Sometimes I take pictures

Last weekend I had the opportunity and pleasure of hanging out with one of my oldest and dearest friends.  We met up at the Carl Sandburg for some good talks and a quick shoot of her boys.  I love Erica to pieces.  We've been buddies since we were 14 years old. 

And this is one of my favorites from the day.

3.8

I made a decision a while ago. I'm going to lose the baby weight. With Noah I gained 90 pounds (40 was water weight at the end) and hung onto 30. With Ella I gained 40, hung onto 10 and gained an extra 10 while nursing. With Luke I gained 17 and somehow walked away 10 pounds lighter...

One thing is, I will not share with you my starting number. At least not now. But my goal is to lose 40 pounds.

I started weight watchers 2 weeks ago and I'm pretty stoked about it. I don't have to deny myself my favorites, everything is about moderation.

I go to meetings on Monday nights and they are like pep rallies for fat people - in a good way.

So two weeks in and 3.8 pounds down I am hoping for my 5 pound star next week and I hoping you - my faithful readers will encourage me and pray for me on this journey.

Here I go!

Love.

Jump around

The best part of the lake for my husband and two older kiddos was the 10 foot dock you got to jump off of.  They had too much fun jumping - especially Noah! 

A visit with the Reilly's!

This weekend we got to spend time with John, Allison, Abigail, Josiah, and Samuel.  They are dear friends who moved to Pittsburgh almost 5 years ago.  We shared much of our lives together, our church, our lifegroup, and Allison and I were pregnant with our middle kids together.  We miss seeing them!  Friday night we enjoyed dinner as a group with our "old lifegroup," and ate some Jack Frost.  Sunday we got to go to church with everyone then hung out at Lake James for the afternoon - I will post more pictures of that fun time soon!

Another first

Matt often takes Noah and Ella to the YMCA pool to swim on the weekends.  This weekend, we let Luke go - it was his first time!  And to say he loved it is an understatement. 

No shower? No problem.

For the past few weeks we've been re doing our bathroom.  The tub came out, went back in, the bead board went out and isn't coming back in, it's getting painted a gorgeous golden tan (it's actually yellow, but Matt hates yellow so we are calling it "golden tan."  And in a week or two ceramic tile will complete our project.  But it hasn't bothered Luke at all.  He can take a bath anywere.

 

Cousin Cameron

I'm so glad my Aunt Melanie, Uncle Mark, and Cameron are moving to Asheville!  I am so excited that Noah will have another cousin to play with, and Mel and Mark are always fun to hang out with.  This weekend Mel and Mark both had to work so Cameron came to spend some time with us.

 We packed a lot of fun stuff into a little bit of time.  I think the highlight of the day was our trip to the Greenway - the kids searched for turtles (we saw tons!), climbed a few trees, and had many foot races along the trail. 

When I grow up I want to take pictures.

For as long as I can remember, I've taken pictures.  I love it.  There's nothing like looking back over memories frozen in a photograph.  For my birthday this year Matt + others went in to get me a new lens.  Because of the sickness, I haven't even had a chance to take it out of the box.  Tonight Noah and Ella  and I headed out to see what it could do. 

I'm not as good as I know I could be, but with willing friends little ones as mini models, and of course the fabulous three I birthed,  every day I get a little better. 

Because one day, I might be so good, you might ask me to take your picture.