a chance

2009

2008

2007
request turned into one of my favorite photos of these little ones.
In the bottom picture taken in 2007, we had them walking away from us and I called out to Rosie this is what Nichole captured.
Loved it...even today it is my favorite. Move forward a year and we are once again taking pictures, same kids, same location, same wonderful photographer, and she captures the photo in the middle, thus we started what I hope will be a yearly photo.
Love what the photo captures, the bond between them (I know getting them to hold hands in years to come will be difficult, but I do love how that looks) the confidence as they walk away, and yet one always looks back to make sure we are still there. Simply seeing how they have grown year by year.

The annual summer photo

shoot with Nichole.
Sigh, once again I have way too many photos to choose from.
This is the third year we have visited this particular site for photos.
The first year was quite by accident, I had found clothes for the kids and had known that outdoor photos would be amazing, I was thinking by a lake but when we arrived at Nichole's studio she looked at their outfits and said I have the perfect place for these. Off we went to the Mt. Lake Mennonite Village a historical museum with buildings depicting life that is hard for us to imagine today.

summer pics...

have I mentioned

she has very little fear?
Rosie that is. Off in the tall grass was a part of a church steeple, upside down, abandoned. there were some cutouts where windows might have once been. A possible photo op? At the suggestion of Nichole to crawl inside two of my kids paused, safely in the mowed grass (are they city kids or what?) but not one. As you can see in the picture above she blazed the trail ready to discover what was waiting inside. No fear.

Love how girly she looks?
It would be safe to say she isn't impressed, she just humors me.
Where are they other two?
Guessing they were going to allow her to check out the inside first that way if anything was waiting to attack she would go first.
She doesn't seem a bit concerned does she?

as it turned out this wasn't such a great photo op...
two were still concerned about the location they were in, the third, she was too busy looking
for bugs.

a sneak peek

at what we did this morning.
More to come later, after I have sorted thru all the photos Nichole captured of my tiny crew.

at the lake...

what we did while we waited for the race to pass by our viewing location.
took pictures
tossed rocks in the water
tried to decide if dragonfly's were friend or foe
tossed rocks in the water
picked up sticks
tossed sticks in the water
ate goldfish crackers
tossed rocks in the water
climbed on the rocks
tossed rocks in the water
watched a bee
tossed rocks in the water
watched the runners
tossed rocks in the water
cheered for Beckie and Cassandra
tossed rocks in the water.
all in all a good way to spend the evening

Railroad Days Rail Run

After the race last February, I wasn't so sure Cassandra would agree to another race.
But Beckie convinced her to join in the 4 mile run held annually during Railroad Days.
We went to watch and cheer them on. Bother it was hot, not sure how they managed to run in it, but run they did.
After they passed us we walked to the finish line to watch them complete their race. And waited, and waited. I briefly became worried that perhaps the heat had done them in, or maybe Cassandra had done Beckie in for signing her up for this race :)
and then there they were. So amazing, and so very proud of them for challenging themselves like this.

footprints

the girls discovered their wet toes left footprints on the driveway.
So they would jump in the water and then run on the driveway laughing as they saw their footprints behind them.
Most perplexing? trying to figure out where all those footprints went.
Time to talk about evaporation I guess.
:)

an amazingly hot day

and a wading pool
equals
instant paradise.
This is how we spent our late afternoon.
It was wonderful!

ice cream

we have an ice cream machine.
I simply can't recall the last time we used it.
sad but true.
We dusted it off and mixed up a batch of ice cream ingredients on Father's Day.
a perfectly hot day to enjoy delicious home made ice cream.
I think Rosie pretty much sums it up.

hula hoops

watching her hula hoop is simply hilarious.
every single nerve on her body moves (I truly don't know how she does it)
at first she would spin the hoops and shake her body only to have them fall to the floor in a rather quick manner.
But, with some practice and perseverance she now keeps not one, not two, but three of them spinning around that little waist of hers.
Everything still moves as she spins those hoops and it just makes me laugh to watch her.

unexpected downpour...

ok so we have had rain almost daily it seems. so to term this rain shower unexpected may be a stretch
and yet this rainshower sunday happened quite quickly.
It would seem my little ones are just going to celebrate the rainy days right along with those sunny days.

Father's Day

A day spent quietly at home. Exhaustion may be a part of that. That could also be the reason this post is so late.
We grilled out in the afternoon, joined by my sister and her family. My dad. Linda and Larry and Betty.
It was a fun filled afternoon, sharing great food and time with some special people.