The Ambassador House at Heritage Park in Fishers is a great place for an impromptu photo shoot!  Craig and Jennifer had their family photos taken there a year ago and they turned out beautifully.  Gabby and I happened to pass by the park on our way home from running errands the other day and my camera was with us, so we stopped!  It was our first time there, but it was really neat!  We quietly took some photos as to not disrupt the beautiful wedding party that was preparing for their big day in the side yard.  Here are a few of my favorites (#2 is my ultimate favorite).  What do you think?  (Click on photos to see them larger).

Tonight Gabby injured her back and I was consoling her on the couch.  Knowing that my return to the classroom is looming around the corner (Monday), I teared up.  I was thinking about all of the times over the past 4 years that I have been there to kiss her boo-boos and hold her when she is hurt.  On Monday, it will be someone else’s turn to do that during the daytime hours.  That makes me really sad.  I know she will be in great hands, but having spent the past 4 years putting someone else’s needs before my own every minute of the day, it will be a change.  While holding Gabby tonight, my eyes welled up and a tear ran down my cheek.  Gabby stopped crying, looked up at me, and said, “Mommy, why are you crying?”  I said, “Well, sometimes when you cry, it makes Mommy cry.  I don’t like it when you are hurt.  It makes Mommy hurt.”  As tears came down my face, Gabby said, “Mommy, are you really crying?” “Yes, Gabby, I am really crying.  These are real  tears.”  Sweetly, she says back, “No, Mommy.  Those are just LOVE tears.”

I am not sure why my deal is, but whenever we visit Ohio, I take a ton of photos and then never put them on the blog.  Probably because I take so many, I don’t want to take the time to upload them and do any necessary editing.  Well, in lieu of a long post about our trip in June, here is a photo montage of Gabby and her sweet cousins, Moira and Fiona.  Moira is 6 weeks younger than Gabby and Fiona is about 18 months old.  We went with Grandma and Grandpa to the Columbus Zoo (rated the #1 zoo in the country now) for a day of fun!  Otherwise, the girls just played and played.  It’s so nice that they are close in age and can enjoy being with their cousins so much!

Gabby’s new haircut and despite the smile, she hates it.  Apparently Ariel doesn’t wear her hair in a bob, so why should Gabby?

On a separate note, my little one is really getting good at photography.  Check out the pic she took of Jack and me below!

…her gross motor skills were as good as her fine motor skills!  Our little lefty is getting to be a pretty great artist!

She’s pretty hard to see in this video because she is on the far end of the row near the doors. I think things got harder for the girls today because they didn’t follow as well, but they still had a ton of FUN!  A surprise to Gabby was that her friend Addison (daughter of a guy Kenton went to DePauw with) showed up for camp tonight!  They had a great time and looked too cute as Sleeping Beauty!

Gabby and Addison

Not as cute as day one, but still pretty darn sweet.  I think she may need to work on not upstaging the girl next to her during the chasse.