Spring Pictures...Take One!

Last weekend Andy and I attempted to take Spring pictures of the kiddos.  In years past we paid someone to it but Andy reminded me that my new camera wasn't cheap and that we should try ourselves first.  I do like challenges but I knew this one would be very difficult.  The hardest part for me was deciding where to take these pictures.  I wanted them to have a springtime, outdoor, feel to them.  Our yard is completely dead and brown and not an ideal place for any sort of photo shoot.  So after many hours of thinking of the perfect place it came to me!!  Joanne's parent's have a beautifully landscaped, perfectly blooming, picture-perfect yard.  So in fine Kara fashion, I invited my family over to their house for a photo shoot! We can't thank George and Sue enough for hosting us for a couple of hours and letting our kids run around like they owned the place so we could capture some memorable pictures...and we did! The kids had a fabulous time playing together (Miah Jane, Adrey and Charlie were there too!) and we managed to snap some cute pictures.  We also want to thank Sue for baking delicious cupcakes for the kids (and parents) to enjoy after making them take hundreds of pictures.  I was able to get the last pictures by bribing the kids with cupcakes.

What Spring/Easter photo shoot is complete without baby chicks?  Ladies and Gentlemen, introducing Baby Chick #1, Baby Chick #2, Baby Chick #3 and Baby Chick #4 (we never discussed names)....

These cute little chicks were the highlight of Devin's afternoon.  He loved them! (maybe a little too much)



A tight squeeze...a love squeeze but he held them very tight.



For all you Soup (E!) fans, Andy and I call this picture...Chicks Man.



Lexi chasing the poor little chick around the back yard.



Lexi had more fun riding around in Miah Jane's truck than playing with the chicks.



I don't know what she's yelling about but it made a cute picture!

Miah Jane exploring the tulips...such a cutie!

 

After taking this picture...

 

NO MORE MOMMY!!!

We realized the kids needed a break.  Miah Jane's grandparents have so many fun toys...the kids were in heaven!!  Lexi took a break to water some plants.

Then, we wandered over to the side of the yard to visit Ray...a humungous turtle or tortoise or something like that!

Ray enjoying some lettuce.



 The next series of pictures are funny.  It is nearly impossible to get three toddlers to all smile at the same time or even look in the same direction for that matter.  Andy was standing over me making goofy sounds and faces to get them to look over at me and smile.


I love this picture because it looks like Lexi is yelling at MJ to MOOOOVE OVER!



Finally one decent shot after 100 takes!!





There are really good pictures that we got of Devin and Lexi but I don't want to post them just yet.  My friend Jessica is making our Spring cards with them and I'll post them soon.  I'm so excited to see these cards she made; they are adorable!  You can check out her etsy store/site by clicking on the link posted in Other Sites We Follow on the upper right side of this page; Custom Cards by Jessica Johnston.  Happy Spring everyone! 



A Super Full Moon

Last Saturday night a full moon of rare size and beauty graced our skies for all to see.  Unfortunately with the recent time change you have to stay up a little later to see the best of it and to get great pictures of it.  Devin got to see some of its beauty but because it was still early (9ish), the moon was not high in the sky and too many trees were blocking his view.  I think he still liked being allowed to stay up a little late and sit outside with us.  Lexi, however, was fast asleep!  At first I was upset with the pictures I got because the trees were in the way of getting a clean shot of the moon.  But after going through the pictures I realized the trees made somewhat of a mirage.  Don't get me wrong...I wish I could have stayed up late to see the whole beauty of the Perigee Moon but mama was worn out!  So these are the shots that I had to live with!



According to NASA the Perigee Moon, aka the super full moon, is 14% larger and 30% brighter than a normal full moon because it's closer to the Earth.  It's pretty bright in this picture!

It looks like the moon is stuck in the branches!



I love in some of the last pictures it appears the branches are holding the moon up or they're catching the moon from falling.   I didn't get the pictures I had hoped for but it was a beautiful night and we got to witness the biggest and brightest full moon that earth has seen in the last 20 years.

Catch of the Day!

Andy had a wonderful opportunity to go fishing down in Chokoloskee with his buddy Lou and Lou's Uncle Pete, who is a fishing charter captain.  Here is a link to his website, Captain Pete Rapps Fishing Charters.  The weather couldn't have been more perfect and I'm sure the company was awesome as well.  Being that he cares for Devin and Lexi all day, Monday - Friday, I'm sure this was a much needed break.  What could be more calm and quiet than being miles out in the Gulf, far away from land...and toddlers! :)  Here are a few pictures from his fishing expedition...

Captain Pete, Lou and Andy and their Atlantic Tripletail beauties!

Great picture but the next one was his catch of the day!

Andy's 13 pound Tripletail which we get to eat tonight! Yummy!

Lou and his catch of the day.

While Andy and Lou were fishing away, Lou's wife Meredith and their two kids came over to play and have dinner.  I don't have any pictures because lets face it, between watching four kids outside playing and trying to cook dinner and keep three dogs under control with all of the chaos, who had time to grab a camera?!  But that being said, we had a great late afternoon and evening with Meredith, Liam and Mary.  The kids get along so well and the night ended with all four in the bathtub together followed by all four on the couch in their pj's and blankets watching Tom and Jerry.  We are bummed that the Clementi's are only here in the season and have to go home to New York in April.  We're trying our best to convince them to move here.  We're not giving up! 

Blake's 2nd Birthday Party!

Last Saturday our little friend, Blake Benge, turned two and what fun we had celebrating with him!  His birthday party was held at one of our kids' favorite parks.  They had their best buddies at their favorite park; it doesn't get much better than that.  Well, the weather was perfect too!  Here are some pictures from that fun-filled day.

Oh, and the party had an ELMO theme. :)

Brennan and Devin digging in the sand together.

The kids can play in the sand for hours!

Devinly Dews

Brennan hamming it up for the camera...so cute!

Blake's big and cute brother Gavin

And then there's this cutie pie...Miah Jane

Singing Happy Birthday to Blake!

He loved every minute of it!

The Birthday Boy...all smiles as usual.

Blake and his girlfriend Lexi...are they touching hands?

Tyler, Blake and Brennan having fun together.

Andy and his angel Lexi Lynn.

Up close and personal

Come here often?  Brennan and Lexi enjoying a cold one together.

Andy showing off his basketball moves...not sure if the kids were impressed or not!

Brennan and his buddy Devin playing catch...many more years of that to come.

Well, we have more fun adventures and great pictures to post but it's taken a really long time to get organized.  Our computer crashed and I lost everything, every picture ever downloaded from our camera.  Lucky for us, my laziness paid off.  Every picture remains on the SD memory card still, even pictures from when Lexi was born.  Note to self...back up everything on your computer!  Andy was sweet enough to surprise me with a laptop last week so I am getting back in the game and slowly getting organized.  Life without a computer and cell phone was very hard; felt like I was living in the 80's.  How did people do it?  LOL ;-)

A Beautiful Day in Paradise

There is no doubt that South Florida is one of the best places to be this time of year.  You can be outside and play or at the beach and not break a sweat while enjoying endless amounts of sunshine.  It's unbelievable to me when I turn on the news and hear of a snow storm up north and we are getting ready to go to the beach or I'm turning the air conditioning on.  We live in paradise (until June!) and I am so happy that we've been able to take advantage of what mother nature graciously provides us.  This past Wednesday we met up with the Clementi's for a fun afternoon at the Naples Botanical Gardens.  The weather was perfect and actually, so were the kids.  They had so much fun and  they can't wait to go back again!  I was so excited to try my new camera lens (thank you Tanya and Jordan!) in this beautiful setting with beautiful kids.  I think these might be my favorite pictures I've taken with my new camera so far.  

This was my 'money shot' for the day in my opinion.  The water in the background is magical and the colors are beautiful...and Mary too!

I think all of the kids like to play and sweep the floors inside the cottages at the Children's Garden.  You fellow Neapolitans know what I'm talking about!  The first thing these kids do is run inside, close the door (which no kid does at home) and start sweeping the floors (again which no child does in their own home!).  I managed to get a couple of shots of the kids in between cleaning sessions.

The next series of pictures are my favorites of many pictures I took of the flowers and butterflies.  I had to go through over 200 pictures that I took in less than 2 hours their!  I am thinking of making note cards or thank you cards out of some of these pictures.  (Jessica- If you can do smaller cards than the 4x6 size, let me know.  You can help me design some note cards with these next pictures. :) )

 I swear these pictures are unedited...These water lilies are just this gorgeous!

These last pictures are of the kids playing in the fountains before we left.  Again, there aren't many places in our country where kids are frolicking in bathing suites and playing in the water in February!  The Clementi's escape New York in the winter and come down here for weather and fun like this...

Wishing you all beautiful days in paradise!