the sisters I hope they are.

I truly hope with my whole heart that I give these girls a relationship as sisters that will be timeless and cherished forever. If anything and in everything that I could possibly teach them - I truly pray for this one relationship to be the strongest in their lives. 

I have hope for the strongest future for them because they have each other.

And I get to watch it happen.

"My question was the attention I gave to them,

and their response was their beauty."

gazing out the window.

These two together make everything perfect. I can't begin to explain how grateful I am that they get to have each other through this beautiful and messy thing called life. 

I know they won't remember these moments, but I always will.

photo by lia

I love that on the days when I'm not reaching for my camera, and I'm seemingly filling my schedule with busy-ness, Lia forces me to sit and be still with my eyes totally focused on her because she's holding my huge camera and trying to snap photos. It's the cutest thing ever. And it's in those moments that I'm paying the most attention to her, completely and utterly zoned in to her every move.

I edited a few of the photos she snapped, and I kind of love how they turned out. I hope she turns into one hell of a photographer one day - if for nothing else, to capture the love of the world around her.

"we do not remember days. we remember moments."

sisters

I love every single moment I get to be with these girls. I was staring at Lia as she was falling asleep today, and it struck me so intensely - I get to be hers as much as she gets to be mine, for this small amount of time, we get to love on each other. We have the opportunity to be love to each other in this world, in our moments of frailty, in our moments of loneliness or sadness or fear. I was given that opportunity, and I am beyond words grateful for that.

I hope their first memories of Michael, of me, of our family as a whole, are beautiful memories of love, kisses, hugs, laughter, singing and dancing. Jeez I hope I'm doing a good job. The fear - but how driven I am by that fear, that all I ever want is them to feel loved.

some sloppy kisses, the best.

"yes i'll walk in time with you, old friend."

life according to Siena

Sometimes life is like climbing in between some chairs. You have a destination in mind, and no matter how many people tell you that there is another (easier) way, you say to hell with them! and go your own way...

You plan your course of action...

You set about your way...

You get stuck and all confused...

Then some friends come over to assist you, encourage you, and love you.

You get lost in thought...

and thought...

and thought.

Until you've cleared the hardest hurdles...

Only to find your damn foot is stuck.

But alas, you survive, and you make it through, and life is always better with a good glass of cold milk.

Oh, and life is also always better with Lia around...

I love these girls.

siena, siena, siena.

Well, my little one turned one. Siena girl is now a ONE YEAR OLD. Insanity, I tell you! She brings me so much joy it is literally unbelievable. I don't understand what God did when He made her - she is all the goodness wrapped up in one adorable beautiful loving and sweet baby. It's really amazing. There is just something special.

Sadly, I worked on Siena's actual birthday. MAJOR sad. It was so horrible... so the day before, we tried to have some special family time (on "mama and dada's bed"), and tried to soak up all of our love together. Michael and I are some blessed parents to have these two wonderful girls.

Here's dad loving on his babies: 

So, her birthday was on a Thursday, and I also worked Friday. So Saturday and Sunday (and Monday and Tuesday) were ALL about Siena. We sang to her pretty much for two days straight, simply because Lia LOVES the happy birthday song. And Siena just looks up and smiles. Ugh.

On Saturday, Michael's family came over to love on our special girl. Here are ALL the cousins together - I know, I know, the two girls aren't even looking at the camera. But this is shot 25. I'm pretty sure everyone was restless, and seriously, I can't get either of those girls to ever look at me.

Then, of course, we moved on to cake. I got the cake from Whole Foods and it was super yummy... and Annette, Michael's mom did the honors or writing on the cake and decorating it with sprinkles. It was so cute.

"hold up, hold up, what's going on here?" and then there's Lia. That girl has a set of grills :D

We had such an awesome time having breakfast with Michael's family, and were so blessed to be able to do it again with my family the next day! It was so much fun. 

Grandpa had to take his honorary "mouth full of cake" photo with Siena since he did it with Lia. I have that photo on my old computer, so I have to find it and put the two together!

Lia with her most favorite Pablo! Yes, she looks like she's choking him but he ended up okay :)

mmmm gluten free cupcakes - my favorite! ;) 

I mean, isn't he the cutest?! 

I simply can't handle the love that Siena and Lia share - it's so surprising every time a special moment like this happens - not because it happens infrequently - but because I don't understand how they already love another person (who isn't their parent) as much as they do.

I've been trying to teach her how to pose :) Now, we just need to get her looking NEAR the camera.

Then on Tuesday we headed to the nearby splash pad for some good ole splashing time with friends. Siena is one lucky girl to have as many lovely people in her life.

As a recap - we love Siena. The End.

Head over to my current blog at A Mama Collective:

best friends forever

We have been having such a great time together, we three. Lia will often come up to Siena and me and hug us, yelling "BEST FRIENDS FOREVER, YEAH!"

It is the sweetest thing ever. I truly live for the moments when these two interact with each other, whether it be Siena's face lighting up with Lia comes into the room, or Lia yelling "BABY SIENA!" when she spots her. Whenever I need to do my makeup or hair, I just set them on my bed and the two of them just hang out and play, well, more like Lia plays pillow fights with herself and Siena just stares at her and laughs.

It makes me wish I had a sister so badlly! It is so awesome to see their friendship making roots to really bloom and grow as they get older. Such a blessing to see where true, everlasting friendship begins.

we're alive

Our girls love to read. Well, Lia loves to read, and Siena apparently loves to eat cardboard. We're working on it.

I have always had a huge passion for reading. I remember so many times crawling into my dad's lap and reading books with him. He would eventually let me read aloud and we would alternate pages or paragraphs or sentences. I always remember trying to breathe at the same rate as him, trying to mimic his patterns, trying to be just like him in that cocoon of learning.

I want so badly for our girls to have the same experiences. I want so badly for them to crawl into bed together and have Lia read Siena a book - because those moments will never be altered in their minds. They are such unique and special days... when you read a book with the ones you love.

I found a really cool print, and of course "pinned" it to my Pinterest account:

I'm shocked at how beautiful life is, at how alive I become at the sight of my beautiful daughters' smiles and hugs and kisses. I am blessed.

It is always shocking to meet life where we thought we were alone.  “Look out!” we cry, “it’s alive.”

lots of haps

So, life has been sweet to us lately. Here's a quick recap:

• Lia turned two and is becoming a crazy/fun toddler.
• Siena is six months old and getting sweeter by the day.
• The girls are really interacting more - Siena smiles every time Lia is around her.
• Michael is working at Educational Sales Co. and also is the booking manager for Ike.
• I just graduated with an Associate Degree in Respiratory Therapy and am currently looking for a job!

Woohoo! While in the in between period of school and looking for a job, I get to be home with my two special girls. It's so fun being the three girls - 

we go on walks...

we play outside...

we play with our new kitchen from Nina Tiffy...

we go to the park...

siena loves to be worn while I'm cleaning around the house...

we love on baby siena...

then we try to vacuum her...

we celebrate Jesus' birthday...

we give the sweetest smiles in the universe...

i love you my big girl...

and you too my littlest girl :)

"Life is wonderful... life is meaningful... life is full of... life is so full of love." ~Jason Mraz