pictures

Cole turned 8 at the beginning of last month. It was a low key night at home (our favorite kind) with a visit from Grandma to make the day extra special. Nana & Gramps will be happy to read that his favorite dinner, and request for his birthday meal, was finger steaks. He also had soccer practice that evening and the entire family has really enjoyed cheering for him at his weekly games.A picture on the couch before we opened presents...we took this exact pose last year. Really neat to note the changes of the kids from year to year. You can compare by looking at this post from last year. There was a small piece of cake leftover that Maddie had a glorious time decorating to the hilt. She pulled out sprinkles of every hue and season (ummm....wonder how old some of those are?)
The following pics were taken just this weekend as we are beginning to enjoy the fall colors (unfortunately due to taking these at dusk the leaves don't really show up). Isaac continues to be a hoot to try to photograph. I think some of the passerbys in the park were amused by our efforts...they were all childless couples with enormous cameras simply out photographing the leaves themselves and enjoying the stillness of the woods. We hoped they enjoyed our commotion because any thoughts of "stillness" were quickly shattered by our presence.
Isaac's body stance and facial expression in the following picture pretty much sums up his philosophy about posed pictures.
And lastly, a picture of our four kiddos who were balancing mom on the teeter-totter in this shot. I finally have been returning to the gym with some semblance of discipline again. While it is exciting to be down close to 10 lbs.....it's still a struggle knowing your taking off the same weight you'd previously lost last year. I guess that's where I'm at, though. Truly acknowledging for me it will always be a struggle...but one that I hope I always struggle to stay at battle with. Anyways the kids enjoyed trying to counterbalance mom's weight. The look on their face of sheer delight just begged me to lift the camera and try to capture. I'm really trying to take those pictures in my mind every day. These days of childhood are slipping by way too quickly....but I'm so thankful for the journey through them together.

For those of you in need of a picture fix....this post should oblige you.