I'm a little late to the party...

I am FINALLY posting a few pics from Rylee's first day of school... I think I'm still in denial. I can't believe how fast this day has come along, and how excited my baby is to be, in her words, "getting so grown up, Mom. I'm barely a kid anymore!"

The good news is she LOVES Kindergarten... when we picked her up after her big first day and asked how it went, she said, "A-MA-ZING!" Let's hope she can keep that enthusiasm!


new outfit - she picked it out herself


new backpack (the reason she chose the outfit) and sparkly new shoes


ready to go


trepidation


teacher love - her name is Ms. Lovell and she is the reason we put Roo on D track


mini-Rylee


celebrating a successful first day with a little sugar love (we are still working with Kam on the swallowing before opening your mouth bit)

and one more -

this seriously seems like yesterday - nobody blink!

Um, yeah... I completely hate the clock.

So apparently two years (and a few weeks... I'm such a slacker!) have passed since Kam, in Rylee's words, "escaped from Heaven." And although she is getting cuter by the day and her personality is like a freakin' supernova, I just want the clock to SLOW DOWN already! Life just keeps getting busier and busier and I feel like it's getting harder and harder to really experience each moment. I seriously want to lock my kids in a time-proof box so that I can quit worrying about how different they'll be the next time I blink. Anyone know where I can get one of those?

And yeah... she was a little STINKER for these photos, but I was going for personality shots anyway. She definitely has plenty of that, with an extra dose of attitude thrown in! I love this little girlie more than should be humanly possible, even if she did get into my make-up this morning and laugh an evil little laugh (yep, Ben taught her to cackle) while I scrubbed up the mess! Why do two year olds absolutely DELIGHT in destruction? Oh, well... only 11.5 months of two to go... and I'm honestly in no rush whatsoever for age three to come along!

CARNIES

Rylee's preschool had an end of year carnival this weekend, so of course we had to go and represent.



She was so excited about it... she loved all of the inflatable and 70s throw-back rides (you know, the ghetto spinning type that are designed to make you puke). She even loved this wierd caterpillar thing that pretty much looked like it was pooping her out. Good times.



Kambrie slept most of the time we were there, and upon waking refused to go on any rides at all. Thank goodness for the cotton candy, which both girls loved, or the night would have been a total bust for little miss bed head.





Yeah, did I mention Rylee liked the cotton candy? Sheesh.

Oh, and here are a couple snaps from the back yard the other day. They may drive me a bit more than half crazy on a daily basis, but they really do take my breath away.





*I must mention that Kristi sewed the little dress Roo wore to the carnival. It is now her fave thing to wear and I'm thinking Kris should start her clothing line ASAP.

Peace!

Mr. E. Bunny

Yep, he found us. Brought us flowers, dutifully ate the carrot we left him (it was actually pretty yummy!) and left us a ton of crap that we don't need. I think I've eaten at least 200 lbs of Reese's since Sunday. Seriously. I'm beginning to waddle.


Ben took this pic of the girls at Wheeler Farm on Saturday. It was FREEZING, and the poor kids had to wait for over an HOUR to take a little tractor ride. Still, the girlies had fun and that's what it's all about. I just love this pic because it totally captures their interaction lately - Rylee is so intense and Kam is such a stinker!

The girls had a full day Sunday. They were both so excited after they finally rolled out of bed - like around 11:00am - and saw all their loot.

K, when I was a kid, I was always up at the crack of dawn on gift-bearing holidays. How come I have to beg my kids to get up and come see all their candy/gifts? It's just not right.

Anyway, after church we...

Decorated eggs,


Hunted for eggs...


Kam got bored with the eggs and decided to play in the sand...


And Rylee shared some eggs since she ended up finding them all while Kam played in the sand (see, she really is a good sister when it comes right down to it!).


We even had a visit from the Ice Cream Man (I swear the girls were way more excited about that than anything else!) and a long, hot bath to clean off all the sugar and sand. Good day.

Check back for pictures of the girlies in their pretty little Easter Dresses! They are quite possibly my favorite thing about Easter...

So sick and so cute...

Yes, Rylee is super sick. She had to stay home from preschool today because she woke up at 5am and has been carrying a bowl around ever since. The truly sick thing, though, is that I'm a little bit happy about it... I know, I'm evil. Of course I'm not happy that she doesn't feel good, poor baby, I feel awful about that. I'm just a little bit happy that we got to spend the day at home together, snuggled up on the couch, watching sappy kid movies and letting all the errands and other stresses go for the day. And just look at this picture - can you believe how CUTE she is, even when she's sick?

Now, Kambrie. She is not feeling sick. Not one little bit. She is a ball of constant energy and attitude. Take these pictures from last week (to read a little story about the woe that went into getting these pictures, and see a few more, visit http://danipeekphotography.blogspot.com/).

I happen to think these photos are pretty stinkin' cute. That said, TAKING THIS KID'S PICTURE IS A JOKE! Between working at Kiddie Kandids and my own photographic pursuits, I have taken pictures of quite a few kiddos. Rylee can be relatively difficult to photograph, but Kambrie takes the cake! She is SO hard. She refuses to pose, she refuses to look at me, she refuses to hold still whatsoever. My only friends are my fast shutter and my ability to act like a monkey to get her attention. Still, there is something to be said for the unposed, spontaneous expressions I am (sometimes) able to capture because of her camera-attitude. Despite the occasional, random ta-ta grabbing, I wouldn't trade these genuine bits of captured personality for a million posed, forced smile shots!

We're in Trouble...

Oh, my cute little Kambrie. She looks sweet and innocent, right?

Yeah, not so much. This little girl has become SUCH a mischief maker lately! Today she stripped down and peed on the carpet; dumped her popcorn all over herself, the couch and the floor and then danced around on it to crunch it all in to the couch and floor; climbed onto her dresser and pulled all of the wetwipes out and decorated her room with them; and smashed girl scout cookies all over the place.

Probably sounds like she goes quite unsupervised. Not so. She simply recognizes the exact moment I am busy with something else, and then she strikes. If I'm cleaning up one mess she's made, she sees it as an opportunity to make another (I try to have her help me clean up, but let's be honest - all she does is smash the cookies and popcorn into the carpet even more!).

I swear, with this girl around, I live in fear of having to use the bathroom! I never know what I'll find upon coming out...

Yep, we're in Big Trouble with this one!

New Photography Blog

My photography blog is up and going! The title to this post will link you, or you can click http://danipeekphotography.blogspot.com/. Please share the link and add it to your blog lists! You'll find a slideshow of some of my recent/fave work at the bottom. Check it out and let me know what you think!