The little house on the left: once upon a Sunday

Once upon a Sunday there was a family of 5 Ingrams. A Papa Ingram, a Mama Ingram and 3 little...little Ingrams...the rest of the story is a muddled crazy mess of what it is like to get 5 people fed, cleaned up, dressed, and ready for Mass on TIME. We are actually pretty good about it all. However 1 out of 10 Sunday's, we don't all make it there. Actually 1 in 5 Sunday's we don't make it there on time. It is rare that we don't attend Mass on Sunday mornings. This Sunday was one of those mornings, unfortunately. After getting dressed, in the car, and out the door we were less than 2 miles down the road when the boss and I decided that our option was standing room only in the vestibule at church since it was 10:50am(mass starts at 11:00 and we are 20 minutes away, plus 5 minutes to get kids into the church equals not even worth it). So we turned around and came back home. Sunday FAIL. We never intend to NOT go to Mass. There is never a Sunday when we think "Meh, just not feeling it today. Not gonna go" But we still beat ourselves up when circumstances like today arise.

Though we missed Mass, we did make it to the in-law's for our weekly dinner. After a fantabulous meal provided by my amazing mother-in-law, I got to shoot some more lovey-dovey pictures of Jonathan and Lisa! I love these sweeties!

Aren't they beautiful! I am anxiously awaiting a beautiful red-headed niece or nephew in my future. It's gonna be awesome!

My going on 11 year old niece Bonnie had a difficult day today. She's....ehh, she's 10. I remember this age. Honestly, it wasn't THAT long ago. I know, I am kidding myself. However, I do remember being 11 years old and how it felt. Anyway, Bonnie had a bad day so when it came time for me to do Jon and Lisa's pictures I told Bonnie to go get her camera. She has a really cool Nikon point and shoot that she got for Christmas and she really enjoys taking pictures so I thought she might like to be an assistant today. She did great! She did what I told her to do, was able to take direction when I told her to do so without getting nervous, and she had some pretty cool ideas of her own to contribute to the session. I can't wait to see her pictures, I know she did a great job. She's great!

This is my nephew Luke. He's about as "Ingram" as they come. Tell him to let you take a serious picture of him and this is what you get...

I left the boss at the in-laws while the kids and I went to visit with my parents where my daddy started teaching Cate to play Chess. I didn't even know that my parents knew how to play chess. I never learned how to play chess. Never had a chess set growing up. But I was really happy to see Cate bonding with my daddy. After Cate "beat" daddy in a game, she played my 4 year old nephew, Caleb, where in she remarked "This is too easy...." Sometimes I think the Ingram way of beating you until you get pissed enough to learn to kick butt might be a more effective method. As it is, I am happy that Cate is striving to learn something new.