a walk in the park

what an absolutely fun day we had with hope today! thank you, Lord, for a perfect slightly overcast, slightly breezy, slightly cool day. i could not have ordered better weather for our photo shoot. and the kids did wonderfully, considering that every 20 minutes, we were changing their clothes and switching out their toys for a new "set"! cousin karina joined us for some of the pictures, too, which made the day even more special. the girls had a tea party, and ethan was sittin' on the dock of the bay, as well as playing with a train set that his friend joseph let us borrow.

it was a wonderful day... when we got home, i told brian that the only downside to having someone else take pictures for you is that you don't come home with a memory card full of pictures to look at and mess with all afternoon... i didn't know what to do when we got home! and then hope emailed me shortly after we got home to tell me how cute the pictures had turned out... which made me want to see all them even more!!! :)

so while i was waiting on pictures to show up on hope's blog, i had some time to calculate some numbers from our day...

4,150-number of miles that hope flew from scotland to the US
30- number of miles that we drove to the beautiful park today
250-number of pictures that hope took
75-number of times we wiped a child's nose
378-number of gerber's puffs ingested by 3 small children
15-number of times we attempted to put that scarf on caroline's head
8-number of senior citizens that asked if ethan, caroline, and karina were triplets
3-number of members of my family who hated having their shoes off for the family picture above
147-number of times i jumped up and down screaming like a crazy woman trying to get those kiddos to turn around
75-number of times i've checked hope's blog tonite to see if our pictures are posted yet...

and here they are!






didn't she do an amazing job?!??! hope has pacified me with these four sweet sweet pictures until she can get the rest to me. please visit her blog to look at more of her beautiful work. i can't stop looking at these pictures. i have admired her photography skills for awhile now, and it's exciting and almost strange to see MY FAMILY in her pictures!!! :)

if you live nearby and want to set up a photo shoot with hope, she still has some appointments available while she's in town. i would not pass up that chance if i were you!!!

thank you, hope! thank you a million times!