Oh Boy!

As a mom, I LOVE photos of my children 

even if they're not perfect.. 

because I deem it as one of those "life as it happens" kinda things: 

if you don't snap now you'll miss it forever.

As a photographer, I feel like everything has to be perfect.. 

so, I'm constantly in limbo.. 

nevertheless, here is a sneak look into little W's newborn photos,

 perfectly imperfect.

{ to see more, visit The Captured Blog }

Here are BOTH my sweet babies.. ugh I just want to squeeze them!

W's nursery is travel themed.. Ill be debuting that soon,

(PROMISE) so we HAD to have some photos of him being packed away ;)

-xo

A Happy Halloween

Every year we encourage (and create) costumes for halloween that are not the standard.

 I'm sure with enough begging we would have no problem buying some princess costume 

or wacky character for our Emma. 

But, our sweet girl loves portraying women that matter..

Over the years she's been Lady Gaga,

as well as the iconic Audrey Hepburn

& this year,  she dressed up as none other than 

Rosie the Riveter.

The saddest thing every year is when someone askes her 

"who are you supposed to be?"

The year of GaGa, she was questioned if she was a 

jersey shore D List Celebrity, 

and mistaken for a "toddler & tiara" reality show brat the year of Audrey.

This year, she blasted who she was before people had the

 opportunity to confuse her as anyone else.

Not knowing tons of people here in Oklahoma, we went to a 

trunk or treat on post so she could interact with kids her age.

{Our sweet new boo was along for the ride, too}

& on Halloween when we all went out,we decided to dress up as well..

as an iconic royal couple...

{Thanks Em, for using the big girl camera}

I even pushed around my British Silver Cross Pram - to hold all the treats for the evening :)

I'm not sure how many more photos of just our family of 3 we will get. 

{Photo courtesy of our camera timer}

Prior to Halloween,we did take E for some pumpkin fun 

- although the "patches" here are no where NEAR as cool as the ones in the mitten

.. le sigh.

{and last  but not least, a little glimpse from E's Class halloween party}

Hope your Halloween was less Spooky & more happy like ours :)

-xo

Summer Lovin' - Gone so fast

A normal North Carolina Summer is miserably hot from sunup until sunrise..

This summer however, just wasn't that - it was unseasonable "cool" like 85 & 90 instead of 100 lol.

We spent afternoons by our little blow up pool

and most mornings at the community pool..

((See our future lifeguard))

Where we were often the ONLY people there...

We were able to introduce Emma to Rollerrink birthday parties - which were a norm for our generation... & we couldnt believe the kids today that had NO idea how to skate.. lol

Saying good bye is the way of life in the Army.. and between Texas, Pennsylvania & Oklahoma.. we all were sadly split up.

Before we left Fort Bragg, we were able to attend one final 82nd Airborne Ball :)

dressing up - prom style isn't something you'll think you'll ever do again after highschool.. well - welcome to the Military, where annual parties are a must..

I cant believe how quickly the entire summer flew by... It didnt help that every other weekend I was traveling to Michigan for Summer Weddings.. ahh the life ;)

The Newest Dunphy

On our most recent trip to the mitten, we brought home a new baby..
and by baby, I mean Puppy! lol

Everyone (not on facebook), meet Lady Minerva aka "Mini" :)
Mini is a pure bread merlequin Great Dane... she was only 7 weeks old when we brought her on the 700 mile journey from Michigan to NC, but did really well in the car!



Of course we still have our other babies; Fiona our Snowshoe Siamese,

Cher Bear our 6 year old rescue,

Grover(tonsonville) our Rag-a-muffin-fuzzy-bunny

AND Remy-kins, Emmy's pet Fancy Rat.. yep, Rat ;D

Currently, the puppy sleeps a lot, and allows Emma to walk her.. but as she's doubled in size since we brought her home, we know very soon Mini will be walking Emmy :)

 xo- The Dunphy's

Missing Daddy

Today, while driving through base - Miss Em being the nosey little booger she is was just staring around at all the buildings & soldiers & all of a sudden she was really upset & angry..

This is how our conversation developed...

em- momma why are those army guys here?
me- they are working?
em- well why aren't they in the desert like daddy?
me- bc they didn't go
em- that's bullsh*t
me- agreed.



I can't say that I LOVE the idea of our 4 year old swearing - but can you blame her - or be mad when she uses it in the Right context?

Fast forward & Pause

But - Don't forget to breathe.

Through a whirlwind of Subway lunch dates, weekly games of "catch up" and nightly phone calls to wind down, college flew by I even recall Josh driving all the way over from Grand Rapids to check in on me a few times... most of those included me falling asleep mid afternoon and him stuck watching whatever kid-friendly episode made emma happy - then there was the ever significant "date".. the casino and dinner.. and driving down memory lane.. it feels like that night was forever ago.

and off to Army Josh went..& I just wasn't ready to start a tough long distance relationship..  I was stuck. :(..


Meanwhile.. a little lost in translation floating along Miss Emma and I were trudging through winter in michigan..bleh. lol

then things got suddenly sunny (& warm) & brilliantly clear.

Let's Go Back..

Back to the beginning..

Ever taken a class you didn't need, or road the bus longer than you were supposed to? Or perhaps you've taken the long way across campus or stopped into a store you wouldn't normally patronize. It's the random things we do, that sometimes we can't explain or even realize we did them, and they end up being something more.

Well that's how our story begins.. I took an athrolopolgy class a semester after I had Miss Emma simply by chance, not because I needed it, but because we've all taken classes we didnt necessarily need to be full time or fill our time slot.

Then have you ever said "hi" to a stranger because they simply wore a hat or shirt or jacket that you liked or associated with something else? And then slowly, but surely those little greetings turn in full fledged conversations that are developed on everything but athrolopolgy, the bus route, or the random store you wished you'd found years ago.

And before you know it, you've made a friend, someone that makes your foreign teachers bad hair day something to muse about with, someone you didn't mind bumping into and someone that made the reason you attended class on the snowy days when you wanted nothing more than to crawl back in bed, worth while.

It's these tiny occurrences that happen without reasoning or expectation, that had you known in hind site bias, you would have spent more time documenting or enjoying each little moment to its fullest.

Had someone told me a year ago, my life - Our Life - would have dramatically changed so wonderfully in such a short time, I would have called them fools. I could have never imagined that everything I never even knew I wanted would be mine.(Im quite the lucky duck)

So, in a tiny classroom on the bottom floor of an old building in Detroit, we met & 3 years later we are married and following our dreams. (don't worry, all the inbetweens will unravel in time as well).

But just know that looking back I think a part of me always knew..