nancy - 59/365 - Orlando, Florida USA

June 18

Today I photographed this sweet, sweet one year old boy. I've had the pleasure of capturing him several times during his first year of life. He, like his parents, is quite charismatic and full of life. This morning, though, he was all business.

There was a fair amount of pointing towards moving objects. In this case I believe a garbage truck had caught his eye.

He shared a sweet moment with his beautiful Mama.

There was a fair amount of the bear crawl. He's so close to walking!

A moment with his gorgeous parents.

And, of course, there was cake. He dug right into this cupcake and devoured the entire thing in minutes! Awesome!

And to finish the session (and clean off the cupcake leftovers) he took a dip in the pool with Dad.

What a fun day!

I love this job!

nancy - 58/365 - Orlando, Florida USA

John & his best bud from preschool. Snacking on graham crackers and debating the merits of various forms of transportation.

June 17

We met in preschool. We were in the same class and our Mother's arranged playdates. Flash forward 33 years and we're still friends. Our lives are intertwined more than either of us could have ever imagined.

John is in preschool. He loves his playdates with Gavin. I wonder if they'll still be friends 33 years from now.

John, Gavin, Isa & Ovella watching it rain, rain, rain.

Sweet tootsies

nancy - 57/365 - Orlando, Florida USA

June 16 5:34 pm

Owen has just finished devouring sweet potatoes, apples and rice. He's now thrashing in his chair and laughing at his brother.

John is drawing out the dinner process. He knows he's going to bed EARLY.

I've enjoyed some sparkling water with lemon. Dreaming of a quiet dinner with my hubby.

Rugs are hanging on the drying rack. Laundry to be folded sits in the chair.

This is a normal evening. Waiting, waiting, waiting for Dad to come home.

It was a long, long day filled with a crazy afternoon storm that lasted for hours. Inches of rain and hundreds of lightning strikes. I was ready to put these peeps to bed. Boys were down by 7:00. I was out by 9:00. It's a glamorous life.

nancy - 56/365 - Orlando, Florida USA

June 15

It's HOT.

hot hot hot hot hot hot hot hot hot

Crazy hot and we're just waiting for the rains of summer to begin. I water the plants and four hours later they're wilted. One tomato plant is holding strong, though it looks really sad. The leaves on all the plants are just sagging.

But the zinnias? They're made for this weather. They bloom and look beautiful regardless of the heat.

nancy - 55/365 - Orlando, Florida USA

June 14

I love this kid.

An afternoon errand that ended at the new yogurt shop. Just the two of us. Awesome.

nancy - 54/365 - Orlando, Florida USA

June 13

We've put off the task for years.

Almost 17 to be exact.

We went through his tools. They'd gathered much dust and a wee bit of rust. We sorted the keepers, tossers and recyclers. I sorted the memories. And the unanswered questions.

nancy - 53/365 - Orlando, Florida USA

June 12

After a busy, busy week of balancing the daily life with swim lessons we had a delightful Saturday.

• Jeff & John brought home loads of goodies from the Farmer's Market - tomatoes, Florida blackberries, croissants, and corn. YUMMY!
• To celebrate the end of swim lessons, we swam and had a tasty picnic lunch with our very dear friends, the Springharts.
• I took a nap. A long, refreshing nap.
• After much discussion we headed to Lowe's to buy blackout shades for the boys rooms. I'm tired of getting up at 6 am when the sun rises and lights up their rooms. Hoping it was worth it.
• Jeff outdid himself by making an amazing dinner of pork marsala, lemon brocoli and roasted potatoes.

A GREAT Saturday.

Amy - 58/365 - Perth, WA, AUS

My poor, sad, hurt boy :( He is often the victim of little Leila's attacks! Today, he was hiding from me under a blanket in the living room and she knew he was there. Soooooo, she ran over, jumped on the pile, and bit down hard on the first thing she found - his nose! OUCH!!! Thankfully, the teeth marks disappeared pretty quickly; however, the Rudolph nose remained behind. To distract him, I asked if I could take a picture to show Daddy later and it worked. By the last picture he was calm and almost forgot the pain!!!

Amy - 57/365 - Perth, WA, AUS

Memories....

Ahhhhhh! The erg and I go waaaaaaay back (right, Nancy?!?)! Today, before BodyStep class, I decided to complete a 2,000 meter row workout. Lately, I've been lacking in cardio, since I've been focusing on BodyPump, so I was really surprised that I had my best time at this gym and I was able to rock some good power tens!!!

Amy - 56/365 - Perth, WA, AUS

Today, I went out into our backyard to sneak (LOL) a picture of my neighbor's trees. My goal was to capture what I feel is common of plants during WINTER in Perth, Western Australia:

- Though the tree has changed colors, not all the leaves are falling off or giving in.

- The tree doesn't look dormant and is actually really healthy from all the rain.

- There are new buds on the tree ... already!

- The lush green tropical tree in the background reminds me that this is a beach area.

Amy - 55/365 - Perth, WA, AUS

I must confess, I am happy that today is (almost) over! Logan was not feeling well today and ran a low-grade fever: he barely ate, drank a little, and stayed in this location for most of the day :( Leila was miserable, too, with a cross between teething and her allergies. She coughed most of the day and cried on & off all afternoon/evening... Some days, bed time cannot come soon enough, the silence and time without my two-year-old appendage is priceless.

Amy - 54/365 - Perth, WA, AUS

For some reason, I was inspired to declutter the "art area" (for lack of a better term) today, while the kids colored. We have two baskets filled with school and home art projects. I feel that it is impossible to keep and/or scrapbook them all, so we have a deal: I take a picture of it and then we recycle it. Someday, when I catch up with my scrapbooking projects, I will print the pictures and put them in their school books. In the mean time, it helps to keep the growing mess under control! I posted a few of the pictures I took on Facebook in my "Fun Artwork by My Talented Kids!" folder :)

Considering this area was an embarrassment a few hours ago, I am happy with my progress for the day:

I even considering posting less pics of Leila's birthday, because it looked so bad!

Amy - 53/365 - Perth, WA, AUS

The boys bonded today: Chad, Logan, & the temperamental, overheated Jeep :) Several of Chad's work friends met up for a day of four wheeling. Logan was very excited to go and had a great time with his Daddy! The Jeep survived, but I foresee some improvements in it's future, so it can reach it's fullest potential.

nancy - 52/365 - Orlando, Florida USA

June 11

For years we've tried to grow basil in the summer. By mid-June it always becomes apparent that the basil is dying. We thought the problem was the heat. Surprise, surprise we tried again this year because we're stubborn. By late last week it appeared that we epically FAILED.

Then I had an idea. Why don't we change our approach. Every year we put the basil in a pot and stick it on the patio where it may, or may not, get watered on a consistent basis. And it's subject to the sun's punishing rays all day long. My brilliant idea was to stick the pot under the tree where'd it have a break from the midday sun and water from the sprinkler system.

Guess what?

In one week we have pretty, pretty dark green basil.

AMAZING.

All I did was change our approach and just look at the outcome. Perhaps I need to apply this to other elements of my life.

Amy - 52/365 - Perth, WA, AUS

I rarely shop and today took the "day off" to hit the shops with Kristy. It was a great time and she helped me load up on Australian souvenirs for the trip home next month. To be honest, I really felt that I didn't want to mess with bringing stuff over; however, the giver in me won out :) I spent so much, the guy gave me this giant shopping bag for free - LOL!!! I don't want to spoil the surprise of all the goodies, so this is just sneak peek...

nancy - 51/365 - Orlando, Florida USA

June 10

With 29 days to go until vacation, it seemed time to begin the countdown. I thought a countdown chain was in order so I asked Jana to work on one with John this morning. I came back from the shop and was blown away with the amazingness of this project. The chain included questions, pictures of things we'll see on vacation, and little thoughts about our trip. As usual, Jana outdid herself. So very excited to see this chain get shorter and shorter.

In other news, look what I found on my camera courtesy of Jana.

nancy - 50/365 - Orlando, Florida USA

june 9

today I'm grateful...

that the car started slowly enough that I knew I had an almost dead battery

that Bob could replace my battery AND my oil in a mere 45 minutes

that I randomly had two jars of owen's food in my bag since it was lunchtime

that there was a slight breeze making the walk from Bob's to lunch bearable

that our playdate was just delayed and not cancelled

that the boys so thoroughly enjoyed playing in the cold water

that Jeff went to get Pei Wei for dinner and picked up a book at the library for me

so, so thankful.

YUMMY:

Amy - 51/365 - Perth, WA, AUS

Today, I had a decision to make: gym for me or gym for the kids. Guess it's obvious which option won?!? We met up with some of Logan's Kindy friends at Jungle Gym for the their Open Gym time. The kids had a blast and I had a blast watching (and photographing) them ;)~ We'll definitely go again!

nancy - 49/365 - Orlando, Florida USA

June 8

It was one of those days where you feel woefully behind on everything. You cross one thing off the list and add ten. Tonight I'm attempting to pay bills for the month, balance the checkbook and file. Keeping it real here on Robin Road.

Amy - 50/365 - Perth, WA, AUS

In my opinion, one area of weakness that my photography has is my lack of attention to lighting. When I upload my pics to the computer, I am usually disappointed. Sooooooooo, today I practiced using natural light (at suggested angles from one of the pointer books I'm reading) with my willing model and first baby! She is so helpful and loves posing for me! Even when I was done, she kept offering to do more ... gotta love that girl :)