Halloween...

These were the only 2 pictures I could get before my camera died- have I mentioned how much I hate that thing? My camera? yes, I will splurge a get a new one soon...
Here are my babies: the vampire, the baby leopard, the princess and the pink flamingo!

I never knew...

I never knew what it felt like to have my heart crumble into a million pieces until I left for college and watched my Mom drive away on the slippery ice.
I never knew how her words, "Emmy, I just want you to be happy" would change and alter my my life so dramatically.
I never knew how lonely I would be until I didn't have her by my side each and every day.
I never knew how impossible it was going to be without her until I got married and never lived with her again.
I never realized how just her voice could calm me, until that's all I had left to cling to.
I never understood how much she had changed my life until I became a Mother myself.
I never realized what she sacraficed for me, until my own children were born.
I never knew your heart could actually ache so much it felt like it had crawled into your throat making it difficult to breath.
I never knew how much I depended on her until 3 days would pass without a phone call and I would begin to panic.
I never knew how impossible it was going to be to let her go, until I had to...

... I'm glad it hurts this much every time we say goodbye.
I love you Mama.

Mama & Brent come for a visit...

One of the best parts about having babies, is that my Mom always comes for a visit after I have one! (So I've decided to just keep having 1 each year to make sure I see her often! Just kidding Mom!!!)We were counting down the months, weeks, days, hours and minutes until G-ma & G-pa would be here to visit. They arrived on Thursday the 29th (Trav's b-day) and left on Halloween day. We had such a great visit- recieving gifts, shopping, going to dinner, making split pea soup & birthday cake, playing Bingo with the kids, playing Yahtzee, making play- do critters, making carmaled apples, going to the park with G-pa, watching the snow, going to the movies, folding a few loads of laundry, jumping on the trampoline with G-pa, making haunted houses, getting Sonic with my Mom, finding orange earings, playing with the kids, talking, Mom stealing donuts from their hotel for me, having Tristin & Daisy stay a night at the hotel with G-ma & G-pa, admiring Trav's amazing spider web, going to Target, eating taco salad, trying to get G-pa in the back seat of the van with the kids, introducing G-pa to Joss Stone, watching Trav show G-pa what the Internet can do, buying a new hair dryer & shoe laces for Brent, holding the baby, watching Grace change into/out of a thousand costumes and dress up clothes, reading stories, thrift store shopping, Mom buying me a new toaster, laughing and watching Grace watch the movie Mask for a hundred times! We had so much fun together, made more memories and are now excited for May when we can drive to Seattle for my brother's wedding! Thank you for everything Mommy!

Playing red light, green light, balencing on 1 foot, Tristin holding Willow & playing Bingo with G-ma

I bought a really cool traffic light at a yard sale for a $1.00 and I have it hanging in the kitchen- so when Mom & Brent were here, they started playing Red light, Green light- they looked so funny, grown adults moving 2 steps and then freezing in place when the light turned red- here's one of Mom playing with the kids. The other one is of Tristin & Daisy trying to balance on 1 foot with their eyes closed (Just another goofy thing Brent wanted to see them do!)The next is of Tristin holding Willow and the other 2 are of our fabulous Bingo game. Mom & i always go to the dollar store and buy Bingo prizes and then play a kabillon Bingo games- the goofy glasses were one of the prizes, the kids were cracking up!

Willow, Mommy & the kids & saying goodbye at the airport...

These are kind of random pictures, but I'm trying to get them up in time for my Mom to see them by the time she gets into work this morning. Here's one of Willow in her cute owl outfit, a picture of me with my babies & the kids with G-ma & G-pa saying goodbye at the airport.

Reading stories & G-ma with the girls...

It's tradition, when ever G-ma is around, she reads stories to the kids. Here they are enjoying one- and the rest are pictures of G-ma with her girls!

Exercising with G-pa Brent...

My step Dad, Brent, is one of the funniest and silliest people I've ever met. Growing up, he would pay us a dollar to do the strangest things, and naturally, we would do it! (Like: singing Christmas carols to our neighbors in the Summer time, running backwards down the street, standing on a chair and singing a song for the family & on & on & on...) So when he comes to visit, he makes the kids do crazy exercises- which they do until they are giggling so hard they can't do anything else. So while these pictures seem kind of uneventful, they make me smile because I know that Brent's wild energy is being shared with my children who completely adore their G-pa.The other picture is of Tristin & G-pa playing with his Bakugan toys.