The 4th of July Celebration

I can honestly say that the 4th of July is my favorite holiday, second to Christmas. Growing up, it was a time that our family would get together and I'd get to see cousins who lived far away. We'd spend hours outside, eating picnic food, running through the sprinkler and playing with sparklers. (And the terrifying "not legal in PA" fireworks that my Uncle would bring up from North Carolina every year. 😂)

Two years ago, when June was five months old, we took her to the same parade I grew up going to, but nothing more. She was too little and it was too hot. Last year, we took her to the parade and she had the time. of. her. life. Which looking back makes a lot of sense, all of her favorite things were driving by one after another -- trucks, drums, horses, puppies, buses -- and they were throwing candy at her. After the parade we went into the park briefly, but didn't stay long, nor did I bring along my real camera. Which of course I regretted. Isn't it always that way!?!? Take it with you and you never use it. Leave it at home and you're like "THE LIGHT IS PERFECT. Myyy lifeeeeeee."

So this year I made sure to take my camera. And thank goodness I did, because I got one single image that proves June had a good time, despite being a hot mess the entire time. 😂 I don't blame her, it was SO hot out. And she just couldn't deal with it. #bless Below is said image.

In fact, it was so hot out that I forgot to take a single picture of all the awesome food we ate. We'd finish shoving something into our face and I'd be like "Noooooo! <licks fingers> I didn't take a photo!" So, please use your imagination for the following.

<insert photo of "Ham & Cheese Soft Pretzel Log">

<insert photo of "Fresh Lemonade & Bacon on a Stick>

<insert photo of June spitting out her soft pretzel realllll dramatic like>

<insert photo of "Burger from Lancaster Burger Co. w/ Fries>

<insert photo of me considering whether or not I could eat anything else, aka Fried Oreos>

My Dad, who has been a Children's & Family musician for almost 30 years, has been playing the Lititz Springs Park 4th of July Celebration since I can remember, which is partly why I have so many memories of spending the day in the park -- winning goldfish that would die later that week, and staining circles of color around my mouth from all the snow cones.

It's so fun to watch my Dad play now that both my brother and I have kids. June, and my niece Pearl, are always a little uncertain as to why my Dad, their "Norkey", is standing up there in front of everyone singing. It usually takes June awhile to warm up to the idea... but that's the story of her life, so nothing new there.

Everyone had fun at the show and danced their pants off. Honestly, it was so hot I wish I could have danced my pants off. Also, look at how little Baby Gray is in his stroller! (My nephew.)

This year was the first year in a long time that I didn't stay/come back for the fireworks. But, I'll tell ya, growing a baby is a lot of work and I was so tired by 8pm, I was out for the night. Have you ever taken your kids to fireworks? How old were they when you went for the first time? There is just no way in heck we could take June at least for a few more years. Maybe when she's finally ready I'll be done growing babies and we can have the energy to go together at 10pm. Ha!

All in all it was a great day and I'm glad I took my camera along to capture at least some of the memories we made. 🙂 Tell me, what's your favorite holiday?

Longwood Gardens - Orchid Extravaganza!

I love taking June to new places, or watching her experience new things. Last week she ate a Skittle for the first time and I honestly thought her mind was going to explode. 😂 She just looked at me, wide-eyed, and said "Yummmmmy!" It was precious. So naturally, it was loads of fun seeing her experience Longwood Gardens for the first time last month. Technically she'd been to Longwood Gardens before, but she was only a few months old at the time and had no idea what was going on. I mean, she was incredibly adorable during the visit, which was enough to make some old ladies stop and take a photo with her 😂, but other than that, she basically just sat in her stroller while my Mom and I pointed out every other plant and flower, saying "Ohhh, look!" or more often, "Ohhh... why doesn't mine look like that?" Our most recent visit was much different, however! June looked at everything, while sprinting from one room to the next, barley giving us adults time to look at anything.

If you haven't been to Longwood Gardens before, you've gotta go. And you've got to go during different times of the year, too. Last month was the first time I'd had the chance to go and visit their Orchid Extravaganza. And holy cow, it was incredible. On the drive down there I thought to myself, "I mean, it'll be pretty. But like, I've seen lots of orchids at weddings and they're cool and all..." But no joke. It was mind blowing how many orchids there were - both in quantity and variety. My photos from our day do not do it justice!

This past November my Grandpa passed away at the beautifully old age of 95, leaving behind a family member/descendant for every year he was alive. Yes, you read that right, 95 people -- between his children and their spouses, their kids (my cousins) and spouses, and now their kids (like, June). How amazing is that! After my Grandmother passed away, when I was little, my Grandpa got remarried to a lovely lady by the name of Liz. My Grandpa and Grandma-Liz were married for a little over 22 years before he left us last fall. That is amazing, in and of itself.

I tell you all that to say, Liz was a major part of our family and loved Grandpa, and all of us, so well for all those years. She was even the inspiration for our Easter Egg Roll, where we literally bowl our Easter eggs down their long driveway every spring! Her children and family, however, live in New York and she is currently in the process of moving there now. Our trip to Longwood Gardens, with Liz, my Mom, June and I, was to honor Liz in a non-formal way, and spend a little more time with her before she packs up all of her things and starts fresh in New York, at the age of 74.

I think I can speak for all of us when I say we had a wonderful time walking around the gardens, breathing in that fresh "greenhouse air", annnnnnd chasing after June.

Several times throughout our visit I just had to strap June into her stroller so we could walk at the pace we wanted to. 😂 She was like a little rocket flying down the paths at full speed! And both my Mom and I dressed way too warm, so were sweating like crazy in the warm gardens, trying to keep up with sprint-legs-mc-gee!

One of June's favorite parts had nothing to do with the orchids at all, but was the puddles on the floor in one of the main gardens. She was insistent that my Mom run through them with her, back and forth, back and forth. (Insert another reason we were incredibly sweaty!)

You can imagine how thrilled she was when we ended our visit at the actual Children's garden and water play area.  They have little bugs you can scoop up out of the fountains, "paint brushes" you can use to paint the water on the walls, and loads of animal fountains that spout water across the distance of the entire garden!

Note: June totally thinks she's splashing me in the images below. 😂 Even though I was a good 4 feet from her with my camera at the time. She was giddy with excitment over "splashing Mama".

I would have let her really play and get wet in the fountains had it not been so cold outside! (We had a long walk back to our car, too.) I definitely want to go back in the summer when she can get as wet as she wants. I think I'll even bring her a change of clothes!

After watching the pelican fountain (below) blow bubbles in the water for what seemed like forever, we convinced June to leave the kid's gardens with the promise of lunch! We grabbed food at the cafe, which is delicious by the way, and eventually headed back out to our car and drove home.

It was a beautiful and refreshing day that I will remember for a long time. I am so glad I took my camera with me to capture those moments for us to look back on.

Also -- June and I are sending so much love to Grandma Liz on her new adventure in New York!

O Christmas Tree!

Quite possibly everything related to Christmas is more fun when you have a toddler, and getting and decorating our tree was no exception. It's not that June wasn't fun last year, she was! But being that she was only 10 months old at the time, she wasn't even crawling for us then. She actually started crawling on Christmas day... which was very exciting. Anyway! This Christmas has just been such a sweet season in our lives. Busy with work, but also filling it up with all the things we love about the holidays.

We started off by getting our tree from a little, local, roadside stand here in our small town of Manheim. It was SO. COLD. the day we went to get it. June was turning blue within minutes, so we picked our tree super duper fast. All of their trees were beautiful though! So it wasn't hard to choose the perfect one quickly.

While T.J. paid for our tree and loaded it into the van, June ran laps around their little wreath shop, giggling up a storm. 

For the last several years, T.J. and I always watch Arthur Christmas while we decorate our tree. But we opted out of that this year because we knew June wouldn't focus with the TV on, or "fee-vee?" as she calls it.

We gave June her ornament(s) for the 2016 year and showed her how to hang them on the tree. She was thrilled that Nemo and Dory were on her tree. It was precious. Also, note that sweet outfit she's wearing. 😂 We purchased new shoes for her about a week ago cause she's growing like crazy, and she's wanted to wear them ever since they arrived in the mail. She also did not want me to tuck her shirt into her skirt.  Bless her.

Annnnnd the ornaments came off immediately. She's been taking them on and off the tree everyday now, to play with them or take them in the car as toys. Thankfully they're just plastic and styrofoam, cause she's sent them down her "slide" a few times already.

For every year that we've been together, T.J. and I have also gotten each other an ornament. This year, T.J. got a gold microphone for me -- to represent 2016 being the first full year I've had with my voice in yearrrrs. (I had voice surgery in late 2015 to remove a large growth and regain my vocal functions! Praise Jesus!)

And naturally, I got T.J. a grilled cheese ornament -- because 2016 was the year we started Grilled Cheese Tuesdays. Yes, it is exactly as awesome as it sounds. A different grilled cheese sandwhich every Tuesday night at our house, with friends.

When T.J. pulled it out of the box, he said "Ohh this is great. I'll add it to my food section on the tree." 

June chewed on her Nemo and Dory ornaments HARD one day while in her carseat. Ha ha! How perfect?! At first I thought, "Eh, I'll just get her new ones." And then I was like "NO! This is perfect. What a funny thing to remember." #twoyearmolarsaretheworst

We love our little Christmas tree this year and can't wait to open all the sparkly gifts underneath it on Sunday! If we last that long.... cause T.J.'s already given my 2 of my gifts. 😂 He just gets too excited! I love it though.

Does your family give ornaments every year? Or do you have another tradition relating to your tree? I'd love to know! Comment to let me know - here OR on Instagram!

Our Family Photos | 2016

I am well aware how silly it is that I spent over half the last decade photographing families, weddings and seniors, all preaching to them about how important "real" photos are, but then when it comes to our family, I'm the worst at it. Ha ha! I'm definitely getting better at bringing my real camera along to certain things, or getting it out here and there at home, but there's still something so magical about having someone else photograph your family. To see them the way they see you.

My dear friend Liz, who used to work for me and my photo team 💕, captured our family on one abnormally warm evening this past October.

June was being SO shy, and at times, incredibly uncooperative. (Trust me, she was, I just didn't include those photos, cause the faces of T.J. and I are like.. 😬🙄.) So, now I can totally relate to those parents in front of my camera being like "Seriously, she's never like this. I'm so sorry!"

How's this one for the baby book? 😂 

June and I both wore dresses from Old Navy that I'd picked out long ago, hoping to get family photos in them! And I love the way all of the colors came out. I also wore my favorite necklace from Elle Lane Designs with June's name on it. #sappymommoment

About half way through our session we switched locations, because Liz and I, like the photographers we are, were chasing after the sun in our cars. Note: me being realllll pumped up about the sunlight in the image below.. and then posing for a much prettier photograph.

June was very excited about all of the rocks in the field and kept going around picking up them and handing them to us, saying "Thank you, please." It was so cute.

When Liz was shooting photos of just June and T.J., she swiped the sunglasses off his face and put them on herself. 😂😎

I am so grateful we had our family captured at this moment in time. It's already fun to "look back" at these and remember what she was doing only two months ago and how much she's changed already. Love, love, love it.

Also, let this serve as your yearly reminder to get photos taken of your family. JUST DO IT. #memories

My dress: Old Navy | My Boots: Target | June's Dress + Boots: Old Navy | June's Beanie: CottonOn | T.J.'s Flannel: PacSun | T.J.'s Jeans: Gap | T.J.'s Boots: F21 Men | T.J.'s Sunglasses: RayBan

Junie the Kangaroo

Target does it again. This kangaroo costume is so incredibly cute. And though it took some serious convincing, coupled with a LOT of clapping and praise to get June into it - it was worth it! 😍 T.J. and I helped June get dressed about 30 minutes before the neighborhood trick-or-treating began, and our wonderful neighbors brought out their baskets of candy for June to snack from. Last year, June was only 7 months old at Halloween, so we put her in a cute "Bootiful" onesie, but that was the extent of it. This year though! We were ready! However, in typical fashion, June wasn't sure about it at first..... 😂

It took her a good three minutes to actually shuffle her way over, about four feet in distance, to their candy. And once she finally picked out a piece, THIS was her face. "Don't watch me, OKAY?!"

Oh my word, we were DYING. 😂 Bless her. But, once she realized what was inside the chocolate wrappers, she warmed up quite quickly.

With half a Twix in her system, she was feeling GOOOOOD, and starting sprinting down the sidewalk, kissing her baby-roo on top of the head, and jumping up and down at our request.

Then we crosssed the street to see June's BFF, Clara, who was dressed as a cupcake. The two girls sat on the steps and tugged on one another's costumes, while us adults shoveled pizza into our faces that was just delivered, nice and hot, to the door! #pennstreethalloweentraditions

At one point June popped up from the steps, as if she'd suddenly remembered her costume had a pouch with candy in it. She was so excited she started kissing baby-roo on the head again. 😂

We get a lot of trick-or-treaters on our block (like hundreds), so Junie spent the rest of the night sitting on T.J.'s lap, helping to hand out the candy from our house. She loved seeing everyone's colorful costumes and meeting the little kids. It was such a fun night that we're already looking forward to next year. 😊

Happy 30th to... ME! | The Butterfly Atrium

About two weeks ago, on October 7th, I turned 30. FREAKIN' 30! That's nuts. Thirty years. Did I say that already? I turned THIRTY. Actually, I'm truly not bothered by it at all. The older I get the more I appreciate my age and what it means to me.

The weekend before my birthday, T.J. and I had the pleasure of staying at The Hershey Hotel for two days. However, it was rainy most of that weekend, so we didn't get to use our free Hershey Gardens + Butterfly Atrium tickets. Thankfully they were valid for an entire week, so we went back on my birthday!

We started off our morning inside the newly renovated Butterfly Atrium! It was beautiful and June really enjoyed it. As hundreds of butterflies flew around, she'd point to them and go, "Wooooooooow." It was so precious. She was also equally interested in sticking her hands in the little stream as she was in the butterflies themselves. You do you, Junie.

Several times we had butterflies land on us, which is so magical to see them up close like that. In fact, you have to be checked out in a room full of mirrors before you leave the atrium, to make sure you don't take any with you!

Also, June's little ponytail. I can't handle the cuteness.

I had thought about taking June earlier this spring, but am so glad we waited until this fall. She's loving all things animals right now and kept pointing to the trees and flowers too, taking it all in.

After we finished our time inside the Butterfly Atrium, we wanted to take a little more time before June's nap, so we wandered around The Children's Garden for a few minutes. Well, T.J. and I wandered, June sprinted from place to place. 😂

June's been teething hard for months now, working to get her 2 year molars through a bit early. Which is pretty obvious, since her fingers are in her mouth in every other photo these days!

I'm so glad we took a little morning day trip to the gardens as a family to commemorate my 30th. The rest of my birthday day was spent with family, sipping iced coffees on our front porch in the sun, and at our local town fair eating funnel cakes and french fries with friends.

An Afternoon at the Park

Over the last year and a half of our lives, T.J. and I have welcomed a slower pace of life with open arms. Several weeks ago, on Labor Day, both T.J. and I took the day off. We didn't go into the studio to fold the extra t-shirts like we easily could have. We didn't stay at home and relax, all while replying to social media messages and comments from our couch. But instead, we took the entire day off.

If you know me well at all, you know I have a pretty bad memory. The amount of times someone will tell a story and I'll go "That happened???", is too many to count. Which is why I am so glad I brought my real camera along to the park earlier this month, to take a few photos of our little family on a beautiful day off.

T.J. and I were wanting an afternoon pick-me-up treat, so we went through the Starbucks drive-thru and then headed to one of my favorite parks in the town next to ours. We arrived at the park and the weather was beautiful. The light was bright and clear and the ducks were everywhere. I pulled out the old hot dog buns I'd packed in June's diaper bag and she and T.J. began to feed the ducks. June, however, had very little interest in feeding the ducks. Instead she ate most of the stale hot dog buns herself, leaving piles of crumbs behind for the ducks to gobble up. 

I don't think I'll ever get over how cute and precious it is to watch your child do something they've never done before - whether it be watching a parade, trying a new food, or feeding the ducks. June ran after the ducks, fists full of crunchy bread, glancing back over her shoulder to make sure we were watching - waiting for us to give her that "we see you, keep going" smile. It's just the sweetest thing.

Annnnnnd then after about seven minutes of bird chasing, she was done with the ducks and asking to go swing. 😂 As you'll see below, she was clearly very excited about it.

While T.J. and I sat on the bench and drank our iced coffees, June played in the sand - attempting to make new friends with the kids already there, bringing us the toys she was find and going "Ohhhhhhhhh" with each one.

Before we left, we took a lap around the entire park, which is split into two sides with a natural spring running right down the middle. June conquered the big steps all by herself and then ran down the ramp holding T.J.'s hands. That little pony tail and smirk are just too much!

A Sink Full of Veggies

With August well underway, our garden is in full swing producing beautiful dahlias and zinnias, plus delicious cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes, jalapeños, peppers, onions, potatoes! June loves when I wash off the days fresh veggies in the sink and was begging to stand at the sink and see them when she woke up from her nap the other day.

June quickly learned that those potatoes turn into delicious rosemary fries and holds out the potatoes and goes "friiieshhhh!" She also gathers up the potatoes and sits on the couch with them.. just holding them in her lap. We call them her "couch potatoes." 😂 She also eats the cherry tomatoes right off the vine like little grapes and squints her eyes with delight when the tomato pops in her mouth!

Side note, have you ever planted potatoes before? This was my first year and I loved it! I wish I had done like 5x the amount! They're so good and easy to take care of. Next year I'm definitely going to plant more.

Cat Scratches & Cake Pops

Sweet little June had a rough start to her day. 😂 Not only did she shut her own head in the bathroom door, minutes later one one of our cats scratched her pretty good! Needless to say she was feeling all the feels. I had a long list of things to get at Target and took her with me, where she rode around and pointed to every single "kitttttyy" and "puupppp-pup" on the pet food bags and smacked her lips 400 times while rolling down the cracker and cookie aisle. 😂 After we went through checkout, I got myself a coffee at the Starbucks and purchased her a cake pop to try, hoping it would make her day a little better. And boy did it work! She was pumped up. It was so precious how excited she was about it.

Isn't she so stinking cute! After a few minutes of enjoying her cake pop, she crawled all the way underneath the benches outside of Target, dragging her cake pop along the cement as she went. She was really proud of herself for figuring out she could go underneath the bench.

Headband: Love, Amalie Maren | Ice Cream Cone Tee: Little Babe Designs | Skirt & Shoes: Baby Gap