Author: Shannon

I will never be able to take too many shots like this one…

Pok has his turn:

“Everyone!  I have something VERY important to say!”

“Cheese!”

Now this is more like it:

More to come!

Late afternoon at the beach is wonderful.  It’s cooler, the UV index is generally low enough to skip the sunscreen, the hoards of people have gone inside for dinner, and the lighting is fabulous.  I hope that Baby Girl’s schedule next year allows for more visits during this time of day.  I’m already looking forward to it!

Paige is excited!

I tried to get some good shots of me and my baby girl in front of the sea oats…

She looks like she’s having so much fun…or she’s completely over the Mama kisses…whichever…

Let me just tell you how much she wanted to be held at this point…

…although she obliged Gran for a few shots anyway:

For a few moments, at least…

“Finally!”

This is what happens when you take the world’s cutest baby girl and add in the world’s most beautiful sand…

…and then throw in a camera-wielding Mama with an itchy trigger finger…

I vehemently defend my camera-wielding and back it up with occasional shots like this one:

Ahhhhhh…

He enjoyed himself just as much as Paige did, it was just that he was moving so fast the *entire* time that it was difficult for me to capture…

My babies:

Togetherness.

Big brother, little sister.

Liam successfully continues his campaign to make sure he’s never looking in the general direction of the camera (in a pleasant way) at the same time Paige is doing so…

Family photo attempts:

Photo attempt of Liam and Matt #1 (AKA pre-bribe):

Photo attempt of Liam and Matt #2 (AKA immediately post-bribe):

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why you should never underestimate the power of a well-timed bribe as a tool in your parenting arsenal:

Remember how I likened Paige-at-the-beach to a sea turtle returning home?  Yeah, I wasn’t kidding about that…

Brother break:

Aaaaaannnnnd, she’s off (again)!

And so is he…

There they go!

Momentary funny-face break:

Oh, how this baby loves sand!

“What’s that, Mama?  You say you need insane amounts of adorable?”

“I can do that!”

Yes, Baby Girl.  You sure can.

Too much.  It’s just too much.

With Gran and Granddaddy:

I love this one:

Gran should consider herself lucky that her hair wasn’t thinning before we tried this because Paige put in her best effort to change that…

Brother love:

I tried to get a shot of Liam and Granddaddy, but this is the best I could capture…

Just wait until you see the next late afternoon series!

Liam made a lot of swimming progress during our trip.  He started out hesitantly in a floatation vest.  In a matter of days he was enthusiastically jumping off the side in water wings, floating on his own all over the pool, and kicking his way to whatever he wanted to do.  He had a ball.  Here are a few pictures:

His early jumping form was basically stepping off the edge towards Matt:

But the end result was the same:

No matter his form, he was having a blast!

Daddy love:

Before the launch:

Mid-launch:

Post-launch (notice the look on his face–that’s not a photography fluke–there were no more launches…):

The boy loves a good noodle:

Thumbs up from Mister Shark:

Grin from Mister “Cool Guy” Shark:

It looks like there’ll be some drives to Decatur in our future next summer for a little pool time…

Me and my babies:

I love the look on both Liam and Pok’s faces in this one:

Winner:

Photobomb, Liam style:

Such a nut…

And he wasn’t trying to push Paige down this time!

This one is out of focus — but the look on her face is just so quintessentially Paige that I couldn’t leave it out…

Aaaaannnnnd, she’s off!

Sometimes you just gotta dance…

…and sometimes you just gotta run.

And run.

And run until you’re just a blur to the camera lens.

And if you’re Paige?  Sometimes you just gotta hide under the table.

This is the look of sheer concentration she gets when she’s trying to figure out how to destroy something she’s never destroyed before:

And this is the sheepish look that comes after whatever she wants to destroy has been removed from her reach:

Daddy!

Togetherness:

Playing Busytown with Gran:

I’m really hoping to have this series finished before Paige’s birthday but I’m not making any promises!

Paige took to the beach like a fish to water (pun intended).  Liam’s first trip to the beach in 2008 included a short venture out onto the sand where he looked very confused by the lack of footing and eventually ate sand and cried.  Paige’s reaction was the opposite of that (except the eating sand part).  It was like she was a turtle returning to the sea.

Here are the only pictures of either of my children in the beach tent that I felt very strongly that we would need.  Oh well…

Model:

As soon as Paige finished posing and ventured outside the tent she was off to the races…

Liam shows his sister the finer points of sand play:

So much sand, so little time:

There is a very good reason that I took 8,342 pictures of Paige on this trip:

Need I say more?

Liam works on his swing:

Our son can make a train out of absolutely anything…

…and it doesn’t hurt to have a Daddy who encourages him.

With a face like this…

…how can you expect me to edit what I post?

My boys:

Ahhhhh…

One:

Two:

Three:

Four:

Aaaaannnnnd, she’s in.

And here’s where I got the (clearly insane) idea to try to get a picture of Matt and our children.  In the same frame.  Looking at or near the camera.  With at least an air of pleasantness.  The pictures speak for themselves.

At this point even Paige is saying “Really, Mama?  Truly?”

Aaaaaannnnnd, we’re done.

W.O.W.

Getting ready for a trip out into the Gulf:

You don’t think Liam’s ready to go, do you?

Daddy and daughter:

And the crazy part?  There’s SO much more to come.

I wasn’t able to post pictures from our trip while we were still there because the internet connection was slow and spotty.  I took somewhere in the neighborhood of 1500 pictures over the course of 12 days so there are many posts to come.  Here we go!

Baby Girl was *very* happy to be out of her carseat.  She made sure that we understood the extent of her displeasure while we were in the car but thankfully she also made sure she showed us the extent of her elation when we were out of the car.  Until she refused to nap well for a week or so…then we had to roll the tide of her fragile emotional state…but I digress.

“Whatchoo talkin’ ’bout, Daddy?”

Liam gets a little Mo love:

There’s not much better than that!

Paige joins in:

Sneaky:

Paige loved the Coke bottles almost as much as her brother did:

(Proof):

The Hunchback of Siesta Key:

Liam shows Paige how to break it down:

After Liam’s first day in the pool he showed us his (what proved to be continuing) extreme displeasure for remaining dressed after finishing a swim.  Thankfully we had his hooded towel.  After a brief discussion about the difference between private and public places as they relate to private parts, he was ready to show off his duds:

He took the “cover your private parts” admonition quite seriously…or he was making sure everything was still there…whichever…

Brief Mama hug break:

“Who’s #1?”

Inspecting Paige’s toy with Pok:

Ships Ahoy!

This little piggy…

“Who, me?”

“Oh, Daddy.  I especially like your use of lines in this piece.  Very compelling.”

Paige shows Liam what she thinks about him getting in her face:

“Oh, Hi!”

Paige has a little quality time with Mo (and her buttons):

Oh, dear…

A girl and her Gran:

Mmmmm, paper towel roll…

Liam shares with Pok the finer points of Magna Doodle operation:

I’m not entirely sure what was happening here, but I’m certain that both involved parties were having fun…

During the trip Paige perfected her hands-free toy transportation method:

Daddy’s shoes:

Tickle time with Granddaddy:

Mo and Pok gave Liam what is now his favorite game: Busytown.

Checking it out with Pok:

Next it was Paige’s turn to open her happy from Mo and Pok:

The tissue paper was a big hit:

And so were the wobblers inside:

Nom, nom, nom…

Water wobbler goggles:

Paige gets suited up for the first time:

She likes her suit, but she loves her feet:

Hooray!

She’s ready for the beach:

And if you think these shots are adorable, just wait for the next installment of the SK2011 series:  Paige’s first day at the beach.  Stay tuned!

PJ and Sylvie came for a visit yesterday.  There were no meltdowns and no one drew blood from anyone else so despite the fact that we are still waiting for that “perfect shot” it was a lovely visit.

“Hi, Sylvie!”

Paige surveys the situation:

“You see, Sylvie — this is how a xylophone works.”

Sizing each other up:

“Hey, Sylvie.  I love your new teeth.  They really bring out your smile!”

“Hey, Paige.  Do you want to check your e-mail when I’m finished?”

“Thanks, Sylvie.  I’ve gotta keep a close eye on my stock portfolio these days.”

The pigtails just kill me.

Chatting.

Hey, Sylvie.  I think you’ve got a little something there.  Don’t worry, I’ve got my hands free, so I can take care of that for you.”

“No worries, I got it.”

I call this one “Paigezilla Takes The Living Room (while Sylvie looks on)”

Sylvie gives kisses.  Lots of kisses.  It’s just too cute for words.  Sometimes, though?  Paige just moves too fast for her and Sylvie inadvertently eats a little ear.  I’m pretty sure that this is the exact situation to which they were referring when they (whoever “they” is) said: “You live, you learn.”  I’m also fairly sure that I’m way past the threshold of “too tired to blog.”  Allegedly.

“Hey, Paige?  Do you know about The Very Hungry Caterpillar?”

“Paige.  It is very important that you know about Eric Carle.  He is something of a children’s Shakespeare and I fear that your childhood cannot be complete without him.  Do you understand the importance of this?”

“Don’t worry, Sylvie.  I have a bookshelf full of Eric Carle.  Everything will be fine.”

“Oh, Paige!  I could just kiss you!  In fact?  I *will* kiss you!”

Full of wonder:

So many captions, so little time…

Captivated by PJ:

“Let’s try the xylophone one more time, Sylvie.”

“I’m quite pleased with your enthusiasm here Sylvie, but I’m afraid this is a mallet, not a lollipop.”

“So these two nuns walk into a bar…”

So sweet.

Here’s where I had the genius idea that maybe we could get a shot of both girls together if we put them in PJ’s lap.  Paige had other ideas.  If I could do a virtual flip book with these I would…

It’s never good when Paige opens up with the tongue-of-sheer-concentration…

And then moves quickly into the tongue-of-utter-devilishness…

Poor Sylvie was completely unprepared for this:

Sylvie’s getting smashed in the face and she’s still amused by the situation:

Paige briefly halts the prison break attempts in favor of a shot at eating PJ’s shoes:

Thwarted again.

While Paige continues to put on a show Sylvie decides it might be time for a little snack break:

Paige tries the other direction.  In retrospect I’m sure PJ hopes that Sylvie didn’t absorb any of this…

This is where PJ realizes that she’s being bested by a 10 month old:

“Sweet Fancy Moses, Mama!  What on earth is she trying to do?”

There was just no way to stop this train after it was in motion.

And the only appropriate response was peals of laughter.

Aaaaaannnnnd…she’s off!

I’ll never give up hope that that golden picture of the girls is somewhere out there in our future, just waiting to be taken…

“What?  Is there something on my face?”

We were trying (unsuccessfully) to capture the look on her face when she realizes she’s going to get to take a bath.  Here, Matt was trying (once again, unsuccessfully) to coax it out of her.

We didn’t capture her face, but we did capture the attempted swan dive into the tub from Matt’s lap.

Step one?  Diaper removal.

“Whatchoo’ ‘talkin’ ’bout, Dad?”

Paige lets us know that she’s number one at diaper-removal body-blocking:

For Paige, nakedness gives her superhuman strength:

“Maaaaaamaaaaaa!”

Here’s where she attempts to take flight:

Ahhhhhhh.

You can’t tell that she loves the bath, can you?

Such sweetness:

Sisterly adoration:

Towel time:

As cute as a bug in a rug:

The way she looks at her dad is wonderful:

W.O.W.

This little piggy…

…went WEEWEEWEEWEEWEEWEEWEE, all the way home.

Pictures like this make me just want to squeeze those cheeks.  And I’m her mother.  Who is with her ALL the time.  And right now she’s just in the next room.  Sleeping.  And I STILL want to go in there and squeeze her cheeks.

And that cute little button nose…

This is her “I’m so sleepy but also I’m goodnatured and you’re smiling at me so I’m going to try to smile back but I’m too tired to curl up the sides of my mouth the whole way so this is what you get right now” face:

Kisses from Liam.  His aim was more than a little off here, but it’s the thought that counts, right?

This is a little more like it.

As with any good Liam interaction, kiss time quickly morphed into tickle time:

I just can’t wait to watch these two grow up together!