Back to work! And daycare adventures

Well, last Monday was my first day of work---it's going great! I LOVE my new agency that I'm working for and the 4 days of orientation last week were amazing. Tomorrow is my first day actually getting into my schools and meeting principals so I'm excited about that too. So far so good---and thus far I honestly don't miss being at home! (sorry girls lol).

Brielle's first week at daycare had its ups and downs. She throws a fit if I drop her off, but she does fine when Lee drops her off haha. The teachers said she cries a little bit after I leave and then is fine. Sometimes she's fussy after nap time but "the teacher in the purple dress" make her animals dance after her nap one time and now Brielle is always talking about the teacher in the purple dress who she likes lol.

Here she was on her first day of daycare!


And some pics her teacher took






And while she had her first day, my mom and I were at Mall of America buying my work wardrobe!


Here was our selfie before I left for my first day of work


And *after* my first day!


Raya is liking her new daycare as well! Here are a few pictures her daycare lady has taken of their fun









Then on Friday of last week I had the day off, so I sent Brielle to daycare and took Raya for the day to school supply shop---she had her list and carefully marked off everything as we found it lol.


She picked out a few things not on the list as well ;-)


School supply shopping selfie!


Raya starts Kindergarten on this Wednesday and is sooo excited! Even more exciting is that a new little girl started at her babysitter's today and we discovered that her and Raya have the same kindergarten teacher! So the babysitter said they were holding hands and playing with eachother today and excited to have a BFF to ride the bus with etc.

The bad news is that Brielle can't go to daycare for this entire week b/c she came down with hand/foot/mouth this weekend--ugh! The joys of daycare germs. Lee took off today and tomorrow to stay with her, my dad is doing Wednesday and my mom is doing Thursday and I'll probably do Friday. Talk about bad timing! But luckily she's actually mostly fine.

So I apologize for being a horrible blogger but between work and photography I just don't have the time to keep up! Trying to still get some things over here for the girls' baby book though :-)

Here are a few more pics I haven't shared yet!





Daddy had the girls while I was at Mall of AMerica...he bought them overalls and cowboy boots lol


This past weekend was my hometown's little festival ....Raya spent a lot of time perfecting her outfit and even insisted on borrowing one of my scarves!




For the parade the girls wore their new cowboy boots <3


And I got to hang out with some of my childhood besties!




Splash pad fun, the day before Brielle started daycare





Ok, so I think that's all for now---thanks for still reading even though I'm officially the world's suckiest blogger! :-)

What's been up with us?

I'll tell you! :-)

First, I'm now a horrible blogger lol. I'm just too dang busy! And now with my internet phone I don't get on my laptop except to edit photos, and blog posts are a pain from my phone. So yeah, once again find me on instagram for the multiple pictures a day haha  http://instagram.com/nopaparazziplease

Second, lately I've spent a lot of time preparing/shopping for food because just over 2 weeks ago I went complete Paleo ---actually, even a little more restrictive than Paleo b/c I'm doing the auto-immune version for my arthritis. No idea what Paleo is? Check this out Beginners Guide  I've lost weight as an added bonus but am mainly doing it because the Paleo lifestyle has been shown many times to help autoimmune diseases, even help cancer! I'm generally not a super "crunchy" person but lately I'm all about trying whatever is going to keep me around my girls the longest ;-) And after just 2 weeks of not a single cheat (an occasional cheat wouldn't kill a normal person, but one bite of a cheat can set a person with autoimmune disease back months....so needless to say I don't cheat!) but I am no longer craving sweets, etc. like I used to. Not a single processed food or refined sugar has crossed my lips and I feel great. My wrist is still bothering me but I know part of that is the constant use for my photography and editing.

Third, I'm preparing like crazy for going back to work....I start work on Monday! My head is already spinning with all the info being thrown at me lol. I'm super excited to start back though and officially tired of the SAHM gig lol...I've run out of things to do at home that don't cost money and keep the girls from driving me crazy ;-) Brielle starts daycare on Friday and Raya starts her in-home sitter on Monday, and then Kindergarten on the 13th!

Although the girls have been driving me a little batty, we still have fun---here are some recent pics

Successful dentist trips






Snuggles



"Mama, my eye hurts! I was doing this and my eye hurts"

"Okay, well don't do that then."


Fourth, been doing tons of photography! Recently changed my business a little so that during the school year I focus on only doing photography of children ages 5 and under. Since I'm only doing photography a couple days a month when I'm working this will help me narrow things down a little because I was having to turn lots of people away. I'm booked until November already! Then during the summer when I'm off work I will open it up to some family sessions.

Here are some favorite photos I've taken recently

Fashionistas

Just a phone dump of what we've been wearing :)