photo shoot fun

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a few weeks ago i had a fun early morning indoor photo shoot at the boy's school
as celebration for our annual moment with mom at school

it began with beautiful bright balloons at 6am in the dark 

in the school cafeteria

corbin, brian and myself set up food and the balloons in about 45 minutes

then started serving and taking pictures at 7 am

 i sat up a 4 dozen balloon backdrop

then photographed about 180 kids with their mom during a Moment with Mom photoshoot

that only lasted 45 minutes

seriously long lines from the cafeteria to the 1st grade hall

photographing sleepy headed kiddos and their hurried, tired moms at 7:30 am is actually pretty cruel

but everyone worked hard for a few seconds to hold their eyes open a little wider and smile a lot bigger

such lovable families

it was a CRAZY early morning

but in the end turned out to be so fun

and the pics turned out super duper cute

then i left the school for my annual dr appt down the road at 8:30

then picked Cooper up at school at 10

then we took Mocha to her ultrasound at 11

30 miles away

then had lunch at whataburger 

and a date at the bowling alley until 2

 made it back just in time to pick up corbin from school

the next morning we loaded up a car load of 5 boys and celebrated the boy's birthday 

and kept 4 boys for a sleep over

got them all up and dressed for church by 7:30 am Sunday morning

CRAZY weeekend

photo session {coopcorb}

the boys were so cooperative and into our little photo shoot
 it was early morning with the best light
 i could have taken hundreds more pics
 of course after 5-7 they were ready to just "explore now"

both of them have light, sensitive eyes
  can't stand to be looking towards the sun for more than a sec

i love all the outtakes

this is so them
but not the right spot or angle
thankfully they were willing to relocate for another try

as well as this one - so them

we got our "money" shot, as we called it
for our christmas card 
(stay tuned)

and i think they boys were pleasantly surprised how fun posing for mom can be

and i want to cry now because they are so handsome

and big

not my babies anymore

like, at all

sniff sniff

horseback riding

last Sunday the boy's got to go horseback riding...

their first time!

i'm so thankful for these pictures
since i was at the church giving my third africa presentation

looks like he is having a good time

such a pretty horse

i remember riding horses for the first time when i was closer to 10. 

they are so strong and brave!

 this boy is so handsome

thank you medlin's for a fun time riding your horses!

Back to School {First Grade}

my first born's first day of first grade. whaaa! where does the time go?

 man i love him something fierce. 

such a sweet kid. funny. handsome. complicated. smart. 

curious.  creative. compassionate. giving. protective.

he is his own little guy. and i love that for him.

god has cooper in his grip. my angels have told me so :)

oh silly corbin pierce. of course he needed a turn holding the sign TOO! 

such a cute little guy... seriously.  he certainly has my heart. he's smart. 

sensitive. natural leader. silly. active. bossy. thinker. talker. 

corbin is a blessing! i can't wait to see how he soars on through the 1st grade!

 we sure are blessed to be parents to this big duo.

and yes, they are growing like weeds!

my BIG boys

cooper peyton
first born twin

corbin pierce
baby b

5 year stats... for the grandparents and so we don't forget :-)
Coop: 45 pounds, 3 feet 8 inches tall
Corb: 47 pounds, 3 feet 10 inches tall

These boys are the light of our life.
Miracles from God.
Conceived using modern medicine. god's perfect design. totally a mix of Adam and I.
they are smart, funny, sensitive, compassionate, silly, loving, handsome, rowdy, playful little guys. right now they are really into playing video games (lego batman, star wars, harry potter), corbin loves riding his bike, cooper his scooter. they really enjoy putting together legos, playing games on the computer or my iphone. corbin likes to color and draw. cooper loves any type of craft we can come up with. their getting so good with using their manners with lots of please, thanks yous and may i's. corbin is so great at throwing out random "i love you's" to all of us. and talks ALL THE TIME. questions non stop. :) cooper still likes to be cuddled and held. is quieter and a real thinker.
we love these boys to pieces!
thanks be to God for the gift of being their parents.
we appreciate the challenges and lessons that go with parenting. and love watching our babes growing up.
5 years went too fast.

afternoon at the park

swing me higher, momma! corbin pierce loved swinging today. he's never liked it that much until now. he was trying to get the coordination down for pumping himself. i could see the wheels turning in his head by the way he held his tongue partially out of his mouth. i could hardly pull him away from the swings when it was time to move on.when did my little ones turn into such BIG BOYS?! they are becoming so independent. so very tall, and smart. there are days i hardly recognize them. wish they would slow down this whole growing up part of life. i love when they tell me they want to marry me and live here with me and dad forever. meltwe walked all along the river that runs through the park. i showed the boys how fun it is to throw sticks and rocks in the water. Cooper totally loved finding the biggest stick he could and making a big splash.lots of reminders spoken to not get too close to the water. it was deep in places. the thought of having to jump in after one of my babes was very unpleasant. swimming in said "river" with that green stuff... creepy.excited Spring is here! exploring the great outdoors with the boys is big fun.

the angels rejoiced

we are all happy with daddy's new car purchase.
i love the color. it's the 8th Honda we've owned between the two of us. hopeful it proves to be another reliable source of transportation.
orange is their favorite color right now.
we were blessed with a little spring weather preview on Monday so we planted some bulbs. corbin asked me if the bulb would make the ground hot.

finding worms and giving them names and a new home was on the agenda for coopcorb.
corbin loved the yogurt sample at Costco so much he stuck his nose in it.
i can barely lift these two up into a grocery cart. so heavy and tall.

love you big.

I sure do love my boys! so thankful for this parenting gig. it's hard and real. humbling and fantastic. it wouldn't be the same without my awesome love. he continues to be so wise and patient. and super duper handsome! mmm hmm i'm lucky for this life. this family. blessed!

these feet worked HARD

aw, clean little boy feet. the best.

hard at work unloading firewood from the back of the Pilot. it's our truck sometimes too. handy.
so serious about their "job"..... "we're worker mans mama!" oh how they love to have a job to do. easy.child.labor
he loves this pullover sweater these days. don't you love hand-me-downs? twin hand-me-downs are the bomb! {i'm not going to say hmd's anymore}

have a happy day. and don't forget to give your kiddos a job to do. it's good for them! and they love it :)

Random

love this game.
play it everyday.


reading books before bed.

sweet child of mine.

house and home

a perfect sized bowl of ice cream with chocolate syrup after naptime.
ice cream is so good when it's cold outside.
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bumble bee pillow pet {love}

lady bug too. crazy about the boys new quilts. [thanks mom!]
masculine colors, lots of texture and flannel. so perfect for these two.






thrifty finds. the cat clock reminds me of one that used to hang in my grandma's kitchen.


going through lots of firewood this winter.
pistachio cake