a few of her favorite things

Kaitlyn had a great birthday with a few of her favorite gifts.  I love that this was her VERY favorite........

Happy Birthday Miss Kait

 I can't believe my baby is 6.  She had a great birthday.  Blueberry pancakes for her bday breakfast.  A mani/pedi with mom as well as cupcakes for her class.  But the celebration doesn't end there...dinner at her favorite place "the Bean Burrito Store) a.k.a Rosa's and banana splits at home.  Plus, Chuck E Cheese and a sweet little tea party to end the day.  Happy Birthday baby!  I LOVE YOU! 

great weekend

I had a GREAT weekend visiting my grandma.  That is my FAVORITE place to be... we shopped at the "Dead People Store" and found LOTS of OLD COOL stuff with TONS of history behind it.  Oh the STORIES these objects could tell.....

Busy week

What a crazy busy week, between work, drum lessons, bible studies, DANCE, soccer, softball, dr. appointments, walking dogs, chores, homework, dinners, laundry and quality time with my kiddos and hubby....SO BUSY but I wouldn't trade it for anything.
CRaZy, BeAuTiFul!!!!

We had a great valentine's day

We had a fantastic valentine's day.  Brenton brought home chili's take out for his ladies.  (we use to do that when we were dating ) and we had a little Vday picnic in front of the fire. The girls got new Webkinz and they can't wait to start playing!  I LOVE mi familia!

Playing catch up

Sunday 2/13 Kenzie was so excited to go hunting with her dad.  Brenton shot it but Kenz loved posing with it.  I love her...she is so TOUGH AND FULL OF SPUNK.  I love her giving heart & passion.  She is going to do GREAT things.  

Kaitlyn and I got to spend the day together and all she wanted to do was look at herself in the mirror.  I love my little DIVA...her heart is SO full of JOY.  I hope her confidence stays with her through all aspects of her life.  Not only confidence in her beauty but in her strength and intelligence.  SO blessed by my girls.  

shopping & creativity...a couple of my FAV things

I enjoyed a day "junkin" with my mom and NOW I am ready to CREATE some awesome things with my new found TREASURES!!! "to create is to make happiness" -unknown

my hubby ROCKS

2.11.11 My hubby surprised me with a very romantic DATE night. He is always good, but this time he went above and beyond to plan out a not so ordinary, VERY romantic night full of things he knew I would LOVE. I love after all these years that we still get dressed up, talk & laugh & ENJOY each other's company. I am VERY BLESSED! Brenton, YOU ROCK! I LOVE U!

snow...STILL

2.10.11 Snow is STILL everywhere, which we are not use to. We can get 5 ft of snow and it will be gone by noon. Which always makes Kenzie SO mad...so the snow is STILL here, it is STILL hard to get around, and my girls STILL LOVE it...I guess that is all that matters!

SNOW MUCH JOY

2.09.11 Just Catching up on blogging! We had an awesome snow day! I could not keep the girls inside! Every time I told Kenzie it was time to come in and get warm she would offer to shovel the sidewalk just so she could stay out. They love going out and PLAYING forever! If I don't have skis or a 4wheeler I can only last a few minutes. Luckily, I had my BIG ZOOM lens so I could stay warm and still get shots of my girlies...even Kloey!

(photos edited with actions from Paint the Moon they are awesome...go check them out!)

blessed

so busy, but so blessed!

SNOWDAY

We had a GREAT SNOWDAY...LOTS & LOTS of SNOW fun, hot chocolate, books, movies, and the best of all....building a FORT and PLAYING, PLAYING, PLAYING.....SO WISH we could have another snowday tomorrow!

Think before you Speak

My girls, particularly my oldest (my mini me), does not always THINK before she speaks and we have talked about this A LOT lately. I use to do this "experiment" with my ED kids (minus the bible verses :( ) SO they got to squeeze out a whole tube of toothpaste, which they thought was SO COOL! Then they had to have a race to see who could put the toothpaste back in the tube the fastest....yeah my oldest is a bit DETERMINED and COMPETITIVE. Then when or IF they realize it CAN NOT be done....that is when you talk about toothpaste being like hurtful words...can't take them back. That is why God wants us to think before we speak (Proverbs 15:28), to CONTROL our words (James 3:2,5) and to make our WORDS and THOUGHTS (even the things we say to ourselves) to be pleasing to HIM (Psalms 19:14) I thought this was a GREAT lesson for them and for me.

my snow angel

OH It's Monday...

We had a great, but Lazy Superbowl Sunday and NOW it is already Monday.....Brad Paisley describes me best in the verse from She's Everything when he says "she's a church girl on Sunday and a cuss word 'cause its Monday"...sounds a bit hypocritical BUT unfortunately it FITS....

I hope to get over my Monday Blues and get some more pictures posted and maybe some DIY projects...Have a HAPPY Monday!

PLAY

The temps dropped fast so we didn't have long to play. Then we ended our day playing battleship by the warm fire. Great day!

We had such a great Saturday. We went to a new place in town The Ruffled Cup and enjoyed some delicious gourmet cupcakes...then we played at the park before the temperatures dropped. I LOVE enjoying simple Saturdays with my family!

I need to 4:8 my thoughts today (Philippians 4:8)

I am focusing my thoughts on SOMETHING GOOD!!

My top 5 SIMPLE THINGS that make me HAPPY!

1. summertime

2. photos

3. CREATIVITY

4. thunder

5. Music
Focusing my thoughts on one HAPPY moment from this CRAZY week...I am so proud of one of my students for the progress he has made this year. Knowing where he started and what he may deal with everyday, from where he comes from...even the smallest steps of progress are exciting! He has come a LONG way and THAT makes me HAPPY!

Snow Day Blessings

Since everyone else in the world seemed to be getting a SNOW DAY we decided to take our own snow day...even though we really didn't have snow! BUT it was -30 so snow or no snow we needed to stay home! We stayed in our jammies all day, cuddled by the fire, played games, & read books. PLUS Kenzie made us breakfast ALL BY HERSELF and it was PERFECT!

I am not big into New Year's resolutions...why set myself up for failure year after year?? :) Instead Instead I set goals as I grow and learn throughout the weeks. BUT this year I am making a resolution to: 1. spend more quality time with my family instead of focusing on my "not as important as it seems" TO DO list 2. Document our everyday blessings as we CAPTURE LIFE 3. get out from BEHIND the camera IN FRONT of it every once in a while so I am actually documented in MY life!! 4. PLAY more EVERYDAYAs a scrap booker, I not only want to pass down the important events and beliefs we have BUT I want my future generations to know our everyday happenings and thoughts as well. As a photographer, I have WAY TOO MANY photos to scrapbook all of our everyday blessings SO what better way to CAPTURE LIFE than through a blog!
SO here is the beginning of my New Year's Resolution... just about a month late! :)

Kaitlyn playing teacher...reading me a story.