i've been wanting to post but...

i'm going to give this a quick try. my internet is giving me all kinds of grief... well, i think it might be my computer that's giving me internet grief. either way, there is grief and internet involved. i wanted to update my project 365 pics here, but we'll see if i can get that to work!

wow! so far i've got things moving, so i'm going to go for it. here we go for the past few days worth of pictures.

for starters... on thursday my baby girl turned eight. oh man, i almost wrote seven just now. anyway, eight. now let me share a little confession with you. my birthday is two days before christmas {hence the whole noel joy bit}. growing up my birthday always felt like a shaft... do you hear the middle child in me there? hee hee. no really, who has anytime to come to a birthday party so close to christmas? even when you have it earlier, people are so busy. you get the combined christmas & birthday presesnts... and often feel lost in the hubbub of it all. there's the background, now for the confession. i now {sort of} know what it was like on my parents' side, and just how much you desire to do things that are, at the same time, very overwhelming at times. you're the one in charge of christmas, and all the fabulousness and busyness that goes with it in your house. it's busy. it's hectic. it's fun. it's tiring. and sometimes you just don't really feel the birthday love in that grand mix.

this year we arrived home, after our 22 hour drive & little snow plow incident (see post below) on sunday, january 3rd. at which time me and my pre-planning self remembered my baby's birthday, and figured i'd better get something planned. but oh, how everything in me just wanted to take the week to relax. of course, somewhere in me, that just-before-christmas-birthday little kid in me thought better of it. after a few quick calls & some facebooking, i had a family and a friend party set up. it didn't slow down the rest of the planning and party what-not's that follow, but it committed me to them. for a major procrastinator, like myself, deadlines are a good thing.

and so, the week of birthday fun started late wednesday night when i was going to make cupcakes for emma's class. the oven was preheated and the ingredients were laid out... until i realized i was out of paper baking cups. crummy! off went the oven, and onto plan b. after taking the girls to school, i zipped to the grocery store and had the very nice bakery lady frost some cupcakes in plain white. then headed home to make some quick toppers. it was nothing that my big shot, some toothpicks and a stapler couldn't solve. dang did they turn out super cute! they even made it to class in time to be devoured by her hungry little second grade class of cuties. there's a couple of detail pics here.

friday was quiet, which was wonderful. i caught a quick picture of torrey doing what she loves, reading. right now she's in the middle of the 39 clues series.

saturday the whole family came over for a spaghetti lunch {emma's favorite}. she and i had made a big pot of super veggie-filled yummy sauce. how lucky is she to have her cousins, grandparents and great grandparents all at her party?! the only one missing was daddy. he did get a present in the mail that even arrived in time for the party. there's not a lot of shopping options where he is... but a little teddy bear and a tactical flashlight were more than enough to melt a little girl's heart. i have a bunch more pictures from the day here.

stan also sent both of the girls a little something extra special. he picked up american flags for them, which he then flew, in his plane, on a combat mission on christmas night. then made a certificate signed by his entire crew. in each box was a letter to each of the girls too. i'm want to share emma's letter... that way it's recorded, just in case it ever gets lost.

Dear Emma,

This is a very special flag because it was flown on a combat mission by me and my crew on Christmas day. This flag and certificate are a token for you so you will always remember why your daddy had to spend so much time away from home.

Keep this flag and certificate in a safe place, and when I come home we will build a special box together to put thiem in and hang on your wall. I love you so much.

Merry Christmas.

Love,

Daddy

sunday, after church, we had a party with some of her friends. with inspiration from a baby shower theme i saw posted on hostess with the mostess. {i heart that site!} we went with a "sugar, spice & everything nice" theme. i posted lots of party decor pics here. what did we do before there was photoshop? :)

tonight i was running low on umph to get a picture. but i did manage to snap this quick shot, although it's not my favorite, i thought the expressions were keepers. the girls and i have been watching the dean martin & jerry lewis show (from the 1950's) on netflix lately. it's so fun to watch the girls die laughing at jerry lewis and his crazy stunts. so this is them, waiting to see what will happen next.