First Day of School 2011

It seems like i've been waiting of this day for a very long time and it has come, and i found myself a little lost today after the final drop off.
Today i was certain i would shed a tear for our overgrown 5 year old baby as she headed off to all day kindergarten and instead my eyes got misty as i dropped off our big 5th grader.  She graduated to intermediate school and i felt like i was dropping her off to kindergarten all over again.  She is tiny to me and looked even smaller next to her peers.  I was convinced she would be eaten alive by them but she was not.  She walked into that new school just as confidently as she did the day she went to kindergarten.  Then she sat behind a 'big girl' desk, with new 'big girl' books and all of a sudden, she looked itty-bitty once more.  I was waiting for her to cling to me and instead she gave me the look of....are you done yet?  My que....this Mamma walked out calmly, as to not embarrass her.  

I think back to how many times i would hear strangers tell me, "Enjoy these moments, they go by so fast", and all i thought at the time was, "Really, this moment can't go fast enough and you can say this, because you are not in my survival moment".
Well....one of those "goes by fast" moments are here.......whew......not sure i am ready for this.

Lily funnies for the day......
Greeting her at the bus stop.
Me:  How was your day Lily?
Lily:  Great!  I didn't have to go to the Principal's office!
Yes....we set very low expectations in our household. :-)

Kindergartners have transition days for school.  Why?  Just throw them into the fire, they'll survive.  Lily went to school today, so she does not go tomorrow.
Lily:  I really, really want to go to school tomorrow.  Can't you just put a wig on me or something so they don't know who i am?

Don't you wish you were her teacher?  Oh My!
Happy School Year everyone!

2nd grader, 5th grader and Kindergartner!

In a blink.....
I believe Bella is almost 4, Grace is 6 and Lily is 18 months here.

Cute as they come!

One of my favorite couples pairs.

Doesn't she look like she needs her Mamma? :-)

Last fake grin before she gently pushed me out the door with her looks.

Beloved Miss Judy who ALWAYS brings my girlies home safe to me!

I think she learned something at school today because she is already following
directions ....Watch your step. :-)

My cute niece Hannah

My handsome nephew Jacob and big 4th grader.

I kid you not!
I ALWAYS have a shot like this with Lily in it, and guess what she is always saying....MOM...as in, enough!

Straight out of the camera baby!

Grace graduated to Vans this year.  Hers are the little ones in Golden Poppy and
Hannah's are just good old neon orange.

Toothless Wonder

Lily has lost her 3rd tooth before she has entered kindergarten.
Monday morning.....
4:30 am: Lily comes in our room, taps me hard on my arm, startles me to death and announces her tooth is really loose.  I say, GO BACK TO BED!
5 am:  Lily comes back in, "Can you take me to the bathroom"?  Mind you, the bathroom is on the way to our room.  I take her, tuck her in and tell her, GO TO BACK TO SLEEP!
5:30 am:  Lily comes back in our room, "My tooth came out"! 
Guess who was grouchy the rest day of the day besides Lily. :-)
I know, i know, i get up at the crack of dawn for running but don't wake me up early on a day i don't have to run.  Got it?

The other day, Lily asks when her tooth is going to come in.  I told her, it was not going to ever come in because she pulled it out too soon.  She immediately burst into tears and i said, "Don't worry, Mommy will buy you a new tooth....a gold one that will match your earrings".  She started to cry even harder, threw her hands up in the air and proclaimed, "No, i want a white one and who will ever marry me with a gold tooth?  I will look so funny!!!" and proceeded to shed more tears.  Yes, i am a mean Mom and you will think i am even meaner because i laughed the whole time she was crying too.
That evening when Jeff came home, she told on me. 

The next day.  This was the best shot i could get from Miss Grouchy Pants.

Downtown Tacoma.  Remember our shot last year with the letters?  Same place, new theme.
And yes, i put these words together.  I am going to blow this photo up and hang it in each of their rooms.

Hmmm......one of my children is not being kind to me.

And even though she was ugly acting, we still had 'pup-cakes'.
Yup, she's 5 and still calls them this.

My first 'unofficial' photo shoot of my girl Mollee

Mollee and i go waaaaaayyyyyy back.  She was in my very first Sunday school class at the ripe old age of two and is now getting ready to start her senior year of high school.  She stole my heart the minute she walked into my classroom and didn't cry like most of the two year olds did, but gave me a big old hug and hasn't stopped since.  She's been my little buddy, mother's helper, big sister to my girlies, best babysitter in the world, but most of all, someone i am really proud to call my friend.

Today i had the honor of trying to take her senior photos.  We headed out around 5 pm to Chambers Bay and played until 7 pm.  I reassured her that if her photos turned out bad, it was photographer error because she was a natural, the entire time.

Mollee, it has been such a joy to watch you blossom and mature over the years.  Know i am ALWAYS here for you sweet girl.  XOXO

Now here's a sneak peek at some of the 349 photos i took.  Enjoy her lovely face.

HaPpY BiRtHdAy Jeff!

I've had the pleasure of sharing 22 birthdays with my man.  I met him when he was only 25 and here we are 22 years later and let me tell you, Father Time has been kind to my handsome husband.  It does help that he comes from good genes and that i take he takes such good care of himself or could it just be a lot of 'good living'? 

I got up extra early and ran 18 miles in honor of Jeff's birthday on August 23rd. Wasn't that nice of me? :-) I asked him to come home early because we had 'plans' for him. He was hoping it would be fishing but instead we all went for pedicures. That's right, your eyes are not playing funny tricks on you...PEDICURES! Jeff had lost one of big toe nails several years ago and it never grew back just right.  It had literally turned into a hoof. It was time to try and make that toe somewhat pretty again so we headed over to my favorite place and thought we should all join in on the fun. Jeff and my toes and feet got scrubbed and rubbed and the girlies got a fun little color change on their piggys. But having a pedicure was not enough and i scheduled a massage for him afterwards. Hmmm.....what do you think? Was i unconsciously trying to hint what might be nice for my next birthday? :-) He came home all groggy from his rub down and we didn't let him sit still for too long because it was the perfect night to head to Jake's in Steilacoom and eat on the balcony. We had yummy food, drinks and watched the sun set on the perfectly still water. We headed home with full bellies but not too full because we still had a five layer yellow and chocolate cake to dive into. And no matter how overloaded your tummy is, your mouth always has room for dessert. Can i get an Amen?

Girlies with their Super Hero!

Who is that behind those Foster Grants?

Getting lots of help blowing out those candles.

It is so hard to buy the man who has everything or should i say who buys himself everything the perfect gift.  Fortunately, i was able to score a fly fishing casting class on Green Lake online and made reservations for the following Saturday after his birthday.  A funny, while making the reservations.  I asked the owner if he would mind if ours girls tagged along for the lesson and his response was, "Sure, just as long as they don't watch".  Love it! 
I'd only been to Green Lake once when i did the 3 day Breast Cancer walk several years ago and i had forgotten how beautiful it was.  The weather was amazing and everyone was out, walking, running, strolling or whatever got their fancy that morning, but it was buzzing and i loved all of the positive energy floating in the air. 
We met up with our instructor who seemed like such a youngin' but let me tell you, he had the perfect temperament to teach.  So Jeff thought i should give a go at it as well, and since we were still technically celebrating his birthday, i thought i should be extra nice and try it out. Guess what?  I sucked wind.  I could not quit 'flicking' my wrist.  I tried and tried and just could not stop.  So instead of having no sound as my line flung through the air, i had a 'crack of a whip' sound instead.  I quickly claimed, "I don't think fly fishing is for me".  Our instructor swiftly corrected me and said, "Fly fishing is for everyone".  So, i sucked up my pride, gave it another shot and.... sucked wind even more.  And friends, here is my confession, I DON'T LIKE TO SUCK WIND AT ANYTHING!  I tried for a whole hour and felt defeated by the rod.  I wanted to go find a pair of running shoes and run 5 laps around Green Lake just to prove that i don't suck wind at everything, but that wasn't going to happen.  Instead, our instructor Quinton was gracious and attempted to convince me that he could not get fly fishing down right away either, mind you he was only 12 at the time, but needless to say, he 'tried' to make me feel better and it did because i then laughed and that is the best medicine of all to get over sucking wind at something.

Thought we were going to head home after Jeff's fly fishing casting lesson but instead we hung out, ate lunch at some 'famous place' that was not so good, had some really hard snow cones, again, not so good and let the girls dip their toes in Green Lake.We then decided to head over to Shilshole Bay along with the rest of Seattle, to let the girls play a little more in the sand.  We ended the evening with dinner at Anthony's on the deck.  Ahhh........

It was a day where we cherished where we lived.  The water, the sun, the atmosphere and good living..that's what it is...good living and loving, that is keeping my husband looking so darn good at 47!
Happy Birthday Honey!

What the heck is Bella doing here? :-)

Nice form Jeff!

Lily trying to get to the bathroom...fast!

Really, who takes photos in the bathroom?

Yup, i take photos in the bathroom.

Is this sign great or what?

Now Bella is a natural.

Grace's treasures....i know, gross.

Look at all of these pretty flies. The girls were trying to figure out if they would look better in their hair or ears.

Over priced, not so good famous place we ate. 

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Jeff's snow cone.

Shilshole Bay.

My handsome man.

Another perfect sunset.......