it’s all about the dress…

…and the shoes??

Not your typical, girly-girl, high-heeled variety. But arguably the most comfortable pair of shoes at the prom!

If you’re on Facebook, you already know the shock I’m going through with the realization that I have a child old enough to go to prom. Well, this momma survived the pre-prom primping, the prom plans and the actual PROM. Whew…glad it’s over, for this year at least.

Bri’s date (just a friend) goes to our church, is involved with the youth group and plays in the band. What more could a mom ask for?

So here’s a few more pictures to take you from “the primping” (thanks Jessica!) to THE PROM…

 

 

 

 

 

The kids ate at Sumo for dinner. And then, where we live, all the parents (and grandparents, friends and other family members) show up at the high school and watch as the prom-goers arrive.

And after an hour and a half (yes you read that correctly!!) of waiting for Brianna and Josh to make it to the front of the line and be announced, this was the only picture I could get.

And believe it or not, of all the shoes we saw, there were several pairs of Converse tennis shoes!

favorite forgotten photos

 

As I was reorganizing my desk at school, I came across my planner from several years ago. And on the cover was a collage of some of my favorite photos from our vacation to California in 2004. Even though the quality is less than wonderful, I thought they were worth sharing.

 

Nate enjoyed his first trip to the beach. I just love this hat. And he had such a sweet, round face. What a precious little boy!

 

Looking at this picture, you’d think these girls actually loved each other once!!

This was taken on our way up the Pacific Coast Highway to Monterey. Gorgeous view. Beautiful girls!

Hope you enjoyed this walk down memory lane.

my 26 pound monkey

 

Twenty-six pounds, fourteen ounces to be exact. Thirty-four and one quarter inches tall.

Today Delaney had her two year old check-up at the doctor. She is in the 50th percentile for everything. I always knew she was perfect!!

She was less than thrilled to be at the doctor. She freaked out when I sat her on the scale to weigh her. She screamed during the entire exam. And then my baby girl, who barely flinched when she got her H1N1 vaccine, cried and cried when she got 2 shots. Good thing for Dora stickers. They are a cure all!!

When we got home, Delaney burned off a little energy in the backyard.

Yep…that’s my little monkey!

sweet life cafe

I just spent a wonderful, much needed weekend away with 50-some other women. No men allowed!! We roughed it in the woods (in air-conditioned cabins, of course), sleeping on bunk beds. It took me straight back to my early adolescence and girl scout camping days.

This women’s retreat, themed Sweet Life Cafe, was organized by a fabulous group of ladies from our church (me being one of them…organizers, that is, not the fabulous part).

 

You couldn’t have a cafe themed getaway without lots of coffee and tea and of course fun mugs! Each person was instructed to choose a mug and then we were grouped according to our mug choices. I chose the whimsical red and white mug above. Interestingly, my BFF also chose this mug. What does that tell ya?

There were tons of door prizes given away. It was a tough decision for those whose names were drawn out of the hat!

Following session one on Friday night, which had a “sweet” theme, we had caramel and chocolate fondue with lots of yummy dippers.

Then we headed out to the campfire (thankfully there was one man there…the camp director…who could build a fire for us!) And we topped off our sweet night with roasted marshmallows and s’mores.

And campfire singing. It wouldn’t be camping without it!

Can you tell what we did next? If you think we were dancing, you are so wrong!

We actually played a game called Upset the Apple Cart. It’s sort of like musical chairs. Except there’s no music. And you don’t take any chairs away.

You have one person stand in the middle and say a true statement about themselves.

If that statement is true about you, you must get up and find another chair to sit in. You can’t sit back in your original chair or in either chair next to you. The person left standing has to say something about themselves and the game continues. I guess you could say we were boogying around to find a chair to sit in.

It was a great way to get to know people better. We played this game until 2 am!! That’s at least 4 hours later than my normal Friday night bedtime! But it was so much fun!

Throughout the weekend, we sang lots of songs…

…and ate lots of yummy food!

We made these bookmarks with a charm that has the bible verse John 6:35, I am the bread of life inscribed on it.

And we did a service project. We made cinnamon pancake mix to give to a woman in need.

This was my cafe group. What a wonderful group of ladies!!

easter 2010

 

Have I ever mentioned how hard it is to get a decent picture of my kids together? Well Easter morning comes early and Delaney didn’t have many any smiles during picture time.

I thought I would get off easy this year and bypass the whole egg coloring thing. But when I mentioned this to the big girls, they were appalled at my suggestion. So on Saturday night, we boiled a few eggs and did the old-fashioned coloring thing with vinegar, water and food coloring.

 

We didn’t hide these eggs though…there were better plans for this batch of hard-boiled eggs.  

 

 

The plan on Easter was to go to church and then find eggs when we got home. But Delaney started spotting hidden eggs all over the living room before church. So we took a break from our primping and went with it. Since I (originally) had no plans to dye eggs this year, we had filled eggs. Filled with goldfish crackers, m & m’s, and bunny marshmallows. Mmmmm!

 

And instead of Easter baskets full of candy, each kid got her/his own towel. I’m sure this seemed pretty lame. Thank goodness they have wonderful grandparents who hooked them up with candy!!

Just so you know, I’m not at all happy with Delaney’s towel. I think I’ll make a new one. I just don’t care for the smaller font or the color of the towel.

 

After church, we found a few smiles!

 

 

We spent the afternoon at my parents’ house. The big girls are working on some knitting projects. They are so talented! I don’t know the first thing about knitting!

It was a gorgeous day, other than a little wind. So of course our outside baby was thrilled. She loves to be outside!