Category Archives: Photos

And so it begins…..

In the beginning…..everything seems so exciting, shiny, full of promise and hope. New school clothes. Unopened packets of pens, paper, folders, dividers. Unscathed backpacks. Unscuffed tennis shoes. And then you settle into a routine and as you near the end, ripped shorts, crumpled paper, graffiti’ed backpacks, holey shoes and you plug on with your eye on the prize because the end is just. around. the. corner.

Ah. And so it realistically be with the blog challenge. Every day in May. Seems fun. Exciting. All these ideas floating in my brain. And then finding the time to put them down. Struggling between what I want to say and how it’s coming out of my brain. Often not even on the same hemisphere!!

The reality is, I LOVE a challenge. I always work better under pressure with a specific goal in mind. Whether it was when I used to run and was training for a race or with my girlfriends at the beginning of the year when we decided we could do ANYTHing for 12 weeks!! (here it is into our 4th month and still plugging along in our new routines!) I’m a structured person. I wish I was more relaxed sometimes, but it’s not where my comfort zone is…a first-born, goal-oriented, nurturer.

HOWEVER, you may be more free. Less inclined to stay inside the lines. YAY! for you. I’ll live vicariously through you and maybe gain some courage to step outside the box once in a while. So, join me in our blogging “challenge” for May. Blog each day. Blog some days. Use words. Use pictures. Use both. Send your blog name in the comment section, I’ll add you in. So far, we are FOUR. I look forward to sliding into the end of May, tattered, blogged and having “met” other bloggers and styles to ~~stea~~l learn from throughout the 31 days!

Have a wonderful day!!

Brite (this awesome Mama is the sweetest and gentlest! with 4 little ones–including a newborn, she homeschools, farms, sews, cooks and sometimes includes great pictures of life’s ups and downs)

Amanda (I just met her yesterday through her blog, and Brite, and I enjoyed her pictures and her theme for May–pictures and Scriptures–FABULOUS combination!)

Lea (her 5th year of this challenge, I stole it from her, she’s crazy busy, the MOST creative person EVER, a God’s girl through and through and after all these years of knowing her I finally figured out how she gets it all done. She doesn’t sleep. Which is why I’ll never capture her cape! I love sleep too much.)

Blog everyday in May…..

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A few years ago, my good friend Lea started a blog challenge of “Blog-everyday-in-May”. It was a good exercise for me in regular blogging. She’s crazy busy now with a houseful of teenagers and I doubt she’ll participate this year–boo hoo!–but I will encourage her anyway.

Of course, in this neck of the woods, one MUST be crazy to make MAY the blog-every-day month since school is wrapping up and you know that ALWAYS comes with a whirlwind of activities and brain scrambling, but hey…why not?

So, the deal is….anyone can join, just send me your blog in the comment section and I’ll figure out some way to “link” or include each blog daily for participating peeps, and since it’s international I can include it the next day if you miss it when I post. You can either blog or put up a photo of the day or combo of the two. Some days it’s all I can do to log on, so you may see more photos and “wordless” days from me!

Blog on peeps!

**photo cred: Mag Huybreghs, May 2008 ©

Easter time, spring is here. Allelujah!!

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Easter eggs ready for dyeing. We don’t even hide the eggs anymore. The dye stains my fingers, and yet….we just can’t seem to drop this tradition. Something about writing on those eggs in white crayon, adding to color, mixing it up. Easter fun, here to stay.

Spring time is perfect for strolling together and getting our cardio on. Quality time with my big girl while our youngest practiced for Easter Mass with the liturgical dancers. I want the pause button for times like these.

Daylight savings time=time for a walk on the beach after dinner. Note to self: check the tide schedule. Soft sand+bad knee=killing the exercise routine.

Our sweetie pie was either kissing up to the Bunny or just grateful for the probability of her own personal stash of chocolate coming into her possession and wanted to express her gratitude. I like her style.

Pre-Mass. The boys trying to decide the best location. At this point is was…away from the ‘rents.

He is Risen, indeed! Gearing up for the annual outdoor Easter Mass.

A gift from my dear friend. The “Killer Cake” from Toojays. She introduced me to this little lovely. Now I gave up Facebook for Lent and was not lacking in chocolate prior to Easter. But this. Oh. MY. This will hit that chocolate sweet spot like nothing you’ve ever known. As I was cutting the cake, the kids were giving me the “why-are -you-cutting-them-so-small” eyes; by the time our oldest was hitting the mid-way point he changed his mind and asked “Why did you cut them so big?”. Rich. If you ate the whole thing, it would live up to its name and kill you. Seriously.

Glorious Easter and Happy Spring, Y’all!

The SALT. The SAND. The WAVES. The BREEZE. AHHHHHhhhhh!

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Spring Break is upon us, and while I don’t have the ENTIRE week off, I DO have these three days off! So, we will be spending at LEAST a portion of every day soaking up the salt, the sun and the waves. The girls have new suits (LOVE Walmart $9 suits!), fresh sunscreen, I have a book to read and the back of the truck is already set with chairs and beach toys. We will vacuum on Wednesday….why bother until then?

Apparently we aren’t the only ones getting in a post-Mass beach day. Well….it IS Spring Break AND the end of Bike Week! not to mention an absolutely GORGEOUS day!!

one set of “bikes”….

and another set of “Bikes”…it should be a little quieter around here now.

You can find me here these next few days. Text if you need me, I’ll answer when I can….

Road trip…view from the backseat

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Last weekend, my girls and I took a road trip to see my sister, brother-in-law and nephews; while we were there, my sis, my girlfriend and I were going to see my friend’s daughter in “To Kill a Mockingbird”. It was a whirlwind weekend, rainy, cold and eight hours of car time, but we had a great time.
Quality time with my sister: a play AND appetizers/dessert (I know you are jealous…you should be), something that so rarely happens without at least one of our children present.
Catch up (in fast forward) with a good friend and praising God for His mercies and the works He has done in her family’s life after just a year ago their son being diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma. To just visit with her after their year that changed their lives and see the grace and growth and the LIVING that continues…HUGE. God IS good. Even when the circumstances purely suck.
Mass at our old church with a powerful sermon by a young priest who is simply ON FIRE and IN LOVE with our Savior. Seeing and hugging old friends and their growing children. Life goes on. We are blessed with the richness of friends and family and this weekend was but a small example.

Back to the road trip portion…..the girls come ready, they pack their own bag o’ goodies. Snacks. Games. Books. They are veterans of this drive and they know what it takes to stay busy and pass the time. In the end, they barely touched their bag (aside from the snacks) and we listened to their music so we could hear Taylor Swift (Mama’s iPhone needs to be updated with T’s music), they made up car games, sang songs, played on the iPhone, watched the world go by and took pictures. Love. Them.