Happy Mothers Day!!!

On Mothers Day, as we all do, I think of my Mom...

She is an AMAZING woman!!!

I Love & miss her so much!!!

She is so beautiful in so many ways, countless ways really.

I can only hope & pray that my children admire & love me half as much as I do her!!!

I LOVE & MISS YOU MOM!!!!

XOXOXO

THANK YOU SO SO SO MUCH FOR ALL YOU ARE & ALL YOU DO!!!

I am so LUCKY, PRIVILEGED & HONORED to call you MOM!!!

Happy Mother's Day Mom!!!!

I LOVE YOU!!!!

 XOXOXO

My FABULOUS Mom & me...Isn't she gorgeous?!?!?!

I also think of the "other Mom's" who have touched my life...

There are a lot of those, Grandma's, Great Aunts, Aunts, "In-Laws,""Sisters" & Friends, of all kinds...

I wish I could write about them all, but that would have to be a book!!!

To them I say Thank you for being you!!!

Thank you for being an inspiration, teacher, friend, confidante, comic relief, encouragement, etc, etc!!!

Happy Mother's Day to all of you, you  know who you are!!!!

I love & miss YOU ALL!!!

My Mother In Law is one of them too, of course.

Although I don't have any pictures of her & I together, I do have one to share of her with her boys...

This was taken in February when Chris & Tony went home to harass her, I mean help her out post surgery.  She has been battling Thyroid Cancer, & had to have more removed, so please keep her in your prayers.

She was actually laughing so hard she has tears in her eyes in this picture.

God only knows what they were doing to her, or saying to her....

I feel very lucky that I have a MIL that I love, & like ;)

Happy Mother's Day Mom!!!

Thank you for all you do!!!

I love & miss you, too!!!

XOXOXO

PS.  Its my blog, & I'll post a picture of you if I want to....hahaha

Now about my kids, & my life as a Mom.

I am so lucky to be one!!!

I am so in love with these two....

The two people that have given me the title of "MOM"

They have given me so much, but the love & the laughter is what I cherish most!!!

There is so much that I cherish really, but the smiles they put on my face, & the love that they give every single day is PRICELESS!!!

They are so different, yet they both put countless smiles on my face EVERY SINGLE DAY!!!

A few things that stand out, at this very moment, about each one...in no particular order...

Cian,

He is my reserved, cautious one.  He is the one that observes before taking a leap...see puddle fun post...below this one

He is very caring, loving, funny & FUN.

He likes to be silly, & make people laugh, but he hates the spotlight!!!

He is smart, considerate, & strong.

Oh, & one of my FAVORITES....he is SO TICKLISH!!!!

God I LOVE THAT LITTLE BOY!!!!

Shaylinn,

She is my crazy one...the one that stands next to a sidewalk to hand out flowers to strangers as they walk by...

Yes, she makes me very nervous...

She is my little SASSAFRASS!!!  But, I wouldn't have it any other way.

She is very dramatic, funny & strong.

She is outgoing, LOVING, caring & fun.

SHE is my spotlight girl!!!!  She doesn't even think about who is around her, or watching her when she breaks out a crazy dance or belts out a tune.  Yes, she will get embarrassed when she realizes that all eyes are on her, but she loves it!!! 

She too is smart, & VERY TICKLISH.

GOD I LOVE THAT LITTLE GIRL!!!!

Thank God I have ticklish kids, because my favorite sound in the world, is the laughter of my children!!!!

Those two little people have touched my life, & my heart in more ways then I ever imagined could be touched!!!

I am so EXTREMELY BLESSED!!!!

I love watching & hearing them interact with one another.

I love to hear them laughing with one another from the other room as they play.

I love that they are always looking out for each other!!!

To hear Shaylinn yell "THAT'S MY BROTHER" to defend him, just cracks me up...its hasn't been over anything big, they are only 6 and 3, but still to hear her have his back that way, is AWESOME!!!

(Then there is Cian..."Shaylinn, I can handle this")

LOL!!!

If one of them gets hurt, the other is always right there, doing whatever they think is necessary to make them feel better...

running to get a bandaid or icepack

running to get their favorite toy to make it all better

making silly faces or flopping around like a fish to make the other laugh...

they are there FOR EACH OTHER!!!

I hope & pray it will always be that way!!!

Trust me, they have their battles too, but when push comes to shove, they have each others back...THANK GOD!!!!

I LOVE THAT!!! 

Its because of them that I have this job, this job that I LOVE!!!

I would sacrifice anything necessary to keep this job!!!

I have honestly loved every single minute of it!!!

People often say being a mother is a thankless job, but I disagree.

I started asking them what their favorite part of their day was just before saying prayers each night, & then I ask them to tell me 3 things they are grateful for...

The things that they tell me are the sweetest things ever!!!

It makes me realize that they are truly grateful for the things that they have, & the things that I do for them.

It is a difficult job, but I wouldn't trade it for the world!!!

I hope & pray I do a good job at it, & raise good people!!!

I truly am blessed to have the people, & the things in my life that I do!!!

For all of you Moms out there, I hope you all feel the same!!!

To the Moms that I know, Thank you for touching my life, & teaching me so much!!!

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!!

Much Love, Many Blessings, & TONS of Laughs,

;) Shannon

Catch up....PART 1

So here is the deal....I have been putting this off for way too long, so I am going to wrap it all in one, or two posts.....

I put it together as if they were posted in order, or when they should have been posted, so the most recent is on top.

I am still working on catching up, but for some reason, I keep getting an "Autosave failed" error message, so I am nervous that I will lose everything...so the next one will start with Christmas.

So, without further ado....

HERE WE/YOU GO....

Shaylinn turns 3!!!

SO FULL OF MISCHIEF!!!

...AND ATTITUDE!!!!

;)

GOD....I LOVE HER!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BIG GIRL!!!!

WE LOVE YOU SOOOO MUCH!!!!

XOXOXO

After I took pictures of our neighbors, they took pictures of us.

Thanks Leslie for taking these wonderful images for us!!!

XOXOXO

I love these last two "dreamy" looking images....

My heart skips a beat when I see images like this....

no coaching involved!!!!

I had the pleasure of shooting our neighbors kids for their family Christmas cards.

We love the Hyatt family!!!

I love these last two...hahahaha

We took Cian & Shaylinn to see Santa at the mall....

He was a GREAT Santa!!!

Surprisingly, they were both so excited!!!

When we were in DC, I was able to take some time to myself & spend a little time at the Pentagon Memorial...needless to say, it was quite emotional.

The experience of finding my cousins bench was more overwhelming then I thought it would be!!!

I Love & Miss her so much!!!

....I WILL NEVER FORGET!!!!

When I first found Chin Sun's bench, I just stood there & cried, oblivious to the world around me, & feeling all alone, or wishing I was I guess, when out of the blue, this wonderful woman tapped me on the shoulder & asked me, well, told me that she felt compelled to hug me...I let her, & cried even harder...she held me for a long time it seemed, & told me that it was OK...I wish I knew her name...Thank you ma'am, I really needed that!!!

So BEAUTIFUL!!!!

SO PEACEFUL!!!!

Ironically it really is very peaceful.  Not that I expected anything different, I guess I just didn't expect it to be as powerful as it was.  It is so strange to be there & feel such peace when it seems like just yesterday the feeling was SO different!!!!

It was a welcoming change, FOR SURE!!!!

Its crazy to me to think about how different life is for so many, since that day!!!

My heart goes out to all the families & friends who lost someone they love!!!

...OK...

...NEXT...

Cian & Shaylinn are still dressing up in their Halloween costumes....

IN DECEMBER....

My little superheros!!!

Cian is such a good big brother!!!

There is something that I just LOVE about this image, I just don't know what....

My Mom came down the beginning of December to stay with the kids while Chris & I went up to DC for his company Christmas Party....

THANKS MOM....I LOVE & MISS YOU SOOO MUCH!!!

XOXOXO

Extra squeezes... ;)

We went up to Ohio for Thanksgiving....

Shaylinn saw snow for the first time in her almost 3 year old life....

She got the hang of it real fast.... Cian did too... Shaylinn tried to knock the snowman down....

with no luck....hahaha Then Mimi was under attack!!! They slept like this every night.... Chris even got to meet his cousins alter ego....Irene....LOL We decorated our tree...

;)

We LOVE Halloween...I think Chris has more fun scaring the neighborhood kids then Shaylinn does getting double the candy....AT EVERY SINGLE HOUSE!!!!

It is now March, & she is still talking about going to houses to get candy!!!!

...."I knock on the door & say twick or tweet & I get candy"....

..."Shaylinn Honey...Halloween is far away, we have all kinds of holidays & fun to look forward to before Halloween".....

..."HHMMMMPPHH"...

LOL

Trick or Treating Alabama style....;)

This wagon was pulled around by a golf cart.

The kids LOVE it!!!

Instead of a Halloween party, Cian had a "Harvest Party" at school.

They had (well could ONLY) dress up in "FARMER" attire basically, so here are my little Harvest Kids!!!! 

The Tate Farms field trip...

Tate Farms "Cotton Pickin Pumpkins...

oh, so much FUN!!!

ALL kinds of things to do, with some great photo op spots....

Hay rides out to the pumpkin field

The Hay maze...

no one cried....WOO HOO!!!

...and they all made it out in one piece....

...and in good time...

they got to pet the animals

They jumped from the barn....

and landed in hay...

Played on the John Deer Play sets

played in The "Corn Crib"

....they went home EXHAUSTED!!!

In October, I had the privilege of photographing these two amazing boys.

Boy did I learn A TON during this session!!!

After three outfit changes, a sick child, & a bee sting, these are some of my favorites!!!

PS: Allison, I am so looking forward to the next time for even better images!!!

;)

Madison Street Fair