Sisters, sisters... there were never such devoted sisters

The Leath Girls attempt a Mary-Kate/ Ashley pose... I said attempt!!!
Happy Birthday Aunt A!!!
September 25th is an important day in our family. Today we celebrate the birth of my sister. We pulled one over on her this last weekend (as she does not like surprises) and I flew down to spend the weekend with her, my parents, and her beautiful family. The Idaho Girls were not happy with me for leaving them behind and spending time with their AZ family without them. None the less, it was so great to spend time with them all - especially my sister. She is the best sister anyone could ask for!! I tell my own two girls this all the time about their sister (typically when they are fighting with each other) - you will have many friends in your life, but you only will ever have one sister. I have come to think of it like this: in life, ultimately you can pick your spouse and your friends, but your siblings were selected for you by God. That is one of the few relationships "set apart" specifically by Him for me so I will try to do my best to honor her for all she means to me. I love you sis! Happy Birthday! I can hardly believe you are 30 years old today. It seems like only yesterday you were trying to keep up with my on that big hill as I pedaled my bike and you rode your little HOT WHEEL (I know you still harbor feelings on this point - tee hee) . Enjoy your day I will be thinking of you all day.

Thinking of you Jen!

I don't usually do this. A post that does not talk about my Idaho girls (as they are always more interesting than myself), and one that is just about me. BUT it is my birthday today so I am in a bit of a reflective mood, and Jen always encouraged me to write more of what I would talk to her about in my letters on my own blog and I never did. So I am allowing myself to do this today. I have been blessed to have seen 33 birthdays go by after today. My husband woke me up with a hot cup of coffee and a sweet card - you can't start out a day much better than that - thank you Tim! I have so much to be thankful for sometimes I truly sit around and think - surely the other shoe will drop at some point.

Admittedly it has been a tough year for our family, but I know it has been even more tough for others. I pray every day for Tim's grandfather who is mourning the loss of the love of his life - his wife of 66 years. To be loved like he loves her - that is an accomplishment to strive for in life. I pray for Jen's family and the hard days they have had and will have. I miss her so much sometimes - today especially. I have been reading a book she told me about early in this year this week - it is Deanna Farve's story about battling breast cancer- Don't Bet Against Me. It is a great book, and somehow I feel closer to Jen reading it. I allowed myself for the first time in a long time to go back and read some of Jen's blog -www.mangymooseacres.blogspot.com this morning, and it just felt good to be near her. I really do encourage everyone to take a look at what she left behind in her blog - it is such a legacy of how anyone should finish life! I was so blessed to have a friend like her in my life. I look forward to seeing her again someday. I am thankful that God heard all the prayers that went up for her and granted her 8 more years here before He took her home to be with Him forever.

I pray this day finds you able to think of some friend or person in your life who you are a better person for knowing.

Thanks for allowing me this indulgence,

A

Look Out Kindergarten - here she comes...

The day I have not been looking forward to is finally here. Sending A. off to kindergarten was not an easy thing for me to do. She did awesome with it (I expected more tears as she is pretty overwhelmed by the whole thing too), but I was the one who cried the whole way home after we dropped her off. She can't wait to go back again! Charlie had to sneak into the moment too. He seemed a little concerned about all this new activity and had to give each of the girls' new backpacks a thorough sniff.
A. gets her groove on before school - sister is already at school so might as well take advantage of the new CD player being unoccupied (the cats away the mouse will play)!
Wow - extreme close up! A self-portrait (to take a page out of Pike Schemes book) I wanted one of the two of us rocking out - "Getting Our Head in the Game" (this was the name of the song she wanted to listen to - very motivational for the first day of school I suppose).

The Winds of Change...

Dad and Charlie say good-bye to T.!
Thumbs up ready to go to second grade!
She has displaced the princess and the color pink - with anything that has the stars from the High School Musical on it... sigh... big sigh...
The transition to 2nd grade has been MUCH easier than it was for her when she went to 1st grade. No tears... which is so much easier on me too.
The school supply list gets heavier and heavier too.

The Party

The Idaho Girls posing for an obligatory birthday picture.
The dynamics of a birthday party are starting to change as of this year. In the past, our guest list was made up of mostly family friends and their perspective children with a few school friends here and there. This time, however, the guest list was mostly school friends which ended up making the kids outnumber the adults 3:1! It was a little wild and a lot crazy. But I think they had a good time. You would think having water balloons in August would have been a great idea but it was kind of chilly! The weather has been so different this summer.

Happy 7th Birthday!

The tradition of holding up our age for a photo op. has been around for a long time in my family. Cheesy I know - but I love it!
T. gets her first ever CD player. Whether I like it or not, she is growing up. She walks around the house all the time now - singing to her favorite High School Musical CD! I have to admit I even like the music - it is really bad, cheesy music but kind of catchy after you dull your mind and listen to it a few hundred times.
For those of you who know our parties, the look of this cake is very off! We have always had a Costco cake - always! BUT, this year T. informed me she does not like cake (shocking revelation to her mother who lives for the cake), and she would love a cheesecake. So don't fall out of your chairs, but I made a homemade cheesecake. It was actually pretty tasty. Of course, not all 7 and 8 year olds do cheesecake so I made cupcakes for them too!

Lemonade 4 Sale!

Who could resist these faces??
A few weeks ago we had a garage sale at our house, and the girls were thrilled at my suggestion of running a lemonade stand. They put a great deal of love into their advertisements so I thought I better take a few pics of it all for posterity's sake! While they did not sale that many cups of lemonade, they made good money in tips so all in all their ROI (did I mention Tim is an accountant) was pretty good. Sadly, we sold a ton of "toddler-esque" toys and it truly marked the end of babies in our house it was kind of strange seeing it all go. That said, we put all the proceeds (and then some) to a new trampoline and enclosure (nothing is getting through that sucker) so if you are in the area HOP on over!