I have wanted to have portraits done of our family for a whole lot of years.  As in nearly seven.  And I’ve always wanted Tim Park to do them.  I don’t even really remember how I initially found out about him, but I do remember it was while we were still living in Minnesota and I think I came across his blog on Xanga and was just arrested by his images.  They were stunning.  The lighting, the crisp clean colors, the catchlights in the eyes!  You could tell he loved photography and was simply great at it.  I kinda Xanga stalked him for a while because I could’ve looked at…

So yes, our home got broken in to. Apparently, the initial window break was much smaller and it was actually the police who came later and busted the whole glass door in order to enter and clear the house to make sure no one was still inside that shouldn’t be. Thankfully though, aside from the smashed glass door, nothing else was taken or damaged. And aside from a long night of filing a police report, comforting our very scared kids, cleaning up all the tiny glass bits (no small task!), sealing up the hole, and figuring out what to do next, Phil and I were left feeling… really, really thankful.…

Bright and early the next day, the girls put Daddy right to work on the mermaid doll kits he bought for them.  Because Mommy previously warned him in the store that it’d be all him making these if he chose to buy them.  He chose to buy them. Made with love by Daddy.  Except for the bikini top, bracelet, and necklace because Mommy eventually took pity on the poor man. Meanwhile, he kept himself occupied since making a mermaid doll interested him not in the least. With dolls finished, it was finally time to go check out the backyard. They tried a little fishing. They did, too.  And no, it…

Phil took the last week of March off for vacation in order to coincide with Allie’s Spring break.  Not with Lauren’s, but it’s preschool so it doesn’t count as much.  Or so I tell myself.  We decided we’d spend a few days up in Big Bear in hopes that we’d catch the tail end of the snow since Mikey had (per his norm) been asking when we’d get to go to the snow.  Snow or bust, we told him. And this year, it was a bust.  In more ways than one.  But more on that later. So we (I) packed up, loaded up, and headed up! The first order of…

It’s very belated now, but my plan was/is to print out these mama-daughter pictures to give to Allie’s friends in their thank-you cards.  I am very, very bad at thank you cards.  It’s actually a major reason why I need a year break from parties. At any rate, I loved these shots and wanted to share them here, too.  🙂 S and mama D. L and mama J. Me and my pipsqueak. Me and the birthday girl. Love.