It's A Kid Thing

Emily 2004

There is a picture of me some where in the depths of my mom's  photo albums and I am wearing my dad's shoes and a jacket of his.  I was about the same age Emily is here in this picture.  She looks so much like me that sometimes it is mind boggling.  And yet, in this picture, she reminds me more of my sister.  Go figure. 

Little Man Suit

2007 most likely...but look at him in his little man suit! He was 2.

Wall of Gum!?

When we moved from VA to CA we made side trips all along the way.  One trip was to see my BFF whom I hadn't seen in over 20 years!  She treated us to a place called Rite Made Burgers.  Outside this tiny little place was a wall of gum.  Yes gum.  And patrons were invited to stick their ABC gum on the wall.  I did it! I made an "L"

Kind of gross, but you totally have to do it!  I am so glad I did.

Tell a story about one of your photos! At My Chaos My Bliss.  Thank You Emmy for pointing the way!

Save the Whale!

Can you say, "Beached Whale?"  Just one week before Ryan was born.

October 2005

Moving Day

Waiting for the truck.  2007 The Big Move

Halloween 2003

It's Princess Aurora and Kim Possible!  That year must have been a warmer year since they aren't even wearing jackets!

First Real Snow

Growing up  in Southern CA, I had only visited places where snow had fallen.  It wasn't fresh and untouched.  I had no idea.  I knew it was cold.  And it was fun to sled down a hill.  But I had no idea what it was really like until I moved to VA.  Our first winter there, was a doozy!  2 feet of snow in a span of about 6 days.  For me and that area, that was a lot of snow!

Feb. 2003

It was really neat...the first time.

Two Angels

In my church our children are baptized when they turn eight years old.  Here are my sweet little angels on their baptism days...

Kristin enters the water with Daddy.  October 8th, 2005

Emily after her baptism July 5th, 2008

Then and Now

Kristin and Emily on the first day of school in 2005.  Emily was in Kindergarten and Kristin was in the 3rd grade.  Ryan was....still baking at a cozy 98.6*

That was then....

And this is now!  Kristin enters the 8th grade, Emily 5th and Ryan starts Kindergarten!

It just doesn't seem possible!!

Leaf Piles

Virginia 2004

One of the girls' favorite fall pass times was making leaf piles--before the land scapers came and took them all away--and jumping into them.  One day I had about ten kids in my yard.  

In CA we don't have quite as many trees with leaves that fall...in the fall.  But we are fortunate enough to have one in our own front yard.

The kids can jump in the leaves when they fall...until the land scapers take them away. 

I'm Not Lovin' It

In July of 2007, we moved from VA to CA.  Rich was retiring from the Coast Guard and we had always planned on moving here in the end.  When we journeyed across the country, we made several stops along the way.  The first was OH so I could see my BFL for the first time in 20 years.  It was such a trip!  I just kept staring at her and thinking how weird it was.  And how much she looked like her mom.  Then her daughter came into the room and I almost choked for I was taken back in time and saw my friend captured in her daughter's face. 

In the course of three and a half weeks, nearly a dozen states and 4,000 miles we must have eaten at 30 different McDonald's.  Or so it felt.  So it was only appropriate to take a picture at the last McD's we stopped at just 2 hours from our final destination.  I do not remember what we ate for dinner that night.  But I feel pretty safe in saying that we did not have McDonald's.

A Fairy TAIL Princess

I thought I would use Fridays to go back in time and share memories.  This one goes all the way back to 2003.  Kristin was almost six, Emily was three and Ryan was a thought, but just a thought. 

Rich got a lovely chunk of money bonus by reenlisting and signing to retirement.  With part of that lovely bonus we had a fab vacation like we've never had before which included 3 days at Disneyland and CA Disneyland. It was an exhausting three days.  I had blisters on my feet at the end.  It was a blast though, and I would totally do it all over again!  I was not sick of it at all.  We brought my niece with us.  She was 13 at the time, and I felt like I needed to stand in front of her when perverty old men persons of the male species would oggle stare at her.

Meeting Ariel was one of the many highlights of this adventure.  Shortly after our return home, I thought I would tell Kristin about a real princess.

She looked at me with all her then six year old wonder and asked, "Did we meet her?"  I guess she was too young at the time.