Lucas' Birthday // 2012

Lucas is a sweet little friend of Chaz's who has been around for a while. He was kind enough to invite us to his birthday party. It was a great time and the boys had a blast. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is the get-along-gang. They are pretty much inseparable. Derrion, Nigel, Chaz, Aiden and Lucas. They are all just so stinkin' adorable. BUT they are such "boys" that when the school structured their classes, they separated them. When you see them together, you would understand. They are just a big ball of mess and 100% boy!

The party was such a blast. It was at a local community center with an outdoor playground. I am all about running them until they have zero energy left!

I heart this precious little face!!

And this one too!!!

Oddly enough there was a horse next door, so we grabbed some carrots from the veggie tray and headed over to feed him. The boys thought it was hilarious!

Then it was time for presents. Get excited, Lucas!

There you go!

The boys were so good to sit down and watch Lucas unwrap all his toys with such excitement. He is really into Hot Wheels and I am pretty sure there were none left in the stores.

Insert the ADD of a preschooler. "Momma look, I can be flat!"

And then it was cake time. Seriously cute, cake time!

Is this how kids eat cake nowadays?

Lucas' momma had another great idea. If they weren't worn out from running, swinging, climbing, etc... then it is time for a pinata!! Genius!

This was a hard pinata to break but eventually..... finally, it broke!

and Lucas got silly!

Happy birthday, little guy! I am so glad my little guy has found an awesome friend in you. I hope we have many more years of birthdays, play dates, sleepovers, etc. You are one of a kind!!

My little crew // Photoshoot Summer 2012

If you remember this post, you remember that it ended with a trip to get a skull x-ray after Dane landed on his head. Well, we decided we wanted a few more pictures as this basically functions as Danes 6 & 9 month pictures.. Yes, he is the sad recipient of the "second child" status. When Chaz was little, I had his pictures done at birth, 3, 6 and 9 months almost to the day. I was a crazy woman about it. This little guy well, not so much. Sorry dude. If we have another I will be shocked if we have anything more than snapshots :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Anyway, we met Philip in downtown Springdale one evening in hopes to get some great family photos. As usual, Chaz was a mess---melting at every turning point. I don't know why he picks picture day to be a mess but it is always this way. Philip handled it all like a pro. Heart him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I will say, you can't even tell from the looks of these pictures that it was a stressful shoot and we were all sweating by the end of it!!! Enjoy!

I love the candidness of these pictures. I love that this captures the love and chaos of my family to a tee. I love that my hair is messed up by my kiddos in 1/3 of these. I love that in the end the baby's feet are filthy. I love that in the middle of this session, during meltdown number 1,435,675,327,893, Philip decided to just shoot away with Chaz and totally changed his mood. I just LOVE these pictures so very much. Thank you, Philip!! You are amazing!!!