Ahh, Isn't he cute?

Ray rarely takes a good picture, but this one's not so bad. He asked me to take his picture for work. And I have to say he looks pretty dang cute! ;-)

The Queen of BedHead

Every morning, without fail, Emily wakes with a head full of hair like this:



I used to think that it was because she went to bed with a wet head, but it looks like this even when she went to bed with a tamed head.



It only seems to be a problem for Emily. Hannah is very rarely plagued with this affliction and even when she is, it's not as bad.



It never seems to bother Emily, though. She's more than happy to go about her day looking like she was related to Medusa.



It drives me crazy at times that her hair is like this, but I have to say, even with this unruly head of hair, she is still pretty darn cute!

Sharin' the Snuggie

Awww, look at them sharing...such a rare moment...just had to capture it on film! ;-)

He's baaaack!

The girls found a turtle last summer in the back part of our yard. Ray suggested we put a nail polish mark on its back so that if we found a turtle again, we would know if it was that one.

Well, they found it.

Sunday, they came storming into the house screaming, "Mom, Mom, look! It's our turtle! It came back!"

Sure enough, the sparkly pink nail-polish was still there. I made them take it outside where Emily began to tease Hannah with it.

It's funny to watch Emily comfortable handling this creature and Hannah scared out of her wits!

Mr. Turtle, however, wasn't very happy; he did not emerge from his shell. Can't say I blame him with Emily shoving him in Hannah's face and Hannah squealing like a little girl. If I had a shell, I would have crawled in it too!

Party #2

Last night was Emily's second birthday party--this time, with my family. She thoroughly enjoyed all her gifts from her jumpropes (which she was outside using at 9:00 this morning)



to her Snuggie from Aunt Vickie (Emily has talked non-stop about the Snuggie since seeing it on TV at Christmas-time)





to her Guitar Hero for her DS game from Aunt Sue and Uncle Ed (the picture, unfortunately, doesn't show her inital reaction of jumping up and down screaming)



to her other DS game from Aunt Jo and Uncle Brian (which Emily saved for last so she wouldn't be staring at it the whole time).



Even Dad got into the Guitar Hero game



Uunt Sue and Uncle Patrick brought baby Mya to the party marking her first outing outside of the doctor's office.



We all took turns holding this sweet, little bundle.









I have to say that Emily had a great time. It's so fun to watch her enjoying life so much. She was full of excitement and appreciated every gift she got. Even though she has a pension for throwing fits and being stubborn, Emily is a bright spot in my life!

She's 7!

7 years ago this little pip-squeak came into my life, and I thank God every day for sending her to me.

We let her pick a place to eat, and she chose

where we ate good food and had a good time hanging out together.

At the end of the dinner, they brought her some ice cream with a candle in it, and Hannah and I sang "Happy Birthday" to her.

She was such an excited, happy little girl today. Thanks to all who called to wish her a "Happy Birthday".

Almost 7

This weekend we had one of Emily's birthday parties. The Durbins came over on Saturday for dinner, cake and ice cream, and of course, presents!

Some of her favorite gifts:

a webkin,

money,

and a Lite Brite.

All day she kept asking about her party and her possible gifts. When it came time to finally open them, she started jumping up and down in pure excitement. She has been counting down the days until her birthday since January...It's hard to believe that it's been almost 7 years since my baby was born!

Meet Mya Mary Elizabeth Wright

Mya made her scheduled debut last Monday via C-section.

Ed was the first visitor in the day, and then me, Jo Ann, Brian, and my mom arrived around 5:30-6:00.

Mom and baby are doing well.

Together they make one sweet, little family!

What did your dad look like?

That's what Emily asked me as she was doing her homework tonight. I was in the kitchen getting dinner ready, and she was in the family room at the coffee table. I didn't know why she asked that question until I was looking over her homework.

One flower is empty on her family tree.



She doesn't remember what he looked like. She was only a little over a year old when he passed, so I guess she wouldn't remember, but it's just so sad to me to realize that my daughters will have no memory of the man who left such an idelible mark on my heart. No memory of the man I think about often every day.

The man I miss more than anything in this world.

It just doesn't seem fair.

A Few Pictures

So, I'm still working on little Mya's pictures, but here are a few that I thought were cute. The first two were taken at Sue's house for our joint birthdays (me and Patrick) and the last one just this Saturday at Sheena's house.










I don't really like the way the flash washes Aaron out, but I haven't figured out how to fix that yet.

Some favorite outdoor shots

I've been eding some pictures I took this winter as well as last summer in Photoshop Elements and these are my favorites:

I took these pictures during our "big" snow and ice storm in January. They are the berries on our tree in our front yard:





This next picture is from the Nature Center this summer; I haven't edited it yet; I kinda like it the way it is...



Next are two pictures of different flowers:

And I have to say this next one is one of my absolute favorites...

You can even see it's tattered wings!

And of course, I can't go without a picture of one of the girls...this is Emily in the Nature Center. It looks better larger...I tried to make it larger for this posting, but it became blurry.



I have several more that I am working on and some pictures of our new niece Mya Mary Elizabeth Wright coming soon...