{Super Great} :: *Most Favorite*

Cute Sisters, originally uploaded by Moon and Back.

#10.

I love this picture of my girls together!! :) They truly share a genuine love for each other that is pure, and I *love* watching them together! Girls... Love each other *always*!

*Loving* you {both} ::always::

Mama

Amazed Still!

Fly 1680x1050 Widescreen Wallpaper, originally uploaded by AirBrontosaurus.

I *had* to share this amazing picture I found on Flickr! This woman takes some pretty amazing pictures of bugs. She uses an incredible *macro* lens to take these shots!! Just wanted to share! Are you as amazed as I am? :)

Go here for more: http://www.flickr.com/photos/airbrontosaurus/

# .Nine, Neuf, Nueve, Neun, Nove, Negen.

It's day nine of my 365 days of Angelina & Zoe pictures venture... :)

Since I have gotten my new Canon Rebel Xti, (11 days) I have taken over 1,000 pictures!! :) I love 99% of the pictures that I take with it. Obviously that is way too many pictures to post on here, so, as you can imagine, choosing which one to post can be pretty tough. ;) But, having 2 cute girly girls helps!

It is getting really *hot* here in North Carolina. I love it here, but I don't really care too much for the summer humidity. I seem to complain all summer long about it. Enough, at least, that Mike literally starts talking about me complaining about the summer, months in advance. haha! And. Once the weather begins to go north... on the thermometer, sure enough. Mike's months of teasing and predicting comes true. :) I HATE hot weather! No secret there. Bummer thing of it is, though, I don't want to go outside. Ever. When it is 90 degrees or hotter and about 80-90% humidity... my want to go outside dies. Thank goodness that the nearest mall has an indoor play area where Angelina can go and get her crazy cooped up energies out! Can you really blame me, though? Who likes to stand outside... in the shade... doing nothing, but standing, and then to no avail... sweat begins to seep out of your pours like a river. Ummm. No thank you. I think I would rather eat a habanero pepper...

Moving on... :)

Mike is leaving this Sunday for 12 days!!!!!!!!!! REALLY NOT looking forward to being "alone" for 12 days! But... here's to being optimistic! ;) Which, I am very prideful of being very optimistic... most of the time. *haha* While he is gone I hope to get a lot done! I need to *finally* finish Zoe's room! I mean, how lame can I be? I have not even finished decorating her room! Poor girl! I would have had it done, but when your baby is unexpectedly born 10 weeks early... that kinda throws a wrench in things. Seems like the last 7 1/2 months have gone by extremely fast! {hense the reason I take SO many pictures} Anyway. So I am going to try and finish some house hold projects. And, I need to do about 12-13 more layouts to submit to Creating Keepsakes Mag for the *Scrapbooker of the Year* contest. Also hoping to get a notice in the mail telling me that Angelina got into year round school. :) That would be a *happy* letter. It is becoming a HUGE thing here. So many people fighting year round school versus traditional school. Pretty ridiculous if you ask me. Mike and I really like the idea of having Angelina in year round school. Think that it would be better for her. So, I am praying that the Lord will let this happen! :)

Anyway. I am going to get to bed now. It is after midnight here, and I haven't been feeling well for the last couple of days, so I need to get my rest. :)


One more thing... Thank you *Mike* for being so sweet today! I *love* you!!

OK, so I absolutely {love} these pictures of Zoe! HAD to post 2 of them!

And. Presenting Angelina's *castle bed* Which, she more than loves I might add!! :)

{eight}

Day Eight photos. :) Have things to write about, but too tired to do it right now. Time for bed.

The {amazing} sleepers we call *Our Daughters*

Real quick. Just wanted to touch on something that I think is pretty ::crazy::

Here in North Carolina it is currently 11:32 AM. Angelina *JUST* woke up!!! This is a record for her! Swimming can be tiring I suppose. haha!

While Zoe didn't wake up until 10:00 AM, this is less surprising, because Miss Zoe sleeps that late at least 2 times a week. ha ha!

We have amazing sleepers!!

.The Sixth and Seventh Day.

Sorry! I didn't get a chance to post a picture of the girls yesterday! We were out and about most of the day. :) Didn't get home from my parents' house til late last night. I love them! We see them ALL the time! It's so awesome how close my mom and I are! I consider her one of my best friends! We share many things, and I always know she will be there if I need her! Not to mention, they LOVE Mike and are always there for him too! They are *amazing* grandparents! It's so wonderful to see Angelina with them! They are very involved in our kids' lives, and I {LOVE} that about them! It's great to see Zoe interact with both of them too! :) She has melted my dad's heart as Angelina did. :) Anyway. Just wanted to post about them! Because... ::I love you Mom and Dad:: :) We went to their house yesterday for a pool party! It was A LOT of fun! We all had a blast, including Zoe! She was cold at first, but soon began having fun and playing. :) I will be posting those pictures later today. :) Have a great morning!

Below is a picture of Angelina and some of her friends from her pre-school. :) Left of her is Mary and to the right of her is MeKayla. :) So cute!! This was taken on their graduation day.

May = Busy!

Finally! I have the time to sit down, and actually write. :) Although, I have posted a couple of times lately on my craft blog, Stick Horses. Check it out here!!!!!!!!!!

I do look forward to May every year, but realize a week in how stressful the month actually is for me! I mean, with so many birthdays and so many activities. It just gets totally ridiculous! And, now as I sit here, I am SO glad that it is ALL over! Well, for now, anyway. haha! Though stressful, we did have a lot of fun! Here's just a short summarization of what has happened in only TWO weeks!!!

So, aside from My grandfather's birthday, my birthday and Mother's Day...

Angelina's Birthday party... SO fun! She had a TOTAL blast!! Angelina had a "princess" type party. I don't really go too crazy with the decorations, but I did do some fun things... I will post the pictures of some of the things I did later. :) But, anyway. She had about 15 little friends over. They hit a pinata, did crafts, played on Angelina's play set outside, and opened gifts, and of course ate CAKE! This was her biggest birthday party on record! Our house was packed with kids and parents. Just the way I like it! So fun! Angelina got *so* many great gifts!! One gift she got was a barbie jeep from my parents {grandma and papa to Angelina}. She *loves* that thing!! We are re-doing her bedroom for her. At the end of the day, she pooped out. :)



Angelina's *actual* Birthday... Angelina had her ballet recital on her birthday. Which was totally fine by her! Afterall, her BIG birthday celebration was the day before. She had no complaints. Plus, she really {loves} being on stage and the center of attention, so that was a good birthday "present" for her. :) She did fantastic at her recital!! All the girls in her class looked and did SO great!! We were all SO *proud of our girls. :) For all of you with little baby girls right now... definitely think about putting your girls in ballet! It's a BLAST!! After her recital, we went to lunch/dinner with my parents and celebrated her birthday and great recital. It was low key and lovely! Again, Angelina pooped out at the end of the day. :)

Preschool Graduation... This was a *BIG* one!! I definitely got emotional, and totally tripped out seeing Angelina in a cap and gown! It made me flash forward 13 or so years from now to her high school graduation. It was literally like a real flash forward! Like you see in the movies! Pretty insane. :) Anyway. She looked {totally} adorable! See previous post of her. It was a bittersweet night as I realized that Angelina would no longer be going to Lord of Life Pre-K, and would be attending Kindergarten at public school next year. It is sad, just because Angelina absolutely *loved* her teacher, Ms. Rosie at LOLPK. But, it's OK. Part of growing up for her, and as her Mother, and Mike as her Father, we get to go through all of this with her. Even if it gets emotional. It's a big step, and it is SO exciting!!!!
Anyway, after the lovely graduation, we went to dinner with our good friends Donnie and Chrystal. And their kids, Tyler and Alexis {Angelina's very good friend}. We had fun! It was nice to just go out to dinner with them, talk, eat, laugh, and then go home. Much needed low key night with great friends. :) I took some pictures from that dinner, which I will post either tomorrow or Monday.

Yesterday... um. Can you say FUN??? Angelina, Zoe and I went to my friend Chrystal's house for a few hours, and our girls played on the slip n slide. Which, of course, brought back a lot of memories! It was great seeing Angelina playing on it, because it was totally out of her comfort zone! I was so proud of her, because normally she would never have gone and played if the water was going to get in her face! Yesterday. She was my little "risk" taker. Very brave little five year old! :) Oh, and another thing that happened... Mike got an apple computer! I think that I may have mentioned this already. But, I can't describe in words his excitement, except to say that he hasn't put it down for more than a few hours. *Hilarious* Needless to say, now I have a laptop!! I got Mike's old one! I LOVE having this laptop! FREEDOM! lol.

Today... Angelina got most of her birthday present from Mike and I. She got a new castle bed!! Let me just tell you... she changed her mind about spending the night with grandma and papa and decided that she would beg dad to put the castle bed together for her so she could so enthusiastically sleep in it RIGHT NOW! haha! That bed rocks! I wish they made those when I was Angelina's age! I would have loved to have one!! I will take pictures of her in it tomorrow. So cute!

Right now... Just finished watching Eragon the movie. AWESOME!! Loved it! And, obviously I am writing this blog entry, which I have just been informed, is a novel. Duh, babe! hehe! Hoping that I am not boring everyone with this endless *report* on my life, but oh well. I needed to do this... I look back on my posts when I scrapbook. :)

It's getting late, though, so I am going to go to bed now and get some MUCH needed sleep!

Good night!


Good Quote: "Without Fear There Can Not Be Courage." -Saphira

This is my good friend Chrystal... *I love you Chrystal!! Don't kill me for putting these pictures of you on here!! ;) *

Lovin' this picture of Chrystal on the Slip N Slide!! HA HA! So much fun! :)

And, of course we CAN NOT forget about Zoe!! Here's a pic of her. ;)

*Pictures*

.Day Four.

::Little Graduate::

I have been *SO* incredibly busy lately, but sometime this weekend, I will {finally} have the time to actually sit down and write a longer post. For now, however, it's day four of my 365 days of pictures... of my girlie girls! Hope you're all enjoying them!! :) I know I am! Ha! Anyway. Now off to take a shower, and watch a late night movie... Eragon! Mike is in heaven playing with his newest toy... not a cheap one either. He got a Mac Computer tonight. He is overly excited about it! I did take pictures, but will post them tomorrow!

Night everyone!

Day 3... a little late

Ooops! The day definitely got away from me yesterday!!! Angelina graduated preschool!!! :) More on that later!

Captured this picture of Zoe sneezing the other day!

.Photographs.

Photographs Day 2!

"No more monkeys jumping on the bed" :)

So, my photo shoot with Angelina was *really* fun! Especially the part where she was jumping on my bed while I snapped photos with my ::new:: camera! :) Still LOVING it!! Takes *great* pictures!! So, here are {some} of the pictures that I took today! You can see more on my flickr sites to the right of my blog. I am also starting a small photography business. :) You'll see it on some of the photographs. Nothing is set in stone yet. Mainly just playing everything by ear, and will go from there. I already have a couple of clients here soon, so that's exciting!

Well, I am off to spend some time with my wonderful husband! More tomorrow! Oh, and by the way, I am starting something new... every day for the next year, there will be at least one picture of each of my kids on my blog. Just something I thought sounded fun! 365 days of pictures! :) Starting NOW!

Lots of pics... ready, set, go!

My *New* Diggs!!

So, yesterday I got a ::new:: camera!!!! :) Happy me! We had an EXTREMELY busy weekend, so it was nice to get this camera... like the icing on the *cake*. :)

I got the Canon Rebel Xti digital SLR camera!! 10.1 Megapixels, 3 pictures per second, takes magnificent photos yada yada yada!! Ummm, I am excited, and needless to say, I took over 250 pictures of Zoe today!! haha! Here are some pictures I have taken with my new *diggs*... my Canon! :)


Pictures of Angelina to come tomorrow! She was at school today. Speaking of, today was her *last* normal day of school! She has half day on Wednesday, and {Graduates} pre-school on THURSDAY!!! This has been a big week for her! Her birthday party was on Saturday, her ballet recital and Birthday was yesterday, and preschool graduation on Thursday! Then, thank goodness, this month will almost be over! haha! As much as I initially *love* May, by the end of the month I am ready for May to be over! ha ha! OK, need to get going!

Night! More pictures tomorrow w/ my NEW CANON!! woot woot!

F.I.V.E. Years *Old*!!!!!

Dear Angelina,

Well, it's official! Today you are 5 years old! It's hard to believe that five years ago today you were born!!! *whoa* talk about Flying time!!! It has definitely been a fast 5 years! A learning experience, which was both hard, and fun! As I keep saying, you are going to be in KINDERGARTEN in the fall! Wow*ie! I can hardly believe it! You are such a BIG girl!
I am proud to call you my daughter! You are an *extremely* smart little girl! You are now reading books, and not only reading books, but reading Dr. Seuss books! Pretty soon you will be reading chapter books all by yourself, and you won't need mommy and daddy to read you stories very often. I keep thinking about the last 5 years, and I can't help but smile, laugh, and get teary eyed! We have been through so much together, you and I! And of course daddy too! You have been through more than most kids your age, I think. I think the hardest thing was when we lost *Mum and Ba Ba* {Great Grandma & Great Grandpa Benner}. You were ::extremely:: close with them! Ba Ba past on Christmas Eve of 2004 and Mum past on October 13th of 2005. While you really couldn't grasp what happened then, you still talk about them often, and daddy and I show you their pictures a lot. We are working hard to keep their memory alive for you!
You have become so outgoing, and so much like your father! At times it is quite amazing! I almost feel, sometimes, that I am talking to daddy in a little girl form. *haha*. You are spunky, and can be sassy at times, but all in all, you are {SO} fantastic! Daddy and I are truly blessed to have you!! I thank God each day for you! Even when you make faces like this... *haha*


I think of all these things mentioned, the most *amazing* thing I witness daily is you as a big sister. You stun me! I think it's because I have never seen a little kid have the love for their sibling as you have for Zoe! So amazing, and truly wonderful! I thank God for this too!
Right at this very moment you are spending some quality time with daddy, and Zoe. And playing a princess video game on dad's new Nintendo DS. :) You also love to play on the computer, and just the other day figured out everything on your own! You put in your *My Little Pony* game, and figured out how to play it from there. You are truly amazing! I don't know if you are going to be a prodigy or not {your daddy thinks you will be}, but, if not, we'll *love* you just the same! Our love for your is endless! You definitely make our lives more interesting and fun! And, yes... sometimes hard. But, of course, we will {always} love you! I look forward to the years to come, but I am not rushing you! Please keep your sense of wonder, and your playful nature!

Love you!

Mommy. <3 onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFFDRYAcX8Ephe6Rby_FSNNh085wZrdNYvDsPSRyrdGR6KW8tc7p7CV07pzrCBrfUfiLU_5fE0ME8tHeqsnaEYvvESNjABgPmobffofk6iaazZIcYGL6cOw1s9d5mJuAVKPYy3WXHZbCQ/s1600-h/FIVE3.jpg">

For the ::LOVE:: of *Ballerinas*

I truly believe that my little girl, Angelina has the heart of a ballerina! She is currently in ballet, and she absolutely *loves* it! It's extremely cute watching her, because it's like she is in her own little world. SO cute! :) Sunday, Angelina has a ballet recital, so yesterday was her rehearsal. I got a video of her class doing their performance, and wanted to share it! It is SO {adorable}!! There are also some pictures that I took of her while she was on stage practicing. :) She was having a blast... as usual. :) I have a *SUPER* busy weekend ahead of me! Must get going!


Enjoy! :)