spring cleaning.

cleaning my external hard drive. :) i delete a lot of pictures for one reason or another. mainly because i won't actually do anything with them. but i find that when i look at them six months later i have more of an appreciation for them. i had different reasons for keeping these. 

avery looks so little here. this was thanksgiving and she decided to wear her 3 month old onesie. plus, i just love her little smile. 

what's not to love about your big sister putting you in a headlock? his face is priceless. 

thursday playgroup. maybe one of the few times i brought my camera with me. also, the day he sat at the big boy table for the first time. 

remember when he had his two front teeth perfectly in tact and there wasn't a chip? still a great smile! 

blake's first time finger painting. he didn't really get it at all! 

he loved acorns. couldn't get enough of them and we couldn't keep the sidewalk clean. 

italian kids.

making their italian family proud. 

second child.

this is the life of a second child. the child who is always woken up. whether it's in the morning to take his sister to school or from his nap to pick up his sister. i wake him up more times during the week than he gets to sleep in. i think this was day 4 that he had been woken up despite putting him to bed earlier. thankfully, he's not a grump with this happens! a glimpse of what a typical morning looks like for our second child. and while i love these images in color this sweet second child is wearing a pink sleep sack and a matching pink bumper while his is waiting to be washed. :)
 i'm sorry, blake. maybe in 16 years you can sleep in. 

inspiration.

i want to remember her sweet profile. that cute button nose. those sweet lips. and those little curls at the end of her hair. 

this girl is the reason i started this photography journey in the first place. she taught me to appreciate the small things in life. because those small things aren't small at all. we had a wonderful day today. in her world, it was just another day with me and her friends at the zoo. but, to mean we made some great new memories. 

although she probably doesn't always know. she inspires me. i want her to know that one day. 

torrey, party of five.

talk about a secret i have kept long enough!!! we are SO excited to be adding a new member to the torrey clan in august! although, as we all know my uterus is just so comfy i'm putting my money on september. we are all of one day over the half way mark and i feel like it is flying by!  overall this pregnancy has been a great one so far. very calm and stress free! it hasn't been without the exhaustion and nausea but i don't know why this pregnancy would be any different.

the day i found out i was pregnant was a school day for avery. she was having her christmas family chapel. so, i was up at the school for that. then, it was off to blake's playgroup. i put him down for a nap and while i realize it was early to find out i couldn't wait another day. that faint line appeared. i stared at it in disbelief. part of me got nervous that there was twins because it was so early to be positive! let me assure you, there is only one. this will be our last baby and i wanted to tell mark in one of those cute ways you read and see on the internet. i immediately got on pinterest and started googling. i had this great idea and was going to tell him on christmas. i would only be around 6 weeks and figured would still be feeling good. mark had been working long hours and had been coming home really late. the next couple of weekends were filled with newborns so i thought a piece of cake. we went to one christmas party where i played it off so well and decided at the last minute not to have a drink. well, when mark has a lot of energy to burn off he moves crap around. and by crap, i mean furniture. the first weekend he switched the kids rooms. you know, just for fun. the second weekend he decided to put our dresser upstairs, leaving our clothes on the ground. normally, i probably would be able to handle this. but, when he asked me to help carry the dresser upstairs i lost it. i'll blame it on the pregnancy hormones. i started crying and just played it off. but, that lasted all of 30 minutes before i blurted out i was pregnant. i was in tears. not because i was pregnant, but because i wanted to tell him in this special way i had read about. i was pretty upset for awhile. but, months later it's just the way our story is. it doesn't change the fact that we are so excited for this little one. you would think after two kids i would learn not to plan things. needless to say, i haven't been on pinterest since.

the day i found out. 

5 weeks. off to our christmas party.

at 12 weeks and 2 days we had our first trimester screening. 

from there the little one has just been growing. getting a little love from big brother. still trying to wrap my head around this little guy being a big brother.

i had bought the cutest shirts for the kids. but, i never managed to get out and take pictures in them. i also love taking the kids out in the bluebonnets so i decided the day before easter that we would drive and take them and i could finally take an "announcement" picture. bless my family's heart and gigi and johnnie. they drove out with us and we made a little evening out of it. i frantically ran out and bought balloons and started gathering stuff to bring. i wouldn't be me had i planned it out even the day before!


and of course an outtake. perhaps how the kids really feel about another baby! ;)

but, in all seriousness avery is excited. she thinks she's having a sister and as of last night we are naming her pocahontas.
which brings us to today. we had our 20 week ultrasound. 10 fingers and 10 toes. followed up with "everything looks good"! couldn't ask for more!
praise God for a healthy, growing baby!

easter

easter was a great day! the kids got to dig into their buckets in the morning. the easter bunny may have gone overboard on avery's bucket. but, in trying so hard to find non-candy items the bunny just had too much fun! 

she was most excited for her toothbrush! 

then the leotard was at the bottom! even the bunny forgot about that clearance deal from target! ;)

 

blake, well, to no surprise his favorite was the one candy item. he only has a few left as of now. 

 

and avery's piece of candy! 

candy before 9 am is acceptable on easter in this house. 

tried for the obligatory picture of the two kids together

 

blake thought she was trying to take his candy

 

we had a wonderful lunch with amanda's family as well as ours! all the food was awesome! probably because the only thing i really made was salsa! amanda also bought confetti eggs which avery thought were hysterical! 

nothing says welcome to texas like an egg filled with confetti being cracked on your head! but, grandpa johnnie was a great sport! :)

as far as, all dressed up family pictures. well, that didn't really happen. maybe next year! :)

bluebonnets.

hopefully this should cure your monday blues! :)

the dying of the eggs.

the dying of the easter eggs. avery loved it. blake cracked the first one he was given. so i decided that it was probably better just to give him the colander of berries to sort and eat. i think gigi had fun too! :)