{embrace the camera}

i promise to do better about posting other then just on {embrace the camera} days.

but aren't you glad i'm posting at all?

maybe you don't care.

anyway.

here's this weeks {embrace}.

this was yesterday, a family affair in the bathroom

millie on the potty.

remi taking a bath.

lane {helping} me to bathe her brother.

me. organizing the chaos.

i love my life.

your turn!  {embrace the camera}

{embrace the camera}

i have so much fun with these girls.

they are sweet, silly, affectionate, daring, confident, loving ...

and truly a joy to my heart.

i'm so thankful to have daughters.

now go!  {embrace the camera}!

{amber van, betty lou, and casey egg}

the 3 people in the title are who i have to thank for inspiring this post.

i'll explain each.

amber inspired me with a blog she wrote the other day called "i heart dresses".

you can read her post here.

one thing she mentions, is that she had a goal to wear a dress a day all summer.  i think this is so fun!

i like amber.  she is the one who encouraged me to wear lipgloss....even if i didn't need to be dressed up.

so thanks for that am!

inspiration number 2 is my grandma betty lou o'neill.

i was thinking about her a lot this week (as it was st. patrick's day yesterday, and likely her favorite holiday).

my sweet grandma passed away this last year, but i was blessed to be able to spend some quality time with her in her last months.

one time we were sitting at her kitchen table and she was telling me how every day before my grandpa would come home from work, she would mow the lawn  (if it needed it), tidy up the house and put 

on a little makeup.

i love that she would both mow the grass and put on makeup.

she was one of the funnest and quirkiest women i've ever know, and i admire her greatly.

i love that she would do her best to make both her home and herself attractive and welcoming to her hubby.

inspiration number 3 (and my biggest inspiration) Mr. Casey Egger.

my handsome man.

he is all about the girlie girl.

he loves all things lipstick, long hair, dresses, peep toe heels, dangly earrings...

on a woman...on this woman to be exact.

if i wore peep toe high heels and lipstick every day, he'd be the happiest man alive.

however, so often i can get in the mindset that i don't really need to put effort into how i look because, who's gonna see me anyway?

then, when i go out into public, where there are total strangers, i put in an effort at my appearance.

what matters more?  

that strangers find me attractive, or that my husband finds me attractive?

there is such a temptation for men to be looking elsewhere rather then at their wives.

though i love summer and i love warm weather, i dread the clothing that appears (or disappears) along with it.

so if i can do a few {simple} things to help keep my husbands eyes on me, and not give him an excuse to look elsewhere, then why the heck wouldn't i?

plus, dresses are a great way to look cute and stylish, while being modest and helping out a brother.

so what i've decided is:

thanks to amber, i'm going to attempt to wear a dress a minimum of 5 days a week this summer.

and thanks to my grandma, i'm going to make a conscience effort to put on a little lipgloss and tidy up the house before casey comes home.

and thanks to casey, i'm going enjoy putting effort into my appearance, feeling like a girlie girl, and helping to keep my husbands eyes on me.

{embrace the camera}

ok.

i know it seems like a post a lot of photos of remi.

he is just so darn cute, i can't resist busting the camera out on him!

i'm gonna try and get myself behind the camera with lane and millie a bit more in the coming weeks.

so keep posted.

anyway, here's this weeks {embrace the camera} shot.

we were outside on the deck watching  casey practice his {archery}.

while delaney was admiring her daddy and  lovin on the dog.

and millie was swinging away.

i love warm days.

and i love my family!

go {embrace the camera}!

{daily delaney}

yesterday, we were driving over to a friends house and delaney asked which direction we were going.

i told her, "we're heading north."

"then what way will we turn?"  she asked.

"then we will turn left, and go west." i said.

quickly, she responded, "but i want to go towards easter!"

at first i had to giggle at her miscommunication.  

obviously, she meant that she wanted to go east...

though i'm not sure why.

but the more i thought about it, the more i realized how profound her words were to me.

  i want to go towards Easter {too}.

the direction i want to face in my life is alway towards Easter, towards the Cross.

over these last few weeks, i've realized that the direction i set myself towards in life

is not always going to be in the direction that God wants for me.

i've made plans to move to KS.

plans to parent my children better.

plans to be a better wife.

plans to never own a minivan.

plans to be physically thin and spiritually fat.

and i'm realizing, thanks to my sweet daughter, that unless i'm facing {Easter}...

i will always be going the wrong direction.

{crazy aunt millie}

the other morning, millie woke up with her hair looking like this.

she was so {cute} and {crazy} looking, that i left it like that all day.

this face she's making in the photo below, is {very} typical millie. 

delaney calls her, "my wild girl."

i love it. i love her.

{embrace the camera}

this weeks {embrace the camera} is all about the boys.

i sure do love my guys.

of course, i can't forget {toby}.

have you {embraced the camera} yet?

{my photog in training}

here are some fun new photos that delaney has taken.

i especially love the one's she took of remi with his papa g and nana.

btw, remi is her new favorite model.

 "Princess"

 "Papa G"

 "Smooch"

 "Come Back!"

 "The Grinning Bugger"

  "HUH?"

 "Quick Rest"

 "Adopted"

 "Brother"

 "Reach"

 "Peek-a-Boo"

 "One"

 "Nom, nom, nom"

 "El Gato"

 "Mouth Breather"  :)

 "Tummy Time"

 "Wild Girl"

 "Lounging Mama Captures"

 "Eye"

{oh no! my bricks!}

for whatever reason, delaney calls these dress up heels, {bricks}

.

for the life of me, i cannot figure out why.

i've explained to her numerous times what they are called.

regardless, they are bricks to her.

well, there are two things in her life that she is in love with:

shoes

and

remington

well.  now that remi is fully mobile, she has a conflict of interest.

he likes to drool on her precious bricks.

this makes her sad.

so we've had many a discussion on, if you don't want your brother to drool on your things, you need to do a better job of picking them up and putting them away!

i have a feeling the romance of having a little brother is going to wear off {pretty soon}.