Playground Photo Shoot

Our weather here today was windy, causing a little chill in the air, though I won't pass up mid-60's EVER. While the sun peeked out a few times, it was mostly overcast. But it seemed like a great day to venture outdoors and let the girls run off some energy (particularly Macie, who's been cooped up inside due to her double ear infection and resulting fever for the past 3 days). And, to be honest, Mommy needed a break from the house, too!

It's been awhile since I've taken my camera outside for an afternoon with the girls, so I thought today might be the perfect day for such an outing. It probably won't surprise most of you that it quickly turned into a playground photo shoot. Like I did at the beach this past Christmas, I'm going to post several (or "an insane amount", depending on your definition) of my favorite photos individually here, so that I can enjoy them full-size . I hope you do, too! As you'll be able to tell, the girls didn't seem to mind that I had my camera along for the ride, even though it sometimes resulted in Ivie not being able to swing quite as high as she would have liked (because I had to take a break from pushing to catch her smiles).

Ivie learned a new way to "swing" from her friend, James, last weekend. This is great, considering she can do this style of swinging without needing a "push" from us. And, of course, her sister had to give it a shot, too...








Macie enjoys swinging, too. It's the best place for her to be when she's winding down from playing and getting ready for naptime, since it doesn't take any effort at all to sit in her baby seat and enjoy the breeze against her face. You'll see in some of these pictures that she's starting to "fade" on me a little bit. And, sure enough, she was ready to hit the sack once we got inside...









And then there's Ivie. Whom you JUST CAN'T PUSH HIGH ENOUGH to please...





Macie gets more and more "brave" with the slide every day. And since she always sees her sister hanging on to this bar before swinging, you can bet she was going to get in on that action...





And a few random shots of the "clubhouse"...





And, finally, of Macie, just being cute (as always!)...

(photo credit to Ivie Schae Herman)

Here's to an early-spring afternoon

spent outside
running, giggling, lounging,
hanging, snuggling, climbing,
playing, grinning, hugging,
swinging, sliding, falling,
and, most importantly,
LOVING