soccer.

so declan started his first sport (besides swimming) and he is pretty darn delicious out there. with four goals in his last game we are pretty proud of this guy! go dec...eat em up sharks!

halloween + all saints day.

a little bat-man.

pumpkin carving.

visits.

magic spells.

2 pirates and glinda the good witch.

trick or treats.

and a lovely st. agnes of rome.

a very busy but wonderful time of year!

fall-ish.

with the temperatures coming down it is starting to feel like 'fall' in phoenix. declan picked up some pumpkins recently grocery shopping with me. the kids insisted on cooking them that day. so a scooping they did go. some toasty seeds and pumpkin bread later, the house was smelling pretty lovely. 
cheers to beautiful weather and all things fall. 

by the way, i discovered a new fun food site {food 52} that i love; it has a fun apple cider donut recipe i really want to try soon! check it out. 

milkshakes and pretty things.

 after picking up ruby from school one friday we had a bit of fun visiting the old mac alpines on 7th for some good old fashioned milkshakes up at the counter, followed by some fabulous thrift shopping next door. she has apparently taken to the upward gaze into the sky as the new picture pose. who knows why. 

we followed up our adventure with a visit to cleo and clementine; a shop on the 7th Ave. curve that is simply lovely. they sew all the dresses there and the owner is a doll with impeccable taste. if only i had a reason to dress fancy. new years party perhaps? 

so it was a pretty fun afternoon to treasure. 

maine beauty.

we recently traveled across the country for my little brother's wedding in sidney, maine. everything about the trip (maybe with the exception of airplane rides) was pretty perfect. it was truly a wonderland of beauty; one i only hope to enjoy again in this lifetime. 
feeling incredibly blessed to have been able to get away to see such a gorgeous state, be with all of my family in one big casa, and to witness a simply lovely and blessed marriage. next time i'm staying for the summer; and making my way into canada. big plans let me tell you. 

b & w in the backyard.

first day of school.

so our little girl's first day of kindergarten finally came, even while i was sure it never would. denial indeed. i mean we had the WHOLE summer right? what happened to that? 

we are now coming up on our first complete week of full days, and so far she is loving it. I really think I am the one who is having the hard time. admittedly I have been holding back the tears and forcing myself not to go there in my thoughts, b/c i know the saddness is more than i can handle. i really am happy for her; seeing her happy and knowing this change needed to happen for many reasons. its just knowing that this is the beginning of growing up and kind of the end of that era of doing our own thing all together at home or wherever we wanted to be. for now, i will just long for weekends, breaks, summer, and every week day that rings 3 o'clock when i get to see her smiley face greet me, and ask "what are we doing?". plans, plans, always. 

and many thanks to my sis emily for being with us that day (the first day). it made the haze that was that day so much better. it is so great to have you home/back for now. we color with the new fancy hip hello kitty pencils almost every day. put that on 'my' christmas list:) thanks again em!

three cheers for kindergarten! i think. 

bread baking.

these pics are pretty outdated, but I had put them up a while back and just found them. i was really getting into an attempt to make delicious bread, as one of the greatest things really must be fresh bread, butter and jam...in my opinion.

so, with a few oven glitches and the hot weather i have put it off for now. looking forward to starting back up again once things cool down. a 500 degree oven is not ideal in 106 degree weather!

summer days.

just one of those lovely summer days spent out back sweating, shooting bow and arrows, jumping, and if you are dec...falling off the bar of the play structure trying to do cool tricks. 

lucky for us, we still have a couple more months of summer (weather that is). looking forward to a break soon when we are off to Maine for Al's wedding. I dont think I am going to want to come home. the pictures look to beautiful to be true. 

?/52

 { a portrait of my children...on occasion}

ruby: sitting back with a book outside on a lovely august summer day

dec: enjoying a strawberry snack while wearing some old gigi glasses found in the house

mikey: having a snack, wondering why i am snapping photos of his cuteness

?/52

{52 project revised...a portrait of my children on occasion}

ruby: painted toes in various colors and leggings, her fave

declan: pursed lips concentrated face. my absolute favorite

mikey: caught trying to do some business at the computer again. ahh!

one year old mikey.

finally uploaded some old photos. happy belated bday mikey! you are the yummiest little man around! smooches.

beach 2013.

and yet again i am amazed by another truly wonderful summer 

vacation at the beach. we are blessed with a family full of life! 

i can not even believe it has already come and gone. 

until next year.