’t offer much in entertainment other than the beach so one thing we like to do is Dairy Queen!  Vacation is the only time I will visit DQ on a daily basis!! Losing baby weight will have to be put on hold!! ha!

Hurricane Irene…Please Go East!!

Seriously?  I can’t believe our one vacation for the year is going to get interrupted by a Hurricane!!  I have been fortunate to have a low stress, stay at home, fun summer so I am not going to gripe too much about not getting a vacation but on the other hand, my poor husband NEEDS A VACATION!!  He has been very stressed at work and deserves so much to get away!!

So prayers are going up for all the people that will be affected by this Hurricane.  I know my vacation is trivial compared to the devastation that a storm like this can cause.

On another note..I had the honor of shooting these beautiful girls on Tuesday. Keleigh is Elynds Mom and Ashleigh is Keleigh’s sister.  I am by no means a photographer but it is fun to do pictures for friends!!

All photography blogs and tips I have ever read have always said that “lighting makes all the difference in photography”.  Tuesday evening  I found “my” sweet spot.  I finally captured that sparkle in the eyes!!  This pic is SOOC!!!  (well actually I did adjust the shadowing just a tish)

Our neighbor Alissa and her bunny!

 

 

This pic was taken when it was almost dark outside and I didn’t use a flash!!  Can you tell I was motivated to play around with my camera!!

Maddox Goes to Preschool!

We have had another milestone today!

I can’t believe he is in preschool.  I remember when he was born thinking…oh we have a long time before we have to start worrying about looking for a preschool or even thinking about it.  Well, the day came very quickly.  I know you are wondering…did I cry?  Believe it or not…I didn’t, but my sweet little Maddox did!  That tore me up inside but I knew that he would be ok once he got settled in.  If I didn’t know that preschool will benefit him …I would have felt like a bad Mommy!

I can’t believe I actually had time to take a picture BEFORE we left!!!

His new back pack!

Gotta start em off with some new kicks!!  I’m sure those white shoe strings will be brown in a few weeks!!

Waiting in line to drop him off.  They didn’t want the parents walking them in…makes sense considering all the tears shed!!

I actually had some special time with this cutie!!  I think that is one of the very few times all summer I have had only Ryder!  The house was VERY quiet!!

Maddox had a great time after his rough start!  He says he wants to go back tomorrow! I know it wore him out because he took a 3 hour nap this afternoon!! He will go only on Thursdays and Fridays from 8:30 – 11:30 . Once I start back to work, I will take him and my Mom will pick him up!

Let the 2 year old preschool days begin!!

Pool, Photography, Friends and LAUNDRY!

That is what we have been up to!! 

 

Jordan and Breanna (our neighbors) went to the pool with us last Friday!! Maddox was in heaven having Jordan, Breanna, Caine and Tori all at the pool with him!!

My little man is getting brave!!  He is only holding on to a noodle in the deep end!!  He has come a long way from the death grip he usually has on me!!

OH to be young again!!  How fun does this look!!  I remember the days of playing in the pool like this…chicken fights, pyramids and lots of pool games!

After we left the pool, we went home and got ready for the football game!!  I took Tori, Breanna and Maddox to the game with me. I think it would be an understatement to say that I was frazzled by the end of the game!  It is HARD work trying to keep a 2 year old content at a packed out (hardly even room to sit) football game.  I guess the game was good…I wouldn’t know…I don’t think I even got to watch one play!  Anyway, the Wolves won!!!

On Saturday, I took my photography class!!!  It was a basic DSLR class.  I did learn a few things!!  I would definitely like to take more classes! Here are a few pics I took at the class.

Saturday evening we got to hang out with our friends Krista and Matthew!

I don’t know why….but I love this pic!

Maddox and Elan…getting ready to go for a ride!

Off they go!

They made it out of the driveway and the battery died!! Bummer!

Ryder after church…because there is NEVER a photo op before church.  We are always running around like chickens with our head cut off trying to get out the door and then we are still running late!  Is anybody else’s Sunday morning like that?  Growing up, my Mom got 3 girls ready and dinner started and we always made it to Sunday School on time…How did she?

Sunday evening we had orientation at Maddox’s preschool.  He starts Thursday!!  Holy cow! My baby is starting preschool!!

Can you guess what I did on Monday!!  Add a few more loads to this and that sums up most of my day!! 

Love this pic!!  Love the freckle on his lip!

How sweet is this pottery bowl!  A client gave it as a baby gift for Maddox…I can usually get him to eat better when I put his food in it b/c he is into tractor’s right now!!

Have I ever mentioned how sweet Ryder is!!

He has been sleeping all night…Whoop Whoop!  I usually have to get up once and put his passy in but that is it.  He recently has bumped up to 5 oz.  He is starting to chunk up quickly.

My little Ryder Bear!! 

Hope everyone is having a great week!!