Winter has been cold, long and hard thus far. Even though I didn't post anything this past summer, my picture taking never stopped. Here are some summer pictures from my garden. I hope it warms you up.

I planted a whole bunch of Zinnias. I remember my dad's garden used to be filled with them when I was a kid and they really brought back a lot of memories from my childhood. This summer, I am planning to double the amount of Zinnias I planted (state fair variety). They were so gorgeous!

We saw tons of deer meandering around our property all summer long. Unfortunately, they ate a good portion of pumpkins from our pumpkin patch. We'll have to plant more of those this year too so there will be enough for us and them . Seeing the spotted fawns was and is always a treat.

I bought a hummingbird feeder that suction cups right to our front window. We also had a few other feeders in my garden. The hummingbird activity was absolutely frenzied each and every day! They had no fear of us watching them from inside the house, or while I was outside gardening. It was very cool.

This next photo was shot during the morning sunrise. It had been a foggy morning and the fog had just about burned off when I shot this.

We are going on a family get away this weekend. We are heading up to Traverse City to visit the Great Wolf Lodge. It will give us a taste of summer. It's a huge indoor water park. I can't wait! I'll have plenty of pictures to post from it.

How do you know?

The following are the words of Paul Washer.

Last night was the daddy daughter dance. Our school has been hosting this event since 2005. Tara has been attending it since it's Conception. Last night was Madeline's second time. The girlies were dressed up fancy and although I'm pretty biased, I must say that they were simply stunning!!  

I'm not sure how much Madeline remembers from last year since she was only 2 at the time, but she was pretty excited to go, as was Tara.

 At the dance, all the little girls got a sequined tiara. They also were each given a pretty bracelet and necklace...

...while the dad's got...yep you can see it...a Burger King crown! .

There was cake, cookies and other snacks to munch on, and of course...it wouldn't be a daddy daughter "dance" without dancing!

 

Can you believe that Tara, at the age of 4, had 12 inches cut off of her hair for locks of love!!  We'll be doing it again along with Madeline.  Probably next year.

I stuck around long enough to get a few pictures and was outta there! No mommy's allowed! The three of them had a great time.

Madeline and I are involved in a program through our Church called "mommy and me". We've been doing it since the fall. We make crafts, sing songs, read stories, play, learn bible verses and eat snack. We meet once a week and it also gives us mom's an opportunity to connect with one another. Earlier this month, it was Madeline's and my turn to bring the craft. We brought warm fuzzies for the boys and girls to make. First however, Madeline needed to decorate a heart for our "Love Tree".

Then it was on to making our little Valentine warm fuzzies.

Madeline made hers without ANY help from mommy!

Can you feel the pride she feels?

What a sweetie We had music time, story time, and then was a little something different. We had a dress up relay. The girls against the boys. The girls would help dress up a friend and then that child would have to run down the hall and back while trying to beat the boys. Well..I'll just let the pictures tell the story for when it was Madeline's turn to dress up .

Don't ya just love the tights??!!

Then it was OFF!!!

As Madeline literally took rapid baby steps across the floor while the boys just whizzed by her!

Come on Madeline! No one said being dressed up in heels and skirt was comfortable! Now GO!!!

 

And once again...the tights! I just LOVE them!!

It sure was funny to watch!

And now, is there anything more precious than a small child in prayer? Melts my heart!

Pinewood Derby

And now on to Tara! She and daddy made a pine wood derby car for the Awana's program at Church. It was a first for both Ron and Tara. When we got there, Tara made some final touches on her car.

 

Until she was happy with the look...

Now I know this is a very basic design, but as I said, this was Ron and Tara's first time and I'm certain next year, they'll get more creative and elaborate. Here's a peek at the Pit Row so you can get a feel for the creativity of some of the other cars. It's really cool....

 

Pretty amazing aren't they? Keep in mind that this was only a portion of the entries. This was a VERY big event. Before the races began, we fueled our bodies with chilly dogs, pop and lots of yummy desserts. My documentation of this event is not very good. The lighting was a nightmare and I am one who absolutely hates to use a flash. Generally speaking, if a flash is mandatory, I don't use my camera so the pictures are not all that great.

Let me tell you, this racing business is VERY high tech and taken VERY seriously! Each car must meet very specific requirements or you will not qualify to race.

Only the owner of the car is allowed to touch it as well.  It's good though, because it makes it very fair. You can see that they had the floor taped off on either side of the track. nobody was allowed to cross that line.

Once the races began, kids packed the line to watch the race close up as did Ron and the girls.

Tara's car ran in four heats. She took 2nd place in three of them and 1st place in the last.

After her last heat, when she took first, Tara was totally shocked and unbelievably excited... There's a little distortion to her face here since she was so incredibly close to the camera, and you can always tell when I'm in a low light situation by looking at the size of the pupils.  Tara's are huge, but you can see how her heart was pounding.

Unfortunately though, her overall times were not good enough to win a ribbon or trophy. This was a source for great disappointment and despair with her (as with a handful of other children). She cried part of the time at Church, and also cried all the way home. It was a good lesson for her though. It seems that in today's society, nobody wants to pick winners (for fear that some kids may feel bad) and therefore everybody gets a prize, or everybody is a winner. I think it's important for children to learn that winning is for the best, and that there will always be those that fall short. It teaches that even if you don't win, it was fun and valuable to just participate and it will give you more drive for next time to improve! It was a bittersweet night, but important life lessons were learned.

Oh!..And did I mention that I turned...gulp, dare I say it...42 on Saturday?!!  OUCH!!

While Tara was at school, Madeline and I went to a PAT program event at a local roller skating arena. It was baby's first time in a roller rink.... After spending a little time learning the ropes with mommy (who is in desperate need of a hair cut!!!)....

 

 

 

She gained some quick confidence. She smiled and laughed through many falls and was so excited when she was able to get back on her feet without help for the first time.

 

But of course there were some extremely impressive skating skills happening as well...and boy was mommy impressed!!! 

 

 

woah..woah...woah....

Ughhh...don't worry mommy, I've got it!...

See?!! 

But then there was the one time when she fell, and it happened to be the time she hurt her tiny little baby butt. And instead of rushing to her aid, I squatted there on the floor and took pictures while she cried for me to pick her up...

 

 

I mean really now...just look at that face!  When I cry, my face contorts into all kinds of hideous positions and I get all blotchy.  But look at her!  She's even beautiful when she cries!!  And yes...I did pick her up and comfort her, but only after I was sure I had enough photos of this beautiful cry.

And then it was back to having tons of fun!!

 

 

 

I know...I always go overkill with posting TONS of pictures. It's just that sometimes (okay fine!  All of the time), it's just too hard for me to weed out the best when it's the best that is needed to adequately share our experience together.  So here I am again posting tons of pictures for my lack of weeding skills. 

It was so much fun!!!

School is already canceled for tomorrow.  More terrible snowy weather.  I think we'll have a jammie day!!