I’ve got a great group of girlfriends that I grew up with and we all had kids around the same time. We all live within an hour or so of each other and we try to get together when our schedules allow. Within the group, most of us became friends in early elementary school, some of us before (Hi, Kara!! (not pictured)), but what’s really cool is that we all became moms at the same time. Most of our kids are five and under, and our group just keeps growing. Lara’s daughter, Mira, and Audrey are one day apart so we all got together to celebrate. The first picture is taken a month later at a different gathering, but it’s got most of the mamas in it too, which is practically unheard of. A group shot that includes mothers???? Duh. We should do it more often!! Good times had by all. And I’m not sure why I only took a couple pictures.
Celebrating Audrey’s First Birthday
Way back in January we went up to Harrison Hot Springs to celebrate Audrey’s first birthday. It was a quick trip of a couple days, but we squeezed in a ton of water play, walks and cups of tea. Nearly ever time that we’ve gone to Harrison since Audrey was born, the weather has been amazingly perfect. I was convinced that we were going to get hit with a rain or snow storm since we’d been so lucky before, but, aside from it being cold, we were lucky to have clear and bright days.
We all love Harrison for different reasons. Maggie loves it because she gets to play in the pool frequently, stay in a ‘little house’ next door to my parent’s, and have one-on-one time with a variety of special people in her life.The adults love it because we get to soak in the warm water and don’t have to drive to get anything, spending our time outside or in the small town nearby.
It was Audrey’s birthday, however, and we did spend a bit of time in one of the tiny cabins singing, eating cupcakes and ‘helping’ her open presents. She wasn’t too happy about the cupcake, but was delighted with the hammer/ball set that Maggie picked out as a gift.
Maggie’s birthday falls on Easter this year and she’s also determined to have a ‘friend party,’ and I don’t blame her. Parties are cool. We’ve been extremely busy, Barry went to Boston for a week, and will soon travel again, so our schedule doesn’t exactly allow for the standard Birthday Trip. So, a friend party and Easter party it is….two events ought to suffice for a trip, right? (I’m kidding….).
From the moment that Audrey was born, she’s been a little nugget of all things great. Her first year, unlike the last month of being pregnant with her, absolutely flew by. When I think about some of the things that we did within her first year, road trips, airplane trips, I feel proud and thankful that she’s adventurous as they come ~ ready for the next part of the party.
On Paying the Professional
Maggie had school pictures a while back and this week we got the proofs back. And they are adorable….just a standard school picture headshot, but really, really cute. The photographer invited siblings to come along and get a picture taken together, which we did. Those of both the girls are just as cute, both smiling, happy and a bit matchy-matchy.
I take a ton of pictures of the girls, as documented here, but most of them are unposed and us living life, my favorite kind of pictures. My version of them posing for a portrait is throwing down a quilt and hoping that I get a couple cheese-ball smiles. It usually works and I’m happy.
I’ve only ever taken Maggie to a studio to get her pictures once and the bright white background and wicker chair they put her in, she was about a year old, really didn’t fit with the aesthetic that I like to look at, so it wasn’t something I made time to do again.
But these school pictures? They’re too much. So, I ordered some and grandparents, aunts, uncles….whomever can have their wallet size shot of the girls to carry around and flash bragging rights. It felt strange to pay, what I consider, an arm and a leg for prints, but it documents the girls, and Maggie’s first year of school, in a different setting.
And while I wait to get those images back, I bring you outtakes from our last ‘portrait session’ in our back yard on the first day of Spring.
Enjoy.
