an orphan and a ballerina

saturday the girls both had performances at the surprise party (a holiday festival in surprise, az). ava has been taking ballet though the city and loves it. she got right up on the stage and gave us big waves and smiles, pretty much the entire performance :) she's so darn cute!

each season they pick one activity, lily also does dasies(girl scouts) all school year. this season lily chose musical theater. they are doing the musical annie and lily was cast as molly. she is the cutest molly ever, and quite the little actress. i never had a doubt. she is confident and loves being on stage. imagine that :) Here are a couple shots from saturday. they performed a few songs here but the musical is on friday.

here she is singing her little solo in "it's a hard knocks life".

Well, ya comin?

Where?
To the North Pole, of course! This is the Polar Express!

Friday was out third trip to the north pole. I procrastinated this year and ended up getting the tickets last minute on Craig's list. So now that we have a few trips under our belt I wanted to share some tips to help you out.

1. For best available dates purchase your tickets early. I'm talking like May early. By the end of summer all weekend are booked up. Seats C and D are best. They are on the side where you will see the north pole.
2. To stay or not to stay the night. We ended up doing a quick turn around since the girls had performances the next morning. We lucked out on the weather. The past two years there were snow storms. So.....if you don't stay your gambling on the weather. If you stay, we enjoy the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel. It's not fancy but it's nice to walk right over after get off the train.
3. The food...in my opinion, not so good. I would never do the package with the food again. It's not advertised, but you can get the hotel/train package without the food and it will save you $100, that just for diner and breakfast! We like to eat in flag on the way up. We haven't found anything great in town.
4. 6:30pm or 8pm departure. Depends on your kids. We have done both. There was no way Lily could have made it that late three years ago, but now they can all do it. If you want early you better book early.
5. Dress in layers! It's cold outside, but the train gets pretty warm. Don't forget to wear your jammies :)
6. Bring ribbon for the bells. Santa will board the train after you reach the north pole. He passes out bells to all the kiddos. Make a necklace with the ribbon to keep you from fetching the bell out from under the seats all the way back.
7. Bring your book. They will read the story on the way to the north pole. The girls love to have their own copy to follow along.
8. If it's snowing there are some great recreations areas around town. Did you know Williams has a Ski Area! They offer family tubing also.
9. For all you Canon Rebel users, bring along your point and shoot for night shots. Canon DSLR's are terrible at focusing in the dark. Did you ever try to get a shot at night and the on camera flash just keeps flickering, it's a Canon downfall (Nikon is superior in this area). You'll miss the shot or it may be blurry. I always take my p&s along.

I hope this helps someone! The kids love it every year and talk about it for months. Next year I'm getting my tickets early! We'll stay and hopefully it will snow! Please add a comment if you can think of anything else!

november

where on earth did it go? i have no idea...it was a complete blur for me. auntie lynne said she always knows when i am busy by my number of blog posts...well have you checked out my photography blog! and i'm still behind over there. this season was very good to me...20 sessions in a month. never again people...unless i have a nanny and an assistant. my friends, your holiday photos will now take place in september so plan early!

jack is 17 months. less than a month until a half birthday. well lets see...at 17 months i can officially say my son is crazy! there is no peace in this house. if he's awake, he's moving. running, climbing, stealing things from his sisters and running away. i find him in lily's top bunk, on the table, and in the bathroom sink. thank goodness he's over the dog water and toilets!

he needs a hair cut but i'm not quite ready for him to look like a boy. maybe next month :)

i call him my spider monkey because when i pick him up he wraps himself around me and doesn't let go. he still attached to his mommy. he sometimes calls me mom.

he now repeats everything you say and it's become quite the game with the girls. ava "jack say barbecue"...jack "b b cue". and they all laugh.

i love watching the relationship he has with his sisters. it's entirely different than the girls had with each other. he looks at them like little mommies. he reaches for them to get him up or down. he brings them the remote. he tells them to get him food or juice. he trusts and adores them.

he has the stinkiest feet! mostly because he doesn't wear socks, but i'm not exaggerating...they stink! i've always smelled his little tootsies, since he was a baby, kissed them too. he even smells his own feet and shoes and says"pee-eww." recently i caught him smelling my shoes :0

he points to his picture on the wall and says "buddy"...he's my little buddy.

16 months

busy
crazy
exhausting
independent
screamer
hugger
kisser
talker
singer
elmo lover


some words to describe my son a t 16 months. he now says mommy and daddy...no more mama and dada. he climbs on the table at least three times a day. he pulled the playroom tv off the stand. the pushes every button he can touch...loves the light switches. he recognizes and love's elmo but doesn't really watch anything. i think he may have some musical talent...no kidding! now he doesn't really sing all the words, some words but more like the notes and tune. he sings the climb (he knows the long notes), abc's, happy birthday (the "cha cha cha "part but it's "da da da"), it's a hard knocks life (the last verse), phineas and ferb, gitchi gitchi goo (the baby, baby part). i'll get some video up soon . it's hilarious!

my pixie

so here's the after courtesy of my friend michelle. i think it's going to be really cute when the short bangs and sides grow out a bit :) i think i had the same hair cut back in '78! one of her school mates said it looked like a boy :( she said "no it doesn't! i'm a girl!" i so remember being told what a cute little boy i was back then. today she said she hates her head :( oh my girlie...i love you so. xxoo

how much can one mommy take?

and why does it all happen at once? i don't have the answer...but i need a vacation!

two friday's ago lily has 104.4 and a sore throat. i'm pretty good at diagnosing her now...strep throat or uti. strep - uti + but since she's had three cases in less than a year she was referred to an ent. saw him last week. no tonsillectomy yet :) but one more case this year they're coming out.

i start feeling a cold coming on that weekend. really knocks me down for a few days. not good since i am crazy busy with work and have a 5k and triathlon sprint coming up.

last friday jack comes down with a fever. he is miserable for the weekend. sunday afternoon it reaches 105.2 for the second time. off to the er. i'm starting to feel a little nauseous as we wait. as the nurse is taking blood from jack i can't hold it back any longer. i run to the bathroom and puke. now scott is sitting with his sick baby and sick wife at the er. jack's ok. his fever finally broke on tuesday with a rash following.

i spent the day in bed on monday, scott on tuesday and ava on wednesday. phew...that was rough.

tuesday while jack and scott were napping i was trying to catchup on some work. ava comes into my office and said "mommy, look what lily did!" i turn and see this....

"OMG! where is your sister!!!!!" i cant' believe it! what was she thinking! i'm frantically running around the house searching for lily. "ava why in the world did you let her do this to you? you have no hair left!" i finally find lily, asleep on the couch. "ava, did you cut your own hair?" "yes" as she bursts into tears. "it's ok honey, you look beautiful."

so i guess she went into her room, sat a the vanity, looked in the mirror and cut all the hair she could reach. at least she put it in the trash :) stay tuned for the new do!

my boy and his rash...he really doesn't have a butt!

so then.....

friday night the girls are playing and i hear a scream. lily grabs her mouth and yells that ava pulled both her teeth out. apparently she was biting a scarf and ava pulled it. then voila...

my toothless wonder! i woke her up to take these. she thinks she looks like a vampire. i love that she has a lisp! my girl will never look the same. i'm going to miss my little gap tooth girl and her little chicklets!

diy halloween costumes

love these costumes from martha stewart.
i love this one for jack and i
wouldn't he make the perfect lobster!

ava wants me to be a buzzy bee with her so i may do this

cute!
fun!

easy!

my helper

ava's been in a helper phase lately. she's always cleaning her room and bathroom. last week i found her changing the laundry. ..

stop.drop.roll

the truth is i don't think i'll ever catch up so i'll start with today! scott spent yesterday at lily's class but i forgot my memory card for the camera! luckily my great friend amanda lives around the corner and brought me her rebel! I can't believe it...i've never been so careless with my gear. thanks for coming to the rescue amanda! i don't have those images off her camera yet but i did have all my gear this morning at ava's school. these guys were so funny. some wanting to tell you everything and some very careful to not make eye contact. they love it when he crawls around and lets them touch his gear.

i was taking a quick class shot when one of the girls yelled "silly face!" gotta love those 4 year olds!

happy birthday

madison rose! i'm an auntie again! congratulations moo. xxoo

remembering

those lost and left behind

celebrating my old boy's birthday. sammy is 9 today. happy birthday sam dog!

four

all about ava
1. she has the most beautiful chocolate brown eyes (makes great catchlights)
2. her hair is straight and thin
3. when she smiles one eye is often bigger than the other
4. she is all torso with short little legs
5. her feet are almost as big as her sisters
6. she's pigeon toed, more with the left foot
7. her right cheek now has a dimple with some broken vessels from when she ran into the dog
8. she wakes up like a bear
9. she's my little night owl, falling asleep at least an hour after the other kids
10. comes out of her room many times before falling asleep
11. a glass of milk will usually keep her in bed
12. she often changes her mood in an instant
13. she rarely naps
14. often has an afternoon meltdown
15. sometimes she crawls into my bed in the early morning to sleep
16. sometimes i let her sleep with me when her daddy's at work
17. she has a sweet tooth
18. she likes cereal for breakfast
19. for her birthday she requested pancakes for breakfast
20. if i have gum in my purse she will find it and eat it all
21. she doesn't eat lunch
22. she's a snacker
23. she loves to cook
24. she likes to make bread, mayo and lettuce sandwiches
25. she still loves mac and cheese
26. tonight she wanted crab legs
27. dessert is her favorite meal
28. she loves chocolate milk for a treat
29. she enjoys preschool and would love to go everyday
30. she doesn't know all her letters yet but she really wants to
31. she can write her name
32. her best friend is mia
33. she loves everything high school musical, before she watched the movies
34. now she loves the movies
35. she loves taylor swift
36. her favorite tv show is phineas and ferb
37. her favorite color is purple, with pink a very close second
38. she enjoys shopping for clothes and picks out her own
39. skirts are her favorite thing to wear
40. she always puts her shoes on the wrong feet (maybe it will correct her pigeon toe:)
41. her baby brother is her buddy
42. she loves to organize her bed with toys and stuffed animals
43. she enjoys storytime and pretends to read
44. she still asks for permission to go up on lily's bed
45. she plays with barbies, dress up, leapster, and many other toys
46. she loves to carry a purse
47. she always thinks of her sister whenever she's not around
48. she's quiet bashful but is learning to be brave

my beautiful baby girl at four. her birthday.

09.09.09

it's her birthday eve. in the morning she'll be four. hopefully the terrible three's are over :) today she had cupcake at school. if you didn't know already, she loves everything high school musical. the last image is her with her bff mia. more to come tomorrow!

m.i.a.

i am ashamed to say it's been almost a month since my last post. life has just been really busy. the girls started school, which is going well for both! my work has picked up :) lily has had 2 uti's, scott injured his shoulder then had a kidney stone. we had a couple er visits, a couple dental emergencies, oh and fit a couple well checks in there....our insurance might drop us after the past month :) everyone is ok today (fingers crossed)!

i do plan on catching up...sooooo much to share but since i'm working on her slideshow tonight....my little buggie boo. every birthday sneaks up on me. she's going to be four next week! yesterday she called for me to come to her room. i found her like this. she said "mom...i've got the polka dots!" growing up but still my baby {love}

six

the story behind the party. first she wanted to take her friends to a movie...nice and easy was my thought. next she wanted to have a party at the rock gym. she loves to climb with her dad and she's really good at it. then she found out we would be inviting family there too. we've usually had family separate which is where we play her annual slideshow. she said "what about my slideshow?" instantly the party became a girly girl party at out house where she could play the slideshow. i love that this tradition is as important to her as it is to me.

so here's a peek at her party...manicures, pedicures and sparkles galore....

and of course the slideshow. click the image below...

update

"first grade is awesome!" i realize i left you hanging on a sad note with the previous post. i was probably more sad and anxious than my little girl. she had a great first day and loves the first grade. school is just exhausting.

first grade jitters

i've got a ton to share...july to september are just crazy around here. but today i had to share this. miss lily's first day of first grade. she was excited and ready to go. when she walked into class she found her seat and put her head down. i took a couple photos and kissed her goodbye. she was sad. i asked her why. she said it wasn't going to be any fun. well we know that's not true, lily is the fun. so i peeked through the door window and watched and she sat with her head down not participating as class started. my heart sank to my belly. my baby girl is nervous. she is confident and happy and loves to make people laugh, but today she is scared, an emotion i rarely see.