it's never too late--traditions in the sunflowers!

It's the first day of Fall and I never posted our sunflower patch tradition! Yikes! Still playing a little catch up around here! Of course, if you can see my header for this month, clearly, we did make it to the sunflowers before they were gone!

Getting our sunflower pics is always an adventure! The boys have room to run, check out the bees buzzing around and ALWAYS get sweaty. It's just that time of year. And every year when I announce it's the day to go to the sunflowers, I get push back. Ugh. Pictures. Even my Hubby isn't fond of the experience----but he is the sweetest photog assistant around and helps me score the shots anyway! This year, he had the boys prep their faces on the drive to the sunflowers. "On the count of three, give me your best "Bald eagle just landed on my arm" face!" Or something like that. He had them changing up their faces and acting out the scariest moments, most exciting moments, most shocked moments, etc. and they ate it up!!!

So before my peeps were all red-faced and dripping they were ready for their sunflower pics and Mommy was able to continue her tradition!

They love their Honey Bee Tees! I do, even more!! 

New or passed down, these are my fave shirts around!!

Sweet brothers and silly Waybe shots too!

Glory made her first sunflower appearance as well! And since my handsome, photography assistant was so sweet and helpful, he deserved a smooch! 

Upon seeing this pic, he said, "Ummm. Crazy eyes!!" Just crazy for you Hon, just crazy for you! ;)

 I love this tradition! Can't wait until the 10th anniversary next year! :)

Just wait for it-- traditions in the sunflower patch

I thought I had missed them. It was the beginning of August and our oldest was out of town when I realized it was sunflower season again! For the past 8 years, we've gone over to our local sunflower patch and snapped photos. Every year, it's been around the last week of July to first week in August and then the sunflowers wilt quickly and are gone in a snap.

So this year, when I realized it was that time again, I panicked. Luke was out of the country and there was no way to get the photos---the traditional sunflower patch photos that I love so very much, with all of my boys. I was flat-out bummed. Put a call into my sis, since she drives by them everyday and asked if they were already gone. She hadn't even noticed them. Oh man!! Missed our strawberry picking this summer, and blueberries too. I got over it. Missed a few things this summer, but did some other fun things and I was quite content. But missing the sunflowers? BUH-mer.

But wait for it. . .!  I got a text from our former next door neighbor who also drives by the sunflower patch everyday that said. . .Saw some pretty sunflowers today. . .with a big smiley face, since she knows how much I love our traditions! Follow that with a phone call from my Biff who said the same thing! The sunflowers arrived late this year---maybe due to the unusually cooler beginning to our summer?

We were back in business!!! So, we put that on our weekend agenda, got a few "Ugh" comments (just to keep it real), and I mighta pulled the "Of all the things I do for you guys, can't ya just do this?" comment out of the bag. But once we were off, and once we arrived, the boys remembered how much they always enjoy taking the photos because of the great big wide open space they have to run and play and be boys!

And just to tell you something I'm sure you are very well aware of. . .the days can be long, but the years are short! Time can go by in the blink of an eye! Just look at the very first sunflower pics of each boy and the current day ones too!

Luke at 10 months

Luke at almost 9 years old

 Charlie around 4 months

 Charlie at 6 years old

 Miles at 10 months 

Miles at nearly 4 years old

 Way at 10 days old

 Waybe at 2 years old

And while this one is flat out blurry due to an inadvertently switched button, it captures my boys together and I love them--blurry and all!

Happy Friday to you! 

Soak up some sun and time with your people this weekend! Enjoy them!

My morning glories

Well, the start of the school year approaching and all that comes with it, has sent me into hiding. My hubby and biggest encourager, reminded me it was time for a new header, so I finally got to it! As you may or may not know, every year for the past 7 years, we make a trip to our local sunflower patch. So every year, this little space gets fresh photos of the boys and how they've grown since the previous year! I enjoying perusing and reflecting and so this year, my post title is this blog's name, a perfect blend of my blogging goals. If you don't know why Morning Glories is in fact Morning Glories, you should read this, where I lay out just why I chose this name!

 

But back to it, this may have been our quickest sunflower photo shoot on record. The rain clouds were quickly heading our way, and for some very strange reason, our boys were cooperative and eager to smile for Mommy! They actually look forward to the trip and love being to run around in the sunflower patch! This year, we moved back to our original patch, because some of the sunflowers had been turned to corn fields. But no worries, as I mentioned in last year's sunflower post part 1, it's a tough call on whether this yearly shoot is more about the sunflowers or more about the boys. I think both!We didn't have our back to school haircuts yet, so these boys are shaggy, but I love it! 

Charlie has the best hair--so dreamy and surfy to me. Think he'll love it when he's older! He was the one most "on cue" for our outing!

 And Luke, he is looking way too old!! Such a sweetie!

Miles was off and running as usual, and just like last year, when I couldn't even get an individual photo of him. Thankfully this year, I snagged one!

And here's Baby Way, making his 2nd sunflower appearance. Yes, we took him when he was 10 days old last year! Look how much the little cutie has grown!!!

 

 Love this photo of all of my boys. What a blessed woman I am!

 

Soaking up the last few days of summer with my family! I love this season!!

sunflowers--part 2

As I mentioned in a recent post, we were able to get to the sunflower patch after Way was born! I thought this was going to be the first year since we started this tradition to miss, but turns out, the sunflowers were still in full bloom after Way was born. So off we went, with a 10 day old! Maybe not the best pics ever, but some of my favorite, since I have my 4 littles all together--no matter what was going on!

And sweet Miles, it's not that we didn't want an individual photo of you, but it's that you most certainly did not want to stand still for us! :) We love you too---very glad Lukey was able to wrangle you in for a pic!

sunflowers part 1

Okay, before I dive into Way's birth story, let me back up a few days prior to his birth. Every single year since Luke has been born, we've taken pictures in our local sunflower patch. Every year they are beautiful and I just can't resist getting my littles growing up with the sunflowers! Well, this annual event takes place end of July/beginning of August. Because little Way's due date was August 3rd, I was thinking we'd try and grab pictures before he was born, since probably, we wouldn't make it after he was born.

So, the Saturday prior to Way's arrival, we headed out. Our old neighbor told me she heard the sunflowers were up and blooming, so we were ready with the camera and took off. However, upon arrival, we saw that in fact, the sunflowers were not blooming yet. Chad asked me if this annual event was about the pictures or the sunflowers. I said both!! But, I couldn't have both, so I settled for pictures anyway, and we headed off in a different direction, where I snapped some of these. . .

My 3 littles--3 days before Way was born!!

And, while I don't just love posing for pics (especially being preggo), we had to have at least 1 pic with little Way in my tummy! 

Again, I'll be back with more from Way's arrival, but we did manage to venture out to the sunflowers last night--so I have all 4 boys in the sunflowers this year after all! Hooray!!

sunflower season

As you can see in our header, our sunflower tradition continues! It may or may not be my husband's favorite photo shoot. I'll let you guess. What, with the 100+ heat indexes and children who are more interested in making silly faces or running wild and free along the sunflowers, while the wife is desperate to get a sweet and perfect shot of her angels. . .what, you don't think it's Chad's favorite photo shoot of the year?

Well, you are right. It's not. But, because my husband is AHmazing and loving and selfless, he indulged me and off we went! This was also Miles first out of belly appearance at the sunflowers! He is 10 months old now. We started this tradition when Luke was 10 months old. Check out these 2 pictures.

I mean are they not identical as babies???!!! I can't even believe it!

Thanks Babe, for getting behind the camera and capturing your biggest fans!! I love you! ;)

2010 sunflower patch

Well, our annual sunflower picture tradition did not go as planned this year. Over the past few years we have gone to the patch in the afternoon/evenings so we could avoid squinty eyes, shadows, etc. However, this year with the blazing, scorching, unbearable, suffocating (you get the picture) heat, we opted to head out for photos and play in the morning, when it was only 95 degrees. Additionally, I didn't have either camera battery charged to capacity after returning from Hawaii, so they fizzled quickly. A mistake I swear to never make again!! After getting a few squinty shots, I told Chad I might bring the boys back another day, but the 110 temps and my exhausted body have not had any motivation to do more. And, the sunflowers hit their peak a few days ago, so we have what we have! Enough complaining??!!

I still think they are precious and was happy my family obliged so we could continue our tradition! The boys love running through the sunflowers anyway and we added a Farmers Market trip to the mix---quite fun!

You can revisit the past few years. . .

2009--sunflower montage

2008--pics from previous years too

our sunflower montage

Luke has been asking me for a while now, when early August will be here. He's been asking because I told him a month ago that the sunflowers will pop up in early August. You should have seen the excitement on his face when he realized it was finally August!! So, this past week, we had a special night with the boys. We headed out for a yummy dinner at Central BBQ and then went straight to the sunflowers! We've had this tradition now for 3 years and you can check out these pictures for a recap! This year, though it was hot and we were melting, both of the boys had a blast running (and, er, attempting to run) alongside the sunflowers! So, without further delay. . .our sunflower montage!! Don't forget to turn up your volume!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Sunflower traditions

Something that has become a tradition in our family every year at the beginning of August is to take Luke and now Charlie to the sunflower patches near the Agricenter. Each year the patches have grown more and more popular. People pull over on the side of the road to get their families out for awesome photo opportunities. You have to do this quickly and plan for it, because the sunflowers are only really pretty for about 2 weeks.

Anyway, I love them. They are beautiful! I get so excited at the end of July each year as we watch them grow daily and finally bloom. This year, Luke has been mesmerized by them. We drive by everday and everyday he screams out, "Momma, there are the sunflowers! I want to run in the sunflowers! They are really pretty!"

So once again this year, we headed out. As you know, I love to take pictures---I try to have my camera everywhere. What good is scrapbooking (or blogging for that matter) without pictures? So, I was thrilled when I finally got a couple of good shots of my boys together! Here are Luke pics from each year and now Charlie pics begin too! Enjoy!!

Luke at 10 months old!

Luke at 22 months old!

Luke, this year, at almost 3!

And, the tradition begins for Charlie--almost 4 months old!

Sweet brothers!

My three boys!