Today

(Disclaimer - picture overload ahead)

Fall is made for Virginia. It's been stunningly beautiful for the past 2 weeks and each day I think about how I need to get out to take some pictures.

John is in NC this weekend so we're all alone and that means we do nothing for the next two days.

We ate cold cereal and fresh from the chicken coop scrambled eggs for dinner, with a little toast on the side. I even let the kids drink OJ for dinner.

We were planning on swimming at the gym tonight, but Nathan has a touch of a stomach bug so we scratched that plan.

We met Ava at the school bus at the end of the drive and geared up for pictures. I didn't worry about clothes, hair or getting ready.

Each time I pass this spot on the driveway, I've been imagining Ava standing in this patch of weeds looking beautiful. Too bad the sun didn't really wanna work with us.

See this kid? He's incredible hard to photograph.

He smiles all the time, but he refuses to look at you and then when he does, his eyes get lost in his creases. He gets that from his dad.

Thank goodness for the green tomatoes still on the vine right next to our outdoor studio. They entertained the boys for over an hour.

I'm pretty sure I got hit with more than one. Sorry Ronnie - I hope you were through with them cause Nathan and Lias made short work of them.

Doesn't Ava have a great eye for photos? I even saw her tilting the camera all funky angled and everything.

She's also an incredibly cute girl with a knack for posing. And that's alright with me.

I took over 150 pictures of this kid and 95% of them were some form of this face.

This one, on the other hand, did an amazing job. I also took over 100 pictures of him, but 95% of them are great. Now I have to narrow it down - decisions, decisions.

Amazing what 2 years will do for you.

These three little persons are my life. I maybe busy doing other things (like sorting and editing photos all evening) but when it all comes down to it, they're the most important part of anything. Ava is gone all day now and I still feel the sting of sadness each time I put her on the school bus or watch her walk into school. Nathan drives me absolutely mad with his incessant questions about volcanoes, immortality, knights, the rules of the road and his inability to entertain himself. But at night when I'm laying next to him, watching his chest rise and fall I know I'd never change a thing about him and he's growing up way too fast. Little Lias is still my baby, although he's quick to tell me he's not a baby but a big boy. He's undemanding, easy going and resourceful so sometimes when I stop and focus on him it blows me away that he can count to 12 (where did he learn that?) or that he washes his hands "all by heself". They are my life and I really would be lost if they weren't around to keep me grounded.