Easter 2016 | Family Photography | Spokane

I really just love Easter. Last year I missed Easter with Marlow while I was in New York spending it with my sister. It was so much fun to see how much the experience with her changes each year. How much longer she can sit through church. How much more she wants to lead us in prayer at every meal. How much she enjoys being with family. How much she enjoyed running after eggs and not just stopping at each one to eat whatever was inside before moving to the next.

Mostly I am just so thankful for Easter. Thankful that we get four days off to spend reflecting from Good Friday through after Easter. Thankful that the miracle of Easter never ceases to amaze me and bring me a new lessons each year. I'm not the greatest with words, but I will share this post by a friend titled Easter Sunday Faith in a Friday World which especially moved me this year. Wishing you hope this spring!

My Little Valentine and Her Valentines

This year Valentine cards were all about Marlow enjoying the process of making something for her friends. We opted for free downloadable Valentines thanks to Jones Design Company - yay! And Marlow loved hand painted the back of each card, asking "Who is this one for?!" and deciding what colors they would like. The exercise didn't last long, but we got all 27 of them done all while keeping princess gear in tact. Hope you all had a good Valentine's day!

37/52 Our Trip to Roche Harbor | San Juan

Thankful thankful thankful. That about sums up how I feel about having taken our VERY FIRST VACATION JUST THE THREE OF US (back in September)! Yep, just us since Marlow was born. I tell you what. It was 100% necessary and needed and worth it. We got to spend uninterrupted time just being together. Just typing that makes me want to cry. Not in between work and bedtime, not in between errands and play dates, nothing. Just hanging out and scouring beaches for shells and eating ice cream and going to the park. Take me back now. It was wonderful for rejuvenating us and for boosting our parenting confidence. That was what I wasn't expecting. I was totally expecting renewed sense of appreciate for each other, yes, but parenting? It was a rare, long stretch of time that we got to parent together, like at the same time, for a long time. We got in a groove. Marlow responded well. We didn't worry about potty training. We felt like rockstars. For like a minute, of course. ;) In the end, I can't wait to do this again and make a tradition out of it. Thank you to our aunt & uncle for lending us their beach rental for a getaway. As I approach a very, very busy season for our family, I will try with all my might to remember what this quiet time felt like and how much it is needed in our everyday life.

I tried, really, to remember to take photos, but I am truly not very good at remembering. Here is a little bit of our vacay:

28/52 | Painting with Juju

Here's a throw back "one-a-week" photo set from one of my mom's visits this summer.
I love that I caught them in this fun moment painting and giggling and learning how to draw smiley faces. My mom used to paint back in the day. She really is an artist and has a natural ability to draw. Growing up, she would always leave cute drawings and florals on notes to us. I hope Marlow always gets to create, paint, and do crafts with her juju. Mom is such a natural at bringing out children's creativity and letting them make "messes"— I have so many memories of getting free access to the kitchen to make any kind of crazy concoction I wanted! I'm so thankful that Marlow gets to experience the same joy...hopefully in mom's kitchen, not mine. ;) Just kidding. Kind of.

25/52 Big cheeses

This little girl turned 2 1/2 this last week. She's cheeky and funny. Clever. Independent. A jokester. She loves singing especially Twinkle Twinkle Traffic Light (look it up) and Bidi Bidi bom bom (yes, Selena). She loves soccer tots and swim lessons and camping and feeding chickens, picking berries, doing "tricks", watching Daniel Tiger endlessly along with singing every single song on the show. At night she likes talking about "animals and friends." She loves all her family members and always mentions how she misses them. She always asks for noodles and okasu. She says funny things like, "Hey, be nice to me." and "Should I be shy?" and "Hey mom/dad, watch this cool trick!" or two weeks after our fish died, "Hey! Where's fish?!" Marlow he is in the ocean with his friends. "I want him to come home RIGHT NOW." And things that make us melt like, "Mommy, can you snuggle me?" or "um um my dad and my mommy are my HAPPY!" OMG Mar you are our happy, too.

22/52 Raindrops & Rain boots

This little nuggeteer is just more than words can contain these days. She's pure joy. She's been adding to her comedic routine by initiating a wild, fake laugh that instantly has us in an uproar and all laughing genuine belly laughs. Sometimes she uses this tactic to get out of being in trouble. She's full of mischief and big, expressive love. She's mastered bedtime stalling. She knows how to work a deal for yogurt drops or five more minutes of Daniel Tiger. She can go from making us crazy to saying things like "I"m so happy you're here." or "I'm so proud of you mama!" and bam you're an instant pile of mush. She's become a real backyard adventurer running around barefoot and laying in the grass staring at the sky in between feeding chickens and squashing ants. We constantly look at her and marvel. Love you cheeky.