Life at Sunrise :: Mandy

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“There was a sense of peace in Wallace family home.
Cooper and Franklin were full of a energy from the moment they awoke and they were eager to share their life with me. From building puzzles, to helping with breakfast, to playing the garden outside…  They loved every moment in their home
surrounded by their parents love.”Tausha Ann Photography

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Wallace_Web_Res-4On this particular morning, I’m folding laundry (my newly formed ‘first thing in the morning habit‘) while Cooper and Franklin come out of their room and realize that a stranger who wants to know all about them is there with a camera. Very quickly, they grab their puzzles and start putting them together to show Tausha.

When we started five-day-a-week pre-K this August, we quickly realized that we were going to need a routine to get everyone out of the house on time. Over the year, we’ve basically gotten it down. When Joe gets in the shower, the boys know it’s their signal to get dressed, and I start preparing breakfast. They try to get dressed before daddy—a ploy that usually works.

Wallace_Web_Res-7Cooper handles his own clothes, but Franklin usually brings his clothes out to the kitchen so I can cheer him on and help him with his shirt. As Joe gets ready, he helps the boys finish dressing and then heads over to the kitchen to help me finish breakfast prep (or start cooking if I’ve gotten distracted with a quick workout!). Wallace_Web_Res-11Wallace_Web_Res-5

 

I know some people say variety is the spice of life—but not for this gal. It’s easier to serve the same thing every day, so that’s what we do. About once a week, we cook a big pot of spinach, onions, and black beans and then reheat that to eat with fried eggs. The boys don’t care for the spinach, so they usually get fried eggs with a toasted pancake (again, I cook a slew of pancakes once every other week and then flash freeze them and heat them as needed) or toast and some fruit.

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While we’re plating the food, the boys help set the table and get snacks for school ready. Franklin needed to show Tausha his dog costume, so today we had a furry friend helping.

Wallace_Web_Res-15One of my favorite parts of our day is breakfast because we sit down together and talk about what we’re looking forward to that day. We’ve just started baseball which has taken over several of our evenings, so now I truly treasure sharing this meal and time for conversation.

Wallace_Web_Res-19When the clock strikes 7:45, Joe and Cooper are heading out the door to get to school on time. We hug and kiss good bye and start the day.

As the morning of the shoot progressed, I realized that I didn’t take time to really greet and cuddle with my boys at all. We have a great routine, and it runs like clockwork (literally—we were so ahead of the clock on this particular morning that Tausha suggested we play outside for a little while as the sun rose). But I realized that I very easily can get sucked into executing the routine and checking things off the list (wake, dress, eat, pack bags, kiss goodbye, leave).  The day of the shoot, I missed the time to actually hug Joe and the boys good morning and kiss their sweet faces and tell them how much I love waking up with them every morning. So, since then, I’ve tried to make a point to stop whatever I’m doing when the boys first wake up and hug and kiss and squeeze them all over.Wallace_Web_Res-18

I’m so glad to have these photos to look back on our daily life—thank you, Tausha!—and I feel so grateful for the wake up call to make sure I set aside time every morning to snuggle and love on my boys.

For more pictures and a peek into Tausha’s perspective of the shoot, be sure to check out her post here. And don’t forget to check out the rest of this amazing series as well!

2 COMMENTS

  1. […] Spinach and beans: About once a week, my husband or I make a big batch of spinach and beans that we then eat for several mornings topped with Siracha and freshly fried eggs. We chop and cook the onion, add three boxes of thawed spinach, three drained and rinsed cans of black beans, some salt and pepper, and some garam masala. I think Joe adds minced garlic and cinnamon too—his version is always way better than mine. (You can read more about our family’s Life at Sunrise here!) […]

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