three hundred and sixty five

Days 362 - Happy New Year!

2010-01-03T09:10:00.001-08:00

My very last post! It feel so good to have completed this project - I feel like it really gave me a chance to capture all the everyday moments of the year and work on my picture taking at the same time. I don't see me repeating the project for 2010, but maybe again in the future. Thank you to all that left such thoughtful comments throughout the year, it really kept me motivated and all of your blogs really inspired me!

Without further ado...
We had snow, but not the good "snowman sticky" snow :( Kate did the next best thing!

The girls gave Jeff and Ice Cream machine for Christmas, here they are all working on some delicious peppermint ice cream featuring the last of our candy canes, yum! (and if you'll notice, Lucy's not licking anything...at least not in this pic.)

Lucy was diagnosed with Reactive Airway Disease (RAD), it sounds much worse than it really is. It basically means that she hangs onto colds and coughs much longer than most. She started some medication and uses an inhaler when she gets a cough. Here she is being such a big girl, putting together her inhaler and mask/tube for her "breathing medicine". She's been such a good sport and it really is helping, thank goodness!

We went to the zoo for their "Noon Year's Eve" celebration to celebrate the new year with our really close friends. The girls made hats, noise makers and watched the ball drop at noon.

Finally an extra Happy New Year photo! May it be a good one for all!!

Days 351 - 361

2009-12-28T16:03:00.000-08:00

This project is almost over- whew!! Here we go...

Kate painted this beautiful gingerbread house, I printed it onto magnets for her teachers.

Lucy at our friends' house making gingerbread houses, or licking the frosting... again.

The girls at their church program, everytime people would clap, Lucy felt the need to join them. They were both so cute and did a great job.

The girls making Sculpey snowmen ornaments.

Necklaces I bought for the girls for Christmas from Etsy - OMG! These are gorgeous and check out how beautifully they were wrapped!! I bought them from the most amazing seller, Silver Enso - amazing!! Check out her store here.

Kate painted this beautiful Christmas house at Latchkey after school. Gorgeous! She's so darn talented!

My girls on Christmas eve, my mom made these amazing dresses - So darn beautiful!

The girls came downstairs to a trampoline from Santa on Christmas day - Love this pic!

Kate got a microscope from my mom for Christmas. She is in love!! She's such a science girl!

The girls came down this morning and sat on the trampoline and shared some headphones to listen to the Beatles on Kate's mp3 player - too cute!

Days 341-350

2009-12-17T19:15:00.000-08:00

Lucy had been sick, mostly a bad cough and fever, but she felt good enough to be an artist for a bit!

Our resident Elf of a Shelf, Sam received a Christmas card from Kate. Love how she put it on the window so he could see it.

Kate has been visiting different countries each day in school and learning about their holiday traditions. She came off the bus with this candle wreath hat from Sweden. They get to have passports stamped at school for each country they "visit".

Our mantel and my two favorite decorations.

Lucy washing her hands, love how her foot is tucked back behind the other.

Kate graduated to her brown belt! She's doing soo great!

We had lunch with Santa and what a fabulous looking Santa he was! It was fun.

My MIL bought the girls this playmobil advent calendar. It has a woodland animal theme. Each day they open a door and get a piece of the scene. They love it!

I took this pic of our tree with tips from thedailydigi.com, I used a tripod and love how it came out, I always wanted to do this!

Holiday baking fun! Rolling... and

Frosting... or licking the frosting... lol!

Days 335 - 340

2009-12-06T19:33:00.000-08:00

Lucy's new favorite game, Uno. She's good at it too!

Christmas craft that Kate and I have been working on, these get ribbon along the top and a battery operated tea light inside. I saw the idea at one of my favorite blogs, Our Best Bites

Lucy's daycare had the nicest holiday party for the families (great food too!). Here's Santa (check out that beard - it reminds me of cotton balls, he he!) the funniest part is that Santa's bricks started to fall down so I have a "brick holder person" in my photo, lol!

Here is Lucy with her Chinese school teacher, she is soo great! Great teacher, so sweet - we just love her!

LOVE this girl's laugh! We took a few pics in front of the tree.

We went to a Madeline tea party at our library. It was free and it was fantastic! They taught tea etiquette, had wonderful food and yummy tea and read the story of Madeline. Love this picture of Kate drinking wit her pinky extended.

days 331-334

2009-11-30T19:25:00.000-08:00

Jeff's birthday and a cute pic with the girls.

He and I went to Cleveland to see his favorite Basketball team, they won, it was so much fun (and we got to get away!) Happy Birthday Honey! (horrible, grainy point and shoot pic though.. :( )

We are so excited for Christmas this year, both girls are old enough to really understand it all and to show such enthusiasm for every part of the season. We decorated our tree and had a lot of fun watching the girls carefully hang each ornament.

This amazing gift came for me today!! The beautiful and talented Studio Girls at Scrapbook Graphics sent these gorgeous necklaces to the members of the Studio Crew. Isn't it absolutely awesome??!!! Thank you girls!!! You made my day!

Days 320-330

2009-11-27T18:27:00.000-08:00

My girl can push up into a back bend. So strong!

Love this girl!

New hat, mittens and coat - cute smile too!

Gifts for Operation Christmas Child, it was so fun to shop for them. Kate used her own money for the gifts she gave.

Smithers after a bath.

Kate was asked to help demonstrate during her karate graduation. Love the blur from her lightning fast speed! LOL!

Good morning princess!

Some art projects I did with my second graders, we learned about Leo Lionni the author/illustrator of the adorable book, "Frederick". I love them displayed all together like this.

Kate made this fun turkey at school - complete with a yummy recipe we can't wait to try.

More artwork by my students - this is an art show I displayed at a local library.

Thanksgiving day, Kate and her grandpa. Love this picture!

Days 313 - 319

2009-11-15T17:59:00.000-08:00

Kate on her way out to get the mail, I loved how her bright outfit contrasted with the gray weather. And check out the skip in her step, so cute!

This is what Smithers looks like through my nose printed and finger printed front door.

Kate's new glasses! So darn cute! The first pair are kind of plain, just to keep at home. The second pair are her fancy, trendy pair for school. Isn't she adorable?

Kate labeled the "speed bump" on the edge of the driveway, lol!

Kate and I went to a money workshop at church. It was so great, they gave the kids a piggy bank that stressed the importance of sharing, saving and spending your money. The bank has three sections to separate your money into. She's really excited about it.

Our local library had this fantastic party Saturday centered around the book Goldilicious. So of course the girls wore gold, the room was decorated with gold, they had a fashion show, and even had hired a "Good Fortune" Teller. Here's Lucy listening to her "Good Fortune" intently. Her fortune was about how she loved preschool and her teacher (how ever did she know that?! lol!) It was super cute. What a great party!

We had a Thanksgiving feast at church today. Lucy and her best little friend were taking turns playing a matching game on my iPod. Love this shot!

Days 306 - 312

2009-11-08T19:23:00.000-08:00

The girls pick a few pieces of candy from Halloween to keep and leave the rest of the nice "Halloween Witch" who takes it while they sleep and leaves a gift in its place. This year Lucy got a Handy Manny Uno game. She's such a smartie - she's picked up the game really well with only occasional hints from dad.

Here's Lucy's "G" homework for preschool, we hit the jackpot with the Petco ad... Guinea pig AND Gecko! (Also a cartoon of Garfield from the comic section)

Kate found out this week that she needs reading glasses, here she is testing out mine while reading some Junie B. She picked out some super cute pink glasses, she should get them this upcoming week - stay tuned!

My girl trying to not miss one drop of soup!

Our pumpkins have lived quite some time this year, the squirrels didn't discover their yummy goodness until now.

The girls picked out their own clothes today, Lucy came down in these horribly uncomfortable, but Oh So Sparkly shoes...

The last of Kate's thank you notes from her birthday. Now we just have to get them mailed off. She does such a good job on each one.

Days 299 - 305

2009-11-01T17:47:00.000-08:00

Kate got these awesome socks from her friend for her birthday - aren't they cute?

We had another family birthday party for Kate, my mom made this amazing cake! It tasted sooo good too!

Awww! so Sweet! Notice Kate lost another tooth - she's missing 6 at once, 4 in a row on the top!

Jack-o-lantern time! Lucy's is so funny, it's got a chin and ears...

We made candy corn cupcakes, here's Lucy "helping"...

May I present Alice in Wonderland and the Queen of Hearts, my mom made these costumes (yes, my mom makes EVERYTHING!! she rocks!)

Kate's doing her "mom it's freezing" look along with her "Off with your Head" look...

The girls have been dying to jump in the leaves, they had their chance today.

Days 292 - 298

2009-10-25T19:24:00.000-07:00

Kate's school doesn't allow food birthday treats, so we made up these bags with pencils and stencils for her to take in to the kids in her class. I scrapped the toppers using Kristin Aagard's Trick or Treat kit from the Shabby Pickle.

Lucy putting her name on her homework for preschool - she needed to bring in something for the letter E, we settled on "envelope".

Here's Lucy with her "I don't want to cooperate for one more picture" look. She's such an actress, lol!

Kate had a party with her cousins at Chuck E. Cheese for her birthday. She had so much fun, I love how she's laughing here.

Out of town for the weekend with some special friends. The minute we got into the hotel room, Kate found the paper and decided to start listing fire safety rules. It says
"how to get out of a burning building, crawl if there's smoke." She's obsessed with what she's learned about fire safety - she just may become a fire marshall! lol!

We met up with some very close friends from our travel group for Kate for a reunion out of town. (We all adopted our oldest daughter's at the same time.) Here are the girls on a hayride - typical Lucy...

These girls LOVE each other so much, and we love the parents so much too. We are all so blessed. It was a great weekend!!

Days 285 - 291

2009-10-18T18:53:00.000-07:00

This is one of Lucy's first drawings, she drew a ghost, it has fingers, ears, hair, legs and toes - love it!

A quick pic of Kate and her dad, he was listening to her read a story from school. How about Kate's cheezy smile!

Lucy being Lucy.

So Kate and I were looking through this journal that she keeps by her bed. I love that she loves to write, but... this page is all about her boyfriends! Noooo!! lol! I was trying really hard to play it cool. She's just so sweet, she thinks everyone is nice and I'm sure every boy in her class is a "boy friend". She's only in first grade, I'm not ready for this stuff! The next page was all about her sister, and the one after that? It was fire safety rules - ha ha! What a wide range of interests!

Kate showing me she's going to be 7 on Friday!

Kate's new Karate uniform.

We curled up in my bed and watched a movie together this afternoon.

Days 278 - 284

2009-10-11T18:50:00.000-07:00

Makin' cookies... in style.

These light up, but they need batteries. They are a highlight of the season every year when we pull out the Halloween box.

Lucy has always loved to put soft things up to her mouth as a comfort thing, it's been even more often lately, this pillow is what she carries around most.

More Halloween decorations, I love these little guys... except the tall guy, right after I took this, he fell over and lost his head... I guess that makes him even more "halloweeny"... DO NOT notice the dust on my table... ick.

Kate's had a fever this past weekend, she missed out on a few things so I gave her a "feel better" manicure.

Lucy being a bit dramatic while picking up this little pie pumpkin. Such an actress!

Lucy grinning for a pic while Smithers watches from the door.

Is it just me? or is this 365 thing lasting a super long time?? ugh!

Days 271 - 277

2009-10-04T18:49:00.000-07:00

Lucy, just making herself comfortable and using daddy as a ottoman.

Kate taking Boomer, her class pet for a bike ride. The kids take turns bringing him home and writing in his journal, it's such a cute project!

Kate doing her homework, she's reading her spelling sentences back to me.

Kate's version of a Monet pond painting, love this!

Lucy had a fever this week, so Jeff and I took turns staying home with her. She never really acted sick, as you can see. :)

Can you believe this girl's going to be 7 this month?! GASP! no!

We went to the zoo with the girls today, they have these great masks and hats, Love this one!

Days 264 - 270

2009-09-27T16:58:00.000-07:00

Here I am again posting a whole week at once! I think the days of posting daily are way gone!

OK, here we go...
Lucy with a crusty nose, she's had a runny nose for I swear 6 months... and wearing a fire hat.

Kate got to pull money from a cash box as a prize for selling magazines for her school. The funny part? As soon as I opened this pic in PS, I got a warning about printing money! Then it took me to a site on the government rules for duplicating it. I figured I better add something so as to not look like a counterfeiter... lol!

Lucy waking from a nap with her favorite little stuffed baby ostrich, BeeBee.

Kate doing her 15 min. of reading every night. We love Amelia Bedelia, she's so darn funny!

Chinese class was canceled due to a Moon Festival celebration - we chose to celebrate at our house with our great friends, so much fun!

Lucy, so glamorous!

I just loved Lucy sitting behind all these disney princesses on the floor had to take the pic!

Days 257 - 263

2009-09-20T17:51:00.000-07:00

Poor Smithers cut his leg open while he was running in the backyard :( He needed staples, he was in quite a bit of pain at first, he's doing much better now.

Lucy, that girl can accessorize!

Family Game Night! Lucy kept saying "I love this game!" Of course she's happy to pay people money, she thinks it means she's winning. ha ha!

Kate did this in school today - I couldn't have been more proud that she chose Art over computer time (she had originally circled the computer then erased it.) Makes her mom the art teacher sooo happy!

I've been reading this book FOREVER! It's soo good, but the only time I have to read lately is at the doctor waiting after and allergy shot or while I'm getting my hair colored. I need to finish it, I should take a night off from my laptop, that would help!

Kate and her number 1 round kick!

Here's Kate reading this little book from school. They have to read them 5 times and I have to sign it. It's frustrating because it's soo easy for her, but she's still supposed to read it 5 times.

Days 251 - 256

2009-09-13T17:55:00.000-07:00

Here's Kate at her school's Open House sharing her desk with Lucy. She was so cute showing Lucy around her classroom. She had a great first day!

Kate has been interested in learning to use my camera, she was taking pictures of everything. I thought this one was cute of Lucy, she did a good job of zoomin' in!

My 6 1/2 year old daughter, loves V8! Isn't that crazy? I love it too, now I have to share it :(

My sweet boy, Smithers (this is right before he noticed my camera and rolled over submissively on his side. the camera stresses him out!)

We took the girls apple picking at the orchard this weekend. They have a few animals you can feed, this guy was soo funny, he was pawing at the food machine. He knows where his bread is buttered!

Kate pulled out two more teeth today... TWO! She's nearly toothless! The toothfairy is going to need to get a another job!

Days 244 - 250

2009-09-07T18:40:00.000-07:00

I was having some upload issues, so my pics are smaller today... :(

I have completely lost the ability to get my pictures posted on time! sheesh!
Here's Kate outside her classroom at her school during new student orientation. We were bummed that we couldn't go in, but we got to see where it was at least!

I can't explain this, except I loved the blue flip flops on the yellow (dirty!) swing seat with the green grass... oh, and the bug repellent anklet!

Kate made this :)

This is soo funny, they have this huge bench outside of where they hold Chinese classes. She looks sooo tiny!

Here's Kate showing off her mad skills at the fair, back flippin' on the bungees! (She'd never tried it before, sometimes peer pressure can be good - her friend did it first!)

LOVE this one, love the laugh and check out the bokeh! The light that night was incredible!

Kate starts first grade tomorrow! Finally! Her school is starting so late. Here she is practicing her good-bye with her first day outfit, new backpack and lunch box.

Days 240 - 243

2009-08-31T18:41:00.000-07:00

The girls started Chinese culture and language classes this week, here's Kate diligently working on her homework. She had to copy Chinese characters for Ni, Hao and Hen.

I don't think I could ever get enough of this kind of enthusiasm! Lucy here, finally brave enough to go it alone on her bike with training wheels. (She was petrified a few weeks ago)

Kate taking a ride on the mower with Dad (blades turned off of course!) Great laugh, crummy pic. It got cool here, she's wearing a knitted poncho her Grandma made her... with her sun dress!

The girls started dance classes tonight, they were so goofy and tired by the time we came home, this is the best pic I got!

Days 236-239

2009-08-27T19:28:00.000-07:00

Lucy is terrified of going down a slide, she finally got up the nerve to climb the ladder to the platform and here she sits... scratching bug bites, looking off into the distance, anything to avoid actually sliding down! LOL!

I asked Kate to fold some laundry, she pulled out her play iron and decided to iron it too! so helpful!

I just love Lucy's smile here :) She's wearing bug repellent bracelets on her wrists and legs, our yard is sooo buggy!

Here's Lucy with her nose stuck in her Nintendo DS game, she is crazy about anything electronic! (She playing "Iron Chef", I'm hoping she'll learn enough to make dinner by Saturday...)

Days 232-235

2009-08-23T19:03:00.001-07:00

Kate is having so much fun with our new mini - a bit too much, actually, think I'm going to need to set some limits!

Who doesn't love new school supplies?! Kate couldn't have been more excited about all the great new Ni Hao, Kai Lan supplies at Target.

Kate's karate graduation, she's a big green/brown belt! Here she is showing off her crane stance.

I went to a great workshop given by an awesome local photographer, I want to be her when I grow up! Anyway, she said to not be afraid of upping your ISO in lower light, here I was trying it out and Lucy was more than happy to make goofy faces for me while I adjusted my settings, lol!

Days 229 - 231

2009-08-19T17:29:00.000-07:00

It's getting to be back to school time, I've been in to school getting my room ready this past week. We start with a teacher work day on Monday. So right after school was out in June I bought this awesome bag, it's actually a scrapbooking bag - but it's huge! and perfect for all of the school stuff I tote back and forth all the time.

Here's my dh on his lawnmower. You'd think with a riding lawnmower he'd get done faster... he takes forever!! He's such a perfectionist, he trims every uneven blade of grass, I swear!

Guess what I got?! New laptop! Yippee!! The cool thing is when I ordered it, they had a deal for a 10 inch mini for only $99! It's so much fun. I feel bad spending the money but my current laptop is falling apart! I've got a flickery screen, a bad cd drive, a bad usb port, a nearly full hard drive and Photoshop crashes WAY too often! So I bought a Dell, (after a great recommendation from my friend Kimberly, TY!) they have an awesome 2 year hardware and accidental damage warranty. Can't wait to get all my stuff switched over to it and start scrapping!

Days 225 - 228

2009-08-16T18:38:00.000-07:00

We're on a short vacation to the Smokey Mountains with my in-laws and sister-in-law. We've been here many times and it's always a fun place to go. We stay in Gatlinburg, Tennessee so there's a lot of touristy-type attractions. Lucy and my MIL were walking by this "World of Illusions" museum and Lucy wanted to say hi to this alien guy, she so very friendly... lol!

We took the girls for a hike to see a waterfall, of course we didn't realize how hard the hike was going to be. It was 1.4 miles uphill through tree roots and rocks, Lucy and Kate walked the whole way! and Kate walked the whole way back down. (these are kids that hate to even walk in the grocery store!) It was such a great hike, the waterfall was beautiful, we saw a salamander, llama poop (seriously, they use llamas to carry supplies up to a lodge that's way up in the mountains) and a big black snake slithered out and scared my MIL and Jeff half to death. It was pretty funny, Lucy almost stepped on it, it was so close.

Here's my SIL and Lucy sitting by a fountain, Lucy giving her best crazy grin (she's holding a llama stuffed animal we bought - I figured after seeing the poop, she should at least see what a llama looks like!)

We went to the big aquarium in town today, here's Kate and Lucy checking out the sting rays - they were HUGE! and this shot has a shark swimming over their heads too!

We're heading home tomorrow :)

Days 221 - 224

2009-08-12T19:42:00.000-07:00

Grandma reading the girls a story, love the attentive look on their faces!

I bought the girls some tiny frogs. Its so cool, they came in this little tank that has "living gravel" basically it's a whole ecosystem, it pretty much takes care of itself. The frogs get fed only twice a week and you only have to change the water twice a year. My kind of pets! The girls had so much fun watching them, then they laughed their heads off watching the frogs jump for their food. The food floats on top and the frogs jump and bump into it so it will sink and they can eat it. I have to admit it really was funny!

Kate had a great time doing a fashion show with some of her new back to school clothes. Her poses crack me up. I have no idea where she learned that!

Tomorrow is Kate's "gotcha day"! Kate became a part of our family 6 years ago tomorrow! It's truly an amazing and special anniversary. We celebrated by going out for Chinese food (Kate's pick) and ice cream. I like to take family pictures on these days, you should see how many shots it took to get this one, love Lucy's silly grin! It's hard to get pics with a timer!

Days 217 - 220

2009-08-08T18:58:00.000-07:00

I've gotten so bad at posting daily... Here's four in a row :)
I took the girls to the zoo and they have this amazing new children's area - it was awesome!! These masks were so cute!

Kate painted this self-portrait at an art camp she did a few weeks ago - I love it!! It's so sweet and hanging in our family room already!

So Kate lost two teeth in the same day! The top one has been hanging there by a thread for several days, Kate and Lucy were playing and Lucy's head knocked it out, lol! The bottom one I just had to wiggle a tiny bit and it was out too. Kate's making it hard on the tooth fairy, I think she had to take an extra trip to Tooth Fairy National Bank...

Kate stayed at Karate for an extra class today, it was her first time sparring, she did great! Here she is beating up someone much bigger than her, lol! (All of the advanced students and adults were so nice and so helpful to her, thank goodness!)

Days 211 - 216

2009-08-04T17:58:00.000-07:00

This is my sweet cat Spike, that just can't get it together enough do any self-grooming, he is one big mat ball!

I came into the living room and there was Kate's iPod (my old one) and she was listening to the Beatles. I love it! They've been a favorite of hers since she was three. Love her taste! :)

Lucy blowing bubbles, I love this perspective, her eyelashes look so long.

Lucy made this in Sunday school - it's baby Moses - too cute! It just makes me laugh.

Apparently it's the Lucy Show this week, lol! Another Lucy in her cutie pj's.

Lucy picked out Handy Manny as a potty incentive (I'm trying to get her off the little potty seat and on the "big potty", she's so nervous about falling in.) Handy Manny seems to be doing the trick though. The part that she loves is that he talks and he says, "Righty Tighty, Lefty Lucy" ha, ha!

Days 209 & 210

2009-07-29T17:14:00.000-07:00

Kate had three birthday cards to make for friends having parties this week. I love her array of supplies.

Here the girls are building a snowman. Yeah, I don't see it either. lol!

Days 205 - 208

2009-07-27T19:56:00.000-07:00

We spend part of the weekend on Kelleys Island on Lake Erie - here's Kate checking out the view from our van on the ferry ride over.

The Island was celebrating Island Fest, it was a lot of fun! One of the highlights for the girls and their cousins was the parade (where everyone drives by and throws candy, woo hoo! Hence the bag to collect it all in!) There was this amazing Bag pipe and drum band in the parade, they were actually Cleveland police officers. So cool!

We took the girls to Cedar Point with our friends then last night (it's a huge amusement park, also on the lake). They all had a blast, I just keep laughing at Lucy's face here.

So this summer Kate has been able to do lots of fun things that Lucy's been too young to participate in. Tonight Kate had a friend's birthday party so I used the time to take Lucy to Build a Bear at the mall. It was so fun and she was so cute. She picked out this fluffy bunny, chose a song to add inside her paw, helped stuff her then chose an outfit. Here she is making a wish on the red satin heart that she put inside her bunny before she was stitched closed. Sweet!

Days 202, 203 & 204

2009-07-23T18:37:00.000-07:00

Lucy is all about swimming by herself now, she was so nervous at first and is now swimming around in her life jacket like a fish!

The girls tried these hats on in Sears, cracked me up!

My mom's birthday is tomorrow, we had her over for dinner and some yummy cake from a great local bakery. Happy Birthday mom!!

I posted my Disney book in the post below :D It came today!

Disney Book 2009

2009-07-23T18:35:00.001-07:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

Days 198 - 201

2009-07-20T07:16:00.000-07:00

The girls sitting in McDonald's waiting for friends and entertaining themselves on my iPod :)

I went to a Women of Faith conference in Cleveland this past weekend. What a great weekend it was, the conference was so uplifting and inspirational. Loved it! Here I am with LeBron James... or his picture at least.

Lucy went to Sunday School for the first time here she is in her Kai Lan jammies with the sheep she made, isn't that thing hilarious?

I finished my Disney scrapbook and sent it off to Shutterfly! woo hoo! it took forever! I'm done!

Days 194 - 197

2009-07-16T20:12:00.000-07:00

Lucy's always been so cute about hugging her stuffed animals.

I finished Lucy's room, she has new furniture, new bedding and I painted a few friends on the walls :) She was so cute, she walked in and said, "So Beautiful!" Aw, shucks...

Finally found this awesome Ni Hao Kai Lan puzzle at Target, the girls love it!

Love this shot of Lucy smiling up at her dad on her bike. Now if we can just get her to pedal forwards! lol!

Days 189 - 193

2009-07-12T18:58:00.000-07:00

wow, I am so far behind! I've been sick this week - bronchitis, ear infection and pink eye! sheesh! I feel like I'm a little kid. So here I go catching up :)
First, new haircut for Lucy - I just love her hair short like this.

Next, I made this starfish to go on Lucy's new big girl bed. I painted her room green too - wow, this picture makes it all look so technicolor!

Here's Kate eating a snack after I woke her up from a nap, she was so zoned out!

Kate monkeying around on the playground...

Lucy watching a movie with her dad. (She earned it after going poop on the potty! yea! This potty training thing is taking forever, but what a good day!) By the way, she's watching Barbie's The Prince and the Poppins... that's what she calls it, of course it's the Prince and the Pauper... so funny!

Days 187 & 188

2009-07-07T18:40:00.000-07:00

It's time for Lucy to have a "big girl" room. She's been sleeping with Noah and his ark of animals since she was a baby. I found this adorable mermaid set and she's so excited. We bought her a new bed and dresser too. I'm hoping to paint the room this weekend and even paint a couple of mermaids on her walls. I'll add more pics when it's done.
Picture of Kate so intently playing at the sand and water table. I love her look of concentration.

Days 185 & 186

2009-07-05T17:17:00.000-07:00

A couple of Lucy firsts...
Lucy with her first sparkler, she was terrified of them, so this was the only way she would hold one. Her job was to put them in the water bucket once they were out! She was happy with that.

Here's Lucy putting. We took the girls to the driving range and Lucy got to hit some golf balls for the first time. She didn't want much instruction, it was "me do it myself". Ahh, age 3... She had a lot of fun.

Day 184

2009-07-03T18:47:00.000-07:00

Just a cute pic of the girls today, maybe I should have included a picture of Lucy 10 minutes later during her screaming tantrum... The tantrums have started, pray for us, lol!

Days 181, 182 & 183

2009-07-02T20:47:00.000-07:00

Kate's taking swim lessons - it has been so cold this week! It's been less than 70 degrees each day. She's doing really well and having a great time. Here's a pool pic and a diving board pic, she's fearless!

Finally, a goofy face from Lucy :) I know, it's so unlike her! lol!

Day 180

2009-06-29T18:00:00.000-07:00

Kate was so proud of herself, she gave Ivy a new hairdo today. She made two braids and then hooked them together at the back and gave her a coordinating barrette :)

I mentioned Clickin' Moms yesterday - yes, it's a pay site. I signed up a the very beginning and got 3 months for $5, since then the price has jumped - it's 6 months for $30 and a year for $50. I had forgotten how much it was, I better start hanging out there more! It's a really nice community full of great tips and tutorials, plus you can ask any question and not feel dumb since it really has members of all levels. I really like it! :)

Day 179

2009-06-28T17:38:00.000-07:00

back home. yea. :(

My pic for the day - Kate shakin' it. (It's funny too, whenever I take a picture of her dancing I capture this "signature" move, it seems to be a bit of a hoedown thing, lol!) I am determined to figure out how to take decent indoor pics with my Speedlite, any tips anyone? These things are so complicated! I read a settings tip at Clickin' Moms, this was the result. I don't think it's half bad.

Days 177 & 178

2009-06-27T17:25:00.000-07:00

We stayed at Port Orleans French Quarter, what a beautiful hotel, with gorgeous grounds and such a cool New Orleans feel. (actually a hot feel! LOL!) They had this awesome greeter that gave out green lucky coins to kids to wish on and then throw in the lobby fountain. Lucy LOVED this! She kept asking to go see the "Money Man". Here she is with him and then wishing with all her might!

Here the girls are, not happy at all to be going home. If you think they look sad, you should have seen us adults!! We were stomping our feet throwing one heck of a tantrum! It was such an amazing week, we could have stayed forever. :)

Day 176

2009-06-26T05:37:00.000-07:00

(these photos aren't edited and it's sooo bugging me! I just wanted to get them posted!)

Incredible day!! Lots of princess stuff, I can't even tell you how happy this day was for all of us!
We started at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, where the girls got royal makeovers by "Fairy Godmothers in Training".

Here's Lucy closing her eyes for eye-shadow, they kept trying go get her to not squeeze her eyes so tight, it was funny! Check out her fingernails (she wanted them off as soon as we got outside, lol!)

Two girls working on them at a time! Now that's a Princess makeover! (check out the 40 lbs of hair gel...)

Presenting Princess Kate...

And Princess Lucy!

I really want to edit this one, I may repost it later... This is my photo today... it sums up the whole trip and makes me choke up! This trip really has been magical!

Day 175

2009-06-24T18:31:00.000-07:00

The best part of the day for me was meeting Cinderella's step mother and step sisters Drizella and Anastasia. They were sooo hilarious! They were rude, snide, sarcastic and too much fun! Check out their great smiles!

Just a few other fun pics from the day:
Lucy checking out Minnie's Fridge,

The girls with Minnie and Mickey,

The girls are getting princess make-overs and having lunch with the princesses tomorrow!! We're all really excited about that, post some pics then!

Day 174

2009-06-23T18:51:00.000-07:00

It was "stick around the hotel day" today. What a nice and much needed break that was! We spent some time at the pool, relaxed and headed to Fort Wilderness for the cute "Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue" dinner show. It was a lot of fun too.

Our hotel has the cutest gators doing fun stuff around the pool area. This guy tricks you with his umbrella and then sprays you with water.

Adding an extra one today too - the girls are just all so cute!

Magic Kingdom tomorrow! We are so excited! Hoping to have some really great pics to post then!

Days 172 & 173

2009-06-22T20:33:00.000-07:00

Yippee!! We're in Disney World!! We've only been here since Sunday afternoon and already it feels as though we've done so much!

We decided to get a limo to take us to the hotel and back to the airport in Orlando, that way we didn't have to rush or worry about squeezing into a tight bus and wait while they dropped a million other people at their hotels first. We felt that we could splurge a bit, but wondered if we were going too far then they upgraded us last minute when the limo we had reserved was in a fender bender...

Yup, a stretch Hummer!! We couldn't stop laughing about it! It was really fun!

We are so pooped! We had a great day at Hollywood Studios, we saw a bunch of wonderful shows and got to ride the new Toy Story ride - it was awesome!! The girls also got to meet some characters and have their autograph books signed, here they are with Leo from Little Einsteins.
Lucy was funny because she kept trying to hand her autograph book to Goliath, the lion from Jo Jo's circus. He kept shrugging and pointing at his paws that had no opposable thumbs to hold the pen!

Days 170 & 171

2009-06-20T19:51:00.000-07:00

I sent the girls out to get in the car so we could leave for Grandma's and I found them mowing the... garage floor. Kate always dresses up when she rides the mower, lol!

Jeff had to get a work out in today, his favorite exercise: the Lucy Press (apparently it's her favorite too!)

Heading to Disney tomorrow morning, Yippee!! I'll be posting from there! :)

Day 169

2009-06-18T20:37:00.000-07:00

They have a beautiful pond at the hospital where my mom is staying. They have more than their fair share of ducks and geese, I thought the girls would like to feed them so we saved some of their french fries from lunch. When we went down to feed the ducks Kate fed them generously while Lucy...well, fed herself. Cold fries. Yum. Lucy loves her "Fre Fries".

Thank you for the nice well wishes to my mom, she's doing really great! :) Thank you too for all the nice comments you leave! It always makes my day!

Days 166, 167 & 168

2009-06-17T15:35:00.000-07:00

Usually it's Lucy watching Kate plate her Nintendo DS, but this time Kate is watching Lucy intently as she plays her Leapster :)

Lucy had her 3 year doctor check up, no shots (yea!) but a tiny finger poke to check her cholesterol. I told her that the nurse would poke her finger (I didn't have the heart to tell her that it might hurt...) so she volunteered her little finger up to the nurse and when she poked it, Lucy didn't even flinch! She watched her add the blood to the slide/tab thing and didn't even want the band-aid. What a tough cookie!

My mom had a knee replacement yesterday. She's really doing well, I'm so glad for her, she's been limping about on her bum knee for far too long. So I scrapped her a card with this pic and took it to her when we all visited her today! Get well soon Mom! Love you!

Days 164 & 165

2009-06-14T20:27:00.000-07:00

We joined a pool this summer and it's been too cool to swim. The pool has a heater, but it's broken. Anyway, here are the girls posing before we headed out, brrr! The water was freezing! Hoping for a few warm night to get that pool temp up!

today was Lucy's actual birthday! She's 3! Holy cow, when did that happen? We had a great day, she's so excited about everything, she ooohed and aahhed at every card and gift. Here she is right after she blew out her candles (check out the adorable "Tinky Bell" cake that my mom made!)

Day 163

2009-06-12T19:07:00.000-07:00

Lucy got this adorable sticker mosaic kit from our good friends for her birthday. She did so great with it and had such a wonderful time doing it. I don't think I've seen anything keep her attention this long before. She finished one and started another! :)

Days 161 & 162

2009-06-11T20:03:00.000-07:00

This is how we do popsicles in our house... ok, maybe just Lucy, lol! Washing red popsicle out of clothes is darn near impossible! Love the look on her face in this one :)

So we are leaving for Disney in a little more than a week. I saw Kate's calendar a few days ago... she must have added 25 stickers to the date, it seriously made me laugh out loud. I think she's more than a bit excited!

Days 159 & 160

2009-06-09T19:03:00.001-07:00

Lucy is having such a fun time going to dance class, she just loves tapping her toes. I think though, that one of her favorite parts about the experience is putting on her dance "packpack".

My mom, sister and I took the girls to a flea market today and we found these hats... tooooooo funny!

Day 158

2009-06-07T18:54:00.001-07:00

We took the girls to see "Up" in 3D today. Couldn't resist a pic of them in the silly glasses. The movie was really cute and really sweet!

Day 157

2009-06-06T16:49:00.000-07:00

Spent the day re-doing our flower beds in the front of our house. I love how everything looks with new mulch and how pretty the flowers all look before they've been overheated from the summer sun! Notice my dog checking it all out from the front door, lol!

Day 156

2009-06-05T18:59:00.001-07:00

Kate got the nicest postcard from one of her Karate instructors, it made us both feel warm and fuzzy! It says, "Hi Ma'am! You did an excellent job in class on Wednesday, not only were your hook kicks looking strong, but the new blocks we worked on with our nun chucks looked awesome too. Keep up the focused work. You make an excellent blackbelt-in-training!" I though it was so nice of her to send it and to write such a thoughtful and personal note. I'm also including a recent picture that Kate drew, it just fits this post perfectly!
btw, I'm not perfectly clear on this, but it looks as though this may be a karate princess... is that a crown?...

Day 155

2009-06-04T19:10:00.000-07:00

At school today they had an assembly for the kids to honor those that had perfect attendance. Each quarter, if a student had perfect attendance they had their name entered in a drawing for prizes. The prizes were anything from a pack of water balloons to a bike or scooter. Kate's name got drawn and I don't think she even knew why, but she won a barrel of monkeys! Remember that game? I love it, it's a classic! It was cool to see her stand up there with her prize!

My baby is done with kindergarten... boo hoo! :(

Day 154

2009-06-03T19:11:00.001-07:00

Kate was showing me her muscles today, she loves to talk about exercise and how it makes your heart strong the she shows off by doing push-ups. Kate has gotten so much better at them even in the last few months, she is really getting stronger. Here she is with our big family joke, "Did you get your tickets?"
"To what?"
"The Gun Show"
... then she kisses her muscles... too funny. (it's from an episode of the Office, my absolute favorite show) Hilarious!

Days 151, 152 & 153

2009-06-02T20:05:00.000-07:00

Thank you all for your nice comments (and funny ones too!) The only tips I have for action shots is try your camera on Shutter Speed Priority (it's Tv on my Canon), I bumped the ISO up to 400 and I used my flash. My shutter speed for the girls jumping was 1/800 at f 5. I took about a million pics to get one. It's tricky!

I've got some comments coming your way too! It's late tonight though and want to get some things posted and then hit the hay! I'll send some love your way tomorrow! Promise!

Here we go...
Lucy found these glasses at my mother in law's house, I must have taken 20 pics, they were so darn cute!

Lucy started dance class this Monday. Here she is pre-class showing me her moves. She was really funny in class, she did pretty well considering her short attention span! If nothing else, she was cute (but not so cute when I saw her in class lifting her skirt abover her head! LOL!)

Our last day of school is Thursday this week. I needed to get Kate a picture outside the school that we shared for a whole year. She'll go to our neighborhood school in the fall for 1st grade, I'll miss her in my building everyday! Of course I keep telling her that she's not old enough to go to first grade. Someone make this growing up thing stop!

Days 148, 149 & 150

2009-05-30T19:29:00.000-07:00

Kate won a Ninja party at her Karate studio, she couldn't have been more excited. I put together these party favors using sour "Punch" twists, (it was the only thing I could find that connected to Karate at all...) I looked online for inspiration for a girl ninja and created these little ninja girl in photoshop.

So the party was a lot of fun, Lucy got to participate (as much as she could with her short attention span and extremely short legs...) Here's Kate running and doing a jump kick on the bag...

and Lucy running up... stopping... grabbing on the bag for balance... and lifting her leg slowly up to the bag... it was hilarious! She was determined though!

Finally here's the girls being my "fast action" models. They were jumping around in the driveway so I could practice my fast action, quick shutter speed shots. :)

Day 147

2009-05-27T19:26:00.000-07:00

Kate playing Uno with Jeff, she was having a grand old time, especially when she could play the "Draw Two" card. There's something so great about beating your dad in a card game!

Days 143, 144, 145 & 146

2009-05-26T17:09:00.000-07:00

We had such an incredible weekend! We met 6 other families that we traveled to China with when we adopted our older daughters in Pittsburgh for the weekend. We have travel group reunions about twice a year and have been doing this for 6 years. We couldn't feel more blessed to have such wonderful friends, we live so many miles apart, but all value the friendship so much that we have been able to remain close. Our girls (and the adults too!) are sooo sad when they have to leave their "China Friends" to go home. I really wanted to post a picture of all the kids (there were 14 together this weekend!) but I didn't ask for permission from all the families. So here is Lucy with her dad at the amusement park that we took all the girls to...

and Kate having fun mothering a little girl in the group that is actually letting her (Lucy gets a little tired of it! LOL!)...

and Lucy zonked out in the car on the way home after not getting much sleep over the weekend...

and just a cute smile from Kate to round it all out! :)

Days 141 & 142

2009-05-22T19:13:00.000-07:00

I couple of things first... I had a question about "BFF's", it means "Best Friends Forever". It's a typical thing written in school year books and text messages (for kids, and like me, childish adults, lol!)

The tags on my girls lunch boxes have their pictures on the front and their names on the back, I bought plastic baseball card covers to hold them. they're pretty durable and have lasted all year. I also have tags on their book bags. :) Thank you all for your nice comments, it is so much fun for me to read them, it is truly a highlight in my day! Thank you for taking the time!

On to Day 141:
So I had a banquet to go to for my Teacher's Associaton for my school district, my friend had been nominated for an educator of the year award. These nights aren't really that exciting because they involve lots of speeches that go on too long... until I'm sitting there and realize someone is talking about ME. In front of tons of people. Me. I still get a stomach ache thinking about it. My wonderful friends LIED to me, I was being honored and I had no idea! I received the Distinguished Service award, I feel so honored and completely overwhelmed. I still can't believe it. The hard part is that I have to organize a dinner and help determine next year's winner and give a speech for them at next year's banquet... I'm already stressing about it! Still feeling good about my award though, how cool to be noticed! :) (The big plaque has names going back to 1967, many of them union presidents.)

I took pictures of the girls in their new bathing suits, we joined a pool this year so they each got a few new ones. I figured it would be nice not to have to rely on just one suit. (I have to admit, that I also have a few AMAZING scrap kits that I wanted pictures for, I work backwards a lot... pics have to match the kit, right?! lol!) Another typical crazy Miss L pic (this was after she calmed down about the fact there might be mosquitos outside, she's terrified of bugs. I felt bad after we came in she had two HUGE mosquito bites on her shoulder. both of my girls swell up like crazy from any bite.)

Days 138, 139 & 140

2009-05-20T17:55:00.000-07:00

Kate had her recital tonight, I know you are probably tired of me gushing about how cute she is in her costume, but I can't help it! One more pic of her, this one a bit different... Here she is shakin' her tail. She was cracking herself up too (and me along with her!)

My kids at school made these Sculpey clay aliens today - they are so funny all together on the plate like that. Got to bake 'em now.

Everyday moment: the girls lunch boxes all ready for tomorrow. I hate packing lunches, but Kate helped me out tonight, she was such a helper. It reminded me how much she really can do, sometimes I just do things and don't think to ask her to help. She really had fun helping me get things ready for tomorrow. It was nice.

Day 137

2009-05-17T18:19:00.000-07:00

We've had a fun friend filled weekend. I took the girls to the park with a few more "BFF's" today. I love how they are cracking up (my friend is sooo great at acting like a loon to make them smile for pics, I need to take her everywhere, I guess!)

Days 135 & 136

2009-05-16T19:31:00.000-07:00

Lucy and Spongebob again, the Ice Cream man visited our neighborhood. It always makes me laugh because for the first 4 years of Kate's life we told her it was a "music" truck. She had no idea that it carried yummy treats. It couldn't last forever, lol!

Recital time is finally here, today was the dress rehearsal. She's here with two of her best friends in the world. I just love her costume so much this year, you'll be seeing at least one more photo of it I'm sure for Monday's post, it'll be the big show night.

Days 133 & 134

2009-05-14T19:54:00.000-07:00

Oh my gosh, look at these!!!!!!!!!! Heaven in a bowl with fake cheese on it, YUM!

and um.... they are HUGE! I must have done something good in this life to deserve a treat this delicious. (and yes, I shared!)

Days 131 & 132

2009-05-12T17:48:00.000-07:00

Kate painted this vase for me for Mother's day at a fun Kids Night Out at a local ceramics studio. Isn't it beautiful!! (And the pretty, and fragrant! lilacs stolen from my neighbors are perfect in it. LOL!)

So these shoes take me back to high school, it was buy a pair of shoes get a pair 1/2 off at the Shoe Carnival today... I couldn't resist a new pair of All Stars - check out the cute tongue! Still trying to decide between the white and black laces...

Days 129 & 130

2009-05-10T18:27:00.000-07:00

Goofy Lucy, I just can't get enough of her silliness. She all of sudden, is happy to look at the camera as long as the second after you click, she can run around and admire herself on the LCD screen.

My sister, Lucy, my mom, me and Kate posing for a Mother's day photo, we had them over for a yummy lunch. Happy Mother's Day Mom! I love you!! Hope everyone had a great mother's day!

Days 127 & 128

2009-05-08T05:24:00.000-07:00

A shot of the tulips my DH bought me for our 15th anniversary on Thursday. For each anniversary he buys that number of flowers :) I loved the centers of these and how the top one looks like it's floating. I didn't realize until too late that I had my ISO up too high so I'm disappointed that it's a bit grainy, but love the bright color anyway!

I ordered Shutterfly books for my mom and DH's mom for Mother's day. I just resized a bunch of my recent scrap pages and made them into a book for each of them. They really came out nice, it's so satisfying to see a bunch of layouts printed and all together like that.

Day 126

2009-05-06T16:31:00.000-07:00

Kate's class went to the farm today - I missed out, but my husband went along to grab some pics! What a great day, she got to milk a cow, (a live one! Kate says) hold baby chicks and ducks and feed a menagerie of other animals. Here's Kate with the (live) cow. BTW the guy in orange works there.

Days 123, 124 & 125

2009-05-05T18:16:00.000-07:00

It has been such a busy few days, I just can't seem to keep up with anything! I decided to take break from real work long enough to update my blog, I hate letting it get so far behind.

First, I love this picture of Kate on the trampoline, it's funny that it looks like she has no feet, and I love how she's looking at her cousin.

My new favorite way to take pics is by laying on the ground - I like the depth it gives this pic of violets.

I love how the buds on this (pear??) tree in my yard are pink. Isn't it funny that there's no pink in the flowers?

Days 120, 121 & 122

2009-05-02T08:23:00.000-07:00

One of the girls from Kate's sleepover this weekend left her little stuffed guinea pig, we wanted her to know that we were taking good care of him and that he was eating well... (well not well, but yummy!)

My girls playing so nice together - they will sit and both play with Kate's DS. Love it!

We spent Friday night with friends (and Marilyn) at a Mommy Daughter dance. This pic was after a night of food, dancing and fun! (Why is that dumb Macarena song soooo long??? I think we both lost 10 pounds of perspiration!)

Days 118 & 119

2009-04-29T18:59:00.000-07:00

I know I've posted a few of Kate's journal pages already, but this one cracked me up, I couldn't help but post another. In kindergarten they were being "scientists" and studying fish in tanks at their tables. They then had to record what they observed by writing in their fish journals. Apparently the fish at Kate's table didn't have very discriminating palates.

The translation is "I saw the fish eating the food and our fish ate the poop and he spit it out. It's yucky too." It's so funny that it's all so matter of fact. I love that she had to make sure that she added her opinion of the fish's behavior at the end. lol!

So I took Lucy to the mall to run some errands and we had dinner at Chick-fil-A. She couldn't have been more excited about the cow that showed up. She was obsessed with her, she couldn't stop waving and blowing kisses. The girl that was guiding the cow around asked Lucy if she wanted to dance with the cow, there was no way Lucy was going to miss out on that!

I figure that this was good practice for the characters at Disney World this summer! She's going to do great!

Days 116 & 117

2009-04-27T17:51:00.000-07:00

The girls had their really wonderful friends come and spend the night this weekend. (I was happy to get a chance to take pictures of girls that weren't completely tired of my camera! LOL!) I loved this shot, Lucy was laughing her head off at the girls dropping grass on her...

Kate did a quick dress rehearsal at her dance studio tonight. I LOVE her routine and her costume this year. It's sooo sweet! I want to save a whole costume shot for the day of the recital, but couldn't resist putting in a sneak peak. Their routine is to "the Aristocats".

Days 114 & 115

2009-04-25T17:21:00.001-07:00

Kate gets so excited about the work she does in kindergarten she'll bring it home and do it again. Here she's taking a map they made based on a story and tracing all the details in black marker.

Today was Kate's karate graduation, she moved from purple belt to blue. The best part though is the teachers chose two students to break boards at the graduation, Kate was picked. Not only was she picked, she did a great job on her first try. Check it out, we were so proud!

I was so excited to actually get the shot, check out the close up! Look, Splinters!

Days 112 & 113

2009-04-23T18:20:00.000-07:00

I can't seem to post a day at a time anymore. I guess two just seems to work better for me lately. Not a ton new or crazy going on here lately. First... Lucy using her frog puppet as a pillow. She wants me to take her picture, but barely sits still long enough - then she jumps up after the camera click and yells "I see it now?!?!" Many times, she looks at her own picture and tells me, "cute!" She's just so humble! LOL!

I guess the most exciting thing this week is Kate riding her bike without training wheels! whooppee! She's doing really great! I wish I had gotten a better shot... :)

Days 110 & 111

2009-04-21T17:00:00.000-07:00

Kate's a ballet girl through and through but who can resist tapping feet in shiny shoes?

The girls were at my mom's tonight which meant that I could eat whatever I wanted for dinner without having to worry if everyone else will eat it. So I made one of my favorite pastas, fresh broccoli, garlic, lemon juice and zest, a little olive oil and parmesan... yum! I even had a yummy salad with a homemade Dijon vinaigrette. I've got left overs for lunch tomorrow too. yippee!

Days 108 & 109

2009-04-19T19:54:00.000-07:00

So Kate's been working on her loose top tooth a lot this weekend, I expect that the tooth fairy will be visiting us soon. Here she is with it still in place. I'm so sad to see her smile changing so much so quickly! She's growing up too fast.

Kate planted these flowers at a friend's house (I think they're daisies - I guess we'll be seeing soon!) Anyway, I just love to see them bend their little stems towards the light. It's such a great little science lesson for Kate and I am so constantly amazed at God's design and how it shows in the smallest things.

105, 106 & 107

2009-04-17T18:58:00.000-07:00

It's been a crazy busy week! I did get to have some fun though. My friend is having twins, so to celebrate, my friends and I all had an evening at the spa. We all had some mini treatments (hence the shiny faces from our facials!) It was a fun night.

Ahhh! My favorite first sign of spring, the forsythia makes me so happy! The bad part is that it seems like everyone's blooms before mine! I went outside to check them out today and there was one tiny branch in bloom, the rest are still closed up. I guess it just means I have more to look forward to!

My guy and my girl - too funny, too sweet. This pic makes me laugh and warms my heart. What an awesome dad he is, we're all so lucky!

Day 104

2009-04-14T18:38:00.000-07:00

So my girls were so over-tired from the weekend. Lucy gets sooo ornery when she's tired. She's usually pretty agreeable. I took this charming pic after I asked to take her picture and she said "no" to me repeatedly. I explained to her that she could go outside after the picture, then she so sweetly smiled at the camera. Victory! Mom - 1, Lucy - 0.... until tomorrow.

Day 102 & 103

2009-04-13T18:41:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter everyone! I took all these pictures during the Easter egg hunt and very few did I actually capture my girls' faces. I thought this one was cute though and I love the bright colors.

So Lucy was playing with her princesses today. I looked close and found a crime scene... I'm expecting CSI to show any moment... If you ask me, Mushu looks a little shady...

Day 101

2009-04-11T19:07:00.000-07:00

So poor Lucy had a "boo boo" on her toe, it needed a Sponge Bob band-aid to make it all better.

It was from an evening of cutting a rug at a family wedding. Her shoes were rubbing on her poor toe. Boy, who would have thought that shoes hurting a girl's feet would start at such a young age!

Days 99 and 100!

2009-04-10T18:28:00.000-07:00

Day 100! wow!
The first pic is for my class, the assignment was a high or low key b&w. I got some great shots, this isn't my favorite of her but I like how the b&w came out and her expression is so soft.

Kate made these Easter Crafts for her Grandmas. I think they came out really cute. She loved doing the papier mache and she's in love with those little chicks.

Day 98

2009-04-08T18:16:00.000-07:00

This, my friends, is Kate's "collection". I think, on the other hand, that it is a junk pile. I told her that it reminds me of one of those I Spy books, you know where you're supposed to find specific items in a very busy photo? She also keeps things under her pillow too! She is actually a pretty neat kid, her room isn't messy, it's just this. I wish I understood it, what a pack rat lol!

Day 97

2009-04-07T17:02:00.000-07:00

Our good friends got these Do-A-Dots for Lucy for her Gotcha Day. Have you seen these? They're like paint in a bottle with a big round sponge tip, no mess! They also got her a book to paint in, she understood immediately what to do with them and she loves them. I loved this pic so much because she's obsessively lining up the bottles, too cute :)

Day 96

2009-04-06T17:52:00.000-07:00

One of the highlights of Kate being in kindergarten for me has been getting her grade card each quarter and with it, her writing journal. I was reading through it tonight and just loved this page. I love the fancy dress and check out Barack's hair, he he!

Days 94 & 95

2009-04-05T17:55:00.000-07:00

My mom bought these silly golf shoe slippers for Jeff for Christmas and Kate keeps wearing them, they crack me up because they are so big and her legs are so darn skinny! :)

We took the girls bowling today - we all had so much fun! :)

Days 92 & 93

2009-04-03T15:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our daughter Lucy's Adoption Day/Gotcha Day. We can't even believe that it was two years ago yesterday that she joined our family. I'm cheating a bit and using two pics from yesterday (I figure I'm allowed since it was an extra special day!) The first a family pic and the second is classic Lucy. (The family pic was funny because I set up a tripod in the yard, after every shot the girls went running across the yard like maniacs to see the result. They just couldn't get enough!)

Day 91

2009-04-01T18:37:00.000-07:00

Some bottles of paint in my classroom. This is for a composition assignment for my class. I realized after that I had the ISO up too high so it's a little grainy, but it fits the bill for diagonal composition. :)

Day 90

2009-03-31T17:02:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd balance it out and take a bedtime pic of Kate too. I love her arsenal of stuffed animals behind her here. Trust me, this is only a teensy fraction of the number of them actually on her bed, lol :)

Day 89

2009-03-30T18:02:00.000-07:00

So Lucy has a double ear infection :( You would never know it though - she's running around like a crazy person and happy as can be. About a half hour after I put her to bed, she was singing in her room. I had to go in and snap a pic (and tell her to go to sleep.)

Day 88

2009-03-29T13:02:00.000-07:00

I tortured Kate today by making her sit up in a tree so I could get some shots for a composition assignment for my class. She didn't like being in the tree (it wasn't even high) and she said it hurt her butt, but look at this shot! It isn't at all what I needed for composition, but I love it anyway. I think I'll be letting her have dessert tonight, it's the least I should do!

Days 86 & 87

2009-03-28T18:05:00.000-07:00

I got home just after Kate had gone to bed, I went in to say good night and she asked if I saw my invitation... I went downstairs and she had hung this on the wall. In Kindergartenese it says, "Easter Eggs Hunt Party at 6 o'clock with Kate and Lucy and we will have an Easter Basket when the party starts. Love, Kate and Lucy" (I think she was really hoping that I would follow through and plan a real party.) So you don't all think I'm mean, we always have one on Good Friday with her cousins anyway. I'm so happy to see her writing so much lately. She's doing such a great job of spelling phonetically.

This is a bear in the microwave (I thought it made for a funny pic). Don't worry, he belongs there! It's one of those that you heat up to put on sore muscles and stuff. I love the way he smells, it's like lavendar. Anyway, poor Lucy I think, has an ear infection and she just hasn't been acting quite like herself. She was swinging outside while Jeff was working in the yard and she just couldn't warm up. Her hands were icy for over an hour! I tried to get her to hold the bear and she wouldn't have anything to do with him. I guess we'll see how she feels tomorrow, she definitely has had a fever :(

The photography class I'm taking I had read about at Clickin'Moms, I think. It's here at Proud Photography. I took a really great class last summer at Jessica Sprague.com, with Candace Stringham called Oh Shoot! Beginner Digital Photography- I learned a lot. It quickly taught me how to shoot in manual and for the first time explained shutter speed and aperture so that I could understand it. I felt that I wanted another class though, with assignments and maybe more detail so that I could become more automatic and faster with getting the settings right on my camera in different lighting situations. So far the Proud Photography class is ok, but I haven't really progressed into material that's new for me yet. The price is good and you are assigned a teacher that you can contact and ask questions to. It really has just got me practicing more. There are several more lessons, so I'm hopeful that there's some good new stuff waiting for me.

Days 84 & 85 too

2009-03-26T19:56:00.000-07:00

Kate laughing, she's so stinkin' cute!

I'm taking a photography class online and this pic was for a depth of field assignment - I'm running out of photo ideas, can you tell? lol!

Day 83

2009-03-24T18:39:00.000-07:00

Another shot of Lucy being Lucy. It's a 24/7 comedy show over here!

boost action by Pioneer Woman -

Day 82

2009-03-23T17:06:00.000-07:00

Just playing with my shutter speed today - I love how her pony tail is straight up in the air! :)

Days 79, 80, 81

2009-03-22T08:18:00.000-07:00

A little behind this week :) I hate it when real life gets in the way of the fun stuff!

Lucy is a whirlwind, almost every shot I have of her is blurry - this one illustrates it perfectly! She was holding these colored plastic pieces in front of her face so I could take her picture. I think it came out kind of cool...

We have one window in our house that allows light to come into our dark dungeon, whenever the girls sit by it, I get giddy with the idea of having enough light to take their picture. Couldn't resist the sparkle in Kate's eyes here...

Lucy... this is just so... Lucy. lol!

Day 78

2009-03-19T17:41:00.000-07:00

Thank you all for those awesome comments yesterday! I can't take all the shirt credit though, I had them printed at www.zazzle.com. I've never been happy with iron on transfers that I've done on light tees. The dark ones are ok, but the light ones leave crummy edges. Zazzle prints your design on whatever you want it to, they did a great job and were really fast. I figured it was worth a little extra money to have them done really well.

So I get my "craftiness" from my mom and now Kate's getting a lot of it from her too. My mom taught Kate how to quill and she made this beautiful card. I love it! My favorite part though is the sun, Kate said it was a Van Gogh sun - oh that girl makes me so proud!

Day 77

2009-03-18T19:21:00.000-07:00

I made these designs for shirts for the girls to wear to Disney World this summer. I love how they came out, I used Kay Miller and Nitwit Collection's Happily Ever After scrap kit. How cute are the girls going to be in these? :)

Day 76

2009-03-17T18:14:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh!!! Sunshine! So excited to see a beautiful blue sky! :)

Day 75

2009-03-16T18:40:00.000-07:00

The girls went to a friend's birthday party at a Gymnastics club and had so much fun jumping in the foam pit. I love Lucy's laugh in this one :)

Day 74

2009-03-15T17:48:00.001-07:00

This shot cracked me up, obviously I missed getting her in the whole frame, but I love how the "natural" crop shows off Kate's new tooth "space". Love her big grin too!