I'm So Excited!

So my girlfriends and I FINALLY got together for a long overdue dinner. The occasion was Birdie's birthday, but as it turns out, we had so much more to celebrate! We found out Roberta was preggo a few months ago, and we were all overjoyed! She has an amazing fiancee, John, who everyone adores and their little baby girl, is going to be so lucky to have such wonderful parents.

My other bestie friend, Kris, has been trying for awhile to get pregnant, and she told me at dinner, she WAS! Roberta took some pictures of my face as Kristin was telling me - as soon as I get them, I will post them. All I can describe what was in my heart was pure happiness and gratitude! Happiness for my best friend and her wonderful husband finally getting this miracle and gratitude to our God, for supporting everyone during this time where faith tends to falter and fade. What a blessing! And to top it off, she is expecting twins! Holy smokes! Double the love! The dinner was buzzing with excitement and love - the best dinner ever!

I love my girls, they were my first friends, outside of high school. I have a few close friends from high school still, but a lot of the friends from school, were friends because we lived in the same district. Birdie and Kris were my first friends, I felt I chose, they weren't chosen for me. Somehow through the years (12 years now) we've stayed close and it doesn't matter how long it's been since we've seen each other or talked, it's always fun and easy and amazing when we get together. I am so very lucky to have these girls in my life! And I am beyond excited for the three new babies that are joining our extended family! I think it's going to be a good year . . .

I'm So Excited! Part Two

ere's a play by play of my reaction to Kristin telling me she is pregnant.



She tells me the news, but it doesn't sink in quite yet . . .



Now I get it, and I cannot believe the wonderful news she has just told me, it brings me to tears!






Kristin is having twins and I couldn't be happier!

Swimming Friday's

The troops go swimming again! We took little Ava to Hannah and Molly's on Friday for swimming! Of course we all had a fabuloso time! Snacks and drinks out by the pool, little ones splashing around, catching up with my best buddy - life doesn't get much better than this!

Ella's all show, right after she put all this stuff on, she took it off and played outside the pool. (See below)

Hannah showed Karsten how to do a cannonball - here it is in ACTION!


Look how gorgeous Molly is! She looked like a blonde Pebbles.

This is what Ella did the entire time we swam; she then recruited Ava to play with her.

Candace had a great idea to bring the jungle gym to the side of the pool and have the kids slide into the pool. Hannah and Karsten LOVED it!


I love their friendship! It melts my heart!

Pied Piper Contest!

heck out my absolute fav photographer's blog. She is having some fabulous contests! Go to her blog here:Pied Piper Photo and enter to win! Fun!

The End of May . . .

emorial Day was a great holiday weekend for us. Anytime Mark and I get two days off in a row together=happiness! We had a fun filled, swimming weekend and on Monday evening decided to go out to dinner. And what's more American than BBQ on Memorial Day? We headed to Joe's Real BBQ in Downtown Gilbert. Good eats, lots of laugh and love, great times.





































































My Little Helper
Ella loves helping me clean and one day as I was vacuuming, she asked to help. Who am I to say no? She did a great job! She pretty much vacuumed one entire room.














About 20 minutes later, this is what I found in my bed . . .

















Play Date!
We watched the Jones kids one Sunday. Taylor from next door came over to play with the kids, and it wasn't too long after that we all migrated over to the Giglio's for swimming.


Needless to say, the boys LOVED this!


Daddies and their daughters.





























Cousins blowing bubbles!























And that's the end of May, stay tuned for June!

Cool Bike

So I'm obsessed with blogs now, there is this whole other world out there, and it's blogging. The ones I've been falling in love with the most are inspirational, do it yourself, crafts, home design, party ideas, invitations and letter press. Really amazing things! I will work on getting some of my favorites linked to my blog so you can check them out yourself. Anyways, I found myself floating through all my fav blogs this morning and came across this bike. How cool does this bike look? They are giving away two FREE in July and I all I have to do is link their site to my blog. So here I am, doing it! Check it out yourself and enter to win! Enjoy!

Bye, Bye Mommy

ye Mama! My Mama is off on her summer adventure extravaganza with her fiance, Rich. They are packing up and driving to their home in Lake Wawasee, Indiana. Amazing house (see my post back in Sept 2008), but it takes a full day of travel, and that's if you fly. My Mama will be back in July for two weeks and we will be in Indiana at the end of August, but other than that, it will be a Me-la free summer. :( She will be missed terribly!

Since she has met Rich, of course she hasn't been around as much as when Karsten was a baby. (Talk about a built-in babysitter! Mark and I were spoiled!) But, it's been so wonderful, watching her fall in love, seeing him love her, getting to know, and loving Rich as part as our family . . . I wouldn't trade any of that for her being around more. For the most part Mama has been gone just for weekends, visiting Rich at his love nest, but now she is gone for the WHOLE summer! We are going to be lonely!

I think we will all be okay, as we get used to this. There is definitely an adjustment that needs to happen, because I feel sad and lonely, but once it does, I'm hoping the summer will go fast! My poor little buddy is just as upset, he and Me-la have a special bond and he knows and understands that she is leaving. Again, I hope, once we get in our new routine for the summer, the time will go by fast and it will be July, then August before we know it! One can HOPE!

So I bid you farewell, Mama . . . I know you are going to have the BEST time once you get up there! And July should be here in just a wink! I love you more than anything!

PS Tell Rich I said "hi"! :)

These are some pictures from our dinner last Friday; I was too sad tonight to take pictures of our dinner at Liberty Market. So here are pics from Bucca di Beppo last week.

K-Prep Grad

an you see that sign . . . ? Did you read it? My little buddy graduated from Kindergarten Prep! He's on his way to Kindergarten next year; along with his mama's heart!













Thank you to the most amazing teacher in the world! Mrs. Gleason has set a huge standard for all of Karsten's future teachers to live up to. This year has been amazing for us and we are beyond lucky to have known Mrs. Gleason. Here is our last picture with her and Karsten's best buddy in class, Caden.

Pied Piper Photo MAGIC!

received my proofs from our photo shoot with the Pied Piper, I LOVE THEM ALL! Here are some of my favs!
(Pictures courtesy of Pied Piper Photo)