These two girls, however, did amazing.  Anna & Kate are our sweet neighbors & friends.  Thanks for coming by girls – we enjoyed playing with you!

This photo is of my big girl Emma on her way to a sleep over birthday party.  She recently got this Princess luggage for Christmas and uses it any chance she can get!  She had a wonderful time, we were told, and slept in the longest of all the kids!  Way to sleep, Emma!

Today we trekked through 30 inches of snow for this lil’ guy’s birthday!  Well, not really.  The 30 inches ended on Saturday, so it’s probably close to about 1 to 2 feet packed down.  And Lucas just lives about 10 houses up from us.  So it wasn’t THAT bad, but I like to have one of those, “We used to walk to school with no shoes in the snow….” stories like your grandparents used to tell you.

Today was Lucas’ 3rd birthday party and luckily everyone invited lived in the neighborhood.  Lucas is a major Cars fan (the movie) so his cake was Cars, the decorations were Cars, and most of his presents were Cars.  We felt so lucky to be able to get out & walk to our dear friends’ house to celebrate with them.  Thank you Lucas for inviting us all!  Happy birthday!

]]> http://www.mandysrokaphotography.com/2010/02/2010-image-38-lucas/feed/ 1 http://www.mandysrokaphotography.com/2010/01/2010-image-26-the-big-3-0-a-bonus-blunder/ http://www.mandysrokaphotography.com/2010/01/2010-image-26-the-big-3-0-a-bonus-blunder/#comments Wed, 27 Jan 2010 02:13:21 +0000 mandysroka http://www.mandysrokaphotography.com/?p=11552

Today was my husband Josh’s 30th birthday!  He’s soooooooo old!  (I’ll be 30 in 10 months).  We had a low key party for him today at home.  Emma told me she wanted to get him a “bideo game” (aka video game) so we visited Target, then GameStop & finally found Super Mario Brothers for the Wii.  We made birthday brownies, had breakfast for dinner, blew out candles & just loved on Daddy.  What we did get at Target, and what I’m calling the “bonus blunder” is a card that I accidentally let Brooke pick out.  Let me just show you the photo below:

Yup, you read it right.  I let my 2 year old child choose a card for her daddy that has profanity in it!  And I let her sign it too!  I didn’t even notice!  The kids didn’t notice, but I sure did give Josh and I a good laugh after she opened it.  Oh, well.  Just wanted to show you proof that I make mistakes too…and LOTS of them!

Photos I’ve been looking at:  Um…honestly today…none!  Sorry!  I was busy addressing all of my support letters for Ethiopia, cleaning up the house, & making a little birthday party.  I’ll look at two people tomorrow, just to make up for it!

Well, I’m off to hopefully break my 3-month losing streak at Settlers….any bets?

I’m not gonna be too talkative today.  I almost didn’t make the post.  I don’t feel good.

This is Brooke meticulously writing out a birthday invitation for her sister’s upcoming party.  She was very determined to do it & made about 50 tiny little circles with the pen.  She’s intense.

Good night.

And as happens every year around this time, Brooke has some doctor visits.  We’ll get her official “stats” in August on her 2-year check-up (I know, August!  Her doctor is that booked up!).  This week we’ll be getting her yearly chest x-ray, and next week we’ll be visiting one of her surgeons in Baltimore to read the results of that x-ray.  We’re praying that he’ll continue to once again see the glory of God through Brooke’s x-ray, lung growth, and recovery from her congenital diaphragmatic hernia repair.  I’ll keep you updated.

In the mean time, here are some quick photos I snapped of Brooke while my kind neighbor & friend, Laura, was keeping Emma entertained – thanks Laura!  I got a few smiles after some bribes with candy.  Happy Birthday Brookie!

Our first born has officially turned four!  We celebrated by torturing ourselves and having TWO birthday parties!  One for little friends, and one for family members.  Maybe we should just buy a bigger house rather than host two parties???

For Emma’s little friends party, we had a puppet show.  I wasn’t the best puppeteer, but we managed.  Luckily preschoolers and toddlers aren’t too tough.  Brooke did interrupt the show by taking my puppet off my hand, but other than that little fiasco, things went great.  Then the kiddos made paper bag puppets and played with the puppet theater.  By the way, this puppet theater belonged to my sister-in-law, Emily, and her siblings when they were little, so it’s pretty well loved!

After, we ate cake!  Here are some of Emma’s party pictures.  And, if you want to know some good gifts for a four-year-old girl, email me!  Our family and friends found the greatest presents!

Oh, and in case you were wondering, I did not make this super cute cake or cupcakes.  I took this year off from baking and went with my mom’s advice and got this cake at Shopper’s in Annapolis.  It was a great deal, and even better cake!

Who doesn’t like a party?  I’m really excited to have my first ever “Bare Bellies Party” this Sunday with my sis-in-law Laura and her good friend Sharon.  They are both currently growing precious little children in their bellies, so I talked them into letting me give them a little photo party to remember this special time.  We’ll start at Sharon’s house, then move to Laura’s (so we can capture both of their nurseries), and hopefully pop in some husband’s and siblings too!  I’ll let you know how it goes after Sunday.  And, if you are expecting a little bun, and want to have a party too, let me know!  I can give you your own session, or make it a fun girls thing with your other prego friends!

Oh, and by the way, that gal in the photo up top is my little sis, Maggie.  She has since given birth, but doesn’t her perfect, non-stretched-marked belly make you a little….sick???  It does to me!  She had such a beautiful pregnant belly, and I am just plain jealous!  Consequently, her little one is pretty darn cute too!