My baby turns FIVE!!!

{A whole hand of fingers proudly held high in the air}

If you know my Lane you know she is a piece of work, our little firecracker. So with this in mind, when we saw the 4th of July fireworks cookies on the MS living magazine cover, we knew that would have to be the design for her birthday cookies. With a slight color adjustment requested by the birthday girl herself~ pink, purple and teal~ of course. 

At her 5th b-day celebration Aunt CC braved the heat, not to mention the dangers of fireworks in the hands of children under the age of 10, to give the kids a little firework show of their own.

{Chani won the "fun mom of the night" award}

We love our Girl-Girl more than words can express. She has brought pink and spunk into our world. She spends her summer days rotating through a wardrobe of bathing suits and pajamas, always sporting a somewhat messy ponytail on the side of her head and a perpetual glimmer in her eyes that makes you wonder what she will come up with next. The day I became "Mommy" to this little girl was a day I always longed for and will forever cherish.

Wishing you the happiest of birthdays, my sweet.

Year in Photos~ Week 24,25,26 & 27

So if at this point you are still checking my blog to see if I've added anything fresh and new, then you are either related to me or like me a whole lot, and for that I thank you. Sorry for my absence, but this whole summer thing is really throwing my schedule for a loop and I'm still trying, with little success, to figure out my days.      


WEEK 24 of 2011...

My Mom's sister, Aunt Nisa, came into town for a visit with her son, daughter, daughter-in-law and adorable granddaughter. And in typical fashion, we threw a party including great food

 {Doug's bacon wrapped scallops. Yumm}

and a hefty dose of kid chaos.

{hee hee;) she really was a perfect baby; I think she just wanted out of the chair}

{I took 20 pictures that night and didn't get a single shot of all of them looking in the same direction, much less at me}

We love you guys and are so happy you took the time to come out and see us.

WEEK 25 of 2011...

I spent the week shopping and packing so my family of six could go on a week long vacation to Chicago... WITHOUT a washing machine. Guess what I was doing on Week 27 after returning home from said washing-machine-free vacation? You guessed it!

WEEK 27 in 2011...

Was spent with me trying desperately to return my laundry room to its before vacation condition.

There it is, folks. A glimpse into what I've been doing with myself ALL week. A for real shot of my laundry room on this Thursday night. Riveting, I'm sure. But trust me when I tell you this is a major improvement from how it looked when two huge suitcases filled with dirty clothes were dumped on the floor late Saturday night.

 The laundry is never really done around here, only maintained. I'm a laundry maintainer, it's what I do.

WEEK 26 in 2011...

We had a fantastic time in Chicago, and I hope to get up more pics before too long. In the meantime, I'm remembering my greatest joy of the trip: wrapping my arms around the neck of my sweet, 95 year old great grandma.

{Isn't she adorable?}

{The kids with their great-great grandma}

You never know how many chances you'll have for times like these and I cherished the moments we had together.


Funny story~ As I was leaning down with a smile on my face to hug great gma one last time before leaving, she looked up at me and said, "you have dimples." My Aunt Terri, who was standing beside me said, "Well, yes." "She's had them all her life." "Don't you remember?" With a mischievous glimmer in her eyes, my great gma said, "I remember them on her cheeks, just not those cheeks!" hahaha;) I laughingly assured her that THOSE dimples were still with me as well. Love it!