• Crazy Kids,  Family,  Photography

    Hold that Pose.

    Sophie and I headed out to the wooded area by the lake last week so I could take some photos, and I had such a fun time with her.. despite how self-conscious she is when I'm taking her picture, she manages to have a little fun and gets me to laughing.

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    I told her that I would say the name of the store, and she had to pose like their mannequins or ad models, and this is what she came up with…

    Hollister:

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    Delia's:

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    Urban Outfitter (known around our house for their corpse-like models):

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    JC Penney (I laughed at this reaction.. clearly not her favorite place to shop):

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    WalMart:

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    Old Navy:

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    I love blurting out things to my girls when I take their picture, just to capture their immediate reactions. (One time I told Sabrina that whomever's name I said, she had to picture giving them a smooch; that was a hilarious experiment, and we got a lot of laughs out of looking through the photos!)

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    As fun as it is for me to take my girls' pictures (much more fun for me than it is for my girls!), there's nothing that makes me smile more than when I remember their laughing. Nothing posed, nothing planned.. just them being them.

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  • Crazy Kids,  Family,  Fridays with Bre,  Friends,  Music,  Travel

    Cheese.

    For a few years now, my oldest daughter Bre has been trying to convince me that I'd love her style of music if I'd give it a try – particularly if I'd give her favorite band (introduced to her by Josh), The String Cheese Incident, a chance. I love all sorts of music, but never actually listen to any, because I prefer the sound of peace and quiet (which usually sounds like a pot of coffee brewing and perhaps a DVD of Lark Rise to Candleford playing on the set in front of me-and-my-stitching).

    However, a few months ago I found myself saying "sure" to her invitation to join she and Josh at Red Rocks in Colorado, and up until the day I left, I was pretty much a nervous wreck over it. What if the night lasts too long and I can't stay awake? What if I'm surrounded by hooligans who start body surfing? What if I can't find a quiet spot to stitch in? WHAT IF THERE'S NO COFFEE?

    I'm here today because I survived it. And not only did I survive it, I had one of the best nights of my life! Bre and Josh were the most accomodating, fun adult couple to hang out with, and as I was getting dressed this morning, I was bummed that I didn't buy a concert tee shirt to put on.

    Here are Bre and I in the hotel room before the show:

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    And with Josh:

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    When we arrived at Red Rocks Ampitheater, I was amazed at how beautiful it was!

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    (If you follow Bre on Instagram, you'll remember that she won that really cool Kelly Moore camera bag/backpack that she's wearing.)

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    The sun was very hot and very hazy, but Josh warned me not to complain about the heat, because as soon as someone does, the sky opens up and the rain falls in bucketloads, and then it's freezing the rest of the night.

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    We walked through what's known as "Shakedown Street," because that's where lots of vendors sell their wares – jewelry, tee shirts, art work – and Bre's koozies! She had some made especially for the weekend, and she sold tons of them!

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    (Josh was her koozie caddie, reaching into his backpack and refilling her handfull when she'd run out.)

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    (I love how talented she is… for those of you who have gotten one of my little lip balms in a class kit, she helped me design those as well!)

    I bought these crazy pants to wear to the show, as well as the necklace I'm wearing (which has a clay pendant of the SCI logo), but as soon as the show was over, I gave them both to Bre.  She was happy to adopt them, as they're much more her style than mine. (But it was fun wearing something out of the ordinary for a change.)

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    These two are so fun to hang out with! This was before the show started. (And by the way, Katrina mentioned once that Josh looks like a young Matt Lauer, and I have to agree!)

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    Incidentally (see what I did there?), Josh is a very calm, laid-back kind of guy. He's always soft-spoken and pleasant, and I was planning on sitting by him for the most part while Bre danced the night away. However, as soon as the band members walked out on stage, I was jerked out of my comfort zone by a never-before-seen Josh that one can only describe as the mildly wild sort…

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    I need my cross stitch, I need my cross stitch, I need my cross stitch….

    Truth be told, I never laughed so hard! These two were an absolute joy to watch, the way they danced and had so much fun, singing along to the songs they love and stopping frequently to see if I was still breathing.

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    What a fantastic night! The music, the food (hot dogs, Philly steak sandwiches, and lots of peanut M&M's), and the friendliness of everyone there; young people, old people, and lots of children, all having the same wonderful time I was having.

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    But best of all, I got to spend time with my girl. My sweet, talented, artistic, music-loving girl.

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    Thank you for a wonderful time, Bre. I love you. And I love Cheese.

  • Family,  Friends,  Holidays

    The Fourth

    Our Independence Day was wonderful, crazy, messy fun with sweet family and good friends and great food. Mom called me earlier that week to prepare the menu for our "event," as she calls our cookouts, and Mike spent hours trying to come up with a way to trick us all into playing board games with him after the fireworks were over.

    Mom's menu worked. Mike's plans did not. (He did, however, convince a few good sports to play Monkey Ball with him, which is always fun.)

    My mom's dearest friend Anne came all the way from Wyoming to spend the holiday with us, my sister Audrey and her family drove all the way from Dallas, and Bre and Josh and Kaia joined us from way out in western Nebraska. The only person missing from the festivities was my brother. We missed you, Paul!

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    While Anne knows full well what it's like to be at a Kwaak gathering, poor Josh had not yet been introduced to such an experience.

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    I'm never sure who the bigger ham is, when it comes to Mike and my sister.

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    And then there's Bre (with her signature mouthful of ice cubes), pretending to be her dad (with his signature Hook 'em Horns sign)…

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    I think Josh was looking for a quick escape…

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    Baby Kaia was certainly the star of the evening, and got lots of love and reassuring hugs, since the fireworks had her a bit rattled…

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    (My beautiful mom.)

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    (I think my dad was in love.)

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    Later on, we moved out front to shoot all the fireworks the menfolk had purchased.

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    And the girls had fun writing things with their sparklers. It takes a lot of practice, and we usually run out of sparklers by the time the writing becomes legible, but here was one of our earlier attempts: Bre was trying to spell "I (heart) Cheese," which you can make out somewhat, if you look really closely. (Cheese is the nickname of her and Josh's favorite band, the String Cheese Incident.)

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    (I think Bean was missing someone, but I'm not sure who…. I'll let you know, as soon as I find out…)

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    There's my girl!

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    Little Natalie, my niece…

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    I love this picture of my mom and Sabrina chatting…

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    My darling Bre…

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    Sophie spent the whole night out in the street with her dad and Pops and Uncle Shaun, shooting one firework off after another, but she did take the time to come over and sparkle a heart for me…

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    I'll leave you with this last family photo, and with any luck, someone out there will be able to offer up an explanation as to what Sabrina could possibly be doing in it.

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    Poor Josh. Hopefully our event hasn't scarred scared him away for good.

  • Family

    Happy Birthday, Joon!

    I love age 12. It's so dramatic and fun and confusing and full of admonishments to Big Papa to "just let her cry. You won't be able to figure it out anyway."

    My little Joonie turned 13 this month, and if her big sisters are anything to go by, this age will be just as crazy as the last. And Big Papa will still be scratching his head.

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    Sophie's birthday party pretty much lasted the whole week! We had a lot of fun with her, and we wanted to make it extra special because she has never asked for a birthday party. I've offered every year, but she has always preferred a quiet family barbeque instead. So this year, when she actually said she'd like to invite a few friends over to celebrate, we happily obliged.

    Sophie and her friends opted for a mini pizza party and sleepover…

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    And Mike and I sat at another table, since she's 13 now. 😉 (She thanked us later, btw.)

    Earlier that week, Sabrina surprised Sophie by coming to town to decorate the dining room in typical birthday fashion: lots of streamers and balloons and glitzy stars and birthday stickers all over the table covering. Soph was quite surprised when she came home from school that day, because she thought Sabrina was going to have to miss her birthday, but Sabrina told her that after the huge bash Sophie organized for her last year (Sophie loves to plan parties), there was no way she would miss the opportunity to return the favor. Sophie was thrilled!

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    That evening we had our family barbeque, and Soph requested Strawberry Pretzel Jell-O Stuff instead of a birthday cake. (By the way, most of the photos in this post were taken with my phone, so you'll have to pardon the quality!)

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    (I hope she always loves blowing out birthday candles.)

    Even earlier that week, we told Sophie that we had a surprise for her. Since she's a huge huge huge fan of musical theater, we decided to take her downtown to see the musical The Addams Family. We knew Sophie was unfamiliar with the tv show, but we also knew she'd get a kick out of going to the play. This was in the car, on the way to the show; Soph still had no idea where we were taking her…

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    (Again, pardon the blurries in the photos.. I couldn't hold my phone still!)

    We arrived downtown and, after eating at another pizza place (we do love our pizza), we headed toward the theater. Sabrina and Mike were walking ahead of Soph and I…

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    And this is when Soph started to figure out what we were up to…

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    She was so excited!

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    I love this photo… I was walking as I was taking it, obviously, but I couldn't miss grabbing the moment:

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    It was such a fun birthday week (for all of us!), but we were sad that Bre couldn't be here with us. She did, however, make the long drive home for Mothers Day (thank you, sweet girl!), and brought Sophie's birthday present with her. Sophie loves the Wanelo app (it's a wish list, similar to Pinterest, but with retail items you long to own), so Bre scoured her wish list and ordered a gorgeous bottle of pink, glittery nail polish for her. But my favorite thing she got Sophie was this amazing, custom-made beach towel!

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    And so my youngest daughter has been ushered into her teen years with lots of love and hugs and kisses and presents from a family that adores her.

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    I love age 13.

  • Family

    Wings

    Sabrina will officially be moving out on her own this weekend. No more college dorms in which one can barely move, no more parking permits, and no more mom telling her to keep her room picked up when she's at home. My girl is finally at the point in her life I never thought she'd be… not because I didn't have confidence in her; but because when she was my little thumb-sucking Bean, she would always say to me, "Mom, I'm nevuh going to gwo up and move out becuth I awayth want to thtay home and wiv wif you. Okay Mom?"

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  • Crazy Kids,  Family

    Duet

    Any time a song comes on the radio (or pops into Sophie's head), Sophie and I usually start singing to it together. She will belt out the lead to any song, and I usually take on a background singer's role, which seems to work well for us.

    It doesn't, however, work as well for others in the house; on a recent visit home, Bre finally had to ask, "Do you two always break out in song?"

    Why yes, we do. And usually for no good reason other than to pretend we're famous singers.

     

    You should see us when we break out in dance.

    ETA: The song is by Bruno Mars, and these are the lyrics:

    I shoulda brought you flowers,
    and held your hand.
    Shoulda gave you all my hours
    when I had the chance.
    Take you to every party cuz all you
    wanted to do was dance.
    Now my baby's dancin',
    Now she's dancin' with another man.

  • Crazy Kids,  Family

    It’s Been a While!

    I've missed sitting here and "chatting" with you guys! I guess it's not really chatting, since I'm the one doing all the talking, but it feels like we're chatting sometimes. 🙂 I've been wanting to sit here and post something for a long time now, but I've been extremely busy with getting class pieces designed and releases organized, and have not had many chances to update this poor neglected blog of mine.

    And since my older girls are away, and my Sophie doesn't like to be photographed very much, there isn't a whole lot to post about except for the animals that live here. 😉 But I did manage to find a few pictures I took over the Easter weekend, which made me smile.

    My silly girls.. it was so nice having them all home again for a day or two.

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    Tilly-Roux loves Bre's soft voice, and if you could have heard the purring going on here!  But then, Sabrina came into the room, and Bre turned into a different creature.

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    Don't you just love it when a photo would have been so sweet, if not for one person with ideas of their own?

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    We love to flex our muscles around here.

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    That one was actually taken a few weeks ago on one of Bean's visits home, but I thought I'd include it.

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    I love my girls. And it's possible that, since they've spent so much time apart, they may actually kind of love each other a bit as well. 😉

    I may have just jinxed myself.

    Thanks for checking in here, even though more often than not, there's not much new to read. I sure have missed you all though!

  • Crazy Kids,  Family

    God’s Creatures

    Sabrina has always had an intense love for animals. But she drew the line when Bre, a few years ago, suggested she buy herself a Spirit Hood. Spirit Hoods are faux-animal-fur hoods often seen worn by the mountain-loving younger crowd in Colorado (Breanna included) and a few other places.

    However, the idea soon grew on Bean, and she decided that she wanted to support the Spirit Hood cause, which is to preserve wildlife with the help of hood sales.

    Recently, they went on sale, and she bought herself the Red Wolf one…

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    I love it! She already owned the Night Owl hood, which is one of my favorites…

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    This is another picture of her in the Red Wolf… if I'm not mistaken, I believe this is also the one that Bre owns. I loved Bre's so much, I wanted one for my own!

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    The girls surprised me this year for Christmas with a large box that said "To Mom, From Grey Wolf." I was absolutely thrilled! Thank you again, my sweet girls!

    I really only showed you these crazy animal hoods because I wanted an excuse to tell you that Sabrina won a much-coveted internship at the Henry Doorly Zoo for this summer. I'm so happy for her, as she's been saying since she was about 6 years old that she wanted to work at this zoo some day. If you're ever in Omaha, take the time to visit it.. it's a fabulous place, beautifully built and huge! I think Bean will be very, very happy there, and she's feeling like she won the Internship Lottery since yesterday. 🙂 Congratulations, Bean! We always knew, somehow, that you belonged in the zoo.

    Har har.

     

  • Crazy Kids,  Family

    Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow.

    Okay, not the cleverest of blog titles, but I blame it on my afternoon of drinking tea instead of coffee.

    Sabrina has been growing her hair out for years. Her long hair is sort of what she's known for around these parts, and she's always felt like she'd be lost without it.

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    But earlier this year, she started thinking that she wasn't really doing anything with all that extra hair (except for putting it up in a bun on top of her head every day), so why not donate it? She slept on it a few days (literally), and finally announced that she was ready to do it.

    So we headed to the salon, and she nervously sat in the chair while the stylist made sure and double-sure it's really what she wanted to do.

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    Sabrina stated boldly, "Do it."  Then she let out a little squeak as the scissors sawed laboriously through the thick, strawberry rope. (I never knew Sabrina had so much hair to cut through!)

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    The stylist and I waited for a reaction, as the length of hair was handed back to Bean… Then suddenly, the chair whipped around.

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    I felt like applauding! I think I was relieved that she didn't faint.

    I really hope someone gets good use out of her hair.. she's taken good care of it, and is on her way to growing it out yet again. Oh, and because her hair is much lighter now, flyaway hair is a new concept for her:

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    Love you, Bean. 🙂

  • Family

    Vail!

    I know it's been a month since we went to Colorado, but I thought I'd post some of the pictures I took. We had a really nice time there for New Year's Eve and a few days afterward. The place we stayed at was the Austria Haus, and if you ever visit Vail, I highly recommend staying there!

    This was what greeted me upon first entering our room…

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    I didn't spend any time up on the mountain, so I didn't get any of the gorgeous mountain-top pictures, but I still enjoyed my quiet time in the village. I liked this window display in a little cupcake shop:

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    And this was the old bridge I walked across every day, into the village. It was also the way to the ski lift…

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    This was just to the left of the bridge…

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    And this was to the right…

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    Sophie loved the village candy shop best…

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    And I loved that they had Necco's! When I was growing up, my dad would always buy them for me when we stopped at gas stations on one of our many long family road trips… I always gave the black licorice-flavored ones to my brother and told him they were chocolate.

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    We walked up the side of a mountain for the New Year's Eve fireworks display…

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    And afterward, we walked through the village…

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    We ate at this pizzeria every night we were there, and twice for lunch. Don't miss it if you're ever in Vail!

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    Here's one of Soph and I in the hotel's elevator…

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    And here are some of Mike and Soph at the ice rink…

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    But the very best part of the whole trip was finding this sweet little place, nestled in the pines, just before crossing the bridge…

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    And it's a good thing I found it, because I went through the hotel's supply of Starbucks packets in the first hour and a half I was there.

    Thanks for stopping by, and for all the sweet comments and emails about the Valentine's Stocking. I hope I got the kinks worked out and you were finally able to print it successfully!

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