Five minute Friday- Gather

GO

Gather, something I look forward to every night at dinner.  To have my little family, gathered for dinner to discuss our days is one of the best moments of the day.  This has been halted while living in an apartment.  Husband's new job keeps him at the office late, which means we do not eat dinner together with the girls.  The apartment is so small there is not enough room to have a gathering for dinner.  Gatherings are meant to be with the ones you love.  I can't wait to have this back when we find a house and get settled in.  I miss our daily gatherings.  To be with the ones you love and hear about each ones day is important.  Gathering at the table to pray and eat together with no work, no technology and nothing standing in our way of just being together as a family.  This is my favorite part of the day!

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TBT: 2014

It has been almost a year since I have written anything, and I hope to get back to writing on this blog.  It was a nice release for me.  To catch you all up on what has been happening, here is an update from our life in 2014.

Girls got their first haircut by a dear friend

Girls trip to Disney on ice

The start of their obsession with Frozen

The girls love dance and gymnastics

Mommy survived her first plane ride alone with two girls, two car seats, and carry on luggage (With a 3 hour delay in an extremely small one room airport)

Went to the St. Patrick's day parade in Cleveland with my parents and grandparents, then went to hear the family band- Brigid's Cross play

Girls had their first manicure in a salon

We enjoyed going to Ann Arbor throughout our stay in Toledo

Frozen and Dave and Buster's birthday party

Ian accepted a job promotion back in the summer, which relocated us back to Cleveland.

The girls finally moved out of the terrible three's stage, but when we moved to an apartment, their attitudes started to kick in and the whining started back up.  Hoping this will all go away once we find a house and can get on a routine again.

Ian and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary September 19, 2009
We also celebrated our 10 year anniversary when we started dating December 17, 2004.
I could not have chosen a better person to spend these 10 crazy, fun, amazing, and challenging years with.  From long distance dating for 2 years, to marriage and children, I am truly the luckiest person to get to have this man all to myself for the rest of my life.

Life also became difficult in 2014.  I lost one of the most important men in my life.  He was my second father, my grandfather, and he was my girls best friend.  It has been almost 6 months and I still struggle every day and so do the girls.  One positive is that he knew I wanted to marry a man just like him, and I found that man in my husband.  Before he passed he said how happy he was that I was with Ian.  Now I get to see him through Ian and it is difficult at times, but also a great blessing!

my favorite hobby!

I have loved photography for a long time!  I took two photography classes in high school and loved every minute of it. Sometimes I wish I would have continued it.  In 2010, my husband got me a DSLR camera due to the fact that we could not afford professional pics, or should I say we had a bad experience with it, and because he knows how much I love taking pictures and enjoy it.  We got professional pictures taken when the girls turned three months and it was the worst experience ever.  We planned it for right after the girls ate, we knew what we wanted.  well needless to say, they rushed us and took pictures in 15 minutes which overwhelmed the girls and they are crying in most of the pictures.  Then they expected us to spend 100 dollars on those pictures. 

I have been taking the girls pictures on my own, our family pictures on my own with a tripod and wireless remote, and close family and friends pictures.  I love all of them and they look professional.  I really enjoy, not only taking pictures that I want of them, but saving a ton of money!

I would love to do this also as a side job, I am not a professional and did not go to college for this so I wouldn't charge really anything.  Two of my favorite things about it is capturing those amazing moments, and editing them.  I love messing with photoshop!  One thing you will not see though are pictures on special occasions and holidays.  I want to enjoy those moments with my children and experience it with them.  I don't want to hide behind the camera and miss special moments with them.

I took some pictures for my sister while they were in town, here are some! (Rach- I hope you don't mind that I put up these pictures and the newborn pics I took of Gavin!)  (here is the link if you want to look at those again- GAVIN'S PICTURES!)

***next post will be about how I do it with backdrops, and props on a budget.  And how I get them to sit and smile***

Family fun fest!

On Sunday we went to the family fun fest at Patterson.  We had a lot of fun, but it was extremely hot so we did not stay too long.  The girls really enjoyed the apples and their favorite part was the sandbox!  Here are some pics from our day!

they loved going down the slide, it got tiring after about 10 times!

 The next two pics are of the girls sharing sand!

 Playing with the hay!

 Riding on the wagon! We held them going to the fun fest, but on the way back they wanted to sit like big girls!