Pictures of Pictures

I got Haven's 1 year pictures on the walls!  Oliva Carlson (who also did Haven's newborn shots) did such a wonderful job on these as always!  I forsee lots of time sitting and staring at these beauties!
 

In the living room...

In Haven's room...

And in our room...

Love them all!  Thank you Oliva!!!

Princess Camp 2012

So I've mentioned before that I LOVE my job!  And one of my favorite weeks of the year is Tippi Toes Princess Camp!  My staff and I dress in full princess costume and do storytime, dancing, crafts, and games with a bunch of little 3-7 year old princesses!  I love seeing the girls' faces as they come through the door in their fancy dresses, so excited to spend each day with us.  Their imaginations and overwhelming joy fills me up!!  This year was extra-special as some of my favorite Tippi Toes dancers joined us at camp as well as two of Russell's cousin's kids!  Here's some of the royal cuties...

My favorite silly picture... I like to go all out haha...  Love little Rylee too!!

This year was also special because I got some help from some of my UJVP girls!  How cute are they all dressed up?!  BIG thanks to all 3 of them for helping me out!!  Love you girls and so did all the kids!!

We partnered with Jenks Community Ed this year for camp which proved to be such a rewarding experience.  We had the camp at Grace Living Center in Jenks so all of the senior residents there got to watch our special camp all week!  On the last day of camp we performed for all the parents and families of the little princesses, as well as lots of the residents of Grace!  One little old lady wheeled over to me and said "We can't thank you enough for doing this here.  This has been such a joy to watch all week!"  Precious!  I love that we were able to serve the community and be a light for those residents that may or may not see many visitors on a daily basis. 

Haven got to stay with Grandma for a few hours every day and got spoiled, I'm sure! :)  She would go straight to Grandma when we walked through the door and wave bye to me.  Kinda broke my heart a little bit that she is getting more independent, but it makes it easier to leave her too!  Thanks Grandma!!

Thanks to all the families of our little princesses for sharing your children with us for this magical week!  We had a fabulous time and look forward to making more princess memories in the future!  It is truly a blessing to get to put on such a fun event for them and see the magic in their eyes!  I love it!  Oh and shout-out to my awesome sister who painted that backdrop for us!  It never fails to amaze me every year when I hang it up!  Love you!  Thanks again to all involved!  Looking forward to next summer!!!   



 

Cute Girls!

I missed this picture in the cousins post!  Too cute not to share!  Playing some tunes...

Cousin Visit!

Last weekend Haven's cousins were here visiting!  We always love to spend time with Grayson and Garner.  They are too cute!  Grayson is 4 now and talks non-stop!  He has the best imagination and is such a sweet boy.  Garner is 20 months and adorable!  She is really into waving at everyone she sees, multiple times a day.  Ha!  And if I get down on her level and open my arms up, she comes running for a hug!  I just love them.  And it's really neat to watch the 3 of them play now that Haven can walk and try to keep up!  Here's some pictures from one of our days together!

Poppy loves Haven!

Breaking for lunch with Grandma, Uncle Ben, and Aunt Valerie!

Eat that lunch Grayson!  Ha!

Wonder if Haven will ever have that much hair?

"Hey Dad, get in the pool!"

 Bahahaha it was COLD!

Love these two so much!

This guy in his pink goggles (awesome!) had some pretty good skills off the diving board!

This girl's a little fish too!

All done swimming... I'll get in a picture one of these days...

Precious girl!

Time for some snacks and tv time!  We're pooped!

"Hey cuz, whatcha got over there?"  Ha!

Cheeks full of grapes!

All 3 of them loving some Mickey Mouse Club!

Lounging and frowning hahaha...

Happy again!

Sword and the Stone came on and Grayson thought it would be scary so he went in the playroom.  But then he watched through the window!  Hysterical!

Baby girl loves her Daddy!

What a fun weekend it was!  Praise Grandma and Poppy for the times they had all 3 of them by themselves!  We love cousin time!

Books!

Haven has really started showing interest in books!  We have read books to her all along, but now it is more her idea which I love!  Here's a pic of her with her Bible stories in her rocking chair!  Such a big girl!

But my favorite thing is when she brings books to me!  She will pick one up, walk across the room with it in hand, and look at me with a precious smile and sweet little sound that I translate into, "Mommy, please read this to me!"  Love, love, love it.  I will stop what I'm doing EVERY TIME when she does this.  I don't want to miss one moment like this!  It's just too precious and I'm sure one day I will be begging her to read her books for school.  We will encourage this as much as we can!  I was just taking some video of her walking the other day and happened to catch her "asking" me to read to her too!  :)



Walking!

Haven has been taking 15-20 steps at a time for several days now!  She is still a bit wobbly, but getting more and more steady every day!  I have watched her walk from one piece of furniture to the next, as well as from one room into the next or down the hall a ways.  She is also starting to climb on things like her rocking chair or push-behind car and stand up on it!  Aaaah!  She gets SO mad when I pull her down and tell her she is supposed to sit.  Oh the joys of keeping your baby safe and her thanking you by throwing a fit.  Ha!  Anyway, I happened to have my phone handy for this set of steps!  Go Haven!

A Funny Comparison

We represent the Lollipop Guild, the Lollipop Guild, the Lollipop Guild.

And in the name of the Lollipop Guild...

We wish to welcome you to Munchkin Land!

Sorry, Haven.  I had to.

Happy 4th!

We spent the 4th of July at my in-laws house eating, swimming, eating, watching Haven take some steps, eating, and watching fireworks.  Oh, and more eating.  :) 

Here's my happy girl on the 4th!

Aunt Rissa and Nathan came for the day and it was so nice to spend some time with them!

Cute!

And now for the Poppy & Haven photo-shoot...

What a life... lounging on Poppy and being fed watermelon by Mommy. 

Trying to get her to sign "please" for watermelon and this is what we got.  How precious right?!

"HONK HONK!!!"  Haha!

I'm pretty sure he tempted her with watermelon in his mouth to get this kiss lol...

We watched crazy Daddy and his crazy cousins light a bunch of stuff on fire!

Even the kids got in on some smoke bomb action!

These sweet girls were in the audience!

Along with this guy... ring-bearer from my wedding... 10 years old now!

And this guy was about done...

Haven had a new admirer in Bailey (Colt's sister)... She was giving her so much love!

See what I mean?!  Too cute.

We finished up with fireworks just after dark when most others were probably just starting.  But we have kids with bedtimes!  And even with that said, Haven didn't get in bed until after 10!  But it was a long fun day filled with family, food, and fun!  Happy 4th everyone!