Day 232

She misses her calf so much when she is at school and just had to go see it in the shed at Uncle Brent and Aunt Erin's house tonight.

White Spots is sure a loved little calf, he is more like a pet to her than a normal cow!

He gets out of his pen everyday and just stays around until Madi comes to visit.

Doesn't he look happy (well, as happy as a cow can look I guess!)...I think he misses her just as much!

Day 231

Ok, so you can call me slightly nuts.

I am at school an hour early this morning so I could blog about our night last night...

After we got home from our amazingly gorgeous fall evening and the kids were snug in bed, I grabbed my computer wanting to go through photos and write a blog post.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to.

For the third time in less than a month, I left my darn charger at school, along with my memory card reader.

So frustrating!

But alas, I am chugging along and up and at 'em early this morning to share these fun fall photos with you.

While Tanner was riding with his dad in the combine, Madi, Ty, and I decided to check out the trails in the woods as they finished their supper.

They didn't really want to venture to far into the woods because they were afraid of bears (and I have to admit I was a little bit too after my mother in law told me one was spotted in one of our fields a few weeks ago).

Ty was getting so freaked out that at one point, Madi said, 'I will give you a hug Ty and make you feel better.'

I love how she is such a protective big sister!

The little guy refused when I wanted to take his photo, but luckily his big sister still likes to strike a pose because our surrounding in these woods was simply amazing!

She just doesn't look like a five year old to me in these photos, doesn't she seem older?!

We are in for it in the coming years I just know it!

Being the ever watchful big sister, Madi grabbed Ty's hand as we found our way out of the 'woods' (I don't know if you can technically call it the woods when the mini van was less than 50 feet away from us the entire time!).

I couldn't resist taking a couple of quick shots in the soybeans, the light was gorgeous!


We eventually met up with the guys and everyone climbed on up to the top of the combine to take a closer look at our beans.

Even the kid who doesn't normally enjoy the farm had a great time!

We all hated to see the evening end!

Happy Fall everyone!

Day 230

When I came outside tonight, I saw Madi and Tyson busy coloring away with sidewalk chalk on our lonely little sidewalk.

I say lonely because since we built our house, the sidewalk leads to nowhere.

Our old house sat at the end of it, and this one sits somewhere off to the side, but it is still there nonetheless and a part of our yard.

For once, I was glad to have it!

They were so busy coloring away that they didn't really look up when I was taking photos of them (but who am I kidding? They don't really even notice me and my camera half the time because it always attached to my hand!)

I love this shot of the two of them!

I am seriously digging this evening fall light!

Day 229

Tonight Tanner and I took a walk out to the field to bring dinner to the busy farmers in our family, i.e., Travis, Madi, and Tyson.

The weather was amazing.

It was one of those nights when I had to stop and thank God for the blessings in my life.

We have our share of problems just like any other family, but I am completely blessed with the group of people who I get the privilege to call my family and I am so glad that they are in my life!

Tanner and I stopped along the way out to the field and he was gracious enough to let this camera obsessed mom of his take a few shots of him in the yummy evening light.

This is one of my favorite photos of him to date.


He is so happy and grown up looking.

I can't believe my big guy is already 7 and whizzing through the first grade...I can feel those years flying by...{sigh}, can they please slow down?!

Day 228

I am so far behind on blog posts {again!}, and I am feeling bad about it!

Once I get behind, it is so hard to try and catch up!

This is why I am going to just start from today and go from there....and hopefully finish my year in February 2012 sometime!

For all of you faithful readers out there who I don't know, or see in person too often, I think I should let you know that my wild and crazy life became a little bit more crazy this fall.

I started working at school again as an Intervention Teacher (K-6) and I couldn't be more excited about the position!

I get to be at school while my two oldest are there (it has always been a dream of mine to be at school while my kids are!).

With this awesome new job, I have had considerably less time to take photos for fun, of our everyday life.

It seems that when I do have a free minute, I am working on housework, or photography business stuff, or playing with kids, or about a million other responsibilities and my poor blog has fallen by the wayside again.

So, I apologize to you, all of you for not keeping up with this crazy project of mine!

I will try to do better!

Tonight's photo was taken in our backyard after Ty had spent a long day combining soybeans with his dad.

He was filthy, tired, and a tad bit grouchy.

When he saw his kitty cat, however, all of that seemed to go away.

He laid down on the grass and cuddled nice and close to the cat and proceeded to tell her all about his busy day.

I melted when he used his soft and gentle voice and told the kitty that he missed her and loved her.

It was so sweet, and allowed me a glimpse at the man that he will someday grow up to be.

Day 227

My mom and Madi were entertaining the little man last week singing 'five little monkey's' to him as he waited for his mama to feed him.

It was the sweetest moment!

I love how Johnathan was staring at them so intently and how Madi kept looking to grandma to make sure that she got the actions just right.

Day 226

It was such a gorgeous day for a wedding last Friday!

Luke and Brandie make a beautiful couple and I was so honored that they asked me to take their wedding photos!

With the beautiful weather that we were having, it seemed like a perfect idea to head to Concordia College to take photos!

I love this shot of them by the fountain, their love for one another sure shines through!

Day 225

I had a senior session tonight with a real outdoorsman.

This was a new experience for me, and turned out to be a lot of fun.

Day 224

Tanner has taken a liking to legos once again (he was really into them about 3 years ago and hasn't played with them much since!).

He wanted me to take a shot of him and this new truck that he built, he was pretty proud of it!

Day 223

I captured this shot of Tyson playing t-ball the other night before bed.

The sun flare really makes the shot stand out to me!

I think I may have another 'sporty' guy on my hands!

Day 222

Travis snuck downstairs during a heated game of air hockey between Tanner and I the other day and took some photos of us playing.

Have I mentioned that I {LOVE} when he does that!

I think that my blog is helping him realize the importance of taking photos of our family, especially in the everyday moments.

It might not have been a big day, or anything momentous happening, but it is LIFE, our LIFE, and someday I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that this photo and blogging obsession of mine is going to be a an amazing thing!

Because of this, I think that I will be expanding the blog into next year, although I don't know if I will do a huge project 365 (it has been a HUGE undertaking!).. but we shall see though, I may just change my mind when the time comes!


Oh, and have I ever told you how competitive we are in our family?

Travis and I used to play a lot of games and really get into them, and now we play a lot of games with our kids.

It might not be the best thing that after I won a game of air hockey I yelled, 'YES!' and then told Tanner 'good game.'

But don't worry, he beat me twice after that!

Day 221

I had a session out on the lake last Saturday (this is how behind I really am...yikes!) and I had to share a quick one of this cute brother sister pair!

With the beautiful weather we had, the day couldn't have been more perfect!

I love, love lake sessions!