My Spring House Project

It's so hard to get good pictures of small bathrooms! You'll have to use your imagination. I should have taken before pictures - it truly is a vast improvement! I'm SO happy with it! This is the last room that hadn't been touched since we moved in 8 years ago. Unfortunately, instead of being done remodeling, it's time to start over already!

Birthday Reflections

Wasn't it just yesterday that I gave birth to a baby boy and had my first sweet taste of motherhood? He was so soft and warm and beautiful - a dream come true. Other moms told me, "He'll grow up so fast! Don't blink!" So I tried to savor every precious moment and vowed to not miss a milestone. The intensity of trying to keep my eyes wide open sometimes brought me to tears, especially as I watched him grow like lightening anyway. "The endless days and the lightening fast years..." I'd try to remind myself that this was the goal - to help him grow to become a strong, independent adult who didn't need his mommy anymore. Even so, the joy was bittersweet as I realized what an incredible person he was indeed becoming. Just yesterday I held my baby boy in my arms for the first time, and today he turns 9 years old - halfway to adulthood. Wow, I'd better not blink again...

Happy Birthday, Legoboy! I love you so much! Thank you for making me a mommy!

Camping Trip

I'm still sad I forgot to charge the camera battery! As you can see it was beautiful! I know a lot of other people took pictures of things we missed, so hopefully I'll get them in my e-mail box someday... We drove up to the top of a mountain and watched people hang glide off of it! I really hope we get pictures of that from our friends! Amazing! We also saw a herd of elk. My picture was too grainy and no one else outside our family saw it, so I guess we'll just have the memory. It was really cool! They ran around and played in someone's backyard like dogs! The hayrides were spectacular! The stars were so bright! We could even see the gases from the milky way which I've been told is not something you can see very many places.

This was the first time we ever went "tent camping." We really enjoyed it, even though I'm very happy to be living in a house again! The kids had a great time, and we're even thinking of doing it again someday. Although, I'm thinking maybe once a year is plenty (I like showers...)!

More Summer Memories - The Zoo in June

First Day of School

Here are some pictures from the first day of school. Notice how much bigger the smiles get after I step outside and onto the dead mole. It almost seems worth it in retrospect! Woogie is not in the most cooperative stage lately. I took them to get professional pictures taken a few weeks ago, and the pictures of all 3 of them together were going so badly, I suggested individual pictures instead. Well, Woogie would NOT smile. She was acting as if she had no idea how to hold her face normally now that she was in front of a camera - making her eyes too wide, making faces, frowning, scowling, etc., etc. VERY frustrating! Finally, I said "The sooner you cooperate and smile, the sooner we go to McDonald's for lunch." She instantly, tipped her head really cute and smiled a darling smile - and we had the best picture of the whole day! Even the photographer cracked up! Wish I'd thought of that sooner... Also, notice her new toothless smile!

Meatball isn't going to school quite yet, but he didn't want to be left out of the pictures! At least one of them still enjoys having their picture taken...

We had a fabulous (and exhausting!) camping trip to the mountains this past weekend. The camera battery died while we were there (I forgot to charge it before we went :-( ). But I'll have to post some pictures and more about it soon.