Goodbye Cookout for the Hitchcocks

Before the crazy Indiana weather took over, we hung out with several of our friends at a small cookout last Sunday to say adios to the Hitchcocks (well, not for good). Todd will be working as an assistant principal in a school system south of Bloomington and will be moving to their new locale in the next few weeks. Very bittersweet.

The highlights of the cookout included our crazy children looking for giants and rats in the storm grate, fun with the frog pool, and of course Liz's famous secret recipe for chocolate chip cookies.

Pelsue Cookout

Again, we love our small group, who we get to hang out with every couple of weeks to have dinner, study the Bible, and have some great "hang out" time. Enjoy the photos from our recent cookout at Aaron and Emily's house. I especially love the photo of Aaron in the background of Tina and Carter's photo. Very photogenic.

2nd Annual Applegate Olympics

Last Saturday, we experienced our 2nd annual Applegate Olympics at my parents' house. What does this day consist of you might ask? Lots of swimming (including pool basketball), lounging, and made up games like "feed the baby" (see photo of Craig eating baby food below), and inducting our soon-to-be new member of the family (Josh Jacobs). All in all, GREAT day... besides a few minor injuries (including Kyle pushing me into the side of the concrete wall in a questionable "block out" move, a minor hamstring pull [not sure what happened], and a slight sunburn.)

Great times, great family!! Enjoy the pics.
















Watch Kyle participate in one of our relays. He's good.


Watch my feeble attempt to touch the basketball rim. My "ups" aren't improving with age!

Whoops

So in this week's blog I added several photos intended for our family blog to my photoblog (it's the first link on the right if you want to check it out). Am I getting early onset dementia?

Happenings

In today's blog, I am not adding any photos (sorry). Instead, I'll write about a range of topics that are on the cusp of my mind. For starters, our soon-to-be 4-year-old daughter Kennedy is leaving tomorrow morning with my mom on a 10-day trip to Montana. As awesome as this will be, I'm realizing how much we're going to miss her. She'll have an amazing time meeting my extended family and getting the full experience.

Secondly, on a serious note, our prayers go out to many of you (some who might be reading this) for your difficult weeks, marriages, health issues, job stress, or any other items I have left off of this list. Isn't life difficult at times? We try to live each day to our fullest but we struggle with broken relationships, fatigue, or maybe even apathy. Seriously, we're praying that you can trust in God to meet all of your needs. From Proverbs, "Trust in the Lord with all of your heart. Acknowledge Him (God) in all your ways and he will set your path straight."

Third (and I hope like I don't sound like a broken record), but I'm continually grateful for the people in our lives. This past week I keep trying to remind myself that I need to "Love People, Use Things" and not "Love Things, Use People." This seems obvious, but wow we mess this up on a daily basis.

Fourth, photogrphaphy... it's been amazing starting this part-time business. Thanks to those of you who have taught me, allowed me to take your photos, and even bounce my ideas off of you. In fact, the best part of photography (portraits, weddings, etc...) has been the opportunity to spend time with people. Really fun for an extravert like myself. I tell Molly that I'm a closet intravert, but we all know this isn't true.

Fifth, if you made it through this entire blog, you have earned a pat on the back. Remind me about this next time I see you! Cheers and have a great weekend. God bless,

Holiday Park

Again, I'm behind on my blog because of several reasons (i.e. photography blog, work, trying to get my super-slow Dell to function, etc...); my excuses are many. In late April, my brother Kyle (and Becky) introduced us to Holiday Park, which is located at College and 62nd(?). Have you been there? This was one of the first really warm days in a while and was a perfect Sunday to do relax, cook burgers, and run around. Also, I tested out the video feature on my camera for the first time so let's hope it works (see attached video)! Also, check out the special sweaters my mom made for the girls. Cheers everyone, KA

Sisters

In a few short months, we will have a new baby boy (yay) and he will be blessed with two older sisters. They are excited to meet him and even more excited to have a brother (Kennedy claims she knew it the entire time!). It's hard to imagine the fact that God will give us the ability to love another child in the same way that we have loved our two daughters. In fact, I remember holding Ansley over the first couple of days and asking Molly, "Can I love her as much as I love Kennedy?" In remembering myself ask this question, it's hard to believe I ever asked this question... but it's the truth! Time and time again, the miracle of birth and parenthood continues to take place. In saying this, I'm excited to meet our new son and see how he fits into our growing family. The truth is... God is really good and he continues to bring joy in every kind of life situation, through trials, suffering, and anxiety, and he works all things for our good. Sorry to be so lenghty with my post today... but we have been reflecting on a few of these concepts recently and wanted to share our thoughts with you. Most of these points are everydays truths that are easily taken for granted. All in all, it's still a mystery to us. Enjoy these photos of the girls... it's hard to understand how a boy will be added into this mix!

Michigan City, Indiana

Last weekend consisted of spending lots of time with GREAT friends in Michigan City, IN with great friends. Besides the cold weather, it was an amazing time and great to get away from Hamilton County for a few days. We really feel blessed with such amazing friends.

Cousins

Kennedy and Ansley love their cousin Ella... AND their Uncle Pat.

Potty Training Ansley: Attempt #27

In my efforts to: 1) pottytrain Ansley; and 2)emotionally "scar" my daughters when they are old enough to read this blog, I present today's blog post to you.

My new strategy for pottytraining Ansley actually involved bribing Kennedy. I brainstormed this strategy yesterday, and it actually worked! Kennedy pretended she was using the restroom and talked Ansley into using her little toilet. Brilliant. Sorry if this blog is a little too revealing into the Applegate household, but it is what it is. By tomorrow, I will need some new child psychology strategies after Ansley figures out this devious plan. We'll see, maybe it will work, maybe not. I guess it's our main goal to get Ansley out of diapers by the time the new baby arrives in early August.

Last Shameless Photography Plug

Okay, I lied in my last post. THIS is my last plug for my new photography business, Kelly Applegate Photography. Help me people! Do you have any better ideas for Photography business names? To reiterate, I'm looking to do as many photoshoots this summer for every reason under the sun.

Please contact me to take your photos... if you choose to pay me or not, I really don't care! :) I look forward to practicing on my family and friends and sharing these photos with you (I'm also excited for the new camera we are about to purchase... although I'm wondering if maybe I should buy a 90-inch awesome-looking HD TV for the same price... manybe not.)

Again, my contact info: kapplegate44@hotmail.com or 317-773-5686. Check out my new photo blog at: kellyapplegatephotography.blogspot.com.

Cheers! Look forward to pics of my family in the next blog... I promise.

New Photography Business - Applegate Photography?

Hello everyone... In today's blog, I'm sharing the fact that I am starting/building a photography business. Over the next year or so, I hope to continue improving my photography skills, improving my equipment, and do as many "shoots" as possible (portraits, newborn shots, weddings, senior pictures, and so on).

With that being said, my photography fees will be very discounted throughout the rest of this year. My main goal is to take as many photos as possible, especially this spring and summer. So... please feel free to let me take pictures for you and/or family (my contact info is as follows: kapplegate44@hotmail.com or 317-773-5686). I can provide more samples of my photos if anybody is interested in see more of my portfolio. Again, please let me take your photos... I look to forward to practing my photograpy on you all and giving you a DVD with the photos and "edits".

In summary, I hope this blog doesn't come across as a shameless plug! Ultimately, I'm hoping to stay as busy as possible this summer.

P.S.I also would like to thank Matt and Heather for giving me the opportunity to recently take their maternity photos (see below). Again, photography is really, really, really fun... I most love the challenge of capturing "true moments" in the lives of people.

P.S.S. I promise I will dedicate my next blog post to lots of updated pictures of the kiddos.