My creation

My creation
Originally uploaded by annikaleigh.

Here are my current top 10 photographs on flickr.com explore pages.....so very exciting!

C*I*R*C*U*S*

C*I*R*C*U*S,,,,,Mommy, look, C-I-R-C-U-S-T-O-D-A-Y



Emma Sage spelled all the letters and was just besides herself, and guess where we got to go today?!?



Heading off to the Big Tent.........


and finding my bestest friend in the whole wide world....Claudia!!!!!


and I got to ride

A Pony......around and around....

and around and around.....

and then,,,,,WOW,,,,I got to ride a CAMEL!



and when she got off, she asked me "Can I get a Camel?" lol!!! Just what Momma needs!

Then it was off to the big tent to watch the show......and what fun we had!


There were acrobats....

and a tight-rope walker.....

and what fun we had....

Emma Sage was amazed the whole time.......she kept turning back to look at me and the grin on her face was priceless....


Emma Sage thought the alligator was amazing....but was afraid of the big snake.....

and sometimes she turned around and gave me a silly face.....

and we had popcorn, nachos and cotton candy.......

We had the most amazing evening at the cirucs..........what a wonderful weekend!

May 12, 2006 The Today Show

If you watch TV and happen to turn on 'The Today Show' tomorrow, you might get to see some of my family. My Aunt Jan and Uncle Jeff and their son Charles and his beautiful family are aboard a new ocean liner called The Freedome of the Sea.

Charlie's wife, Royal's, mother, Louise was chosen as 'Mother of the Year' and is Christining the new Ocean Liner tomorrow on the show as part of 'The Today Shows' Mothers Day salute to MOMs everywhere!

Royal's, Mother is truly an amazing woman and an incredible mother....such an inspiration!

I have to go figure out how to use the video machine to tape the show! This is so exciting!

Happy Mothers Day to all the amazing Mothers out there from Emma Sage and her Mommy!

A 5th Birthday Celebration

I can not believe it has been five whole years since Emma Sage entered our lives and filled our hearts and home with so much love, peace, excitment, wonder, magic and joy!

Here is a link to her birth story.........as that was truly the beginning of this magical journey.

I have a birthday letter to share, but I'm not finished writting it [sorry baby girl, but life has been so busy of late that I have just not been able to really sit down and write....but I'm working on it!]

So here is how my little girl celebrated her Fifth Birthday.

Her celebrations actually started on Saturday when she got her first 'official' birthday song sung to her at the PALS convention.....I have a video clip of it [and it was just adorable as she was so excited to be sung to and blow out the candle [a tiki totum pole because the theme was a Luau]. I am having trouble uploading to our dropshots account and promise to put a link in as soon as I figure out why I can't upload "Have I ever told you I'm the very computer saavy!?!"


Here is a picture of the 'Birthday Song' at the PALS convention....the video is priceless.....


Then at breakfast on Sunday at the Fireman's breakfast [can you believe it has been a whole month....and it was sad for me because last month we had Isabel] our German Exchange student with us....I miss Isabel. We got to meet Emma Sage's cousin Livjia for the first time.....what a beautiful little peanut she is.....and Daddy sang to Emma Sage [and she was just overcome by joy to have her Daddy sing to her]. Then Little Miss went off with Aunt Linda and Uncle Tom's and spent the afternoon visiting [all by herself and she had so much fun].

On Monday we finished her birthday party invitations and I think that is when it really sank in for Emma Sage that tomorrow was really 'May 9' and her birthday.

On her birthday, Emma Sage woke to balloons floating all around and her favorite breakfast, bacon and French Toast and OJ. We had to sing the 'Birthday song' at breakfast.....her smile just melts my heart.

Then off to the library [you know the greatest treasure in the world is a library filled with books, tapes and movies you can borrow!]........to pick up the #5 ~ Dunkin Donuts that she was taking to school to celebrate with her classmates....and to feed the ducks [this is Emma Sage's most favorite thing to do and what she said she wanted to do for her birthday]


On our way to the library.........


Feeding the ducks......

Look how happy she is to be at the river.....this little girl just loves water.


Uncle Louie.....Emma Sage's favorite goose

Watching the ducks and geese......too sweet!

We then went home and had a picnic lunch {I shot those pictures with my 35mm and still have to pick up the film/cd from Walmart..............so no pictures here yet!}

After school [where she got to hear the 'Birthday Song' yet again.....

a little girl came home with a backpack FILLED,,,,,with hand-made Birthday Cards.

Otto had shared with his class that it was Emma Sage's fifth birthday and many of the children in his class and a few from other grades also [can you believe it....what a wonderful community we live in] had made special birthday cards and wishes for Emma Sage......


Sitting with all her cards [I took this one today]

and another view of the Birthday Wishes [I had tears in my eyes reading all the cards with Emma Sage....it was very powerful and moving to read the wishes from other children....this little girl really is loved by so many]



and then we had cupcakes and sang [yet again....that magical song] with our neighbors Bryna, Bridget, John and Allysa..........


Blowing a birthday horn.....

Then for dinner [her favorite,,,,,,London broil, perogies with bacon and onions, red cabbage and steamed broccoli].........and here are the strawberries for her poundcake and whipped cream after dinner birthday treat.


Singing Happy Birthday with Grammy, Aunt Heidi and our family. Our big birthday party with family and friends is scheduled for the 20th....


Reading a card from Aunt Heidi.......too cute!


and giving her brother Otto a big Birthday kiss while saying 'Thank you' for her present from him......and what did Otto get Emma Sage......her newest favoritest movie....'Nanny McPhee'!!!!!


and then we got washed up....put on our jammies and headed off to rest....

What a busy Fifth Birthday we had......one filled with many wonderful moments and beautiful memories.

Happy 5th Birthday Sweet Little Girl.

We love you dearly.

Happy Fifth Birthday Sweet Little Girl

Today is Emma Sage's Fifth Birthday.....I have pictures and a letter to share but will have to upload them tonight as our day is full and I'm already running late.

There are balloons floating all over the house to greet little Miss when she awakes, I'm making her favorite breakfast French Toast and bacon and OJ.....we have to pick up number 5 donuts at Dunkin Donuts at 10 for our picnic lunch party and to take to school. Our cousins Ronan and Rori are coming with Nana and Grammy to have a picnic lunch to celebrate. Then school....after school Katrina and Greta have a surprise planned and then after dinner all the grandparents and Aunts/Uncles come to sign her favoritest of songs 'Happy Birthday'.

On the 20th is her party with her friends and family at the park!

Happy Birthday my little girl....Mommy loves you dearly.

My top most interesting photographs on Flickr.com

This is quite exciting for me, as all of these photographs I have taken were chosen on the day they were uploaded to Flickr.com as part of the top 500 most interesting photographs on that day.

Photography has always been a passion of mine. When I was a real little girl my Uncle Johnny had a camera [a real camera to me] and would take photographs and I would watch as he checked the lighting, the composition, etc.....and then I fell in love with National Geographic Magazine at the ripe old age of four and was mezmerized by the art of photography. In high school I took photography and darkroom classes and my love and passion for photography was solidifid.........and now with four children to capture on film,,,,,,my passion is still alive and vibrant.

My dream is to purchase a digital SLR soon,,,,,as the digital I have now has such a long lag time and my 35mm SLR I love [got it as a graducation gift from high school from my first love] is so expensive to buy the film, develop and have copied onto CD so I can use it for my blog, scrapbooking,,,etc.

Anyway.....long ramble to share with you my excitement. I know three of the chosen photographs are the same shot [I used different post processing with original lightening and color, difused coloring and turned it into B&W]....so it is neat for me to see that the orginal composition was admired so much that as I played with the processing it was chosen on different days as the top 500.

Enjoy.....be cause what you see here is truly a part of my heart and soul in photographs.

"Live each season as it passes......"

"Live each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each." ~Henry David Thoreau

Time is just slipping, slipping away.....and our days are filled from start to finish, but I am making sure we are celebrating the season, breathing in the air [which the last few days has been thick with the scent of Lilacs.....ahhhhh!], drinking the drink [my choice these days is water, lots and lots of water], tasting the fruit [which as been delightful because so many different fruits have been in season and very reasonable at the market,,,,,and resigning myself to the influences of each......for me, it has been the influences of each one of my children.

A quick update:

Katrina is busy with Peer Mentoring and organizing the PALS 2006 Convention which is going to be tomorrow. We set up the Rescue Squad this evening...the theme is a Luau, and Emma Sage was quite excited to help the teenagers [I think she thinks she is going to be 15 next week, not 5!].

Greta is busy with Track and helping her sister with PALS.....she has broken her personal best records all season and has been running Varsity as a Freshman....she has quite a nice collection of metals piling up [[[again, Emma Sage thinks this is so cool as she pretends she is an Olympian]

Otto is busy with BoyScouts, Baseball and Track......and yes, I'm one tired Momma getting to and from all his activities.

and Little Miss.......she is just a delight. She knows her address and phone number by heart now and loves to share that fact with you. She is quite interested in comparissons,,,,and I laugh all day long on her comments, like this evening in the car I hear "A small house, A big house, A small house, a bigger house,,,wow, a really big house, a small house.........." or this one " I love Greta, I really love Greta, I love Greta More, I love Greta the Most"..........of coarse that made Greta's evening [and please don't tell Katrina! lol!! it is a game of Emma Sage's to respond to Katrina's questions of "Who do you love?" and Emma Sage says "Greta" laughing cause she knows it makes Katrina crazy!

and that is about it.....Daddy has been home and busy getting the property cleaned up and it is starting to look so good, everything green and blooming.

and I'm "Living each season as it passes".....and living it to the fullest!

Today was a picture perfect day.....

Today my Mom came to visit and have a picnic lunch with us [bring with her my neice and nephew, Ronan and Rori]......we had so much fun playing and then picnicing outside for lunch,,,,singing 'Happy Birthday' to....Ronan [who will be four tomorrow]....to Emma Sage [who will be five on Tuesday].....to Ben [who will be four on the 21st].......and then Miss Rori didn't want to be left out so we sang to her!

During playtime, I commented to my mother that "Today is such a PERFECT Day".....to which Miss Emma Sage replied..."My Daddy is PERFECT!".....lol!!!

This child just cracks me up,,,,but she is right, I think her Daddy is perfect too!

Emma Sage and her cousn Ronan....who will be four tomorrow! Happy Birthday Sir Ronan.  

Trying to catch frogs........"How do you prepare frog legs? lol!!! 

A Dog and His Girl

A Dog and His Girl
Originally uploaded by annikaleigh.

Harley is truly Emma Sage's dog....she is his Mistress and he keeps and eye on her day and night. It is funny, but it is like they have this secret bond. Here he is sitting at the edge of the pond watching her look for frogs.

All 4 My Gals: I love being weird!

This picture reminded me so much of a post by my dear friend Nicole
All 4 My Gals: I love being weird! on 'Being Weird' where she speaks of her silly antics throughout life and the thing that caught me was how she walks with a 'spring and skip' in her steps.....as does Miss Emma Sage!

So Nicole, this photograph is for you!



and you know what Jim Morrison always said "People are strange,,,,when you are a stranger"

You coming Mom?

You coming Mom?
Originally uploaded by annikaleigh.

You coming Mom?.........out for a walk this evening.

Emma Sage and Harley

Emma Sage and Harley
Originally uploaded by annikaleigh.

Emma Sage loves Harley.....

The rites of spring....picking dandy-lions

The rites of spring....picking dandilions
Originally uploaded by annikaleigh.

We went for a walk up the lane and stopped to play in the field by the stream....

Treasures II

Treasures II
Originally uploaded by annikaleigh.

This is the gift I was given today by the children,,,,,they each come up to me with different 'gifts'....flowers, pods from the vines, pine cones, dried berries....I brought everything in at lunch and set them on the stove and look how beautiful my little treasures are...what a lucky Momma I am!

Celebrating with Emma Sage

'Celebrating with Emma Sage'....that's the name of our team for the New York City Buddy Walk.

The 12th Annual New York City Buddy Walk will be taking place on Sunday, September 17, 2006 on the Great Hill in Central Park, which is located at 106th St. and Central Park West.

I will post a link to our 'Celebrating with Emma Sage' team registration soon [as the site was having technical difficulties a little bit ago] and I hope many of our family and friends will join us in Times Square for the 'Times Square Video' [I have submitted one photograph today, and will think about the other two that I'm allowed to send in.........can you belive it...me the queen of the shutter having to narrow down my submission to only 3 photographs?!? lol!]. Emma Sage was in the 2004 video and we are hoping that she is included again [maybe this year?] as it was such an amazing thrill to see her up on the big screen in the heart of Times Square.

This is the first photograph I submitted:


As they are looking for photographs showing our children [young and old] working, playing and being included in family, fellowship and community!

I hope you can join us as TEAM: Celebrating with Emma Sage on Sunday, September 17th 2006!!!

Robert Frost (1874-1963). Mountain Interval. 1920.
1. The Road Not Taken


TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I~
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.