potty training and/with friends

A week ago, Dan and I had a three-day weekend home with the girls, so we decided to really give potty training a GO! It was an accumulation of hours and hours and hours on the potty, off the potty, on the potty, off the potty, I want a diaper, I want the potty, I want big girl underwear, I want a diaper, I want a pull-up..... After two #2s on the floor, lots of cleaning up #1s, NO pottying in the actual potty, I decided I wasn't ready for any more potty training!!! 

Here are some photos of our potty training journey that weekend...

Sam LOVES her Dora potty! She likes it much better than the little ones that sit on the floor. We spent a LOT of time sitting on the Dora potty & earning stickers for "trying"!

On Saturday we went to visit our friends, Brian, Shannon, and Hailey in their new house for dinner. I didn't feel like we could risk any accidents in their new house so Sammi wore a diaper, but she and Hailey (who's much younger and much better at it) encouraged each other and liked sitting on their potties together!

Every time Hailey wanted to sit on the potty, she made Sammi do it too! What a good influence! :)

Shannon is an amazing mom and ran around with the girls all night!

Sammi and Hailey became quite the good friends! They had a great time exploring the HUGE basement full of toys!!!

By Sunday night I had given up on the potty training with Sam and we headed over to see our good friends across the street for dinner, Joe, Lisa & Reece! We always have so much fun together & love spending time together. Joe and Lisa had sparklers that Reece and Sam loved playing with!

They got good at "drawing" in the air.

They always have a good time going down the slide together too!

Inside, we stayed up waaaay too late gabbing about life while the kids played. Reece was having a great time playing with Natalie, who is always the great observer! He was showing her how to clap, which she has gotten really good at this week!

This past weekend we headed to Fort Wayne to spend some time with our family. (We also had an engagement shoot, which was the perfect excuse to visit!) It was a long, relaxing, wonderful weekend!!!

Sammi loved to run around the pool in her swimsuit and floaties, but she rarely got in the pool. Several times we talked her into it, but she was ready to get back out after only a few minutes. 

Natalie enjoyed the pool over July 4 weekend, but she was a little unsure this weekend! :)

If you ever want to know how much liquid a regular diaper can hold, put one in a pool! It gets hilariously BIG!!!

Dan and I had so much fun relaxing in the sun that we stayed in the pool and played for 2 hours together after the kids got out!!!! Fun times. :)

Sam always loves playing with her cousins, Brad and Ryan. (This is Ryan.)

Kathe cooks a huge fabulous dinner every Sunday, and Sammi was quite the helper this weekend! Here she is washing the potatoes! 

Soooooo, the potty training wasn't really a success, but our friends and family always are!!!! :) Love you all!!!

LTG at the summer concert series

Dan and I started going to a LTG (Life Together Group) a couple of months ago. LTGs are each made up of around 5-6 families from Crosspoint Church who get together weekly to talk about life, God, the past Sunday's lesson, and to find support and bond with people who you can relate to and lean on. It's pretty awesome. And, this summer, our LTG has decided to spend our Tuesday evenings at the Fishers Concert Series! 

It actually worked out well, because it takes Dan and me a little bit to warm up to people (okay, more Dan than me)....and these concerts and cookouts are the perfect way to get to know our group before diving head first into deep issues of God, life, and love. Thanks, Megan, for inviting us to be a part of your group! We have enjoyed the concerts, the dinners, the Dream Dinner fundraiser, and the bon fire eve of fun with our group! Here are some highlights from the concerts:

We play with water spray bottles on hot nights! (Megan and Rowen with Sam---also our daycare owner and now GREAT friend!!!!!)

We play with bubble machines!

Sometimes we pitch in food, and sometimes we just bring pizza!

We cuddle together!

We practice sitting on our own!

We meet up with other LTGs and connect!

We sit among thousands of concert-goers!

We take pictures so we can "look at Sammi" on the camera!

We hold hands and dance!

We tickle!

We eat blackberries!

And we stay up late...or sometimes fall asleep!

Thanks to our Life Together Group for taking us in! We always look forward to Tuesday nights. :)

vote for us

We have been entered into the RTV6 "Indiana's Best Local Businesses" contest in the category "Best Portrait Photographer". Please click on the box below or CLICK HERE to vote for BRAND PHOTODESIGN! We appreciate your support and your votes so much!

i'm washing my hands, mommy

Several months ago we got Sam this step stool so that she can wash her hands before each meal without us picking her up. Well, one morning this week I came downstairs to {the above picture}, water completely pouring over the sides of the sink flooding the floor, and half of the bottle of hand soap now turned into bubbles, covering every wall of the bathroom, the step stool, Sam, and the mirror. When I saw her and gasped, she proudly said "I'm washing my hands, mommy!" I couldn't even scold her. I just laughed.

Sam not only loves her step stool for hand-washing, but it allows her to do more "adult things" around the house, which she loves! She LOVES helping to make breakfast. She mixes our omelets together while I add vegetables and all the mixings to them in the morning! She's my little helper!

Sprinkling cheese on (her idea). :)

Sam has also become quite the big sister! She loves to include Natalie when playing. I nestled Natalie down in this bean bag because I knew she wouldn't flip out one eve and the next thing I know, Sam is pulling her around the house "giving her a ride!" She loves to hold her hand and "jump" on the bed together (obviously we have to "help" Natalie jump!) She also loves to make her laugh, which Natalie does, because she is fascinated with her big sister! Brings joy to mama's heart!

She LOVES to feed her sister baby food too!

Natalie has blossomed into quite the happy little babe! She has two teeth now that have popped through, so she chews on everything. She loves watching and "playing with" her sister. She laughs a lot and just always seems to be so content! 

We grilled out at my parents' house tonight and Sam had such a fun night watering the flowers and US!!! She also made a trip to the splash park with Megan today, so she had a fun water day!!!

She was DRENCHED by the time we left!

Dan recruited my dad to play catch with him after he wore me out with his fierce pitching!

We also walked across the street to watch the ducks at the lake. How fun! Thanks mom & dad for a fun dinner tonight!!!

What a week! We have a very laid back weekend ahead and I'm so excited to hang out with my hubby & little gals!!!

the good, the bad, and the furry

A studio update by Dan...

We've had a lot going on at the ol' studio lately! We have been trying to get the studio together so we can finally have that open house we have been teasing everyone with. We've had so much help from our dads, shelf building, hook hanging, lawn mowing etc. It's great to have such handy people around to use as free labor!!

Unfortunately, with every step forward, we seem to take a step or two back. Our beautiful bamboo floor that we proudly laid ourselves is buckling and floating in the hallway. Apparently it is not sticking to the concrete. I finally got fed up with dealing with the "fun house floor" at the entrance that I ripped out a section last night. Once we finalize things with the insurance company I will rip out the rest. Anyone looking to get out some pent-up aggression let me know. It is very therapeutic to rip this stuff out! Hopefully we can get the floor prepped and ready for round two soon!

before the buckling...

our poor floor...

the aftermath...

We had a cute little mascot for a day on Tuesday. This little baby bunny took shelter from the heat on our porch. His name is Squishy I think.

brand family reunion

Last weekend was the Annual Brand Family Reunion in Fort Wayne! The reunion always includes Dan's dad, Orlie, his four brothers, two sisters, their children, and their children's children. :) And grandma of course! There were 56 people (not including little kids) there this year and it was great, as usual! The family game (played every year and whoever wins plans the next year's game) was Family Feud, played in rounds, and it was soooo much fun! Autumn and Leslie did an awesome job putting it together! 

We started our trip using Sam's child-safe headphones. I love that she can watch a movie while we talk and listen to our own music during a trip!

We stayed with Dan's sister and her family (THANKS JEN & SCOTT) and we all had a blast together, including the kids! Brad (5) was especially sweet to Natalie & gave her kisses all weekend. She was a little unsure of him holding her! Ha! :)

This year's reunion was very laid back and relaxing. We spent most of our time at the homes of the family members who live in Fort Wayne, just talking and eating. And eating. And eating.

Sammi played Connect 4 with her uncles and grandpa.

We were SO excited for Sammi and Chloe to finally meet! They are just a few months apart and Chloe lives in Texas so we don't get to see her often. (Their parents are cousins... whatever that makes them!) We were trying to get them to show off their BRAND PHOTODESIGN tattoos for this photo. :)

As always, the food was amazing everywhere we went. Such good cooks, bakers, and orderers in our family!!! :) Aunt Vi made these beautiful cookies from scratch as favors from the event at her house...

Needless to say, they were as delicious as they were pretty and Sammi agreed!

Thanks to all of the family that organized the reunion and game, to Jen and Scott for hosting us, and especially to all the family that came into town to visit!!!!!

Dan and I were put in charge of the planning of next year's destination reunion (every 4 years it's at a destination outside of Fort Wayne). After many months of research, travel agents, internet surfing, and talking with friends, we have decided to make the destination Nashville, Indiana in Brown County! We are soooo excited to get the planning complete and plan to visit Brown County soon to wrap up the plans. We can't wait!