Oh boy- I know I've been horrible about blogging- trust me, my parents clued me in this last weekend :)

So- it's been really, really busy around here- Callista is the star of the month with violin concerts, a birthday that consists of about 6 separate parties- and of course her 5th grade graduation this Friday! Yay Calli Bug!! She so loved getting phone calls from her dear aunties yesterday- thanks girls :)

We had Marmee and GG up to visit this last week...hands down the best trip we've had so far.  We sure did fit a lot in over 4 days- Calli's concert, trips to Top This and Jamba Juice, Mom and Dad got to take a trip to Bonner's to see Carolyn Bateman, I got to work (woohoo), kids at school, movie trip to see The Avengers (pure awesomeness- even Mom got into it!)... what else?? oh yes- golfing for Kara and GG, shopping for the girls with Marmee, lunch for everyone, and we even got some culture in by taking the girls to a ballet performance of Midsummer's Night Dream...phew!  Are my parents the coolest or what??

So that was just the last few days- yesterday was Calli's home party- now tonight she heads off to the grandparents with Dad for cake and presents- and this Saturday is the big double slumber party for her and Maddie- swimming at the hotel, and then back to Karen's to unleash all 15 girls to the basement for video games and what have you...

Mother's Day was another highlight- I was woken up by the girls to presents and cards- and tears of happiness of course... then I surprised their little pants off by taking them to Silverwood for the day! I built them up all week saying they were going to clean the house spotless for me on Mother's Day- so they were pretty stoked. Silverwood is a great amusement park just 10 minutes north of us...we had so much fun!

Let's see- Teags is doing great as well- she is excited for summer vacation, but really is going to miss her friends and teachers from this year- she will be all alone in elementary next year while Calli goes off to middle school- holy moley!  Oh yes- Alyx had her graduation last week too! She wore her cap and gown and walked with about 100 other graduates from Bridge Academy- so proud of her! She is progressing well in her pregnancy and is having a girl- already named as Kiara Jane Bingham....(named for Calli and Teags' middle names) so sweet...

I am currently waiting for my server to come back up for work- so good thing I had a break-it's raining cats and dogs outside, so I'm making soup and hoping for sun soon... miss you all so much and love you! and here's some pics....

You see that very handsome man right in the middle next to that very gorgeous woman?  Those sure are 2 good lookin people aren't they? Well, they happen to be my amazing parents :)  (as you can see, they also make some pretty beautiful offspring) 

It was my Dad's birthday yesterday and I thought about him literally the entire day.. I had spent the day with a bunch of friends while we all attended our friend Shannon's graduation, and then went to her reception afterwards. I watched Shannon with her dad (her mom has never been in the picture) and I realized how much I miss mine!  It's been great to have a relationship over the phone with my Dad, to say the least- for some reason I have an easier time opening up to him and Mom over the phone and I feel like we've had some great conversations...and it makes me feel more grown-up when I can talk to them that way.  I just read Mom's Sunday letter- I think each week is better than the last :)  There's something fascinating about hearing those stories about these people you never knew as being just a couple- not having any children yet.... I bet those were some really fun times.  Mom and Dad- you are both so fun and I love, love spending time with you! I can't wait to see you in a few weeks and am so sad I'm missing out on the FL trip.  But- parents gotta work and that's what I'm gonna do :)

Dad- I hope your birthday was filled with love and I hope you know just how much each of your amazing daughters love you! You have no idea the base you've made for each of us to stand on... it means more to me every day watching my own children grow and I just hope from the depths of my heart that they ever look up to me in any semblance of the way I look up to you.   I Love You!

Along the long wall, there will be sweet alyssum with all kinds of wildflowers and nasturtiums :) 

 In the containers are tomatoes, basil, and dill...

Fuschia plants, wildflowers, day lilies...

New Shoes for all the girls!! 

It's the little things in life- it really is :)  We have all our things planted- I didn't get pics of the backyard garden yet, but will soon.  In there, we have squash, peas, cantaloupe (yay!), radishes, and onions... also going to attempt a small row of corn and see if that works out :)  And for a little somethin for ourselves, we all went and got new shoes today- Calli cot the awesome sandal/tennis shoes, I got new yoga/running shoes, and Teags got new tennis shoes, cuz her old ones went in the garbage already...and guess what?  Teagyn, being 7 years old, has never had a pair of shoes with laces- she got super frustrated (with me), but after about 5 or 7 tries, she has it down folks!! So proud.  

Hey there family and devoted readers :) Sorry I've been such a slacker on blogging, but my camera was messed up for a bit until I figured out how to fix it, and it's just not the same to blog without pictures.

Happy Easter!!

Today was a great, relaxing, lazy day- nice weather too! The girls went with Dad up to his family's for dinner and I relished in the quiet and laid on the couch pretty much all day- they had a great time :) Back to school tomorrow and I think since this nice weather is finally holding over, tomorrow night will be a great time to get our seed starts going for the garden!! I can't wait- got big plans this year to make it all happen. There are some pictures of Teags' birthday party- but that is when my camera gave up on me... so you can see the lovely cake I made, and the first game was doing the bubble blowing- which they loved! She had a great, great birthday this year- holy moly, she hasn't even played with all of her presents yet, because she obviously is a VERY loved girl and had sooo many gifts! Love you all and I promise to update sooner than later!!

Boy oh boy- where to begin about the goings on at Kara and the girls?? We have been insanely busy lately- we've had school stuff to go to- sleepovers, parties to attend, and trying to squeeze it all in sometimes feels just too crazy. BUT~ we are all doing very well and have smiles on our faces! So my favorite thing to report at first was Teagyn's VIP status this week at school- I love love my kids' teachers this year- they're just amazing people :) So every student in Teagyn's class gets to be VIP for one week- they fill out their fun poster, they share their favorite book, they bring stuff for the counting jar, and the best day of all is show and tell day~ of course we brought the cutest thing in our house- Sir Louie :) Wow- I was saying on my FB page that if you want to feel like a rock star for a bit- just take a puppy to school! It was sooo funny, don't think I have laughed that hard in a while- the kids are just silly and they get so excited to tell you about their dog, bird, turtle, cat, you name it! So I got to visit Calli's class too and Louie was feeling very very loved that day...he was so darn good! I wish I could have taken pics, but it was way too hectic to try and hold a camera while you're being mauled by 100 kids... Let's see- Callista got fantastic grades on her EOCA tests- straight A's this girl has had all year- she blows me away!! I am going to get her started in volleyball for the spring time- and we are planning the big 7-year-old party for Teags just next Sunday- I can't wrap my head around the fact that she's going to be 7!!

I am busy as a bee! Working and am about to lose my little side job I've had for years- but I am really going to relish that actual 2 days off a week- I am sooo looking forward to Spring and getting my backyard really looking nice this year... so I have lots of house and yard plans to get going on. So here's some pics to enjoy of our latest endeavors- the picture of the bread is this amazing homemade garlic-herb bread wrapped around a bunch of roasted vegetables- kind of calzone style, and was made by our lovely April- she's my cousin from Chris' family.. so delicious.

Happy Valentine's :) :)

Louie giving me the look of WHY am I at the vet again??

Hey strangers! Well, goodness I've been slacking on my blog, but you know all the basic excuses. So here's what's been happening~~ Calli was a great volunteer at her school winter carnival this year- as you can see, she did a great job face painting....the craziest thing is she didn't really tell me this was happening until we were 15 minutes before she had to be there, so we literally dashed to the school to be there on time (nice timing Calli!) We had a great time wandering around - I even won a book on the book walk in the library :) It's so wonderful to go to one of these school things and see how many people love being with your kids all day, and what great role models they are.... besides that, just the normal hubbub of daily life...getting ready to start lots of spring projects in our backyard and the girls' bedrooms!! We made the cutest Valentine's tonight for class parties tomorrow- Gotta Love Pinterest!!

Teags' marshman from school... she wanted all to see

Working studiously on Valentine's..