Happy 4th Birthday Nathan & Sophia :)

can you believe it!? they are 4 yrs old already!!! where does the time go??? this year i thought i'd try to MAKE their birthday cakes btw-unless you are a professional and do this all the time....i highly advise NO ONE try this!!!! it's extremely time consuming and exhausting!!! i literally spent from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm working on these cakes. making icing, coloring icing, baking cakes, stacking cakes, filling icing bags, and washing tons of dishes!!! however, the kids loved them and that is what it's all about.......right????!!! (i keep telling myself that)

p.s. - guess i should throw in a disclaimer that we didn't serve our 4 yr old a beer for his birthday :)

the finished products......

just hanging out....

so we got to "babysit" the carmony kids all day saturday and sunday! i use the term "babysit" loosely, due to the fact that they pretty much babysit for MY KIDS all weekend long! they are always such a blessing to have around. besides the fact that they help out with all my kids by entertaining, bathing, dressing, and feeding them! they are well manored, well behaved, respectful and helpful kids who are always so appreciative!
these two boys are just two peas in a pod!!! cole is nathan's best bud!!!

oh! and we had movie night and strung popcorn for the xmas tree! (btw- ignore the quality of these photos.... i didn't bother to change a few of the settings)

my 1st turkey :)

well.....thanks to our wonderful indiana weather, on thanksgiving day, i didn't know if i was feeding men in the field, or going to indy for a family dinner. so long story short, we stayed home! and i must say, it was so nice to JUST STAY home!!!! AND......i fixed MY VERY FIRST TURKEY! WOO WOO! martha stewart style!!! it required cheesecloth and wine!!! EVEN BETTER :) ha! but you want to know my favorite part of cooking a turkey??? the little "pop-up" time that pops when the turkey is done! aren't those brilliant!!!?? but seriously....how on earth do they work??? regardless, they do. so on thanksgiving day, we stayed home and had turkey, dressing, corn, sweet potatoes, and homemade yeast rolls(thanks to my MIL for the rolls) OH....and i almost forgot the pumpkin pie and pecan pie :0 anway, hope everyone reading this enjoyed their thanksgiving weekend, too!

oh........and the kids had fun watching me cook and wanted to help. but as they were watching me in the kitchen, the thanksgiving day parade caught their attention and i caught nathan bustin' a move! ha!

'tis the season..... :)

my "favs" from the weekend....

this is our new "pad"!!! lol hey....might not be fancy, but it works! it keeps us dry and warm, and we don't have to worry about any tents leaking!!! this was given to me by my uncle bill. he was very generous and literally just gave it to us!!! THANKS UNCLE BILL!!! AND while some of you are thinking...."i wouldn't take that thing even if it what FREE!" i guess it's a matter of whether or not you enjoy camping. i am enjoying it, and so is our family. it's just a new way of building family memories :)

aren't these little light's fabulous!!! they are cute....but the are a PAIN to put up!! might be the 1st and last time i use them cause they were such a pain!!!

i loved seth and julie's dogs.... i hope to have a big black lab someday....

loved this shot of nathan :)!!!

these are backwards...but first he just looked at the worm....then he tried to put it on himself....then it was.....'MOM......I NEED ANOTHER WORMY PWEASE...." and don't ask me why he has the barbie fishing pole!

and this pics is for mary.....she just loved this pic because sophia caught a leaf......but it looks like she caught a heart!!! :) too cute!

thought it would be fun to show the "dogs view".

Camping w/ the Apples and Johnsons

well....we have started a new thing in the dora family......CAMPING! lol very hard to imagine our family camping i know....but kids just love it and i enjoy just "getting away" for the weekend. and drew.....well....not sure what he likes about it or IF he really likes it. i know he enjoys seeing how much fun the kids have and how they just light up when they know they get to spend the night in the camper!!! but all in all, it's just a fun & cheap way to make family memories!

so we were invited to go camping w/ the apples and johnsons. two of the most sweet, fun loving, and laid back families you'll ever meet! i already knew the apples...but it's always great to get to know them even better!!! :) and i had met the johnsons, but never spent any amount of time w/ them. they took us and our children in like they had known us for years!! just like the apples, they were so much fun, and treated our kids like their own! brad and mary (apple) even took our kids for about an hour so i could shower, brush my teeth, and just do what i wanted....IN PEACE! THANKS BRAD AND MARY!!!! as you will see in a few pics, the johnsons brought 3 out of 4 of their kids!!! lol their dogs! they are the sweetest dogs....and they listen sooooooo well!! and my kids just loved them, and they dogs loved them back!! so thanks guys for inviting us :) we had a great time!!!!!!!!!!! btw - beautiful pose mary!!!! lol

drew and i were playing cornhole against brad and seth! brad and seth won :( but only because they had the advantage of being used to playing on a small cornhole game! drew and i are used to big ones!!!!

Meet JACKSON!!!

this is our 10 yr old jack russell....jackson!(such a unique name, huh? lol) he was our "baby" before we had our babies!!! i can remember growing up, hearing people....but especially "old farmers".....say, "yeah....he shore is a good 'ol dog...." well.....i don't really consider myself old, but we are farmers, and yes....jackson is just a good 'ol dog. instead of a cat having 9 lives, THIS dog truly has had about 9 lives. ask anyone who knows us well :) he's been on his death bed at least 2 x.....and had what feels like a million other things go wrong! but.....he is still chuggin' along and is certainly a "good 'ol" dog. he lost his buddy this summer. he just hasn't been the same w/ out her :( BUT......i must admit.....he sure hasn't gotten into as much trouble as he used to!!! so....meet jackson :)

1st senior boy!

as many of you know, it's typically rare for me to be "happy" or "satisified" or even PROUD of my pics! BUT! i'm trying really hard, in ALL AREAS of my life, to always find the good and/or positive IN ALL situations! including my pics! (see header at top... Romans 8:28)

therefore, i'm here to announce that i'm pretty happy w/ how these turned out! it's the first time i've ever photographed a senior boy for REAL! and considering my overall experience in photographing seniors, im glad these turned out so well! (or so i think! ha!)
i met his mom on my trip to the biltmore wedding i did in march and just loved everything about her and her husband! they are so sweet, always have a smile on their faces, and trying to raise a house FULLLLLLLLLLLL of boys! ( either 4 or 5.....i believe 5 thou!) i can't imagine!!!! she HAS to be a saint! :) anyway, after getting back from the wedding, she called about doing her son's senior pics. and while i was very hesitant about doing them, i thought to myself, "melinda, you don't get better w/ out practice! you can always try again if they dont' turn out! just do it, do it your best, and that's all you can do!!!" so! here are just a few i have picked out to work on thus far! so thank you Cici and Alex for having so many patience w/ me, (cause i took forever) and thanks for having the confidence in me when i didn't, and thanks for just asking!
now.....w/ all that said, i have to give credit to my good friend kris! she's helped on all the tweaking on the one above!!! and she gave me all sorts of advice the night before i did the pics! so thanks kris!!!

vacation in flordia!!!!!

QUICK! LOOK FAST!!~!!!!!!!!!!!!! DREW IS SMILING!!!! A REEEEEEEEEEEEAL SMILE! as many of you know, my husband does NOT enjoying getting his picture taken!!!! however, vacations seem to be the one time he "allows" me to take pics of him!!! so here are just a couple pics from florida. we had a wonderful time, the kids were VERY good to and fro, and we had an excellent helper in tow! alexis carmony! who is OFFICIALLY 13 now! woo woo! babysitting here we come! anyway, here is just the couple family pics i got. not many, but at least we got one!

and so we begin.....

most of ya'all know that i grew up participating in our local 4H club, and showing at the county fair. you know....."back in the good 'ol days"..... :) i, however, never showed these stubborn little animals!!!! SHEEP! this is olivia's 2nd love now.....(besides the horses) i think we have officially jumped on the "sheep wagon"! our good friends, addam & jill carmony and their kids, are HUGE cattle people. but a couple of years ago, they too ventured out and tried their skills at the whole sheep showing thing! their two little showers, cole and alexis, both are just good showman when it comes to showing.....well....pretty much ANYTHING! they both have wonderful God given skill to being showman and are helping olivia along the way!
so some how, they roped us into buying a sheep for olivia to show in a few of the open shows! :) (it's all their fault) there is this circuit called the indiana club lamb circuit (or i think that's the right name) but there are shows ALL over the state of indiana, and there is a point system that allows kids to win all sorts of different awards. we aren't involved in the point system just yet.....we are just getting are "feet wet" for a little while!!!
but anyway, olivia has taken to the sheep amazingly well! for as little as she is, and timid, she handles them very well!!! now i know i'm a bit biased......but she seems to have those natural showmanship skills! throughout the month of june, she showed at greenfield, richmond, connersville, and rushville, open shows for the circuit. she did very well, and we had several people comment on how they think she "has it". meaning, that natural showing ability. this was her first year, and in one of the shows, she made the top 5 cut for showmanship. this is a huge accomplishment not only for being her first year, but her age as well! drew and i had soooooo much fun watching her and are very proud of her!!!
alexis and cole both did very well also! alexis won champion showman at a couple different shows, and cole got reserve champion! good job kids!
another exitement for this whole sheep thing, was in the actual 4H show, alexis's sheep won Grand Champion in the rush county fair!!!!! how exciting!! congratulations guys! the carmony's showed olivia's sheep in the 4H show, and it got reserve champion in it's class! so what a fun and exciting sheep year!!!!

horse'in around.......

nothing cuter than a little butt w/ "wrangler" written on it!!! hee hee

well we started the adventure of "4H" this year! well, not "real" 4H, but mini-4H, or "cloverbuds". the kids are allowed to choose 1 project, and as you can tell by the pics, horses were olivia's 1st choice! not sure we have a future in showing horses, but in this particular horse project, the kids didn't have to own a horse. they pair you up w/ another family who kinda "mentors" you. basically they let the kids borrow the horse for free and help teach a few little things. we had the Stone family and they were always willing let olivia have fun on "becky" the horse. olivia says she loves horses MORE than her sheep! oh yeah....as i'm sure most of you know, olivia got her very own sheep to show this year. i'll post more about that later. anyway, i doubt we will be pursuing a 4H horse, but just letting her ride a horse 1 x week for about a month straight, plus "show" a horse, was worth just seeing the joy it brought to olivia's face! life couldn't have gotten any better! unless we bought her own of course! ha! the girl w/ olivia is one of her good friends devan draper! you've seen her before on my blog; she showed in the horse and pony show also; and she too has found a new love in her life!!!!!! she is getting the privilege of taking horse riding lessons! she does a wonderful job, and she is definitely an animal lover!!!

her beautiful bun and butterfly was compliments of aunt pam and cousin jenny!!! they graciously came over and did her hair for the horse show! jenny and pam know just TINY bit about showing horses!!!! lol they both were very very good showman and won many many awards and trophies throughout the years!! thank you pam and jenny!!!