I'm really doing this...

Well, I'm not going to lie, I'm a little nervous about this, but here we go.  I have decided to start a photography business.  I will be focusing on families, children, babies, senior portraits, engagements... basically everything but weddings, because lets be honest, I am not ready for that kind of pressure.  I'm really excited about this and can't wait to practice and learn along the way.  In the mean time, my prices are VERY affordable, so if you know anyone in the Indianapolis area looking for a photo shoot, send them over to my new photography blog:

amysilvaphotography.blogspot.com

And stay tuned for my facebook page coming soon!

My 2 year old Jane

Jane is just a dream these days (most of the time).  We haven’t entered the terrible twos yet, or the even worse threes, so I’m trying to savor this time.  She is just the sweetest thing, generally happy and surprisingly helpful.  She amazes me all the time.  A little while ago, I sat down to feed Peter.  Jane, knowing that I usually like to have a pillow to prop him up, brought me a throw pillow and then even pushed the ottoman up to my feet (which I have never even asked her to do).  How thoughtful is that?  When she sees dirty diapers sitting around all wrapped up (which is probably a little too often) she promptly throws them in the trash.  The other day, Peter spit up and though Chris and I were both standing right there neither of us noticed it until we saw that Jane had gone into the other room and gotten a wipe and was now scrubbing the rug where he spit up.  She’s just wonderful.  She says thank you for everything.  My favorite is when she says thank you after I change her diaper.  It's just nice to be appreciated for those things, you know?
This rambunctious baby boy of ours is starting to strike a chord now and then when he comes crashing in and ruins her puzzle or grabs her toys.  Sometimes she’s really sweet about sharing her toys with Peter but I’d say most times she’s still a little possessive about her things.

Still it's fun to see those moments when she's actually playing with him... instead of playing ON him.  I can't believe how many times I have to tell her not to ride on her little brother.
Some of Jane's favorite things these days include:
...wrapping her blanket around her torso like a dress and saying "Princess Anna!"  or just breaking into "Let it go" and twirling till her blanket falls off.
... climbing all over the new slide she got for her birthday.
... running from the imaginary polar bear.
... suddenly turning into a polar bear and chasing us around the house.
... getting rolled up in her blanket like a burrito and then hopping around saying "Ribbit" (I don't get it.)
... coloring on everything (including my newly reupholstered kitchen chairs.  Thanks.)
... bubbles.  bubbles. bubbles.
... "nursery time".  She starts saying it as soon as we get into sacrament meeting
... singing "Wheels on the Bus" super-fast.

She had a fun birthday this last weekend.  We invited our neighbors over to come celebrate with us.  Jane was pretty excited about the party.  She kept climbing up next to the presents to gently touch them and sometimes just look at them.
Jane doesn't really care about cake that much so I decided to do cookies.  I made her a birthday cookie to blow the candles out on and she loved picking the M&Ms off.

Jane got a few animals, a slide, a mini wagon, some books, a cute dress, a mini mouse camera, and some cute wooden fairy dolls.  She loves EVERYTHING.

Milwaukee

Our decision to head to Milwaukee for labor day weekend was primarily based on weather.  We knew we needed to head north to escape the heat and it turned out to be a pretty great decision.  We had great weather, still a little on the hot side, but not too uncomfortable.  We stopped in Kenosha first.  I had hoped to go to the beach there, but it was a little too windy.  Fortunately, they were having a huge car show in their quaint down town streets.  We had fun walking around and picking out our favorites.  (They were also having "Cheese-a-polooza"but we didn't get to sample any of the Mac'n'cheese or grilled cheese sandwiches).

 

 In Milwaukee we were lucky enough to be there the weekend of the Harley Davidson custom motorcycle show.  (The largest one in North America).
As you may have guessed there were SO MANY motorcycles at the HD headquarters & museum.  We were perhaps a little out of place with our double stroller, but it was really cool to see all the bikes.

 

 

 

We ate at AJ Bombers, another great diner featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.  My peanut butter burger was fantastic.
Downtown Milwaukee is beautiful. There's a beautiful river running through it and we had fun walking along the river walk looking for the Bronze Fonz...

 

 

 

Jane loved running everywhere and thought it was pretty funny to not look at me at all when I had my camera out.  I ended up chasing her all over the place and got tons of pictures of her running and giggling uncontrollably and just a couple times I tricked her into looking my way.