Last Wednesday

I'm stealing a moment to update.

Let's go back to last Wednesday.

Mar went into the orthodontist's office looking like this:

And came out looking like this:

 I was hoping for a {deep} 5th-child discount, but was only offered the standard multi-child discount. I suppose I'll take it. She just got top braces until her teeth move enough for the bottom braces to go on without being knocked off by her "slight" overbite ;-) I've been impressed that she has managed the adjustment to hardware in her mouth so well... just a slight lisp is all. I warned her about funny lip movements (Britta) and sore tongues (Shilo). So far, so good. Mar is hoping to avoid the apparently inevitable frenectomy down the road {pain}. Me too {money}.

Later that day (yep, still Wednesday) we went here:

 for the first of Shilo's two Senior picture sessions.

 I have admired this place for the past nearly-12 years as I have driven by numberless times (seriously, at least a hundred), believing people lived here. I dream of living in such a place. Okay, maybe not smack dab in the middle of metrocity, but perhaps this same place... somewhere else. 

The barn. The white farmhouse. The windmill. Authentically old and rustic. So picturesque.

My old back-door-neighbor-photographer, while scheduling the session, mentioned meeting at the 17-mile House Park. I put the address in my phone and ended up here. 

I could peek in the windows, touch the barn, admire the ingenuity of the windmill, and read about it's history. This could have been available to me all along, had I only known.

Now I do.

This beautiful couple had rolled into town shortly before the picture session, so they came along to keep me and Mar company. I'm so glad they did! It was fun to be outside (nice and overcast) while we caught up on the past week.

While Shilo was playing model (she did NOT want us to hang around and watch), we sauntered around the grounds. Can you see the baby birds above the door? They had themselves in such a tizzy, we thought for sure one of them would fall out of the nest. They were hollering up a storm for their mama, which, of course, led us to reminisce about a Syddall family favorite storybook, Are You My Mother?, which I believe I had entirely memorized at some point in my life.

Shilo made it through the session, despite a bit of rain the last 15 or 20 minutes.

Bill, who passes this farm nearly daily on his way to work (also surprised that it was a historic park adjoined to an amazing walking path along Cherry Creek - who knew?), stopped by on his way home.

Since it was late (around 8:30) by the time things were wrapped up, we decided to go out to dinner at Five Guys (what's a few more bucks after a $1000 day, I like to say). We called Lex up at home (yes, she's home until school starts back up - for her, in January), and she promptly hopped in the car and met up with us, just like we knew she would.

It was a good day.