Where's the Snow?

We took off this morning to the mountains to try to find some snow for the girls to play in.  It has actually been colder in Louisiana this week than it has been here in Denver this week!  I am not complaining!  After an hour drive into the mountains, it became apparent that we would not be finding any snow without a much longer drive.  We ended up turning up around and heading back home.  Wouldn't you know...when we drove into the neighborhood, we found a patch of snow that was perfect for the girls to play in.  They had a blast and we didn't freeze at the same time!  Perfect!!















I cannot even tell you how much snow Gracie ate today.  She made snowball after snowball and ate the whole thing!




I love all of these pics.  Madelyn started throwing the snow in the air and when I discovered what the sun was doing to it in my camera, I was very excited!










I am in love with these two shots.  Madelyn was just goofing off, but I think these are gorgeous.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I have so much to post! We have been traveling this week, and have been having so much fun. Richard and the boys have been in Kansas hunting, so the girls and I took off on our own adventure. We started the week in MN with some super special girls (pics later). We then headed over to Denver to visit my brother and his family. Richard and the boys drove over from Kansas for Thanksgiving yesterday and left Cade with me to fly back with the girls and I. It has been an absolute blast. Here are some pics from Thanksgiving yesterday. We have so much to be thankful for.

Loved spending Thanksgiving with this bunch.  We missed my other brother, Joel and his family though!













She missed her Daddy :)


Playing Just Dance in the theatre.  So funny!




It was such a fun day. Today we're going to head out to find some snow! The girls are going to be SO excited!!! Lots more pics to follow of all our adventures this week!!!

Senior Pep Rally

What a crazy weekend we had...all centered on Bryce :) Senior pep rally was Friday morning. It was bitter-sweet to see all these kiddos, who I have known since kindergarten, ready to graduate.

Bryce was so excited to finally get one of these senior crowns :)

Love this boy. He's section leader for the French horns.

His buddies. This is the weekend crew. They are lots of fun.

His sweet friend, Alexandra

 My boy :)

My Babies are Growing Up!

It's becoming real...my baby boys are not babies anymore :(

 I am so torn around here feeling happy that the girls are getting older and moving farther from the "baby" stage, but being sad that my boys are also growing up and soon will be leaving the nest. One thing I can say, for sure, I love my boys. I have had so much fun being their mom!

Tomorrow is Bryce's senior pep rally and his last football game. Saturday is his last marching competition... The last time we will see him march with his high school band. I'm not a big cryer, but I'm feeling it tonight.  Braden and I were texting, and he made the comment that I will be down 2 kids before I know it. It just slapped me in the face. I don't want to be down two kids!! I don't want to be down 1 kid! :(

 Obviously, I know this is something that is going to happen, whether I'm ready or not. That's what we want as moms, right? We want our children to be able to leave the nest as confident, capable, productive humans!

It's going to be a long year!! (at least I hope it is!!!)

I want to share this picture of Braden and his girlfriend. He looks so grown up and handsome here! (and batgirl is adorable too!)  SO cute!!

 

Time to Tame the Blonde

Right before I went to China in April, I decided to do the "bleach blonde" look.  I have loved it!  I especially loved it in China :)

However, lately, I think the bleach is seeping into my brain!  I have always had my "blonde" moments, but lately, it's been BAD!  Surely, I'm not that dingy...it has to be the hair color!!!  right????  I'll still be blonde, just not quite as blonde.

I had written down a few examples of my overwhelming dinginess....but I lost the list!!  Lordy!!

I'll let you know if the darker hair works!  Crossing my fingers :)

Gracie Girl

My Gracie Girl.  Holy Moly, does this chick keep me hopping!  One thing is for sure, she lives life to the fullest....ALL.THE.TIME!  Gracie is an easy subject to shoot.  Her inner joy shines through and she was made to model for a camera :)

I have a few stories about Gracie I want to share:

* While at a conference with her teacher, I was told that Gracie often asks the person next to her to do her work for her.  Her teacher will look over and see Gracie kicked back watching her neighbor cutting out her sheet for her.  She used to do this to Wesleigh last year (it's one reason I decided to separate them this year!)  I guess Gracie doesn't care if it's her sister or not :)  It's not that she can't do it...she'd just rather not!

*  I am happy to report that Gracie has only had a few days where she has been in trouble!  I was very concerned about this, but she is doing a good job!  She has a great teacher who truly loves her and appreciates her "spirit" :)  (That is always a good thing!!)

*During the high school football games, our seats are right by the fence that divides the fans from the band.  There is a color guard that stands right on the other side.  They do hand motions that go with the songs the band plays.  Gracie spends the whole game mimicking everything they do.  She is getting pretty good at it :)

*A few weeks ago, you might remember, I was trying to get Gracie to write a "G" correctly.  I literally thought I might pull my hair out!  Eventually, though, she got it and has made big progress on copying letters and words!  We are now working on our teen numbers!  UGH!!  I was working with her the other night and was getting a little frustrated with her so Richard took over.  In the beginning, he was the fun parent...giving high 5s, big praises, etc...  Before long though, I hear, "No Gracie!  What number comes after 10!!"  There might have been a few tears in the whole process, but she got it done eventually.  The next night, she had the same sheet to do again!  UGH!!  I wasn't even home so Richard sat down with her.  Richard asked Gracie what number comes after 10.  Her answer: "thurdee".  Richard explains to her in as many ways as he could that 11 comes after 10.  (She can count to 60, but that is just memorized).  Every time he asked the question, the answer was the same: "thurdee".  She still hasn't mastered those teen numbers, but she will.  We have gotten a big laugh about it all and now have a new family joke.  The answer to any question is "thurdee" :)  Richard must ask Gracie 10 times a day what number comes after 10.  The answers vary, but are getting better.  If anyone else asks her, though, she gets mad and says "You can't ask me that...only daddy!"  lol...

How boring would our life be without this firecracker!!!

LOVE

For a multitude of reasons, I haven't really taken the girls out for a photo shoot lately.  I was happy to get them out there today, and I have to say...they might be some of my favorite images I've ever taken of them!  We don't really have a real "fall" season down here, but these pics let us pretend a little bit :)

This isn't even close to all of them, but these are my favorites of the two of them together.  I love to watch them together.  I really do not tell them what to do.  Sometimes I will tell them to hold hands or turn their back to the camera, but most of their poses are completely them...being sisters.