Twellman Family

My friend Michelle is often my partner in crime with photography.  She has served as my right hand man woman at weddings and any other photography shenanigans I can talk her into.  We share another thing in common as well...we are never in our own pictures!  It's a curse of being the one with the camera, it often appears as if we were not in attendance at the events at all.  Well that all changed this past weekend.  We FINALLY got her family pictures taken care of.  Don't fret she still tried to avoid my camera by saying "oh we'll just do the boys real quick".  I "kindly" responded that I would not be taking her boys pictures unless she was in them as well.  And so she caved.  And I am so glad she did.  I'm very excited for her to finally get some pictures with her family, pictures I hope she treasures for years to come.  Here you go Michelle, thank you for embracing the camera for me :)!!

 

The Last Annual Hoe Down

Well, all good things must come to an end right?  I think that's what we have come to realize with the annual Hoe Down.  It's a lot of work, for a lot of people (not so much me) and in the end we just don't have the time for it anymore (or maybe the energy).  We will absolutely still be spending time up at the farm as it is definitely a favorite meeting spot for the boys and their cousins but I think it will have to be on a more informal basis in the future.  That's okay though I'm fairly certain they will find just as much trouble to get into with all the mud, tractors, mud, go karts, mud, jeeps, mud, ponds, mud...you get the picture.  This year the added attraction was the tire swing.  A big hit amongst the kiddos.  I kind of wanted to get on it too, but feared the tree might collapse!  Billy assured me that he had rigged that contraption up quite nicely, but I wasn't going to be the one to test that theory out!  Needless to say the annual Hoe Down was a success this year and although the weather was supposed to be not so stellar it ended up being beautiful (well besides the mud leftover from the rain the night before).  Here is a glimpse at our day...

Yep, that's right.  I let my 3 year old ride in a jeep with my 13 year old niece as the driver who struggles to keep her eyes on the road I might add!  But look how happy he is!

This is my other poor little niece who thought she was coming to the farm for fun but we had other ideas.  We got in a small photo shoot while we were up there.  Always capitalizing on our opportunities!

 

Big Boy Bennett

We put this day off for a LONG LONG LONG time.  More out of convenience and peace of mind for ourselves but sometimes disguising it as a comfort thing for Bennett.  But about a month ago we pulled the trigger and got Bennett a big boy bed.  Stop judging me for keeping him in his crib so long, you would too if you were dealing with this child.  The crib was the one place that he always seemed to like and was calm and well...he slept...a lot.  Why disrupt something like that?  Why?  The guilt finally took over though (that and a sale on the beds I had been eyeing up) so it was go time.  We moved him over to a big boy bed and haven't looked back.  Much to my surprise he has done really well.  He doesn't get out of bed by himself (unless he falls out...true story) and he calls for us when he wakes up.  I know these days are limited and before long he will be galloping down the stairs at 6am demanding cartoons but for now we celebrate.  As did he when he took his first nap...

Take Me Out To The Ballgame

Nolan was about to celebrate a big birthday, the big S-I-X to be exact.  I asked him what he wanted to do for his party, fully expecting a request for some bounce house place.  Nope.  He said and I quote "I want a baseball party and I want to play baseball".  Sounds simple enough I guess, but not all 5/6 year olds want to play baseball for hours on end so it made me a little nervous.  Nonetheless, I obliged and a baseball party was underway.  We ended up getting the major hook up at a ball field that wasn't being utilized on this particular Sunday and we opened up the concession stand for all the baseball snacks you could dream of.  There was also a playground right by the field which seemed a little more enticing for some of the guests who weren't exactly thrilled about hitting practice!  I do believe it was a birthday party success in Nolan's eyes, even if it was unseasonably warm on this particular day.  Here's hoping he asks for an ice hockey party next year!