Amidst the chaos going on in my hometown of Buffalo, I thought I’d give a little shout out to summer time on my blog today.  A few days ago, I shot mini sessions in Buffalo, and in that same exact location, they are now literally up to their necks in snow.  Emergencies everywhere . . . travel bans . . . schools on their THIRD snow day (and it’s ONLY November!).  It’s a true nightmare.  But three months ago-if you can remember back that long ago-it was sunny and warm and pleasant. The grass was green, the trees were full, and we were living life up.

The beginning of August completed our trip to visit James’s family down in Florida.  (Well, not his WHOLE family, but most of it–we were missing four very important people). We all squished into one house, braved the heat, and made the most of our time together.  We’re packing up in a few days and heading South again (not quite as far this time!) to see them again! Two visits in three months will be some kind of record!

In summer, we love planning play dates, and the boys thrive on it.  We have so many amazing families in our lives, and we are so incredibly thankful for all of them. When summer rolls around, we run around like crazy trying to fit twelve months of friends into two months of freedom. Come school time, everyone is unbelievably busy.  And then when winter knocks at our door and we very unwillingly let it in, this whole part of the world turns into a giant hermit. We hide in our warm places. We venture out much less frequently. And we don’t see people as often as we’d like.

I love how each of these pictures has a story. The photo above, of the boys eating ice cream makes me laugh.  I’m a natural cheapskate–and we told the boys we’d go out for ice cream.  When I found out that the ice cream place had an option to buy a five scoop ice cream cone, and it was going to be $1.50 cheaper than buying the boys each their own (AND Sawyer got some), of course I took that option. And the girl probably hated me when I had her scoop five different kinds.  Oh well.  The things we do to save money 🙂  In the photo below to the left, Carter put together his very first lego set and was so proud of it.

The summer flew by much too quickly.  And now that November is upon is, at least I can focus on the upcoming Christmas cheer.  Looking forward to the sights, smells and joy of Christmas this year!