an ode to hanna. love, elias

hanna loves to put on shows

and elias loves to take pictures.

one evening, the show seemed to go on forever

but when i looked at my camera, my heart was glowing.

how happy is this little girl.

and how talented is my son?

father's day.

i must admit,

i married someone pretty special.

he is kind, generous, funny

and pretty darn handsome.

our kiddos adore him.

as they should.

he is the fun one,

the one with less rules and inhibition.

he gives so much to our family

and for that, i am so grateful.

the kids were not on their best behavior today,

and yesterday we did sacrifice our coolness and buy a minivan.

but overall, 

i am pretty sure that this special guy had a great father's day.

happy father's day, reza.

we love you

xoxo.

turtle catching and a quick beach jaunt

the best part about our neighborhood is all the woods for exploring.

because of this, there is lots of wildlife.

you know,

turtles,

blue herons,

baby deer,

rabid foxes.

we don't discriminate,  we like them all.

but we certainly enjoy the pond in our backyard. 

we can wake up and watch the geese, herons, and turtles

and a certain someone

wakes up every morning

asking to go fishing.

because i don't take the fish off the hook, i prefer a little turtle catching.

all you need is some bread and a big net.

 here is a little guy we found.

we brought him home for a little while to play with.

 and here is a big guy.

 this picture is totally unrelated, but hanna spends a lot of time putting bandaids on.

 on sunday we decided to wake up early and head to wrightsville beach.

the drive went smoothly.

it was unseasonable cold in the morning

but the view was pretty amazing.

and have i mentioned that my kids were made for the beach.

they love it.

 unfortuntately, minutes after we got there, ada complained of not feeling well.

her situation took a turn for the worse

and now she is home from school with strep throat.

and just for memories sake,

i sure hope her very gray front tooth falls out soon.

she and elias were wrestling and fell off a bed together.

and now,

she has a big, gray front tooth.

good thing she still has her baby teeth,

but i am ready for it to go!

a picture by elias, proof that my big, pregnant self was there!

a soccer round up.

with a sigh of relief,

i can officially say that soccer season has ended.  

maybe that is because we have had a FULL week of the vomit virus

strike our house again.

i am exhausted.

seriously exhausted

(as if i wasn't already).

i have mentioned before that i never dreamed of being a "soccer mom"

but alas, my day has come.

i really do love watching them play.

but soccer, three days a week is a lot!

elias goes out there full speed.

he pushes and shoves and scores goals like it is his only job.

then he quits

or takes his shirt off and flies around like superman.

ada has gotten so much better this season.

she loves to run and tries harder than everyone else on the field.

she is thoughtful and passes.

always following the rules.

and now, thankfully, we move on to pool season.

swim team every day

for two months!

lucky for me, it is four doors away!