Fight, Fight, Fight ~> Photo 39

It feels like it has been forever since I have been on here!  In my defense a lot has gone on this summer...  We moved, oldest child had Driver's Ed, youngest had summer school, and the one in the middle started school on the modified calendar at the end of July!  Plus we got sick!!!  So we did not really get a "summer vacation".

The move was crazy and we were really stressed out!  But now all the kids have their own rooms and hubby has a computer room!!! (No More Computers in My Bedroom and Living room!!!)  I think this a step in the right direction, we are no longer in a small cramped up town house fighting with one another about everything.  Now we have our own spaces, a place to cool off and relax!  We still fight with each other over stupid stuff (most popular fight is about doing homework and reading) but I'm not hearing the boys fight over who's mess it is in the bedroom (it was Cole's).

Next move will hopeful be us buying a house!
But till then I am pretty happy with this one!
(Just need to finish unpacking and putting stuff away!)

~Love~Smile~Enjoy~Happiness~
~Ra~

Humming Bird ~> Photo 38

Have you ever seen a Humming Bird nest?

I'm trying to think back to all the animal shows I have seen and all the animal/nature photographs in magazines and I don't recall seeing one so stumbling onto one in the yard is very exciting!  If you search the web you will find tons of pictures of humming birds and their nests but I never thought about searching for what one might look like till we saw this little guy flying in and out of his tiny little home.  I am quite curious on how it was made, what it is made out of, and did the humming bird make it?  I wonder if there are eggs in it!?!  How cool would that be to watch little humming birds grow up!  I really wish I could get a better angle on the nest to see inside it.  Oh well, this is a pretty cool find and snap shot!

~Love~Smile~Enjoy~Happiness~

~Ra~

Photo # 37 ~ First Day of Summer Vacation!

We are FREE!  Free as a bird!!!

Well for a little while since school is out for summer vacation and now we struggle to entertain the kids.  On the plus side I get to sleep in a little which helps since I am a night kinda of person not a morning one!  Lol.  

I did jumped right back into something I started last year, them waking up to a notebook at their spot at the table with a list of what I expected out of  them that day and this year Lila gets a "Chore Notebook" too!  And there was a smidge of grumbling but it was amazing how fast they went through it so that they could have their precious "1 Hour Of Game Time" (yes we are mean parents and crazy)!

(Lila's first chore list and she was excited to have one like the boys!)

I am also going to change the dinners the boys do once a week from they help me make a dinner they pick to me helping them!  I will also now include Lila in helping me make a dinner once a week which means she will pick out a dinner and have to get a shopping list together, go with me to the store and like her brother learn to shop with coupons and/or good deals, and then take those items and make a meal!  The boys have been doing this every summer for the last couple of year and I hope that they have learn enough to now be in charge of the kitchen giving me a little bit of a cooking break.  My goal is to have them more knowledgeable than I was when I went out on my own and they will be able to feed themselves without the help of the fast food industry.  

I just hope we get into a good grove over the summer, routines are very helpful and are very hard over here.  It seems as soon as we get into a good routine something throws us off, camp or the start of a new school year.  Once upon a time, before we had Lila and the boys were very young, we lived an apartment with pool and I was watching a neighbor's son over the summer, we had an awesome routine!  Now it seems I just can't  achieve the same consistent productive routine and it has been 6 summer since we moved from that awful apartment!  Lol!  So wish me luck!!!

It is going to be another very busy summer.  As the kids get older there is just more to do!  Jesse will be taking Drivers Ed, Lila will be doing Summer School, and Cole starts a new calendar as he start middle school.  I hope to add play dates and pool dates (and maybe a date night or to with my hubby since I loved doing that for my bday and want to do more with just him) and if we are lucking a camp or 2.  But we will have to wait and see as the dust settle from our 2012-2013 school year!

Thanks for reading my very long post today 

(if you got this far!)

And remember

~Love~Smile~Enjoy~Happiness~

(a daily struggle for me)

~Ra~

ThE BiG DaY ~> Photo 36

Today at 10:38pm (that's what my baby book says) I will be one year older!

(Cole on the big screen at the ball game that he and his school chorus sang at)

And I can't help feel a little exited about it!  Even though I know as an adult we really don't do much for a birthday, nice dinner out the weekend closest to it, for me fast food if it is on a week day so I don't have to cook.  Usually no cakes since in our house I am the one that makes them and since mother's day is so close to my birthday I usually don't get much for mother's day.

But this year has been a little different!  I already got my AWESOME bday gift and boy am I loving taking pix with it!  And my hubby went out and got me a couple of mother's day gifts, one from each kid!!!!  And what I asked for last year!!!  Someone is finally listening ;~)  Which also means I have to step it up for father's day this year!  Lol!

So even though I am using pictures that I have already posted on my facebook page and I believe that my facebook family and friends are probably the only ones that look at this blog they are awesome pictures to show my EXCITEMENT today!  Or at least this morning since by lunch I will be tired and by 3 I will be exhausted and by 5:30 I will be running around like a chicken with it's head cut off getting all the girl scout stuff together for the end or year party are are doing tonight!  And by 11pm I will be in bed wining that I can't fall asleep!  Just like any other day, Lol!

(He was so happy and excited to be on the big screen)

So right now I want to feel excited and happy that I am now 32!  We got to hang out with friends last Saturday and my bestie made me my favorite pie, Lemon Meringue.  She offered to make me a cake and I told her I did not love (like yes, love no) cakes so she was AWESOME and made it from scratch, I was just going to buy one in the freezer section of the Harris Teeter.  Last Sunday was fun too, Lila had a friend who did a birthday party at a bowling place.  And so far the week has been nice and slow, except for yesterday's killer headache!  This coming Saturday is dinner and a movie with my main squeeze while the kids go to the grandparents house!  That will be very nice!!!

I need to be off now today is a day I do have things to do, I both hate and love Wednesdays!

~Love~Smile~Enjoy~Happiness~

~Ra~

Photo # 35 ~> Crush!

Crush is our South American Red-Footed Tortoise that my hubby got me last year for my birthday. 

 (If  you want to read about my excitement in getting him last year click here!)  

We ended up getting him a month before my birthday since that is when he came into the pet shop and I always wanted a tortoise, have no clue why I did.  Today he seems happy, as happy as a tortoise can seem, it's not like a dog that wags his tail when he is happy!  Lol!  He loves his fruit and veggies, tomatoes seem to be his favorite along with some romaine lettuce.  He does not care for squash and that's ok we don't like it ether!  Lol!  I do need to measure him to see how much he has (or has not) grown this year.  It doesn't seem like much but than again they grow pretty slowly.  

As a pet he is pretty easy going and a joy to watch as he munches on clovers in the yard!  A tortoise is not a pet for you if you want a snuggly soft affectionate pet but if you want someone low key, slow, and full of wonder and mystery than I do recommend a tortoise.  

~Love~Smile~Enjoy~Happiness~

~Ra~

Blown Away....Photo 34

I am Blown Away by the pictures my camera captures. 

It was the best Christmas gift my hubby ever gave me and for my birthday he gave me the BIG Zooming Lens!    

Look you can see the dandelion seeds blowing away!

 How Awesome Is That!!!!!

I am hoping for a good birthday week, so far I've had an awesome weekend with great fun at parties, sent some time with great friends, and got my favorite pie (it was even homemade!)!

The best part is my birthday not till Wednesday so there is room for so much more ;~)

(Hint, Hint)

~Love~Smile~Enjoy~Happiness~

~Ra~

Photo 33~> Zooming In Little Bird

My birthday is coming up at the end of May and what I really wanted was a bigger zoom lens for my camera since at the winter performances at the elementary school the lens that came with the camera just wasn't enough to get a good close up shot of my kids singing.  Well for the second year in a row my birthday came early (last year in April I got Crush our tortoise) this year I got my Big Zooming Lens!!!  

As luck would have it soon after I got it I was outside with my daughter and a hawk landed on top of a tree across the street.  What a difference!  Can you see him in the pix below?  He is a very little speck on the top left side of the left tree. 

My poor Husband is going to run out of computer space soon since taking pictures is so relaxing to me and these days I need a lot of calming time away from the stress!  

Lol

~Love~Smile~Enjoy~Happiness~

~Ra~

Photo 32 ~> Pop of Color On A Gloomy Day

Today is a cloudy gloomy day and I personally am feeling a lot like Eeyore these days.  I just go through my own "gloomy" days here and there and I have no clue what sets them off but I am sure I'm not the only one.  Sometimes we just need a "Pop Of Color" to make us feel a little better and ready to get through the rest of our day.  I am so happy spring is here with it is warm weather and flowers, just waiting for the pollen to die down so we can enjoy the out doors before it is blistering hot!  I hope everyone is have a great spring day because the "happy" people defiantly bring my spirits up a little, so thank you!

~Love~Smile~Enjoy~Happiness~

(trying so hard!!!!)

~Ra~

Photo 31 ~> Spidey Senses

I have been trying to get a good shot of a spider web for a little while and the lens that came with the camera wasn't able to focus on them but sprinkle a little (well a lot of) pollen and ta-da!!!

The spider is the little bitty dot in the middle of the web.  Yeah for Spiders and the fact that they help us with the bug population!  

Hope the pollen in your area is a little better than ours, it takes over in central NC.

We dream of rain to wash it away for a little while so we can breath!

Spring is in full swing!

~Love~Smile~Enjoy~Happiness~

~Ra~

Busy Little Lady Bugs, Photo 30

We LOVE lady bugs at our house so when the tree in our yard was covered with them we got really excited!  Lila and I watched them run around up and down the tree and I got to take picture after picture of them.  We also notice little yellow eggs all over the tree, might be lady bug eggs!  (Lady Bug Life Cycle)  I'm going to keep an eye on them to see what pops out.

These are my favorite out of around 50 picture of them.   What do you think?  Do you think I could do nature pix for a magazine or a bug book?  Lol

I also took pictures of the ants but they blend in so well with the dirt that you could barley see them.  I want to get a good one of a bee next and some butterflies would be nice....

Spring is in the air finally!

~Love~Smile~Enjoy~Happiness~

~Ra~

Photo 29 ~> What a Shot!

(zoomed way in, no editing)

(zoomed way in, plus editing.  what a diffrence!)

What a shot both with the camera and for Cole first time shooting a real gun.

 He had lots of guidance from a friend that knows what he is doing so no one was an any danger. 

Cole was so proud of himself for getting the can on the first shot!

~Love~Smile~Enjoy~Happiness~ 

~Ra~

Photo 28 ~ The Mad Scientists!

This has become one of my favorite pictures of my oldest, Jesse!   He is the one in the middle.  He did Science Olympiad this year and made a  boomilever with his friend.  In the picture they are intensely watching as the boomilever supports a bucket filling with sand at the end of the chain, waiting for the boomilever to snap when it's had enough weight!  They waited and watched and waited but it never snapped under pressure!  Lol

His friend came in 3rd place and Jesse came in 4th, not bad!  Even though it was early when we got there and it took several hours I am glad we went and supported him as a family.  We so  rarely can any more and even though he is getting older and doesn't need us cheering him on as we did when he was 5 playing soccer he knows we will be there when he needs us and I know I will always be cheering him on!!!  GO JESSE!!!! 

Can't believe next year is High School!!!!

~Love~Smile~Enjoy~Happiness~

~Ra~

Black & White With a Pop of Pink! Photo 27

This was taken yesterday out on our snowy day!  Unlike the prevues snow days we have had this winter the snow fell durning the day instead of late at night so the kids got to run around as it was snowing.   They enjoyed catching snowflakes with their tongue and building snowmen.  It was very cold and very wet but a  lot of fun!  At least for them!  Lol!  

How ever it did not last long even though it snowed most of the  day it did not stick very well and even though we got about an inch or two but what was left was pretty crunch like a white carpet of ice.   Maybe next time we  will have more so  we can go sledding.

~Love~Smile~Enjoy~Happiness~

~Ra~

Snow Family Photo 26

(Cole and Lila)

It has been a while since I have had spare time to get on here to do a 'photo of the day' and I have taken quite a few good ones too!  

It snowed again today, not that it is stay long, but we did get to rolling up a snowman, a snowpuppy, and a snowkitty.  How cute are they!  Oh and the Snowman says Fezzes are COOL!!!

~Love~Smile~Enjoy~Happiness~
~Ra~

The Ice Photo 25

(January 25th)

We did get our Ice...

As the storm was coming the county was getting worried, ice, lots  of ice.  They decided that it was probably going to hit us bad and they did not want any buses on the roads when it did so they changed the 3 hour early release to a 4 hour one and it was a rush to get kids through cafeteria line and on to home.  How did we hear our kids were getting out an extra hour before what they announced the day before?  In my case my 14 year old son, Jesse, texted me and said they are already being released!!!  

WHAT!!!!  

I was across town going to the one store I need to go before the storm hit to complete a project due that night (which got cancelled and rescuduled to the next day).  As luck had it my other son had a doctor's appointment that morning and it started when the the older one was going to get out with the 3 hour early release and so I asked my husband to please, please see about working from home so he could pick up Jesse.  So a quick call to him and Jesse got pick up easy right!  Lol!  If only!  My hubby calls and asked if I was sure because there were no cars in the school parking lot picking up kids!  I told him I did not care to play this game just go into the office and have our son pulled and take him home.  So he went to the front office and he text me.  "It is a zoo in here.  A ton of kids are in here calling their parents to pick them up."  Yep!  Thats right no one new that their kids need to be picked up an hour earlier!!!  Thank God My Boy Has A Cell Phone!!!!

So after I was done at the store I decided that this early release crap was a mess and I was going to go ahead and pick up my other 2 kids now do the doctor's appointment and go home.  And boy that poor elementary school was trying to keep it together but I was not the only one with this idea and my 10 year, Cole, the one with the appointment, was testing.  Hahaha!!!  Could the day get any better!  As luck had it he had finished his test right before I pulled him and his sister (plus one friend's kid who was unable to pick him up, I dropped him off at his home before the doc. apt.).  

On our way to the doc. apt. we saw snow flakes but by the time we got there it had turned mostly into icy rain.  The doc. office was busy, they wanted to close early and was trying to fit in as many apt. as they could before they did.  Add new insurance card so forms to fill, long wait in the waiting, in the hall outside the patient's room, than in the tiny patient's room.  We were not happy campers, good thing I really like this doctor!  And we had a window to watch the little pieces ice bouncing off the road, plants, and of corse the window.  

Over all not a fun day for me!  I was so happy when I finally got home with my kids safe and sound.  The whole family was home and we were ready for what this ice storm was going to throw at us.  (Well maybe not a power outage but thankfully that did not happen!)  

Even with them closing schools early there still was a bus accident  one town over with 22 elementary school kids on it!  Thank goodness there were no major injuries!  Another bus was in an accident but luckily it did not have any children on it.

I hope everyone is safe and sound this winter!

~Love~Smile~Enjoy~Happiness~

~Ra~

The Calm Before the Storm Photo 24

(Taken January 24th)

I am behind on my pictures of the day but this one was taken on the 24th and was meant to be Photo 24.  

The 24th and 25th were very odd day for us since it was predicted our area would have rain and ice and in the south that means people get worried.  Worried NOT flipping out panicking like some joke around, worried!  Have you ever driven on icy roads?  Would you want your kids school bus to drive on a sheet of ice?

So all day Thursday the 24th our little city, or big town, was preparing for the ice by treating the roads. People went to the store to get what they were lacking, which is usually bread and milk!  Lol!  The county even decide to let school out 3 hours early in hope that all the kids would get home safe in sound before the roads got bad.  That night on our busy little road was quite, very quite!  I was able to walk into the middle of it and take a few picture going both ways without any trouble.  It was a strange quite.  No rain or snow or ice falling from the sky.  It was not do to start till the afternoon of the next day, Friday the 25th.  Yet at almost midnight it was so quite, peaceful even...  

The calm before the storm.

Yummy Lunch, Photo 23

Lila's Lunch

Do you make lunches for your kid to take to school?  Are you having as much trouble as I am keeping it interesting?  

My boys are SOOOO TIRED of SANDWICHES!!!!

They do not want pb&j, peanut butter sandwiches, ham and cheese, peanut butter banana, turkey, grill cheese....

If it has slices of bread they don't wanted!

And who could blame them they have been eating day after day, year after year!

So my challenge is finding new stuff and keep rotating it so that they don't get burnt out of anther food.  A favorite right now is pizza like foods like Crescent Pepperoni Roll-Ups and little pizzas made from the flat circler sandwich bread, pizza sauce, and pepperonis!  I have also added ravioli which I make in the morning  of (the pizzas I make the night before and it comes out to 2 days for 2 boys) and put it in their thermoses.  On morning that I have not planed ahead and are tired are trickier!  We do graham cracker and peanut butter or crackers, cheese slices (folded into forths), and pepperonis.  

But last weekend we were at the sams club and one of the samples they had out was a mini babybel gouda cheese cut in half wrapped in half a slice of turkey.  Lila LOVED it (she is still eating mostly pb&js for lunch)!  Cole LOVED it!  Jesse was at a bday party so I assumed if the other two loved it he would too.  And I was super happy that we have something else easy cheese to add to our lunched and I would not have to make 2 separate kinds of lunches, Lila's and the boys'! 

I do have to thank my father-in-law for taking us to the sams since we have not renewed our card since they moved it further away form us and my mother-in-law for buying them the cheese and turkey/ham combo pack so we can make them for lunches this week!!!!  

~Love~Smile~Enjoy~Happiness~

~Ra~

Haven't A Clue! Photo 22

I am not really sure on what to say about this one...  

She need a closer look, maybe?  

We put the map on her magnetic white board easel, which needed LOTS of magnets because it wanted to roll back up and started to make a story for the ponies that came with the map.  We found lots of cool places on the map like 'The Whispering Woods', 'Pool of the Weeping Pony', 'Leaning Tower of Knowledge', and 'Secret Tunnel Windmill' (which we debated where the other end of the tunnel would be)!  

Over all a nice fun moment with my Little Girl!  Even when she is being a Goof Ball!!!  Lol

~Love~Smile~Enjoy~Happiness~

(This has been difficult with 2 pinewood derby cars due at the end of the week!  Why do we wait to the last minute to make them???)  

(Keep telling myself "stress free, need to be stress free" and "don't stress over the small things"!  It's not working right now.)

~Ra~

A Walk In The Snow Photo 21

This was also taken the other day durning our ONE Snow Day, I took so many that I wanted to share!

This is the first time I tried to take pictures Lily, our dog, with the new camera and for future reference I need another hand!!!  Someone to hold the lease so I can get on her "Good Side".  It is hard to take a good pix and be behind her as she wanders ahead sniffing everything!!!!!!

I got a few I liked and can share with everyone but none I LOVE.  I think I might be a little to picky.  Lol!  But for a 8 year old puppy she sure has a lot of energy left in her!  And boy is she a CUTIE in that pink jacket!!!!

~Love~Smile~Enjoy~Happiness~

~Ra~

Snowing Photo 20

A picture from our snow day a couple of days ago.  The snow of corse started to collect on our cars first and was beautiful to watch as it was falling.  The kids wanted to stay up and watch too so we let them for a little while, I think I mention that we don't get snow very often any more!  I just wish it wasn't icy snow when they got up, it is very hard to play in snow that is now ice!  Lol

~Love~Smile~Enjoy~Happiness~

(Still working on this!)

~Ra~

Star Gazing Photo 19

Cole got a telescope for christmas and tonight we got to test it out!

Cole

We saw the moon!!!  How exciting is that!!!

Lila 

And at another telescope, a much much nicer telescope, we saw Jupiter!

A member of the cub scout group we go to is also a member of the local astronomy club and invited us to join them tonight as they did their star gazing!  It was fascinating and if I did not have a full plate I would love to join and do this more often!  Maybe when I am older and have less kids!!!  The only down side was it was COLD!!!!!!!  Thought my toes were going to fall off!  Lol

My camera on one of the telescopes pointing towards Jupiter!

~Love~Smile~Enjoy~Happiness~

~Ra~

Snow!!! Photo 18

Our Snow Day

Lila Loving the Snow!

We don't get much snow in our parts any more so when we do the kids go wild!!!  (And some of the adults! Lol)  As beautiful and as much as it fell last night unfortunately not much of it stuck on top off the wet soaked ground from all the rain we've had.  Even so Lila was so excited and had to go out and "play".  She ran around a lot and picked up the icy snow but there wasn't much to do with it beside crunch it.  So after she got cold we went inside had breakfast and hot coco, then got ready for school which was running on a 2 hour delay.  

Hopefully we will have a better snow day before winter is up but I am not holding my breath!

~Love~Smile~Enjoy~Happiness~

~Ra~

My Baby Crush Photo 17

Our Red-Footed Tortoises Crush out for a stroll in his habitat.  With the cold and rainy weather he has not gotten to go outside to play in awhile.  He is still an awesome eater and a very low maintenance pet, no need to "play" with him or groom him and best of all he doesn't shed!  

If you want to read more about him click here for when we first got him!  And click here for when we named him.

I can't wait to get outside pictures of him with the new camera when it warms up!!!

~Love~Smile~Enjoy~Happiness~

~Ra~

A boy and his toy Photo 16

Cole absolutely loves Gray our kitty.  

And that poor kitty has been through 3 toddlers and is now around 8'ish years old!  She is quite a trooper so when she spends a day or 2 hiding in my room I don't tell, lol.  She always comes back to "play" when she is ready.

(No Kitties were harmed in these photos)

~Love~Smile~Enjoy~Happiness~

~Ra~

The Take Over! Photo 15

My Sister got me a beading kit and showed me what she has learned.  Score Right!?!  

Not so much when you have a 5 year old girl who spots it when she comes home from school!  Lol!  I did switch out the nice beads with her's before she could get into to much trouble!  I may need to get her her own little board because she loved it and did pretty well!

Her friends will probably get necklaces for their next birthdays!

~Love~Smile~Enjoy~Happiness~

~Ra~

Because Everyones Doing it! Photo 14

It appeared to be "Bring Your Snake to the Flea Market Day" on Sunday and my letter must have gotten lost in the mail.  But super cool anyways since it is not something you see everyday!  Unfortunately the man holding the snake seemed irritated at a man asking "how much" he wanted for his snakes so we moved on.  But one must know that if you are bringing your pythons out to play than you are going to draw a crowd and questions even at an ATM!  LOL 

Love the Teepee!

 Oh and one can not for get the Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm-Flailing Tube-Man!!!!

 

We Love the Flea Market!!!

~Love~Smile~Enjoy~Happiness~

~Ra~