8.27.2009

It's Our Anniversary

12 years, a lifetime and a moment :) When I look at how much has changed during our life together it seems it's been much longer than twelve years, but it seems like only yesterday we were planning our wedding. Well...maybe a month ago :)

I am so blessed to have this man as my husband.

As time has gone by our love has deepened and matured and I can honestly say things are better all the time :)


We went to dinner together a few days before our anniversary to my very favorite place. And on the special day we loaded up all the kids and headed to Lake Isabella. Mike's recent trip there with Ezra reminded us of what fun it would be with all the kids there.
And it was! Warm and lovely, utterly relaxing, a Very Good Day.

The girls thought it was even better than swimming in a 8 foot pool :)











8.24.2009

Party Time

We had a little family party to celebrate the boys birthdays. I was too busy visiting to take many pictures, but I did get a few of the gift opening and cake. It was a very nice day, we don't get together often enough. The presence of those who couldn't make it was missed, but those who came were appreciated :)

Ty wasn't much into presents in the beginning
But things improved once he got the hang of it. Ezra didn't let Ty bring him down though :)



Whew! What a day.

Ty Courage is 2!!

Titus culminated our big birthday month by turning 2 on the 18th. Sometimes he is still the adorable, melt-your-heart, sweet boy that he was a few months ago. And other times he is all willpower with no restraint. In other words, he is OFFICIALLY two :)

Daddy and Ty went to the park, then got ice cream and took a little walk around town. They had A Very Good Day together.







Ezra Turns 6

Ezra celebrated his 6th revolution around the sun this month. It's so hard to believe he is 6 already. Time goes by so quickly.

In honor if his special day daddy took him to Lake Isabella. They had a lovely cove all to themselves and had a grand time. The kids all enjoy this special time out so much. And the rest of us look forward to going out to breakfast before they leave :)







8.20.2009

Let Them Eat Cake

August is a big birthday month in our house. Chance turned 23, Kirstyn turned 19, Ezra turned 6, and Titus turned 2! Time it marches on, doesn't it! Last year Hailey made a Candyland cake for Eli as her present to him, and this year she decided to do a dragon cake for Ezra and Ty.

She made the whole thing from scratch. Well, not the decorations, but the cake and the frosting. She is getting to be quite good in the kitchen :)

After spending a large part of the day in Bakersfield, we got a pretty late start on the cake, which had her decorating at 9 0'clock :) She made an extra layer because she wasn't sure there would be enough cake otherwise, which was nice because then Sierra got to decorate too. She tried her hand at lettering for the first time, and decided it wasn't quite as easy as it seemed!

The finished products came out terrific though, and they tasted great too!



Cutting out the parts



The layer broke, but Sierra camoflagued it with frosting :)
Making the back scales
Ahh, now he's coming together
Lookin like a dragon!

Ready for decorating
Great Job Sierra!
All done, isn't he fabulous!?!


So Big


She weighs 13.4 pounds now. I know this because my very generous sister sent me a really cool baby sacle. For which she has still not been properly thanked :0

PS Doesn't she look just like Sierra in that picture!?

8.12.2009

Kitten Fun!

Because we are bad cat owners who thought that crossing our fingers would prevent loose morals in Miss Jane, we are now the proud?? owners of 5 little kittens. The children were thrilled to learn that kittens ought to stay with mum for 12 weeks, to prevent neurosis. You know, to prevent them from turning into the type of grown cat that is forever kneading your belly, sucking on your shirt, and generally showing signs of missing it's mommy. So, they figure they have 3 full months in which to convince their father that all of the cats should remain.

He's not having any of it.


But for now at least, we have kittens! They were nearly birthed in Reeces' alfalfa, but Mike discovered her just in time to get her into a box in the garage. Actually, a series of boxes as we kept deciding the current one was too small and interrupting her labor to move her to new digs.
They are about 3 weeks now and have just begun venturing out of the garage where Janey will let us play with them without too much stress.

And so, we introduce....


Mrs. Bennet


WickhamBingley
Darcy, looking ferocious







The other one is Mr. Collins, poor thing. But I couldn't get a good picture of him.

8.11.2009

Transformation

Don't you love it? I think she looks lovely, but her little-girl looks are on the beauty shop floor. Even she was surprised to see how she looked. She's happy though :)










Beautiful Girl

8.10.2009

Typical


I just love little baby feet. Love em. So, a few weeks back (or was it a month??) I got little Annaleise to sleep and lay her in her little bed. I made sure I had a little white blanket under her, because nothing says newborn baby sweetness like white. I laid her on her tummy, which she doesn't like, but I think it makes for a cuter baby feet picture. I carefully drew her tiny feet together so that they looked just like the image of sweet baby feet I had in my head and I began snapping pictures.

I was using my new lens, which I actually purchased while thinking of baby feet. I had fantasies of crisp pictures of sweet feet with beautiful bokeh (that's blurred background to all you novices ;) ). The nap was cut really short cuz I kept messing with her feet, but it didn't matter. I got some great shots.

But things are pretty busy around here and it took a while to finally load the images on to my computer, so that I could see them in all their glory. And when I did, they were as sweet as I thought. (Did I mention I think baby feet are sweet? I think I need a thesaurus) And then, wait....what's that? There's something yellow on her heel... A big smudge of poo on the bottom of her right foot!??! Noooo! I should have saved them so that you could witness my defeat (no pun intended) but alas, I deleted the evidence :)

So that's how things are going around here, how about you?