A quick and poorly written update

So our vacation went along swimmingly.... I graduated from my tech school and am officially working on a degree in finance and accounting .... The girls are fabulous - as usual.

Disney, although fun, was very different (atmosphere wise) than last year. I can definitely tell the economy has impacted the company, as well as the attitudes of the staff or "cast members" as they like to be called. I have never encountered so many rude and demanding people in my life, and although we had fun, over the next few years we will be visiting other vacation spots (yet to be determined) until the economy improves.

Our vacation is nearly over and this evening, we are heading into New Orleans to check out the sights. They have been getting a tour of the areas I visited in the months following Hurricane Katrina, and are both amazed at the damage. Poor Kate thinks "Katrina is EVIL" and will steal her toys. I have tried to explain that it was a long time ago, but she is not processing this - and is guarding her new Minnie Mouse closely.

I return home to Ohio on Sunday and will begin 2 months of orders at the base in Mansfield. I am hoping and praying this leads into a full time job, but can not be anywhere near certain. If not, I will need to look for a civilian job bargaining in October..... not fun.

I will keep you posted on our progress.....

I still exist.....

As many of you know. I have no excuse for not updating my blog, except for the fact that I have no computer and have limited access to the Internet other than my phone, which does not support blogger updates.

With that said, I am well. Not much has changed, really, since my last update. I am still technically unemployed but currently on active duty with the Air Force in Mississippi right now, so I'm saving money for to live on when I return. As it turns out, this Finance School I am attending will serve me well in the military as well as the civilian world, and I am grateful for this opportunity to be paid to learn. I also appreciate a chance to hit the beach on a regular basis. Last weekend (pictured above) was one of the coolest weekends of my life. I spent the weekend SCUBA diving and sight seeing with friends, and very much enjoyed my stay at Panama City beach.

My girls, who unfortunately I haven't seen in almost 3 months, are also well and greatly anticipating my homecoming. They have been well entertained by my mother and the rest of my family in my absence, for which I am extremely thankful. Most exciting in their little world right now, is the Disney World vacation have planned for the day of my return. We are all counting down the days until this event! The theme for Disney parks this year is "What will you celebrate?" Our trip is going to be a reunion celebration, which is pretty darn exciting! Additionally, I will be extending our vacation by three days and bringing them back to my base in Biloxi, Mississippi for a visit and some time at the beach. I am planning a bonfire on the beach (which the girls don't know about yet) and am also planning to take them into New Orleans to visit the French Quarter, Jackson Square and the Aquarium of the Americas. I will also show them the areas I worked in when I was deployed for Hurricane Katrina and of course, buy them some Mardi Gras beads. It will be a lovely weekend....

Another one bites the dust.....

Just so everyone is aware, I am in the middle of a pity party right now. MedCentral layed me off on Thursday with less than a days notice (actually, about 15 minutes notice) and no severance package. So here I am, another victim of the economy - or at least that's the explanation I was given. I am going on Active Duty in Mississippi for 3 months and am fortunate to be able to go on active duty 3 days per week until I leave, effective tomorrow. My head is still spinning, but in the mean time - I'm just trying to figure out how I will (as an unemployed single Mom) continue to pay my bills and provide for my children. I will be looking at every possible (legal) employment option. (lol) I think it may be time for a career change.....

Wish me luck!!!!!

A girl and her frog.....

I have been thinking of what I can post as updates and really, we are just living day to day and enjoying our lives thoroughly. We have added a new frog to our family. (Are you sick of hearing about our frogs yet?) We came across a Pixie frog at a local pet store, mislabeled as a Pac man frog. What is the difference, you ask? About 20 years life expectancy - about 6 inches and about a pound in weight! Pac man frogs grow to be about 6-8 inches long and live for about 10-15 years. They weigh anywhere from 1/2 to a pound, and get to be a rather large frog. A Pixie (our new frog) is also known as an African bull frog, and is the second largest species of frog in existence. They will live on average 35 years and grow to be 12 inches long and equally as big around. They weigh about 2 lbs. and are often (in infancy) mistaken for a Pac man. We had been debating getting a Pixie for quite some time, but they are typically only available on the internet from breeders. I located one at a pet store in California, but between the cost of the frog and next day shipping, it would have been nearly $100.00 - which was insane. I was very glad to run across one locally and at a reasonable price.

So what can you do with a frog like this? Well in addition to being incredibly cool and HUGE (kind of like Darwin) you can play with it....and apparently, put it in a weebles tree house! These frogs can be quite aggressive in adulthood unless trained to be handled in infancy, so we are getting "Jabba" used to being touched now, so hopefully we can continue to interact with him as he grows. (Molly came up with the name, Jabba because when they're full grown, they look like the star wars character Jabba the hut!)

Finally I must mention - Molly received an A+ on her recent Science test, which was (you guessed it) about FROGS. She was the only child in the class to get every question correct! I spoke to her teacher and she commented on how much this child knows about frogs. She was wildly impressed with how Molly had learned it all hands on, at home. (Yay for MOM!) I told her the funny story about how I had told the girls a few weeks ago that I was taking them to the "all Ohio reptile show" in Columbus, so we could buy some new frogs. She laughed when I revealed that Molly had given me one of the most confused and disgusted looks ever, replying "Mom, that is the most ridiculous things I have ever heard. Frogs are amphibians, NOT reptiles!"

*sigh...... In the words of my sweet Molly, I've been schooled.

Yummm... Frogs!

Last weekend, in the depths of my illness, I begged my mother to drive the girls and me to the "All Ohio reptile show" in Columbus, so I could buy some new frogs for Molly and Kate's bog. As insane as it sounds to go out when I was terribly ill, it should be noted this show comes to town only once a month and this was the only month we were available to go between now and August, hence the urgency. After much debate, we purchased two beautiful red eye tree frogs named Cha Cha (Pictured above) and Ting-ting. These frogs are a wonderfully bright green and Kate especially, loves them. She delights in telling them stories and listening to them call eachother. This bog is one of the coolest little investments I have ever made... It's WAY better than an aquarium!

Fast forward one week:

Out of the goodness of her heart, when my mother came to get the girls ready this morning, she brought a bag of bright green shamrock cookies from our local bakery. As Grandma and Molly were sitting at the table, enjoying their last bites of cookie, a groggy Kate entered the room and declared with shock and total dismay "Grandma!!! You are eating one of our new frogs!!!"

I think my favorite part of this whole "parenting gig" would be the completely random things my girls do, and the random comments they make. I can only imagine the horror my poor Kate must have felt in that moment, when she believe her grandma was eating one of her new frogs - but to her credit, she recovered quickly and laughed along with the rest of us. That's the good stuff....

"I learned what SMUGGLE means!"

Wow, I'm typically better at updating my blog than this. Sorry! Cramming 2 weeks in to one... we went to Niagara falls on Valentines day, and had an amazing time. We had a bit of a fumble though, when we got the Canadian Border and realized we did not have the correct birth certificate for my friends's youngest daughter "A2"" ...she had accidentally sent one of the boys certs with me. FORTUNATELY the border patrol didn't notice or just didn't say anything - and so we were permitted to cross for the day. I will blog more about our trip later...

We have new frogs for our bog... we have 2 red eye tree frogs who are just absolutely awesome. They can be a bot difficult to keep in captivity, but it appears we are doing things correctly, so I hope they choose to live.

I became violently ill last week with Kidney stones, a raging kidney infection and a wicked reaction to my completely ineffective antibiotic. I was down for several days and after a week am finally starting to feel better. I haven't been that ill in a decade. People who are on facebook (which I also discovered last week) noted my long and drawn out whines.

And finally.... poor Kate has strep again, diagnosed by Dr. MOM. I am making an appointment for her in 2 minutes and 19 seconds, and if this isn't strep, I'll eat my coat!

If she is feeling well enough, we will be going back to COSI this Saturday to see the frog exhibit with Molly, Aunt Chrissy and cousin M. I hope and pray she is well enough...

We have a bog...

Greetings friends.... I have to show you our newest project. We have a Frog bog! Otherwise known as a vivarium, or living terrarium. This is a work in progress, as I am still trying to figure out how to create a water feature.

Above is our first green tree frog "Pearl". Kate named her herself, because she has a pearly belly.

Here is Molly looking at the bog last evening. We also have a green tree frog named "honey" because she has 3 yellow spots on her back. (Molly was the name creator here.) We are planning to get poison dart frogs (which are NOT poison in captivity) and maybe a couple of red eye tree frogs. I'll keep you posted!

SOME people find it amusing.....

But I do not!


Apparently, the only person who did NOT get the memo that Mullets went out in the 80's, is my daughter Katie...

As evidenced by THIS!!!

Note, I had just whined a week of so ago, about the fact that Jason cut 4 inches off of Kate's hair. now, Kate took nearly 6!Kate is grounded from scissors indefinitely - for sure until after valentines day - and perhaps until after Easter, since she showed no remorse. Her only other consequence is a logical and natural consequence of her behavior. She will not be getting a princess makeover at the bibbidy bobbidy boutique in August, as her hair will be too short for any of the princess hair do's and I am SO not paying for them to simply apply makeup. My frustration also came with Molly, who had been asked specifically to put the scissors up where Kate could not get to them. Instead, she threw them on her pile of art supplies which were on her bedroom floor. (That's another story.) As Molly's consequence, she now has to pay for her own princess makeover. Actually, she doesn't know it yet, but I won't make her pay for the makeover in it's entirety; but she WILL pay at least as much as Kate's haircut cost me yesterday - which was a pretty penny, as the ONLY salon in town open was in the mall, due to the blizzard like conditions we had yesterday! Molly is earning money by doing wonderful chored like emptying the dishwasher, taking laundry out of the dryer and folding it, emptying the trashcan upstairs daily.... etc. I will make sure she has enough money to cover her fair share, and I'm getting valuable help without whining! This is a win-win for both of us.

AND just FYI, if you *happen* to be a grandparent, or anticipating being a grandparent some day - here are suggestions on conversations to avoid with your grandchild: The names have NOT been been changed to protect the innocent!

"Hey Katie, guess what?!?!? Baby Mario got his first hair cut yesterday! Would you like to see pictures? Oh, isn't he CUTE getting his hair cut? We just LOVE new haircuts, don't we? Katie, guess what.... here are 2 brand new pair of scissors for you, so you can work on your art projects! I'll send them to your house. Katie, while I'm thinking of it - do you want to see more pictures of baby Mario's first hair cut? Isn't he cute?...... now run along and play with your scissors sweetie. Have fun - Grandma loves you !!! "

(I Love you Mom.... but PLEASE - No more scissors !!!!)

Random...

When we think and I mean truly think about who we really are, we come to realize we are simply the sum of our life experiences. Our family, our faith, our work - this is what defines us. It is a delicate dance we do, trying to keep each of these things in balance .

Some people wander through life, never knowing who they really are. I learned who I was at age 27, when I sat in a quiet room with Molly, Emily and my husband; accompanied by Emily's Palliative Care Physician Sarah and a nurse named Marlene. I signed my name to a document known as a DNR, or Do Not Resuscitate order. I held my sweet Emily bravely as Marlene removed the ventilator and without a sound, my Emily passed from this world into the next. In that moment, I was defined. I am a mother, a daughter, a sister and a friend. I am a social worker, an airman, a person of deep faith but also a member of an exclusive club - a club I never wanted to be a part of...I am a bereaved parent and for a while - that is the only thing that defined me.

In our same small room, another defining moment was taking place. Marlene, the RN who was caring for Emily was re-evaluating her career. I had not known (as she sat there with us explaining what the outcome of our decision would be) that this was the first time she had been part of removing a child from life support. This was my first death, but it was also hers. Following Emily's passing Marlene stayed with us, helped us to bathe her, dress her and take pictures of us with her. As she did when Emily was born, Marlene also held Emily on the day of her death. She stayed four hours past the end of her shift to hold my lifeless daughter in her hospital room, while they waited for the funeral director arrive, so he could bring Emily back to Mansfield. This she did to honor my only wish, not to have Emily's body taken to the morgue. While these actions may seem unusual to some, you must understand - when you have only days with your child, you work to create as many memories as possible, to sustain you through your grief. Marlene understood that, helping us in immeasurable ways.

It has been nearly five and a half years since that day, and I have never forgotten Marlene's kindness. Her picture adorns my most special page of Emily's scrap book. Marlene's presence on that day seemed like such a random event at the time, but I now know it was anything but.

While volunteering at our local Children's Hospital this weekend, I was asked to page the Palliative Care Nurse Practitioner on call, because in addition to the 12 patients I was already scheduled to see, there was a critical case I may need to check in on. I was told to go to the PICU station 3 and the Nurse would be there to talk with me about the situation. When I walked around the corner, I was greeted by our Marlene! We were equally shocked and surprised to see each other. Even though it had been five years, we recalled the events of Angel Day as though it were yesterday. In listening to Marlene reflect on my daughter's life, I became acutely aware of what a tremendous impact my Emily's life has had on others. As Marlene expressed her affections for my daughter, I learned she had requested to be placed with Emily that day. I was unaware that she had cared for Emily on the day she was born, as her primary nurse in the NICU. Marlene had spent the night with Emily, holding her in my absence and gazing (as she put it) into her "expressive green eyes". Marlene laughed as she reflected on how much personality Emily showed that evening and commented that she just fell in love with her that night. It was NOT random that Marlene was with us on Angel Day - but even Marlene didn't know what the impact of her decision would be, when she requested to be with us.

As Marlene worked to ensure Emily's passing was peaceful, her actions solidified her belief that palliative care was the path she wanted to pursue in her career. Marlene enrolled in a masters program, excelled, and three years later, was hired by Emily's physician "Sarah" as the first and only CNP on the palliative care team. Marlene told me she has never been happier.

As I hugged Marlene, I expressed again how appreciative I am for everything she did for my Emily, as well as the rest of our family. We cried together as she told me again how much being with us on that day impacted her. Before we left the hospital on Angel day, Marlene had promised she would remember what happened that day. She promised she would remember our Emily forever. Her words echoed in my mind as Marlene made what seemed to be a random statement... she said "And I have never forgotten Emily. Her picture you gave me is on my mantle, as a daily reminder of why I do what I do. Thank you again for letting me part of your powerful, powerful day." What a beautiful promise she kept.

I can not begin to fathom all of the ways my Emily has impacted this world - but it makes my heart sing to know how much she is still working in the lives of others; because I still feel her working in mine. It is a reminder to me that nothing in this world is random. It may seem so at the time, but each life event is a gift, given to us to learn from. It all depends on how we choose to use it.

And the planning begins....

Really, I don't know who is more excited about our Disney trip this year.....It *may* be me, actually. The picture below is of our closet downstairs. We took inventory of our Disney Princess costumes last evening, and it appears we have all of the princesses (and even a few extras) covered. From left to right, we have Giselle from enchanted, Pocahontas a Hannah Montana Costume, Jasmine, Mulan, belle, Minnie mouse, Cinderella, Arielle, snow white and Sleeping beauty. We do not have tinker bell, but we may remedy that before we go.


Molly is going to be Mulan and Kate is going to be Sleeping beauty for their makeovers. How exciting for them. I have a wonderful list of special Disney treats that you have to have "insider knowledge" to find out. For example, if you're on the first raft over to Tom Sawyers island and you find one of 6 paintbrushes with dried whitewash on the bristles, you get a special prize. If you're the first child into the Tinkerbell's gift shop after opening at magic kingdom, you can ask to "wake up Tinkerbell" and you also get a special prize.....

This year, Disney will be especially fun because we will be taking Molly's best friend "A" with us (referred to as "A1" in my Niagara falls post.) "A" will be 13, and so she will be wonderfully helpful when it comes to us having an even number of people to ride rides. "A", although very quiet and reserved, is quite a daredevil with roller coasters, and so I'm hoping that "A" and Molly will ride a few things together that perhaps Molly wouldn't have ridden by herself. We will be getting "park hopper plus" tickets, so we will have 5 days at all 4 Disney theme parks, as well as Blizzard Beach, Typhoon Lagoon and Disney Quest! I am perhaps looking forward to this trip more than any other - because we will be able to do more. My little Katarina is 39.5 inches without shoes, so she will definitely be tall enough to get on ANY 40 inch ride in the park, without issue. She is wildly excited about this. We will be having one character meal while we are there also - and this will be a princess breakfast at Epcot. After speaking to "A" and "A's" mother, I have come to accept that she truly does NOT want to have a princess makeover. *sigh. I know the day will also come when Molly will not want to have a princess makeover, but I'm NOT in a hurry for that day to arrive. HOWEVER, if "A" changes her mind, I would be HAPPY to treat her to a makeover.

I know that at least half of the joy of a vacation is in the planning..... And so the planning has "officially" begun.....

The JOY of reading

Thanks to a wonderful Christmas gift which arrived last evening, my lovely daughters spent their time immersed in their new magazine subscriptions - compliments of my Aunt and Uncle in Illinois. I snapped these pictures while they were checking out their new mail. I was especially thrilled that both magazines (Lady bug and cricket) arrived on the same day - so no one was disappointed that the other received mail and they did not. Kate turned the magazine over immediately and noted that it read "K-A-T-I-E" so it was definitely for her, and no one else!

Both magazines are wonderfully age appropriate and each girl is delighted with their gift. I recall my Grandma buying me a subscription to "Zoo Books" for my birthday, which I dearly loved. I saw in them yesterday, the excitement I used to have when my magazine would arrive in the mail and I'm so very glad my girls have received such a lovely gift.

THANK YOU Aunt J and Uncle L !!!!!

A touch of summer....

The girls and I spent the day on Saturday at the Franklin Park Conservatory, escaping from the grasp of winter, if only for a few hours.


Molly rejoiced at throwing a coin in the top of the fountain

Kate was enthralled with herself, admiring her image in a very large mirror

Both girls (from a distance) enjoyed the "Sticky buns" succulent exhibit

I found myself relaxing by the Koi pond

And there was much time for hugging.....

It was an all around GREAT weekend!

Vacation plans.....

It is officially decided.... we are going back to Disney world this year! Every year, I say "Next year we're going somewhere else".... then we get a cold snap and I start thinking I sure could handle being at the happiest place on earth. Hmmm.... it's all down hill from there. Actually, this weekend I discovered that DISNEY is making the military families and offer I can not refuse, and our vacation will cost less than 250.00 for all 3 of us to have 5 days of park hopper and more passes - PLUS I also can get us into Sea World for a day for free - so basically, I'm just paying for the hotel costs, which is also relatively inexpensive. We stay at www.shadesofgreen.org and if you haven't heard of this hotel, you should check out the gallery. It's pretty amazing.

Sooooo.... we're deciding which character meals we want to go to, and of course we're having another princess makeover at the bibbity bobbity boutique.... and life will be grand for us. We'll leave as soon as I get home from Mississippi, which will be lovely. The girls are wildly excited and the Disney Vacation Planning Video is in our DVD player. This year, we'll be hitting the water parks pretty hard, and the girls can't wait. We bought matching bathing suits, sunglasses and flip flops at the Gymboree last evening and the girls wore them all night long. Now THAT was cute.

***Oh, and for the princess makeovers - Molly wants to be Giselle, and Kate swears she wants to be Cinderella again. We'll see what Kate ends up doing - I guess it's her makeover, but she DID just get a lovely Snow White costume.

A whine......

I don't usually gripe or whine on this blog - nor do I EVER post about my personal relationships- but today, I feel like it - so here it goes...

My first post surgery weekend (other than having guard drill) was relatively uneventful. I did however, learn my former boyfriend who I had been seeing exclusively since early this spring, has been seeing someone else since August. Ouch. This is slightly frustrating for me, as I did not break off the relationship with him until about a month and a half ago. I would have thought (at 48 years old) he would have been beyond that type of stuff - but at the same time, I also learned the girl he is seeing is only 19 - so I guess he was too excited and just couldn't help himself - Poor guy. Anyway - I have other comments on that subject which I will not post - mostly because he's not worth the energy I would expel typing them. THIS IS WHY I AM STILL SINGLE ....

I woke up feeling significantly better today, which is lovely - although I am still sore and amazed at how slowly my body is recovering from this surgery. (Bring on paragraph 2 of "the whine".) I did have a nasty reaction to my pain meds and so I spent most of Friday evening and Saturday being violently ill, and I'm sure that had a dramatic affect on my abdominal pain. I did NOT shovel snow this weekend - although I probably would have, if I hadn't had the vomits.

I started my week with my girls last evening after drill, and Kate promptly jumped on me this morning, sending a shooting pain through my abdomen that I am still recovering from. (I'm continuing my whine into a 3rd paragraph! Can you even believe it?!?!?) Unfortunately, I dropped her immediately when she jumped on me, and so we started off the morning with tears on both of our parts (although I waited until I got in the car, so she wouldn't see me and feel bad...as if my 4 year old has any empathy for me in the first place.) Anyway, I'm not winning any "mother of the year" awards today - just fyi.

ALSO, I discovered that my ex husband took Kate to get her hair trimmed this weekend, and after I had specifically stated I was trying to grow her hair out, so please don't cut it - he had them take 4 inches off! What a jerk.

Since I see no reason to subject you to five paragraphs of whining, and clearly I have nothing good to say, I will shut up now.

Surgery update...

Everything went fine with my surgery yesterday, and I'm feeling really good about the whole event. My Mommy went with me and brought me home, which was lovely. I had originally thought I would just rather do it all by myself and get it over with, but it was nice to have her there. It kept my mind off of what I was actually doing. I am certain I made the right decision.... I have spent a great deal of time praying about it..... several others don't seem to understand though, and had been urging me not to have the procedure. Not helpful.

Anyway, I got home at 3:30 and went to bed, where I remained until 7:00 this morning, when I got up and came to work. The only minor incident was when my incision popped open last night. I called a friend (who happens to be a physician) and was told that if it's been more than 4 hours post surgery and it's just "the skin" that came apart, there is nothing they can do and closing it again will cause an abscess, which will require more surgery! I guess the moral of the story is, be careful cleaning your incisions because if they open, you're screwed. Oh well... Other than that, life is grand and I'm looking forward to guard drill this weekend!

My family is complete...

Or at least as complete as it can be, I have determined. I have been thinking about my plans for my family’s future, and trying to learn from the past. Five years ago, my husband moved out while I was pregnant with Kate, shortly after Emily died. Four years ago this month, Molly, Kate and I completed "the divorce transition" by moving into a townhouse in Ontario... I started "living" that day, and have never been happier. Still, I had always imagined I would be single for a year or two, then meet someone amazing, fall madly in love, get re-married, have another baby and live happily ever after. That was my plan – but plans change.

Roughly a year and a half ago I found myself pregnant. I didn’t tell anyone except for my friends Jeni and Aimee. Admittedly, it wasn’t an “ideal” situation, but I’m quite accustomed to that. After I got over my shock, I was wildly excited and began making plans for my new little one! I was trying on maternity clothes, looking at bassinets, choosing baby names and joyfully admiring my subtly changing figure. I had a plan for our lives - and it was going to work out beautifully. Then my baby died. I often wonder what life would be like today, if my Olivia Emersyn had been born alive. She would be 7 months old now and a pure delight to each of us, I know. Still, her brief presence in my life made me certain of one thing… I cannot endure another loss. I do my very best to cope with the difference between what I wanted my life to be, and what it actually is. However I know for sure, when I have more children in Heaven than have survived here on Earth (and after 5 pregnancies, we discovered there is a genetic reason for that) it’s time for me to quit. I have other medical issues, which have been a significant factor in my decision as well. I am still very open to the idea of having more children in my life…I would very much welcome that through adoption or remarriage. I’m just done birthing them.

I am having surgery tomorrow morning at 11:00am, to ensure I do not have any more pregnancies. I *believe* I will be just fine with this emotionally…. I really do. But, if you happen to have a few prayers available, I wouldn’t mind you sending them up for me.

I am attaching a picture of my new tattoo I got on Emily’s 5th Angel Day, in August. This is SO incredibly special to me because of it’s symbolism. Obviously “Hope” is Emily’s middle name, but it has become the theme for my life. The sunflower represents a phenomenal experience I had in Spain one afternoon, when I felt a tremendous closeness with my Emily. Each green leaf represents one of my children, and the two beside each other represent Molly and Kate, growing up together. You have to look hard, but the initials M, E, K, G and O are also in the design, representing Molly, Emily, Katie, Gabriel and Olivia. I thought it was pretty awesome and it’s always with me even, though it’s covered 99% of the time. It’s for me, not the world to see – and that’s just fine.

How to paint a cat

In case you were wondering how we spent our new years eve this year, we were at my friend Aimee's house, painting her cat. Between Aimee, her triplets, Molly, Kate and Me, the cat had a REALLY good coat of food coloring on him before the evening was over. As it turns out, cats (at least this one) don't seem to mind being softly stroked by a silky paint brush. Our cat actually fell asleep during the process. Let me just say.... you haven't lived until you've painted a cat!

I forgot to post...

I guess this shows how busy I've been. I forgot to post our family pictures we had taken in October. If you want to see them, you'll have to log on pretty quick... as they disappear after 90 days, which will be up around the 8th, I believe.


http://www.photoreflect.com/scripts/prsm.dll?eventthumbs?event=01WA4OF7&b=0&t=-1&start=0&password=gurik

These are the very best pictures my girls have had taken, and I just dearly love them..... They're SO cute.... I have such a nice little family.


****Edited to add: Katie took the picture of Molly giving me bunny ears. I loved it so much, I ordered it in a 5x7! Molly is so proud to have her witty humor displayed, and of course Kat always announces that SHE took that picture at the studio, all by herself - which is totally true. The photographer handed her the camera and told her to point and shoot. She did quite well, if I do say so myself.