I heart Autumn!

I heart crisp cool weather.

I heart leaves changing colors.

I heart hayrides, corn mazes, and pumpkin picking.

Heck! I just plain old heart all things pumpkin

(jack o' lanterns, pie, cookies...mmm).

I heart sweaters.

I heart hats.

I heart shorter days.

I heart autumn hot-air-balloon-festivals

that-are-too-windy-for-hot-air-balloons

and

autumn birthdays-pretending-to-be-summer-luaus.

But I especially heart princesses and cowboys,

or rather,

one particular princess and cowboy.

(I also heart adding photos in backwards chronological order

...you know,...on purpose...

just to see who is paying attention.)

This cowboy needed a little shut eye on the way to the hoe-down!

It's amazing what a hankerchief and a tinfoil belt buckle
can do to transform a boy into a COWBOY...
but he came up with tough guy look all on his own
-- by taking a tumble a couple weeks before! Augh!


If you know Lily well,
then you probably didn't bother
asking what she wanted to be for
Halloween. :)

This is what happens

when you ask two small children to
"not touch the flags," "stand still,

and

"look at mommy and smile"

on a very windy day --

was it too much to process?

Here's a picture of our happy boy pre-shiner!

And, of course, our happy girl hamming it up!

The weather was beautiful for the luau.

We even had an active volcano!

Our little ballerina

Just a few pics of Lil's last dance classes,

then a few more from her recital.

Isn't she lovely?

And,

YES!,

half the fun of a recital

is:

wearing make-up!

She looks so confident!

Here she is fresh off the stage!

It was so cool to have our family there, too --

Auntie Becca, Uncle Ia and Cousin Marleigh

made a special trip out to be there!

Thanks guys!

(And a special thanks to Grampa

who endured a very LONG ballet recital

just to be there for Lily's

five minutes

on stage...

we only heard snoring a couple of times! :o)

Special hugs with Gramma!

Lily was so proud to have her there

and to show her the award she'd received.

You did a beautiful job Lily!

Phinn's 1st Birthday

The family all came together

to celebrate

Phoenix's

1st Birthday

in May.

We had a simple dinner of

lasagna, garlic bread and salad.

It was so good to see

uncles and aunts

from near and far

on this special day. He was fascinated by the balloons.

(and a little overwhelmed by all the company

thus the serious face)

Lily, on the other hand,

fell in love with Great-uncle Richard

and stayed by his side the whole time!

Cake, schmake...everyone else thought it was great!


He was happy to feed cake to Mommy however.

He knew JUST what to do with a toy truck!
Many thanks to Great-Uncle Phil who provided Phinn
with his first gender-NOT-neutral gift! :o)
It was a hit!

Can't believe my baby is a year old!
So happy he is part of our family.

Better late than never

Some spring photos of my babies on the farm:

Farmer Frank

Frank has kinda taken to this rural life.

He helps with the mowing,

the tilling,

the fowl-ing

(is that a word?)

Here he is letting some of the chicks stretch their legs.

And here he is holding Festus hostage.

Don't worry - he deserved it!

Twinkle Toes

Lily has been taking a

ballet class

since January.

She LOVES it!

Every week

they get to dress up

as a different character.

Did you just say

"ballet"

AND

"dress-up"!?!?!?

Oh yeah!

The Little Mermaid

Sleeping Beauty

Olivia and the red shoes

"Angelina Ballerina"

Phinn's Evil Laugh

Enjoy!