6 yr old Photographer

What do you get when your six year old steals your camera when you are not around?


You got to love these little random pictures I tend to find on my camera every now and then.

Stolen Memory

My sister has started doing memories on her blog. Since we spent most of our time together when we were little, her memories are mine in a lot of ways. I wanted this to be in my blog book when I print it out this year so I stole it. (It's alright to steal from a sister, right?)

Our Swimming Pool

I think we were the luckiest kids in our neighborhood, because not only were we one of the first kids in the neighborhood to get a trampoline, I also had a dad who liked to invent things. I just started to list some of the things he invented and decided that better be a whole other entry to do it justice. Needless to say, my favorite invention was our swimming pool. We had hours of fun in this homemade contraption. It was six sided, made out of 2x4's, and in the early years we used black plastic for the lining. It was great because it was so slippery, but it got holes in it pretty easily so later on we started using a big blue tarp. Every summer when the weather got warm enough, we would haul out the tarp and smooth out the sand underneath (by the way, in the spring and fall we had an awesome sand box) then we would staple the tarp to the edges, leaving one side unstapled, so that we could let the water out and clean it every so often. My dad also made a slide out of 2x4's, and covered it with Aluminum sheeting. The slide was burning hot in the summer but we quickly discovered a hose at the top solved that problem, and also made a great water slide! We would zip down the slide and try ski across the slippery plastic. The person who made it the farthest without falling was the winner. A lot of our make believe play was centered around that pool. We often would pretend we were mermaids or wild horses that loved the water. Often, we would have the whole neighborhood at once, and there would be a line to go down the slide. It might not have been the most glamorous looking pool but to us it was the best pool in the whole world. Our pool in the early years. I'm too sexy poses from left to right: Jenn, friendsDeNiece, our pesky neighbor Ethan, me, and my other pesky neighbor and brother to the first one Austin. You can see part of our awesome slide in the background.
Here we are a little older, having fun with some of my nieces and nephews. From left to right, Joy, I think the next one is April but I am not sure, my nephew nick, then Amber (a neighbor), me, a friend Krista, and Jenn.

End of the Year fun

May is always busy with a lot of fun activities. We started out the month with Hayden's preschool program. He loved being in front of the crowd, singing songs and telling his part. He has loved preschool. Thanks Ms. Joy for a great year!

Hannah also had her end of the year Kindergarten program. They sang a few songs and passed out certificates. Kindergarten has been such a great experience for her. There hasn't been one day where she hasn't wanted to go this year. She loves it.

Her teacher, Mrs. Taylor has been so great! Hannah learned so much and felt really comfortable in the school setting and for my shy little girl this was a big thing. You couldn't ask for more. First grade here she comes!

They also had their dance rectial on Saturday. They had such a great time performing! Dance recitals always have such a magical feel to them - it's probably because I remember them being that way when I was little. They have both enjoyed the year and have learned a lot. (It is crazy as their teacher to have it be my last year. I will miss it, but am excited to have a little more time in my life!)

May was great, but now we are officially ready for summer. Is the weather?

It's a . . .

GIRL!

We thought we had a boy coming to this family but I was right with my inklings the last few months feeling like this just might be a girl. There was no doubt in the doctors mind so we will be seeing pink come September. We were also very happy that the baby looks completely healthy in the ultrasound.

The hard part was breaking it to Hayden. Hannah didn't care either way but Hayden was set on a boy. We had them open a sack with this little onesie in it. Hayden instantly broke out into tears. Then he got a little mad and said he thought he might trade it. After a few hours, he is coming to accept it and is just excited to be a big brother. We'll see how he is tomorrow. Now I can actually start thinking about names and how we are going to arrange the rooms. It finally is sinking in a little that we have a baby coming to our home.

Hannah is six!

Today is Hannah's birthday. She just told me it was a good day and that is what we hoped it would be. Birthday's seem to stretch out over a few days. Hers started on Sunday night with a family party on the Jackson side. On Monday I took her to Blastoff for a little bit of fun. Today her birthday started to waking up to a decorated room (compliments of her brother) then her dad made her favorite breakfast of an omelet, I brought donuts into school with a poster about her, a jamba for lunch, playing at Rees's this afternoon and pizza for dinner. She was so glad to get rollerblades so she won't have to share her brother's anymore.

We are so glad to have Hannah in our lives. She is a beatiful girl inside and out. She is very bright and determined in all she does. She cares about people around her and is very watchful to all that goes on.

Happy Birthday Hannah!