Fall Pictures

I declared that today was going to be fall pictures for the kiddos.  David's hair is growing out so fast that his looks have drastically changed, so we needed updated kid pictures. 

Last year..

Ashley and I took these pictures

two days before David was diagnosed with stage four cancer and our lives were forever altered.  I still cannot wrap my head around the fact that in this above picture my sweet baby had a 10 centimenter tumor that had taken over his kidney and adrenal gland.

This year we decided to do fall pictures again but to do it earlier in the fall season and to change locations to stop the bad feelings/flashbacks from hitting me.  I actually had a funny dream the other night which is the first non-gloomy dream I have had in a long while. 

I started getting this one ready, and she insisted adamantly that she wanted to wear the same dress from last year.  My Mom recently bought her a precious new peaches and cream dress that is red and blue but girlfriend insisted that this was her fall dress picture.  So much for doing it so differently! 

What a difference a year makes!! My favorite girl in her "turkey fress!"  This time last year she called dresses "fresses" and she loved this dress! 

My oldest who looks more like a pre-teen in this picture. 

This picture totally captures David's growing blondish hair and his precious personality!! 

This was the best one of the three I got!  It is challenging to get three strong-willed children to cooperate but I did bribe them with pizza for dinner!  I told them if they did not cooperate we would have leftovers and no pizza.  HA! 

This picture makes me smile because it captures their little bond.  She had just said "hey Dave lets act sweet" and this is what I got.  They adore each other and I love this picture. 

They wanted some football pictures while we were there so after they did the real ones I captures their football playing.  Ashley and I both had a lump in our throat today because she reminded me that last year when they were being boys playing football David told Kyle to "be easy" and now we know why.  His belly must have been so tender with that darn huge tumor in there.  Today he too told him to be easy but now he says "be easy one kidney!"  We have drilled in his head to be careful with his one kidney and he was reminding Kyle:)

This picture makes me belly laugh because Hope is the official holder of the football for David to kick.  I just pray that she does not lose any teeth in the process!!  Ha!

Precious family memories that mean even more to me now because of the nightmare.  Little did we know that last year when we were doing those fall pictures in our backyard that those would be the last pictures of the kids before cancer came crashing into our world. Those picture will always be bittersweet to me because they signal the end of our innocence and maybe the last pictures with his red hair not in a hospital.  :(