Billman Week in Pictures

Yay for the rain! There is nothing I like better than a good thunderstorm, and we've had a lot of them this week. Our grass is very happ!
Chris wants SO MUCH to be one of the big kids. At any given moment there are at least a half-dozen neighborhood kids playing outside, and Chris loves to be right in the middle of them. They're pretty good with him - no one has run him over on their skateboards (yet). He loves to watch them.
One of his new favorite "toys" is our dishwasher. He loves to drive his trucks over the open lid. The other day I caught him putting the silverware away! Fortunately, this time it was clean. The last time he did it I wasn't so lucky, and all of the silverware in the drawer had to be washed.

He amused himself for quite some time last week by scooping up some of the bark into his wheelbarrow, and then dumping it in another spot. By the time he was finished, he was covered in bark from head to toe! The only think I could do was strip him down and throw him in his little pool. He lasted for about a minute and then got right back out and back to "work" on the bark!

We've had lots of messes this week! This time, he decided to help himself to some pretzels...

Daddy and Chris :)
For my birthday, Mark's parents came up to baby sit so that we could go out for pizza and a movie. The next day, Mark brought me a YUMMY chocolate cake from Publix. We've been working on it all week, and sadly this is all that remains. Until we finish it tonight, anyway...

Lastly, I've been reading through the Narnia series, and thought I'd share an excerpt that I love:

"if there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or else just silly."

"Then he isn't safe?" said Lucy.

"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver; "don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you."

In the story, Aslan represents Jesus. And I think that is such a perfect description of our God: He is by no means safe. But He is so good.

And then there's Chris...

With everything that has been going on here lately, I haven't been very good about keeping up with Chris on the blog! So, I have quite a few pictures to share... it will take me a few posts to get them all up.
Chris is as active and funny as ever. He keeps me busy from the moment he wakes up until the moment he crashes. He talks constantly, though it's still mostly babble. We definitely have a stubborn little guy on our hands; last night he even went to bed without dinner because he REFUSED to even TRY the chicken I'd made. I think we have hit the "terrible twos" a bit early! But, he is a lot of fun. He loves playing with his trucks (still), listening to music (it's hysterical to watch him dance!), playing outside, and being chased.
These pictures are from Father's Day weekend. We went down to Palm City to spend it with Mark's parents. They have a pool, and Chris spent HOURS standing on the steps playing with nothing except 3 cups, 4 balls, and the pool thermometer! We also went up to a shopping center that has fountains for kids to play in.


I really want those balls...

While at the fountains, Chris spent a considerable amount of time amusing himself by filling up a cup at one of the fountains...

Carrying the cup about 10 yards away...

And watering a bush. He did this DOZENS of times - always the same bush!

Sometimes he stopped for a sip..


Hanging out in the pool with Grandmom and Pop.

Chris loves his Pop!

Melanie and Adam

Aren't you impressed with how I am getting so caught up on my blogging??!
Anyways, my sister Melanie wanted me to take a few shots of her with her husband, Adam, as well as their two boys, Isaiah (2) and Elijah (the baby). So we killed two birds with one stone, and they came along to the park so I could take theirs at the same time as Jessica and Scott's (see previous post). Isaiah was your typical two-year old, smiling for the camera one second and then pouting the next. Elijah didn't seem to care too much about what was going on. It was fun to see them all interacting. And "Uncle Luke" (my brother) even came along for the fun and a few shots.

Scott and Jessica are engaged!

I can hardly believe that my littlest sister is all grown up! Jessica is engaged to be married to a great guy, and I am so excited for her (and, of course, excited that I get to shoot her wedding in November!) They didn't really have any pictures of the two of them, so while I was in Jacksonville we headed out to a park to grab a few. Welcome to the family, Scott!

Travis and Dar-Lin

The other weekend I had the opportunity to shoot Travis and Dar-Lin's wedding. It was a pretty ceremony at the Hilltop, which incidentally is where the rehearsal dinner for my own wedding took place over 5 years ago! It was a lot of fun to work with family, too, as my step-mom Sherrie did the flowers along with some help from my sister Jessica and her fiance Scott. Also, I couldn't help but notice that the DJs (the Music Factory) looked a little familiar... turns out they were the same ones who did my wedding! So it was a fun wedding for me personally to shoot.

Here's some of my favorites from the day...

Princess Micayla

Last week one of my old college friends, Corin, came over with her brand-new baby for a visit. Corin was in my Bible study in college, but I think in the 5 1/2 years since I graduated I have seen her only twice! It was so much fun to spend the day here just hanging out and getting caught up. I loved watching the new mommy take care of her baby; never have I seen any one so tender and gentle with a little one! It was absolutely precious to watch - she is a wonderful mommy. :) For the first time in a long time I was completely relaxed just being with the two of them and Chris. I can't wait to visit again soon!
Of course, I had to get the camera out for a few shots of Micayla Belle. (aka Princess) What a beautiful little girl!

The Lewis Plague

Last weekend I had a wedding to shoot up in Jacksonville, so I planned to stay with my sister Kristin, her husband Brian, and their 8 kids (+1 on the way) :). Her babies were just getting over being sick, but we figured it was safe for me to stay there anyway. I stopped in for about 5 minutes on Saturday - long enough to snap a few quick shots of her babies - and didn't get back until late that night. The next morning I woke up to the news that the rest of the family were dropping like flies. Kristin had apparently been sick all night, and two more of her daughters got sick that morning. I had to laugh as Brian quickly started handing out buckets to the rest of the kids, while I left as quick as I could in an attempt to avoid the plague! It's a good thing he had those buckets, as by the time it was all over 7 of the 8 had it. As for me, it appears that I didn't leave fast enough, though I seem to have a less intense but longer lasting form of it... I've been feeling sick for a few days off and on, and last night in the middle of the night I lost my dinner... yuck.

EDIT: After talking to a few people who read this post, I realized that the above symptoms do make it sound like I could be pregnant. So, to answer your question, I'M NOT. Not yet, anyway :)

Anyway, here's a few shots that I love of her youngest babies, 1-year old twins Joy and Jane.



I love little Joy's feet in this one.

What's up?

Rose didn't quite get the idea of just keeping the bucket close by... this is how she walked around while I was there!

Sea World

During the week that Mark had off between jobs, we decided to take Chris to Sea World for a day. Let's just say he's still a bit young for the park! He did fine during the first show, which was the sea lions. Then after walking around a bit we went to the Sesame Street show. That time, it keeping him still required a steady stream of goldfish crackers. After lunch we hit the Shamu show. You have to get to the stadium at least 30 minutes early to get seats, so while we waited I let Chris amuse himself by climbing up and down the stairs. Well, once the show started he had no desire to sit still. So poor Mark had to miss the show and take him outside to run around. At that point we decided to call it a day. :)

A sweet moment with daddy

I have to admit, I thought the sea lions were hysterical!
Chris's favorite part of the day: all of the stairs!

The Shamu show was as good as ever.

Chris's second favorite part of the day: when we shared our lemonade with him while we were leaving!

Things have been busy around here, as usual. Mark started his new job, and it seems to be going well. This past weekend I went to Jacksonville to shoot a wedding - I'll be blogging about that soon. While there I also got to take a few shots of my sister Melanie and her family as well as my sister Jessica and her fiance. So, I've got a lot of blogging to catch up on... stay tuned!

I had a funny moment today that I thought I'd share. When I put Chris down for his nap, I sat down to take care of something on my computer. I promised God that as soon as I finished it, I would do my quiet time. I took care of it, but then saw some emails that I wanted to work on... it was at that moment that my laptop battery died! I sensed God saying "You said you'd come hang out as soon as you took care of that ONE thing..." and I had to laugh. But I couldn't help but think how cool it is that God is so anxious to hang out with me (just as He is with you!) that He'll do whatever it takes. I hope that today you can know the sweet love of Jesus!