It seems like it's been forever since I've been to blogstream. We have been so incredibly busy. I have so much catch up posting to do but for now, yesterday was a very special day. Baby did Locks of Love just like her sissy! Ever since Tara did it, Madeline has been wanting to. She was so incredibly excited and I just love how it turned out. This is the first time Madeline has ever had sissors touch the back of her hair. Of course, I started out with the before shots:

And now we’ll just dig right into the hair cut itself…..

There's no turning back now!

Madeline was just Lovin' it!

A tiny trim on her bangs….

….A little style and ribbon by mommy and we’re done!!....

I think she looks just beautiful!!

And I'm certain she'll be ready to do it again in 2 years

The night before last, Tara came out of her bedroom and said that her tooth was ready to be pulled. I said "great!". Now this is her 5th tooth. Suffice to say, she is getting to be old hat at this. It's been a while though since she's lost a tooth. I think since last summer. Anyway...she was panicking "Is it going to hurt??" I must have heard this question about 6 times to which I kept answering each time "Has it ever hurt in the past?". Finally after a couple trips back and forth to bed she decided to come out one last time to let me do it. But first, she wanted to try herself.....

....And as you can see from the kleenex, there were many attempts! Then, she finally said, with tears in her eyes and voice..."okay mommy you do it".  You can clearly see the fear in those big eyes... 

So finally, I grabbed the tooth, all the while Tara was freaking out, crying, and gave it a yank. She cried at first, but within 60 seconds, her anxiety turned to excitement. We rinsed out her mouth and then she was feeling great!...

When this tooth first began to loosen, Tara drew a beautiful picture "of" the tooth fairy, "for" the tooth fairy. When she woke up yesterday morning, she'd found that the tooth fairy left her a letter. I made her wait to read it, so I could take a picture of her doing so....

Here's the actual letter written by none other than....THE TOOTH FAIRY!

 

She was soooo excited when she finished reading this!

I of course had to get a shot of the whole shebang (the yellow thing is her tooth fairy box)....

Then she gave me a look at the missing tooth. Tara said "It looks like I have a buck tooth now." And it does! Her other tooth has been pushed down by the adult tooth and it will be ready to pull soon as well.

And in case anyone was wondering...the tooth fairy leaves her a dollar for each Tooth.

About Jack (lovingly dubbed Buddy Boy), Tara informed me last night that her heart is already starting to feel better.  She said that "God is already healing me."  . Thank you Lord.

We sure did love you. We had to put Jack to sleep tonight. Right before daddy came home, I went out and took some last photos of the girlies with their beloved dog. I really can't talk much about this except that he was really suffering and we are terribly sad.

When daddy got home, it was time for Buddy to go....

You were a gentle, loving, sweet, patient and kind dog. We will miss you sooooo much Buddy Boy.  We'll see you in heaven...

Well, we finally had Madeline's birthday "party". Although her actual birthday was on may 2nd, the family celebration was postponed until this past Sunday due to my surgery and then a death in Ron's family. She was soooooo excited when I put up all the Thomas decorations. 

She was all decked out in Thomas accessories...

I found a really cute Thomas pinata...

Hired Kroger to make our cake (I could never pull something like this off myself!).

To which Madeline, when she caught her first glimpse of it stated "Ohhh! It's just the cake I wanted all my life!"

Everyone sang happy birthday...

Candles were blown out...

And let me tell you a little know fact about Madeline. This child can pack in the food. I mean HUGE bites! Ever since she started on soid foods she was like this. She is CONSTANTLY chokeing on her food. And I'm forever telling her "don't take such big bites baby!" But she doesn't listen.

Tara read all her cards...

As Madeline opened the gifts...

And then they opened the pinata. I love this kind. No stick, just pull the strings till you hit the magic one which releases all the goodies!

Finally, we played "stick the one on Thomas"....

I think this was one of her fav's. She's named him "Swirly Curly" and sleeps with him every night.

Soon to come, is a post of Tara's musical at school.  She was great!  I love this kind of stuff.  I;m getting a little behind on blogging.  I've been have been busy, busy.  My big brother (the oldest of us 7 kids) is coming into town this weekend.  I'm really excited.  I'm going to be doing an engagement shoot of him and his bride to be.

Yesterday evening, I took Madeline outside to shoot a couple late evening pictures. I wanted to experiment with sun flare and backlight. It warmed my heart when she reached up to the sky and said "Hi Jesus". Faith in the heart of a small child....beautiful.