Family day at the arboretum

I finally had a weekend off. It has been 7 weeks since I had a full weekend off (and that was when Steve and Emy were out of town- so even longer since the 4 of us were together AND I had a weekend off). Anyways, this weekend the opportunity presented itself for me to have the entire weekend off. No shoots. No editing. Nothing.

I jumped at the chance. The weather was great. The kids were great. Steve was great. It was blissful.

Saturday morning we headed to the Dallas Arboretum. I am there fairly frequently but Steve and the kids have never been. The timing was perfect since the always beautiful arboretum still had two special exhibits going on- the pumpkin village and the Chihuly glass exhibit.

The kids (and Steve and I) had a blast! It wasn't that crowded and it was the perfect amount of exploration and playing for everyone.

Everything was perfect until we decided to stop at the outdoor cafe on our way out for a quick bit of lunch. I guess the birds around the cafe are used to getting fed because they kept landing on our chairs and table looking for scraps and it was scaring the daylights out of Emy and Ash. Literally, blood curdling screams every time  bird landed near. Steve and I were cracking up though. Bad parents:)

Park Love

One of the BEST things about our new house and neighborhood is the proximity to the greatest park in Fort Worth. Seriously, it is the greatest. Every mom in the city knows of this park and agrees that it is the best. And now we are 1/2 mile from it!

So, when everyone was awake early from nap time yesterday, we jumped in the car and went to the park. We had about 30 minutes to kill before daddy came home, the weather was perfect and we live so close!

And might I add that now that the weather has cooled off, the park has been hoppin' lately:)

Mommy-Ashy Weekend

This weekend Emy and Steve went to Kansas to visit friends and see the TCU/KU football game. They left Thursday morning which meant that Ashton and I had a long weekend together. (By the way, Ashton has been saying "Emy on airplane. Daddy on airplane" all weekend long. It has been super cute.)

Can I just tell you how easy it is to have only one child??? Oh my word, this weekend has been like a vacation. Anyways, I have not done a very good job of capturing Ash lately so I made a point to shoot all weekend. I feel like these images put together a perfect picture of sweet Ash at this age.

Thursday morning our new nanny came to stay with Ash while I took Emy and Steve to the airport and then went to Panera to get some work done. He did great and was exhausted when I got home. After his nap, he had his usual snack time consisting of gummy fruit snacks and goldfish.
 This image is perfect for right now. Total MOODY two year old.

This morning we played when Ash woke up. This was a nice change of pace because normally we are rushing out the door for one reason or another. Not today!

The weather was cooler than normal and overcast, so Ashton and I got out our jeans and went to the zoo. I knew I want to try to get normal "zoo" pictures but I also made an effort to get some two-year portrait-type shots. That was a huge failure. I cannot get portrait shots of my own children. I need to leave that job to other professionals.

When we got home from the zoo it was almost naptime. Ashton cuddled up on the couch with his "ba" and all of his snuggle friends to watch Curious George.
 And tomorrow Emerson and Steve come home. Yay!

Spring Soccer recap

Well, I am going to try to get this blog up to date one post at a time. Since fall soccer just started, I might as well post the SPRING soccer recap. Yes, I am an entire season behind on blogging. Oops.

Emerson soccer team is named the Doodlebugs and they have the coolest rainbow tie-dye jerseys. All the other little girl teams are jealous. (I have no proof of this but I would be!) Since Emerson loves rainbows, this works out well! She is number 14:)

To say that Emerson loves soccer would be an understatement. She LOVES it. The first couple practices and games, she was a little timid but she has grown to love it more with each passing game.

During the games, she really does give it her all. She actually runs the entire game, which I think is impressive for her age. When she practices and plays, a part of her I have never seen before comes out. She is aggressive and strong. We are so proud of her!

Emerson with some of the other girls at the end of year soccer party.

Sitting with her new friend, Reese (who she adores) at the party.  

Getting her trophy!