Toby is Two!

Oh. My. Goodness.

Those photos don't even begin to show how funny it was to watch Toby eat the birthday cupcake I make for him! I laughed so hard that it was difficult to keep the camera steady enough to take pictures (because I was practically rolling around in the grass).

I laughed so hard that I cried. It was the "make-your-mascara-run" kind of funny. I walked around the house for 30 minutes before I realized I had a full eye's-worth of mascara under my right eye.

Toby went from picking at the sides of the cupcake to picking at the icing to trying to brush the icing off his fingers to holding to cupcake in both hands to smashing his face into it. And I didn't even mind the mess (for once).

Happy Birthday, Toby! You're such a sweet boy and I love you to pieces! I can't wait to keep watching you grow and learn!

P.S. - No, I did NOT feed Toby a cupcake for breakfast (because I'm not that cool...or crazy). We did his birthday photo shoot on Tuesday afternoon :)

Talkin' Toby

Going to get Toby out of his crib in the mornings or after nap is one of my favorite times of the day. He's rested, happy, and ready for new adventures. I love it!

Since Toby seems to have conquered the task of learning all the letters of the alphabet before his second birthday, I figured it was time to teach him how to spell his name. We've been working on it when we ride in the car...and he's almost got the hang of it!

P.S. - I'm still known as "Sin" and Toby calls himself "B."

Here's a little video to show you what I'm talking about:

Happy Birthday, Asher!

This little monkey turns 1 year old today! We love you, Little Man!

(Watch Asher grow!)

Burn Out Brighter

Earlier tonight.
Just me and the 4-Runner.
Windows down, moon roof open.
Cruising down I-77.
Brand new Anberlin album in the CD player.
The lyrics on track 8 stirring in my heart:

Live
I wanna live inspired
Die
I wanna die for something

Racing towards the heavens,
I fell into a pitch black
I'm moments from landing,
and I'm shaking like a heart attack

Lose no time, cannot survive
I made mistakes in the past
Need a chance, can't take it back
Wish I could set things right tonight

Live
I wanna live inspired
Die
I wanna die for something higher than myself
Live and die for anyone else
The more I live I see, this life's not about me

All I know spins out of control
Wonder what's next for heart and soul
Nothing I have can save me now
Here in what maybe my final hour

It's my time, cannot survive
I made mistakes in the past
Need a chance, can't say goodbye
Wish I could set things right tonight

Live
I wanna live inspired
Die
I wanna die for something higher than myself
Live and die for anyone else
The more I live I see, this life's not about me

Don't wanna leave this world
knowing I've lived in vain
No time for myself
so sorry, so ashamed

Don't wanna leave this life
knowing I've barely tried
Chase down all my dreams
that I've hid away on the inside

Live
I wanna live on fire
Die
I wanna burn out brighter
Brighter than the Northern Lights
Wanna live to feel the daylight
The more I live I see, this life's not about me

Wow.

I want to live on fire, burn out brighter, live inspired, chase my dreams, and live for something higher than myself.
How about you?

No one lights a lamp and hides it in a jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, he puts it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light. - Luke 8:16

Painting Punk-ins!

Last year, I started the tradition of painting a pumpkin with Sam at the beginning of Fall. This year, Toby was big enough to join in the fun! Here are a few photos:

Here are a few more photos of the boys taken either before or after our pumpkin-painting session [you can tell by a) the amount of paint on their bodies or b) the expressions on their faces]. I love how these photographs show the boys' personalities so perfectly...

Love and Respect

I had a great talk with a really good friend this week about the cycle of love and respect in marriage.

Women need to feel loved. Men need to feel respected. Without both elements present, the cycle doesn't exist. If a wife doesn't respect her husband, he won't want to show her love. If a husband doesn't show love to his wife, she won't want to respect him. See where I'm going with this?

My friend ended our conversation about marriage with two important questions to think about daily:

• What does this relationship need from me? (instead of "What do I need from this relationship?")
• Am I always speaking to my husband with respect?

It's crazy how such a simple concept can be so difficult to practice sometimes.

Aaron and I don't pretend to have it all together. We're still pretty new at this marriage thing and sometimes have to work really hard at being loving and respectful to each other.

We're so blessed to have friends and family who are willing to share their experiences and wisdom with us. It's exciting to think that one day we'll be able to share our own little bits of Godly wisdom with newly-married couples who are just beginning their life-long journey together :)

However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. -- Ephesians 5:33

Do What You Love

I've had lots of fun being creative lately.

Between entertaining and teaching two boys, practicing photography, learning how to use a new photo-editing program, and baking, I've had lots of opportunities to let my creativity run wild.

We're in the midst of wedding season, and there's waaaaaaay too much work to be done. In an effort to learn more about the photography business than just taking photos (and to take some work off Sean's plate), I conquered the task of making an iPhoto book for one of his clients earlier this week.

Patricia and Chris (who are old high school friends of mine) got married in May and they hired Sean to photograph their wedding. Included in the package they chose was a free softcover iPhoto book. All of the photos (even the background pictures) were taken by either Sean or myself. This is the slideshow version (for some reason, Blogger will only let me upload 1 minute of it...but you'll get the idea of what the book should look like):

The book will be professionally printed by Apple and sent directly to Patricia and Chris in Charleston. iPhoto books make great gifts for the holidays! Check out all of the different iPhoto print products here.

As far as creativity with Sam and Toby goes, we're planning to do lots of fun, seasonal crafts in the next few months! We'll paint pumpkins, color pictures, make Christmas ornaments, and find lots of other fun arts and crafts activities at Michael's (one of my favorite stores of all-time).

After I made a Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheescake for Aaron's Supervisor's birthday last week, his co-workers began to inquire about how much I charge for my cakes.

What? Get paid to bake??? What a wonderful idea...

Tonight, I will bake a White Chocolate Cake with Strawberry Filling for one of Aaron's co-workers to take to a party tomorrow and she will pay me for my time and effort.

It's marvelous to be a Nanny, a baker, and a photographer. It's even more marvolous that I get paid for all three and have many different ways to let my creativity flourish :)

I encourage you to do what you love. There's no feeling in the world like knowing you're purposefully accomplishing what the Lord has put you on this Earth to do each day.