Through The Lens Thursday #13

It was so nice to escape the chilly temperatures last week and enjoy some time at the beach with The Man. I love this shot of the girls with their Daddy. They had been running up and down the beach and playing in the water. I got them to pause long enough for this shot of them together. The bottom of Baby Girls' dress is soaked.



Each Thursday I share a glimpse of our life through the lens. If you'd like participate, leave a comment linking to your blog.

Wordless Wednesday: Old Made New

My dad fixed up my sister's bike from when she was a child so my girls would have a bike to ride when we visit. This bike has been stored in the barn and rusting for many years. Thanks to Dad's work it looks practically brand new now. I got a picture of Baby Girl and my sister with her old bike. Don't you love those handle bars?




For more Wordless Wednesday, stop by 5 Minutes For Mom.

Monday Morning

Last week was Fall Break for the girls. Naturally, the girls and I decided to celebrate the cool, crisp days of Fall by heading South to soak up some warm rays of sun and see The Man. We broke the trip down up by stopping at my parents' for a couple of nights. It was a very low key week and that's just exactly what we needed. Here are a few highlights of our week.

• My dad fixed up my sister's childhood bike so the girls will have a bike to ride whenever we visit. He did a fantastic job on it. I looks brand new. Yay Dad!
• My sister and nephew joined us at my parents so the cousins got lots of playtime.
• My mom made her lasagna for dinner one night. I never make lasagna even though I love it because my kids won't eat it. It was delicious! Thanks, Mom!
• The drive from my parents' to Florida was ideal. Very little traffic, great weather, cooperative kids. Awesome.
• We managed to go to the beach all of the 4 full days we were there despite the rainy forecast.
• We probably should have skipped the beach on Thursday because of the storm system moving it. We braved the wind, sporadic light rain & pelting sand and avoided the water due to the rough surf. But we're not wimps so we were there by gosh!
• You can't be that close to the beach and not enjoy the fresh seafood so we ate dinner at my favorite little seafood place one night. All you can eat shrimp for The Man and a Shrimp Po'Boy for me.
• Lots of quality family time as well as hugs & kisses.

The trip home wasn't quite as awesome as the trip down. There was lots of traffic and many stops that made the trip home seem never-ending. We got home around 10 p.m. Saturday night only to discover that our heat wasn't working in the house and it was in the 40's outside. Thankfully, a good friend of ours was able to fix it yesterday. A plug had gone bad and he was able to get a replacement part for it so we are all toasty warm again. I love how God cares for us by putting just the right people in our lives. School's back in session and it's back to the routine. It's time for me to get more focused on preparing for the move which should happen over the Christmas holidays. Never a dull moment around here.

Happy week to you all!

Through The Lens Thursday #12

The girls have been asking to get their hair cut for awhile. I've been putting them off because I love their hair long. I finally relented this weekend and took them to get their hair cut. I have to admit, I love their new do's.







Each Thursday I share a glimpse at our life through the lens. If you would like to participate, leave a comment with a link to your blog.

Wordless Wednesday: Fall Fun

We went to the Fall Festival at the girls' school this past weekend. There were pumpkins, hayrides, obstacle courses, velcro walls, games, auctions and more. It's always one of our favorite Fall activities.





For more Wordless Wednesday stop by 5 Minutes for Mom.

To Ponder

"As painful as the process may be, that which shatters our superficiality also shatters the fetters of our fragility and frees us to walk with dignity and might to our destinies."-Beth Moore from Esther:It's Tough Being A Woman

Through The Lens Thursday #11

It was a beautiful Fall day yesterday. I was snapping a few pictures of Baby Girl and noticed we had some lovely backlighting. She moved her head just as I took this shot and I got a sunflare in the process.



Each Thursday I share a glimpse at our life through the lens. If you would like to participate, leave a comment linking to your blog.

Before And After Painting Pictures

Okay, so I'm finally getting around to putting up pictures of some of our painting projects we've been doing around here. I'll start with the bathroom. You know, the problem bathroom. The first picture in the top left is the most accurate picture of the before color and shows the awful clumps that were on the walls. I lived with that for three years people. I scraped and sanded the walls and then painted them. I purchased a new shower curtain and my Dad replaced the ugly brass light fixture as well as the wall fixtures while he was here. We put in new brushed nickel fixtures. A big improvement, no?

Let's move on to the living room. Our living room has vaulted ceilings and one of the vaulted walls has the steps to the basement on it so it wasn't easy to paint. I think that is why the previous owners just painted an accent wall instead of painting the whole thing. My dad built a platform to cover the stairs so we could paint everything including the ceiling. We went from a worn light beige with green accent wall to a lovely Wicker. The letters that spell out love blended into the wall after painted so I got a can of spray paint and they are now black and stand out nicely.

Finally, I'll give you a peek at the cave. The cave was our basement playroom pre-painting. The previous owners were Kentucky Wildcat fans and so the walls in the cave were Kentucky Wildcat blue. Sorry I didn't get a good before picture but I found a picture from New Year's Eve that gives you an idea of how dark it was and why I called it the cave. That's exactly what it felt like. More Wicker paint on the walls and it is now light and bright. No more cave!

It really is amazing how paint can just totally transform your house. Everything looks so clean and bright now. I probably would have gone with slightly less neutral colors if we weren't selling but I still love the change.

Tuesday Morning

This was the scene at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday morning when The Man surprised the girls and woke them up up for school. Three sleepy but very happy people. Actually four but I was behind the camera.

Mini Caramel Apples

Ooh, I do love caramel apples. I really do. But I'm also not really a fan of messy food. And caramel apples rank right up there at the top of the list for messy foods. So, as much as I love them, I rarely make them and therefore my kids rarely get to have them. I thought I'd surprise the girls with a special Friday afternoon treat. The apples were on sale at Kroger this week. The caramels were on sale at Walgreens. Caramel apples were the obvious choice but I decided to dial down the messy factor and made mini caramel apples instead. When you can eat them in one bite the messy factor is greatly reduced.

Okay, so overlook the not so prettiness. I'm no Martha Stewart. But they were fun to make and fun to eat.

Wanna make your own mini caramel apples? Well, they're easy peasy. Okay, so that doesn't count the decorating. That is up to you and your abilities or lack thereof in my case.

You'll need:

2-3 apples

1/2-3/4 bag of caramels melted

lollipop sticks-I got mine at Michaels

Use a melon ball tool to cut mini apples out of apples.

Dry apples well with paper towel and insert lollipop sticks.

Melt caramels in microwave safe bowl on 1/2 power. I do this a minute at a time to begin with and then go for 30 seconds until it's done.

Dip mini apples into caramel and put on waxed paper to set.

If you want to drizzle with chocolate, melt chocolate chips and drizzle over the apples. Sprinkle with jimmies if you'd like.

Place in refrigerator until chocolate hardens.

Happy Eating!

Through The Lens Thursday #10

Oh, my goodness, I've hardly had a chance to pick up my camera lately. I feel like I'm going non-stop. We've had a good couple of days. The girls were so happy to see their Daddy Tuesday morning. They just happened to have an early release day this week so we went to the library when they got home yesterday and then to Steak & Shake for 1/2 price shakes during Happy Hour. I cannot believe it is already October! Well, judging by the temperature outside I can. It's been downright chilly this week. Fall is definately here. Since I've been rather lame in taking pictures of late, I'm sharing a couple of photos from this time of year in 2007 & 2008. We were obviously enjoying warmer temperatures than we are these days.





This last picture reminds me that I need to make the time to do the official 9 & 6 year old portraits. That picture was from the day we did the 8 & 5 year pictures.