best birthday gift ever....

my sister is so ridiculously creative it makes me swoon....she is a scrapbooking genius who can turn any photo, scrap of paper, color of paint, and random odd, end or idea into a beautifully creative testament of life's most unforgettable moments....and who despite being nine months pregnant and juggling two toddler boys still managed to find the time to make me the most amazing birthday present ever!!!....a book about why she loves me so much....31 reasons for 31 years....a book that every time I open brings tears, giggles, memories, inspiration and wonderment at how she can make everyone around her feel so loved and adored (her boys are so lucky....you should see the baby books, memoirs and tales she has immortalized for them!)
So right back at you sister.....I love you so much!!!!.... and it's a good thing you're older because it gives me two extra (well one and a half) reasons to love YOU!....but you'd better live to be at least a 100 because my list is already at least a 100 reasons long.....and growing......

look at her other amazing memory pages at http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/userprofile.asp?user_id=353218

through my father's eyes....

I truly am my father's daughter.....I take pictures of everything.....my father took pictures of everything too....

the mundane, the seemingly insignificant, the tiniest details of everyday life often overlooked and otherwise long forgotten.....

a mother sleeping with her two baby girls....all three together....his girls..... 

flushed pink cheeks from the summer heat....browned skin and bandaids....

mom's signature painted nails, pale blue eyeshadow and long dark hair....hair cut shorter as babies grew taller....

a child's sandal tossed on the cabin floor.....a floor laid down by his own bare hands....  

me always wanting to be snuggled by somebody.....especially when sleeping, but often while awake.... 

the sheets that stay the same year after year.....softened with patterns never forgotten....

the pillow that bears the mark from where my father once laid....no longer there....

no longer here....

left only with the pictures of the girls he adored.....