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~

They are among us! Photo 13

Ok so they are not "among us"

There has been a lot of fog lately which is scary if you are driving but when you are snug as a bug safely at home it is quite amazing to look at.  I love the way the lights look in the fog and as luck would have it I got some really cool lights to get pictures of.  Thank you speeder and neighborhood police officer for the nice show!  The pictures look like aliens have landed just through the trees!  Lol, at least I think so.

~Love~Smile~Enjoy~Happiness~

~Ra~

He Does Have Friends! Photo 12 & MTG Night

 Look he does have friends even though he is a geeky kinda guy!  Lol

We are are finally at the end of this league so I thought I would bring my camera and play a little, it gets very boring when you don't play the game!

 It not my favorite place to be but the boys love it!  They love playing Magic the Gathering (MTG) and I am glad that they get out of the house to see other kids, they don't have any friends in our neighborhood, out side of school.  So all most every Saturday night for the last 2 1/2 ~ 3 months I sat there from 6:30pm to 10pm so they can play.

Prizes!  

Yeah they all got something, thats just how it works in the Jr league. 

Top scorers got more free cards than everyone but it's nice that everyone one went home with something!  And to my surprise my kids were not on the bottom of the leader boards, they ended up somewhere in the middle!   Go them, this was their first league!

~Love~Smile~Enjoy~Happiness~

~Ra~

Silly Things... Photo 11

When you are driving kids to and from school and you feel like you live in your car it is the little Silly Things on that gloomy day that make you smile!  Like a cone on a fire hydrant at a school!

~Love~Smile~Enjoy~Happiness~

~Ra~

Curls, Curls! Photo 10

 So I am trying to find the best way for me to get those awesome curls my hair dresser can get my hair to do but I can't seem to no matter what I try!  It is one of a few 2013 challenges I gave myself since I really don't do "New Years Resolutions".  I currently do not own a blow which is what my hair dresser uses so I have found a few alternative to try before I run out to by one.  First I tried the curlers I got a few years ago, they really did not work then and they don't work now.  Surprise surprise!  Than on youtube I found some no heat ways to make your hair curly.  I tried the sock bun over night but it fell out and really only made my ends flip.  Maybe if I do 2 sock buns one for the short layers and one for the longer ones...  I will try that another day.

Last night while Lila was struggling through her writing homework I decide to do all the little buns and see how that would do over night.  To my surprise the one bobby pin in each  bun held most of them all night.  On the down side I was not very comfortable and had a hard time falling asleep.  In the morning taking them out then brushing my fingers through my hair to brake up the curls I looked like a poodle gone wild!  Lol!  Make way Big Poof Ball of Hair!!! coming through!  Anyways....  Pinning the short layers in the front back helped a lot.  Not to bad!  Not my favorite but not to bad!
What do you think?

I kind of like the buns all over look!  HeeHee!  Can you see me out and about in it!?!  ;~)

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

The iPhone Whisperer Photo 9

My Wonderful Husband has a pretty useful skill that comes in hand sometimes, he can fix broken iPhones!  He is awesome with fixing computers too but fix something this small (have you seen the size of the screws!!!) is just plan AMAZING!  So now when a coworker drops one and the screen shatters who are they going to call...  

Phone Buster!  

I mean iPhone Whisperer ;~)

And this is what I get on the table after the last fix which was our oldest child's phone that just stopped working.  Hubby was up to 2am trying to figure out why it was not turning on and after taking it apart, testing each thing (the battery, the connection to the power supply...) came to the conclusion that it was the Logic Board (or I still say mother board but hubby corrects me on that).  So he took the good screen off and put it on my old cracked phone and tada he has a phone again!

It's good thing I am married to him and don't have to pay him for his survives!  Lol!  And the boy was only without his pone for a night not that he need it after dinner anyways I just want him to have it if anything happens and I am late picking him up at the middle school or he has a club meeting he for got to tell me...  It is nice to be able to communicate!

~Love~Smile~Enjoy~Happiness~

~Ra~

My Back Yard Buddies Photo #8

(Cardinal and Squirrel)

One thing I love about where I live is that there are so many friends out side even if they are wildlife!  

When I was in my younger years we moved across country from the cities of the west coast to the woods of the east coast.  We did not have squirrels that jumped from tree to tree, we had chipmunk that scurried on the ground.  So watching the squirrels in our back yard was like having an acrobats show just for us any time we wanted to watch them!  Add the beautiful birds and it is like have Animal Plant or a nature show without having to sit in front of the tv.  I'm now all grown up and come across many people that find the squirrels annoying pest but I shrug and am thankful that they are one of the thing that I find joyful in my life!

Hopeful I can get my Cardinals in full RED form when the weather warms up!  Right now they are in their winter feathers.

~Love~Smile~Enjoy~Happiness~

~Ra~

My Lady Bug = Photo #7

I took this one last night of a very happy little girl at bed time!  How is it they are bouncing off the walls one minute than asleep in  about15 minutes after light are out!  

I so wish I could still do that!!!!

And after a hard weekend of Lila crying about wanting a hamster and Daddy saying "NO" it is good seeing her happy! 

(If it was up to me I would have given in at the pet store when picking up crickets for her lizard Rainbow on Saturday)

Maybe for her birthday this summer...

Maybe.  Lol

~Love~Smile~Enjoy~Happiness~

~Ra~

Photo #6~> The Serious Gamer

My oldest now 14 years old is such a serious gamer with is 20 minutes of games a day when he is good, which for him is almost every day when he keeps on top of his homework. 

They get an hour of games on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and on non school days like Summer vacation or Teacher Work Days and so on.  We want to them to see the world not be glued onto a screen!  Not that the tv, cell phones, and computers help with all that.  But we try!

~Love~Smile~Enjoy~Happiness~

~Ra~

Dinner~> Photo #5

Super excited about about this Picture

because it is so hard to feed all the picky

eaters in our house hold and trying 

"Something New" usually ends very badly!

But today was a success!!!  Everyone ate it 

and I got a few (not all) "I love it"!

I even made a red sauce with out using a jar!

With a house full of "I hate tomatoes" this was 

miracle dinner!

Doesn't it look yummy!  

Used leftover hamburger buns to make cheese garlic bread.  The only complaint I got was there was no meat to it, that easily solved the next time I make it it just add some chicken!  What do you think grilled or nice breaded chicken?

~Love~Smile~Enjoy~Happiness~

~Ra~

Everyone Should Have A Street Named After Themselves!

Photo #4

Ok so the street is not named after me and it's not my name.  However it does share the name of my sister and I do pass it about once a week, like today, when the kids are in school.  So on my way home from reading to kids at lunch I thought I would 'capture it on film' and maybe I can have it printed and framed for my sister for her birthday or something!  

What do you think?

Now if I can find one for everyone in the family that would really be cool!

(Took the picture with no color with my new camera but border was done on the computer.)

~Love~Smile~Enjoy~Happiness~

~Ra~

Flower Power ~> Photo #3

Through all the fall leaves and 

the cold winter nights a flower still blooms!

A beautiful flower!

~Love~Smile~Enjoy~Happiness~

~Ra~

Butterfly Tattoo ~> Photograph #2

Today's subject is the little butterfly tattoo my daughter 

wanted to put on before school this morning!

It is sometimes the little thing that can brighten up the day!  

For Lila it is a butterfly tattoo... 

For me it is her happy little smile!

Here we are playing with the camera again, have not mastered this one but maybe one day I will.  Wanted the butterfly to pop but I ended up picking up other colors too so Lila is the only thing in the picture that ended up black and white!  Lol, Zombie Lila!  And what a cute zombie she is!

~Love~Smile~Enjoy~Happiness~

Ra