Neve & Owen are back!  You may remember these lovely twins from last year when they were brand new.  Well, guess what?  Now they are just over one year old, walking, babbling, & enjoying running from my camera!

We met up on Saturday morning in Washington, DC at the National Gallery of Art, just beside the National Mall.  The weather was not looking good.  It was sputtering, pouring, drizzling, and doing every other type of rainy precip I can describe.  However, Meg & Phil – the most laid back, awesome parents ever – decided to just go for it.  As parents of twins, I’m sure they know you gotta just roll with things when they happen.  And that’s what we did!

I’ve been a tad remiss about posting my 365 daily for the last three days.  I’ve been neglectful, and I apologize.  BUT, I do have photos!  I took them on their date, but just didn’t get them posted.  So here they are…

Image 193 – Puddles

It rained, we were bored, and they asked…what more can I say?  If you’re my friend on Facebook, you can see more in this puddle series.

Image 194 – Mini, as in “mini-session”

Crazy girls!  They were so much fun during our mini session yesterday.  They laughed, made faces, did toe-touches, and jumped super duper high!  And I used to teach Sara in kindergarten!  I can’t believe she’ll be entering fourth grade this year!  So glad we got to reconnect.

Image 195 – Piggies

These piggies belong to my niece, Leah.  We had a mini session today with her at a beach & apparently her tootsies are too good to be dirtied by sand.  La di da!  The only way I could get her near it was to put a stick down for her so she didn’t have to sully her precious feet.

Until tomorrow…..

I hope that is what this flower is called – Iris.  Right?  Correct me if I’m wrong, please.  I took this while it was beginning to drizzle again.  My camera & my crazy hair got a little damp, but it’s all for a good cause – can’t disappoint my readers!

This flower is in my neighbor Mary’s yard.  I planted it before they even moved in for the neighbors that lived there previously.  I’m not trying to toot my horn that I’m such a great neighbor that I’ll plant random flowers in your yard.  No, this flower serves as a reminder to me of that period of time in our lives – living with difficult neighbors.  It also brings me back to the passage of scripture that I (along with my fellow leaders Rachel & Trish) have been trying to instill in our high school girls at bible study:  James 2: 1-10.  And yes, I’m gonna type it….

My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don’t show favortism.  Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring & fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in.  If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes & say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves & become judges with evil thoughts?  Listen my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith & to inherit the kingdom He promised to those who love Him?  But you have insulted the poor.  Is it not the rich who are exploiting you?  Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court?  Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of Him to whom you belong?  If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right.  But if you show favortism, you sin & are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.  For whoever keeps the whole law & yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking it all.

I’m just sayin’….

If you don’t get the title, don’t worry about it.  It’s because my neighbors have the longest freakin’ name ever, & I was just trying to be witty.  These two lovelies, Anna & Kate, are two of our neighbors that make me never want to leave my little place in our townhouse community.  Each year I anticipate what outfit their mom (and my friend), Laura, will buy them for Christmas.  She has done it again.  And we have not one, but TWO outfits this year!  We decided to try the Annapolis Mall again this year simply because the day we scheduled to shoot it was pouring rain outside…again!  I know God needs to water the earth & all, but it’s getting a little soggy over here!  Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed playing around the mall with Anna & Kate.  My girls absolutely love them & wanted to go copy them & have their own photo shoot just like Anna & Kate!  Needless to say, our Sroka Girls photo shoot didn’t turn out quite as well – what can I say!

Here’s Anna & Kate…

Now for those of you who read the title of this post and thought we might be teaching our children to shoot guns, that would probably be for my brother’s blog, not mine.  Although I was raised around guns in the wild state of Oklahoma, I don’t know how to shoot that kind of device…just a camera, and the occasional water gun.

I decided to take some photos for just the fun and love of it (thanks for the reminder Tasra) and decided my girls were good subjects.

When I was at Target (when am I ever NOT at Target) I saw these really cute Paul Frank rain coats & umbrellas.  Unfortunately they were only toddler size so they just fit Brooke.  Emma, in her short four years, has stretched up to the big girl’s size 5/6!  So we got the raincoat & umbrella for Brooke, but what kind of mother would I be if I left Emma out!  I scoured the Internet for raincoats with matching umbrellas for-ev-er!  Every thing was super cute, but super expensive! (for my taste)  I finally found the Melissa & Doug Sunny Patch Mollie & Bollie polka dot lady bug pattern.  It fit Emma perfectly – size & personality!  She loves walking around with her umbrella folded up like a “walking stick,” posing, tapping, and just looking cute.  Brooke isn’t quite as in to the fashion aspect of her ensemble, but it keeps her dry.

As I was taking photos of the girls, they asked to use the camera too.  So, I finally said, “Sure!”  And as you’ll see below, they did a pretty good job.  Enjoy my kids playing “rain” in their wet weather gear…and no, it wasn’t raining.  We were just practicing for a day like today.

Under her umbrella-ella-ella-ella

Brooke took this one of Emma.  Look at that bokeh!  She just needs better framing.

Emma took this one of Brooke!

I took this one!  Aren’t you equally as proud of me too?

Another Emma shot.  I see where she gets her inability to smile correctly…ugh!

Another Emma shot – looking good girl!

And our tree stump + timer took this one.  Not bad either!

Oh, and I purposely left of the “logo” so grandparents can swipe these, like they usually do.  You know who you are Amaw, Grandpa, Gigi, Pop Pop, Papa, & Nanny!