First Days of School

I haven't blogged in awhile, so I thought I would share pictures of the kid's first days of school!


Carson is now in second grade!And here is my MIDDLE schooler! Can you believe he is that old already?!


And here is Alina getting ready for school. Look at how excited she is:
I could not stop taking pictures of her!


It was raining out, so we had to wear our rain jacket.
First time walking through the doors of her new school.I think she likes it!!!

Making new friends!
Ok, mom, let's go home!

What have you been doing ALL summer....

Hamming it up with my baby girl at our neighbors house.
Taking pictures in the flowers weeds, in our backyard. Aren't they pretty?!
Graduating from elementary school.
School's out for summer...
Summer fun with friends.
Bathing suit model.
Derail came to town -

Screaming monkeys!

Fourth of July with the siblings.

and more family...

Concert in the park.






Lining up dollies???
Catching up with lifetime friends.
Birthday parties.
My soccer player in his special "All-Star Game". He is gooood!

Brian's boss & his wife took us on a wine tour for the day.

Our friends had their babies. Good thing we have fruit trees to feed them.

Alina Boo's New Do

I did it! After almost 2 1/2 years of growing her hair, my baby toddler got her 1st haircut.

I was apprehensive at first because she really has such beautiful hair, but it started looking a little scraggly at times, so I knew that it had to be done. I decided to take her to a kid's place, so that she could enjoy the experience to it's fullest extent and what a great choice that ended up being!

We get there and the beautician says "You're not cutting her beautiful hair, are YOU?!" Geez - that is not what I wanted to hear after I wasn't sure about cutting it in the first place. She then retracts that first statement, and tells me that she meant that I should not cut it short, she should only get a trim. OK, that is what I wanted anyways. Please don't make me second guess myself!!Well, let me just say that Alina was such a big girl and very cooperative - thank goodness! You know it can go either way. Phew! She sat perfectly on the squirrel, chipmunk chair (which was some strange unknown animal - take a look at the thing) and enjoyed the moment. She even calmed down a screaming little boy who was in the chair next to her. Poor kid was not having a good time, but Alina knew just how to cheer him up.
At the end of the cut, she got a sucker and a "My 1st Haircut" certificate. How cute is that?!

Now of course, she wants to get her hair cut like everyday!!

Oh, What a Night...

Late December back in '63...hehe (sorry, had to do it)!

Let me start off by saying yesterday was such an eerie day. It started off beautiful, then these crazy dark storm clouds came rolling in. On the North side, it was black and on the South, it was sunny blue skies with white fluffy clouds. Then, out of nowhere, the entire sky darkened and these huge hunks of hail came storming down on us. It was CRAZY!!


This happened twice yesterday. Meaning after the first time, the weather totally cleared up (we even went for a long walk) and then moments after we returned from our walk, the sky became really dark again. Only this second time, the hail was bigger and hitting that much harder. It was really neat. We watched all the action from inside our garage. It was such a sight.

All day I kept telling Carson that there would be a rainbow. We kept going out periodically to search for it. Yet, I just couldn't find one. But do you just ever have that strong gut feeling that it is meant to happen, and you just won't let it rest? Well, after the second storm of the day, the skies opened up and right in front of my eyes, a rainbow appeared!!!!! I was jumping and yelling for joy. I just knew it would happen! Not only did one appear, but two. Yes, there was a double rainbow - wishes do come true.

You see, it wasn't a normal day, in more than one regard. It was also Madison's anniversary. It was exactly 8 years ago yesterday that I lost my beautiful baby girl. Never an easy feat, yet this time, I could not have asked for a more spectacular day. It was the first anniversary that I felt so content and at peace. I am not a religious person, but I felt as though the heavens opened up and she gave me such a beautiful sign gift, with the rainbow, I knew in my heart one would appear that day. And it DID!!! Miracles do happen, even if they are little ones.