Category Archives: Uncategorized

Let the 3 day weekend begin

And so begins the long weekend.  Can I get an “AMEN”?!?!?—posted a little behing, I’m catching up here.

This morning the Hubs and I are doing a SUP (Stand up Paddleboard) demo.  8 a.m.   in the river.  It is lovely outside right now.  Lovely, I say.  I’m thinking the river is going to be cold and therefore I resolve to STAND UP and not fall in.  Ok?  Ok. Let you know how that goes.  **it didn’t, just too windy today, and I actually wanted to stand UP, not swim in the river..

Reading books.  Riding bikes.  Relaxing in the day.  That’s how the rest of our Saturday went down and it was awesome!!  It’s a challenge to really relax, isn’t it??  There’s always so much TO DO on our days off.  Grocery shopping, house cleaning, lawns, maintenance around the casa, kids to and fro.   It’s the season of our life right now and that’s ok, the interesting thing is that when we can and do relax it’s as if our bodies and minds can’t break free from the principles of inertia:

in·er·tia  (-nûrsh)

n.

1. Physics The tendency of a body to resist acceleration; the tendency of a body at rest to remain at rest or of a body in straight line motion to stay in motion in a straight line unless acted on by an outside force.
2. Resistance or disinclination to motion, action, or change: the inertia of an entrenched bureaucracy.

and like most parents I know, we seem to be constantly on that straight line of motion…..always moving forward!

And so, somehow we managed to find a compromise in productivity and relaxation that we could live with.  I hope the same is true for you!!!

A boy.  Reading and relaxing after an afternoon of lawn mowing.

A boy. Reading and relaxing after an afternoon of lawn mowing.

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Sneaking in a coffee/donut date after our SUP date was squashed by the wind!

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Checking on the Gram and giving kitty some snuggle love

 

 

Mother’s Day Wrap-up

Happy Mother’s Day to my mom, and all moms out there.  We’re having a nice day here so far….I woke up with a headache/migraine-starter, 50% chance of rain expected for the afternoon BUUUUUUUUT……I have Excedrin on board, with coffee, Hubby is making breakfast, our youngest couldn’t wait to give me her present (which promptly made me cry) and she promised to smile this year for our picture.  Here’s hoping for the best!

Today though, I realize that it hasn’t always been such a super day for me and it isn’t such a super day for everyone else.  In fact, today can be a painful reminder for many women.  Today I’ll remember my cousins who buried their mom a few weeks ago and other friends whose moms have passed away over the years.  I’ll remember friends who are estranged from their mothers and struggle and doubt their own motherhood and parenting (which, BTW is phenomenal!!) .  I’ll remember friends who’ve never had a chance to be a mother due to infertility.   I’ll remember friends who have lost children.  I’ll remember friends who  care for special needs children.  I’ll remember friends who are single mothers.  I’ll remember friends who are struggling with prodigal children.  I’ll remember friends  who might be let down by the commercialism and in-your-face-ness of the perfect Mother’s Day.

This morning and this day I cried a few times, tears of joy and love, from a heart filled with gratitude toward my husband who is setting a beautiful example for our children through our marriage and his parenting, for children who test me, teach me, love me, forgive me, make me laugh and make each day better just by being part of our family.

 

Blast from the past!

Blast from the past!

Me, my Mom and my sister

Me, my Mom and my sister

Last year.  Just keepin' it real.  Truly a favorite picture!!

Last year. Just keepin’ it real. Truly a favorite picture!!

Mom's photo after Mass, my awesome necklace, cake and card.

Mom’s photo after Mass, my awesome necklace, cake and card.

And so the kid photo is a little blurry…Hubby is no fan of the iPhone camera and gave me full permission (demanded) I get my real camera fixed….beautiful necklace of which you can design your own HERE, the Publix cake and sweet girl’s card/letter to me.  And just think, my birthday is only 4 days away and we can do this AGAIN!!!!

EASTER…taking it outside to celebrate!

The whole-ish outfit.  My missed the shot.  Apparently.  the skirt is swingy and goes just below/to the knee.

The whole-ish outfit. My legs missed the shot. Apparently. The skirt is swingy and goes just below/to the knee.

Camp Patton

Joining in with Camp Patton,  Freckles in April, and North Meets South, in a nod to Fine Linen and Purple‘s wildly fun WIWS….EASTER STYLE!!  I’ve been COMPLETELY MIA for the last few months on the WIWS circuit, mostly because I was in repeat mode. buuuuuuut, now I have the spring clothes out so you might see me more frequently the next couple of weeks.

Hoping you all had a blessed Lent and a are enjoying a fabulous Easter celebration today.  I have a whopping T-20 minutes, so let’s see what I can throw together here what with cropping and editing and such with the photos!

Mass outside.  Breezy 69 degrees, sunny, cloudy, sunny.  Awesomeness.

Mass outside. Breezy 69 degrees, sunny, cloudy, sunny. Awesomeness.

neck

ear

bracelet

Disregard the scraped knuckle courtesy of porch project yesterday...post to come later...

Disregard the scraped knuckle courtesy of porch project yesterday…post to come later…

Love these sandals.  Disregard the sad state of the pedicure...just ran out of hours this weekend!

Love these sandals. Disregard the sad state of the pedicure…just ran out of hours this weekend!

danceDancers, pre-Mass practicing their carousel.  They were a little nervous with the wind, but did great!!

Pre-Mass warm up by the lake.

Pre-Mass warm up by the lake.

Strike a pose!

Strike a pose!

Papa and his girls!

Papa and his girls!

Even snagged the big boy for a quick shot!

Even snagged the big boy for a quick shot!

Deets:  Moi, Kohl’s for the outfit and shoes and Lia Sophia for the blingz.

Big girl:  Kohl’s except for the inherited shrug

Dancer girl:  Church for the dance uniform

French horn boy:  Church for the tux jacket/tie, thrifty for the pants and inherited shirt.

Big boy:  Thrift Volcom shirt, Old Navy khaki shorts

Dad:  Thrifted and inherited and  a total keeper!

Bloglovin’….I’m lovin’…

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

In joining in with Jen et al. this week for the 7QTs, I found in my reading the highly recommended Bloglovin’ reader.  Apparently, the Google reader just croaked or got axed or something and this was a good great substitute.  MY reader consisted of my bookmark manager (HIGHLY inefficient) and my WordPress reader (sufficient for WP blogs).  So on a fabulously breezy Sunday evening while at the park with the girls I managed to move my fave blogs to Bloglovin’; I also managed to finish a directed reading on Fungus for my CEUs at the same time (super thrilled, right?).  Gotta love the free WiFi at the park.

Bloglovin

Love the name or hate it, it’s pretty useful.  MOST of the blogs I follow are found on the reader (even mine…) making it super-dee-duperty convenient AND there’s an App for the ole smarty pants phone, too.

It is Spring Break here, I have no children to shake out of bed this morning (they can sleep in all week-long…) and I am up early, so I shall go read some blogs.  or work on my CEUs.  or get some exercise.  I’ve got 2 hours to kill before I have to be at work.  I love Spring Break.  The BEST thing though?  I’m OFF Thursday and Friday.  How about that?  It’s looking like we may actually be able to participate in Triduum services without the constraints of work/school/bedtimes getting in the way!!

Take Five…

There’s a cute little linky going on around the blogosphere about some Five things Thing where you tell about 5 things most people don’t know about you.  Mary Kate tagged me and since A) I can’t really resist a “challenge” and B) I am currently suffering a bout of insomnia/coughing and am up anyway, I figured alrighty then….let’s do this!!

Of course, this IS a little tricky since I blog/talk about a lot of stuff and I may have already mentioned a thing or two, so you’ll have to pretend you haven’t heard it before if you already have…K?  K.

  1. During my bachelorette party (back in the day), my FAVORITE sandals broke mid-shindig.  I mean, straight dry-rotted….What’s a girl to do?  There was much more dancing to do!!!  Somewhere along the way, some nice bouncer had some masking tape and I just taped those puppies up…both shoes and boogied on down the rest of the night.  I have pictures somewhere……annnnnd I actually got up to look for it, I can see it in my mind…..and nothin’, I got nothin’, but trust me…it was fUNny!!
  2. When I was in 4th grade I was terrified of Bike Week…an annual event in Daytona Beach…now a BI-annual event, lucky us!!  Back to the terror….we heard stories of the Hell’s Angels and how they swoop into town and kids walking home from school were easy pickins…now we had no idea what that meant but I know we made record time coming home from school that week!  Fast forward a gazillion years and we have some Outlaws one street over and we just sleep with the windows closed during Bike Week….or try to, I think we are getting used to the noise or losing our hearing, one of the two.
  3. Somewhere around 4 years of age…ish….we had a neighborhood dog that I would bring a biscuit to regularly…one for him….one for me.  Come to find out, my kids did the same thing with our dogs when they were little.  Hmm.  Hereditary inclination toward dog biscuits, interesting.
  4. My first job was at Mr. Donut.  I got over my love of donuts REEEEEEAL quick like (although it has returned slightly in the last decade…)  You can NOT wash that donut smell out of a uniform, trust me.  That’s also the place Hubby picked me up for our first date…..maaaaaaaaany moons ago, like 26 of ’em.
  5. I dont’ really like a lot of noise and mess.  God blessed us with 4 kiddos.  Talk about your sense of humor.  We’ll just say I’m coming to terms (a little bit) with noise and mess.

My turn to tag 5 people and carry on the funnies or the fives…how’s about it Lea, Brite, Pam, ViolinMama, and Lesley?  Tag, you’re it!   You’ll love the diversity of their blogs, food, travel, inspiration, kids…..you’re welcome!

And now….it’s been 4 hours and I can re-dose the cough syrup….I’m out!  Enjoy!!