The Erwins: " Only love can be divided endlessly, and still not diminish." {Love my family!}

Well it seems like a lot has happened since my last post but I honestly can't even remember half the things I've been doing!!! I've got so many little things to keep me busy lately that add up pretty quick so it seems like I'm always going/doing something but then I'm like...what did I do yesterday/last week? :) And I haven't been taking as many day to day pictures either to remind me of some of the things...I really want to do better at that. My kiddos are growing so fast and I need more pics of them before it all slips away! haha... :)

First of all....here's some pics from Memorial Day! We went out to Bear Island, which is nearby...beautiful beach! We had a nice calming day....I got to read a little bit, took a little nap, took a walk along the beach with sweet Andrew asleep in his back back carrier and Mark and Evelyn pretty much played the whole time :) Then we went to a BBQ at a friends house and enjoyed some time with them! It was a great day :)

on the ferry ride over to the beach!

she had fun on the ferry :)

beach baby!

ferry ride back! :)

We got a bounce house for the kiddos :) kept them entertained!

The next thing I wanted to blog about was our trip to Alabama a week or so ago (around the first weekend of June)! My sweet, adorable niece Isabella is now 8 years old and we went to visit for her baptism! It was just me and the kiddos though cuz Mark had a class he couldn't get out of. It was a nice test drive for me to see how they'd both do on a long trip (I knew Evelyn would be fine, she's a pro at long trips now :) but I was a bit worried about Andrew. Luckily he did pretty good, no major fits or anything...I had tons of snacks and toys so Evelyn and I would give him stuff pretty much continually...he'd play for a while, eat...then get fussy and we'd hand him more :) Then clean it all up at stops and start over :) I have dual TV screens too although he didn't care too much for the movies, except Monsters Inc. and Rugrats. He liked the babies :)

Anywho, we took two days to drive and then spent 4 days there before driving back. We mostly hung out with the fam...which Mark's parents and sister Amy came out that weekend as well so it was great to get to see everyone (except poor Mark...he missed out :). I don't know why I'm such a slacker though cuz I hardly got any pics of the kids all together or with any of us...so annoyed with myself. I did a bunch of pics before and after Isabella's baptism though. She was so cute! I actually made the outfit she wore to be baptized in...Jessica's friend had done it for her little girl and Jessica loved it so she asked me to make it and I did and it turned out super cute!!! And then her dress she wore after, Jessica bought, but it was very similar to the one I made so I thought that was cute to do :) It was super exciting to be there for such a big moment in Isabella's life though and I'm so glad we went!

The rest of the time, like I said, was mostly just us hanging out with the fam. One night Jessica, Amy, and I went to a movie (the new Star Trek...SUPER good movie btw!), and then Isabella had her ballet and jazz dance recitals while we were there too...she looked SO cute in her little dance outfits! Evelyn is just itchin' to take a dance class, constantly asking me to sign her up. Waiting til Fall though! Anyway, Isabella did great and it was fun to go see her recital.

The kids all had a blast together while we were there....Charlotte has gotten so big and is such a funny, cute little thing! Her hair is seriously the cutest thing ever too....so perfect and light and airy and the curls at the end...SO CUTE! Evelyn LOVED playing with Isabella and Jacob and Andrew just loved being with the big kids too. He loved all their cars there and would sit there with one going back and forth and making "vroom" noises...he's SUCH a boy! He's starting to get better at walking with things too and had fun playing with one of their push toys.

Andrew loves dogs!

Someone stole my phone and was taking pictures ;)

Storytime with Uncle Michael!

My darling children woke up 3 mornings in a row at 5:30AM....UGH....

My boy! He loves cars

anything with a wheel really :)

these three are so cute!

Charlotte! Such a cutie!

So yeah...that was a pretty fun, awesome trip. The way home took a little longer, which wasn't as fun...I was tired of driving and then it rained a lot which slowed things down but it was sure nice to get home! Always is after a trip, no matter how fun the trip was :) I'm just glad I know I can do that trip by myself without any troubles! It'll be handy in the future.

So...I don't think there's any more to say about all that....since we got back I had a girl's night with all the wives from work....we had a game night and it was SO much fun! I love girls nights or days or outings or pretty much anything :) Definitely a relaxation/cleanser/break for me and I just have the best friends to do them with! I seriously do have the best friends though...I kinda hate having to move and make new ones every couple years but the ones I've made are just so amazing and wonderful and I love them all! :) don't know what I'd do without my friends here! and the ones that aren't nearby as well :)

Anywho...so....as for the rest of the week since we got back I've been pretty busy with the kids and getting the house back to order....I swear it took me forever to do laundry and put it all away after our trip...I hate laundry. I've also been pretty distracted with my photography cuz I've been picking up a little more here and there lately. I can't remember if I mentioned it on here before or not but I started doing Military Homecomings for a fellow photographer, Kelly, in the area (well she moved to FL but still has an office here too). Anyway, I think I've done 5 or 6 homecomings for her so far and have more lined up in the fall...which are super exciting and fun to do. I've also been able to do some more on my own...including an infant session, an engagement, and a cake smash, which all went SUPER well and I've been pretty excited about them. I haven't posted the engagements yet cuz they're waiting til they get them/send out invites but they're pretty awesome :) I've got another session coming up this month and then Kelly has been asking me more to do other sessions for her, which I'm totally excited about....it's hard for me to get out there and get committed people so it's nice to work for someone who's already established in the area and has dedicated/committed clients ;)

Sweet little Madison at 12 days old!

I had a lot of fun with her! SO cute

Love this one!

Anyway, since I've been doing more I finally decided to get a professional logo, business cards, and watermark done, which I just got all of it back yesterday and I LOVE them!!! So super excited about them! feels good to be making steps towards my goals, even if they are just little ones :) So here's my new stuff!

My new Logo!

My new watermark!

Front of my business card

and back of my business card! LOVE IT! :)

My watermark in use! This was a little "clean up" in the tub after the cake smash :)

Another thing that happened this week was Evelyn's last day of preschool! She has had fun at preschool this year and I'll be excited next year cuz she'll be doing the 3 day preschool instead of 2...woohoo! :) And I think our favorite teacher she had will still be there so that'll be good. here's a pic of Evelyn when she started and this week :) She's grown so much! I can't believe it...She's almost 4 now and is such a big girl! She's so funny and crazy but we love her :)