Happy 8th Birthday!!

Happy Birthday to Mr. Andrew an Ms. Katie.  Today we will celebrate you and all that you mean to us!!!

Andrew you have been my little man of energy since I meet you. I waited for you to come home so I could kiss you for the first time.  You bring laughter to this family and have the most caring heart of anyone I know.  Eight is looking good on you little man!

Oh Miss Katie how I love you so.  You came home at five months and those cheeks were finally mine to kiss! You are an amazing musician and artist.  Your calmness is a trait I so envy in you!  You are beautiful my girl and as your Daddy says such a sweetheart!

Both of you were born in my heart.  You showed me how love can cross an ocean in such a short amount of time.  I believe in my heart that your birth mom's are out there and they are missing you on this day and always. Adoption is not black and white and for all the joy I feel there is someone out there who feels the pain.  You are both amazing kids.  As we travel these years together my prayer is that someway your birth parents will know that you are thriving and bringing such joy to us.

Tonight we celebrate with you.  We will have a dinner that you two have chosen and open some gifts. We love you to the moon and back!

Sixteen Years Ago

Sixteen years ago we said "I Do".  We were young just twenty-two and twenty four.  We were both done with college and life was full of love, hope, and dreams.  We moved away from family to start our little life. Our first house had a very bright blue carpet.  Love and romance were a part of that little old blue house.  We were so excited with our new life together.

We spent time with couple friends that would last a lifetime and started figuring out who we were.  Days were filled with the ups and downs of life and we learned how to fight good as well as say "I am sorry".  We debated on having kids (I know a funny statement now) or living a life full of careers that had not reached their full potentials.  We ate dinner at nine at night and took walks after dark.

Fast forward sixteen years.   Our house is full of kids and we eat dinner as early as we can.  I basically stay at home with kids and Brian is a well connected banker in our community.  We have seen how rough life can be and many tears have been cried.  We have also had many moments filled with goodness and peace.  Our favorite days are those that are not complicated with just our family and simple times.  Brian has always been so good to me.  He always stands beside me and as I have said before he is my rock.  The look in this photo is one the still passes between us.  I pray for our future, for a love that grows each day, and for respect that has carried us all these years.

On a side note for years now we have watched our wedding video on this evening and have included our kids.  We just realized we no longer have a VCR so there will be no video tonight.  I will have to tell you there are four kids who are so grateful for they found it very boring!

Brian, I love you for all you are to me and all that we will become in the years ahead of us!

Catching up

This past weekend was a family reunion.  It is an event that is now part of my big editing project that will happen as soon as school is in session. I took a lot of photos at this event but this was my favorite.  My sister and cousin were great friends growing up. Where one was the other was sure to follow.  Life takes us on different paths and time changes. Life is full of good and hard both of which these two have felt.  It was fun to see them together again reconnecting.  I saw them through the eye of my lens as more mature people, but my mind still sees that blond headed girl and the boy with lots of curls getting into mischief and fun!

The computer is full of goodies from the summer and they will all show up on the blog soon.  Summer is almost done, school supplies were bought today.  I will miss these lazy days of summer.  I will relive them soon and be able to share on our little blog!

Water Week

Hello Monday

A fun and busy weekend has passed. This week is filled with a special little visitor and lots of water fun. The one place that all of us agree is the best kind of fun!

Wishing you a great Monday!

Crazy Cousins

A family camping trip brings out the best in all of us!  I took a lot of photos on the family camping trip, probably some that are better photography but really these are the ones I love.

After all with family you were free to be yourself and be as messy as you like.

Just be plain crazy with those that know you best!  

Pink and Poodles

When a photo assignment comes up and I need a model this is my go to girl.  She is fairly easy going so pretty much happy with my selection of clothes and hair.  There is no favoritism here just sometimes the battle is not worth the outcome.

I think Katie has grown a lot this summer.  Not only are her legs longer but she is mature in a different way than she was a year ago.  

I had found this poodle skirt in the closet and she loved it.  Told me now she just loves the 50's!  

I will be so sad when this summer light is not as brilliant as it is now.  

In the past month I have switched over to a Mac.  That was a learning curve for me but now I love it.  I am not always the best with learning curves.  I am sure more than once my family was done with me.

Just finished a long 4th of July weekend.  We had a lot of family time.  Summer is going way to fast so hoping to hang on to some of this sun as much as I can!

A celebration of 10

Today we celebrated Bri's tenth birthday.  She has grown and changed so much in the last year.  She is almost as tall as me and has a mind of her own that is creative, loving, and strong.  

We love you a lot Miss Brianna.

These photos of Bri were so much fun and there are more to share in the coming days.  There have been a lot of kids going and coming with all that summer brings.  The girls just returned from Girl Scout camp.  This brought back a lot of memories that I had as a young girl. I can say when I picked them up yesterday they felt just as I had years ago and right away asked to come back next year! How could we say no to those priceless memories!