Christmas Mayhem.....

so, this may be my first post ever without a picture - or at least in a long time.  Right now I just want to purge my brain - which by the way is in severe overdrive.  My house is somewhat clean.  The presents are unwrapped - and were adored!  We did our very best to include the reality of the day.  However, I feel distressed and a bit sad.  I am sad because of how relieved I am that this day is OVER!  Why do we feel this way?  Surely I can't be the only one?!? 

 I didn't feel the greatest today physically...but felt I was ready emotionally.  Honestly, I knew I shouldve spent some time with the good Lord but it just all moved so quickly.  One of the challenges of hosting the day.  Emotions are a hard thing to control at times.  These last two years have often been more than my fragile heart can handle.  Honestly, I feel very weak and more than vulnerable.  I often feel I have no control...which is true to an extent....I can only control me.  And even though that sounds great....the reality is often hard.  I want to fix.  i want to help.  I want to participate in the healing...but you can't force anyone to do anything they don't want to.  And truth is, you can't keep them from doing things either.  people move through life without asking your permission.  They think of themselves.  It is hurtful but what can you do. 

You pray!  You talk yourself off the ledge...daily....hourly....even more often when needed.  You cry. At the most unexpected times. You try to put on a happy face - which probably doesn't fool anyone.  You pray some more.  and you must let go and whatever you do, you must hold only to the Lord's hand.  I am pretty excited about a new year.  The chance for the dust to settle.  The older I get the more I know that nothing is the same forever - I have one really big wish for 2013 - for healing.  Healing in all our hearts.  Healing in our relationships. Healing so that we can all do what it is that we may be called to do which is LOVE.  Love as Christ has loved us - unconditionally.

Wishing you and yours the very best of the rest of 2012 and a Healing Start to 2013.

Thank you Mr. Columbus...

for sailing those huge, stormy oceans to come find America! We loved celebrating with an AMAZING day at the State Park.  We had lots of fun and couldn't have asked for a better time. 

 

Check out these kiddos jumping off the dunes...it was a HUGE drop off...nothing like I had ever seen before...kids clearly don't care about getting sand in those place that shouldn't have sand - HA!

 

The "natural" wildlife was something I hadn't experienced at the State Park either.  Raccoons were all over the jetties - someone had brought them a dozen old eggs and boy they weren't scared of anything.  Even took some from mason's hand - until his mother yelled about rabies and threatened to go home if they didn't stay away...mean mommy!

Mason loved a bit of the solitute which always intrigues me...friends to play with and yet...at some point... he always takes a moment (or two or three) away....i love that he knows when its time to just be by himself.(or with the raccoons:)

The butterflies were in abundance - clearly it shall be winter soon:)

He didn't catch one that big but he sure was excited to see the fish among the pools within the rocks of the jetties. They played for literally hours on that pile of rocks.  I was a wreck hoping no one fell, busted their head, and then drown...but they enjoyed themselves which makes me enjoy myself.

Again, Thank you Mr. Columbus for discovering this amazing place - we truly are blessed, blessed, blessed to live in such a beautiful place:)

Honestly - I can't keep up!

That ever expanding "to - do " list is gonna be the death of me! I love it, I hate being bored, hate not having a list but at times it just gest a bit too long.  Lately I've done better at letting some things go and trying to focus on the "must do " things....like science projects, math homework, taxi time, and keeping my house from looking like a bomb went off in it:)  My husband would probably say that one hasn't happened just yet!

 

I have tried to get some of the decorating done since we recently painted the half bath - I think I mentioned that???  It is super cool with a two tone wide gray stripe.  We updated the sink with chrome fixtures and I hung this cool subway art I did.  This is something I have wanted to do for a while but in my mind I couldn't figure a quick way to do it.  Then it came to me - scrapbook letters of different sizes and shapes - seriously?? why so long - it's not genius but I love this little thing.  Mostly American Crafts foam alphabets in different colors.  I love the splash of yellow (the handtowel is yellow too!) 

 

Some fall decor has FINALLY made it out at our house.  Since we don't do halloween, I wait as long as possible because dear heavens I am soooo tired of pumpkin stuff by Thanksgiving I can barely stand it.

 

This little set up is new but I like it ALOT! Right in the entry way by the piano - just all casual like:)

 

We had a fun Skate Factory party this past weekend to celebrate Miss Taylor's 6th Birthday - OMG I can't believe how big all these kiddos are getting.  Here is her with her Daddy....

 

 

 And with Mommy and "Babby"..  This day may or may not have ended up with the hubby in the walk-in clinic for x-rays....he may or may not have been acting a little bit silly (and competitive)....all is well now but man he isn't a teenager anymore!

 

 

And this is what most of our Saturdays look like .... lots and lots of soccer for us! Love it!!!

 

Thanks for making it all the way through this post - it's been a crazy time for us but its also been full of great memories and learning experiences.  I will share more of that later when I can put some of it to words.  Happy Wednesday:)

Catching up...

so one day I'm gonna find that company to print my blog into a book so i can have all these wonderful things written down for our family history book.  We began school THREE weeks ago and I chose not to have first day of middle school pictures in lieu of being on time to the first day of middle school. 

 

So I think these are maybe day 3 of middle school but at least it shows it.  This blog may be a bit weird for you but it's a history book for us with a few things that I don't want to forget. 

 

Like... this look.  Can you just hear the "MOOOOM, can you hurry up already"

Then the "OK, I will smile great so you will quit - I just LOVE this face!  have we had challenges, throw-downs, and melt-downs?? oh my Lordy yes! but, at the end of the day, he is amazing!!! He loves harder than most adults I know and no matter how many times I lose Mother of the Year - he still loves me - I am truly blessed!!!

 Here is the sweet girl - she is snarky, energetic, my word is she self-confident (maybe a little too much so) and she is scared of very little (except the chicken pox shot she got yesterday that reduced her to full blown tears in the dr.'s office)  She might be a bit nervous about middle school but she would never, ever blow her cool calm and collected cover.... and I mean NEVER!!!

 This is funny to me...here is the back story....she HATES.HATES.HATES to be touched while taking the picture.  DO NOT put your arm around her.  He knows this and that's why you can see the sneaky look in his eyes.  I spared you that one where she was fussing at him but believe it took a ton of pics to get...

 this one!  You can still see the look of angst on her face.  silly girl.

 here is day three of the third grade...excited and ready to go!

school has been TOUGH to say the least.  if we were quitters or unsure of God's will...we would have pulled them week two and been at their zoned school.  However, we are NOT quitters and we KNOW we are where we are supposed to be for now....so we continue to tread water...barely!!!

 

The good Lord knows when you need a break - so he sent Tropical Storm Isaac.  We had a fun stay at home day with the little cousins...we had NO rain... so we swam, finger painted, and swam some more:)

Relaxation at it's best:)

a side note to our ridiculous homework load - when i say ridiculous - i AM NOT KIDDING!!! last wednesday David worked with Abbi for more than two hours - see what I mean by ridiculous??? BUT... they had their first math test on Friday and guess what we scored....89 and a 95!!!! a 95 in a class where she was scoring F's - more than one - I was so excited I nearly soiled my pants!!! way to go kiddos - super, duper, proud:)

Papers, Papers Everywhere!!!

So when you have little ones (which I still do - sorta) you have tons of papers showing all their achievements, awards, progress reports, drawings, etc.  Clearly one could never display it all.  I actually do not keep it all (GASP!) but sort through and pick the "best of the best" to keep.  Don't tell my kiddos though cause I'm not sure they have that figured out entirely:)

So what to do once you've narrowed that GINORMOUS pile down?  Scrapbook them.  In a pocket.  I know this isn't the first time I have shared an idea like this but with school a mere 3 days, 9 hrs and 40 minutes away (who's counting, right?) I figured this is a great time to revisit school scrapbooking pages and techniques.  Here is a page I completed this am.

I love the kraft and black with just the pop of red.  I cut the kraft paper down enough that the black shows behind it but the papers still fit in it without going beyond the page border - hate when that happens.  I have been known to cut some of the extra off the bottoms/tops of pages to make them fit to 12x12.  Again, please don't tell my kids!

I used Jenni Bowlin letters here for the school year and I found some old school notebook paper and printed the Dr. Seuss quote onto it.  I love this quote - it's all about your decisions and choices.  Dr. Seuss was a VERY wise man! Love his birthday week at school alot!!!

I used staples (very school-ish) to adhere the pocket - this time I used two on each spot just to change it up and the bow gives it a girly look since this was for, you guessed it, a girl:)

This technique could be used for any type of papers, or flat memorabilia, and can be adapted for all ages.  Hope you use this next time you need to store some goodies.

Thanks for looking - have a great day - it's about to flood here. again. so ready for crisp, dry air and cooler temps!

Not really MIA...

Just a little out of pocket for a bit... I wanted to share some pics with you of our vacation in an effort to get back to normal.  School starts in a week (eeekkk!!!) and we plan to start a version of a school style routine next week so this is the perfect jumping off point. 

We went back to Blue Ridge, GA( here/) last week and stayed in an amazing cabin, on the same creek as last year and enjoyed alot of family time.  We started our Sunday am off with Preacher Braden reading to us from Genesis about the creation.  I must tell you this is one special little guy.  He came up with his own "message" and it was super amazing.  He did pray about it first.  It was serile to be staring out at such amazing creation and think about how it was in the very beginning.  We ended with a prayer by the preacher who asked us "not to let Jesus be finished with us yet" - can you say there was not a dry adult eye on the porch.  We ended with praise and worship - AMAZING!

on a funny note: As we all left the porch headed back in, Abbi says - "fellowship with your neighbor before you leave"  We thought we would die laughing!

Not sure if he qualified as a church mouse or not but he was still pretty quiet (and cute!)

This was the scene for a large portion of the week - CREEK LIFE for sure!

God's beauty and peaceful babblings...

His favorite thing - swimming up stream - Michael Phelps in the making???

I spent ALOT of time like this, trying to explore while not breaking anything - currents were strong in some places - still have multiple scars to show for the fun:)

I will share the other half of our adventure in the next few days - tons to do to get ready for school and I have a little scrapbooking that got delayed due to a very difficult week this week.  If our family comes across your mind, please pray, transitions at this point are MANY and difficult.  THANKS!

Full Blown Summer

We are in full blown summer mode which explains the lack of blogging...sorta...we are doing alot of school, swim, play, repeat.  However there is a bit of a decision going on.  Braden has been bitten by the gymnastics bug ... not surprised based on the amount of times a day I have to say "Braden do not jump on the couch like that!" However, I know he has loved karate so much (as shown here by the changing of the belts we witnessed earlier this month)  He wants to do both but this mama just can't add another thing - so he is contemplating changing.  I struggle with "once we start we stick with it" - whatever that is.  However, you never know what you're really good at unless you try different things.  On the other hand, Abbi would love gymnastics but says "NO WAY" to giving up soccer - she has found her passion for sure!

Hoping you are all having a great summer!  We are full swing campmeeting mode this week, followed by my 20 year high school reunion Friday night and then a Saturday AM departure for a week in the North Georgia mountains.  We all kinda wanna just skip straight to Saturday - even us big people are excited for a week of being away - Grandma is going so that is gonna add a whole new level of fun ... if ya know what I mean .... and by that I mean I might actually have a babysitter for a couples massage! whoo hooo!  Honestly, we have NEVER gone on a family vacation with my side of the family so it really should be a learning experience and alot of fun at the same time!

Still lots to do so I better get moving...off the transform a long-sleeve knit cardigan into a short sleeve one before church tonight!

Caution: Emotional Venting in progress....

If you came for crafty - just hold on a bit - I have that too but first...

Sometimes this blog is for historical sake and today is that day...One day I hope to have this printed up for a history book for our family - what a crack-up that will be, right? Don't answer that!

Today will permanently display my heart, and maybe a bit of a soap box too...

There are things about me I wish I could change.  Like One, I wish I could be more like that duck that let's things roll off their back...but I am not! I hold on to things for far too long.  I internalize.  I overthink.  I make mountains out of molehills - probably on a daily basis. 

Two, I wish I didn't worry as much about who loved me, who liked me, and what the rest of them actually thought about me.  Twice this week I have felt like someone was either talking about me as I walked up or hiding things from me.  I hate that even after the situation has passed...I am still thinking on it.....wondering WHY??? Really hate that one. I know you can't make people do anything.  Can't make them love. trust. be respectful.  be responsible.  I KNOW it but I DONT like it. 

Three, I hate that I am competitive.  I am sure that it makes me a better worker and the finished product is usually pretty great.  I hate that I feel compelled to compare myself to everyone else... STOP IT already. 

ok enough of that...on to the crafty....my patriotic wreath has been removed (I had planned to keep it up due to the Olympics) and this lovely one created by my daughter has replaced it.  She created it with scraps of fabric and a rubber coated clothes hannger.  For those who know me this sorta falls into the whole "the Christmas tree is mine, not theirs" kinda deal...but I am working on being less Martha and more Mother so here hangs her super cute wreath.  I really do love it - her comment was "it's kinda too small for our door.  BIG door, little wreath"  She does crack me up on a regular basis.

Thanks for making it through that rant/vent and hopefully I will have some cute scrappy stuff this week since I have some work to be done:)

Sorta kinda but not exactly...

So I know I said I wanted to work on the window frame BUUUTTT...this little thing called Tropical Storm Debby put a little kabosh on anything that requires outdoor painting.  Sooo, we moved on to the next thing on my "to Do" list which was this amazing wreath. 

So, as usual, things on paper don't extactly turn out the same in real life!  I did the best I could with supplies I already had on hand (minus the wreath base and "buttons") and here is the process:

Hobby Lobby only had the straw and the styrofoam and the styrofoam was like 3x the price, so straw it was.

I already had all the fabrics from my dear friend Lisa's shower (thanks Lisa & Joshua!) so I began by cutting the strips - approx 14x6 inches. Depending on the size of the wreath you may need more or less than me - I think I used eight of the burlap and eight of the gingham.  You could also use more or less depending on how wide you cut them.  This is where the "kinda sorta but not exactly" comes in - it is a personal thing - a trial and error - make it up as you go!

The tutorial I read said to cover the wreath - I did that but I don't really think it was necessary.  All I had in patriotic basics was a blue sheer and the hot glue didn't really hold as well as I would have liked.

To ruffle the burlap, I just used one of the strings, about the 6th one down and pulled.  Easy enough.  For the gingham of course I had to use my machine but that wasn't tough at all.

I just glued down one ruffle, then the next and so on.

When I had 75% of the wreath covered I begin the "cool" part - denim!  I had an old pair of jeans that didnt fit David and had been waiting to use them for something cool.  I cut the front leg on one side (that was all I needed) and saved the rest of the pants for a later craft.

I cut the leg in three strips and began wrapping and glueing.  I wrapped until I felt things looked tidy and secure and all "seams" were covered up.

Lastly, I glued on the sparkly silver buttons for the stars and it's now on my front door! I love it and am so grateful to Ms. Debby for providing a rain filled to day to do nothing but craft:)

  NOTE*** - Glue guns can be hazardous to your health!!! Use with great caution and don't be a knuckle head and touch the glue just after applying.  It results in wretched burns on fingertips and other body parts (I won't tell you where else I have a burn in order to uphold my crafty reputation!)

I want to desperately keep up current here - the trouble is I have a problem posting without a picture.  Not sure why but I figure it's the visual part I enjoy most about people's blogs - a close second to the true, honest emotional content that is often shared.  Working hard to be a better "sharer" of my emotions.

So the pics around here lately are not too existent - reason being is they are all kinda the same - pool, lake, pool, lake, see the trend... alot of fun, just not alot of variety in the way the pics would look. 

So I thought, what could I share?? The things I want to be doing but it's too hot to be doing them outside and well, let's face it, that's where we've been ALOT! Pool, lake, pool, lake, oh and the soccer field for camp this week.  And Braden went to VBS with his friend. 

But truth is, there's is this old window I have had since I don't know, like 8-9 years!  It looks like this in it's condition but the coolest thing is it still has it's original handle for pushing up and pulling down - even the rope going through it! (Don't be jealous!) I want to put pics in it but the glass is broken so I decided it will hold things like some "chicken" wire (or poultry caging as they called it officially, I like chicken wire better, don't you?) and maybe a magnet board or a chalk board.

Anyway, this is what I want to be doing today but instead we will be going to the chiropractor (bicycling for 15 miles has a way of putting a "kink" in the neck and shoulders), and a birthday party for my great-niece Lillian followed by one last night of VBS and youth for the kiddos - whew!  Tomorrow is "free" so hopefully I can post what I did with my frame on Monday?? Now if that's not accountability I don't know what is - put it out there for the world so you have to get it out of the garage - hubby will be super happy!

A First Time for Everything...

So Dr. Seuss says there's a first time for everything! I had one of those moments recently when I made meringue - I know - Martha oughta look out:) Not really, cause Martha never had three kids and a laundry room that explodes exactly once every 1.5 days! 

However, I saw on pinterest this really cute idea for "mini lemon meringue pies" and Father's Day was just the occasion I needed (as if I really needed and occasion) to bring on the lemon!  Oh, and I discovered for the first time in 38 years (egh hum - cough) that lemon meringue pie is my mom's favorite - how do you know that about your own mother???

Anyway, the meringue was not gritty - it baked well and the pies were a hit!  Super excited about that:)  Just baked them in cupcake liners so each person had a decent size but not too much. 

David told us during our Saturday evening Father's Day celebration that there was only one thing he thought he would get really excited about but he wouldn't say what in case I had totally missed the target.  But guess what??? I listen, I pay attention - and I hit that target - DEAD ON!!! A nice bike for the road.  We took our first ride together last night and it was sooo fun - no kids (to keep out of the traffice), just me and him and the open road (not exactly cause my heart rate stayed pretty due to dodging cars and traffic lights).  It was a fun activity I hope to have many more of. 

 And a card I made for my dad.  I had big plans for David but he really doesn't care about the cards so much so my dad's took precedence (as well as dinner being prepared for us all) so this one went to my lovely Alfredo.

So I don't live in a modern house like this one - but the turquoise is where we are headed! I am getting a bit excited.  I have chosen the color - its' not quite this saturated because it will be ALOT on on all these walls - slight understatement:) But I am loving the idea and hoping the translation is as good on the walls as it is in my head - ha! We all know how that can turn out sometimes.

I tell myself that southern and seaside are sorta the same when it comes to choosing colors and since I have a lovely pool in the backyard the color will be great.  See how the logic runs around here? But then I say to myself, "Self, its' your house, and if you like it, it will be perfect!" Again, after rationalizing with three kids all day, I'm an easy win!

A Clean Frige (and a Layout!)

So the summer is here! Which means I have a bit more time to do what I might want to do and I wanted to scrap:) I usually do everything in order but I occasionally go off track and here is what happens - a crazy lifestyle layout that has nothing to do with anything else.

When we were forced to buy a new refrigerator - I had to clean off all the stuff that accumulates on the outside - you probably don't have anything hanging on your frige but boy mine sure does - wink, wink:)  Obviously these things held some sentimental value or they wouldn't have been on the fridge - so who wants to to throw them away - not a scrapper!  So I made a layout - it's kinda an assortment of random parts of our lives, people we know and love, etc.  A little peek into our daily life.

What's on your fridge? I'd love to see it!

p.s. - Some of these things had been there since 2006!

Soooo, I know it has been a LOOONNNGGG time since I have blogged and I hope that I can get back in the swing again now that school is out.  Here's hoping!

We did have a major event recently and I though I usually blog in chronilogical order I am going to disregard that OCD behavior and celebrate my little man's birthday - YEP, he turned EIGHT on Memorial Day. 

We celebrated by taking a trip to Tampa and visiting WINTER (the dolphin from the movie "The Dolphin Tale" and then Busch Gardens.  It was super HOT but alot of fun.  We had fun company because we went with Aunt Melissa, "Nana", and Taylor and Tori.  Here is one silly picture from that day - will post more later on that.  Here silly boy climbed inside a hippo statue and then almost couldn't get out!

Here is the FABULOUS Mrs. Register whom we love with all our hearts.  We will be so sad to move on next year but she has certainly made a lasting impression and he is in LOVE with her!

 We did celebrate with a small, very casual, party with a few friends.  Nothing elaborate just cake and snacks and a ton of fun in the water.

Dearest Braden,

I love you more than words could ever say! You are an amazing and quite extraordinary boy.  You have a zest for life that is hard to beat and you love to learn about anything and everything.  You worried you would be eaten by a predator because you wore a black shirt and polar bears have black skin and clear fur but you didn't have the clear fur so you could be eaten.  You soak up every thing you are taught.  You have a great heart towards the Lord and your depth of spiritual thought is often astounding to those who know you - please keep the Lord first always!  I am so blessed to call you mine and I pray I take care of you in a way that will nurture all your fabulous qualities.

Him + Me + 15 Years = CANCUN!!!!

So these are TOTALLY not in the order but this is the first time I have posted with the new format and I clearly have a bit to learn...

A few weeks back (feels like forever) David and I were blessed to be able to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary in Cancun, Mexico:)

We had such a great time and so much fun stuff to do - and the people were so nice!

Here is the ancient city of Coba and the Mayan Ruins - I made it to the top (120 very steep steps) while David decided to rest it at step #50 :(  I tried hard to get him to continue but his lack of desire and fear of heights were too much to over come.

One of the days we took a ferry to La Isla Las Mujeres - I think that translates to Island of the Women.  It was beautiful and relaxing.  We rented a golf cart and toured pretty much the whole island.  We found a great spot for lunch, some swimming (David even got a little massage on the beach) and then it was off again.

I loved all the old boats with the outboard motors - tried to get the shot without them visible but it was tough.

Here was the view looking up to the top of the ruins - again, not in order but a cool shot none the less.

The total climb - 120 steps

A pleasant dinner by the lagoon - I have a cool photo of an evening before this where a crocodile spends his evenings - assuming he is waiting for handouts - they fed him and he put on quite a show - this would NEVER have happened in America!!

The view of the water - I thought this was a great shot - no bragging just loved the aqua and red in the same shot - it was red flag all week so not alot of swimming here but a great view!

 Here is our happy photo on the evening of our "real" anniversary.  I couldn't have asked for a better fit to spend the rest of my life with.

Hope you have a great week and enjoy this amazing weather - who knew???