Card of love...

I got two cards in the mail yesterday, but I have to share my favorite... it's from my nephew Koen... I miss him so much and he is growing up so fast!

Hard to believe that his little baby sister, McKayla will be able to start to color by this time next year!

Thanks for the birthday love!! I will keep this card forever!!

Birthday surprise

So, Wednesday night after my bible study two of my girl friends suprised me by taking me to Red Robin. It was super nice of them to want to celebrate my big 30

(super excited to be at 30!!).

Here is Cori surprising me with several balloons and some dress up!!! I wonder if the motivation was to embarasse me... hmmm...

Yes, those things on my headband say "birthday princess"... and I have some major bling around my neck!

Katrina, Cori and myself after a yummy dessert and some good laughs - thanks girls... I feel the love!!

Enjoying the weather...

On Monday Bill had to work so the girls and I decided to go to the zoo. It was extra special because my grandma (great-grandma to the girls) was able to join us.

The girls with their Great-Grandma Connie, we were so happy she joined us!!

Syrah's favorite animal was the Golden Lion Tamarin - they are SO much fun to watch and have so much energy. Grandma brought her binoculars (the wisdom of a grandma because I had never thought to do this) - both girls loved being able to check out the animals that weren't close enough to view!!

Sadie's favorite this time was the Elephant; we arrived just in time to watch one finish taking a bath. For treats they threw the elephant some carrots and it was lots of fun to watch him use his trunk to pick them up. Sadie kept a journal about each and every animal we saw on our visit so we could share with Dad what we saw.

My favorite was the Jaguar... in the many years since this new exhibit has been complete I have never viewed the Jaguar this close. What an amazing animal. He was napping right near the window and as it appears enjoying the warmth of the sunshine. He is beautiful!

After the zoo we went to have lunch with dad and share our fun time at the zoo. We had a great time!!

house hunting

Haven't had any time to post; nor have I taken a single picture to share. We have started house hunting. We are in it now and activly looking for the place we will soon call home.

Keep checking back for updates on this wild adventure!

Seriously though, in the midst of house hunting (which does take a lot of time); we have had a few laid back days here and there. We have shared meals with friends and with family and have even had some time to curl up and watch a movie (whow!).

Hopefully we will have some pictures to share with you soon!

Snow Day!!!!

This morning I woke up at around 3a.m. with the excitement I remember from when I was young... I quickly got up and went to the window; peeked out and knew... today would be a snow day. It was beautiful and I peacefully went back to sleep. When I woke the girls up, both of them were filled with joy to know they got to spend the day together playing in the snow. I had to capture a few pictures on my way to work:

I love the trees in the snow; there is nothing like it!!

I loved the fact that the sky almost mirrored the fresh snow! We had a beautiful blue sky today!

Syrah was being pulled in a sled by her cousin Ryan and as you can see - she was loving it.

Sadie and her cousin Nicole made this huge fort today; they rolled up huge snow balls and then lifted them onto eachother and packed them in. As you can see there is built in seats!

Here is Sadie at the corner of her fort - look at the size of that snow ball! She is a proud girl!!

Tree

When I got home from working yesterday; Sadie brought down this drawing she had made on the doodle pad; it isn't the best picture, but I had to share...

It says: "This is my love tree and your on the top branch! It was so sweet; I love these little gifts from their hearts!

Sunday we were able to go see the new Veggie Tales; the Pirates who don't do anything with our friends the Caceres's. We had a great lunch and enjoyed the movie (not as well as the last theatre Veggie Tales; Jonah, but still fun to take the kids to a movie). We then came back to our house and played some family games and ate some more! yikes!

Here are the kids: Sadie, Syrah, Samuel & Micah all enjoying some chocolate cake/brownie.

We were too busy playing games to snap many pictures; but I love this shot! These boys are super fun and great friends to our girls! We appreciate them (and their parents too).