She Did a Thing!

Lilyanna has been asking for MONTHS to get a pixie cut!

We gave in yesterday and she is the happiest CUTEST young lady around!

She pulls it off so well.

She says it makes her feel even more like herself and is so excited to accessorize to add that little bit of extra girly touch.

I think it brings out her big beautiful hazel eyes and that sweet dimple she got from her Daddy.

Gah.

STAHP. GROWING. UP.

 Love you Monster.

Spring Soccer Has Sprung!

 Lily and Addison started soccer this Saturday!

This is Addison's first time participating with an indoor team and she was so excited.

 

We offer our girls cash incentives for assists, goals, and stopped goals if they happen to be playing goalie.

 

We used to only pay for goals, but we quickly realized that we wanted to support good team playing skills as well so we added in assists and goalie money to encourage them to be better team players.

Addison stopped 7 goals yesterday and robbed us BLIND.

We pay Lily a higher amount per goal and assist because, as the girls teams get older, it becomes much harder to get a goal!

The harder you work the bigger you get paid!

Scarlett is still too young to play indoor, but she wore her birthday dress yesterday and chased boys, so she was happy.

Lily didn't get a goal or an assist yesterday but her team won!

They all played so well together and we were so impressed with how she fought so hard and stayed in her position.

She was super frustrated but it gave us the opportunity to talk about the importance of EVERY team member on the field and how they help support the goals.

I may sneak her a dollar today anyway cause she's so awesome.

Once She Was 7 Years Old

Nooooooooooooooo!

My baby!

My little Bo.

My teeny little tiny munchkin butt.

HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?!

I know it's so cliche... buuuuuut...

#blessed.

Happy 7th Birthday Scarlett!

We love you so much!

Memories Last a Lifetime

 In November we invited Nicole of NE Photography to capture a regular morning with our family.

Well, almost normal.

I curled my hair and put on some mascara.

You're all welcome.

I've been wanting to do an in home lifestyle session for a long time and when baby came to stay with us I knew that it was important to me to have her time with us documented in photographs.

She is so precious and deserves to have these memories saved.

Plus I don't ever want our girls to forget just how much love they are capable of sharing with others.

There are so many more where this came from, but those will have to be saved for a later date, or maybe just the walls of our home.

Thank you Nicole for helping us document this time in our lives!

Check out her work at facebook.com/nephotography OR on Instagram @nephotography

Baby Bribery

To be transparent, my 489 day hiatus from blogging was a mixture of a few things.

1. Life got stressful and hectic and something had to give a little.

2. Somehow, when Audrey was set to arrive, the email address that was attached to this account was switched to her shower event and I couldn't figure out how to get the heck back into it.

3. My girls stopped agreeing to having their photos taken by my big camera. Like, absolutely refused and made it a miserable experience for everyone involved.

So we took a break.

LOTS of cell phone photos happened, but that's just not the same for me.

Tonight I got home from a session in town and the light was still gorgeous outside so I asked Scarlett if she would pretty please just let me take 5 photos super quick of her.

She said no.

I called her a turd.

Boo Boo Chunk Butt laughed at me and a BRILLIANT idea emerged.

So I asked Scarlett again, but this time, I offered to let her hold the baby!

BINGO PEOPLE.

 

Evening light!

Chubby thighs!

Scarlett in all her big sister glory.

These two make my heart melt.

489 Days

A lot can happen in 489 days.

A school year has passed.

Teeth have been lost.

(They've been re-grown, don't worry.)

Vacations have been taken.

Work has been done.

Fights have been fought.

Hugs have been plentiful.

Tears have been shed.

Encouragement has been shared.

Our family has grown.

 

For the last 10 months we have had the pleasure of caring for the happiest little lady around.

We opened our home to her for as long as needed and she has blessed us in ways we could have never imagined and couldn't prepare for.

The girls have loved every second of watching her grow and trying on their new roles of being the best big sisters to her that they can be while she's with us.

She is so very loved by so many people near and far.

I am hopeful for this young ones journey in life and am blessed to get to be a part of it.

So to answer your questions:

We cannot share her personal information, so we'll be referring to her in any online capacity by one of her many nicknames.

Boo Boo Chunks.

Baby Girl.

Starfish.

Teeny Monster.

Little Wisp.

Tiny Little Princess.

Bright Eyes.

Slobber Face.

Munchkin Butt.

Princess Toes. 

Cutie Patootie.

BooBooChunkerMonkeyTeenyWittleSister.

Pretty much anything adorable or slightly messy or that makes her laugh because she's SO STINKING CUTE and also learning to feed herself.

We also won't be showing her face in it's entirety even though it's literally the cutest because of privacy for her future.

You'll be getting lots of cuteness headed your way and some hilariousness from the Harriot ladies coming soon!