GIVE AWAY TODAY

I am being featured on GIVE AWAY TODAY:
FRIDAY through SUNDAY
MAY 1-3!

Come check it out! Sometime between Friday May 1st and Sunday May 3rd go to Give Away Today and leave a comment {per their instructions} and ENTER to win a $250 Gift Certificate to
Portraits By Jenn

I am the ONLY photographer being featured from TEXAS.

FINALLY....Las Vegas

So Erik took me to Las Vegas for my 30th birthday! Oh my goodness....we had SO much fun! I can't wait to go back again someday. We stayed at the Wyndham Grand Dessert {our timeshare}. Two of my bestest friends got to come along with their husbands: Lauren and Jerrod and Becky and Shane. There was so much going on ...I don't even know where to start! We walked and walked and walked a lot and looked at all the cool hotels and casinos.

We arrived on Wednesday afternoon and walked over to the strip. We went in to New York New York and decided to eat some hot dogs for dinner. Then went to Serendipity 3 for some frozen hot chocolate.

On Thursday, Becky, Shane and I went to the neon boneyard. {See post about this here: VEGAS} Thursday evening Lauren, Jerrod, Erik and I went to eat at Mesa. It was so YUMMY! Then we all went to see Le Reve. I LOVED the show. It was so cool.

Friday we went to the Stratosphere and Becky and I did two of the rides at the top of the tower. Yeah....not really worth the $25 we paid, but glad we did it!

The strip from the top of the Stratosphere.

Lauren and I walked over to the Encore, right next to the Wynn! What a gorgeous hotel. There are so many details that went in to building this hotel!

This flower is made out of ALL Swarovsky (not sure how you spell that) crystals.

Then we went to the Frank Sinatra Restaurant where his trophy's are displayed. An Oscar I think and something else! VERY COOL!

Friday night we went to dinner for my Birthday at TAO. That was fun too. I don't think we ate anywhere that was bad. Wish we could've eaten more! Here are some photos:
Then, here are some random pics inside the Bellagio

And of course we had to watch the water show:

AUCTION FOR CHARITY

This year the Hill Country Charity Ball has chosen Habitat for Humanity as its beneficiary. We are trying to raise $60,000 to help Habitat with engineering expenses to develop a new neighborhood in Kerrville!

The Ball will be in Kerrville, Texas, on May 9, 2009. You can learn more about Charity Ball at www.hillcountrycharityball.com, and if you'd like to purchase a ticket for this year's ball, you may do so from the web site, or you can contact me: Jennifer Lankford at jennlankford@portraitsbyjenn.com, or any of our Charity Ball members.

This year, we are trying something new! Our Silent Auction will be entirely online, and lots of fantastic items are available! You do not have to attend the ball or even live in the Hill Country in order to bid. Please go to www.texasbid.com and click on the Hill Country Charity Ball (HCCBA) icon to bid on our items. It's easy to log in and bid, and if someone outbids you, you will receive an email notice so that you can stay in the game!

The online auction is lots of fun and is all to help raise money for a very worthy cause. Please forward this email to everyone in your address book, as we would like to give the opportunity to participate in this event to as many people as possible, and also to raise awareness of Hill Country Charity Ball and this year's beneficiary, Habitat for Humanity.

Thank you!

Jennifer Lankford
jennlankford@portraitsbyjenn.com

Isaac and High Heels!

So recently my children are obsessed with shoes. Not just their own, but Mommy and Daddy's too! One day Isaac was playing in my closet and out he walked with my black heels on, saying "Mommy's pretty shoes". He proceeded to strut around wearing them...on the wrong feet...for about 20 minutes. He was so proud of himself and I must say I was impressed with how well he walked in them!

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The other thing is that Isaac is also obsessed with Hadleigh's bed. I don't really know why, except that I think he just likes to tease her. Every time we go in to go to bed, he RUNS over and hops in her bed and just laughs!! Isaac is my sweet, lovey little boy! He loves hugs and kisses and cuddles. He has decided that he LOVES his sister {who, like me, does not want to be messed with when she is tired}. So the other night after we did our bedtime routine, Erik and I came in to the living room to sit down and watch our show. All of the sudden we hear Hadleigh yelling at Isaac: "No Isaac, no Isaac". Well we let it go for a few minutes and didn't hear anything again. We were so excited they had worked it out themselves.

So when we went in to check on them before heading to bed, this is what we found:

Shopping on Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.


So in case you are wondering why I have totally slacked on my NOT ME MONDAY it is because of this:
Baby Stellan has been in the hospital for 2 weeks now..click below to see his story
http://www.mycharmingkids.net/

SO ALL THAT IS TO SAY:
Let's go shopping

In an effort to help sweet baby Stellan and his beautiful family out with the many expenses associated with his current health condition, many Etsy sellers are pulling together to collect funds for the MckFamily by donating the proceeds from certain items in their shops. To support this project as an Etsy buyer, simply go to Etsy.com. Enter 'stellan' into the search, and shop away! Our hope is to spread the word, so that many other sellers will join in on the 'Etsy Sellers Support Stellan Project'.

If you are an Etsy seller and wish to bring Stellan's supporters to your Etsy site to shop, simply go here to find a secure link to donate proceeds from certain items or use the Stellan's Fund donation button on MckMama's sidebar. Both donation sites go to the same fund, set up by blog reader and MckFamily supporter Jess. Every sale made for baby Stellan on Etsy is such a blessing!

Some more Easter photos

Yes I know I already took my kids pictures, but one can NEVER have too many. They of course had to have another LOL-LI-POP when they saw that the other "CLIENTS" were getting them! Plus we had the baby goat, Penelope, who did not really want anything to do with them! But it was fun and the kids loved petting her and chasing her around the yard!

Evan pushing Hadleigh in the swing! What a good friend.

"Kissed the girls and made them cry"
Poor Brooklyn...

Playing with our friends

The best smile ever! However, she is a little stingy with them sometimes!

I just love the look on her face in this one. So curious and sweet.

Zoo pics

Over Spring Break we went to the San Antonio Zoo with some of our friends. Andrea, Brooke and Cameron and Merydwen and Evan. We had so much fun! We saw the lions, tigers, monkeys, bears, lizards, hippos, rhinos, zebras, giraffes, and many many more animals. The kids were LOVING it! Isaac really liked seeing the elephants...he's kind of in to those now, but mostly he was more concerned with pushing the stroller around. He is actually pretty good at controlling it, we were impressed. Hadleigh just sat in her stroller for the most part as content as could be!