giving

For Father's Day this year, I finally pulled together a gift I've been wanting to make Dan for quite awhile. He's always admired other people's silhouette pitures but I've always been intimidated by the idea of doing them. But thanks to some email support from a friend who's a pro at these, I put it together in time. I know he liked them, because by the time I got back from running a quick errand Sunday morning, he already had them hung in a prominent place in our house. 
The silhouettes were pretty simple to put together once I got them equally sized. Honestly, the hardest part was just finding the time to get it done. Mary, of course, picked up her silhouette and tore off the pony tail, so I had to redo,  and I was at the pharmacy buying black frames at 10:45 Saturday night. But it got done. And the girls tell me that I need to redo Elizabeth's silhouette when she has some hair. She's a bit boyish looking at this point, which is why I added everyone's ages below their picture.
We started our father's day with everyone piled in bed together, passing out cards and gifts to Dan. Emma is really getting in to gift-giving (and wrapping presents), so she presented him with the picture she had painted on Friday. (even though he'd already seen it)...
I can remember at Emma's age, walking around my house and picking out gifts for my mother from her bedroom. I specifically remember one year on mom's birthday, wrapping up her used highlighter pen and open bottle of nail polish remover to "give" her. But she still seemed thrilled--as was Dan at the "surprise" of getting the painting from Emma.

And speaking of giving, this lovely package arrived for our family unexpectedly last week. Michelle sent it 'just  because' and it was full of lovely gifts for me and the girls. Thank you, again, Michelle. It was so amazing all the goodies inside--you definitely "got" the girls...horse everything--tattoos, stickers, candy, and more:

for elizabeth:

and a handmade market bag for lucky me: