Call me "Curly!"!!

How could Bren and I let our time together go by without having a "girly night"?

Last week I bought some sponge rollers

and Bren could not wait to sleep in them

and wake up to springy spirals.

So after a long bubble bath



where she played until her feet got all pruny,



I rolled her hair in 28 sponge rollers.

She looked so cute in them and could hardly settle down to sleep she was so excited!

I had no idea of the power of 28 blue sponge rollers!

But look what they did!!!!

They transformed her hair into millions of tiny spirals!!

At first Bren wasn't sure if she liked it or not.
I kept telling her that we could wash it out and start over but this time we'd roll them looser.

But the more we played with it, the more she liked it!

We settled on a big poofy ponytail and she was as happy as a clam!

"Just call me Curly today, mom" she grinned.

Here are some black and whites from this morning that I liked.

I think I really like this look on her and will definitely roll her up again.

I might try to use fewer rollers and roll bigger chunks of hair next time to see what we get.

And you know this can only mean one thing.......

Yup!

I'm having company!!

They should be on their way from Spokane very soon!

My friend Linda, her daughter Katie and her sister Jennifer will be arriving tonight.

Tomorrow we'll go pick up Linda's mom and other sister at the airport in Seattle.

The five of them will leave for a trip to Canada on Friday.

They'll spend another night with me on their way back from Canada.

Tomorrow is also my wedding anniversary.... 16 years!

In 35 days......

Sigh.

As if I needed another reminder that Bren starts school in 35 days,

my favorite designer Lisa sent this back to school themed set to us to model this week.

Isn't it adorable?!

Bren is beyond excited to be a big kindergartener.
I'm sure the excitement will only increase
as we go school supply shopping for all the essentials a rookie scholar needs.


She's ready.
Very ready.
But.
I'm.
not.
Well, I am, but I'm not.
It depends on the day.


I'm sure that many of you mom's who have sent your last ones off to school
can relate to the mix of emotions.
It's a dizzying blend of joy,
pride, fear, relief, regret,
anticipation and expectation
with a splash of worry.



Do you think they will let me go with her the first day of school?

Nah....that would be overkill, huh?

As much as I think Bren would benefit from a full day of school,

it's a very good thing that we get to ease into this transition slowly for my sake.

Washington only offers half day Kindergarten tuition free.

So she'll only go for three hours a day.

That's hardly enough time to get home,

edit a few photos,

do a few dishes,

scrub a few bathrooms

and fold a load of laundry or two.

I'll be fine.

So, armed with thoughts of a clean house and uninterrupted photoshop time,

in 35 days

I'll put on a really big smile, choke down the tears, chide myself for even thinking of crying, choke them down again and lose myself in the excitement of this milestone.

I'll try to keep myself from breaking into a tearful rendition of "I Hope You Dance" as I walk Bren to her classroom for the very first time promoting my very last baby to the ranks of (gulp) elementary school child.

Geesh, and you wonder where Bren gets her drama?!

Celebrating!

I was reading the message board for Lincoln families this morning and got a little bit excited!

There was a post about how far we've come in this deployment and how little time is left on the calendar until we see our loved ones again!

Even though we aren't technically half way according to when we joined the deployment, I still get butterflies in my stomach when I look at the calendar and count up the time we have left!!

There's nothing like the reunion that happens for military families when we welcome home our loved one!

In honor of seeing the light at the end of this long tunnel,

I've borrowed this clip from you tube.....

Enjoy!

And do a happy dance with me!!!

I got tagged....

My friend Lisa tagged me a while ago and I didn't even know it until I visited her blog just now!

Sorry, Lisa!!

The Rules: Answer the questions using only one word. Then tag four others.

1. Where is your cell phone? purse

2. Your significant other? deployed

3. Your hair? bothersome

4. Your mother? loved

5. Your father? missed

6. Your favorite thing? laughter

7. Your dream last night? forgotten

8 Your favorite drink? jamba

9. Your dream/goal? freedom

10. The room you’re in? catch-all

11. Your hobby? blogging

12. Your fear? upheaval

13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? south

14. What you’re not? organized

15. Muffins? cinnamon

16. One of your wish list items? D300

17. Where you grew up? divided

18. The last thing you did? edit

19. What are you wearing? hoodie

20. Favorite gadget? camera

21. Your pets? none

22. Your computer? HP

23. Your mood? wrestless

24. Missing someone? yes

25. Your car? dirty

26. Something you’re not wearing? shoes

27. Favorite store? IKEA

28. Like someone? yes

29. Your favorite color? red

30. When is the last time you laughed? today

31. Last time you cried? today

Now, I am supposed to tag four people, but since I have really neglected the blogs I usually read, I'm not going to spring this on them out of nowhere.

How about I tag all of my commenters?

You can copy and paste and then leave your answers in the comment section!

A Pirate and Pink Cleats.....

So "Hook" was a hit on Saturday night!

Bren and I made our way to a field at dusk and set up our chairs to watch the forth movie in the "Popcorn in the Park" series sponsored by the Marysville parks and recreation department.

Bren is really into tinker belle lately,

so I knew she'd love Julia Robert's version of the pixie.

A long time fan of pirates, Bren really enjoyed Captain Hook too!

Another exciting thing that happened this week is that Bren's soccer coach called!!

Bren will be on an all girl U-6 team that will possibly be called

"the Pigtail Posse"!

Love it!

Her coach sounds super qualified and will be coaching his daughter (who is on Bren's team) and his son (who is her twin) and on an all boy U-6 team.

The teams will practice side by side so we will have the benefit of lots of scrimmages.

I'm super excited about this season!

I love soccer!

I played for many years

and was a fan of my brother Jason

and both of my sons for many years.

I took Bren to get soccer cleats on Saturday!

Very appropriately, they have pink bottoms and pink stripes!

These photos are for Daddy because I know he'd love to be the one going cleat shopping with her!

They have been Bren-tested and Bren-approved for fastness!


I can't wait to see her out on the field!!

Another day, another park.....

It has been 14.5 years since I have had just one child.

It has been 7 years since I have had a five year old.

It has been 6 days since I have seen Zachary and Madison.

It has been 5 weeks and 6 days since I have seen Michael.

As a result of the above data,

it has been less than 1 day since I've been to a park.

Less than one day since I've chased a screaming little girl around a playground.


Less than one day since I've heard "mommy, watch this!"

repeated

7

million

times.

Less than one day since I've been mistaken as a mom of one.




Less than one day since I've watched her theatrics and chuckled to myself about how so much life can be contained in one little body.

Less than one day since I've focused my lens solely on capturing her soul shining through her eyes.

Less than one day since I've been begged for "just one more time down the slide!"

Less than one day since I've been chief swing pusher ....

and giggle inducer.

Less than one day since she's grabbed my hand

and caused me to see the world as she does.

Less than one day since we've delighted in each other's company.

It's now one day less that we'll have to spend one on one like this.

We are blessed one day at a time.

The Lake.....

Before the kids flew out earlier this week, we spent a long day at Lake Stevens.

Bren was quite the engineer when it came to making water scapes in the sand. She makes friends wherever she goes and these two little boys played with her for hours.

The older kids let her tag around with them a little which is always endearing,
but usually short lived.
One of them eventually has enough of her
and sends her back to her smaller playmates.



Zach and Madison tried hard to soak up as much sun as they could before their trips.
Michael, having been in Georgia for five weeks, was undoubtedly already the color of light brown sugar.
I'm sure all three will come home and make me feel like casper!



It was so great to have Sierra in town again for a nice long visit.
She and Zach wont see each other again until the Fall so they spent alot of time together.



Here she is coaching Zach on how to jump over those three unsuspecting and unknown girls at the end of the pier.
We weren't sure he'd be able to clear them without kicking one of them in the head and possibly sending them for an impromptu swim, but he was determined to try.

And cleared them with ease.

They weren't too thrilled though.

As a matter of fact, for three pretty girls who didn't get a drop of water on them from the stunt, they were surprisingly quite nasty about the whole thing.

At dinner time, we drug ourselves from the lake side and headed home.

It was a fun relaxing summer day and a great way to spend time with the kids before they went off to their adventures.

I've heard from everyone and they are all having a wonderful time with family and friends.

Madison is at a folk music festival where she's sleeping in tents with her friends.

The boys helped their cousin celebrate his third birthday on Wednesday and have spent the last two days knee deep in fishing line and bait.

I miss them terribly, but Bren and I are having our own adventures.

We went to a park yesterday to play and tonight we are going to see a movie on a big screen outdoors at another park.

The movie we'll see is "Hook", which is perfect for my Peter Pan fan!

Trash the Dress!!!

I could not wait to share these photos!!

A few weeks ago, a photographer friend of mine invited me to a "trash the dress" session that she has set up.

We met at Alki Beach in Seattle and found a spot to shoot at.

We had three gorgeous models who were wonderful to work with.

Here is Sarah:

And Kelly:

And Christy:

This shoot was especially challenging to me because I don't normally shoot in full sunlight.

I had to do alot of trial and error on location in order to not get horribly harsh shadows.

I was so excited to think outside the box and try some new things.

Some worked and some didn't, but I was happy overall with the outcome.

With each new challenge comes growth and confidence.

I'm looking forward to many more creative sessions with these models and photographers.

I have a lot more photos to share from the shoot that do not involve a wedding gown, so be looking for those soon.