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

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...

I had the best birthday! The night prior to the big day I slept in Reed's bed which meant I didn't get up once with Clay. (as it turns out Reed was sick that night so I got up with him a couple of times) This was one of the best gifts Ryan has ever thought of.  My birthday morning I slept in while Ry got the kids off to school.  Even better he took the day off from work to pamper me.  It was the best birthday ever! The kids showered me with some beautiful gifts and we went for a hike upon my request. We went to Pound Bend... Pound Bend Tunnel has an interesting history from Victoria's gold rush days HERE   is some information about it.  Seeing a platypus in the wild is a big deal even to especially to Australians. So you can imagine our excitement when we had a sighting... The kids got tired on the return hike... note my sweet new necklace from Fiona ...