Category Archives: work

extra halloween shenanigans (2018)

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Besides trick-or-treating on Halloween night, the girls were lucky enough to attend two other Halloween activities this year. Michael’s work always puts on an afternoon trick-or-treat in their office, and everyone was so excited about it (they hadn’t even had any candy yet, believe it or not)!What’s better at an office Halloween party than finding Clippy (remember him from Microsoft Word?) as someone’s cubicle decoration? Of course, the girls each wanted to take a picture with him. We loved seeing all the festive decorations around the office.Everyone loved meeting Evie for the first time! Michael always gets compliments on how adorable his girls are.We enjoyed some refreshments after the girls collected as much candy as they could. Nella loved having a very sugary juice box…We also had a church Trunk or Treat activity! We were charged with bringing some cupcakes, so we decided to make monster-themed ones. These girls were so excited to help out! They put all the dry ingredients together, and when it came time to decorate, Kaya asked to try using the piping bag for the very first time. She added some smiles and eyebrows to a few of them and did a really great job! They both put some candy eyeballs on them, too.“Monster faces!”They tasted just as good as they looked! Sadly, it was pouring down rain that evening, so our trunk-or-treat was moved indoors. It wasn’t quite the same (attendance also seemed low), but we had a good time.

We had two separate themes this year: Minnie Mouse with Daisy Duck, and Blue’s Clues. This was the only Halloween activity that Michael and I dressed up for this year!Nella was busy trying to eat every piece of candy as soon as she had possession of it…I love my cuties! (also, isn’t Michael the perfect “Steve”?)Kaelyn was counting on me to be Daisy Duck, and it meant so much to her that we matched. I even dyed my tights orange to look like duck legs, although you can’t see them in any of these pictures. I’m not sure anyone else knew who I was if Kaelyn wasn’t next to me, but I was glad to be able to make her so happy.And Nella was still sneaking candy…The girls love playing the games that the Young Women set up for everyone. “Donut on a string” is always as a favorite!As is the cake walk!And that wraps up our Halloween! 🙂

five favorites (04/28)

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I feel like I’m always saying this, but it’s been a crazy week, so I missed doing my “Five” yesterday! We’ve been having as relaxing a Saturday as possible, so I’m happy to have a little time to catch up on here.

ONE. We all missed our favorite guy this week, because he was in Chicago at the GOTO Conference! It was a little rough without him, even though he gets serious credit for helping me with as much as he could before he left. I was super sick the night before he had to go, so he did a lot, including grocery shopping and cleaning up the guinea pigs. He really is the best.A couple of photos from his trip… Of course, he gave a talk on Docker (what else?), so Molly and Moby (the whales) had to tag along with him. Michael had some fun sending pictures of them adventuring around Chicago to Kaya and Kaelyn!TWO. While Daddy was gone, we tried to enjoy being outside as much as we could. I was a little too optimistic about the first 60-degree day, so I filled up the water table (with warm water) for the girls. The water cooled off a little too fast, and the girls got a little too wet, so everyone ended up cold. They still loved it, though!
This was Nella’s first time really playing with it, now that she’s good at walking and standing for long periods of time. I think this will be one of her favorite summertime activities.We had some fun at the playground. Don’t let her sad puppy-dog eyes fool you, Scout loves walks (and always tries to tangle herself up around the picnic table…)I enjoyed some time reading out in the hammock! I love that Nella walked over to me and asked to come up in it too. (Also, check out her bedhead! She seriously has the wildest hair!)THREE. Our homeschool mornings have been pretty relaxed here lately, and honestly, I’m okay with that. It’s kind of a combination of parenting on my own for a week/pregnancy sickness/spring fever/being done with all our kindergarten work besides spelling that has had us taking our time and just doing what we can.

I was so happy to see these girls snuggle and start reading as soon as they woke up one morning. They are obsessed with the American Girl books right now, and although I typically use them as read-alouds, Kaya can actually read a little of them on her own. I’m so grateful that they love learning, and that we all get extra time to spend together because of our choice to homeschool.FOUR. I guess the girls have been doing too much yoga with me lately, because Kaya wanted to make her own workout video (she even told me to “put it on Facebook”)! She came up with all her own exercises, and the theme of the video became “Exercises You Can Do with Your Cat”. Haha! I love her creativity.She wrote out every move before we could start recording…Some moves included planks/pushups with your cat on your back (I definitely would not recommend doing this with a real cat. Ouch!)……and lifting your cat high above your head while doing squats. Yup, pretty sure a real cat would have nothing to do with any of this…I didn’t post the whole video, but hearing her say “Namaste” at the end was just too dang cute, so here’s that.

FIVE. If you tell Nella to “say CHEESE!”, this is the face she makes now. Cutest little smile ever!Seriously, what’s more adorable than a smiling Dalmatian puppy?

Happy weekend!

Linking up here and here today!

five on friday (04/13)

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Happy Friday! The sun is shining, and it’s finally feeling like SPRING! I’m so excited for the weekend and some family time!

ONE. We’ve had a few good walks this week! There is nothing like having the warm sun on your face after what has seemed like an extremely long winter. Lately, the girls are obsessed with all going down the slide together. I think Nella isn’t as big a fan of this activity as the older girls are, but she at least tolerates it.Kaelyn and her sunglasses… she just cracks me up. She was also extremely excited that Kaya’s old polka dot hat is now hers!And no, I will never have enough pictures of Nella in the swing. She laughs and laughs the entire time she’s in it!TWO. Michael had a work trip to DC this week! He attended the Docker GovSummit conference and even got to give a talk. He had about 150 people attend his presentation. I may not understand any of his “nerd” stuff, but I am still so so proud of him.The conference building was right down the street from the Capitol. So cool!He was able to walk around for a bit and see the memorials and monuments. Maybe one day we’ll all get to go with him on one of these trips and enjoy seeing the sites, too.THREE. While Daddy was walking around DC, we were bouncing around at Kangaroo Kids! The teachers brought out this new little bounce house, and the older girls were obsessed with climbing over the wall.Nella loves climbing into this big donut-like structure and just hiding. She also collects all the balls she sees!
FOUR. Whenever Michael gets home from a trip, we always try to do something a little extra special (if the girls have been well-behaved while he was gone). This time, we went out for Chinese food. These were some very happy kids!Her “cheese” face just cracks me up.We also enjoyed some family time at the library. It’s always so quiet and refreshing when we go in the evening.FIVE. This isn’t exciting… or at all glamorous… but just a friendly reminder that it’s not a bad idea to have regular skin checks with your dermatologist. This week, I had the tiniest little biopsy (and one single stitch) on a spot that looked like it could have been a basal cell carcinoma on my face, but thankfully, it came back clear. Here’s to using sunscreen and taking precautions against skin cancer.Happy weekend everyone!

Linking up here and here today!

family festival weekend

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Our Friday night was one of those nights. You know… the kind when you’re having such a good time that you just know you’re right in the middle of making an amazing memory.

Those kinds of memories are the ones I like to revisit for years to come.

Michael’s work puts on this “Family Festival” at the end of every summer. I always bring my big camera and never really take any pictures, so this year, I left it at home. Well, apparently we just needed our oldest daughter to grow up a little bit, because she was so involved in everything… and I wanted to take her picture doing it all. So… all I have for you today are some nice phone photos. Whoops. (Really though, it is hard to use a DSLR when you’re wearing a baby on your chest, too, so it might not have worked out so well anyway…)

We met up with Ben, Brittany, and Caroline! We can always count on Kaya to push their stroller around.
IMG_20150814_182110There were so many good treats at this mini festival. After some hotdogs and hamburgers, there were snowcones, cotton candy, and ice cream!IMG_20150814_184223We waited in line for balloon animals for quite a while, but I knew it would be worth it once Kaya saw what was going on. I requested a horse for her, and her whole face lit up with joy. For me, there is no better prize than that.IMG_20150814_191931Balloon horses have to gallop on Daddy’s head, obviously. 🙂collage08142015This might have been my second stick of cotton candy… So obviously I had to do some kind of crazy dance. #YOLO IMG_20150814_194436Kaya went down this inflatable slide as much as we would let her! I think Michael had just as much fun as she did.

A video posted by Tara (@tarairwin) on

MIchael and Kaya danced to some live bluegrass music, and then she requested a photo with this giant cow in the center of the square.IMG_20150814_194942 The end of the evening was a little bittersweet, since this was our last hurrah with Ben and Brittany before their move to Texas. We are already missing our sweet friends.IMG_20150814_182416

Happy Monday! How was your weekend?

five on friday: the cute and the crazy

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ONE. We visited Daddy at work for lunch one day this week. I think it’s obvious that they both loved it 🙂IMG_20140205_233752We also played with ALL his highlighters.
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TWO. This little boy… is seriously so CUTE! We had a mini-photoshoot just to get a picture for his birthday invitations. It was hard with two little tornadoes running around our makeshift set, but we got a couple of adorable shots like this so I’d call it success!_MG_1263-2

THREE. Where’s Kaya?IMG_20140207_114023

FOUR. This picture encompasses almost everything she loves: her toy car, wearing necklaces, and listening to music from the bluetooth speaker. I also love that her tongue is sticking out!_MG_1253

FIVE. I love this wild-smiling, crazy-haired girl (who climbs on everything)._MG_1248

Happy weekend!

Linking up with Natasha, April, Christina, and Darci today!

where i need to be

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Sometimes life happens differently than what you plan for, but I know I am right where my Heavenly Father wants me to be.

Right now I have a summer job where I am part of the "grass-roots" in the operation. There are ten of us in total, and we really do work hard. In past summers, I had worked one of the other positions, but you work your shift alone. When I applied to work there this summer and received the position I'm in, I was a little unsure. I wasn't sure I could do it; it just seemed like such difficult work.

Now, a few weeks later, I'm doing just fine. And the best part is that I have 9 buddies to work with, and never have to be alone, unlike the other position I originally wanted. I'm glad I have faith in God and know that He puts me where I need to be, whether it is to help me out or to be His instrument and help others. I know that all of us have a Father in Heaven and He really loves us. He does. I've felt it, and you can too, if you just ask Him.

a day off

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At work yesterday, we finished everything we needed to do for the whole week. Which means I had today off! So I relaxed, did laundry, and cleaned my guinea pig cage. Day off = housewife duties. I guess.

Anyway, I had enough time this morning to muse over the finer things in life. Like, does anyone actually eat anything besides the marshmallows in a box of Lucky Charms?

Yeah… that's why this is Michael's cereal, and not mine! Though as a kid, I do remember forcing down all the 'yucky bits' just to get to the good part. What a tough little kid I once was.

Today poor Juni became my "guinea pig" (haha) and had to model for me while I messed around with the new camera. I love it, but I'm still getting used to it.