these girls of ours

 

I had been wanting to attempt an outdoor photo shoot with the girls for awhile now, but I could never seem to work it out. So the other day I impromptly threw a blanket up on the wall and thought I'd see if I could get the girls to cooperate. They did pretty good! (I share my secret at the end of this post...). I love that first picture up there because I can just see their devious little smiles plotting how they are going to take this photo shoot DOWN. ;)

 I think this next picture below needs a little thought bubble coming out of Annie's head... I can only imagine what she is thinking?!

 Jamie saw these pictures of Audrie and asked "Who is this girl??". Trying to look all sweet and innocent. Anyone who has a preschooler knows their number one hobby is to think of new clever ways to annoy their parents.

 But somehow we still love her so much it hurts.

 And these two girls love each other more than we'd ever imagined. Like really, I'm not making that up to sound all cliche. When Audrie and Annie have been away from each other for more than five minutes and see each other again- they run squealing towards each other, hug, and scream each other's names. It's so crazy adorable it's almost awkward to watch! ha

There is so much going on behind this next picture of Annie. She is deciding whether to run up and hug your legs... or bite your kneecaps. 

 She does have a lot of love to give. This sweet girl!

Oh Audrie. My firstborn and so special to me.

 

I think this last one may be the one I have to frame...

 Ok, so the secret to this 15 minute photo shoot. I moved furniture away from the wall, thumb tacked a blanket to the wall, and then told the girls to come sit down for a puppet show. I should have asked Jamie to take a picture of me because I had my camera in my right hand snapping away and in my other hand I kept switching out puppets and putting on a completely stupid puppet show (most of the time the puppets were eating mommy's head), but the girls thought it was hilarious and I got to snap a few precious photos. So if I had to lose my head to a few puppets... it was worth it! :)

I was putting Audrie to bed the other night and we got to the part in our prayers where we thank God for things- Audrie said "Thank you, Jesus, for Mommy and Daddy going to the hospital and having Audrie and Annie."

*tears*

Yes, thank you, God.