someone had a birthday.......

and i dragged her 45 minutes south to our favorite scrapbook store and to el charro restaurant (yum) for lunch. boy, i miss that place. then i dragged her to fort fraser, a fabulous huge wooden playscape around the corner from the restaurant for some birthday photos.
she gamely slid down the slide and swung on the swing for me so i could get these great shots. we froze and her nose got a little red by the end of the shoot.

but we had fun and i just want you to remember that "age is just a number" and "you are only as old as you feel"....even in the dead of winter with your butt plastered to a freezing cold swing seat. thanks, laura, for being such a great sport. and happy birthday, my friend....... and i didn't even mention how old, i mean young, you are...


pssst...36 ;) 

a little more history on fort fraser.....

i was still pregnant with austen when we found out that this huge playscape would be built in our old hometown of fraser. they spent months collecting money and donations for this project. when austen was about 3 months old they got to work. in one week, this project was started and finished, sort of an extreme park makeover, but without ty pennington and his crew. but we did have don mandernach, though who worked on it every night after work. he would haul his tools to the site and work for hours so we could have this wonderful park for the kids.
and one of the fundraisers included selling slats for the fencing. we had two of them, this one and one just for aubrey. in the two years after this was built and before we moved, this was our playground. austen and i came here almost every day in the summertime. lots of mammas and lots of kids for austen to play with. i didn't realize how much i missed this place until we went here today. there is nothing like this around here for the kids. a couple of nice parks and playgrounds, but nothing that daddy helped build. 

who do these darling tights belong to???....

who else. sometimes the best part of having little girls is the fun and funky clothes that we get to dress them in. think about it...the boy section of the children's clothing store is two aisles big, the rest of the entire store is dedicated to girls and their girly fun clothes.
who could resist these tights. and better yet, on clearance at target. and these are the least cute of the three pairs shannon bought for scarlett....and because she is having another girl, they get double use. i just love these yummy legs....all dolled up in funky flowers and stripes.
i think she likes them too... 

i need to remember to do this....

on a daily basis. 

what!!!!..it's the new style for boys....

most of the boys in upper elementary and junior high are wearing their hair longer now. but when this came downstairs the other day...i had my doubts about this hairstyle. it usually looks this way the morning after his bedtime shower. whoa...it usually takes a dousing in the kitchen sink with a quick style with the blowdryer. but then i am rewarded with
this little cutie. mega freckles and all.

and a hairstyle that is a little bit more manageable.
no wonder the girls at school are after him. we love you, boog.





in other news, we have been watching the american idol show this year, for the first time. we usually just watch the beginning when they have all of the crazies and clueless wannabees sniffing around for their 7.5 minutes of fame. but we are enjoying it this year...and don is actually watching it with us. neither he nor i are big reality show watchers (actually not at all) but we really seem like this. the weather finally took a turn for the better the last few days and it isn't so bitter cold. it got into the 40's yesterday and i actually saw someone in shorts. oh well, gotta love michigan.

its a............

......nother girl!!!!! we are all so excited for scarlett to have a little sister. she, however, was certain that she was having a little brother and was a little confused when we told her that there was a baby girl in mamma's tummy. poor jason, he really wanted to have a little boy this time, but shannon, like her mamma, had two girls first. oh well, jason...there is always next time. ;)
scarlett loves mamma's belly and kisses the baby in there all of the time.
it will be so exciting to see what this baby will look like. blue eyes like shannon and scarlett or hazely green brown like jason's?? blond hair or dark like daddy's??? happy baby like scarlett or difficult baby??? the due date was moved back from july 4th to june 29 based on the ultrasound measurements. and speaking of the ultrasound...the tech was 90% sure that this one is going to be a girl. i think jason is going to hold out for the 10%...just to shift the balance of testosterone in the house.
whatever the baby really turns out to be...i'm sure that it {she}will be as wonderful as scarlett is. we love her so much. and shannon and jason are great parents and will have so much love to give this next little one. just look at them...beautiful mother and daughter.