cutest baby award...

This has been a long week. This is Isabella's first year at VBS and I think it's been a wake-up call for what the fall will be like with the start of preschool. A wake-up call that I don't really appreciate. We're pretty set in our morning routine and we like to take that routine at a very slow pace: wake up, Isabella always gets dressed right away, have cereal, make coffee and then I read or edit pictures while Isabella watches a show. So waking up and getting everyone ready (including me) and out the door isn't very fun. The photography team has been fun though. Despite the masses of loud, excitedly screaming children (which I try to mentally block out) it's gone well and I've learned a lot. Learning is sometimes depressing though. It makes you realize what you're doing wrong and that can be a bit discouraging but I'm trying to roll with it and grow in my skills. 

Last weekend Isaac and I were hanging out together at Starbucks and since there are so few of them, I decided to a couple pictures of the two of us...

He doesn't pull himself up or really like to stand at all, but we're trying to get him used to using his feet. He's usually not happy about it. We'll get there. He can't scoot forever! Oh, but he has learned how to scoot with no hands. That's impressive.

"Isabella, what do you want for your birthday?" 

"A noodle (for the pool), a floatie, and batteries for my camera."

Easy enough, right? She was having a great time taking pictures until the next day when the camera died. 

Watching the monkeys at the zoo...

Cool looking sky and clouds...

Jesse surprised Isabella with a leotard, tutu, wings, headband, and clip on flower. As you can imagine, she was one happy girl!

Last week I took pictures of a friend's baby and like I said in my previous post, he was seriously the cutest baby I've photographed. 

Yawn...

I told Laura she didn't have to drug him before I came over...

43. a week of no doctor appointments (this is the first one in six months!)

44. Isaac bouncing up and down while we read books

45. reading a good book

46. letting my brain become mush while watching the Bachelorette (it gets especially mushy this time because Ashley is pretty dumb and needs to stop thinking about Bentley)

she's four...

Friday was Isabella's fourth birthday! She's having a hard time grasping the fact that she is indeed four. She tells me that she won't actually be four until she starts school. I guess this would be quite confusing since I've been telling her for a year that when she turns four she'll go to preschool.

I asked her what she would like to do for her birthday and she suggested a "mommy and Isabella ballelai (ballet) class". Well, that would have been fun, but I didn't really have time to arrange it. So I surprised her by taking her to the zoo. On the way there I asked if she wanted me to tell her yet where we were going and she said, "no, no, don't tell me. I want it to be a surprise and when I was guessing yesterday, it was too tricky." Needless to say, she was very happy and excited about the zoo. Probably the best part of the day was that my mom watched Isaac so that Isabella and I could have some time together. This is much needed and I love hanging out with my girl when I don't have a koala clinging to my side and grabbing my hair for comfort. That was a reference to Isaac, just in case you were confused.

The zoo sufficiently wore her out and she fell asleep in the stroller as we made our way back to our car. Later we made cupcakes and she declared that after she blew out the candles then she would be four. So now she is officially four and I say this every year...I can't believe she's (four)! I really can't. I have a four year old? That's totally weird and exciting because she's able to do more and understand more and start school and participate in different activities. I think it will be a fun year.

I don't have a birthday video and I don't have her birthday pictures yet. But if I did have a video, I was totally going to play it to Dynamite by Taio Cruz. So you can go ahead and play that song and think of Isabella because it's our favorite song to dance to and if there's anyone who's going throw their hands up in the air and celebrate this life...it's Isabella. And she's going to do it dancing and singing (loudly) the whole time.

Don't worry, I'm in the process of convincing her that these shoes need to retire. It's not like she doesn't have other shoes to wear!

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Making faces...

Isaac had a mishap with a chalk drawing...

Best buddies...

39. spending time alone with Isabella
40. having a friend like Sarah to listen to my meltdown(s)
41. watching Isabella twirl
42. listening to Isaac make car/airplane noises

Coming up next, pictures from my latest newborn shoot (that sounds so bad...newborn photo session). I'm very excited to share! Landon is probably the cutest baby I've ever taken pictures of. Thank you Ryan and Laura for having me come over and letting me rearrange your house!

This is going to be a really busy week. Isabella is going to Vacation Bible School for the first time and I'll be there all week too as part of the photography team!

Happy Father's Day!

Sierra