Woodland Antics

Today is Fiona's 12th Birthday! She's the most amazing young lady.  She's thoughtful, the best friend anyone could ever hope for, she's sweet, intelligent  ( honors classes ) , outgoing, fun, generous, responsible, honest, genuine, hilarious,a go-getter, athletic, creative, sassy and so very kind with enough fire in her belly. I could go on and on then tell a bunch of stories to highlight each attributed I've listed. She's our amazing Fiona and we couldn't be any more proud of her.  Fi had her Birthday Experience last week. It was 3 days 3 nights in Clearwater, Florida with my Friend and her daughter. Four ladies exchanging white snow for mid 80's and white sands. What a great birthday escape!   I'll document it soon. For now I will leave these pictures of my little girl back flipping as the sun sunk behind her, into the Gulf of Mexico... Happy Birthday Biscuit! May you flip happily through all your days! xo

This past Sunday we spent the day at George Mason University. Fiona and her Girl Scout troop performed a halftime dance and cheer at the Girls basketball game. There were a lot of scouts there. In this picture you can see Fi in the bottom left corner. She's in the yellow shirt.

We're home from Fiona's Birthday Experience, two weeks on the south island of New Zealand. It. Was. Amazing. Of course I have a million pictures to look through and share, along with a million more from the past month or two (maybe 3) but before I do any of that I want to say I have to be the luckiest mama around to have Fiona as my daughter. She is growing up to be such a beautiful little girl... As per her birthday tradition we continued to trash my wedding dress in New Zealand... {To see the past pictures follow  THIS LINK } The fog hides a stunning view of beautiful mountains in Milford Sound. I love how her hair matches the golden field.  I'm not sure why she kept closing her eyes.  I didn't feel that I had the right to infringe on her pictures, so I let her pose the way she thought looked best and in turn I captured eight year old Fiona.    The flower crown she wore has a specia...

Lately I've been digging through the backlog of kids artwork and school papers. I'm taking pictures of my favorites. This one is a favorite because just when I think we're raising pretty sensible kids this is sent home knocking me down a peg or two. Lets skip over the fact that she refers to me as Trudy.  Take a moment to embrace her recognizing how much Ry helps her with rock climbing and how she encourages him.. too sweet.  Now a long pause with how Reed shows her respect.   "He lets me bite him for no reason" - what in the world?   Then she shows him respect by letting him do it back?   I have no words, all I can do is chuckle.   Oh what her teacher must think! Speaking of making me laugh, I had to grab a picture of this from a recent road trip. This is what you'd call bogan (a great aussie slang we've come to embrace) yet extremely creative.  Who would think to use a microwave as a mailbox? I know you all want to pin...

I found this in Fiona's school bag... Proof that we're trying to keep the American in them alive. We encourage and the kids love cranking up American patriotic songs in the car. It makes Ryan and I giggle a little when the windows are rolled down and we're blasting "God Bless America" because it does seem a bit off color, no? Speaking of off- it's been an off week over here.  It's Thursday and the first day the kids have had  school all week!  Hopefully things will fall back into place tomorrow and you can expect some more pictures coming soon. Good Night~ XO

When your daughter cries you can comfort her... do you see that little head crawling our way?  but it takes her little brother to put a smile on her face. I'm double posting tonight because I can!  {and I have a back log of pictures I really want to share}

Last night Fiona had a disco dance at school. We went shopping for a new dress as the one she wanted to wear was a costume and truly not appropriate.  Even though there was no way she will ever wear this out of  the house Ryan and I didn't say no. (We're practicing for her teen years, which incidentally, seem very near)   We mentioned that she might be cold with her belly showing but she didn't care so I lured her in with an after school shopping trip. What girl can resist a new dress?  It worked, the dress she chose was still pretty flashy but it looked cute on her and covered her properly. I curled her hair and it looked so darn adorable but as usual we were running late and I didn't get a picture. I did take some of her after she danced her heart and curls out...  We had a lot of fun just the two of us.  She was eager to pose and she came up with some precious ones...  This next one wasn't a pose, it's just F...