every june, we do a photo shoot at a barn in plainfield that my friend cari told me about . this is the 4th
year that I have done it, but this time it was july 2nd! i love all the shots we got! took over 550 photos!
more to come! Have a Happy 4th of July! and please be SAFE>>>
some new photos! I was so excited when I took my girls to a park yesterday (along with our neighbors),
and I actually brought my camera and took over 100 photos! IT felt so good to be taking pictures agaiN!
and my girls cooperated for about 4.5 minutes LOL! And Ava was in her pajama bottoms, but that's so
HER!
so happy to have these pictures! there are tons more, but my girls are needing me right now, so I have to go help them with their school work! happy day!
Happy 21st Birthday to Kendra! mY sweet niece! (June 30th). I still remember the day you were born and so many other memories! The one that really sticks in my head is of you calling grams and saying, " they are going to take away my pawwty kitchen"....TOO CUTE I love you Kendra!
And today is my Niece Brie's birthday! 14 years old~ Where does time go? I still remember the august/september you came down and stayed at my house for 2 weeks. I was pregnant with Savannah. That time was very precious for me and we became really close. I hope you have a great day brie!
these 2 girls are so beautiful and such wonderful additions to our family. I really miss that I live so far away from all of them. (they live in upper MI).
But Kendra is moving down here this August and will be living in Chicago attending the Illinois School of Optometry. WE are so proud of you KC!
Love you girls.
aunt Tara
that i haven't had the time to update.
i have barely taken any pictures either.
and i blame that on summer and the fact we are going to the pool,
water parks, swimming lessons and just plain busy!
we went to Jellystone park with our neighbor for her 10th birthday. they had a BLAST!!!
swimming, lunch, mining for Gemstones. it was alot of fuN! they also had go karts and mini golf,
but we didn't do that. it was more fun to swim because it was over 90 degrees!
and that's about it for us. we are just crazy busy and having fun and enjoying are days together!
it's going by way TOOOOOOOO fast!!!
to my most special Daddy!
I love you so much Dad! (photo 2005 w/ savannah)
you are funny, sweet, kind and loving . i couldn't ask for more in a dad.
except for you to come visit me! i miss you so much! see you in july.
I really NEED some more pictures with gramps. i cant' find very many. i
need to take more when we come up there, so look out for the camera gramps! we love you so much!
thank you for getting up while I was still sleeping
and getting all your schoolwork out of the way so we can
do something fun today. that was so nice to wake up to.
although waking up to you having a screaming match wasn't very fun.
(they were arguing because ava gave savannah a spelling test
and didn't know how to say some of the words, so she just made the words
up and savannah noticed when she went to check her words).
girls playing their play doh ice cream maker set....they are having a blast with this lately..
busy this week with swimming lessons, catching up on life after our trip
and just hanging out at home. reading, playing & enjoying being home.
got any good book recommendations for me? I need to get to the library again.
My Piper Charlie is 2 years old today.
And yes, I do realize he is a dog.
LOL!
we just got back with treats galore for him for his special day.
and vanilla ice cream for him too!
Happy Birthday Piper C. You are the apple of my eye.
(never thought i would say that about a flippin' dog!)
my girls were so SHOCKED!
we woke them up that morning at 4a.m.
they thought they were going to my parent's house in Upper Michigan.
when we got outside they saw a car parked in the driveway.
i said, "guess where you guys are really going". they are still half asleep.
well ava was. savannah was hyper because i told her i had a suprise for them
for the car trip. she probably thought a new toy. lol
then i said, " your aunts are sending us to Florida, to DisneyWorld"....ava
still didn't believe me at this point. savannah screamed. ava looked
at the car (small limo--was supposed to be a big one) and to me and back to
the car and then she believe me and she screamed so loud!!!! they were
flippin' OUT!!!!!! they asked questions all the way to the airport!
they had never flown before! never been to Florida! Never been to Disney!
so it was a trip of firsts for them!
when the plane took off savannah was actually giggling so loud, she
couldn't help herself. it was like someone was tickling her!
We stayed at the Contemporary Resort (VERY NICE Disney hotel) it had
the monorail that went right through the center of the hotel. very fuN! the
monorail drops you off right at Disney's front gate. That hotel was the best
part of the trip for me! We had a private floor where you had to have a
special card to get to the floor (12th floor) and they got us Club Service, so
every day they had bagels, donuts etc. out in the morning, cookies and
fruit , and appetizers and wine at night. it was awesome! My sister in laws
paid for this entire trip for us as a gift to my husband for his birthday (in april)
and we are so grateful because we would have NEVER done a trip like this
or stayed in that nice of a place if it weren't for them! we were able to just
go and have fun and not be thinking about the money part of it! It was
the most generous and lovely present.....my girls had a blast and will
remember this for the REST of their lives!!!!! it was a great memory.
it was hot and crowded, but we had a blast anyway! they got to get auto-
graphs from the 5 main characters, front row seats to one of the parades,
and go on tons of rides. and swimming every afternoon and/or night....
i read 3 books while on vacation! 2 of them I highly recommend.
Sarah's Key and THe Boy In The Striped Pajamas. very good books!!!!!!
anyway, my photos all stink because i brought a simple point and shoot
and never bothered to read directions for the camera and just snapped.
i only took 200 photos and mostly just lived in the moment.
seriously these pics couldn't stink any more than they do! i really don't want to even print any of them! but i have to for the girls mini books i want to make. i did pay for the photo pass ones, so i have about 50 photos coming to us on a cd! can't wait...hopefully better than mine LOL!
had a blast!
it was way TOO HOT! 94 degrees and HUMID!
made it hard and unbearable to stand in the LONG lines and wait....
60-90 minute waits on some rides. but we saw a lot on monday and tuesday.
then swam alot on the other days in between.
but most importantly, my kids were sooooo surprised and had the time
of their lives!
our pictures are not so great because i brought a brand new pocket camera that i had no clue how to use! but the memories are great and that's what counts! glad to be home where the weather is only in the 60-70's...I can't believe we are actually having a spring weather here! first time ever! love it! I just hope it does warm up a bit so they can swim this summer!
anyway, so so tired but happy to be home! man, i missed my dog & my house!
means lots more time for reading. we went to the library and Barnes & NOble to sign up for the summer reading programs. Ava has already finished 2 chapter books and Savannah has finished 3 and is working on #4. They wake up and grab a book in bed before their eyes are barely opened. And often through the day, I will find them off somewhere in a corner or in bed reading. I LOVE seeing them read! I probably take way too many pictures of them reading, but it's something they do so much of. Often though the year, Savannah's teacher would be shocked when she would have 12-14 hours of reading on her log, where most people have about 80 minutes at the very most...
anyway, we went and got some new books to take on our trip.
my daddy is officially HOME from the hospital.
We are leaving at 4:30 in the morning and thankfully have sweet neighbors to check on our house, mail, and our hamster!
and Janet is the lucky girl who gets to take Piper starting tonight! Piper is one lucky dog, to have 4 kids to love on him this week (THANK YOU JANET!!!).
And............we are going to DISNEYWORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!
Michaels 2 sisters surprised him for his Birthday (april 13th) with tickets for our whole family to stay at the COntemporary Resort and have 5 days at Disney! My girls have never been there so I am excited to do this with them! They have never been on an airplane either! AND we have never been on a family vacation together EVER!!!! this is so exciting I can't stand it!!!!!!!! LOTS AND LOTS of photos will be taken and you will get so sick of seeing pictures. I have been to DisneyWORld and DisneyLAnd plenty of times before so it's not that exciting for me. I am just excited to see the looks on my girls faces! WE aren't telling them until they see the limo' pull up to pick us up at 4:30a.m!!!!
okay, off to get some last minute things done!
