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A Graduated High School Senior | Brittany

August 4, 2010 By Laura 2 Comments

Meet Brittany. Brittany already graduated from high school this past spring.

Laura Lee Richard Photography Plymouth MA

 Brittany called me too late to book in time to get a year book photo from me too, but she didn’t care.  She really just wanted to work with me,  to get a collection of photos of her as a senior, (so important, I can’t say it enough…), and didn’t care when or how I could fit her in!

Well…..O.K.!  That works for me!

These are the kind of people I love to work with.  The ones who want to hire me for my style of work.  So I made it work for her, and we actually worked together for 3 photo shoots, over the period of 3 seasons!

She wanted my Senior Story Package, which is basically 3 locations, lots of clothing changes, the works.  We used a some urban locations, my studio, and a beautiful horse farm she had access too! (It was a dream, shooting at the horse farm.)

She had a LOT of photos, from all locations, in the end.  Too many.  This is only a small handful I am sharing with you.

Laura Lee Richard Photography Plymouth MA

Laura Lee Richard Photography Plymouth MA

These 2 above, may just be my favorite senior shots of the whole season.  I think she is stunning. Brittany was very interesting to work with, because she often had a very, very commercial feel to her.  Through my eyes, anyway.  Can’t you see these shots some Sears or JC Penney catalog, or something?

Maybe it’s me.

But another interesting thing about her, was that she was quite like a chameleon.  In different shots, when I angled her differently, or I let the light fall on her differently, she could look like a totally different (beautiful) girl.

Laura Lee Richard Photography Plymouth MA

These boots of hers…..they have history.  That’s all I need to hear.  (Well, actually I like to hear the whole story. lol)

Laura Lee Richard Photography Plymouth MA

I love  it when my subjects include meaningful things to them.  It inspires me to be creative and fun.

Is anyone else singing “These Boots Are Made For Walkin’ ” now?

I started singing it, while I was shooting it.  I do, every time I see this shot.

It stuck.

Laura Lee Richard Photography Plymouth MA
Look at those eyes.

Laura Lee Richard Photography Plymouth MA

I love this head shot.  This is her ‘natural hair’, Folks.

Oh what I wouldn’t do, to have it.

She does all kinds of things with her hair, as you’ll see in the upcoming shots.  But, if I had her hair, I would wear it like this every single day.

O.K., maybe on hot and humid days like today, I’d put it up in a clippy sometimes.

But only if I was suffering from the heat.

Laura Lee Richard Photography Plymouth MA

Laura Lee Richard Photography Plymouth MA

In these above and below, she reminds me of some super model….Stephanie Seymore, or someone like that?

I don’t know.  I don’t know much about the models out there, but she looks awfully familiar, as in she really reminds me of someone commercial.

If you know who,  help me out here, People!

These things keep me awake at night.

Laura Lee Richard Photography Plymouth MA

She definitely wanted some black and whites.

That made me happy.  I love doing black and white too.

Mixing it up makes me happy.

Laura Lee Richard Photography Plymouth MA
I love worn and  ripped jeans.  I always have.

The real ones, that came to be from actually wearing them.

Not the silly faux kind you could find in stores, and still can today.

I can tell the difference.  You can’t fool me.

Laura Lee Richard Photography Plymouth MA

My own ripped jeans drove my mother CrAzY.  She thought I looked like ‘a bum’.

They were comfortable, and I thought they looked pretty cool too.

I’m an artist, through and through.  Conservative in many ways, but I somehow still shock people today.

By accident, of course.

Brittany is an artist too. She can really draw and paint well!

And she wears ripped, worn jeans.

I understand you, Brittany.

Laura Lee Richard Photography Plymouth MA
Here we are, at the horse farm

She’s a bare-faced beauty, isn’t she?

I got so many beautiful shots, with the horses in the background too.

But really….there were just too many shots to share.

And how many would you really want to see, anyway?

Laura Lee Richard Photography Plymouth MA

But you get the idea.

I love to work with seniors.  Not just to take their photos, but for the opportunity to talk with them.   It truly is an opportunity, ; ),  and I always feel honored, when they open up to me.  When they share more of who they are inside, and listen some too. It’s good.

I always feel a little bit, like God sent them to me, to photograph, for a reason.  I am mindful of that, in conversation and photographing.   Sometimes, it turns out to be a big job, beyond business.  Yet in many ways, it’s always personal to me.

It’s a special place these kids are at…..graduating from high school.

They are on the brink of chasing their dreams, or going out into the world, to find out what they are.  They are who they are, at this age.  There are countless factors, that formed their unique selves as they are at this stage in their life.  It’s important to to capture this time, in detail.

Because only then, can they ever look back, and see how they have grown.  They have so much growing to do ahead of them, in many ways, as their spirit unfolds.  As they approach adulthood.  It’s a beautiful journey ahead of them, full of more learning, through life, and God’s path set for them.  This I know.  I’m excited for them.  And happy to have had the opportunity, to freeze this youthful year for them, that is filled with so many special memories they’ll want to remember.

I hope you enjoyed seeing these.

We have lots coming up around here, including more Give-Aways!  I also have the sweetest newborn blessing I can share with you right here, soon.

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Filed Under: High School Senior Pictures, High School Senior Pictures Sneak Peeks, Photography, Photography & Lettering Tagged With: high-school-senior-photos, high-school-senior-photos-plymouth-ma, photography

{A}’s 13th Birthday | 4th of July Weekend 2010 | Final Part at CatholicTV

August 1, 2010 By Laura 4 Comments

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  {A}’s birthday wish, was to visit the CatholicTV station, in Watertown, MA. Now, some of you may or may not know, that we are a little familiar with CatholicTV, by having become friends with Fr. Bob Reed, who is the director of CatholicTV, and who also helps out with presiding over Masses at several parishes, including our own.

{A} was the first to develop a real friendship with Fr. Reed, as a result of the frequent masses she served, and the time spent with Fr. Reed in the sacristy.  That led to Fr. Reed asking us to be part of the pilot episode of a new show at CatholicTV called House & Home, which was filmed in the fall of 2008, and aired in the summer of 2009.  (It was a new show; they had a lot of ducks to get in a row. So we embraced our last bit of anonymity in those months. lol)   Since then, Fr. Reed has remained a treasured friend of our family. He’s such a cool guy. So, when {A} e-mailed him (as she does on occasion), to request a tour of the CatholicTV station for her birthday wish, Fr. Reed responded quite quickly with her granted wish. He also said he would personally give us the ’25 cent tour’  himself.   He said that the actual 5th would not work, but the 6th would be great.  He also asked that we be there in time for the ‘This Is The Day’ morning show taping.   We soon realized (when he called us later) that he wanted us to be part of the show too. Oh. lol. Now, one might think I’d be getting used to this being taped for television business, but no so much.  A little racing heart comes along with knowing your children will be taped for live TV….you know?  As we said, we really are not like that mylar balloon family.  But..anything for Fr. Reed.

As a side note, {A} and Fr. Reed have had another special connection, in that her actual birthday is his anniversary of ordination into the priesthood.  This would be his 25th year!!   So, we were happy to go the day after, or whatever day worked for them. The 5th was a legal holiday anyway.

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On the set of ‘This Is The Day’.  Now….I had never been on the set before, but I had watched the show.  I assumed, (and you know how that goes…), that there was a small audience whom we would be part of.  You know, maybe a few rows of those seats like at the movies.

No. Six folding chairs, set up just for us.  Oh my.  Right next to the cameras, lights, and overhead microphones recording the live show.  As I sat there next to my 4, occasionally spontaneous children.  Yes, I had given them a brief pre-chat in the car on the way.  But looking around, and as I heard the director countdown to the live taping “6…..5…..4…..3…..2……1…..<point of finger>”…..it warranted a moment of eye contact with my little blessings, that said “This is alllll business, Kiddos, but go ahead and enjoy it too! <wink>”….without saying a spoken word.

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Here is Jay Fadden, host of the show, and side-kick of Fr. Reed (or is the other way around?)……who is as smooth as ice, with cameras rolling, just like his side-kick.  I tried to listen, observe, and learn all I could through the first few segments, before WE were up there.  No, I hadn’t necessarily learned all I needed to know (or would be nice to know!), the first time around, with all of this TV business.

But I digress.  (Or..did I?  I forget now.)   But see the Mayflower on the side table there?  They put that out in honor of us being there on the show that day!  How sweet is that?  I’m not sure what it meant, that it continued to be there for several following shows but….still!

So how and in what way were we part of  ‘This Is The Day?’  Well, if you have ever watched the show (because CatholicTV is a nationwide cable television station), you might know about the ‘Catholic Treasure Box’.  At the start of this show, that airs Tuesday and Friday mornings, Fr. Reed presents a riddle, to give clues to what answer may be in the Catholic Treasure box.

So this day, the riddle was as follows:

Parents and children, in home secure, we find the church’s most humble form.

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The answer is:  FAMILY.   That would be us….<enter family>.  We did not fit in the box.  We didn’t even try.

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We sat on the couches, did a little segment chit-chat, they took several photos of us, and then we got on with our tour.  I’m not going to link you here, because really…..I wouldn’t assume you want to see it.  And you shouldn’t assume I want you to, either, lol.   But the show itself is a great show!  Just as the other is.

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This a shot taken in the master control room.  Fr. Reed showed us the whole place….no stones left unturned. Well…would we know if there was?  Maybe not.  But, we saw a whole lot of the place, and it was incredibly interesting.  Also, we can’t really express enough, what really wonderful people, work for the CatholicTV station.  Seriously….so friendly.  A real sense of family there, at that network.  I almost longed to go to work there every day, myself. lol  (Behind the cameras, of course.)

After seeing so much of the station, what they do where, and how it all works, Fr. Reed let us into this conference room, which I think, he thought, he had planned for {A}’s birthday.  However, the joke was somewhat on him……as his CatholicTV family had this celebration planned for him, for his 25th Anniversary of Ordination.  You can’t see in the photo, but the room is full of people.  Clapping people.

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He. Was. Surprised.   I think he thought he had the whole day planned in detail, himself,….and this room full of people, for him, was not on his agenda.  (Notice the sweet blush.) He said something to the effect of, “Well weren’t we going to sing Happy Birthday to Alexis?”.  Jay explained they would, but they wanted to thank him for his many wonderful years of service as a priest, and the difference he has made in everyone’s lives….and he added how, “The Richard Family was in on this the whole time… .”

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Ok…horrible shot here…..the camera actually went off by accident as I tried to hurry and GET this shot, where he was saying to our giggling trio, “WHY didn’t you TELL MEEEE???!!!”

So it seemed, he wanted to celebrate {A}’s birthday, and we were all there to celebrate his milestone anniversary.  See, after he had made tour plans with us,, we got a phone call from the staff, saying they were planning a surprise celebration for him, and could we keep him in “Studio A” for as long as possible.   Of course we were happy to!  We were SO HONORED, to have been there with him to celebrate.

It’s just kind of comical, because it seemed he thought he had some special surprises set up for {A} in this room, which none of us knew about at all!!  But there was actually a celebration planned for HIM in this room, that HE did not know about at all, but we did.  So….in the end, we were all surprised on some level.

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Fr. Reed, cutting his 25th Anniversary cake.

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Soon enough, the focus turned on {A}, as the room full of people/staff (off camera)….sang her Happy Birthday, ….

121 ….and presented her with these sweet surprises.

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I was going to edit the red of her face out of this photo, but I think it is so cute.  She was as embarrassed as the dickens. I don’t recall ever, having seen her blush like this. So much attention. But still grinning from ear to ear.

141_as-cake I really loved how the cake was decorated.  It seriously was so perfect for her personality.

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Cake…fresh flowers, and gifts……really.  She just asked for a tour, so she was SO surprised by it all.

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So here she is, just before we left, with her dear friend, Fr. Reed.  Who incidentally….truly did give her a birthday she will never forget.  To be there, for HIS special anniversary, meant more to her in the end, than anything.  She really thinks the world and a 1/2, of him.   He’s been a powerful and loving influence in her life, in many ways.


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{A} made this bracelet for Fr. Reed.  It is the branding colors of CatholicTV.   She has made him these before in other colors, and he really wears them!  He wore a red, white and blue one she made him, for the longest time.

20 He had a very special personal gift for her too.

Ok first, on a side note, something I have seen on TV happened to me.  Someone said to me, (in this case, Fr. Reed), “Would you mind if I had a moment alone to talk to your daughter?”.  “Uummmm….Sure!   We’ll be at the car.” lol

Then he talked to her, and gave her this unbelievable treasure of a gift, which has been a personal treasure of his own…..

…a relic of Maria Goretti.

See,  St. Maria Goretti is a 12 year old martyr, who was attacked on July 5th, {A}’s birthday, and also Fr. Reed’s 25 Ordination Anniversary.  She died on the 6th, and this was her Feast Day. You can read all about St. Maria here, or watch the little video.

Wow, wow, wow.  {A} treasures this, so very much, and we know she always will.

(Here is a closer cropped shot.  I really love this photo of the 2 of them.)

Thank you Fr. Reed, and everyone at CatholicTV, for making our girl’s birthday so very special, and memorable.  We also thank you for how warm and welcoming you always are to our family, and all you do for the Catholic and Christian community.  You are a true light to us all, as we continue grow in our faith formation, be it in person, or the glow of our televisions all over the nation.

And one more HaPpY BiRtHdAy to you {A}.  You truly carry a light of your own, and we are blessed to have you as such a big part of our life, and our family.  We love you, more than you know.

Thanks to all of YOU, our faithful blog readers, for your patience in waiting for this last post!  I was SURE I would have it out before July was behind us anyway, but I missed that boat.  Nonetheless, we hope you all enjoyed sharing in our celebrations. {A} thanks you all for the thoughtful birthday wishes too!!

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Filed Under: Celebrations, Faith, Faith/ Catholic, The Big Picture Tagged With: birthday celebrations, Catholic-blogs, Catholic-families, CatholicTV, CTV, Fr. Reed, House + Home, House+Home, St-Maria-Goretti-relic, This Is The Day

Scallops and Grilled Zucchini | Recipe

August 1, 2010 By Laura 5 Comments

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Here’s something you may or may not know about me.

I am not a mother that takes some time for herself now and then. I don’t go away, or even take a day, for myself, here and there. Most times, I don’t even just go shopping, without taking some or all of the kids with me. I just don’t care to be away from my kids. I like their company. I understand some mothers do like to go away, or take a break from their kids now and them. I’m betting that is normal, and I know there is nothing wrong with that. But it’s just not what I do.

But the other day, I went to visit a good friend. She is only one of a few real-life friends I have.  I only see her once in a blue moon, and I hadn’t seen her in way too long. She lives very close by, so you would think I’d be able to see at least a little more frequently, even as busy as I am.

But you see, every single time we have ever gotten together for ‘just a cup of tea’, it has pretty much turned into an ‘all day affair’.  She is SO down to earth, so funny, so easy to talk to, and listen to, that the hours always seem to just slip right away. Literally.

So we met the other day at her house, just for a cup of tea, or a glass of wine, at 1 p.m. in the afternoon.

I got home at 9 p.m.

It’s pretty much a pattern now.  Complete with Michael’s phone call somewhere in there, asking, “Is my bride ever coming home again?”.  At the end of our visit, we stood in her front doorway for another hour+, chatting some more.  It’s ridiculous.  I love her to death.

So what does that have to do with food and recipes? You came to talk about FOOD, right?  Well, the link is that of course I stayed for dinner, at my friend’s.  She said she was having scallops.  I had brought her a summer squash and zucchini from my gardens. ; ) I learned she calls scallops ‘sea candy’. She showed me how she prepares her scallops, and zucchini.  Both, on the grill. I was intrigued.  The dinner, was DELICIOUS.

This is pretty how she prepared the dinner.  But her reference of the scallops as ‘sea candy’, gave me the idea of adding a little ingredient.

01_ingredients The scallops participating ingredients:   fresh sea scallops (easy to find here on this shore), 1/2 stick of butter, and some light brown sugar.


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In a foil lined tray on the grill set on about medium heat, we threw in a 1/2 stick of butter, since we had 2.5 pounds of scallops. Actually though, we threw in 3/4’s of a stick (seen above), and then took 1/4 back out. lol. (It was too much.) Then I threw in an unmeasured amount of light brown sugar.  (As it turns out, Michael secretly added more when I was not looking.  He is my ‘Sugar Boy’.  This is different than ‘Sugar Daddy’.)

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03_raw-scallops When the butter is all melted, dump in the fresh raw scallops.

 

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Spread them all out evenish in the pan, and close the cover.

Get in there and stir them up now and then, turning the scallops over as you can. or even spinning the pan around to ensure even heating.  But the goal is to get the butter and sugar caramelizing, and that really takes a little bit of a while.

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05_ingredients Then we started preparing a side dish.   Participating ingredients:  a garden-fresh zucchini, virgin olive oil, kosher salt and pepper.

 

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Cut off the ends of the zucchini, and then slice it up the long way, about 1/2 inches or there-abouts.  Then we cut those slices in half too.

07_sliced-zucchini-squash Brush them with olive oil, and sprinkle on some kosher salt and ground pepper > both sides.

08_ready-to-grill-zucchinil They are ready to throw on the grill.  But the scallops take much longer, so we waited quite awhile before putting the zucchini on.

 

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When the scallops looked like they would be ready soon, we threw the zucchini on the grill.  The goal for these is to remove them off the grill when they are still dense and soft, but on the firmer side.  We don’t like mushy squash.

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The scallops get beautifully brown, as all of the butter and sugar has caramelized.

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Look how perfect.

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12_scallops-zucchini-rice-dinner We also made a rice side dish.  But don’t be too impressed with that.  It was literally one of those ‘Side Dish’ packets.  You know….add water and boil.

But how simple and summery is this meal?   It was SO good.  The kids enjoyed it too, as suspicious as they were.

We had scallops left over though, so Michael brought them to his friend.   He was a very grateful man, from what I heard.

This was the first time we have ever prepared scallops in any manner, and the first time we have put zucchini on the grill.  Have you grilled something new yet this summer?  Please share, or link us to it.

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Filed Under: Main Dish, On The Grill, Recipes, Side Dishes Tagged With: grilled-scallops, grilled-zucchini, grilling, recipes, scallops, sea candy, summer-food, summer-grilling, summer-meals, summer-recipes, zucchini

Summer Fan Pull (and Some Special Gifts) | Crafts

July 29, 2010 By Laura 6 Comments

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Call me way late to the party, but I ‘just’ got around to making my summer fan pull.  I’ve kept this one up, which I made for spring, all of this time.

But I’ve got 2 things to say about that:  1)  I’m not really late TO the party.  I think more, I’ve been too busy being AT a party, to find time for such things, as getting crafty.   2) The spring fan pull did not look all that out of place, so it didn’t bug me too much.  I mean, it’s not like it was snowflakes or anything.

Thus, I’m giving myself a break.  Just in case no one else does.

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I did a have a plan in my head for a long time though!   I knew I wanted to make it beachey-themed.  Seashells, beach colors like warm tans and sea blues.

What I didn’t know, was that I would have splendid company, while I crafted my summer fan pull.  My brother and his family were down, and my nephew and niece decided to make a fan pulls of their own, with me!   So I enjoyed some nice chit-chat with them, while we crafted.  I found it all rather enjoyable, and I think they did too!

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So here’s my summer fan pull.  Quite summery I think.  Do you like??  I had planned to take photos of my nephew and niece’s  fancy fan-pulls as well, but they had put them away, and then we forgot!  Darn-it-all.  But they did a nice job!

Moving on.

My God Daughter, and her mom (my cousin) and brother (and her brother’s friend) were down recently as well, for the kid’s photo shoot.  And my God-Daughter brought me this……

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….a hand painted cupcake wine glass, by Delish.  Because she knows I love everything about cupcakes.

I really do.  I love this glass.  I love her.

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It’s not the first time she has been so thoughtful. (Nor is is it the 2nd.  Or the 22nd.).   Last time she was down, she brought me this cupcake plate set and sugar bowl!    Because she knows I love everything about cupcakes.

I really do.  I  love this set.   I love her.

But wait…there’s more….

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…..She made me, all by herself, this wine cork pull.

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I think it’s beautiful.  It has HER all over it.  Sprinkled with love, for me.

I really love it. And her.

I know….it does kind of seem like she gets the impression I drink a lot of wine, huh?

LOL.  But no….I don’t think so.  Just look how full that bottle of wine IS!!  I’ve had it for weeks!  My dad brought it for me, when he came down several weeks ago.  He knows I love wine, on occasion.

I really do.  I love him.

 

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Filed Under: Crafts & Creations, Fan Pulls, Kids Arts and Crafts Tagged With: crafts, fan pull crafts, gift ideas, hand-painted-wine-glass, homemade-gift-ideas, kids crafts, summer fan pull

{A}’s 13th Birthday | 4th of July Weekend 2010 | Part III

July 20, 2010 By Laura 11 Comments

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By the time {A}’s birthday came, which was following the later part of the long 4th of July weekend, we were on a partying roll.   Per tradition in our family, the birthday person gets to choose what they’d like to do as a family, within reason.  {A} had a special wish indeed this year, but it needed to wait until the following day.  THAT exciting event, ultimately with a couple surprises in store for us, will be the next post in this section.  (You don’t want to miss it!) So meanwhile, we spent her actual birthday at home hanging out most of the day, which was very relaxing and enjoyable.

{A} is officially our first teenager!  Despite all of the warnings about parenting and the teen years, I don’t expect much to change any time soon.

Here’s a peek at her day:

01_birthday-breakfast Her birthday breakfast, which had a special twist this year….

….instead of the birthday number pancakes, Daddy made……

02_birthday-breakfast-idea ….a birthday number omelet!!

Yes, we are waiting for him to stop outdoing himself, too.

We were all excited to swim in our new pool!  LOL.

03_ It’s just a 16′ wide cheap one, with the inflatable ring.  But you know, it doesn’t take much to thrill us!

04_popsicles-summer-time Bomb Pops!
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05_michael “Word to the mother”.   Literally.  He was talking to me.   lol  ; )

06_triplets Summertime smiles.
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The birthday girls dinner request:  Sausage with peppers, onions and cheese, on a roll.

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Instead of birthday cards, the triplets wrote {A} love letters.  <sniff>  Among the sweet things they expressed, they told her how happy they are to have her as their big sister, why, and how much they love her.    She really does have a unique and special relationship, with each of them.
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09_anecklacecollage Grandma sent this birthday gift in the mail.  A pewter heart locket, with her initial on it.  She loves it.

10_gift I was coming out of my skin, waiting for her to open her gift from us!

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Yeah Baby!!  A sweet camera!   You know me….I researched this to death!  It’s a Canon PowerShot G11. As a girl who shoots an SLR on full manual mode all of the time, it was an education for me, shopping for a point and shoot!  But I found a beautiful one, that has features even I can be happy with!  See….our gifts are not usually this big in expense.  But, while this camera is pretty much hers, it’ll be the family camera for our little excursions, etc, when I don’t want to be lugging around all of my equipment, but know I’ll want to get photos.  Still, I’m very excited for her to have her own camera, and she has really been enjoying it ever since!  It was a great idea for her right now.   She is using it for all kinds of projects of her own.

14_aandcakecollage She wanted a Carvel ice cream cake, for her birthday this year.  How unusual for our baker!  But, her wish was our command.  So, we found one for her.

15_s_icecreamsandwich

It was not peanut-safe, so {S} had to have an ice cream sandwich instead.  Poor kid.  He looks so upset, doesn’t he?  ; )
–

16_ Michael and I couldn’t stop looking at our birthday girl that day.  She looked so……13.  I had ongoing flashbacks of her birth, as I always do on my kids’ birthdays.  Those memories always make these days all the more sentimental.  I don’t quite know why I always do that to myself.   I am so happy to look at how beautiful they are turning out (inside, and out).  And yet I miss my babies and I want them back!!  It’s a bitter-sweet tailspin of turmoil, I throw myself into.

17_

When {A} was a baby, a lady we did not know at Mass, told us she had ‘such a sunny disposition‘.   I never really forgot that.  Mostly because her demeanor reminds me of it every day.  She just has a light and happiness about her, that we really love.  Except maybe first thing in the morning.  And an occasional day.  She can be on the grumpy side, then. Anyway, we just love her, and couldn’t feel more blessed, with all she brings to our family.  Except maybe first thing in the morning.  And the occasional day.  O.k., maybe even then.

After our relaxing, eating, celebrating, staring, birth-remembering and crying, we all went out bowling for a couple of games.    : )  Then we went home, and had an early night.  We had a BIG day the next day, which was a birthday event {A} will never forget.

Stay tuned for Part IV, when we tell you all about it.

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Filed Under: Celebrations, The Big Picture Tagged With: birthday, birthday breakfast, birthday-omelet, Catholic-blogs, Catholic-families, celebrations, life, traditions, triplets

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