today was a good day

I needed today.  Lately, the kids have been driving me nuts.  I'm sure I've been doing too much yelling.  I've been feeling stressed about everything that needs to be done.  I bring most of it on myself because it doesn't all have to be done RIGHT NOW. But I hate to have a list staring at me.  I want to CROSS IT OFF NOW.  So, today I took the day off.  We headed to Sea World (with friends) despite the guarantee of rain at some point.  It was totally overcast so the sun didn't beat on us all day.  That makes such a difference!  The kids behaved SO well.  The crowds were pretty light.  We saw 3 shows and rode some kiddy rides.  The rain did come, but we were under cover so we waited it out before we headed home.  The icing on the cake of a perfect day was that I returned home to a spotless house!  That'll put a girl in a good mood :)

The boys love the kiddy coasters.  They even got stuck at the top of this one the second time they rode it.  They were stuck for a good 10 minutes, but they were brave and handled it just fine.

Peyton was even big enough to ride some kiddy rides.  And she loved them!

A Silly Skill Game

Hunter was over at a friend's house last week and the kids wanted to play Operation: A Silly Skill Game. It's from Family Game Night on the Hub.  On the show, they use a big version of the Operation guy Sam. The contestants have to use thongs to get out the pieces without touching the edges or his nose buzzes. Then they run on a balance beam, jump hurdles, and go through the tissue box. Here is their version of the fun with things around the house.

Embrace the Camera: June 23

I've been slacking on Embrace the Camera Thursdays, but I'm back.

Here are a few with ME in them!

Self portraits with the point and shoot.

And a fun flip session!

SNAKE!!

As my nephew (Aaron) and his girlfriend (Sunnie) were leaving Margie's party we were chatting outside and taking some pictures.  Out of nowhere, Sunnie yells SNAKE!  Now, pretty much everyone I know would react in the following ways: a) RUN or b) KILL IT.  Not Sunnie and Aaron.  They ran AFTER it.  It was a race for who could GET it.  SHE got it.  As far as Aaron is concerned this was no surprise.  He grew up having snakes as pets.  Apparently, these two have a tally going for who can catch the most snakes.  I'm pretty sure these two are meant for each other.  If I didn't know it before I know it now.

Surprise!

My mom threw a surprise party for my sister Margie's 50th birthday.  We traveled to Jax to be there and we successfully pulled off the surprise.

My mom with her 3 girls and 1 of 2 granddaughters.

Margie with her 2 closest friends.

Happy Father's Day!

The day is not over yet!

Happy Father's Day to the best dad to my kids.

We love you so very much!

I'm sorry today wasn't a normal Father's Day.

You got the day off, but not in a good way.

Extended recovery from surgery kinda squashed the fun.

We'll make up for it another time.

We have a whole summer of fun ahead!

Here's what I made.  It's a 10x10 shadow box for his desk at work.

The picture is super old, but I'll replace it with a new one when I get a new pic of them.

And Happy Father's Day to my Dad, too!

...hello...

Sorry for the lack of blogging this week.  The beginning of the week was filled with photo shoots and then end of the week has been filled with playing nurse to a husband recovery from surgery.

I set up one of my new backdrops.  My amazing friend Kim painted this for me.  I just love it!

Here are the subject of one of my photo shoots this week.  It was HOT out, but they were troopers...jeans and all!

And sweet Iris is 6 months!  She showed off her sitting up skills.  More pictures on Facebook if you're a fan of my page!  Click here to fan my page.  I've really got to get a photography blog going!

Hopefully there will be more blogging next week!

another soccer season complete

Hunter is finished with his third soccer season.  This season he dominated as one of the oldest on the field plus he had two seasons of experience under his belt.  If he plays next season he'll move up to the 5/6 age group.

These pictures are from the last game.  Every morning before a game we would ask Hunter how many goals he wanted to score that day.  He always picked a reachable number between 3 and 8 usually.  Most games he hit the number or got really close.

This series of pictures was a break away goal that he took down the field.

With his buddy, Leo getting their end of season trophies.

Here's one of many videos.  This one documents back to back goals :)

Friends Forever

We've been friends with two couples since we first met in marriage counseling class just a few months before we all married.  By the end of class we all went out for dinner together and in the coming months attended each other's weddings.  That was the beginning of a now 8 year friendship.  We all started having kids about the same time and were all 3 fortunate to be able to stay home.  We had frequent play dates and the kids were able to get to know each other well.  It helps that the adults love to be around each other, but these kids love each other even more.  In the last couple of years as some have gone back to work and kids have started preschool we don't see each other as much, but these kids don't skip a beat.  They have so much fun each time they see each other.  I know they'll be friends forever as will their parents.

R Family, we will miss you living so close.

These other four kids will miss their buddy, Zach.

I know we'll see you again soon.

Good luck.  We love you!