Sisters

I invite you to view a rare sequence of love happening between these two.

Corinne's 8th Birthday

Corinne's been looking forward to today for a long time. Firstly, because she is allowed to sit in the front seat now. Secondly, because it's her golden birthday. And, thirdly, her birthday is her "favorite holiday." We started the day off with school.  A couple of hours into the school day, we were wonderfully interrupted by a Skype call from Brazil. Our friends, the Isaaks, have a daughter that was also born on September 8, so she called Corinne to sing her a happy birthday. 

We had lunch with Matt near his work, frozen yogurt with the cousins, and dinner out with Grandma and Grandpa. We did a quick photo shoot downtown, and came home to open presents. I think Corinne had a great day!!

I asked her to put the laundry from the washer into the dryer. A few minutes later I went to check on her, and found this....

Apparently, this was her solution for not being able to reach the clothes in the bottom of the washer.

First Day of School

 Last Wednesday was our first day of school. Of course, that calls for the obligatory first day of school picture! Corinne was not enthused to have her picture taken...usually she does pretty well for me and is agreeable, but for some reason she wasn't into starting school, and wasn't into having her picture taken. So, in the likes of her Father, she made silly faces instead.

I do like this photo below. This is her face she makes when she laughs at herself. Her eyes close and she does a silent laugh through her nose.

Audie had bought this school dress when we went to Kansas City. She was dying to wear it the exact minute she bought it, and, continued to want to wear it until school started. It was a long 4 days for her, waiting to wear the dress. So, when the day finally came- she was dressed the exact minute she was out of bed.

Here's to another school year!

Lawd. There has not been enough days in the week.
Sorry for the hiatus in blogging, but I'm afraid it may continue a little while longer.
There have been family visits, fishing trips, and another upcoming family visit!
My favorite aunt and uncle came, along with several others! Always a good time with the fam.
Matt had his annual fishing trip with his college buddies. Nothing else to write about here...secret guy stuff I will leave unasked.
We'll head to KC this weekend to see Matt's family. Looking forward to seeing my sister in law!
I've started my photography business!Yep, finally! After years of it being a passionate hobby, I've put a name to it and made it official. It feels great!
School starts on Monday!While I'm not ready for summer to end, I am looking forward to a new change of pace to our days. Audie has been asking to do school work, and her excitement about it is a little contagious. We'll be picking up our new boxes of crayons and pencils this week!

This month is Audie's birthday. I haven't even given it one thought yet, but I will be on it soon! You know me and how I like to celebrate birthdays.

Here's to the last week of summer vacation! We'll enjoy it!

Baptisms, fireworks, and prairies.

Activities around here have been in full swing. I can't believe that in just a month it will be time for school! I don't want summer to be over! 

I suppose I'll try not to get ahead of myself, and just enjoy the remaining days one at a time.

The best news of the summer has been Audie's decision to follow Jesus. Last week, we had a baptism and a pool party following. Nothing makes me more proud as a parent!

The Fourth of July was a lot of fun this year also. We had a cookout and shot fireworks with some of our friends. Selah ended up with a bout of the "Big D" and I had to take her home early. However, my mom graciously offered to keep her so I could go back to the party to enjoy the fireworks. I was anxious to stretch myself to try to get some pics of fireworks, and I think it was a success! I didn't really see the fireworks because my eye was through the viewfinder on my camera the entire night. But I don't regret it! I love the pics we got.

It was brought to my attention that there is a one room schoolhouse not far from here. Since the girls are into the Little House on the Prairie series, we thought it would be fun to make them some dresses and bonnets and go do some pictures in front of the schoolhouse. We took a mini- road trip to see it all. What a fun afternoon it was! Such cool history that remains. The girls thoroughly enjoyed dressing up and pretending a little bit. Not only did we get to the one room school house we were after, we came across a homestead still standing from 1859, and got to walk through some really neat barns.

Several deer, ticks, and hours later, and a spoiled stop for some frozen yogurt, the girls crashed in their beds and slept tip 9:30 the next morning. A day to remember!!

The last 10 days...

The 10 days Matt was gone, went fast and slow at the same time. I don't know if that makes sense, but that's how it was. The first few days we planned activities in the evening time, and the full week he was gone, Corinne went to VBS and Audie went to Theater (day) camp with CYT. Both of them had a good time, and that helped the days to go by faster!

Maybe if you're lucky, Matt will post pics of his Brasil trip.

We went to the Botanical garden one evening. We took grandma, and it was perfect weather. While the girls rush through, I find it nice to read which plants are what, and stop to smell the roses. I'll maybe have to go by myself one evening to enjoy it to it's full potential. Still, the kids like the children's area, everything is hands on and a good experience!

Audie's camp was every day, from 9-3. At the end of the week, she had a showcase performance with all they'd learned. She talked about camp all week, and loved it. I'm happy she had the experience, and a good one at that!

While Corinne was at VBS, and Audie at camp, me and Selah had some good quality time together. I took her to get her ears pierced...

She had been asking for earrings. Several times over the last few weeks. I tried to tell her that it would hurt, but she never grasped that. I was very nervous to take her...she does not do well at all at the doctors office, and places like that. I asked the ladies if they would do two guns at once- over in one shot. They agreed, and that made me a bit more confident to go ahead with getting it done.

She didn't want to sit in the chair, and I knew she was going to cry. I kept reminding her that she would have earrings soon, and tried to distract her as much as possible. Two ladies put the guns to hear ears on each side, and in the earrings went! She flinched, then cried and put her head down and closed her eyes and didn't want to look up. I tried to get her to look at her earrings in the mirror and she didn't want to. Finally, the lady offered her some lip gloss, and that calmed her down.

 After we got to the car, she said, "that didn't hurt" and was pleased with her earrings. Also, she was proud to show them off to her sisters when we picked them up from camp.

Another day, we were invited to go to the zoo with some friends. I was happy to go to the zoo with just one kid...something I haven't done in years!! 

 Selah and her buddy Raef.

By Saturday, I was very ready for Matt to come home! I took the girls shopping at the mall that night, we each got one new shirt/outfit...and then had chick-fil-a for dinner. Matt returned the next day, and we were all happy to have him back!!