3 years old!

(Avery doesn't like fire, can't you tell?)

My baby is 3, how can this be? She was so thrilled to turn 3...we made a really big deal about all the wonderful things you can do by yourself when you're 3 years old! Even in the midst of our moving drama (see entry below), we really wanted to make Avery's birthday special. Thanks, Patrick and Megan for bringing your boys to Powhatan to celebrate with us! Thanks Matt and Dad Davis for coming too! Avery LOVED her pumpkin cake. I admit, for being gluten free, egg free and dairy free, it was definitely NOT taste free!! :-) Delicious!

3 years old

opening presents...

Kyla at Avery's party...couldn't resist this great expression captured on camera!

A trip home to LA

I have been very absent from the blogging world lately. That's because our lives have been extremely busy and full. There are many stories to tell, I'm not sure where I should start! So, I'll begin with our wonderful get-a-way to Los Angeles! ...This story really begins in Charlotte, NC...

After packing up our home in Charlotte, the girls and I spent a week with my sister and brother in law in Radford, VA while Pete took care of many last minute details of packing and moving. We met Pete in Charlottesville, VA and proceeded to unload and unpack every waking minute for almost a week. While doing all of this, we had some bad things happen to our new home in C'ville. A leaky roof one evening, holes and cracks in the window sills that were not getting repaired, and then we had a small flood in our basement. Unfortunately, our landlord was not interested in fixing these problems ASAP, like they needed to be. (Especially a dripping roof with increasing water damage and mold growth!), so we were let out of our lease (without penalty, of course). Added into that week, Avery had a fever and a cold.

After a week of living there, we knew we were going to be moving out, but first we had a week long trip to LA that had been planned for quite a few months. Our good friend, Nate Towery and his fiance, flew us out to LA to shoot their beautiful wedding in San Pedro. While we were there, we filled our days with visiting good friends, and eating at our favorite restaurants that we missed so much. We even fit in a trip to Santa Barbara, where Pete did some second-shooting with our good friend and photographer, Veronique Guy. It made our entire summer to spend such a great time with Peter and Veronique! We were also able to stay with our good friends, Scott and Donna Barlow and see their growing family. They made our trip such a blessing by having us in our home for two nights. After visiting with our friends in Simi Valley, we made our way down the 405 freeway to San Pedro for Nate and Courtney's wedding. It was not only a beautiful wedding, but such a Christ-centered ceremony full of joyful worship and adoration for our Lord. It was such a blessing to photograph such a lovely couple and capture their special day for them!
After the reception, we went to see Dave and Amy Casler in Glendale and we stayed one night. We had a great time catching up and they were so sweet to make a huge (and delicious!) french toast breakfast for us the next morning! We had a great time walking all over Glendale and eating at Pinkberry's. Thanks, Dave and Amy!
Then we were on to do a photo shoot with Peter and Veronique in Culver City. After our great time with them, it was a trip down memory lane for us...stopping by our old neighborhood Trader Joe's, where I used to go grocery shopping with Kyla and Avery when Kyla was only 2 and 3 and Avery was just a little baby in a sling. :-) Then we drove by our old apartment and Carlson Park. Kyla called Carlson Park the "tree" park, and we probably went htere every single day of the week. The memories that flooded our mind of our little Kyla running around and playing peek-a-boo behind a palm tree were too many to count. I don't think I realized how much I missed our "home" until I was back in Culver City.
The last leg of our trip was just the two of us relaxing and sleeping in our hotel in Marina Del Rey. We visited with Kevin and Annie Wylie and were blessed to see their brand new baby girl, Eva, who was only 10 days old! The whole trip was fun, busy, and relaxing and refreshing all at the same time. Many thanks to all who housed us and let us stop by and many, many thanks to my mom and dad who kept Kyla and Avery so Pete and I could have a little honeymoon in the midst of our crazy moving experience!

A trip back home to LA

Pete in Malibu

Looking down to the ocean from the top of Pt. Dume

The day was really overcast, but still you can see how beautiful this place is!

My little collection of dessert flowers lying in the sand at the beach. I had a lot of fun trying to make this picture "just right". It included getting super wet and really sandy. :-)

A trip home to LA

Walking in downtown Culver City

Peter and Veronique Guy

Underneath the Jaqueranda tree (my favorite California tree!)

At Pt. Dume in Malibu, CA

8 amazing years

I'm really behind on blogging these days. But I didn't want too many days to slip by without blogging about our special day, May 26th. I have been married 8 years now to the man of my dreams. Life really only gets better with him by my side. I was head-0ver-heals in love on our wedding day...I couldn't imagine loving him more! Oh, but there was definitely more room for more love. (If you're not sick of the lovey-dovey cheesiness then you can continue to read)

When I married Pete, I had sort of an idea of what kind of husband he would be, but I had no idea what kind of dad he would be.

He's the kind of husband that comes home from work and immediately sees what might need to be done and does it every single time (whether that's playing with the kids, cooking dinner, or cleaning up). He's the kind of husband who if he knows I have had a really hard day dealing with Avery and her skin, he will give me the keys to the car and push me out the door so that I can go have a break. He's the kind of husband who never puts himself first. He's always thinking of ways to make me happy or take care of the girls, instead of doing something for himself.

He's the kind of daddy who gets up in the middle of the night 99% of the time if one of the girl's wakes up (right now, it's Avery). This started when Avery was a baby and was nursing VERY often at night. I was so exhausted and couldn't sleep because every time my head hit the pillow I would have to wake right back up again. So, I started to even have a hard time falling asleep (since I was anticipating waking up). So, he recommended I wear ear plugs and told me he would just bring Avery to me whenever she needed to nurse, but he would take care of the rest. So, this was 2 years ago, but he still does it. Yes, I still wear ear plugs. Yes, Avery still wakes up often (though not nearly as much as when she was a baby!). He tells me he sees it like this: I need more sleep than him to function normally. He does great with 6 hours, if I get less than 8, I'm dragging all day long.

There are so many more reasons that I love him, but these are pretty amazing reasons to love this man. Happy 8 years, babe. You're the best.

Kyla's words of wisdom

Before my story, a comment about the pictures above...the girls taking a nature walk with their daddy,
Kyla finding some more beautiful spring "life" in the woods, and Avery wearing a dress. I had to get this one on camera. You always see Avery in long sleeves and pants because of her eczema. Poor girl, if she sees her bare skin, she goes after it and scratches until it bleeds. For some reason, this particular day (a few weeks ago) she was really focused on her play and actually forgot about her skin! Or at least she was distracted enough! This lasted for a full 15 minutes or so...amazing! She's so cute in a dress, I really hope one day she'll be able to wear them without scratching herself.

Okay, on with the story. So, today was a rather rough afternoon with Avery and her skin. Actually, to be quite honest it has been a very rough spring (March, April and May) with Avery's skin. "They" ranked Charlotte as the #3 worst city in the nation for springtime allergies. Yikes. We can tell!! So, while Avery was screaming in the bath, Pete was with her. I was reading Kyla a book before her bedtime. After the book Kyla gave me a huge tackling hug and held me so tight...so sweet. She said, "Mama, I'm hugging you and you're hugging me, we're carrying each other," and if that's not sweet enough she then went on to say, "it's kinda like God carrying us. He holds us tight. You know, mama, God carries babies and kids and adults."

Well, if that wasn't a word sent right from God to me tonight through my precious little girl, then I don't know what is! :-)

I'm so thankful He carries us. What a great reminder. :-)

An update on life...

I've been rather absent in the blogging world lately.

Shooting weddings with Pete, teaching childbirth classes, prenatal visits with doula clients, to and from the allergist and acupuncturists for Avery's allergies, finding out she's allergic to more and more foods and things outside, Pete getting a job interview and offer in Charlottesville, Virginia and accepting!...getting ready for a possible move...and sometimes wondering why a job near the ocean has not opened up for him (avery's doctor told us to move near the ocean)...but still we're trusting that the Lord knows best where we are supposed to be right now.

....Also wondering why the Philippines had to be put on hold due to finances, but also trusting that even though He may be calling us there, it must not be His timing to GO right now....

...all that and still trying to maintain normalicy and a rhythm of some sort to our days here...

well, those are all great stories to blog about, but it's also why I haven't been blogging...
even as I write I really need to be planning for my class I'm teaching tomorrow...so, with that said...
goodnight!

Happy Easter

Happy Easter to everyone! We were so blessed to spend the weekend with Rosie, Jonathan and Ian. The kids enjoyed playing in the river on Friday, having a yummy Easter dinner on Saturday made by Jonathan and Rosie, and all of us worshiping together at church on Sunday. It was so wonderful t0 have the kids with us in church and us all being together.

Special times and special moments. Rejoicing together that Jesus really loved us THAT much and sacrificed himself so we could be united with him forever...then he came back to life on Easter. How amazing. I'm so thankful.

Thanks, Rosie and Jonathan for such a special weekend! We really missed Aunt Charlotte and Mom, I hope you feel better, Charlotte! The girls LOVED seeing Papa again! Thanks for coming! More pictures to come of our weekend!

Easter 2009

Down by the River

The kids had a BLAST throwing rocks in the water. One after another. They could have stayed there all day, and had we known, we would have just packed dinner. Despite the river being freezing cold, they could have cared less as they waded further and further out to pick up just one more rock.

Our local CSA

We were so excited today to stop by our local CSA (community supported agriculture) and pick up our first share of the season! Kyla is proudly showing it off, along with the pink egg she dyed yesterday at the Creehan's easter party :-)
This is our very first year being part of a CSA, and for us it is Poplar Ridge Farm about 5 miles away from us in Charlotte, NC. I have wanted to do something like this for years! Some CSA's have membership fees where you pay once a year for produce for your whole family, and then receive a share each week of whatever is growing at the time.

Pete is doing a photography barter with our CSA, so we're able to exchange photography for fresh food! Can't get much better than that :-) We're super excited. The eggs above were delicous...and so were the portobello mushrooms. The apples were probably the sweetest I've ever tasted. I don't think this was just in my head...it truely was very fresh food!

You can click on the CSA link above and it will take you to localharvest.org where you can find the CSA closest to you!