easter whirlwind ~part two

davis supervised.  marley was the artistic director.  ben was the manual labor.

luckily we got the kit with sparkles.  they all needed it according to ms marls.

decorating the bunny cookies

so the problem with my small camera is that it does not take the photo the instant you press the button.
there is a delay.  two seconds prior to this photo she was pulling up.  not all the way, but her butt
was off the ground.

creating bunny faces is serious business.

the many faces of the easter bunny by ms marls.

and what is easter without lamby bread? 

non stop chatter from these two.  especially marley.

why take a bath?  just add bubblebath to the pool water.

so that's it for tonight.  i'll post easter sunday pics tomorrow.

easter whirlwind~part one

we had ourselves a very busy easter weekend.  but it was wonderful, so all the crazyness was worth it.

the black shadow in the corner is a bunny

she really really REALLy wants a real bunny.  how do you say no to that face?
just think of all the poop i already deal with.  i do not need to add rabbit poop to the mix.

davis seems to like cows as much as i do

i just love how she sits with her feet crossed.

almost standing on her own!

every time i horse snorted marley would snort, and then davis would copy marley. 

so saturday morning we went out to miracle farms for their annual fundraiser/picnic.  it was lots of fun, as you can tell by the above pics.  blogger is being weird with photos, so i think i am going to have to do the weekend in several posts. 

photo bomb

kind of like a glitter bomb, but easier to enjoy.

 we had an easter egg hunt friday after music class.

first peep.  it was def.  enjoyed.

sunny afternoon in the front yard.  marls is tired from all the fresh air and runny around after eggs she did.

hello.  nice to meet you.

 super girl at jude's birthday party.  isn't she awesome?!

davis found mud while we were cleaning up from the flood.

she is working on 4 (FOUR!!!) molars right now.  everything goes in her mouth.  everything.

such a flirt

ok, so we had a good, but long weekend.  we recovered.  things are still a mess but at least they aren't wet!  i did a photo shoot in the bluebonnets saturday morning.  it was fun, until we almost put the stroller down on a copperhead.  ack!  but after we sent the men loudly thru the flowers with a hoe, we proceeded.  cautiously.  not the most comfortable photo session ever, but i think i got some cute ones.  here's the link:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.322581074469726.74631.319058851488615&type=1&l=46a2f1b701

and then yesterday was davis's ten month birthday!  crazy crazy crazy.  anyway, i was trying out a new photo background idea, which i think needs a bit of work but should work just fine once i get the kinks out.  here's the link for those photos:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.323170054410828.74751.319058851488615&type=3&l=80469a7948

i have more fun everyday family photos from this weekend, but i'll add them tomorrow.  here's one of marley and the wildflowers though....

 

so

it has been a day.  it has been a day.  yet, surprisingly i am not all that down or worried or negative feelingy.  so the jeep decided it needed a vacation while the girls and i were at music class.  i came out to start it and it decided not to start.  not the battery.  i think it's the starter.  so, you know, that happened.  no biggie.  just a car and it's fixable.  my mom came to the rescue, as ben was already at work and i don't think both car seats will fit in the honda.  we might have to find out.  so i'm driving my mom's car for the next couple of days.  which is kind of nice because it's so clean.  almost like driving a new car.  so i started a load of laundry (b/c no matter  how much laundry i do there will always be more) and continued with my day.  six (SIX!!!!!) hours later i remember that i need to put it in the dryer.  i open the laundry room door and am greeted with a pool.  of water.  in my laundry room.  so apparently the water has just been poring into the laundry room and ben's shop since i started the load.  SIX HOURS EARLIER!  so that sucks.  so i did what any sane person would do, after turning off the water.  i shut the door, put the girls to bed, and got a beer.  and said some profanity to myself.  maybe more than some.  so i am thinking i should go to bed soon before i brake anything else expensive.  but before that i have to say i have gotten a great response to opening up for business and am steadily booking sessions.  woo hoo!  ok, more like WOO FCKING HOOO!!!!!  i am excited.  maybe that is why i can not be overly obsessive about the unfortunate things that happened today.  and even though the car is broke and ben and ihave a hell of a day of clean up ahead of us, there is always a bright side.  we have been meaning to clean out the shop and laundry room.  perhaps god was telling us to get off our asses already.  and i did have a completely wonderful afternoon/day with my girls.
ironically as i went to publish this friday night the internets died.  but the weekend has gone better, i have lots of pics to share so i'll be back later today. 

...

so i don't remember when exactly my parents got me my first camera.  i do have a lot of photos from my dad's funeral and not much before then, so i am guessing it was that last christmas we were an entire family.  my next camera came after i met jeb.  and i think i can really thank him for awakening the love of photography in me.  he almost always had a camera and really pushed me to see things differently and photograph them.  granted he usually wanted photos of him and his red hat, but still.  jeb pushed and nudged me in so many ways to be more creative and more sure of my creativity.  and that is an invaluable thing to be pushed and nudged into.  jeb was sure of himself and if he thought you were awesome, then there was no question about it.  i digress.  i started taking tons of photos, partly as a way to express myself, partly as a way to make sure i could hold on to a moment.  i have but one photo of my dad.  and i think my mom only has one of the four of us together.  my dad hated having his picture taken.  but i so wish i had more.  i digress again.  i'm kind of a rambler.  so in college i took every photojournalism class i could without having to be a fine arts major.  because, for some reason, i lacked enough faith in my abilities to be an artist.  but i found another passion in social work and am so glad i followed that.  in philadelphia i got the awesome opportunity to work under devon john, who is a good friend and an amazing photographer.  she taught me so much just by letting me do, with gentle criticisms and suggestions for improvement.  so for as long as i can remember i have had a camera attached to me in some way.  i love it.  i feel like i come alive when i am out shooting photos.  it awakens a part of me that doesn't often get expressed.  i think i have a unique perspective as a photographer and a social worker.  i have been trained to deal with emotional situations, generally traumatic, but not always.  as a photographer i have been trained to capture moments.  put the two together and i have to admit, to myself mostly, that i am pretty darn good.  so i am taking the plunge.  with ben's encouragement i am going to start pursuing a career in photography again.  why not?  i love it, i'm good at it, and it makes me happy.  it's a little scary for me to be putting myself out there because i think it makes me vulnerable.  but a little scary can be a good thing.  so i am in the process of collecting my portfolio and organizing it, getting the word out, and jumping in head first.  ashley jones photography is alive and well.  i'll keep you updated.  if you need a good photographer, give me a call.  i am open for business.

stats

so we went for our well baby visit on monday.  both are looking good.  marley is 31.5 inches tall and 32.4 lbs.  davis is 26 inches tall and 23.5 lbs.  but the doc thinks they didn't straighten davis's legs out, so she could be taller.  she was screaming something fierce and i think the nurse just wanted to be done.  the doc is happy with them both.  davis is heading back towards the charts with her weight, so no worries there.  the only concern the doctor had was that she is still not sleeping through the night.  that would be a concern we both have.  =)  but she is getting better, going a little longer between mid night snacks.  so, hopefully we'll get there soon.  i think if she would just roll over to her tummy already she wouldn't wake up.  but she just gets up to her side.  during the day she flips around real quick, but for some reason at night she has never rolled over.  anyway.  all is good.  no concerns.  spending the  weekend in the yard, attempting to regain control.  which means i am spending the weekend sneezing.  but the weather is beautiful.

my beautiful big helper.  we attacked the weeds yesterday.  some of them anyway.

girl has attitude.  already.  i mean if she can pull this look at 9 months what is 13 years going to look like?  (i can hear you laughing mom)

the first of the canines is almost here! 

so, at 715pm, when i came out from putting the girls to bed, looking forward to spending some time with my hubby, what do i find?  a very tired, hard working man sound asleep.  and i do mean sound asleep.  if you know ben, then you know when he's asleep there ain't no waking him.  he needs it though.

we went swimming today.  davis LOVES the water.