I almost got them all!

As is our tradition we spent Easter afternoon and evening with Paul's family. All of the kids in attendance go on an Easter Egg Hunt thanks to the Easter Bunny with some help from Aunt Mary. It's always a fun time and I managed to capture a few photos during the hunt:

And following another tradition we attempted to get a few group photos when the hunting was complete. Tried is the operative word here - just check out my photo with all 4 of the kids and you'll see what I mean!

I did get a decent one of Emily (though eye contact would have been nice) & a nice one of Hannah. I really wanted to get a few more of Hannah since I haven't taken her 11 year portrait yet. She just wasn't interested however. This one may just have to do!

Reconnecting with Family

It's been a long time since we got together with my family. We're spread out all over the U.S. and just haven't had the chance to spend time together in the last few years. Last weekend we all gathered in Tucson for a mini family reunion where we had fun reconnecting and in some cases meeting new members of the family.

Here's a little of what we had fun doing:

Hanging out in a park

Going to the zoo

For Emily, singing at dinner

And for Hannah, getting wet!

Wow it's Valentine's Day!

It seems like we just finished celebrating Christmas - where does the time go?? Yesterday I was taking pictures of the girls to use for their Valentine cards. Emily hated all of the photos of her except for one which was majorly over-exposed. And, Hannah either looked goofy or angry in hers. Oh well, I did get a couple that I used to make their cards and I got a couple of shots that weren't for their Valentine cards that I just like so I thought I'd share them. So here's Hannah with messy hair and a grin on a break from riding her scooter and one of Emily holding JoJo, the neighbor's cat.

Happy Valentine's Day to you and yours!

It's Christmastime!

It's Christmas morning and the present opening is done (well it's done here - we still have gifts to open at Paul's parents' later) and everyone is either napping or playing with their new toys. We just wanted to share a photo of our tree after Santa came last night and our official Christmas Eve family photo for 2006!

We hope that you got everything you wished for this year under your tree!

Merry Christmas from us ... to you

December has been a whirlwind of activity for us. The girls performed in the Nutcracker for the first two weekends of December (8 performances for Emily & 10 performances for Hannah - she did 10am Friday shows for schools in addition to the other 8 shows) and since I help backstage for most performances (and attend the few where I'm not helping) I was busy that whole time too. Emily was a skater and a soldier this year and Hannah was a party guest.

Right after the Nutcracker was done, it was time for the annual school Christmas show at Hannah's school. Even though Emily has graduated and no longer attends the same school, she was also in the show this year (as a special guest) since the music teacher at the school is still her voice coach. Spencer Davis was in attendance at the show and he commented to his wife about Emily's performance and her stage presence - he said that had he closed his eyes he would have thought it was a black gospel choir singing (it was a gospel song). Spencer also told his wife that Hannah has a great voice and will be giving Emily a run for her money in a few years!

The day after the Christmas show was the last day of school before vacation for the girls and I was busy with the class party for Hannah's class since I'm the room mom this year. I'm happy to report that even with all that, we do finally have our tree up and the presents are all bought (though not all wrapped yet) and the cat has knocked the tree over once already so I guess it's officially Christmas time for us!

We want to wish everyone the merriest of Christmases and hope that you enjoy the time with those that you love.