Summer Tradition..

It's a new tradition that started last year. Meeting up with an awesome photographer friend, Angie Penrose, and doing a photo family swap. It's so much fun! Seeing how their family grows and changes over the year is awesome, and just hanging out and hiking (even if it was an extremely long hike..sorry! :D), enjoying ice cream and pizza, swimming, and pie. Yeah..it's the best time! :D Here are a few of the photos from the day..

Don't they all look so happy! Oh, I love this one. :D Life with boys..I think this sums it up pretty well. :D hee hee..



What a good looking family, wouldn't you agree?!?



Trying a little something different with the blur effect. They were so fun..and if you only knew what was going on behind me to make them laugh. :D



Thanks friends. :D It was truly an awesome day. I can't wait until next year..this might have to be a quarterly outing. :D ha!

Until next time..

A moment..

One of my favorite parts about the summer is having my hubby home with us. He has an awesome job that allows him to spend the summers playing with us all day. Something that makes me feel very fortunate. :)

With summer in FULL swing over here..we've spent many days in the water splashing our feet around, hiking, bike riding, ice cream eating (and no..that's not just a summer event for us. hee hee..), and so much more. It's a moment for us. All of us together, just soaking up life as it comes.

What is your summer moment? Maybe something you look forward to every year, or something that happened by accident that is now a tradition for you? Can't wait to hear about it. :D

Until next time..

Reflections..

Bad blogger lately!!! Argh!!
Promise..it will get better. :D
Thanks for the continued comments, and for coming back as often as you do and checking in. I love it! :D

Until next time..

Soaring above the clouds...

This is one of my favorite weekends..the big Hot Air Balloon event. I don't know if it's because seeing those balloons in the sky is so magical, or if it's because of the excitement that comes with it that I love so much. The first day, the weather was bad, so they couldn't fly but the second day...ahhh!! Perfect! :D We woke up early and chased the balloons all over town. Some were hovering right above us, others were seen in the distance. Such an amazing sight! Every year, I never tire of it. Here's just a few from the day..









Until next time..

After the rain...

After the rain
One of my favorite times.
The smell, the feeling of calmness..
I love it.

Until next time..

Some gave all...

"Some Gave All"
-Billy Ray Cyrus

I knew a man called him Sandy Kane
Few folks even knew his name
But a hero was he
Left a boy, came back a man
Still many just don't understand
About the reasons we are free

I can't forget the look in his eyes
Or the tears he cries
As he said these words to me

All gave some and some gave all
And some stood through for the red, white and blue
And some had to fall
And if you ever think of me
Think of all your liberties and recall
Some gave all

Now Sandy Kane is no longer here
But his words are oh so clear
As they echo through out our land
For all his friends who gave us all
Who stood the ground and took the fall
To help their fellow man

Love your country and live with pride
And don't forget those who died America can't you see

All gave some and some gave all
And some stood through for the red, white and blue
And some had to fall
And if you ever think of me
Think of all your liberties and recall
Some gave all



And if you ever think of me
Think of all your liberties and recall, yes recall
Some gave all

Some gave all...

Until next time..

Summer!!!

Oh what do you do in the summertime??? No really..what do you do?? :) I'd like to make a challenge to you all. With Summer staring at us, I'd like to challenge you to capture your best summer moments and pass them along. It could be something you do with your family, your friends, yourself..anyone. What makes summer 'Summer' for you?? Here are a few of our favorite things:

Water! Summer to us is Water. Lots and lots of lazy afternoons in the sand by the river, lake, or sprinkler. Digging, building, splashing..just having a great time.





Grass. Camping out in the backyard, running barefoot through the tall blades, eating snow cones in the shade of the trees, mowing the lawn then having a BBQ as the sun goes down.




Now..I want to know yours. See yours. Hear all about yours. Make this the best summer ever and then tell me all about it. :D
Happy summer to you!!

Until next time...

The view from here...

An early Spring day
Breezy
Sunny
In a field with TONS of 'dandy flowers'
Handsome son
Picking handfuls
Just for me..

I love the view from here.

Until next time..

Invisible Mother...

I don't know who wrote this..but I love it. It was sent to me in an email, and so true are the feelings it talks about. And, since it's Mothers' Day, why not share it with all the mom'(and dad's) out there. I, for one, have the most amazing mom ever. (We all say that, don't we? :D) But it's so true. This is the woman who does countless things for me, for my kids, for my brothers, for my dad..and doesn't think twice about it. This is the woman who has strength beyond any words I could ever say. This is the woman who has a voice that is so comforting and calming that I call home just to hear her. This is the woman who helped me dress for prom, graduation, and my wedding. This is the woman who was there to welcome my kids into the world, and to wrap her loving arms around me and say she was proud of me. My mom is my best friend. It hasn't always been that way..but today..and for many years to come, she's been one of my greatest blessings. Here's to you, mom. I hope you know just how UN-Invisible you truly are..



Invisible Mothers

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store.

Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?'

Obviously not; no one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all.

I'm invisible - The invisible Mom.

Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more.

"Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this?"

Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?'

I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?'

I'm a car to order, 'Right around 5:30, please.'

I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum laude - but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going, she's going, she's gone!

One night, a group of us were having dinner,celebrating the return of a friend from England. Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well.

It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.' It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe. I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription:
'To Charlotte, with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.'

In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work: No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names. These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built,and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it.'

And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.'

I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.'

At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride.

I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.

When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My Mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, 'You're gonna love it there.'

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.



Happy Mother's day to all of you...
Until next time..

Day4- Helping Hands

I cannot think of a better way to show helping hands, except for through this photo. Everything that it means, everything that it stands for...people I have never met, will probably never meet, have done so much to make my life full of freedom and the joys that I know. Here is my helping hand photo:



Without all the people who make it possible..
They have the best helping hands I know..

Until next time..