bittersweet

(***Edited to add: Ok, so when you have had a busy work week followed by a super busy/stay up late/get up early weekend, and then attempt to write a blog post at 1am while half way asleep...it doesn't work so well! If you've read this post, then you probably noticed I totally just left a sentence unfinished! Ha! I was a little bit tired. Anyways, I fixed it now! *** )

This weekend, I did something I never thought or dreamed I would ever be doing. I went to my best friend's dad's wedding. Even though I am happy for his dad and his new wife, Penny, and that they won't be lonely anymore, it was still a slightly bittersweet time as everyone was remembering their mom or dad who is no longer with us.

The wedding location itself was simply gorgeous! And it was good to once again all be together.

Michael got to be the witness to sign the marriage license. Pretty cool.

This was just a sampling of all the wonderful food that was there. And I loved the gummy worm pb&j sandwiches they had for the kids!!

Mr. Brown would be the second Brown to be the subject of a set-up by my mom! lol. Penny went to church with my parents and Mom conveniently had a bunch of people over to eat with them, which is where they met.

This little girl looked so beautiful! (she is one of Michael's nieces. :)

That's Michael's grandmom. Yesterday was also her 92nd birthday. Baby S here loves to chew...and is going to be a big brother somewhere around his first birthday! That is going to make for one busy momma! (Not that she's not already busy now...!) (Hi, K!)

This is Melissa, Michael's sister-in-law. It's her house I stay in for K. Kamp every summer...and it's her kiddos I keep every October....and pretty much whenever I can get them! I had her girls stay at my house this weekend with me and Lauren - always a great time! :)

(Hi Mel!!) :)

The whole fam. :)

Looove this pic!!! :) It makes me smile.

For once, David, Michael's brother, smiled more than he did!

Cousins!! :)

I know today was kind of hard for a few people on both sides of the family, but I pray that everyone involved will be able to accept this huuuuge change...in their own time... and that this new marriage will bring glory to God in every way!

prom!

My happy, cheerful, former little third grader somehow just had her first prom Saturday night! Not quite sure how that happened! But she looked beautiful. We met some of her friends for some before-prom photos and I know they are waiting oh-so-patiently (lol) to see them all, so for now, here are just three sneak previews. Enjoy!

Supermodels! :} I happened to know the older brothers of the supermodel on the left here. We were all home schooled...and even went to camp together one summer. Yup. Didn't make me feel old or anything.... :-p

The rest are coming soon guys, I promise! :)

snapshots

While my kids' parents went away for a week last week, I was on kid duty for 8 days. I decided to pretty much spoil my kids rotten while I had the chance and we packed in a bunch of fun during those 8 days! I ditched my "real" camera for the week and just used my cell phone...so here are most of the things we did via cell phone snapshots. (Thus the crappy quality of the pics...) :}

This is my absolute all-time favorite way to be woken up in the morning - with a snuggly kid crawling in bed to say good morning! :)

...or the inside of the car that was inside the garage was this hot...?

I was stuck in the middle of no where ish. I tried calling six cell phones and two house phones...and no body answered!! I had to laugh at the irony of all these convenient cell phones that weren't helping at all! Finally, Michael called back and thankfully we happen to have the same car insurance so he gave me the number to call for roadside assistance and then came and stayed with me and ended up taking me home. That is what a best friend is for...hanging out with you while you wait for your car to be towed...then waiting for said towed car to show up at the shop...and then taking me all the way home...2.5 hours out of a saturday just waiting with me. Thanks again, M!!

Lulu comes to play at our playground across the street and we often see her on Mondays...which is now excitedly referred to as "Lulu day!" :) My kids love her and think she is too cute (which she is...) and she loves them back! :)

Lulu's mommy, Marianne, did a fantastic job on her party!! I will definitely have to remember some of her ideas! :)

Ok so this was really the day we went to the library but A) I didn't take any pics there and B) this fountain pic was from the first day but I kinda forgot about it and now it would mess up my rainbow to go back and put it at the top! lol We love these fountains and had a blast...until this sweet dog came. She loved the fountains too and at first greatly amused the kids. However, she apparently drank too much water, threw up, and consequently got the water shut off for the next 4 hours! Thankfully we had already been there for an hour by that time and were ready to go anyways. :-p

Wow. Such a bad photo. Oh well. :)

Haha...there is more to this story that I won't tell here...

It was a very busy week but I enjoyed all of it! Definitely was not tired of being with my kiddos - but was just tired in general by the end! :) My goal was to wear them out and keep them so busy they wouldn't have time to miss mommy and daddy. I only heard LMG say she missed them the very first night - and at least once every single day Mr. Happy would say "This is the best day EVER!!!". Mission accomplished!

Now for a nice three day break over the weekend and then I'll be at it again!

just checking in... :)

Hi! Just checking in to say I'm still here. I have been A) without internet for a week and 2) been playing single mom since last thursday, so I haven't had a chance to blog! Tomorrow is my last day of being here with my kids 24/7, since their parents get home tomorrow night...so hopefully I will get caught up soon. There is a lot to share from this past week!

For now, I'll leave this pic that Laura's husband, Mike, took of Leah and me tonight. Apparently we both got the memo to wear dark jeans, pink shoes, and purple shirts - with ruffles down the front! :)

(Hey Mike...how's that for picture editing...! lol)

jonathan and cousins

A couple weeks ago, Shannon asked if I would do pictures of Jonathan and his two cousins who were in town for the weekend. I think this was the first "real" photo shoot I've done with Jonathan and it was definitely a lot of fun!

If you live in our city...and have your photos done...chances are, you are going to have them done at this spot at one time or another! :) Isn't he cute?? Not that I'm partial or anything.... ;)

Doing an outdoor photo shoot on a beautiful afternoon is not the easiest thing in the world to do when you're trying to follow three little boys all over the place! Josiah (the older of these two) had no patience for slowing down to have his picture taken, lol.

Caleb was still young enough that a few things caught his attention and he would stop to explore for a couple minutes at a time.

Finally we found something that caught Josiah's attention and even let me get this awesome smile out of him!

A swing! :)

Swings are fabulous things....and make little boys smile and laugh! :)

(note to self: remember that! lol)

Next we found a caterpillar to examine. Said caterpillar may or may not have survived the examination..... ha!

This is not supposed to be a cute pic of Jonathan...although he is cute... :) This is just to show a tiny bit of the damage from the storms/tornados that came through just a few days before. All the downed trees made this shoot a bit more tricky since I kept seeing yellow caution tape in the background of some shots...and who wants giant tree roots in the background either?! Poor trees. :(

Sweet baby. :)

He's adorable.

Outtakes. :}

Hopefully in just a couple short months you will get to see a photo shoot with Jonathan again...when his new baby sister arrives! :)