Stuff...

just thought i'd pop in and post a few pictures. i said i would be better at posting so i had better follow through with that, huh!
not much is new....oh wait, we have a new addition to our home! fargo is back!

terry drove back to ND last weekend and picked him up from grandma and grandpas house. he was so excited to see us. i'm sure he was a bit confused at the changes but he has settled in. we have an underground fence that he isn't real fond of....it only took twice for him to figure out he shouldn't go past a certain point. although, when he saw the ups man the other day he bolted and didn't stop. ran right through it. i feel bad for him when he goes through it as it shakes him up pretty good. but he stays right next to me when we're outside. only bad thing is he can't quite reach the woods behind our house. when we lived in AK we taught him to poop in the woods, which he continued to do while living w/ g & g. so now he just poops in the bushes.
he looks so little in this picture but he's actually alittle over 90 lbs.
i had some requests for house pictures so here are a few of those. i haven't taken any indoors yet. i still feel like it's unfinished and still so many things i want to do....so you'll have to stay tuned for those.

a few friends that hang around. could do without the snake!
found a few raspberry sprigs amongst the flowers. they were yummy!

kati's first day back at gymnastics. i really like her coach. she takes class serious and it's not just play time for the girls. kati has really improved in just the 2 classes. i think she will start taking 2 classes a week or taking a dance class of some sort... rather than playing soccer. she isn't that interested in playing.
lauren in her second week of school....


lauren's first game! she started practice earlier this week and her first game was today. and she shoots & scores!

nancy...those were for you! :)

so that's it for now. need to get some things done around here! enjoy your weekend!

Long Over due Update!

greetings! wow, it's been a while since i've checked in. life has kept us busy!
we recently made a move to the chicago area, which consumed much of our summer. it's hard to believe it's almost september! we're getting settled in and are loving our house and neighborhood. the girls started school this week and are both very happy! they really like their teachers. lauren was excited to find out she was on the 2nd floor and had a locker! cool stuff. we've jumped right into our routine of activities....lauren started gymnastics last night and kati will start on monday. we're getting the soccer schedule lined up as well. so it's pretty much back to noraml for us.
the transition from st. louis to chicago went smoothly. terry is adjusting to his commute, he kind of liked working from home but does like the structure . the girls and i like having him home every night for dinner as well. he won't travel nearly as much as he did with his previous position either.
i have to run but will leave you with a few photos of the girls on the first day of school....
lauren started the 3rd grade and kati is in kindergarten.

Happy New Year

hard to believe another year has gone by. i know that sounds redundant but seriously, where does the time go?

our christmas was wonderful. my parents were here for 2 weeks. we celebrated laurens' birthday, christmas and new years together. i really miss being with our families during the holidays (or anytime for that matter) but to have my mom and dad here was a blessing. the girls had a great time with papa and nana.

so today is the 2nd day back from holiday break and the girls already have a day off. guess it started to rain in the middle of the night and with the temps dropping it turned into an ice rink on the roads. so we're home baking cookies...gee, just what we need after the holidays! ha ha

i was fortunate to have a few photo shoots over the holiday break as well. here are a few shots from them...both families were so much fun to work with. great personalities and so easy going.

i like black and white! :)

haven't made any new years resolutions yet but have lots of things that i would like to work on or accomplish! i turn 40 this year! yikes. i remember when i was little and 40 seemed soooo old! i don't feel old and i hope i don't look old. so i'm thinking i'll "embrace" 40 and make it a great year to remember, rather than dwell on the number! i have far too many things to be greatful and thankful for!

Wednesday...

poppin' in to say hi. haven't talked with many but hope Thanksgiving was nice. we had a good time in wisconsin. the girls reconnected with their cousins and had a blast. as for me, seeing my dog Fargo was my highlight (sorry guys, no offense! it was great seeing you too :) i miss him. but i know it would be challenging to have him here. anyway...

trying to get ready for the holidays. lots going on. with lauren's b-day being so close to x-mas it makes it even more hectic. i'm hoping this year will be her last "big" b-day party. we're having it at "incredible pizza" w/ 13 girls. they have go carts, mini golf, tons of games and the pizza buffet etc.... should be fun!

my dad & mom are coming dec. 19th. so i'm trying to prepare for that.... planning a class party for lauren's class, a cookie exchange, a couple more photo shoots, an ornament exchange, swim lessons, a rams football game, dinner w/ friends and so on and so forth! i'm so glad i decided to put up our holiday decorations before Thanksgiving...everyone thought i was crazy but what relief not having to deal with that as well! i did managed to get our x-mas cards ordered! check that off the list! i always have ideas and things i want to do and create for the holidays but the days just fly by! it's only the first week in december and i'm feeling defeated already! uhg.

here are a few photos from a shoot i did a few weeks ago.

i know....cute kids, right! i think i had maybe one or two shots that didn't turn out. closed eyes or looking away...other than that they were all amazing!

and a few more from another shoot...ya, more cuteness! poor "D" wasn't diggin' the camera! unlike his sister who "ate it up!"

Catching up...

just a quick update...and some photos to share. thanks again auntie kim and aunt shari, grandma donna, nana & papa for the halloween goodies for the girls!
they get a kick out of getting packages in the mail. they loved everything! here they are dressed up for the big night. lauren was madam dracula and kati was mini mouse.



we had a fun halloween night. we started a tradition last year with some neighbors to get together in a driveway with food, beer and a fire pit. the dads stayed back while the moms took the kids around the neighborhood. it was a lot of fun and the weather was perfect!


i had a couple of photo shoots over the weekend. these are just a few photos from one shoot. this is a friend/neighbor and her little girl. she was a lot of fun to shoot. very serious personality. but man she's cute!

oh, and here is my new car! it's a volkswagon passat cc. 2009. such a fun car to drive. the color is called light brown...not a real good pict. as far as showing you the color. we've never really been big car people but it's always fun to get a new one.

and just because this picture cracks me up! we took the girls to the pumpkin patch a week or so ago. they fed the goats and little horses. i don't know if they had fed them yet or not but the look this little guy is giving kati is too funny.


have a good week!

4 months later.....

i'm pretty sure i have lost all fellow followers by now. ha ha even family members gave up on my ability to keep my blog updated. life just seems to keep us busy and i guess the last thing to go by the way side, is my blog. so to try and catch you up to date...

* busy summer.... lots of activities and family trips. we traveled back to nd for my grandmas funeral. (sigh) had the girls involved in vbs (3 of them). swimming lessons, a cooking class and gymnastics. we also managed to throw in a family wk. end getaway to a tree house... nestled in the tree tops along a river. (very fun wk. end) and then for me there was the 1st of many golf lessons to come. terry bought me a pair of clubs a few months back but i have only taken one lesson but really enjoyed it. school started in august and just 2 weeks later we took our family vacation to san diego for 7 days! what an amazing place! we just celebrated our 10 yr. anniversary last week. can't believe it's been 10 years already. we can actually celebrate a 20 year milestone, as we dated for 10 years prior to getting married! so in a nutshell that was our summer and now we're here. almost october! i've had a few photo shoots with some neighborhood friends (their children) and have a few more lined up so i figured i had better update my blog with a few new photos. looks like i need to clean up my blog too.....i haven't designed for a scrapbook co. for a year now.....need to get those links off, huh. i haven't created a single page in almost a year as well. i have so many photos to go through it seems so daunting at this point. so anyway, check back soon and maybe i'll have a new post! :)

here are some favorite photos from our trip to San Diego:

LaJolla! so pretty!

lauren is feeding the seal...see the fish?








i updated my flikr photo box to the right also. i added some of the photos from my recent shoots.

I'm Still Alive.....

hellooooo! i'm sure anyone who was keeping up with my blog has probably lost all hope that i would ever come back! ha ha it's hard to believe my last post was feb. 1st. i think i had/have lost interest in blogging although i do still check in on a few blogger friends. i thought i'd post anyway and see if anyone is still out there....
all is going ok here. the girls are still keeping me busy. kati will be done with preschool in just 2 weeks and lauren goes until the first week of june. they had 5 snow days this winter so i guess they'll have to make those up. with school starting up again in august the summer is going to seem awfully short!
terry and i took a little trip in april. we flew grandma down to watch the girls for a week. we went to scottsdale. it was a crazy trip but fun. i have a girlfriend in gilbert who i hadn't seen in almost 10 years. it was so much fun seeing her and catching up on old times. it was as if we hadn't lost those 10 years. neither of us had changed all that much!
i haven't taken many photos lately either. so i can't even share those with you. i still haven't gotten back into scrapbooking. i still lack interest. i think if i were to go to a store that had all the new papers and embellishments i would probably be tempted.... right now our basement is in shambles so if i had interest i couldn't scrap anyway. we're having several can lights and outlets put it. our basement is unfinished and we really don't need the extra space so we've decided to do a "rough finish". just so it is more comfortable down there for the girls to play and do crafts. we're painting the cement walls, adding some carpet (nothing too fancy) and spraying the ceiling. we've also framed around the furnace and we'll hang a flat screen by our workout area and call it good.
terry is doing fine. busy with work and finishing up his classes for his mba. he took finals this week. he said it was tough but i can't imagine him getting anything but and A in both classes.
so that's pretty much it. i really need to take some photos of the girls and post them. hopefully on mothers day we can do that!
have a great weekend and happy mothers day!

OVER DUE!

wow, it's been a long time since i've posted! life has just kept us pretty busy. the last thing i think of is posting on my blog. i think the novelty of it is wearing off and i have less and less to ramble about.

life is good. we're all doing fine. the girls are very busy. lauren is in gymnastics, soccer, volleyball and girl scouts and kati is now in gymnastics also and will start swimming lessons next week. (she isn't as excited about this as i had hoped! i won't be able to swim with her so she is a bit scared but i'm sure she'll do just fine) the girls had a snow day today. we got about 8" of snow last night. of course terry is out of town. never fails. so i was out shoveling by 6:30, my third time shoveling mind you! but i figure it's a good workout, so what the heck. this is only the 2nd snow fall we've had so i can't complain and i'm sure the snow will be gone within a few days!

so this is about the extent of it. nothing new and exciting to report...hopefully it won't take me weeks to post again and maybe i'll have something to chat about and more pictures to share.

have a great wk. end.