never grow up, not me

I'm not sure when I stopped liking to dress up for Halloween. As a child it was one of my favorite holidays. Perhaps I need a little sprinkle of pixie dust a la Tinkerbell to fly me to Neverland with Wendy, Michael and John. A little less growing up, and a little more fun.

Though I didn't dress up yet another year, their excitement, their wonder, 

is sprinkled over me again...

and again...

and again, and I am instantly brought back to my childhood days.

"Cause growing up is awfuller, than all the awful things that ever were, I'll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up, not me!"

{Peter Pan, the Broadway musical}

insta friday {crazy busy style}

It's been a can of crazy around here.

Crazy busy, that is. 

Starting with this past weekend and making sure Kieran and Erik were ready to go on their Adventure Guides YMCA trip with 11 other boys and dads. So proud of Erik "Rolling Rock" and Kieran "White Lightning!

Crazy busy cleaning up after Anna...

this week was makeup week:

"I look so pretty!", she says.

 Crazy busy with refinancing the house and then realizing that my license had expired...oops!

Next stop, 

the unhappiest place on Earth:

Crazy busy, but never too busy to capture a moment with my 3 precious littles in the morning before work:

 Never too busy to share in their excitement of getting their holiday of the month card along with their $2 bills from Grandma Great and Boompa:

Crazy busy between delivering Halloween Bug Juice to Anna's class (love her cute sparkly pumpkin she made!),

to meeting Kieran at his Halloween parade in between work!

 Crazy busy with having to swap cars so Erik could pick up some materials to start the drainage work under our house ("fun"!).

I drove this bad boy home today...

in 2nd gear. So proud of myself for not stalling, though I was sweating bullets by the time I got in the drive way, 5 very long minutes away!

I had to make sure to leave myself enough time from leaving school so that I could meet the carpet cleaner. Ahh...clean carpets

Crazy busy...in a good kind of way (well, minus the DMV, that is)!

i heart faces {let them be little}

I knew right away, the image that I'd choose when I saw the theme this week for I Heart Faces. 

I just wrote about the everyday moments last week, and I can't think of a better shot that I've taken than this one of my sweet baby, Tatum, on a Sunday afternoon. 

Laundry day...

let them be little...

let her be little.

he really is this happy...

He really is this happy almost all of the time.

I am so blessed to be his mother, 

so blessed to call him my son.

When he tells me, "I will always hug you, and love you forever", my heart melts.

When he blows me a kiss goodbye in the kindergarten line,

I grab each one and store it as if it were the most valuable item on the planet...because it is.

When he tells me, "Mommy, you are in my heart",  I want to hold on and never let him go.

There will come a day when he will fly on his own, 

and oh, how he will soar!

it's the everyday moments...

It's the everyday moments that count. Sure, the planned shots of my kids are wonderful, especially when they turn out the way that I like, but it's the everyday moments, you know, the ones that happen on their own. The ones that if you stop yourself, if you are quiet enough, you can catch a baby in all her glory.

If she were my first, I might be concerned that she was not yet crawling. Yes, I am awaiting this momentous occasion, but it's the very thought that my third and last baby is staying a baby just a little while longer. A little while for me to hold on to these moments...a little while for me to remember just how adorable she is as she scoots her way from room to room on her squishy little bottom.

It's the little moments like throwing the laundry all over the room that make me laugh, especially over the fact that I hired a house cleaner this past week. My sanity and time spent with the kids was far more important than working myself to the point of exhaustion, to the point of missing a moment like this because I was too busy with the rest of the house. 

A luxury, you might say? To many, yes. Certainly, I am blessed to be able to do such, yet I cut back in many other areas and in doing so, it gave me a moment...

an everyday moment.

I cannot get it back...

so I'll capture it the best way I know how.

One part with my camera (so she can see through my lens), 

one part with my written word (so she can take in what I was thinking),

and one part with my heart (a feeling that only I as her mother will ever know). 

It's the everyday moments, these are what I live for, and I refuse to miss out.

Stumble upon them...

take them...

feel them...

love them...

for they are the only things that truly matter in life.

It's the everyday moments, 

and I am grateful for every single one.

a lovely fall afternoon

While Kieran regains his energy by a long and restful nap, Tatum watches intently with awe and wonder at what her big sister is doing...

and I watch in awe and wonder at how my baby has quickly become a soon-to-be 11 month old.

Anna is just happy to be outdoors helping her daddy...

to plant flowers.

Granted, most if not all, were already planted for her,

but it's really no matter. 

She's being helpful, not to mention she loves "all the beautiful colors", she says.

And that's what I call a lovely Fall afternoon.

almost friday...

The rainy weather has been the perfect excuse to wear her rain coat and matching boots (which would be great to have in adult size). 

It's almost Friday...

and though I love my job, I love my kids more! 

It's almost Friday...