my balloon

She received this balloon when we were grocery shopping at Hyvee. She kept a death grip on it for the entire ride home. At one point she asked me to be quiet because her balloon was sleeping. A little later she informed me that her balloon was hungry. The next day it was her shadow as she raced around outside. As she placed it inside the playhouse I heard her say "you stay, I will be right back" on the swing she explained you need to move your legs back and forth. Often that day she approached me with a My balloon comment. It was fun watching her, and I found myself chuckling often at the words coming out of her mouth.

sleeping under the stars...

haycraft style.
Yes that is a tent, and yes it is set up in the toy room. She wanted to sleep outside...there were no willing volunteers to join her in that venture, well Rosie was willing but I was looking for someone a bit older. It might have been the fact that on that day the temps were in the 40's promising to get colder overnight, or it could have been the fact that this ol' body just doesn't do sleeping on the ground too well any longer...letting her sleep outside alone was never an option. So we compromised, which all in all worked out just fine.

lilac's

It is that time of year...love when I can finally open my windows, love when the lilacs bloom and the breeze scents my home with the amazing smell of lilacs. (it is the only way I enjoy the scent, I am not particularly fond of lilac scented candles or room sprays...I just love the smell of the blossoms in the spring, weird I know.) I was able to capture the kids for a quick photo...that would be Rosie's "cheese" smile, and no she couldn't possible stand where I ask, it has to be on her terms...this one can be a challenge on any given day.

Memorial Day

Some pictures from yesterday's service held at the park.
and one of my little ones near the lake. The littlest little one has developed an attitude when it comes to pictures.
She now turns her head whenever I try to take a pic...so for however long this phase lasts I guess we will be seeing a lot of the back of her head....

1st fishing trip

and he was the only one who caught a fish.
Kevin, Josh, Anthony, and Grandpa headed out at the unheard of hour of 4am
on their fishing trip.
besides catching a fish, riding in the boat was another highlight.
Anthony looks far more awake than Josh does in the photo above.
Anthony was quite excited when he returned home and asked me repeatedly if I was going to look at his pictures of his fish.
it's now 4pm and the he has been up for over 12 hours, wondering how much longer he is going to hold out.

Yahaira's 4 year pics

After several delays, me being sick, yahaira being sick,
the wipe out at the park (which left some wonderful scrapes and scabs on her face)
we finally made it to Nichole's to have Yahaira's 4 year pics taken.
I was wondering if we were ever going to get them done...but all is good and we did accomplish before her birthday month was over.
Love the number 4 Nichole had, love the pictures she captured, (she is my hero, her photos always amaze me) Love that little 4year old.

so willing

to pose and have her picture taken.
Love how Nichole caught so many of her expressions.

for Kelly

who suggested sunglasses when I described this outfit to her.
It does complete the look and Yahaira was completely thrilled with them.
Yes Kelly I did find them at Pamida, who knew? and no there was not a cowboy hat (on that at least I was correct)
I still think she looks adorable just as she is.

summer fun

love her in these bright colors...
and once again Nichole captured so much of her at 4.
a note, this morning while she was in the tub I told her to scrub off her tattoo since I didn't think it would go with pictures. When I was helping her dry off after her bath I noticed the spot where the tattoo had been was several shades lighter than the rest of her skin...sigh she has been getting a tan these past several days and she had the perfect outline of her tattoo. Somehow I'm thinking the tattoo would have looked better...oh well, live and learn I guess.

and finally

her strawberry sweater. (a side note, the weather was actually perfect for wearing sweaters today, how sad is that??)
Yes that would be peanutbutter smudged on her cheek. Apparently it was missed my mom radar.

8 on the 8th

extremely late.
Completely missed it, honestly couldn't tell you what I did on that day.
Not a clue. No, these photos weren't taken on the 8th. Despite what my kids say I truly don't take massive amounts of photos every day. I really don't.
These were taken yesterday, (yes that would be the 19th, and no 8 on the 19th just doesn't have a great ring to it) but, at least I did capture 8 pictures.... (guessing it's time to change the guidelines for this particular project to encompass simply capturing 8 pictures within a months time frame, bonus if it happens to fall on the 8th :)
I did make it 4 months, that in and of itself is rather remarkable.
a note, there is one face missing from the group photo above, that would be Anthony, sigh he was here, but at 10pm when I finally remembered to take the photo he had long since been sleeping.

stepping stones

the one in the upper left Anthony, Yahaira, and Rosie made at sunday school a few weeks ago.
When I placed it in one of the gardens it reminded me of the ones that Beckie, Josh, and Cassandra made when we added onto our home in 1997. I remember asking the contractor if he would fill these little foil trays with cement, he thought I was bonkers, but I had a vision and above is what resulted. I had asked the kids to gather things that mattered to them at the moment. Beckie was 12, Josh was 10, and Cassandra was 9 and above are the gadgets and trinkets that represented them at that moment. I hate to admit that those stepping stones have hung out in the basement for the past several years, I actually forgot about them. Now they are back out and displayed in the garden. It was fun to look at them and travel back to a time when they were the little people in the house.

signs of spring

just a few of the pics of my yard that are currently making me smile.