A Bit from Minnesota

Crawling through the tree at the Children's museum
Ditto...

What's in this mailbox?

The girls with Great Grammy Eleanor

Ellie and 95 year old great grammy

Just chilling

There are some thinks that dramatically drop your manhood-this could be one..

Eating with her American Girl at the cafe

She's been waiting to eat here for a very long time!

The girls playing at the Lego store at the Mall of America

About Time!

It's amazing what you can accomplish when your big sister is out of town and unable to cater to your every desire :)

Just A Few Pictures

My hot and sweaty baby

Being so sweet... (look, no cast!)

We feed these goats every time we come to Deanna Rose

Just hanging out

Kailey's First Birthday Party

Playing with the presents Mommy, Daddy and Ellie got me

I still am refusing to walk....

Checking out my presents. My big sister helped me with opening them.So pretty!

Checking out this cake that's all for me!

Mmmm, cake!

I'm making a really big mess!But I really liked it!

Happy 1st Birthday, Kailey!!

Our Sweet baby girl is one!

Birthday party pictures tomorrow!!

Eighteen

Happy Birthday Baby Sister!

My sister Emily, turned eighteen today. I don't know how we got here. Eighteen years old and, in the eyes of the world, a legal adult. No longer the little girl that I'd grown so used to having for a sister. We have lived apart longer then we ever lived together. I left behind a little girl, only three years older than Ellie now, when I joined the world as an adult. While I was starting a family, she was working through her junior high years. And now she leaves school as my own child begins it.
I missed it. Here she is, all grown up and I missed it all.
Not by choice, but by the nature of our lives. It is nothing that can be helped, nor anything that could change. It is inevitable that this would happen, for we are so far apart in age.
I always knew this day would come. I always knew she would become this adult, this beautiful girl that could navigate her own way through the world. I knew that she would be smarter, prettier and much more prepared for what life has in store than I ever was.
I always knew it, but I never believed it would happen.
The little girl I left behind has grown up without me. I know she needed her big sister along the way, but not in the way I wanted to be there for her. Let's face it, I was raising babies of my own, busy with my life.
I shouldn't be sad that this day has come. A day we all anticipated so much we could taste it, when it was our turn. I am so very excited for her. So happy she is ready for all life will throw.
But I am sad. Because, she is all grown up. And she did it without me there.

Happy 18th Birthday Emily. You were the dream that made me believe dreams come true. You were my first real prayer answered. You will always and forever be my baby sister, and I will always and forever love you.

A Blast From the Past

Ellie sitting in the drawer
Ellie having an ice cream cone

Kailey having an ice cream cone

Kailey sitting in the drawer

After I took these pictures of Kailey the other day, I realized that I had the exact same ones of Ellie at the same age! It cracks me up that my girls just love sitting in the drawer!