Ariel's Graduation Photos

Spring 2012 photo

Ariel's grad photo...5 and a half years old.

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Sibling Love

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If only chalk could be transferred to paper...

I am amazed at the drawings my little girl did in our driveway the other day. She quite the little artist! And what I love the most is that she had chalk from head to toe! You know a true artist was in her mode when she has her medium all over her!

Looking for land

We are in the process of looking for some land to purchase in Bentonville. We think we might have found some but we are still in prayer about it. Ultimately we would like to purchase, build a workshop/studio for photography and then build our house as we can with cash. The Lords plan is greater than ours and we aren't rushing until we know we have heard from him. Excited about any opportunity we have!

My Arabian Dancer

Ariel got one of three costumes for her upcoming recital last week. In Ballet, they will be dancing to an Aladdin theme and they are all dressed up in Princess Jasmin dancers. They are all just too cute!

Animal Love

We have tons of animal love here in this house this week! Between Jasper and Shadow, there isn't a dull moment!

Easter Sunday

This has to be one of my most favorite holidays when all things come new and we center our day upon our Risen King!

The kids woke up to an egg scavenger hunt in order to find a gift that Dan and I had bought for them. You can see the video below. Please ignore my messy home. The weekends are the worst when it comes to tidiness!

Once the kids found their gift from us, they saw their Easter baskets. We had leftover blueberry waffles and then we all got ready to go church. We sat together as a family in church service. It just fills my heart to have my babies with me while worshiping the Lord!

After church, we came home and had some quiet time reading and reflecting about what the meaning of Easter is all about. We also took some naps too!

Later that afternoon we met Lynn and Rita in Eureka for a nice Easter dinner at Ermilio's. They are going to be in Tennessee all this week and we are keeping their sweet new puppy all week.

The puppy's final name is Jasper and he really is a sweet puppy! I think it's kinda calming my puppy fever a but. They are a lot of work! The kids are helping me a lot with him. They love to walk him and help me feed him at night.

We had such a wonderful laid back Easter. I am so thankful for all the blessings I have!

Saturday

We were able to sleep in a little bit on Saturday. I had no sessions scheduled until later that afternoon do I was able to make some breakfast for the fam. I made homemade blueberry waffles in my waffle iron. Love the waffles but cleaning the iron is such a chore!

After breakfast, the kids went out and played with Shadow in the yard. Dan ran a few errands and then I had a photo sessions with a senior at 2:00. I think it was the quickest senior shoot I have done! We were trying to beat the rain and it was a success! It started raining as soon as we finished. Thanks to the rain, my last session of the day got postponed.

The rain left the kids inside to play the rest of the afternoon. We dyed Easter eggs together and had dinner and then read the Easter story.

Lunch with friends and planting flowers

On Friday, Ariel and I met three of my girlfriends and their daughters at the park to let the little girls play. After about an hour of play, we decided to go to lunch at Taco Bueno.

After lunch, Ariel and I went to Walmart and bought some flowers to go on our front porch. She was such a big help this year. She helped me pick out the best bunch of flowers and tilled the dirt in each pot. She even scrubbed my chairs for me to get the pollen and dust off of them! I just love having flowers on my front porch! Now, of I could only remember to water them :).

That night we had hamburgers on the grill for dinner and then we watched "The Muppets" together as a family!

Dirt piles

On Thursday, Ariel had an Easter party at school. She got up and filled her eggs with goodies to take to school.

I went grocery shopping after I dropped her off and snagged a bag of Reese's cups before I left the store. I don't know why I do this to my self. It's like torture to stay out of them!

While the kids were both at school, I cleaned up a bit. I realized that I am taking over Ariel's closet with all my photo props! We are prayerfully considering opportunities for a photo studio within the next year to year and a half. I think Dan is realizing also that I need some space!

After school, the kids went down the construction dirt pile two houses down from us. They have the beat time on it, especially with the neighborhood kids!

I also had to throw this sweet photo of Ariel and her drawing of flowers and clovers in today's blog too!