They're just fun.










Mariana and Jack are such good big sibs!


The kids are good looking for a reason...

Eliana is the latest addition to the family. She's so special... and so beautiful! What a gift from our gracious God.





There is so much laughter & love in this family... it's a beautiful thing.
Roses, peonies, violets, jasmine... Wedding day, Friday, birthday, everyday.
My pretty friend Jess is helping the cause by creating lovely little floral headbands. I saw, I loved, I bought.
Jess designed this dreamy cream & yellow number just for me -- and she named it the k.v.!



I'm trying to figure out how many of these I need to order for Christmas gifts... I love giving pretty things.
Email Jess if you'd like her to make you one! She has a fall collection (including the k.v.) and she also does custom orders. ---------- jessdulcet@gmail.com
PS girls: put flowers in your hair!

I LOVE YOUR HAIR! LOVELOVELOVE IT!
(11.29.09 @ 03:06 PM)Finley's cousin Sarah just happens to be my oldest friend in the world. We met when we were both Finley's size! Sarah and her family moved to Maryland when I was little, but we've stayed close throughout our lives. This coming April, I'll be watching Sarah walk down the aisle as she marries the man of her dreams! I love growing up.



Finley can look forward to a glorious life of being spoiled rotten by her beautiful Auntie Trina. I'm pretty sure it's Trina's goal in life to make people feel special and loved... at least that's how she's made me feel my whole life!

Finley's pretty mom, Mandy, is such a bright, warm, and loving person... what an amazing family this baby girl has!




Thanks for the lovely breakfast, girls! So fun to celebrate a new life while catching up on all of the exciting things going on in our own.
oh my goodness. SO beautiful!
(11.13.09 @ 02:44 PM)What an adorable baby! We are enjoying the cuteness of our 2-month old as well. Great shots.
(11.14.09 @ 02:56 PM)Katy, these pictures are amazing! She looks so sweet. Sarah, Trina and I all cried while we read this. You really are amazing!
(11.17.09 @ 09:38 PM)This week, my church held its annual women's boutique. Every fall, many creative, lovely ladies donate their home-made goods to be sold - and all of the proceeds go to supporting missionaries around the world.
I was overjoyed to find a whole booth filled with potted succulents for sale this year -- and I just couldn't resist. It's for a good cause, right? :)
Now my pretty succulents are at home on my window-sill... enjoying the rain.



Here's to a cozy, rainy day.
It's a book of Love Poems by Chilean poet Pablo Neruda.



The book gives you Neruda's works in the original Spanish as well as English.

Yesterday afternoon I stopped in to Peet's, chose a seat by the big window and took time to breathe and think... soaking in the golden sunset.
Before I left, I tipped my pretty Neruda book open and read one of my favorites...
Your Laughter
Take bread away from me, if you wish,
take air away, but
do not take from me your laughter.
Do not take away the rose,
the lance flower that you pluck,
the water that suddenly
bursts forth in joy,
the sudden wave
of silver born in you.
My struggle is harsh and I come back
with eyes tired
at times from having seen
the unchanging earth,
but when your laughter enters
it rises to the sky seeking me
and it opens for me all
the doors of life.
My love, in the darkest
hour your laughter
opens, and if suddenly
you see my blood staining
the stones of the street,
laugh, because your laughter
will be for my hands
like a fresh sword.
Next to the sea in the autumn,
your laughter must raise
its foamy cascade,
and in the spring, love,
I want your laughter like
the flower I was waiting for,
the blue flower, the rose
of my echoing country.
Laugh at the night,
at the day, at the moon,
laugh at the twisted
streets of the island,
laugh at this clumsy
boy who loves you,
but when I open
my eyes and close them,
when my steps go,
when my steps return,
deny me bread, air,
light, spring,
but never your laughter
for I would die.
I love Pablo Neruda's poems
I don't love you as if you were the salt-rose, topaz
or arrow of carnations that propagate fire:
I love you as certain dark things are loved,
secretly, between the shadow and the soul.
I love you as the plant that doesn't bloom and carries
hidden within itself the light of those flowers,
and thanks to your love, darkly in my body
lives the dense fragrance that rises from the earth.
I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where,
I love you simply, without problems or pride:
I love you in this way because I don't know any other way of loving
but this, in which there is no I or you,
so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand,
so intimate that when I fall asleep it is your eyes that close.
Faraz: thank you for posting that poem... I'm totally floored & in love with Neruda all over again.
(11.18.09 @ 05:01 PM)



Katy...what a beautiful job you did by capturing this special family just so! Adorable and it does look like you all had so much fun!
(11.20.09 @ 03:30 PM)Lovely family. Mr. Bakker has some adorable grandchildren.
(11.27.09 @ 07:43 AM)