adventuring

When we lived in North Carolina going on adventures was a regular occurrence.  We had a great selection of parks nearby and since the weather was nice almost year-round we would head to a park to hike around and explore a couple times a week.  Virginia has lots of beautiful parks too but I was so sick during the first half of my pregnancy that unfortunately the beautiful fall passed us by without much adventuring.  I've been itching to get outdoors and 45 degrees seemed like warm enough after a week of cold weather.  We headed to a nearby park that we haven't been to before and just started walking.  At the end of the trail we found a pond and thankfully she had the proper footwear for splashing.  It felt so nice to be outside together and it made me so excited for a spring and summer of adventuring with both of my babies.

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best day

An unexpectedly perfect afternoon.  So perfect that I named all of these images some variant of "best_day_ever" when I exported them from Lightroom after editing.  Just the two of us, sitting/laying/dancing in her room as the sun set and made stripey shadows on her walls.  She asked me questions about my favorite things to play with when I was in preschool.  I asked her what she was most excited about when her baby sister arrives (Changing diapers was her answer.  We'll see if that excitement holds after the first few days).  She jumped on the bed, giggled, changed her outfit several times, and showed me how she likes to make her bed.  

I know all parents feel this way so it's not a unique feeling--but sometimes I just cannot get over this funny, interesting, cute little creature who lives in my house and I can't believe she's mine.  As we get closer to my due date and I sense that the dynamics of our family are shifting I am so grateful for the gift of this afternoon and these images of her just exactly as she is right now.  

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little skater

Like most little girls this year, my daughter asked Santa for nothing but "Frozen" stuff for Christmas.  Santa came through on that front but we really wanted to surprise her with something fun to do outside.  And with her baby sister coming in just a few months we wanted something that had "big girl" written all over it.  We chose roller skates (they start as skates with two wheels in back & one in front and then later convert to inline skates) and they have been a HUGE hit.  Any day above about 40 degrees is "perfect" skating weather according to her and we head outside and skate all over the neighborhood.  Up and down streets, sidewalks, to the playground and back, everywhere.  She likes to tell strangers "I skate really well.  I don't fall down very much at all."  And she doesn't.  But when she does fall down she doesn't get discouraged and insists on getting up by herself even though it's sort of a complicated process.  

I took my big camera with us on our last skating adventure and thought they were just so cute I had to share a few.  Thanks for looking!

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