I am Happy

Today I was walking around doing the normal everyday things I do around the house and I realized how totally happy I am.
Right now, this time is a wonderful time.
I love every moment and can't wait to see what new things everyday will hold.
But I also love the mundane things, those groundhog day sort of things that you know will happen at least once in each of your twenty four hours....maybe even twice if you count the number of times my oldest daughter will complain about doing something around the house.....hmmmm twice was being very generous. Let's go with twenty times and then if she comes in around fifteen I'll be happy!
I am just so completely, totally happy.
And knowing that makes me even happier!
Perhaps that makes some people want to puke?
It reminds me of this one episode of the Golden Girls where the ever happy sunshine Rose was perplexed because this man at work didn't like her. How could he possibly not like her? Once she realized this she tried even harder to be bouncy and filled with joy. She baked him cakes, she greeted him with cheer.
But he told her that it didn't matter what she did he just didn't like her.
She was happy.
It made him want to puke.
I don't know what any of this has to do with anything?


This person is someone who always make me smile. She blows my mind with her talent, I am lucky to call her my friend.
I was also lucky enough to get to photograph her family and I can't believe I haven't shared it.
It is a rare treat that I get called upon to shoot pictures.
My family takes top priority, so when it works out that I can roam free and follow around beautiful people and capture their memories for them I do it!


















This is just a wee small sample of what we shot.
It was a very good day!
She has some amazing things in the work (fabric,paper scrapbooking goods, digiscrapping goods)...you must check her out!

Summer Musings....

Summer has been good.
Soooooooooo good!
One of those summers where I truly don't want it to end.
Lots and lots and lots of swimming which has been amazing! Especially when you had a daughter who told you a little over a year ago that she hated water and would never ever swim.
Thanks to B. both kids are swimmers! They couldn't wait to get back to him this summer and show him what they could do.
We also had our Cousin Max come and visit! We miss them. The girls can't get enough of Uncle J. and Cousin Max. We missed the whole family before they were even gone.
There have been camps and playdates and sleepovers.
Golf lessons, tennis lessons, piano lessons and more.
These kids better never say they didn't do anything fun when they were kids!


(all products By the amazing Carina Gardner)



(Template by Tiffany Tillman, Paper and embellishments by Sara Schmutz)



(all products By the amazing Carina Gardner)



(all products By the amazing Carina Gardner)


Now onto summer musings.....
*When you go to get a massage for horrible tension headaches it probably should be mandatory that they explain to you that your therapist at some point will be walking on your back.
*Red Mango Yogurt.....great idea, no high fructose corn syrup, not chalk full of sugar, but what is with the smell in that place? If I am paying $5.00 for a so/so cup of yogurt the least you can do is make sure that your place does not smell like an unflushed toilet.
It was baaaaaaaaaaaaaad.
*No shirt guy....you are okay looking, but do you really need to take your two year old on walks in her wagon with no shirt on? That seems so 80's. Plus if you are going to be shirtless maybe you want to go to the gym. It't not that you are fat...just jiggly.
*Mel Gibson....WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!! You obviously need some help, some serious help. I want to believe that they were empty threats but dang! And why so much heavy breathing? Did you run to the phone from the backyard or something to answer the phone?
Th-th-th-thats all folks!

SIX

Finally!!!
She has been waiting, and waiting and waiting to turn six.
When she was small I was her whole world. Her favorite phrase was "My Mama!" as her older sister would patiently (and sometimes not so patiently) explain to her that I was both of their mama's not just hers.
And she would look at her big sister and say "MY MAMA!"
She truly is an amazing kid. She is strong, and sweet and beautiful and smart.
We always tell her she is the size of a toothpick but she is probably the strongest one of all of us!
This morning she asked for breakfast in bed.
She wanted eggs and bacon.
She sat there eating her breakfast just giggling and giggling.
"So when am I six?"
"You're six now!"
"But am I not six until my party?"
"No you are six now!"
*giggle giggle*.
Happy Birthday six year old!

Total Eclipse

I have sequesterd myself from all things Eclipse. No commercials, no watching interviews or reading press with the cast.
Tonight I went to see the movie with my mother-in-law who is a new fan after reading my stack of four books in less than two weeks.
I am going to give it two enthusiastic thumbs up!!
Am I obsessed with the books. No. Did I enjoy them. Yes. Did I adore the character of Jacob long before he was the cute muscle man Taylor Lautner. Yes. Did I take flack for being teacm Jacob back then. Yes. Is it politically correct to be a Jacob fan now that he is hot. I would say judging by the super squeals and clapping from the moment he walked on the screen....yes!
I thought the squealing and whatnot as actually cute. Some sour pusses in the ladies room after the movie found the teeny boppers to be annoying. When they are thirty eight they will think it is cute that some girls are having fun.
And no, the teeny bopper squeals were not from myself and my mother-in-law!
Edward looked mighty fine in this movie. M-i-g-h-t-y F-i-n-e. And that cute Taylor has some great acting chops. He commands the screen when he is on it that is for sure!


Now onto other pressing matters.
Tonight my cute hubby called from the grocery store when in the middle of our conversation I randomly said ..."Okay, tell me what movie is this from........."do you hear that? it's the winds of change".
He got it!
It was not easy and while I had confidence in him I would not have blamed him if he was wrong.
But him getting it right just further confirmed that he is the one for me!! :)

TWO

Last night after we had put the kids to bed and cleaned up the remains of the family birthday party my husband looked at me and said "Can you believe our baby is two?"
No I couldnt.
As I tried to fall asleep my mind wandered back to two years ago.
After nine months of intense vomitting and depression I had finally given birth to my baby boy.
The puking was supposed to stop. The pain was supposed to stop. The depression was supposed to stop.
Try telling that to a big mess of placenta that is left in your uterus by a bunch of inept doctors from a joke of a medical clinic.
I tossed and turned replaying every awful moment of the month that followed.
The horrible ambulance rides.
The blood clots the size of the human liver.
The IV's and medications and people looking at me with blank confusion when I asked
what was wrong with me.
The ten days in the hospital with visits from my children and newborn baby whom I feared would not know me.
The hours of waiting for someone to figure out what was wrong with me.
The frustration of a husband who wanted his wife home.
The amazing help from friends who pitched in to help.
The nights of fear in the hospital as machines beeped and hummed all around me, wondering if I fell asleep would I start to bleed again and never wake up.
The blood transfusions, the weakness, the thoughts that my world had stopped but outside that window the rest of the world went on without me.
A diagnosis, sugery, a promise that things would be better now.
When I returned home I held my boy, let him sleep beside me, talked to him, sang to him. Tried to make up for the time we were apart despite my lack of energy.
More bleeding, returning to the hospital days later and being told nothing was better.
My girls thought I was going to die.
My husband thought I was going to die.
I thought I was going to die.
I have never cried more in my whole life.


Then I had to stop thinking about all of it. Erase it all from my mind before I started to drive myself crazy.
Because I am fine.
My boy is fine.
My boy is two!
He is funny and happy and wild and sweet. He loves Toy Story, and running and wrestling with his sisters and the new puppy. He is delicious and dramatic and tender all at the same time!
Happy birthday J-Boo.
We love you!

Guest Announcer......

The Bees had a guest announcer today and I have to say she was the best announcer I have ever seen!

Happy Mothers Day

There are no words to express the joy I feel at being their mother....they are everything to me.