dancing queen and lolli-pop boy

It's hip hop time! KK's hip hop recital is in a month and the coutdown has begun! Her school play is in 2 weeks, and b-ball all stars has another month to go. Then we have a looong break, in which she will begin guitar lessons. This girl is busy, and she wouldn't have it any other way. Aren't these pictures cute? She is so my sister (and her dad) with those long legs! Thank goodness. She will never have to get her jeans hemmed liker her mom!

These pictures were such a HAPPY accident! I was using this sucker as a bribing mechanism fo obvious reasons and I saw a cute photo opportunity. I never thought he would go for it, but I asked anyway, and he agreed! He posed for almost a whole minute and I took a million pictures. Of course only 2 were an good, but I tried! Can you believe his suerfer hair? He loves it so much he won't let me cut it. I have to pick my battles, but at some point it will have to be trimmed. As you can see by my constant talk about his hair, hair cutting is a big issue in my house. It causes me great anxiety and tears on his part. I think I'll wait.

I love plaid shorts on boys.....so GQ.

Cheap Frame!

I bought this window at an antique warehouse yesterday for $10.00. I printed my favorite pictures of all of kids in my family and taped them inside the panes. I hung it over the couch in my den upstairs and it looks so cool! I wish I could say this was my idea but I can't. I saw this in another person's house on a smaller scale and thought it was such a cute idea. I made Jack stand next to it so you could see how big it is.....LOVE it! Talk about a cheap frame!

Jack Jack

Jack and I had a very chill day together. Kaitlin had basketball tournaments all weekend and Eric was out of town. I participated in my neighborhood garage sale all day so Beth and Nick took Kaitlin to her basketball games today. I was sitting in my garage reading waiting on people to come buy my stuff and Us magazine while Jack played my neighbor's son Jared. I could not help but watch them. Boys can turn a fire hydrant into a spaceship in 2 seconds. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to their conversations about which "guy" was shooting who and what planet they were on. It was too cute. I love hearing their imaginations at work.

Jack is obsessed with Star Wars right now. EVERYTHING is Star Wars. This shot will someday bring back many memories of these years where watching Star wars took precedence over meal time. I think it's safe to say he is a very young "super fan".

Kaitlin's tournaments went in the same direction as last week. No wins, but good times. She played REALLY well in the last game and her confidence on the court is starting to appear again. By the end of the season she'll be golden. Photos...just wanted to enjoy the games that I actually got to be there for.

Flashback Friday

Was this REALLY FIVE years ago?

My dear friend Angie is leaving in less than 24 hours to fly to Ethiopia to meet her son. I've been thinking about her all day and feeling a mixture of many things. First of all, I feel amazed at how quickly time passes and how it feels like last month that she announced she was adopting (I know it doesn't feel that way to her..it's been almost 2 years). Second of all, how quickly time has passed with my own children. And third of all, that I will never again get to feel the feeling of bringing home a new baby to share my life with. It's hard to really move past that place in life because there is nothing more amazing than bringing a child into the world. I do believe that you should have as many kids as you can handle and afford, so we have reached our limit. Eric can't handle any more, and we can't afford another one either without drastically changing our life style. Fortunately, I have many friends who are going to bring many lives into the world in the future so I can live through them! In the mean time I am enjoying my two...the ones that are growing up so fast I can't think about it. I love this picture, and I LOVED this time in my life. I had to flashback for a moment. Maybe I'll do this every Friday.

and we're off!

It's travel basketball time! We have offically started the craziness. Every weekend of the next two months of our lives are going to be spent in a gym. Kaitlin is loving this sport and its fun to watch her grow as a player. I hope in the end they can at least win a few games! So far...not so good. Kaitlin played great last weekend but they did not win a single game. I missed 2 of the games because I was moving Miss Thang into her very own little sweet. Her room is now on the other side of the house. She has her own little space and her own bathrom now and she is thrilled! Jack is happy too. Kaitlin's old room is now his playroom so he feels BIG.

Tough girls....Kaitlin picked 22 because it was Eric's old basketball number

I posted this one because it shows her little pinky that sticks out. I have loved that little pinky since she was a newborn. She would freak out when she was being changed and her hands would go straight out and that little pinky was always on its own little planet. I have hand prints of hers from pre-K and younger and that pinky is all by itself out there! It's something I love about her....this little thing that makes me smile.

She is less than thrilled that I am making her pose in her giant uniform. :)

Hollis

Hollis

(Eric's Aunt Kristi's daughter)

(Ok Kristi...here are the best of the best! I'll foward the rest of them to you through shutterfly tomorrow. I can't today. I am about to go get Kailtin ready for her dance pictures and then I'm off to dinner with Eric and the kids. It was a pleasure spending time with her!!! She is the most precious child. PLan on a free photoshoot this Thanksgiving, and every time we come, until I get so big that I have to start charging! hehe....one can dream right?)

She's most certainly a Stark...look at that chin!

Oh how beautiful her eye lashes are!!! I could photograph her all day!!

UHHH!

I hate how this template cuts off my pictures. Does anyone have any advice on this? I've seen other with blogspot who blow up their pictures and that doesn't not happen. I'm missing something here!

St. Pete Beach Vacation

The Stark boys- Paul, Eric, Dylan, and Tommy

We spent our Spring Break in St. Petersburg Florida with Eric's family. We had a fantastic week despite some pretty rotten circumstances. We arrived on Saturday after a ten hour drive. That wouldn't be so bad if we weren't expecting to get there in 8 hours. We have the lovely Georgia DOT tp thank who thought shutting down 4 lanes on 75 for construction was a good idea for the morning departure of spring breakers. I didn't care too much though. We were in Beth's Lexus and the kids were perfect the whole way.

After 2 days of listening to Jack wine and cry and complain we realized he wasn't well. We took him to the doctor and he had strep throat and mild pneumonia in hhis lungs. Eric and I quicly felt guilty for the verbal abuse we had distributed over the last 48 hours. We thought he was just being difficult. The next morning, Kaitlin ran a fever so we took her to the docotr and she had strep also. Long story short, we spent the firt 4 days in a condo with sick kids. The weather was nice, but we couldn't really do much so that bummed me out. There was another minor incovenience. The condo next to us was under construction and we listened to a guy drill wholes in the floor for 4 days!!! FOUR DAYS of drilling. Yes, do you understand how annoying that is? Two sick kids...on a beach....stuck inside a vibrating condo with nowhere to go. Uhhhhhh!

Regardless of this we managed to have a pretty good time just hanging out and seeing his dad, step-mom, and brothers (Dylan, 14, and Tommy, 9). It was so nice to be on the water (thank you grandma Stark for letting us stay in your condo!), and it was really nice to not worry about the daily grind and just BE with my family.

But most importantly (hehe), I enjoyed having one picture perfect moment after another. I was very pleased with the pictures considering how little I took compared with other vacations. I wish I had the time to edit and post ALL of the pictures....especially the ones of the whole family playibg football.

Tommy and Jack

My kids FINALLY feeling better!!! By the way...these pictures in not in order. They did not feel better until Thursday. This was our last day.

Jack...chillin'

Kaitlin...not feeling well....in a daze on the beach

Kaitlin posing for the camera....being her usual, goofy self.....gotta love her!

Jack receiving much needed advice from Dylan on the game of football

My brother in law Dylan, the heart-throb

This picture just screamed black and white!

Can you even believe this sunset? Rediculous. God is so beautiful. You can tell by the pictures he paints. I don't know about you but almost nothing makes me feel as good as watching the sunset on the beach with my family. Watching the sun go down is a spiritual event for me.

Sir cuteness...bein' cute. Gosh I love his red hair!!

Dylan and Kaitlin with our niece Hollis. There will be a whole Hollis montage posted tomorrow. I just did not have time today. I took so many pictures of this child I think she was scared of me. I couldn't help myself. Everyone who knows me knows how much I love little bitty people!

The birds...oh the BIRDS! Eric and I could not get over the birds on front of the condo. It was like a concert of birds all day. They stalk you and bicker at each other all day long. We loved watching them. At one point Eric and the kids brought bread out to the beach to feed them. After one throw....they learned that they were in grave danger. A thousand birds were COVERING my family. All I could do was laugh and grab my camera. And as luck would have it, my battery died right as I went to snap the moment. I was SO mad. It was hysterical to watch my husband and kids hide in a panic under a 2 ft umbrella while a thousand angry birds tried to eat them! Jack got a big kick out of chasing them away.

How cute are they? This was Friday when Jack was better but he still wore out quickly. Do you have any idea how many times I applied sunscreen to this child? I was a nervous wreck that he would burn with that skin. We spent all day Friday on the beach. It was wonderful.

I wasn't kidding.

More bars in more places. Our Singular Wireless network follows us everywhere.

Hollis Varley. LOVE her. I will soon post the rest of her photos. She deserves her own post! Kristi, I will email them to you this week!