Sophie & Clara

My new camera is quite possibly my favorite thing ever.

Maybe because it's a better camera or maybe because I have it out so often but I have photos of my girls now that I absolutely adore.  Here are a few I wanted to share because these photos really seem to capture who they are right this moment.

 

Sophie lost her 8th tooth of Friday while she was at school.  She asked me to take these photos of her with a new empty spot in her smile. So glad she did.  She totally melts my heart.

 

And little Clara.  Always with an inquisitive look.  Always looking a slight bit mischievous to me. It's like she's wondering what she can get into next.  Not sure whether to smile or cry.  She's still such a baby.  And delicious.  I want to eat her up.

For my sweet family, thank you for my camera.  From the bottom of my heart.  It makes me so very happy!

Bird Fight

Sophie and I were hanging outside on Saturday when suddenly we could hear birds screeching at one another.  It was LOUD.  Soph and I went to investigate and found these guys really going at it.  I ran to grab my camera and tried to get some shots of them.  They were moving fast and it took a lot of attempts to get these few photos.  But I love them.  These birds are impressive with their displays and attempts to intimidate one another.  I can't help but wonder who won!!!

{This picture is definitely my favorite!}

{Not sure what's going on in this shot!}

{Very impressive, wouldn't you say?}

{Almost out of the frame but I still like this one!}

{Most of my shots looked like this.....}

Anyone know what type of bird this is?  Have you ever witnessed a bird fight like this?  If so, did you get any photographs?

Scout & Atticus popping in....

......to wish you a VERY HAPPY WEEKEND!!!!

Note: I took these pictures from our deck. When I'm outside, the birds love to fly over to the door and watch me through the window.  They chirp so loudly I can hear them out in the back of the yard.  On this day, I had my camera and was so happy to finally get some pictures of them while this was happening.

Scout & Atticus were at Uncle Jon and Aunt Leslie's with their five bird cousins while we were at the beach and while Hubbell was recovering from this surgery.....about three weeks in all (THANK YOU JON & LESLIE!).  Now that they're back, I realize how much I missed these feathery little beasts while they were gone!!!

Capturing Motherhood in a Photo

Big car. Little car.

PS ~ Thank you so much, Leslie!!!  Clara is totally smitten with the Coop.

Babies

It's that time of year and we're finding babies everywhere.  It's so much fun and the cuteness is almost too much to bear!!!  I've been trying to catch photos whenever and wherever I can.....

In Charlotte, there are goslings everywhere at this time of year.

This little quartet still had the yellow baby fuzz on their heads.

The amount of tadpoles in this pond were staggering.

These are the very first tadpole photos I've ever taken.

This baby bunny lives in our yard.

Apparently, this baby opossum does too!

Sophie discovered this sweet baby walking around our backyard. So glad I was able to capture it!

The nests at the Great Blue Heron Rookery are filled with baby herons.  Clara and I watched the moms flying all over and in and out of the nests feeding their young ones. Way too exciting!!!

How about you?  Are you finding any babies around your neighborhood?

A Nature Walk With Clara

I think Clara is turning a corner.  She's almost two but I can feel a shift happening.  I can't really put my finger on it but it's getting a little easier to take care of her all day.  She listens and understands more and she can speak and communicate almost everything.  She seems a little calmer.  Our interests seem perfectly aligned.   We start every morning out with a trip to a park/playground and we do at least one other activity each day.  She needs that to satisfy her bottomless curiosity.  I guess I do too! Honestly, I am finally starting to enjoy her company.  Yesterday, after music class (where she refuses to leave my lap!), we went on a nature walk.  Her new thing is she loves to collect acorns, pine cones, seed pods and such.  She collects a whole bunch, we count them (she's now counting up to 9) and then says to me, "Mommy, throw?".  And I let her throw them off the path into the woods.  I can't tell you how much she loves this and she giggles and laughs the entire time.  We then walk down to the teeny tiny creek and I let her throw leaves and other forest "debris" into the water.  She'll say, "bye bye leaf" and smile from ear to ear.  She chases the birds.  She talks to the trees.  It's cooler under the leafy canopy and we discuss how nice it feels to get a break from Charlotte's heat.  Yesterday, we bumped into two young boys who were running and had stopped to do some push-ups, etc.  They saw me taking photos and offered to take a photo of Clara and I.  When I uploaded photos last night, I almost passed out.  I LOVE THIS PHOTO.  It's so rare and I'm so thankful to have this one picture of Clara and I on one of our nature walks.  

Here are a few others of Clara and our finds.....

  

What a wickedly cool tree!

A squirrel nest?

One of Clara's thrown leaves make a nice shadow in the water.

I loved this little patch of light and the greens that were taking total advantage!

Clara chased this poor robin into the woods for about 15 minutes.

Throwing all of her found goodies off the path.

Special Delivery: MOM

It appears we started a tradition last year on Mother's Day.  Remember this post?  We enjoyed it so much that we decided to do it again.  A quick trip to Target, a raid of the craft bin, and TADA......surprise Mother's Day bags.......  

We decided upon a few rules: 

1. You can't be a former recipient.

2. Sophie cannot wait for them to open the door. She must place the bag right in front of the door, ring the bell and run as fast as humanly possible back to the car.

I picked five women who are really good friends to me but who have also done a lot for Sophie over the years.  I let her pick which three would get a bag.....explaining the whoever is left out can be on next year's list!

Here are pictures of Sophie in action.....

I wasn't even thinking about a good teaching moment that might be buried in this fun little tradition.  During the delivery, Sophie said to us, "But they don't give anything to us."  So Alain and I had a chance to explain that you don't always give to get something in return, that it's great fun to give to others and that our friends have given us many things over the course of the year and this is a great way to thank them and make them feel special.

I hope all of you had a lovely Mother's Day as well!

PS ~ Hubbell is doing well and really rebounded from his surgery.  Doc says we probably have 3-6 months left with him (or until his eye gives out on him (glaucoma is horrible and painful!)).  He was always spoiled but we've taken it to a whole new level now.  I'm so beyond thankful to have this remaining time with him to show him how wonderful he is and to have talk after talk with him about what a dream come true he's been for our family.