A couple things I didn't want to forget from this summer . . .

While I had a quick second, I just wanted to share a couple things I didn't want to forget from this summer. 1. Caleb FINALLY lost his first tooth! He was the very youngest first grader in his class last year, so he was the only one that hadn't lost a tooth by the end of the year. He was so, so ready to lose one! And it finally came out. He actually let my mom, his Mama Bailey, as we call her, pull it out. He was so proud! He received $5 from the tooth fairy. (We told him the first tooth is special, and usually gets more money than the other teeth :-)

2. Ethan ran his very first 5K race with me! He did so great for his first time, and actually helped me to get one of the fastest times I've ever run (since running races as an adult after having children, that is - I was much younger, slimmer, and faster in high school, but that's a different story!) Any way, his time was 32:31 and mine was 32:35. He probably honestly could've finished faster, but I slowed him down a little because I had to walk a couple times during the race, and he wanted to stay together with me. We are looking forward to doing some more 5Ks together in the future. Daddy and Caleb may join us for one in the Fall. And Alaina even likes running lately! (But we'll wait til she's a little older to actually run a real race, ha ha!)

3. Our last baby, Lainey girl, gave up her beloved pacifier, affectionately called "Pink" finally, at 2 years 6 months and 10 days. I had been saying that we were going to make her give it up since June, but it always became another week and another and another. I truthfully didn't want to deal with the hard to bed nights that I anticipated coming from it. We only let her have it at night and during naps for quite a while, but she was very attached. I told her that she was a big girl now, and that only babies needed pacis. We told her that we sent her Pink to her cousins, Daniel and Cooper, who are babies and needed them. I think that actually helped her to process the whole thing and not having it anymore. She cried for a good 30 minutes when I told her . . . I even got a little teary eyed. After all, this is my LAST baby and this was another step to her growing up. :-( Then she finally settled down, asked me a few more times where Pink was, seemed satisfied and understood that it was with her cousins, and then proceeded to talk my ear off about all that she would do the next day and all of her friends she would see. She really is such a social girl! Since then, she has only asked about it a handful of times, and continues to understand and be satisfied with the giving away theory. And no more crying about it since the first night. So, all this time I was worried it would take a week to get her used to it, and it only took one night! That's our little sweetie. She's really so easy with SOME things. Love her sweet and quirky personality.

And as much as I love and enjoy photography, I just really haven't had time to focus and spend on it much at all since the end of 2012. I loved photographing some other family's Christmas pictures at the end of last year, but I realized that it really took too much time away from my family for the shoots and editing, etc. Especially with the fact that I already work a part time job outside the home. I'm not "good enough" in my opinion to make photography my new profession, so for now, I've decided to just enjoy my family, and take quick snap shots, iphone photos, and not worry if they are perfect pictures. But every once in a while, when I have the desire to work on a picture, if I happen to catch a cute one of my kid, then I may do some editing. Such are the 4 pictures above of A. I just happened to get some great ones after church last Sunday, so I added them to my photography portfolio. More of my Lainey Bug Photography pics are located at www.laineybugphotography.shutterfly.com for now. Maybe some day, or in different less busy seasons, I'll have more time to focus on my photography again. So these are a few things I didn't want to forget. There was soooo much more to our summer, but these thoughts were on my mind tonight. Again, check out all our pictures and happenings at our Brisken Bunch picture site.