Open Barn Night

Now that I have a child in public school, I am privy to all sorts of random information that the school district sends me in multiple formats.  I got an email from them the other day that the local FFA was having an Open Barn Night to show their animals.  So we packed up the kids and headed to the farm. 

It was bright. 

This cow was so friendly, but Joy wouldn't touch it.  It licked my
hand twice.  It has a grey tongue with the same texture as a cat,
in case you were curious.

First contact, part 1
I love the cow's freaked out expression.

Chickens!

Giant hog.

First contact, part 2
This goat loved Lee.  I didn't see it stand up
for anyone else.

First contact, part 3
I think Lee was more okay with the chickens cause they were
closer to her own size.

Joy fed the sheep and the lamb.  She wasn't scared of them.  In
fact, she fed them several times.  

Bunny!

And some animal head shots.

As much fun as the animals were, the favorite part for the kids was the cookies.  They were actually set out at the beginning of the first barn, but we decided to come back at the end to eat some.  In fact, we were walking around the second barn (with the small animals) and it was not the way we had come.  It was faster and less bright and less smelly, but Joy was concerned, so we had this conversation:

Joy: This isn't the way to the sprinkle cookies.

Me: Do you trust me?

Joy: No, I do not.

I guess she cannot trust me where sprinkle cookies are involved.  

We did make it.  And not only did they have sprinkle cookies left, but they had Gatorade, or as Joy calls it, Gamma rayed.  

Blessing Day

One of the things I loved when we first looked at our house was how much natural light it had.  It has wide, almost floor-to-ceiling windows in almost every room, plus 2 triple panel sliding glass doors.  It's a photographer's dream.  It wasn't so great before we got blinds, but it still comes in handy because almost any time of day, a room can be turned into a studio with a quick backdrop.  

Take Lee's blessing day.  We had time to kill before church, and I wanted to take pictures before the inevitable personal fluid explosion that happens on any and all cute outfits.  And there could not be an outfit cuter than this one my MIL made.  

(By the way, she totally exploded that night, so yes, it is inevitable.)

The whole point of the shoot is that I wanted this shot:

Still totally had to Photoshop some heads.  Plus Johnny's arm that was holding Lee up (it was safe, don't worry).  Worth it.  The rest of these shots are just bonus.

Daddy smiles

Daddy kisses

Big sister

Big brother

There was Photoshopping on this one too, but I don't have many pictures of myself with the kiddos, so I love it.  And the fact that I look good is a bonus--I don't tend to photograph well.

Grandma's quilt

Miss Joy wanted to take pictures on her Grandma blanket too.

And act like a baby

So did The Captain. Except for the act like a baby part.  Look at this handsome Kindergartener!

We had a wonderful weekend.  It is always nice to have visitors over and we had a full house for Labor Day.  I was so excited to have my little sister visit.  She has never been out to visit us since we left Utah.  We went swimming, played at the park, and ate Taco Bueno.  I feel like she got a good view of Texas.  

Also, Lee's blessing was beautiful and she was a champ the whole day.  She really is such a sweet, happy baby.

Lego Kids Fest

Do you love everything Lego at your house?  

Cause we think they're awesome!

Which is why when we found out Lego Kids Fest was coming to Dallas, we decided it would be worth the Lego-sized admission price to get in.  

We found the Convention Center after having adventures in parking and walking through a (luckily empty) homeless nest under a bridge.  Once we walked in, we saw all these sculptures.

Yes, Joy wanted to take her picture with every single one. 

It could have been a stalling technique since half of these were taken as we were about to leave.

But she loved all of them.

Here is The Captain in front of the giant pile of Legos.  There were at least a million in the pile.  Possibly more.  Children were getting buried in them like sand.

Here's another picture of the giant pile.  I wanted to take a bird's eye view, so I jumped up on one of the folding chairs surrounding it, but unfortunately, the cushioned top of these folding chairs was on a pivot hinge, so the chair collapsed, my leg went down, scraping and bruising my ankle, then it tipped the other way, causing me to fall off.  It happened in stages and was quite painful as I bruised my knee, elbow, and right under my bum, but it was also embarrassing as it happened right by another mom, and 2 gentlemen came to see if I was okay.  So 5 minutes after arriving, I was already minorly injured.  So you don't get a bird's eye view, this will have to do instead.  

Making cars.  Lee is practicing her flying skills.

Down the hill!

They had booths for all the different Lego sets with different activities for the kids/adults to do.

There was figure battling at the Ninjago booth.

Also these huge ball baring mazes.

Tops and obstacle courses at Legends of Chima.

Joy made trees.

A mono-chromatic build.  (No we didn't make all of that)

Joy was playing at the Lego Friends booth.  She had to be pulled away from that one.  The only other thing that entertained her that much wasn't even a Lego booth, it was a booth for a local company that had a foam track to build for tennis-sized balls.   

This was our last booth of the day, the Lego Movie booth were we shot bullets at the bad guys and knocked them over.  

This is by no means a comprehensive picture of all of what was available at the Kids Fest.  This is less than half of the booths, but we didn't go to all of them, and I got a little tired (and injured), so let's just say fun was had by all.

3 Months Old

I did this mini shoot with Miss Lee.  One backdrop, one outfit, one pose.  It took about 15 mins. tops, including the setup.  

Twinkle lights and a mirror

Ooo, a baby

Yummy hands

Super long tongue

Pictures make me so mad

sweetness

happy baby