WHAT I LOVE ABOUT TODAY

1. That my hubby cleaned house and mowed and made cookies and filled up my gas tank and made ice tea for me. Love love this guy.

2. That Sam was up early today and shared some quiet sweet moments with Rich and I watching cartoons this morning. Lucky was happy to see him too.

3. That even though it rained we still enjoyed the day and relaxed a lot after being busy. I even took a hour nap. Even let the kids watch tv for a few hours.

4. That I took the girls school shopping and we had FUN FUN FUN together. Lots of laughing and trying on clothes. They are going to look so cute and grown-up though. Want to remember this time with them.

5. That Sam liked the couple shirts and hoodie with headphones that we got for him. His sisters always find him a shirt with the word "SISTERS" on it for him, its become a tradition for school.

6. Thankful for having enough money for shopping today, thankful for my husband working hard to provide for us.

7. That at breakfast the girls and Rich were teasing each other and laughing and getting along. This is something I always want to remember. Love love when Sundays start off right.

8. That we made dinner for tomorrow in the crock pot today, love love knowing my dinner is already for tomorrow, just heat it up and eat. BBQ beef sandwiches and coleslaw and corn.

9. That the girls look so cute today with their new hi-lites in their hair from yesterday.

10. That we enjoyed this day so much and felt the love from all of them today. I am feeling blessed and thankful that I get to live this life and be here everyday to raise these kids and be a wife.

11. I have to throw this one in because it's soooo exciting!!!! Becky Higgins blog this week had all those details of the new albums and new products coming out soon!! I'm dying to know what the new designs for 2012 will be. Honestly though this Turqoise one I have now is so ME that I might just get it again for next year or at least the journal cards to play with.
Happy Sunday everyone. Have a great week!!

SCHOOL STARTS IN TWO WEEKS !!!!

In two weeks I will be waking my little chicklets ( I always call them that) and sending them off to a brand new school year. Oh how I wish to be a fly on the wall at their schools to see and hear all that they do. This has been one super power I've always wished to have, like seeing them in the cafeteria and what they do with the lunches I pack so lovingly each night. To see if they are using their manners and being polite and how often they check out the boys at school and in Sam's case it's him counting the minutes till recess and lunch and gym. This year my kids will be in 3 seprate schools which means
1. 3 different wake up times

2. 3 back home arrival times

3. 3 school numbers and calenders to memorize

4. 3 schools I have to trust will take care of my chicklets and keep them safe and teach them well

5. 3 different bus drivers and routes to remember

6. 3 different views of how to sign in and out for doc.appts. or sickness

7. 3 different schools for each of them for one year where they won't get a peek at each other in the halls, sigh

So what will I be doing on the big life changing day????

Is it going back to bed??? Is it shopping??? Is it running errands??? Is it watching tv in my pj's all day??? Is it sneaking in looking in the windows for my kids at school??? Is it waiting by the phone for a nurse/secretary to call me about the kids???

IT'S NONE OF THESE THINGS ALTHOUGH MY THOUGHTS WILL BE A LITTLE ABOUT THE LAST ONE

Ok don't laugh at me or call me crazy but what I hope to do on this day is????

Clean my house without any interuptions from the kids. Just want to clean the whole bathroom for once without someone saying they have to go or they need to check their hair or brush their teeth. So besides going for a walk/jog at the track the first 2 hours will be cleaning my house. Am I happy about this??? Yes, I am it's my favorite thing to do when they go back to school. When the cleaning is done then I will make some friend phone calls and chat with no kids listening or fighting. Then I will eat lunch and read at the same time in peace while my soup is hot and my ice tea is still COLD!! Then I will surf my fave blogs and see if anything is new posted. Then if there is time maybe just sit outside and enjoy the fresh air and read till Sam gets home.

I know it doesn't sound exciting and adventurous but for me it will be and I'll be doing a happy dance all day while smiling. Now what will I be thinking and missing during the day???

MY KIDS, MY BABIES, MY CHICKLETS, MY GIFTS FROM GOD!!! Yep, I will miss them like crazy those first couple weeks. I usually can't go more then 2 days without seeing them, my heart honestly starts aching to be with them again. Thankfully I don't have to leave them that often. I will miss the noise, no schedules, smart mouths, loud tv and music, the laughing and running thru the house, the many times they say I'm bored, I'm hungry, What can I do, I'm hungry, can we go somewhere. All day everyday little chatter that keeps me busy and drained by bedtime. Thankful for another summer spent with them and watching them grow up.

Still have these two weeks though to enjoy with them. Hope it will be busy and noisy!!

Project Life July 31-August 6

This week wasn't going to be filled with pictures, I was planning on taking a break from the camera. The reason being because of last weeks overload of photos during my "WEEK IN THE LIFE" with Ali Edwards and hundreds of others. It's a lot of work and commitment to document your life for a whole week. But someone changed my mind monday morning so read on to see.

I have to say this week was almost better for documenting then last week's. I'm tempted to change the dates and/or document both weeks. This whole week has made me think hard and see things differently. I always think the worse and am negative and give up too quickly. Now I realize that I need to just wait and be more patient and not set the bar so high for what I expect my days to be. There were some rough patches last week and I seem to remember them more then the good ones. Now after looking at the photos though it's helping me find those little moments more and finding the joy in them and pushing the bad ones aside. This week was suppose to be the real life we are living and I have to remember that it can't be perfect just because I want it to be and it doesn't make it any less better either.

So again, I give my thanks and forever gratitude to Ali and her idea for this project. She always makes me see things different and to be thankful for all I have and to let the little things be big things. She has taught me to see better and look more and be more present in my life. This has been a challenging and heartwarming project and I can't wait to do it again.

Ok sorry folks, had to vent again. So not me I know. Seems the summer blues have seriously been kicking my butt, haha. I'm seriously doing much better this week and it has shown.
So go look at my overloading (sorry) amount of pictures for this week. Remember it all started because of the first picture and what she made me think and feel on this day.

Sienna asked me to take this picture Monday morning. She is doing this more and more now and it brings me such joy to see her love photos like I do. I'm planning on starting her early in scrapbooking. Thank you Sienna for reminding me to enjoy the moments this week and to slow down and not stop taking pictures. I love you big girl. Oh and have to remember that Colt is sitting up on his own very good now.
Thankful for Sam playing this game by himself for an hour so I could get stuff done. He came up with his own versions and kept doing them again and again. At the end he actually made me a word search on them and I found all 5 words. This made my whole day.




I am so thankful that Rich took the kids camping and took the camera. He captured some perfect photos for me.
Renee was looking at her new freshman schedule we just got. There is some changes we want to make. Hoping they will or it will not be that good for her.
We went to the bookstore and bought the books Renee needs for honors English. She has to read 3 books and write about them before school starts. That's the first $28 I spent towards school shopping this year. I also have to pay $20 for her gym uniform this year. Seems every year we pay more for school stuff. By the way Summer took this photo and we did have a great time together out today.
Sam was thankful for Renee sitting with him. She doesn't always do this so glad I got a photo
We had our first unsuccessful garage sale, we picked the wrong weekend. Will try again in couple weeks.
Sam did a great job flying this kite all weekend. He loved it and kept him busy.
worked on my Project Life, had a few weeks to catch up and made a mistake in one of the weeks. Going to re-do it again this week, have to make sure not to get behind on this again. Took two hours of prepping and writing, printing then realized a skipped I skipped a whole week.

did some artwork
I made zuchinni bread again, it smelled so good and tasted even better. This bread took me 45mts to make before even baking it. I am not a baker and don't have patience for this but so glad I stuck it out and get to enjoy eating it now.
A quick picture of Sam's long blond hair before he gets a haircut tomorrow. We both love his hair long and hate haircut days. It grows back fast though and it won't be too short. This last year has been tough because some of the boys tease him about it, so he's torn about what to do.

Random thoughts and happenings

Happy first week of August!! I am going to be busy in the next couple weeks here, school is less then 3 weeks, mine and Rich's birthday's are less then 2 weeks, back to school shopping x 3. We have school stuff to do before it even starts with open houses, books to read for Honors English ( my Renee has to read 3 books before school starts) haircuts, and highlights for my girls (this will be their first time), back to a bedtime/wake-up schedule. I am one of those moms who starts this 2 weeks before school instead of the night before school. No more staying up late and sleeping till 9 anymore, thankfully this summer I was up at 5 everyday so I will be fine. Here's what else is on my mind today:

1. finish week in the life album or at least start on it
2. catch up on 2 weeks of project life
3. finish my little cousin's birthday scrapbooks ( I'm struggling a little on this, trying to not include every picture of the last year but it's soooo hard.
4. excited to go to Old Fashion Day's tonight and get a corn dog and fresh lemonade
5. the weather is warm but not hot so the windows are open and the a/c is off
6. I made it to the track twice this week and hope to go twice over the weekend
7. love love reading and being inspired by blogs lately, so many sweet ladies out there I get to talk to everyday
8. Still grateful for finding Ali Edward's and her blog and her Week in the Life. Even though the week is over I'm still thinking about it and going over the pictures.
9. excited that my girls love our new fruit pizza for breakfast
10. the other night at dinner Sam ate all his spaghetti and got every last drop off his plate, it was whole wheat spaghetti too, this makes me very HAPPY
11. For having good talks with Sonja and Laureen, everyone needs someone like them in their lives!!
12. Soccer season is started and it's filled with a bittersweet memory of what it use to be and what it is now. Not happy about the politics in soccer and how they changed it for us this season. Going with a heavy heart but trying to stay positive for Sam.
13. Already planning a cleaning schedule for when kids go back to school, this house needs scrubbed from top to bottom and I can't wait.
14. looking forward to taking care of my healthy side better once kids go to school
15. thankful for the clouds, breezes, flowers, clean pool water, my hubby, fresh ice tea
and more but that is a looong list already.

Happy Friday everyone, enjoy your weekend.

Happy One Year Kristin & San-T & WITL Photos

A year ago today my oldest Kristin got married, it was such a beautiful day and so full of love, friends, family to help her celebrate. I'm still amazed a year later that she is married, thought it would be years later before she would. It was so much fun to have her sister/brother/nieces in the wedding and everyone in purple. Sam looked sooo handsome all dressed up and my mom made all the girls dresses. So I thought a little walk down memory lane for some of my new readers would be nice. For my family and me it's just a reminder of how fast she is growing up and how fast this year has gone by. We love you both soooo much and want the very best for you, always.

For those of you stopping by for my Week in the Life photos you can scroll down past the wedding ones and see my whole week's posts. Thanks for stopping by and hope you enjoyed your week as much as I did. I actually still picked up the camera and took pictures even though I had planned on taking a break today.

Thank you for that beautiful day sweeties!! So glad you came home and had your wedding here and all the family could be there. Love you both!!

WITL... Day 7 last day took 90 pictures

What a crazy day today was. Everything that could go wrong did and then some things went right. I took a lot of pictures today without even trying. Summer was gone most of the afternoon and that sent our little family spinning. I realize things go a little better when she's here and can spend her time hanging out with them together and seperately she keeps the peace more often. I did do some thinking and writing today about my thoughts this week and what has changed from last year's WITL. I am thinking of posting this tomorrow night if time or Tuesday instead of PL. In doing this week's project the stories are not jumping out at me like last years so maybe after a little looking back and digging deeper I will find some stories. I'm not even going to attempt to put this album together this week. Just going to take a breather and let it sink in and maybe the week after that give it a try.
Hope everyone had a good day and enjoyed their project. It will be nice tomorrow to not pick up my camera. So glad to have done this again though and to have sooo many pictures of our days this week. That alone is a precious treasure to me.