Saturday, February 4, 2012

Experiment 29- Day 4

Today's prompt- something simple you can't live without.
I would seriously be at a loss if I didn't have one-on-one time with Superman.
We don't always have the time or money to go out on extravagant dates, so we make dates out of simple, mundane tasks.
It makes those tasks a lot more fun... and I love the chance to turn ANYTHING into a 'hot date'.
Tonight, we had 30-minutes all to ourselves at the grocery store.
It was a great date!
We chatted.
We held hands.
And, I may have even snuck a few smooches in while we re-stocked our cabinets.
It's the little things, people!
Seek them out!

Friday, February 3, 2012

Experiment 29- Day 3

Today's prompt- a picture of something you wear.
Today I took Miss Priss to the ballet to see 'The Little Mermaid'.
She was wearing the sweetest mary jane's.
Oh my!
I love little girl things!
I loved to watch her twirl in her dress, run on her tippy toes, and sit with her little legs crossed at the ankles.
So, of course, I had to make her the center of my picture for today...

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Experiment 29- Day 2

Today's prompt- Photograph something you love.
I love that I have ONE child that craves order and organization!
I love that he thinks outside the box.
When I showed him this old letter/printing tray at an antique mall, he wanted it for this very purpose.
(He had seen similar displays in one of his Lego magazines.)
I love that he has filled his walls with calendars and posters and shelves of Legos he's built and artwork and ...
I could go on and on!
I love that although I wanted his room to look magazine-perfect, he has worn me down and made it look like HIM!
I love him!
It's a win-win!

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Experiment 29- Day 1

One of my sweet friends has started a photo challenge on Facebook.
It simply asks you to take one photo a day during the month of February, based on a prompt.
For me, this was a no-brainer.
I'm in my 3rd year of taking a picture a day, so since I'm already snapping away, why not have a daily prompt?

If you're on Facebook and want to join in, go here.

Day One- Photograph your breakfast.
Eggs, fresh from the farm.
Picked them up last night.
Yum!

Monday, January 23, 2012

A Day in the Life (Crazy Edition)

One day a month, my life swings out-of-control busy!
It's sometimes a little stressful.
But, it's worth it in the end.
 7:55 am-
My alarm goes off.
I was up until midnight last night, so I slept in a little to make sure I'd make it through the day.
10:25am-
Dropped the boys off at karate for class.
10:39am-
Rushed home instead of staying with the boys at their class, to re-boot the laundry and clean the 1/2 bath for tonight's meeting.
1:23pm-
While Wyatt was at OT, Cameron and I ran to the health food store to pick up some of the snacks I needed for tonight's meeting.
1:50pm-
Back to pick Wyatt up from OT.
Waited until his session ended at 2:00
2:11pm-
QUICK stop at Zaxby's to feed the boys.
Feeling pretty slack in the mama department at this very moment.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
This, too, shall pass!
2:18pm-
Arrived at dentist/orthodontist for the boys' appointments.
Having a high moment, their appointments weren't until 2:30.
Me, early?
No way!
2:23pm-
Working on a little school while we wait.
4:08pm-
HAD to go to Wal-Mart for bananas and strawberries for part of tonight's snack.
14 Carrot was out.
Could think of 4 million other places I'd rather shop, but today there just wasn't any extra time.
4:54pm-
HOME!
FINALLY!
8:18pm-
Hosting the small-group meeting for our local homeschool group.
Love this night every month!
So many good ideas shared amongst the other moms.
LOVE IT!
10:14pm-
Meeting over.
Superman and the boys are home from bowling...
and enjoying the new chocolate fountain.
10:46pm-
Finished cleaning up the kitchen.
Starting a load of dishes.
10:50pm-
Tucked in the heffalump.
She's beyond spoiled rotten these days.
11:23pm-
Checking FB for the first time today.
Snuggled up to Superman.
Heart full and happy.


Realizing that though it was a crazy-busy day, it was so very worth it!

.



I love being able to be home and taking the boys to all the places they need to go.
I am so thankful that there are stores I can go to to pick up our groceries, versus having to grow them all myself


I love being able to host our small-group.

I am so thankful to have a comfortable home to open up to other moms.

I love that Wyatt wanted to buy a chocolate fountain for when we host gatherings.

I love that the boys have some father/son time on Monday nights.

I love that there is a dishwasher to clean up the dishes for me.

I love that my children have such compassion towards these furry cats that they've spoiled.

I am so thankful that I have a warm bed and an even warmer Superman to snuggled up up to at night.

At the end of the day, it was worth it all!

Friday, December 16, 2011

Samaritan's Purse~ Shoeboxes

Last Friday, Cameron and I went with our local homeschool group and volunteered at The Samaritan's Purse Packaging Center in Charlotte, NC for Operation Christmas Child.
Our day began at 5:30am, as we got up, dressed, packed a cooler of snacks, and left with our carpool at 7:00am.

We arrived at Samaritan's Purse around 8:45am.
First, we unloaded all of the shoeboxes that our church collected.
43 shoeboxes this year!
SO very proud of my church people!
Then we headed inside and met up with our group.
It was a BIG group this year!
If you're interested in volunteering, you can put together a group and go.
Click here for more volunteer information.
All volunteers must be at least 13-years-old.
And, you need 1 chaperon for every 4 teenagers.
First, we were trained how to handle the boxes, what items must be removed and added, and how to perform each job.
Then we were sorted into teams.
Each team was then assigned an area, and each team member was assigned a specific job.


I thought it was interesting to see the way each shoebox was processed, and thought you might like to see it, too.
At the first station, the volunteer must check the shoebox for money.
(Samaritan's Purse asks that you include $7 with your shoebox to help with the cost of shipping.)

Once that money is removed and put in the dropbox, the box moves to the next station.
At the next station, the volunteer goes through the contents of the shoebox and removes any items that are on the no-no list.

These items include: food, liquids, war-related items, used items, etc.
While at that station, the volunteer makes sure that the shoebox is full and that it has candy inside.

If it is not full or doesn't have candy, he gets additional items from the bins above to fill the shoebox.

That was one of the neatest things to me!
I loved it!
I loved that someone thought ahead about children who may not have a full box, or that may not have any candy.
I loved that there are people and stores that will donate items to help fill boxes.
At the next station, the shoebox is securely taped shut so that no items are lost during shipping.
The shoebox is then packed in shipping boxes according to gender and age.
This shoebox is being shipped to 10-14 year-old boys.
Though we were hard at work, there were still moments of fun!
Often times, it happened when we discovered precious surprises tucked inside the shoeboxes we were working with.

It made me think differently about our shoeboxes for future years.
For example, in all the years that we've packed shoeboxes with our boys, it never dawned on me to pack actual SHOES in the SHOEBOXES!

Yet, I have no doubt that the little girl that opens this box will be tickled!

And the person that donated the box made sure that no space was wasted.

There were socks and other goodies packed inside the shoes and all around the inside of the box.
We also saw lots of marbles.
What a great idea!
They're inexpensive, fun, and easy to squish in loose spaces in the shoeboxes.
Sometimes we'd pull a Slinky out of it's box to make more room for other fillers.
At the end of the day, there were lots of no-no's in the buckets below our sorting tables.

If you pack a shoebox, please don't put food, liquids, and other no-no's in the shoebox!

They DO get removed!
(These items are not thrown away!  They are all donated to local charities and shelters that can use the items.)

Items are removed for safety purposes.
For example, we had to pull out lots of mouthwash and lotions.
Those items could leak and ruin the contents of their entire shoebox... or worse, the leak could ruin the contents of a whole shipping box full of shoeboxes.
This bucket was mainly filled with food that had to be removed.
Samaritan's Purse is not against distributing food; however, they must abide by the rules and restrictions that the receiving countries levy.
At this point, the only 'food' items that are accepted in every country that they ship to are hard candies.
All in all, it was a wonderful day!
We left pooped, but with full, happy hearts!
I loved that as we walked out the door, this board was displayed.

It let us know that the fruits of our labor were being shipped to Georgia, Mali, and Zimbabwe.

Since I hadn't filled out the on-line form to follow our shoeboxes, this was the next best thing!

So nice to have an idea of where our packages were headed!

On the way through the parking lot Cameron said, "Mama, I can't wait to come back and do this again next year!"

And my heart smiled!

I felt exactly the same way!



Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Christmas Tea

Last week was one of the busiest weeks of my life...
but such a good one!
Through one of our homeschool groups, I was invited to attend a local Christmas Tea.
It was a lot of fun.
I even volunteered to decorate a table.

I loved the chance to use the Christmas china I've been collecting over the last few years.
Don't get me wrong, we use them at the house, but I never get to see them on a 'set' table.
One day, I WILL have a true dining room that I can make beautiful.
Who needs functional, right?

And the very, very, very best part of the day?
It would have to be that I was able to share it with The GodWoman!

Thursday, October 6, 2011

I'm Back! Birthday Edition

It has been forever since I blogged, but...
-Today is my birthday!
-I was told to relax and enjoy the whoooooole day!
-So here's my chance to get caught up in the blogosphere.
(And, oh my word- Blogger sure has changed while I was away!  I couldn't even figure out how to move my pictures around the easy way I had used before, so all of these pictures are completely out of order.  Oh, well!)
I've had friends and family tell me how far behind my blog is, and all I could say was, "I've been so busy living, I haven't had time to blog about living!"
And that's the truth!
This boys has kept me on my toes.
It's been in a great way!
But, I am NOT a fan of this growing up thing!
We've been able to spend time with friends.
This night we were enjoying the drive-in movie.
The boys have been busy with karate.
We survived a HOT summer.
This photo was the end of May... hotter weather was ahead!
We spent a week with the grandparents at the beach.
Stayed at our usual place.
Love the fireworks there!
Enjoyed a night with good friends.
The kids had a great time.
But, we sure hated to see one of the families head back to Tennessee.
Began a new school year.
Figured out that using Friday afternoons for Math Bingo was a fantastic motivator for the joys to finish up their work!
Had a quick visit with The Baby brother.
:(
Wish he could have stayed longer.
Love that he has to come to my town for business a few times a year!
My first-born became a teenager.
I cried!
Have I mentioned that I'm not a fan of this whole growing up thing???
And my baby turned 11.
How dare he?
Because, in my mind, I'm still only 23!
There's no way I can possibly have an 11-year-old!!!
Aside from crying over my children growing up on me, we did manage to squeeze in a little more during the summer.
We ate our weight in tomatoes straight from the garden.
Have you ever eaten a tomato still warm from the garden?
If you did, you'd become a tomato snob like me, and not dare to eat tomatoes in the off-season.
They just taste like mush once you've eaten true, fresh ones.
These beauties came from our neighbor.
He was always bringing up tomatoes and cucumbers from him garden.
They were incredible!!!
We spent a few days at the beach with Little Miss Priss.
Lord knows, I love that child!
We spent a few more days at the beach with The Godfather and The GodWoman.
We made some serious changes to the house.
I'm loving it!
Superman is awesome, as usual!
I'll eventually get all the before and after pictures together so that I can show you just how many changes we made.
And early in the summer, when we stayed at the beach with the grandparents (but stinkin' Blogger won't let me move these pictures up there without making me pull my hair out) the boys were able to swim with the stingrays at the aquarium.
On that same trip, we celebrated Grammy's birthday.
She's pretty amazing at spoiling the joys, so we had a chance to spoil her back just a little!
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