Pick Em Up Sticks ~ Toddler Style

This morning  Anna and Christina went out for breakfast and some shopping. I babysat in order to give them the opportunity to get in the important sister time. Like all relationships, the friendship of sisters takes repeated investment to keep the bond strong

While my girls were gone, 10-month-old Evelyn took a long nap. Brielle and I went out on the deck to enjoy a beautiful morning.

Brielle quickly saw great potential for fun in an upside down wading pool that held water following thunderstorms earlier in the week. First, she picked up a good-sized branch that a storm had brought down and began splashing.

Next, Brielle found a leaf to float in her "pond."

She wasn't quite sure how she felt about her "boat" when she pulled it back out, and it was all wet.

Next, Brielle took a short break from water play to survey the yard flanked at the top of the deck stairs by the family dogs.

While we were outside, I couldn't resist the opportunity to snap a picture of Brielle's eyelashes. She is "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:14)!

No detail of her surroundings was too small to escape this two-year-old's notice.

However, her chief objective was to collect storm-downed sticks.

Meanwhile, her canine friends carried on a prolonged wrestling match.

But in the end, Spurgeon, their white maltese, decided to undo what Brielle had worked so hard on. Thankfully, she had moved on to opening and shutting the patio door...repeatedly...toddler style.

Bath-Time Lovin'

Denise:

Our granddaughter, Evelyn, loves the evening baths her daddy gives her. I have a sneaking suspicion the 10-month-old also loves towel-time with her mama afterwards.

Brielle's Busy Morning

Denise:

I'm visiting our daughter Anna and her family in Ohio. This morning I was reminded of the fascination toddlers have the world over for taking things out of a container, putting the items back in, only to dump everything out and start all over. Brielle, who turned two at the beginning of this month, spent a long time emptying and refilling her crayon bag as I photographed her efforts.

Each time she had the bag fully emptied, she'd crumple it up and head for the rubbish bin. I'd stop her by telling her we were going to recycle it. That seemed to satisfy the two-year-old who would then plop down and begin refilling it yet again.

Growing a Boy

When our daughter, Alison, visited with her husband, Eric, at the end of May, my camera was busy! She was 22 weeks along with her first child ~ our first grandson.

When Eric returned to their home in Boston to meet work obligations, Alison stayed behind for a few days of family time.

I asked Alison if I could do a maternity shoot, and she was game.

Alison is an utterly girly girl who doesn't know one end of a basketball from the other, so to speak. Thus, my daughter got quite silly during the photo shoot with the props we brought along to a favorite park in order to represent how much she has to learn.

We left the park and went to the nearby college. Alison spent years taking violin lessons in the music building there. She did a quick change and we went to work taking advantage of fabulous lighting and great geometric lines.

Now and then we added a prop. We were simply having the best time as mother and daughter. We laughed as we learned together what worked for the photos and what didn't. All the while, we just couldn't help marveling that Alison is growing a human being inside her. How good and kind our God is!

We were pleasantly surprised to find the building unlocked since that hadn't always been the case during the summer throughout Alison's teen years.

We were also delighted to find that many alterations had been made inside since either of us had last been in the building. What a make-over the structure had been given! The furniture was brand new and yet had retro look that's so popular right now.

Because of it being summer, the all-glass lobby of the arts center was void of people.

Our family is daily thankful for Eric and Alison's pregnancy. Because Jim and I experienced extreme infertility, the whole family is keenly aware that the ability to get pregnant is not a given. All in our growing army of 18 have spent 25 weeks thanking God for the little boy He's growing in Alison!

"Baby" at Sunset

When Alison visited a couple of weeks ago, the sky was glorious over the hills behind our home following a thunderstorm. These pictures were taken as the sunset evolved. The colors were some of the richest we've seen in twelve years of sunset watching.

I was so moved as I stood behind my camera with it focused on Alison's growing bump, while the sky was painted with deep color. God was demonstrating His glory in multiple ways right before my eyes.