Moments Like This

It is moments like this that I wish I could just freeze.

Gloomy

The weather here has been unseasonably cold and windy. But it gets us just that much closer to the holiday season. I will be the first to admit I am ridiculously excited to get into the holiday spirit. We have even decided to decorate this weekend! And I cannot wait.

A little side trivia...can you name this bridge?

Dew

Happy Halloween!

Goodnight Moon

I have never been a morning person, ever! I just told Mark that 9am is the new 7am for me!! I'm guessing it is because I stay up with the moon. The other night we were out during sunset and I attempted pulling off taking a picture of the moon up in the blue sky at sundown.

Goodnight Moon.

Dkol Photography

Call it the infancy stage of taking a long time coming creative itch and pushing it forward to the next stage. I have been looking into various avenues of displaying my photography work and I have finally begun putting it out there. So here it is...stage one of my adventure to creating Dkol Photography!! Take a peak!! While I know not everyone has undertaken Facebook-you can still view the page without being a member. If you are, be sure to "LIKE" the page so you can stay updated. Stage two is in the works-building www.dkolphotography.com. Keep checking in, I'll be sure to announce when it is officially launched!

Music Class

As a homeschooling family, it's awfully nice to "farm out" a subject! Hayden has been taking guitar lessons since April and is doing great. So I've decided to take my art and mix in his art to make a little review game. He is super close to having these guitar chords memorized which means the next step would be sliding from one chord to the next...and I believe it doesn't take a guitarist to know what that equals. While he is able to play verses from songs, this will allow him to play along to "the whole song"!! We're super proud of him!

So now I ask you...can you name these chords?

And no they are not in ABC order!!

Chicken

So I have this idea...but feel rather chicken to actually follow through. 

I should be taking my niece's approach and just go for it-here is how her story goes:

We had just arrived at the county fair and everyone was debating on what their first ride should be. She walks up to this ride (similar to Free Fall at Great Adventure) takes a seat as it's only passenger, never once asking any one's opinion as to whether she should or shouldn't. And for a kicker, she smiles on the entire ride to the top. The ride ends and she walks away wondering which ride to attack next. Meanwhile everyone else is biting their nails.

Stay tuned-I very well may "unchicken" myself soon!

Ack

I wore a sweatshirt and jeans tonight...and then realized it's been over a month since I updated this blog!

Today I was reminded once again of the "circle of life" and how precious it really is. While last week I lost my Godmother to Leukemia, today I was able to visit my friend Moe at the hospital to welcome her sweet little girl into the world.

So as a friendly little reminder to myself and the rest of you-cherish these moments!

Part 2 Summer Fun

Went to the zoo and saw emus and

lemurs...

And perhaps left a few there!

Getting ready for our BBQ=putting everyone to work.

BBQ Oh Ten

Fun with the cousin!!

Back to our annual spot at LBI!

Grammy's Birthday Fun!

She sure is a beach girl!

So What's New? Part 1

Beach days are the best-we went to LI.

My garden has been producing like I've never seen before!!

The tooth fairy has been showing up lately-pun intended!

Mark and I took Hayden to see his first concert-Ed Kowalchyz formally of LIVE.

What Having Two Older Brothers Creates:

Disconnected

For awhile now I have been putting this post off. But after reading this quote from Messy Canvas-I Forgot Again blog post I decided it was about time. Time and time again, this person that I really do not know inspires me and comforts me beyond measure. So where I would usually insert a picture, I've place a quote, a quote I hope to tattoo to my forehead!

 Anne Morrow Lindbergh said in Gift From the Sea:

“We have so little faith in the ebb and flow of life, of love, of relationships. We leap at the flow of the tide and resist in terror its ebb. We are afraid it will never return. We insist on permanency, on duration, on continuity. The only real security is not in owning or possessing [not in figuring out once and for all] not in demanding or expecting, not in hoping even…but in living in the present and accepting it as it is now. Perhaps this is the most important thing: simply that each cycle of the wave is valid; each cycle of the tide is valid. “ 

Yesterday offered some finality for me. My office was dismantled, all the equipment was packed up, my business account disconnected and all my files and books were boxed up. For a few months now, I've been pretty much expecting that I would not return to my job in September with all the cutbacks in education- my program was along the many to be closed. For four years now I have been blessed with "one more year" considering my job was originally only to be for one. While I do wrestle with the uncertainty of what lies ahead, I am comforted in knowing that another plan will take shape. And with all honesty I am embracing this change.

So we'll see what comes of all of this-waves and all.

Fourth Of July

Thank you to all that have and do protect our freedom. 

Happy Fourth of July.

Polka Dotted Bikini

 Addie's friend Liv gave her this bathing suit well before her first birthday. She wore it 2 summer's ago but somehow it still fits her. So she pulled it out of her "bathing suit drawer" and asked to wear it yesterday. She was a ham for me during her mini photo shoot-I have to share my favorites!

One of the Family

Addie has a knack at falling in line. Since she was cruising she helped pull out the clean items from the dishwasher, put her jacket back in her closet when we returned home and knows a thing or two about culinary cooking! For as long as I can remember we had a spot in the entrance way where we put our shoes. More recently since we've painted the living room and re-organized the entrance closet we now made room for our shoes in the closet. This seems simple right...well Addie not only puts her shoes in there, but also has added her doll's shoes as well.

Rain vs Sun

On Addie's birthday it rained...but her new umbrella made it feel like sunshine to her. Luckily for her pool party tomorrow the forecast says sunny and 88!

Stolen Hearts

My girl is turning three tomorrow. I am reminded EVERY single day how blessed I am to have her. Life changed in a way for me that is indescribable at about 20 weeks pregnant with her. From that point on, she becomes my reason for believing. My boys, are well, my boys-they run hard, play hard, are the best of friends and have such a way with their sister-each in their own way. I honestly saw myself as a mom of three boys-then I was told my third was a girl and I am forever in awe. While she loves purple (and pink and blue), doesn't mind wearing a dress, loves shoes, plays with her baby dolls everyday, screams like a girl, loves getting her nails done just like the rest of them-she runs hard, plays hard, and loves her brothers so much. And from the moment she was born-she stole all of our hearts. Happy Birthday Addie Rian! XOXO

Seriously?

I don't think it got warmer that 58 degrees here. Last week, we swam in the pool when it was around 90 degrees and we all started getting our summer tan lines. Today, I am wearing a long sleeve shirt, sweatpants and socks...seriously, what's going on?

PS-I actually think I may miss the "pool pest", aka Hayden, splashing me.

Sauce or Gravy

It depends who makes it and who taught you...but my mom taught me that it's gravy. She also tried to teach me to duplicate her gravy (and her meatballs-but that's a whole other complicated situation), but I've given up on trying as well as trying to find that one blend that makes my gravy my own. So for years now, each time I make "gravy" it comes out different each time. So I'm wondering if what I make is really a sauce! Gravy seems tried and true, a passed down generational recipe that each heir masters the family secret. Sauce seems American to me, not Italian...and I'm caught somewhere in the middle.

Tonight I got one with the veggi garden-(not entirely mine, really only the basil was from mine)-so I added some of this into my tomato "sauce" finely chopped thanks to the help of my 3 sous chefs operating the chopper:

and dinner is served.

Splashing and/or Kicking

I hate to be splashed-it's plain and simple, if you splash me you are out of the pool.

Scene: backyard pool

Hayden: enters stage right
Addie: appears center stage on ladder.
Hayden: splashes Addie.
Addie: kicks Hayden in the nards!

OK, maybe she didn't really kick him in the nards, although she did tell him that she was going to kick him in the nards this afternoon! It's the new line around here thanks to Monster Squad!

A is for...

Addie was given her name sign the other day by my friend Elaine. It is tradition to be given your name sign by a Deaf person. Elaine decided to place the letter "A" near her cheek because Addie has a dimple there. Addie is very excited to have gotten this and is proud to show others.

Even Though

he is six and a half (that half is important you know), I still can see that little boy in that face of his.

100 Babies

So this little boy here...

recently told my friend's daughter, that he wants to have 100 babies with her. Any advise?

Student/Professional

It's taking it's time, but I'm getting it. It's beginning to feel more natural, more attainable, and much more comfortable. I've been beating myself up about having what it takes. And I know it isn't going to always come easy, and I know I won't always be my own worst enemy. The doubt and cowardness will eventually subside.

That practice and confidence are to be equally balanced. And even though I hear encouraging words all the time, I don't always accept them. My passion is driving me, I'm teaching myself and I recognize that it is not an easy task. And I will admit that even when I believe I've master something, I still question my own wisdom. While for some it comes more natural-

the beauty of learning something from the beginning and being totally out of your element is the satisfaction of climbing that mountain and looking out into a world of the unknown.

And just then, I'm reassured that while I'm learning, I am also doing. And in time it will all come together.