busy may

We have had such a busy month of May! I certainly haven't photographed everything we've been up to, but here are a few pictures of this month! Natalie is amazing! She is 4.5 months old now, and she can actually sit up on her own for about 10 seconds at a time!!!! (And a lot longer when supported by the boppy!) She started eating cereal each evening this week and has been sleeping better too. We are going to try to ween her off of her reflux meds (mostly b/c they are so expensive and she is spitting up a lot less these days---taking her off slowly is the only way to see how she'll do.) She is in the 50 percentile for height, weight, and head now. She loves to stand with help and sit up, but still hates most of her tummy time! :) 

Samantha is doing great too! She is growing taller, smarter, and funnier everyday and is such a joy to be around! She has spent a LOT of time with friends, family, and school lately due to our busy work schedule, so with the exception of a little separation anxiety, she is doing great. (When staying with grandparents one night, she didn't want to go to sleep, and while sitting in bed kept saying in her sweet little voice, "My mommy and daddy will be here soon to get me.") Talk about breaking a parent's heart!

She still loves dancing an singing with Elmo!

For Mother's Day we met my mom's side of the family at a restaurant in Cincinnati.

My grandma is one of my favorite people in the whole world! She has the best sense of humor, is a fabulous writer (I think she should be famous for her writing), and she is the sweetest person. I don't get to see her enough and I always love the time we do share together!

OBVIOUSLY Cincy = IKEA! Just a quick trip for some of the last things we needed to complete the studio!

We had so much fun making Mother's Day gifts for our moms (Sam & Natalie's grandmas)! Sammi enjoyed painting watering cans & Natalie helped a bit too!

Sammi and Natalie both brought gifts home from school/daycare for mommy. I'm the luckiest mama in the world!!!!!

Sammi helped me open the plate she colored for me!

We spent Sunday of Mother's Day weekend in Fort Wayne celebrating with Dan's family. His mom made an amazing dinner for us (yes, she cooked for us on Mother's Day---doesn't seem right, does it?)

My parents' neighborhood threw a "Little 500" party & bike race for all of the grandkids. Grandma Sherman helped Sammi around the "track" three times!

Daddy, Grandpa (Sam calls him Crapa & we all think this is hilarious), and Sis cheer from the sidelines.

Sammi earned a checkered flag and bubbles for finishing!

We love bubbles!

The ice cream truck showed up to hand out free ice cream too! Sammi LOVED this part of the day!

Dan and I spent Memorial Day weekend shooting a wedding and family session in Evansville while the girls stayed in Fort Wayne. We managed to do the 'Tour of Evansville's Finest Eating" while we were there.... Turoni's Pizza...

GD Ritzy's cheeseburgers & fries...

And, the one and only....the BEST donuts you will ever eat...DONUT BANK! (Fun fact...also my first job ever, in which I had to get up at 3am for opening and earned $4.15 per hour!) Needless to say, we ate ourselves sick on this trip.

Sammi's cousins Brad (5) and Ryan (2) celebrated their birthdays in Fort Wayne last week! Samantha LOVES birthday parties and she had a lot of fun! Note the way she is eating her watermelon. She eats pizza this way too, but I can't imagine the watermelon tasted too good this way!

Opening presents! (Note Sammi in this photo.) There seems to be a magnetic connection from her nose to her finger these days! We are trying to break her from it! 

We have also been busy in the studio. We hired a summer graphic design intern from AU who is fantastic. (More on that in our upcoming newsletter.) We have gotten all of our senior stuff complete and on the walls. We've started our high school senior model program and chosen several models from high schools to "earn" their senior photography by referring other seniors to us. Now we are working on our product guides and pricing for families, weddings, baby plans, etc! We hosted a high school senior open house & now are planning our Grand Opening Party. In September we're having a "Mums Night Out" event specifically catering to expecting mamas. 

We have had so much fun with the new studio --even while working 100+ hours a week lately and still being behind-- and we are so excited with where our business is {hopefully} going. Starting a business (which is what it feels like to move into this building even though we've been in business for several years now) is hard and draining, and you really have to LOVE what you are doing to make it worth it. So far, we still think it's worth it. :) 

I'm sure there is a lot more I could say but this is already long and I'm already up too late, as always! We are always so appreciative of all the love and support of our friends and family. We appreciate all of the babysitting, volunteering, physical labor (our dads have mowed lawns, scrubbed our bricks, hung our signs & numbers, built shelves, installed everything inside, and much more...) at the studio and especially the prayers as we trudge through this business venture that sometimes feels like a wild roller coaster ride. Sometimes we wonder what in the world we were thinking getting on the ride, but mostly it's just thrilling. 

Thanks to EVERYONE who makes it all possible. We love you.

i pray you enough

Taken from an email forwarded to me, I pray this for my girls as well.....

I pray you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how gray the day may appear. 
I pray you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more. 
I pray you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting. 
I pray you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger. 
I pray you enough gain to satisfy your wanting. 
I pray you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess. 
I pray you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye. 

I pray you enough.

monkey joe's with krystal

I'm a bit behind on blogging lately! Krystal just emailed me these photos of her trip to Monkey Joe's with the girls last Thursday, so I thought I would take a minute to post them, even though I haven't even gotten to Mother's Day photos yet! :) Krystal took her nieces last Thursday to spend some time with them (and also give us another work day---I LOVE my sister-in-law so much!) She took them to Monkey Joe's for bouncing, playing, running, and pizza!!!



The girls ALWAYS have fun with Aunt Krystal & I am so grateful that Krystal always makes us feel like she loves being with the girls. She never reminds us how much work it is, even though we know that it is!!! It means so much to us!!!!! (And thank you, Steve and Krystal for taking them again last night so that we could see comedian Jim Gaffigan... the funniest comic EVER!)

In other news, the girls are great. Samantha is growing taller and taller, just like I did so young. (I was about a foot taller than everyone in my 5th grade class and then I stopped and everyone passed me up.) Even her 2T pants are all too wide but getting too short. She had fun making her grandmothers & mom gifts for Mother's Day. It won't be too long before she is moving up a class again at school. Time is flying.

Miss Natalie is doing great! She rolled over for the first time last week, and has enjoyed doing it ever since! She only rolls belly to back, and only when her momentum takes her, but it's an excellent start considering she HATES being on her back or belly due to her reflux! (She doesn't get much tummy time.) She has been smiling for a long time, but the first I have ever heard her really laugh was last night. Dan was making funny sounds and faces at her and then would "attack" her belly with kisses and rasberries and she was laughing hysterically! It was the cutest thing I've seen her do yet!

Her reflux is off and on better and worse. Around 7:00 every night she screams and cries until you put her to bed. The problem is, if you put her to bed right away, she's up at 3am. If you let her cry and fuss (even though it's just about unbearable for all of us) until around 9:30, she will usually sleep in for us. What to do... what to do...... the joys of parenting and making all those tough decisions! :)

More to come soon on Mother's Day and a busy weekend! Love to you all!!!

welcome spring picnics

Sun + blue skies + later sunsets = meals outside!!! And what could possibly be better than throwing together a meal of peanut butter sandwiches (cut out in shapes of course), chips, and raisins to have a picnic in our own back yard?!

It was really sunny so the girls wore hats. :)

This girl loves Cheetos & Cheese Puffs!

All that rain made our grass grow!!! (I mowed later that day at home while Dan tried out his new John Deere at the studio!)

Miss Natalie

Miss Samantha

The other day Natalie started crying while laying on a blanket and Sammi ran over to her and laid down right next to her. She said, "It's okay, Natalie! (Natowee is how she pronounces it.) Don't cry!" And she started singing to her. It was not only the sweetest thing, but Natalie actually stopped crying! I think she just wanted some attention! Sammi is starting to have a little more interest in her little sister, and we are so happy about it! :)

Have a happy Friday and wonderful Mother's Day weekend!!!!

brand family photos

When my friend Sarah came to visit last weekend, I asked her if we could use her help for a family photo session. Dan usually sets up the photo, and we have a remote that we use to fire the camera.....but it just gets frustrating because we can't get the girls to look at the camera. So....this time Dan set up the shots, and Sarah--- bless her heart--- she stood behind the camera, waved her arms bearing puppets, threw toy monkeys, sang, hollered, and whistled to get the girls to look up. And...voilà! We have not just one, but TWO new family photos!!!  

(And we did some new ones of the girls too! Enjoy!)

My favorite...

Chubby cheeks!

Wearing mommy's shoes...

Beautiful bebe...(notice how much she looks like the photo of Sammi in the blog header...)

Love my girl...

Our new family photo! 

Thank you so much, Sarah!!! This was the least stressful family session (of us) we've ever done, thanks to you!!!! We're going to "hire" you (will work for food?) every time! :) :) :)

first day at daycare

Look how big our little baby girl has gotten!!! WOW! She is just over three months old, and we have decided that it makes the most sense for all of us to send Natalie to daycare on the same days Sam goes to school. We were able to keep Sammi with us until she was a year old, but Sam was a much different baby. She was very independent and self-sufficient. And, at the time we had her with us, our business was not as busy as it is now.

Natalie had her first day today, and it was perfect! Thank you, thank you, thank you, to the people who have helped make this happen!!! We have gotten many wonderful recommendations for daycare, and although many of them were great suggestions, we found our perfect fit with The Kid's House. We met the owner, Megan, through the music director, PJ, at our church after chatting with him about our needs for Natalie. 

I can tell in the short time I've gotten to know her that she and her husband, Ryan, are amazing people with hearts of gold.  Megan runs the daycare out of her home, which is about 8 minutes from our studio in Fishers! She used to be a teacher and started the daycare after she had her son to be able to be home with him everyday.

When I dropped off Natalie today, the kids were so excited to see her!

This is Megan! (Her son is the one in green...little cutie!) Natalie was more interested in the kids than the photo! :) They all went to the Childrens' Museum today! What a big first day for Natalie! Megan said Natalie did great all day! 

We know that sending Natalie to daycare will allow us to 100% work at work and 100% be parents at home, instead of constantly battling which one to be at any given time during our workday. Before Natalie went to daycare, one of us would race over to pick up Sam from school by 6pm, come back to the studio to 1/2 work, 1/2 parent until 8 or 9:00, and either eat in the car or at our desks separately. This is not the kind of family I want to be raising. 

Tonight we were all home before 6:00 and we made dinner together! (Okay, it was out of a box but it still counts!!!) We sat at the table together. We ran around with Sam and laughed and played. We were a family, and we loved it. :)

We even had time for an "appetizer" while waiting on dinner to cook!

Natalie is getting so big! She loves her exersaucer and bouncy seats! She is getting really strong these days!

Tonight I had to put her down for just a second and I eyed the high chair...wondering...I bet she would love sitting in that! Can she? Um, yes. She can!!!!

We are so excited to have our new schedule and are so happy with our new daycare choice for Natalie!!! We hope you have a great weekend!!! I'm off to bed.... at a reasonable time for once!!! :)