Ha...fooled you!

Rylan has been in a "no picture momma" stage for awhile. I do prefer candid shots, and love just capturing my kids, but sometimes I seek out a portrait and ask them to just smile for me..pretty please.
Lately when he does selectively hear me, I get pictures like this.  Complete cheese with a phony smile. Ummmm...no thanks, Ry Guy.

So with sister away at Irish Dance, I decided to take him outside in the golden light and play a little bit of ball.  Once we were both having a good time, I grabbed my camera and continued to play and wHaLA!  Magic..

Still getting candid shots (my fav!) but with a little added direction of the focus done successfully with a little toss of fun. 

A momma's got to do what a momma's got to do.

And I don't think Rylan minded too much!  ;)

Pure Michigan fun

Each Fall our family escapes to the beautiful land of Michigan for a long weekend full of relaxation, laughs and a whole lot of fun.  We rent a refurbished farm house which has really become our home away from home since we have been to this home for many years now.  We spend a lot of time hanging around the house, enjoying the beautiful yard and the quaint house but always venture out to go apple picking or to the local pumpkin farm and ride our bikes in the Apple Cider Century. It's one of my favorite weekends and this year was no exception.

I'll share photos of Saturday and Sunday but today we'll talk about Monday where we all played hookie from the world, eating through our leftovers, staying in our pj's for as long as we desire and always finding ourselves playing something in the yard.  This year we played kickball, boys against girls, kicking the ball and running to our hand created dog dish bases.  The kids are getting old enough to understand and be able to play in a team sport...well, MC certainly is and we did have to break more than once to dry a few Rylan tears..but we all had a ton of fun.

MC and Ry love their stuffed friends and often carry them in their shirts so this look is not uncommon in the Case world but I love the next several captures.  Be still a momma's heart.

The girls were leading all the way although the boys did put up a nice fight in the last inning.

Such a great time. I know the kids will look back on their childhood and always remember their time spent in Michigan with a happy, grateful heart because this is what life is really all about..enjoying the time spent together creating happy, meaningful memories.  Be back soon with weekend stories!

How quickly a day turns..

A week ago today was a normal day all until Rylan was bent over in pain after lunch and brought directly to the pediatrician's office.  An hour later I was told to take him to the hospital for a STAT ultrasound and the next day I would bringing him to the hospital to have surgery.  What?? How quickly a day changes and reminds me to embrace the quiet, no action days.

He had his hernia repaired and is now doing great.  Now the challenge is to keep him doing quiet activities rather than the jumping, playing, bike riding little boy that he is. Just a couple of weeks buddy...a couple of weeks... to let your body heal and then you can be your energetic self again.

Scott has been out of town for several days so my evenings have been spent watching Orange is the New Black (love it!) on my iPad while I scrap away on my computer.  Trying desperately to catch up on this awesome book.   Here's a few more week additions.  Feel free to click on the photos for a larger image.

Here's to a non-eventful week!

Efficiency rules here

This summer I have been steadily trying to catch up with our family's stories and find myself in July at the moment.  In an effort to play catch up here, I am sharing the last 10 weekly layouts in our family book of 2013. You can enlarge the picture by clicking on the photo. Enjoy! 

You know it's been a while...

when you forget how to post a blog entry. Jeez..could our last post be in the end of May? That has to be wrong. ;)  We have been busy around here enjoying the summer and with both kiddos at home, there was little time for the computer.  And you know what?  I'm OK with that but that's not to say I'm not anxious to get writing and sharing again.

So much to say..so much to share..but for today I'll keep it brief and live somewhat in the moment.  I will be back soon to share summer stories.

The kids are both back in school and loving it. The structure to our days is welcome and with Rylan only in preschool for a couple hours four days a week, it allows me for some "me time", but still have him around as my little buddy for the day which I love.   So without further ado, here are some back to school photos.

Aren't they getting big?  Rylan especially had a big growing spurt over the summer and is now very lengthy and tall.  He also just had a birthday and is now so much more of a big boy at 4 years old!

I promise it won't be another 3 months before I'm back!  Hope you had a wonderful summer.