Praying Mantis

I am not known for my love of insects, snakes or spiders of any kind. There are a couple insects which are okay, one of them is the praying mantis. They are just cool looking. The fact that they look like they are praying makes them a little more endearing then your average insect. We found one outside the other day. The girls had never seen one before. It was great. It looked right at me as though it knew I was admiring it. 

E-I-E-I-OOOOOOOO

The cake was absolutely delicious!


The cookies were not just your ordinary animal cracker!


Birthday Giggles!


I hope no one will notice...


MMMM, Yummy Frosting!


Who are you looking at?


Did I tell you the cookies were delicious!

Autumn's Birthday Cake-Humble Pie Desserts

My Autumn just celebrated her 2 year birthday before we left for Boston. She really wanted an E-I-E-I-O birthday party.  Owning a local business myself, I always try to give my business to other local businesses or other businesses started by moms. I found a business card for Humble Pie Desserts at our local gymnastics place (where my 2 year old and I take a class together). I called Jeanna and told her what I was looking for. She mentioned something about cookies and frosting and I choose the cake type. I wasn't sure if she was talking about frosting regular animal crackers or what, but I just let her be creative and hoped for the best. When I saw the cake I almost cried. It was AMAZING. I even gave her a hug. I am sure she thought I had lost my mind as I had never met her before, but it was just more then I could have ever dreamed up in my mind. Not only did it look adorable, it tasted fabulous. Here are the pictures:

Peter

My stepfather Peter passed away 3 weeks ago. He is a wonderful man I have known since I was 4 years old. He was 48 years old. It has been a hard year for my family.  Peter had been struggling with cancer for 8 months, had been in and out of the hospital almost weekly, he had lost 100 lbs and at one point had a tumor the size of a small watermelon removed from his abdomen  This has been such a crazy and sad time for our family, especially my mom.  

I have learned so many things through this. I have learned that life is too short to not do the things you want to do. I have learned life is too short to not enjoy each and every day. I have learned to tell the people you love by words and actions that they are loved.  If you have someone you need to tell, don't wait, tomorrow is NOT guaranteed. Enjoy life and be blessed by the people around you. Bless others.

I also learned what love is. Love is taking care of your husband's every physical need, sitting by his bedside, hurting with him, encouraging him when you are dead tired, crying with him, laughing with him, sacrificing your needs to provide for all of his needs. This is love. Love is not just when life is great and things are going well, it is choosing to love during the hurt and heartache. In sickness AND in health has taken on new meaning for me.  My mom showed me what love is. She has shown me what sickness AND in health means. I pray I can be half the woman she is someday. She is an amazing woman of God.

I feel so blessed to have had Peter in my life for the past 27 years.  I may say he was my stepfather, but he was so much more then just that, so much more. He never treated me like his stepdaughter, nor referred to me as such. He treated me just as he treated my brother and sister...for better or for worse :)  He will be very missed on earth, but as I tell Olivia (my 4 year old) we WILL see him in Heaven. He is waiting for us and is excited to see us again. We already have 2 friends in Heaven (GG and Jesus). 

Thank you to the clients that have been VERY patient with me during this unexpected and sudden passing. A special thanks to Malissa and her family as this was right in the middle of her picture delivery time and they were all SO patient.  Thank you for the encouraging emails and phone calls. You have really blessed me. Sorry to be so "heavy" on our photography blog, but as Chinell says "the emotions we express through words and photography are not just the happy ones".  Here are a couple of my most favorite pictures of Peter. Of course they are the ones with my kids. Thank you for sharing in my journey.