Circus

So a million years ago (well, really back in February) I bought us tickets to go to the circus since I was able to find a sweet half price deal. Last time I had been to the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus was when I was in the 1st grade so I had very little memory of what it would actually be like and whether or not Madeleine would enjoy the experience.

It was a lot of fun! Madeleine seemed to really enjoy it. We don't do a lot of ticketed events as a family, but it was so nice to get out together and enjoy the circus.

Cheerios and a sippy for intermission... anyone?

I need to make a few calls on the break...

Remember my goal for this week?

Well it took back seat to Andrew's goals which included this:

and this...

 

Oh well, at least I finally finished Madeleine's Easter dress only a few weeks late. The night before Easter I was finishing up the dress when I realized I cut the applique out of the skirt - and unfortunately fabric stores are not open at midnight the night before Easter (they should! I'm sure I'm not the only one who's up late sewing the night before). Oh well, it's finished so she'll get to wear it to church tomorrow.

Guilt Complex...

I have one, a major one. If I owe anybody anything, or if things are lacking with my home/family I can't function on blogging if other things are eating at my mind. Sounds serious doesn't it? It's really silly and so not serious. The past couple of months have been such a whirlwind, it feels like yesterday was Christmas. I really wish I didn't have the need for sleep and that I had boundless energy so that I could keep all the facets of my life in balance. It's really been such a great year for us (aside from the yucky economy - anyone need a fantastic contractor? I have one I highly recommend ;).

Life has been so incredibly busy, but oh so fulfilling. I wish I could freeze time to not allow my baby to grow so fast. I love seeing her progress, but it makes me sad that I can't hold on to her baby stage forever.

The title above really refers to my need to catch up on my portrait processing for clients. I've been very fortunate to have so many wonderful opportunities come my way, and I'm slowly catching up.

I do need and will post on all the wonderful events and pictures that we've enjoyed and that is my goal for the upcoming week.

So until I can throw some stuff together I wanted to leave you with one of my current "this makes me smile" photos - so imperfect in so many ways, but I love it! It was taken at our church Easter egg hunt, and as you can see, Madeleine's daddy was making sure she got a fighting chance even with her small stature. Pure glee, she and I love that man.

New FREE Shabby Princess Kit

I love digital scrapbooking, and if you've read this blog for a while, you know I love Shabby Princess. She's just released another FREE kit for download here. If you ever need help understanding how to do digital scrapbooking, you can find many amazing tutorials on the web (even on her site), or feel free to ask me questions, I'd love to help you out.

This is what happens when a 1 year old takes your picture:

It became a quite amusing game. She would press the shutter (I had it set on a 2 second delay) I would grab her and SNAP! She was in hysterics running back and forth, and she got such a kick out of looking at the pictures - so silly and I love them even if I look like a total goofball. That's just the kind of mom I am - way too silly for my own good.

I blame Anne's kids for this one...

Knuckles, rocks, fists - whatever you call it.

Anne's kids taught this little trick to Madeleine. Now whenever Andrew asks for knuckles (rocks, whatever) she does this little fist bump and then comes running full speed to me - MOMMY!!! It's all equal. So cute when I was watching Cammie today and Madeleine comes over to her to give her undoubtedly (is that a word?) her first rocks. Crazy, I know, but I think it's adorable!

Madeleine loves to love on babies, it's precious. She gets a real high-pitched voice when she's "talking" to them and usually says, "Baby" over and over again. She loves her new cousin and when Cammie has one of her crying spells, Madeleine tries to help find ways to make her happy. She's such a little mommy! She also loves to give kisses (on the head). Don't worry, I was able to capture a few of just Cammie before she started in a wail. Definitely not perfect by any means, I was being lazy and only setup one of my lights, but I know Cassidie will still love them, and really that's what matters in the end.

   

This one's for Grandma...

We finally got our Valentine's Card from Grandma for Madeleine. She was so sweet and sent all the great grandchildren musical cards for Valentine's Day. I knew everyone had gotten theirs, and we were still waiting for ours to arrive. I was getting sick because I was beginning to think that it got lost in the mail. Grandma called me the other day to tell me the card was returned to her for extra postage (out of all the cards hers was the only one returned for an extra  $.16  - puh-lease!). We got it on Saturday - YEA!!!