Swim Day...

Today was "too hot" according to Anna. Too hot to just play outside. Her and her friends begged and pleaded for me to pull out the old blow-up swimming pool from last year. It's old and dirty and quite frankly seemed like too much work to set up, but I gave in and they had a ball!

@Jen's

Hanging out at my sister's house. (Who has the ultimate backyard.) The cousins all ran through the sprinkler and Ava looked on as she nibbled on some grass.

My girls...

LOVING my new camera!

Anna Jane

My gal pal Jamie took this sweet picture of Anna while her and her daughter were playing outside in the hammock. Thanks Jamie!

At the park

These may be among the last pictures taken with my sweet Canon Elph that we've had for several years. It is our first digital camera. It's done me good, but was outdated 3 months after we got it. I've had a nice Nikon since my photography days in college, but alas it is a 35mm and of no use to me anymore...that is until I get my own dark room. Paul ordered my Nikon D200 last week and it arrived in the mail on Friday. I've been busy reading the book cover to cover and have been having fun playing around with all of it's fun features. Now, if only I could master photoshop!

Birthday Celebration

Paul turned the ripe old age of 31 today! We celebrated with cake of course and a thousand smooches from his ladies.

Before...

Paul went out of town for 2 weeks and the day he left I tore my closet apart. It's layout has bothered me since we moved in 5 1/2 years ago and I'd had it! And since I was going to be alone for awhile, I decided to take on a big project. It was my first time using power tools and shopping for lumber myself. This is the before picture- closed in with little space for clothing and no shoe racks. Very messy and disorganized.

After...

The finished product! I'm so pleased with the outcome. Now I have a lot more room for more clothes/shoes! Time to go shopping.

Easter Sunday

We had a great Easter Sunday. We started off the day with a nice French toast breakfast. Next we found our Easter baskets and gobbled up some candy. We then went to church where the girls all looked so pretty in their Easter dresses. After church we had ourselves a bit of an Easter egg hunt and then headed over to my sisters house for more food and fun. It was a great day...but we sure miss our daddy.

Easter Jammies

Just a quick shot before bed of the girls in their Easter Jammies from Nonnie. Thanks Nonnie!

Balloon Obsession

Among other things, my mom sent me home with a bag of balloons for the girls when I left Louisiana. Who knew Anna would be so delighted over such a small and simple thing. Almost daily she gets up into the cupboard and pulls out a balloon from the bag. She'll then blow it up just so she can watch it fly when let go...over and over again.

Ava Nicole

Today while Anna was at a neighbors playing and Lainie was napping, Ava and I got a little time together and I took her on the tramp. She liked sitting with me while we bounced a bit. She is nearly 9 months now and just starting to want to crawl. Maybe she'll be crawling by the time her daddy gets home.

Little Bunny

Anna had an Easter party today at preschool. With her Easter basket in tow we headed to the park for some fun activities. She made these bunny ears with the rest of her class to wear at the party.

Easter Eggs

The girls and I had lots of fun decorating our Easter eggs Monday night. Back when I was a kid there was only the dye kits, now there are egg tattoos, puffy paints, and stickers. So fun! Paul has been in Alaska on business for a week now and will be missing Easter with us this year, so I took my sister Jana's advice and filled my own basket. (Thank you Easter bunny for my new iPod shuffle! I'm so excited to use it after I officially get it in my basket.) I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter!

Anna's Photos

Anna loves grabbing the camera and taking shots. She was particularly proud of the photo of her shadow. I just love her cute little toes.

Conference Sunday

I realize that Sunday is the day of rest, and I do all in my power to do just that-rest. I refuse to do any house cleaning, dishes, etc. on that particular day (it's a great excuse to get one day off). However, some Sundays, when it's nice out I often find myself weeding. Partly because I need to keep up with my retiree neighbors who groan over every weed at our house, but mostly because it relaxes me. I enjoy the finished product-a nice clean slate...ready for more weeds to grow. :) So, today after General Conference we went outside for awhile. The girls played and I weeded. I nabbed a few shots of them, and Anna took several herself.

Playing...

Ava just loves her sisters. Anna can get her to laugh better than anyone else. On this particular day last week, Ava was getting teeth and not feeling so great, but Anna got some giggles out of her still.