Monday, August 31, 2015

Hello Septemeber and T DAY again!!

Hello September a day early!
 
Hello to gorgeous fall colors that will start popping up
 
Hello to gorgeous sunflowers on my kitchen table to admire
 
Hello to leaves everywhere falling and changing color, YAY!
 
Hello to cooler days and nights, not this week though, we are hot here
 
Hello to Friday night football games
 
Hello to 30 days of Lists this month, so happy to be doing this again
 
Hello to finishing up my Week in the Life album, see my photos below
 
Hello to football season for Rich, which means the Cleveland Browns
 
Hello to pulling out my fall decorations, YAY!
 
Hello to kids back at school, an almost quiet house now
 
Hello to pumpkin smells and tastes everywhere
 
Hello to jeans and sneakers again, comfy
 
Hello to my favorite show again, The Middle
 
Hello to fall soccer, his last one before HS next year
 
Hello to whatever new adventures and blessings this month will bring us
Hello fall Monday Mandala
Hello T time friends!!  I've been gone too long and have missed linking up with our wonderful and creative and sweet hostess Elizabeth and seeing everyone. So much has happened here and I will give you a update at the next T day but today I am sharing these very PRETTY tea cups and saucers that I saw over the summer while out with the kids. I thought they'd be perfect for T Day! My favorite would be the top left then the bottom right one. Do you have a favorite?
Hope everyone has been well, looking forward to visiting you!!
Thank you Elizabeth for hosting us this week, so good to link up with you again.
 
Giving a shout out to my friend Nancy, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Monday, August 24, 2015

Week in the Life....Sunday

Hello Sunday in WITL, a whole week of documenting our lives through photos and words! So thankful again for this project and that I stuck with it. My prompt is "today" and it went like this:
 
Today she had to be up early and work at 7:00am, two pets were happy to see her
Today Rich is home and the day starts beautifully
Today we have bacon at breakfast
Today we go to church, love going to church
Today I saw these two talking, always makes me smile
Today he took a nap, I almost did too
Today I got started on my homework for small group
Today he watched a lot of tv, some marathon show
Today I took a lot of self timers of myself and like them
Today I am also happy and enjoying the quiet and stillness of our day
Today we husk fresh corn for dinner, YAY!
Today I love these two boys of mine and they look like twins too
Today we eat together and try not to laugh waiting for the timer
Today we listen to Taylor Swift on the way to youth group
Today Summer drives which she always wants too
Today they are helping a sweet couple from church
Today Sam is singing in his cracked voice, LOVE this part
Today was a very good day! I love Sunday's!
Tonight everyone was gone and the house was quiet
I read and took notes about the week and email Dawn!
Then I watched the sunset out back, kept changing and getting more beautiful!
 
Thank you for reading and your support friends, meant so much to me! I hope to get this album together soon. It was so weird not to pick up the camera today. The kids were thrilled though, lol.
Thank you Ali Edwards, you are awesome!!
and last not but not least....
Renee headed to college today, YAY! So far she loved her first class.
 
See you again soon, Happy Monday! HUGS!
 

Sunday, August 23, 2015

Week in the Life....Saturday

Hello Saturday, thank you for being so good!  Today I took 38 photos, some of those were doubles and bad ones, surprised again at how much less I'm taking this time around. I can't wait to look back over all the photos this week and start my album, so excited! I will be working in small batches and will share bits here or wait till it's all done and share it. Thanks again for your support to keep me going. For the photos/stories today I'm using the "Saturday's are for" prompt, so perfect for today.
Saturday's are for a VERY rare breakfast from Mcdonald's requested by Sam. He was up at 7:15 today, he was hoping to sleep in longer, the less time to wait till game time the better for him. He was up and even wanted to go to Giant Eagle with me to pass the time quicker. He is so excited for game time. On the way home he requested breakfast which never happens so I said, OK and we shared pancakes and a hash brown each. Love having this time with him and it's a reminder that in a couple years it will be just me and him. Should be interesting and fun and crazy, just like him.
Saturday's are for going to my grandma's house and helping her shower and change and get her laundry. I didn't want to bother her with a picture so this one will do and gives me warm memories of family picnics right here and all us kids growing up here playing and having fun together.
Saturday's are for Rich working only half days, YAY! Wish he didn't have to but he does it so I can stay home and gives us a little extra money.
Saturday's are for soccer in the fall and spring! Sam was so excited and did so well today!! There's some changes this season and we weren't sure how it would go but it went so good! It was so hot, Rich and I hid in the shade back away from the game, zoomed in for this one. Sam handled the heat well and scored two of the 4 goals made for his team. They WON!!!  He looked so tall out there!
Saturday's are for family members coming to watch Sam play soccer! This week, Ryan my niece played at the same time so it was nice to have everyone there today and to watch them both. She won and scored 3 goals, YAY! LOVE LOVE THIS PHOTO!!  My dad and sister Heather were there too and Sam asked his youth teacher from church to come and he did.
Saturday's are for filling up the bird feeder, LOVE this photo!
Saturday's are for going on a DATE!! This never happens, we meet at Red Lobster a few times a year for lunch when kids are at school and that's it. This was a date, we honestly couldn't remember the last one we had. Not only that but as we started driving I asked him about changing our planned plans and doing our own thing and so we did and had so much fun just us two together!
It's not the best picture, I had to hurry since people kept walking past us but we got this and a couple others here and the other places we went. Thankful that he likes me using the timer on the camera and even saying yes to pictures all the time and saying YES to me everyday. We talked and laughed and surprising didn't worry about the kids or the house or Lucky. We will be doing this again for sure.
I had to show you this beautiful quilt my mom made me! LOVE LOVE THIS!! She was going to give it to me for Christmas but didn't want to wait so it's for my birthday. She knows I love trees and even these colors! Homemade gifts are the best aren't they!! THANK YOU MOM!! XOXO
 
Thank you again for visiting, one more day to go and it will be done!!

Saturday, August 22, 2015

Week in the Life....Friday

Hello Friday! Today their isn't school for Sam but Summer has her cosmetology class from 11-3, Renee was out with friends and that meant me and Sam had the day together. During the day the word "time" kept coming to mind so I will use that prompt for my story today.
 
Morning time is my favorite, always a hot shower and a quick hair dry, I'm in and out about 12mts, very low maintenance girl. Thankful for short hair on these summer days, easy to care for.
I take a picture out the bathroom window, so pretty and cooler today
back downstairs again and I get a picture of the time and know that I'm behind on it already. I would be on the way to the store or at the store by now. Decide right now not to let the time bother me today, going to go at the pace the day evolves into and be at peace with it. This is big for me and I need to do it more often, letting go of time sometimes is a good thing.
I spend a lot of time in this spot at the table, my favorite place to be. I can see out all the windows, hear birds, see the changes of each season, hear the noises from the neighbors and hello to sunlight! All my daily things are right here, when left out they are used many times during the day.
On the way to store I take a photo of the sunflower garden down the road. We pass this many times and it makes me smile. Rich would love to have this in our yard. Also, just past this is a field of cows we love to see and a gated pen for the not so little cows/calf's and we LOVE seeing them each time.
Back home with groceries, feeling thankful for the food we have and the hard work Rich does everyday to provide for us. Taking time to be thankful for the everyday things we have is a big part of my life. This has grown so much in me through these last years and I'm so happy for it.
 
During this time, the kids are all up and moving around eating, talking, sharing about the plans for the day. Sam is excited for his first soccer game tomorrow and asks me if I am too. YES I AM!! He mentions and asks me this several times during the day. Love the excitement he has!
Making time for laundry happens everyday without even thinking about it. I never see it as a chore anymore, just another part of life like breathing and eating. It's done daily for the most part, I do my grandma's clothes twice a week for her so it may not always be ours that's going.
Noticing the time again, already the day is going by faster then I'd like.
During most days I try to divide my time between things and realize today that isn't going to happen. In fact, all week it hasn't happened. Reminded just how not normal our week has been, it's been a great week just the same though. Here are the 3 things I was planning on doing today. Reading a new book, reading for Sunday School and adding new photos to my PL. Instead of these I did the following:
Playing and hanging out with Sam! Love when that can happen and it's just us, especially now that school is here and he's gone all day and tired when he gets home. Lately he takes all his soccer balls and we just keep kicking them to each other fast and see how we keep up with 4 at once. Lucky is out here roaming around while we do this. She stops and watches some of the time or lays in the shade.
Then we go in and watch a movie I surprised him with. Haven't used Redbox in a couple years but today it worked out just right to do so. We both enjoyed it, Mall Cop 2, crazy but made us laugh.
Then we took Lucky out again and played 2 games of basketball, I made some good baskets! Making time for this was good too. Funny, how I like sports more now as an adult then as a kid. So glad he does too and we get these times together. Again, noticing how tall he looks now, he also talked about the game for tomorrow as we played. He's so excited !
 
After this, Summer is home. We order pizza for me and Sam eats a homemade one, YAY !
Then I get to spend some time with this cutie! Summer babysat next door and I went over and helped her a couple times. So good to sit and hold and play with a little one again, babies are my favorite. Back at home later and put Sam to bed and read a little finally before heading to bed myself.
 
Another AWESOME thing that happened tonight was my mom dropping my bday gift for me. It was late so no pictures, will do that today and post them tomorrow. So excited about it!!
 
We have a fun full day for today, Sam's game then Rich and I are going to a baseball game tonight. I may sleep in tomorrow which means my post for today won't happen till tomorrow night. Might squeeze today's and tomorrow's into that one and be done.
Thanks again for visiting!! So glad your enjoying these posts too!

Friday, August 21, 2015

Week in the Life.... Thursday

Hello WITL Thursday! This week has flown by, a busier then normal week for us. Today was mostly about the Sienna and Colt, the little ones I babysit, this is the only day they are here so had to capture them while I could. Wishing I could have done a WITL when my kids were this young so I love that I get the chance to do it with these two. They are growing up too fast also, sigh.
Ali, shared on her WITL post yesterday about what some/most days look like, so I will be doing that with some of my photos today. I also really liked that one I shared from my table with Romeo in the window, decided to play with that angle during the day today.
 
The post above is definitely a most days happening for me, each morning I start my day with a cup of tea and reading the She Reads Truth study and enjoy it so much.
most days this is what the shoes look like, a little mix of all of us. Some days it bothers me and either I or one of the kids straightens them up for me. Some days it doesn't bother me, I know one day they will be in their own places and only mine and Rich's shoes will be here.
most days he carries that green blanket with him, he likes the comfort of it I guess and always wants to be warm. Most days this chair is where you will find him.
Some days one of the kids will lay with Lucky, she loves these moments!
Some days this is my morning snack
I noticed Romeo in the window again, he's looking at the birds that have been hiding in the bushes this past week. He sits and is so focused on them at times. I also decided then to take photos from this angle during the day, knowing that the kids will be playing in that room.
Some days he's here and most of those days it's always blocks and cars
Some days my sister stops by
Most days when they are here we pick tomatoes
Most days Renee beeps and waves to me when she leaves
Most days she colors when she's here and this makes us both happy.
It took 3 tries to get her and Colt playing with his blocks in this picture, YAY!
Love seeing them both do their favorite things.
Some days I can cook something Sam likes and wants more of!!
Tonight ended with me being treated to a birthday treat from my SIL, first time we've ever done that. We sat and talked for two hours, was a nice night out for this, wind and sun and laughs.
 
I took 68 photos today and yesterday, seems to be just the right amount. I can tell I'm not reaching for my camera for every single thing and haven't done any with the weather or what time it is like in the past. I do wish I was getting the kids more, especially in the morning with what they are wearing. Thankful again for this project and for you visits each day!! Have a great day!