Shutterfly Freebie

As most of you know I am a Shutterfly finatic. I have always used them for my annual photo books of our daughter. I am currently in the process of making christmas cards(the Folded Versions are my favorites since they allow me to add our yearly story) and I ran across an offer to good not to share. If any of you are like me, and I am sure most of you are, you will be sending out Christmas cards this year. Don't forget there are always Wall Calendars and Christmas Ornaments too! What better way than to get 50 free cards? I am so excited to share that the shutterfly community blog is hosting a give away. Thanks Margaret Ramsey, for letting my know about this great freebie! YAY!!

Just a quick little note: LAST MONTH was our 8th Anniversary!

Thanks to my in-laws we were able to go out to dinner & also spend a couple of hrs at Six Flags!

I Have Finally Made The Leap

into the photography world that is... I hope you all will help me get the word out there to anyone in the Chicago IL/ Milwaukee WI areas.

My website is here.

feel free to pass this along anyway you'd like

any tips and tricks to getting to know and meet new customers please send your feed back my way~ Muah~Simona

Back to Creating...

I got out a pattern(my first ever) and went to town yesterday... I let Miss G pict out her fabric, it made her that much more excited to try it on and wear it around... It probably helped that I made her teddy bear a little outfit to match. I am not happy with the way the neck line turned out (I had to tweak it quite a bit) .Overall it is pretty cute , and give its length it'll be worn for quite sometime.

6 Flags Kind of Day

G & I are rocking out a guitar at a shop inside 6 Flags. My mom and sister came to visit. My mom & I had a Pamp3r3d Ch3f Conf3r3nc3 in Chicago over the week and my sister stayed at our house watching Miss G. When our conference ended we went to ride roller coasters and go to the water park.

Celebrate the 4th today!

Miss G has been waiting to wear this dress for about 3 weeks. Thank you Mama. My grandmother took her out to dinner before we left to spend some time with her and on there way home they stopped at Kohl's and walked in with this beauty...

Friends Are Wonderful

Really Really Wonderful...

I hope you are as blessed as I am to have friends who will help you move 1000+ miles across country... I couldn't have asked for more...

We went to the city ...

Drove in the big city without any accidents....

We saw the bones of a T-Rex...

Did lots of window shopping...

Ate famously stuffed pizza at Giordano's Pizza...

Used the CTA system...

Ate at Jimmy Johns...

We learned G is a rather good photographer if needed in a pinch----> I have always been nervous of asking a random stranger to hold my prized possession(talking about my camera guys not my child.. :p)
We also learned she takes about 30+ photos for one sitting...

Walked WAY to far by accident....

Rode the Bus System ....

Ate at Noodles...

Took fabulous photos with crazy girls....

Ventured the metra with a 6 yr old ...

Used our GPS to find non-existent restaurants..

Miss read the maps, which caused us to walk an extra couple of miles...

We stood ashore & looked out over a lake that seemed as large as the Gulf of Mexico...

Did I mention ate good pizza??? :)

Went to many Museums...

Walked everywhere.....

Ate a Chicago Dog.... the one I had tasted just like a regular hotdog---> did I get jipped? was it supposed to be better?

Went shopping and found great deals...

We stood on a see thru ledge overlooking the city 103 stories up(approx 1350 ft), where by I didn't look directly down when standing on the ledge...

Went into the city to see the Sky Deck at Willis Tower to only have it closed due to high winds and window blowouts...

Realized our walking shoes hurt our feet more than our flipflops...We are Fl girls...

Had a wonderful birthday breakfast with the girls...

Dropped my best friends off at the airport....

One Bestie arrived just a little late(oopsie) and missed her flight...

Good thing it was early enough in the day that she could catch the next one....

I didn't cry...not that day....

Last Day with the Williams & Ennis Families

What a wonderful experience it has been working with these two families... They were so wonderful to hire me last November knowing that I was leaving in the middle of June. Graciously enough rather than working for them they allowed me to work with them. I was able to get all the kids on a similar schedule and also work with the parents on having a nanny because before they asked me on they had never had a nanny before and they weren't quite sure how the whole process came together. It was a wonderful experience and although both they and I parted having a wonderful friendship, I can honestly say I never want to go back to regular nanny-ing if I can at all help it.

We can't wait to come visit you all in a couple of months and see how much you have changed!!!~hugs and kisses~

I know it sounds weird, but I think knowing that neither the family or I had major expectations and knowing that there was an end that had nothing to do with the family or really myself, made the goodbyes so wonderful. I was able to make sure they found someone that would be wonderful for the kids and get her all trained up before I left.

All I can say is if ever I need to go out there and make some extra moolah this is the way to do it, I am not quite sure what to call it but something that has to do with having to prepare the family for a nanny while focusing on getting the children into a wonderful routine and then training the new nanny all in a matter of 6-8 weeks that way its almost like a part time job.

Miss G's Kindergarten Celebration

What an exciting year!! Miss G has gone from being able to write mommy, daddy, a couple of the kids from last years names and her own to being able to sound out the words and partially read. She has had an excellent year in spelling and math. Given our new circumstances and everything she has pressed on and done so well. We only managed to miss school the days we went to visit Jonathan during his basic training graduation in March. We are going to miss our Liza Jackson friends and staff(okay maybe I'll be missing them, I have only dreamed of my children going to this school since it opened~I practically had a party when I found out last spring she was accepted). Esp Mrs James who is also moving on to another school because of the military.