family

I'm still building a portfolio of families. This one seems like part of ours!
Here are the Passmores.






I added a little texture here, and I think I like the results.

Thanks Passmores, for always being my guinea pigs!

you scream, I scream....

We all scream for GELATO!
The cafe opened for the Frisco Festival, and I forgot how much I missed it. We savored every bite of the real, home-made gelato with all the authentic Italian ingredients. I had "Rocky Road", Emma had "birthday cake", and Jacob had "Chocolate".

I think Evan took this picture.

And Erin shot this one.


After the yummieness, we walked around looking at the old cars and buying things we didn't need.







When Emma was born, we developed a relationship with the firefighters from the station up the street. They were the first responders to her unexpected home birth. After that, I would often take Jacob to visit them and play with all the cool equipment and sit in the trucks etc. Nathan teases me all the time about having a 'thing' for firemen. When I saw this little contest, I couldn't resist sticking around for a little more yummieness!

more girl days

Emma and I have been keeping our days full while the boys are gone. We've watched lots of 'scary' movies, and played dress-up. We've painted our nails and some artwork, and by "we" I mean 'she'. But I've supervised. She starts back at pre-school next Tuesday. I have to make the most of our last few days with 'just the girls'.






This is Emma enjoying the car line to pick up Jacob after one of our fun-filled days.....

last days of summer.

Because our vacation to Branson was so 'mini' we made the most of the rest of Nathan's time off. When we were home, we watched lots of movies and played lots of Mario Bros.
After a summer of begging me to straighten her hair, I took the 30 minutes and made Emma's wish come true. She also got to wear big girl make-up. That will be the last time for a while....


We went bowling with the neighbors and Anna beat Nathan's score.

And we had one last throw down at Pump-It-Up before school started.

a little vacation

We went on a little vacation to Branson last week.
I had my palm read which was very interesting. Did you know that I'm suppose to be in the health care business....or work in the schools. And I'll live a long long life. It was worth the $10.
We kept the kids busy with jet skis and swimming,Build-A-Bear, go-carts, golf, a water-show, and my favorite...the candy store. We had a lot of fun.













first first first!

Today was Jacob's first day back to school. 1st day of 1st grade. One of the 1st new classes to be at the new school. The school may look a little funny at first, but it's really cool. I had never been in a brand new school, and I was really impressed.
Jacob said that he had a great day. He has a great teacher (it turns out we went to high school together) and a few of the moms I made friends with last year are on staff this year. So I feel like I have some extra eyes and ears....and I think that's a good thing.






as promised...more Kristy.......

First, I have to give a big shout out to the best assistant ever, Emily. She was so helpful and had a great eye for detail. She knew exactly what each picture needed to make it perfect before I could even ask. From straightening the dress, to carrying the dress, to keeping the crickets off of the dress...she was amazing. Thanks Emily!


And then there's Kristy. What can I say? She was so great to let me boss her around for a couple of hours in the most horrid heat. This picture was taken after she hit me in the arm when Emily and I convinced her that if she looked close enough through the crack in the abandoned church door....then she could see the coffin at the front of the room. She's usually not very gullible, but she does enjoy a good ghost story. (And it helped that Emily had such a convincing and innocent look.) Oh yeah, and we screamed and shook the door in unison for the finishing touch.


And I can't forget to thank Nathan's brother Eric for letting us use his cool truck and for cleaning out the huge spiders from this outhouse for Kristy to pose in......did I mention what a great sister she is!?


So hard to pick just a few. She's so beautiful!










so we had a little accident.....

With just a week and 1/2 left before Jacob is safe and sound at school, we had a little accident.
Jacob and Anna came in the house to tell us all that he had a bruise on his arm. When I asked what happened, they both looked a little upset and told us they'd had a wreck in the go-cart. Lori and I took off down the road (shoe-less because we thought it was surely right in front of the house.) and we walked...and walked....it was quite a way down the road. And when we came to the place they said they had the wreck, it took us a few seconds to see the go-cart because it was a little way down the ditch and sideways! We had a few neighbors help us pull it out of the ditch. Our neighbor took these pictures for me. (thanks Shelly!!! Isn't she great at documenting!)
Poor Anna was so shaken. She's a great little driver, but just had a little over-correction problem. I imagine that their initial walk home must have been brutal thinking about all the trouble they'd be in. Of course we were all so happy that they were okay that there wasn't much of a punishment, just better precautions set up. It was a little scary, but they survived with no broken bones and few scratches and bruises. This taught me two things. 1) The go-cart is pretty safe to have kept them intact in what seemed like such a scary wreck. and 2)my baby is still a baby...contrary to what Nathan keeps telling me. I'll be a little more paranoid for at least a few weeks. As far as riding the go-cart goes...Jacob will ride again. Just maybe we'll have a little go-cart safety 101 first.



I was so thankful for strong neighbors and for our neighbor who had a truck to pull us out.

The rescue pick up. (thanks Shelly!)

the beautiful Kristy...

I couldn't wait to post this. My sister Kristy was so amazing to help me today.
I'll post more later. I have a few people to say 'thank you' to for helping today as well.

Michelle and her boys.

Last week I took a few pictures of our friend Michelle and her family.
Her boys are darling! Here are just a few of what we got.









Thanks guys for a great evening!

Camping.....

I went camping with my family a couple of weekends ago.
My brother-in-law cooked a crazy big breakfast, and some of us helped with the eggs.
I think there was something like 3 dozen eggs.




My brother took my sister and I tubing. (Thanks Angie for this picture.) I'm the one in the back (can't see me.) holding on for dear life. Kristy was nice enough to hold me on while she laughed at me.


The beautiful Kristy.

Then we watched our friend Nathan show off some sweet skills. I think next summer I'm going to learn to ski!