1st Grade?

The day is almost here....Katie going to 1st grade....being gone for most of the day.  I have always been home with her so this is going to be tough.  She is ready though!  I am not....or maybe I am and I just don't know it yet.  Whatever will I do without my little model!  Everytime I feel like playing with my camera, she is a ready and willing model.  :)

3 Free Cards

Tiny Prints is still having their introductory 3 free cards special with their free trial...no obligation.  I've been using them and am happy to not have to take everyone into a store to pick out cards anymore.  :)

Cabin Fever

So hot, so hot, so hot....feels like winter being stuck inside.  I think we'll brave it and go to the pool.  After lunch this fun fuzzy prop came in the mail and everyone started jumping on it and actually wanting me to take pictures...so I did....but it was only for a minute and then they were back to the Lincoln Log playing.

Pizzeria

Eventually I'll get back with more pics from our trip....but for now, here are some pics from our little pizza making lunch.....and  yes, a few of us were still in our jammies.  :)

Happy 82nd Birthday Grandpa B!

When we were in Indiana, we were lucky enough to be able to celebrate Grandpa B's 82nd birthday!  The girls made Grandpa a special brownie cake with M&Ms.

I love this picture because the expressions are soooo Allie and soooo Grandpa B.

Dance Yourself Silly

A little photo shoot during our vacation because I just can't resist this location in St. Louis and Katie is always willing to be a model for me....oh, and I adore this outfit on her.  :)

Happy :)

FLOWER POWER is in da houuuse!!

Ever since we came back from our trip last night, the girls have been so busy playing rockstar.  They talked about it on the drive back....planned on dressing up, what instruments they would play, what songs they would sing, etc.  After being home a couple of hours, they had a concert prepared for Rich and I. 

This morning they started doing it all over again...and again...and again.  At one point Katie came up to me and said that Will was going to be in their new band 'Flower Power'.  I nodded and said "ok".  Well, about 5 minutes later, Katie, Allie and Will came in the room I was in and they were giggling and giggling and giggling and soon I was giggling and giggling and giggling because this is what I saw...

If you don't 'GET' the Rice Krispies t-shirt with flower diaper cover, then you are not meant for the rockstar lifestyle.

...and here they are in action...

Katie rocks the vocals...

Will on....well, wooden whistle that makes train sounds...

Allie on drums...

Emmie joins the band and expresses her inner 'flower child'.....

Will switches to drums...or leaf on stick banging on a car...

Come on...you know you want autographs...

FLOWER POWER!
(ps....for some reason, Rich didn't think this was as funny as I did)  :0

Great deal alert!

Tiny Prints has greeting cards today and tomorrow for 99 cents!  I'm going to think ahead, way ahead...what a great deal for personalized cards!  What a great deal for any cards...have you been greeting card shopping lately?

Birthday Girl Emmie!

Emmie turned 9 on July 5th.  I can't believe it!  9 years old!  She is so grown up.  She is so sweet, so responsible and so funny.  First, we celebrated her birthday with a pool/slumber party with her friends.  Then, on vacation, we celebrated her birthday on the 3rd in St. Louis.  On her actual birthday, we celebrated in Indiana with a lunch at McDonalds (her choice even after many bribes to go someplace else, ha), swimming at my Uncle's house, and dinner at a Mexican restaurant.  Lucky girl!  :)   She was able to spend a lot of time with her cousin Zach and they had sooo much fun!  Here are some pics from the celebrations...

Party with friends...
(for my photography loving friends....'super fun happy' action from TRA)

Party at Grandma and Grandpa H's house...

Party at McDonalds...

Party at Grandma and Grandpa B's house...

Happy 9th Birthday Sweet Emmie!

To My Husband of 10 Years...

12:05 am on July 8, 2010 in Indiana right now....

10 years ago today I married you...my best friend.  I waited a little longer than I would have liked for our engagement, ha, but our engagement was a quick one...only 7 months.  The best part of our engagement for me was knowing the entire time without a single doubt that you were 'the one for me'.  I was so very happy and so very excited for our life together.  Our wedding day was beautiful and happy and perfect.  Our reception was so fun...8 hours of fun to be exact. 

Highlights of our past 10 years:

• Honeymoon in Hawaii
• Moving in together in our apartment
• Bringing Emmie home on our 1 year anniversary
• Buying our first home
• Bringing Katie home a few days after Christmas in 2003
• 5 year anniversary trip to Mexico
• Bringing Allie home in May of 2006
• Moving to KC
• Buying our 2nd home
• Bringing Will home in September of 2008

Those are the highlights but the years have been filled with 'average days' and those are what make me so happy.  The average days, even the challenging ones, are better because of you.  My favorite thought that often comes to my mind is that I love you even more than I did 10 years ago today.  How perfect is that?  I couldn't ask for anything more in life.

Thank you for everything.  I love you forever. 

Fun pictures will have to wait until we are back home...this is the only one I have access to here.  Little did we know when this picture was taken that we would be spending our 10 year anniversary at a waterpark/hotel with our 4 kids.  :)

Oh, and I'm still just a little bit bitter about my bouquet having all ivory roses instead of the all lavendar roses I ordered....oh, and the music man playing the organ instead of the piano.  Ouch!  Other than that, a perfectly perfect day!  :)