I can’t believe it is our third posting of KIDS WERE HERE.  That also means that my newborn daughter is 3 months old already.  It is all going too fast for my liking but thankfully this project helps me breathe it all in a little more.  Our dear Ginger writes beautiful about how I think all parents feel:

“When I first began this project, I thought it would be fun to document the every day messes my children make. As the weeks have passed, this project has really become so much more than that.

It’s not really about messes at all, but about the stories they tell. It’s about traces of childhood I see throughout my home on a daily basis. It’s about the love we share together. It’s about living and being…creating, making, learning and trying. This project leaves me a beautiful story each month of the reminders that Kids are here now…and the time, well, its all too fleeting, isn’t it? We all need to embrace these moments and just live them too; because they really are the best moments of life.” -Ginger Unzueta

My parents have started a really wonderful tradition of renting a house in Anna Maria Island, Florida for us all to have a family vacation together.  There is no boardwalk with big rides and blinking lights like when we visit the Jersey Shore.  You do not have to fight for a spot on the beach or for parking.  It is a very quiet vacation that allows us to focus on each other and make memories.  I love seeing the daily interactions of my parents with my children…it is priceless.  My son was counting down the days to the trip like it was Christmas.  He has recently gotten into sharks so we kind of had a shark week of our own while we were down there.

My son loves breakfast…usually in some sort of carbohydrate form.  One of his favorites is PANCAKES!!!  I got this nifty little thing that lets you make shapes with your pancake batter.  I will miss the days when food is no longer played with and pancakes are just plain old round.

As I am making him pancakes I turn around and find this wonderful line up of underwater creatures.

Got these foam blocks cheap at a consignment sale.  Every kid that comes over loves to play with them.  Thankfully they are foam because they end up places like in our hallway.

We recently got a swingset for our yard and my son loved it instantly.  When he gets off the bus he asks for milk and graham crackers so he can eat it in his “tree house”.

It may be hard to understand what is going on in this picture…it is a tent set up in our enclosed porch.  My husband promised my son that they would  camp in our backyard during memorial day weekend.  Unfortunately it was cold and rainy so they improvised.  So sweet together.

Please see the images from the rest of the ladies involved in this project here..  They are all insanely talented photographers and super sweet people.  I am honored to join this special project.