Raising Cubs in a Campground

                        Childhood is the most beautiful of all life's seasons.                  ~Author Unknown

Because of the heat, Elsa's rainbow 1st birthday party evolved into a rainbow water themed party. I guess that's what happens when you have a summer birthday? I wouldn't know since the rest of our family has Fall/Winter birthdays. This was our first attempt at keeping guests cool but outdoors where the kids could run and play games - most of which involved water balloons. The little ones liked to reach in the bin and make the balloons wiggle. I opted for full size balloons - none of those flimsy water balloons that hurt your fingers by the time you fill a dozen and pop if you look at them wrong. The ones the girls are standing by are the 'medium' ones from Walmart. The nice ones from Target cost $1.50 a bag for 15-20 balloons but were worth it for the games we played, but I'm getting ahead of myself...first I need to give credit for Elsa's shirt to Little Bit Funky . I changed it up a bit and made the purple a number 1. It was by far the easiest birthday...

It was HOT and HUMID for Elsa's birthday party yesterday but we had three pools, a slip n slide, lots of water balloons, frozen t-shirts, & lots of cold drinks to keep everyone as cool as possible. I have tons of photos of the Rainbow Party but this is the only one I have ready for tonight. The three youngest on both sides of our family - until mid August when Josie becomes a big sister. I found these rainbow shirts at Once Upon a Child months ago. It was fun to see the girls together with them on. We really need to start video taping them when we put them on the white bench because they are a hoot! I hope to get more birthday photos up later this week... Before we deflated Josie's pool that we borrowed for the party my kids spent an hour splashing in the warm water late this afternoon. The light was so pretty and who knew what a nice background a plastic pool could be!? Now that her party is behind her - Elsa is SOOOOO BIG! I finally managed to get a clear shot ...

This post has sat in my drafts all summer. I figured if I didn't get it posted tonight before we throw Elsa a party tomorrow this one might never see the light of day.   Julia finished up her second year of preschool on May 21st with a sweet graduation ceremony and then we went home to enjoy the beautiful day outside with family and friends. Julia loved preschool and is really going to miss seeing her teachers. She loved learning, singing, playing, and making whatever project they had planned for the day. I am so proud of her and the young lady she's growing up to be. She has a heart for others and is SO generous with her time and talents. In one of the photos below she's cutting flowers to give away. It's what she does and I love that about her. The weather could not have been more perfect. We have lived here for four years but it wasn't until I was scouting out where to put the tables that I realized that the pine trees made the perfect alcove for the k...

Little girls are precious gifts, wrapped in love serene.  Their dresses tied with sashes and futures tied with dreams.  -author unknown My dearest Elsa - You really are a precious gift to our family. You may have turned one this month but you will always be my baby. You have the most protective brother and sister who think the world of you. They are your biggest cheerleaders - never wavering in their enthusiasm for having a baby sister. Your face lights up whenever they walk into the room and then the squealing starts. Daddy gets the same treatment and on the rare occasion that Mama is away from you, I am greeted by a fast crawling, hair pulling, wet opened mouth kiss that turns me to mush. You look at me with your deep blue eyes and I see the trust you have in me to provide for you. We don't know what the future holds, but I pray that all your dreams come true.  I know mine did when God gave me you. Happy First Birthday! Love, Mama

Dear Photograph , We knew how much we loved this park and each other when we would visit the place where we met as park rangers in 1998. What we didn't know was how much we'd love bringing our three children to see our beloved park more than a decade later. Old memories mingled with new, but the beauty is the same.

  It's been a while since I've entered a challenge at i heart faces but when I was reading the interview with guest judge Kelle Hampton I knew I needed to take a minute and find a photo to enter. A blog about enjoying the small things? I don't know if there is a more perfect match to my Alphabitty Moments project than that! Before it got too hot and sticky to play outside after 8am we spent an afternoon slip n sliding in our backyard. We like to link two together and put them down a hill for extra fast slipping and sliding - definitely a fun way to enjoy life on a hot summer day in BearCountry!

While this isn't my first Alphabitty Moments book, it IS the first time I've used my "little things" concept for a baby book. I am so pleased with how cohesive it is and that I was able to get almost 300 photographs in an 80 page book. It was very important to me that I stayed true to the theme of Alphabitty Moments but at the same time cover as much of Elsa's first year as I could. One way I incorporated extra photographs & text in was to add a summary of her first year near the beginning of the book. A rainbow theme runs through the entire book as a nod to the theme for her 1st birthday party (which is also her golden birthday). Do you make a baby book for your children? The traditional handwritten ones or do you do a digital version? I'd love to hear from you! I have (mostly empty) traditional baby books for my older two children. Sigh.... If only I'd thought of Alphabitty Moments years ago!  It is so easy to have a list on your refrige...