This week I’m going through all of the weekend’s portrait parties I did.  In all, I completed 6 sessions for 6 different families.  What I love about portrait parties – everyone is all in one place.  What I don’t love, EVERYONE is all in ONE PLACE!  Some kids do great in a confined area for 20 minutes, and other children need more space & time to warm up to the idea of their photo being taken.  It’s definitely a new learning curve for me.

These two girls, however, did amazing.  Anna & Kate are our sweet neighbors & friends.  Thanks for coming by girls – we enjoyed playing with you!

My girls & I went for a little walk around the neighborhood to see what flowers we could spy.  They really wanted a photo of this tree because it makes “pink snow” – you know, all the little pink petals that fall, and I’m sure have some of you sneezing a LOT these days.  They thought it was so pretty.  Then we talked about if we were a bird, which branch would we want to live on.  It was fun!  I’ll be putting some more springtime shots on my Facebook fan page – with NO LOGO – so you can grab them if you like.  Remember, those are low-res, so if you want high-res ones, just shoot me an e-mail.  I’m happy to share!

(sorry for those of you who read our Family Blog…these photos repeat)

While there is about 6 or more inches of snow outside right now, we did have one semi-warm day last week.  The girlies and myself took advantage of it and went outside to play with some bubbles.  The last time Emma, my oldest, blew bubbles, she wasn’t very good.  In fact, she got super frustrated so we purched one of those automatic bubble blowers from Target that looked like a hippo.  It has since died, and Emma wanted to try blowing bubbles the real way this year.  She did a pretty good job.  Brooke, on the other hand, didn’t even try to blow and at times seemed afraid of the bubbles.  However, like in everything else, she began to copy her big sister and laugh & chase the bubbles after a while.  Here they are enjoying their day!  Now you can feel sorry for the three of us stuck inside, especially if you are reading from an area that has more spring-like weather!

See this poor little tulip?  Covered with snow, trying to break free of winter’s grasp?  That’s how I feel right now…like a little flower yearning for Spring, yet covered with Winter’s ice.  I think I go through this every year.  When the hulabaloo of Thanksgiving, Christmas, & New Year’s are over, there’s not much to do, especially for the stay-at-home mom of two young girls.  My days are filled with staying in because it’s too cold to go out, coughs, sniffles, mentoring sisterly arguments, entertaining an almost four-year-old who thinks things are “boring,” and basically just cleaning up the same mess over and over again.  It sounds depressing, I know.  And sometimes it is.  So, I thought to help lift me, and possibly YOU, out of these winter blahs, I’d post some signs of Spring.  Who cares what Punxsutawney Phil says, right?  We can still have a little Spring early.

Here are some photos of flowers I’ve taken over the years.  I don’t always know what to do with them, but nevertheless, I still keep taking them.  They are yours.  Take them.  Drag them and drop them onto your desktop.  Use them to brighten your winter as you wait for spring.  And I will leave you with this quote: “If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.”  ~Josh Billings