A New Way To Play With Trains

A couple of weeks ago, I got the most amazing deal on a huge train table complete with a roundhouse, tracks, and Thomas the Train trains.  We keep it upstairs in the loft.  I'll have to do another post about that soon.  That kind of savings deserves a post all on its own!  Anyway, back to the point of this entry.  Today, Scarlett and Desmond slept at the same time for two glorious hours.  During those two hours, I cleaned like a mad woman.  I have had no time to clean for a week.  I vacuumed, cleaned counters, the stove, mopped, put toys away, went through piles of mail, took all of the trash in the house out, emptied the dish washer, wiped down the banister and the kitchen cabinets!  It was amazing.  You know you need more "me" time or free time at all when cleaning becomes an adrenaline rush.


Anyway, during my mad cleaning session, I was putting away some of Scarlett's play kitchen toys.

When I opened up the refrigerator, this is what was peaking back at me.

At some point, she had gone upstairs and carried down every train she owns and lined them up all nice and neat in her little refrigerator!

Right above her frozen cookie dough, orange juice, milk, honey, and jam.

I don't know if I've mentioned it lately, but I think my daughter is pretty fantastic.

Family Pictures

Last month, I won a free Home Photography Session and a free framed 11x14 print in a facebook contest for a local Photographer.  A very exciting thing to win.  Unfortunately any additional prints or digital images were not free or cheap, but we won't dwell on that!

Finding clothes for all of us to wear was very stressful.  Looking at the outfit I finally chose to wear, you wouldn't think that I had gone through 5 options to get to that one, because its kind of plain and simple.  We changed Wes' shirt at the last minute and I'm really glad we did.  The ones with him and Scarlett just pop because their shirts go so well together!

First, we took some family shots up in our loft.

Scarlett decided right away that she was not going to just stand anywhere on command or smile on command.  Hence, her sitting behind us in the first picture and the grumpy look in the second picture after I laid down the law!


Then, we did some pictures of just Wes and the kids.

 Scarlett was okay since she was getting to hold Desmond.  One of her most favorite things to do!

 Uh, oh.  She couldn't hold Desmond anymore so she got grumpy again.

 The photographer came to the rescue by distracting her with Daddy's nose.

And with giving him a kiss!



Wes took some pictures with just Desmond.  Desmond gave his best smile during this time.

 Wes worked really hard for another one, but Desmond wouldn't budge again.


Next, I got some time with Desmond.

 He didn't smile for me either.  In fact, I think he's sticking his tongue out at me!

 

I did get a grimace, but not what I was going for.  He's usually so quick to smile, too. 

I even stood him up and he only wanted to look out the window with no smile.

I also did some with just Scarlett.  The only way we could get her to sit with me was by bribing her with her favorite and very, VERY loud book.

 She was pretty excited for a little while.

But when we tried to turn her attention to the camera, she became a little sour puss again.

We gave up and decided to just let her do her own thing.

 She chose to change her baby's diaper.  It is one of her favorite pastimes, so I'm actually glad we got it on film.

She takes baby doll diaper changes very seriously!

 I love this one of her.

The two together!

Then Scarlett changed clothes at her own insistence.  We went downstairs and she took some pictures in her beloved playroom.

 She always sticks her play food and dishes in her mouth.  So, if you ever come to our house beware of any play food because I can guarantee it has been licked, bitten, and sucked on.

After playing in the playroom, we went and gave Desmond a bath.  This kid needs daily baths because he spits up all day long.  It doesn't bother him at all, but at any given point during the day you can see about a tablespoon of fluid pouring down his chin.  It can be right after I fed him or two hours, it doesn't matter!  Anyway, without a daily bath, he stinks really bad.  And he is just too cute to be stinky!  Also, Scarlett loves to help with bath time.

Scarlett taking her feet washing job with the upmost seriousness.  Desmond loves his big sister.

 Look at that sweet face!  He is such a little cutie pie!

After all of the excitement, Desmond completely passed out.

Well, it was a lot of fun and this is only about half of the pictures we got from the session.  I know that I will appreciate having these moments captured forever.  Sorry, this post was so long, but it was really mostly pictures!

Desmond's Baby Blessing

Bright and early this morning at 8:30 we blessed little booey woo Desmond at church.  Wes gave him a beautiful blessing and we were even able to have Sabrina and Alexsis come and cheer him on!  It was so nice to have some family here.  At Scarlett's blessing, we had a lot of family and college and work friends come and be a part of it.  It was a bit more meager showing for Desmond's, which made their presence even more appreciated!

Here's our growing family of four! 

Scarlett, Wes, Desmond, Alexsis, and Sabrina

The man of the hour!  That smile melts my heart.

Here's a little comparison of what Scarlett looked like on her blessing day with Desmond on his.  Same blue eyes, same nose, same chin, same cheeks, and the same mouth.  AND they're both completely and absolutely adorable!

We're so lucky to be able to have Desmond as part of our family.  He is such a happy and sweet little baby!  :)