photo shoots and bathing suits!

i am so excited about this service project! i feel like Florence Crittenton is such a deserving organization, and the photo project is something these young mothers can have forever. on Saturday, 4 area photographers shot the girls and their children. the Young Women in my ward put the photos in albums. it was so much fun, and such a great way to serve!

our bathing suit/towel drive just wrapped up as well. it was literally miraculous the way it all came together. we gave the girls each a goal of collecting 2 suits and 2 towels or the monetary equivalent. their deadline was May 25. on that day we had about 7 towels and suits, and money to purchase about 13 more. we we thrilled at the response, and glad we could get half way to our goal. now for the miracle: as we shopped for the remaining items, Memorial Day sales, additional donations, and out and out luck helped us get ALL 40. by Tuesday, i had received even more money allowing us to purchase beach bags, flip flops, and sunglasses for all 40 girls at Florence Crittenton. as of today, i have even more money that will go to providing shoes to those girls as well. i have been so overjoyed to reach and exceed our goal for such a wonderful organization. and i think we all learned a great lesson about generosity in the world!

the mud

so, the girls decided to help daddy with some yard work. you know what they say, "a picture is worth a thousand words...."

the future's so bright...

Madeline's new favorite accessory, and of course my favorite, the comparison:

Anna 15 months

play group birthday

so, playgroup has come to an end. we have had so much fun with these kids. we ended things with a big group birthday party. since McGuire, Lucy and Sierra all have birthdays within just over a week of each other, it seemed appropriate. luckily, Anna got to celebrate too. Sarah made these cute cupcakes and Nicole and Mirium made the party so festive with balloons and games.....what did i do? not much, i totally dropped the party ball, but at least the kids didn't notice!

Madeline's sad face

so, lately Madeline has been throwing the most adoreable tantrums. she sticks her bottom lip out, throws her head on the couch, or floor, and cries the saddest, fakest cry known to man. i find this hilarious and have tried like crazy to capture her "sad face" on film. but, when the camera comes out, so does the smile. notice the tears in her eyes, what a faker!

mother's day fun

our mother's day was really fun! i was treated to a delicious breakfast of just about everything in our pantry and fridge, and then presented with beautiful pink roses, and cards from my family! after church we had the Earls over for an easy sandwich buffet. then Eliza and Sam joined us for dress up and more fun. notice i have improved on my boy style dress up clothes. i tied this fabric on Sam like a cape and he became "Super Sam, Cowboy Hero!" this is way better than a king in a princess dress.
incidently, dress up is now one of Maddie's favorite games. she brings this outfit to me almost everyday with a grunt indicating that she would like to transform into a beautiful princess. i love ppretend!

the big castle

so, Anna is finally over crying when her "castles" fall down. it is so fun to see her concentrate so hard and then have so much joy in her accomplishment. here is Anna's great, big, castle!

fathers and sons...and daughter

so, Jason took Anna on the Fathers' and Sons' camp out with our church. as he loaded up her backpack with licorice, marshmallows, pringles, chocolate, tootsie rolls, etc. i added some trail mix and a few bananas and cautioned, "don't let her eat too much junk food." i mean sure, have fun, but watch out! so, when my happy little camper returned home the next day i asked, "did you have fun with Daddy?" "yeah," she said, "i slept in a tent, and i threw up EVERYWHERE!!!!"

Jason said i was probably right about all that junk food. to top it all off, when he finally found some wipes (i didn't pack any since Anna is now potty trained), they were frozen! yes, frozen! it was 20 degrees. they spent the rest of the night huddled by the campfire. long night!

so, i laughed a lot, gave Anna a much needed bath, and then heard all about their big trip. Anna loved the camp fire, sleeping in a tent, and catching a fish!

see, you don't have to have a son to have good times in the outdoors!

thanks to Strongs and Andrus' for the pics!!!!

sister, sister

so, every now and then Madeline does something or looks a certain way that just wisks me in a time machine back 2 years. here she is eating with her dad, something she does nightly.

and here's Anna , doing the same thing (when she was a little younger). they both eat their dinner in their seat, and then beg to be let down, toddle over to Jason, reach up until he picks them up and then open up wide for the next bite. is this genetic?

(Anna's first pizza, 3/15/06.)