Through The Lens Thursday #31

We are a house divided. If you grow up in Alabama you know all about college football. And from before you understand the rules of the game you know there is a choice. You are either an Auburn fan or an Alabama fan. A lot of the time it depends on your family. If your mom and dad are Alabama fans then chances are you are too. Same for Auburn fans. But there are always a few of us that break apart and rebel against the family ties. My dad is a Bama fan. My sister is a Bama fan. I, however, am an Auburn fan.  I have a cousin that I absolutely worshipped as a child and he was an Auburn fan therefore I became an Auburn fan. So I grew up and somehow managed to marry an Alabama fan.

Naturally our kids would have to pick a team. Sister decided early on to be a Bama fan like her daddy. Baby Girl was uninterested in football for quite awhile but in the last couple of years has decided it was fun to cheer for a team. We were a little concerned when she declared her love for Kentucky. Gasp! Last football season she actually cheered for Alabama but finally seems to have become an Auburn fan like her mama. I am so pleased. Truthfully, I think the only reason she is an Auburn fan is because I am. That girl loves her mama. She knows who packs her PB&Js every morning. But I'll take it.

My mom sent them new Alabama/Auburn shirts to wear. We're all ready for the next season.

War Eagle!  oh, and Roll Tide too.


The rivalry starts early.


Each Thursday I share a glimpse at life through the lens. If you'd like to participate leave a link to your blog post below. Please keep links family friendly.

Through The Lens Thursday #30

My family came down for a visit this past weekend. It was a weekend jam packed full of fun with my mom, dad, sister and nephew. We hit a consignment sale early Saturday before heading out to one of our favorite local seafood restaurants for lunch. After lunch we drove down to the beach even though it was chilly. I mean, they couldn't drive all this way and us not go there. I would not be a very good hostess if I didn't take them to the beach when we live this close. After spending some time at the beach we stopped by the local seafood market where my parents and sister loaded their cooler with fresh shrimp. Mom made us her yummy Shrimp Creole that night. It was so good! Does it make me a bad hostess because I let my mom cook dinner? She wanted to do it and I do love Shrimp Creole. How could I say no? Naturally I took pictures. I'm thinking you all are going to get sick of seeing pictures of the beach at some point. You will just have to suffer I'm afraid.









Each week I share a glimpse at life through the lens. If you'd like to join in, leave a link to your blog below. Please keep links family friendly.

Through The Lens Thursday #29

Last weekend was absolutely beautiful. Friday we found a local playground and let the girls run around for awhile. Then Saturday, I took the girls to the beach for the afternoon. The breeze was cool but the sun was warm and bright. Unfortunatley, this coming weekend isn't turning out to be the same. The average highs are normally in the mid to upper 60s this time of year. This week however, we're running 15-20 degrees below normal. At least I know I have more of the warm days ahead. We just need to get past this cold snap. Hopefully it doesn't overstay it's welcome!







Each week I share a glimpse at life through the lens. If you'd like to participate, leave a link to your blog post below.

Through The Lens Thursday #28

My days just seem to be flying by lately. There never seems to be enough time to get everything done and I've neglected posting here all week because of it. I had intended to post the pictures Monday, then Tuesday, etc. Instead I'm sliding in here on Thursday. Oh, and for the record, we got snow for 5 whole minutes last Friday. I did not get any pictures as I was in the car driving at the time. Not really sure that 5 minute burst of flakes required a whole day out of school though.

And while I didn't get pictures of the snowflakes, I did take pictures of the treats I made for my Valentines this year. I ended up making Conversation Heart Fudge, Peanut Butter Heart Cups and Devil's Food Cake Balls. They were all a hit. The Man and the kids liked the Cake Balls best but I have to say I loved the Peanut Butter Heart Cups the most. I'm a sucker for the chocolate/peanut butter combo. I altered some of the recipes to fit with what I had on hand.







I added some craft paper and some cute little wooden accents I found at Michael's for .29 cents each to the plain craft boxes to hold their goodies.




Each week I share a glimpse at life through the lens. If you'd like to participate, leave a link to your blog post below.

Through The Lens Thursday #27

It's been a busy week and I was beginning to think I wasn't going to have a Through The Lens Thursday this week. I've sure not had a chance to go looking for things to photograph. Sister came home with a Mardi Gras mask today and I knew I had it. So it's a little late but I made it.


Each week I share a glimpse at life through the lens. If you'd like to participate leave a link to your blog post below. Please keep links family friendly.

Through The Lens Thursday #26

Sunday afternoon we hopped in the car for a drive. We ended up spending much of our afternoon at Fort Pickens. What a seriously interesting place. We all loved exploring it. It's definitely one of those places we'll visit again. I absolutely loved photographing it all...as you can see from the endless pictures I'm sharing.









What she was looking at.














I was attacked and impaled by this thing.


Each Thursday I share a glimpse at life through the lens. If you'd like to participate leave a link to your blog post below. Please keep links family friendly.

Through The Lens Thursday #25

I took some pictures of the girls while we were hanging out in the backyard earlier this week. Have I mentioned how much I enjoy getting to spend time outdoors in January now?





Each Thursday I share a glimpse at life through the lens. If you'd like to participate leave a link to your blog post below.

Through The Lens Thursday #24

We've lived in Florida for a month now. Right after moving here the weather turned cold. And while we certainly weren't dealing with the snow and sub-zero temperatures like the rest of the country, we were dealing with temperatures in the teens and 20's. Not exactly beach weather! Things are finally warming up around here though and Monday I was reminded of exactly why we made the move down here. The girls were out of school for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday and the weather was gorgeous. That afternoon we decided to head to the beach for the first time since the move. The temperature was hovering right around 60 with a cool breeze blowing but it was warm enough to enjoy our time. There were tons of shells and Sister even found a whole sand dollar. She also spotted a starfish in the shallow water near the shore. It was black and orange and very cool. The girls ran and played and had a grand ole' time. I followed them around with my camera and reveled in the fact that we live close enough to the beach to take them there for the afternoon. As the sun began getting low in the sky, we left for home with sand covered toes and the smell of salty air on our clothes.

I only took along my lensbaby for my camera. I've had it for several years and never have quite gotten the hang of it. I had many, many bad pictures this go around as well but a few were keepers.









Each Thursday I share a glimpse at life through the lens. If you'd like to participate leave a link to you blog post below. Please keep links family friendly.

Through Then Lens Thursday #23

Baby Girl finally lost another tooth this week. It's been 5 months since she lost her first one. This particular tooth has been loose forever but just not loose enough to come out. The adult tooth actually came in behind the baby tooth so I'm sure that's why it took so long to come out. If you look closely you can see the adult tooth already starting to fill in the gap. This tooth probably could have come out a day or two earlier but Baby Girl is not a tooth puller. She lets them stay in until they fall out on their own. And this one did just that on the bus ride home from school on Tuesday. She came barreling off the bus shouting "I lost my tooth! I lost my tooth!" She was so excited she could hardly sleep that night. She told me yesterday that she kept waking up every 10 minutes the night before in anticipation of the Tooth Fairy's visit. And she woke me up at 5 a.m. to let me know the Tooth Fairy had made it. I managed to mumble something vaguely enthusiastic and told her to go back to bed. We got to relive the excitement when it was time to get up for school yesterday morning. So now she's sporting a cute and very temporary gap. I'm sure that adult tooth will have it filled in in no time since it's already through.



Each Thursday I share a glimpse at life through the lens. If you'd like to participate leave a link to your blog post below. Please keep links family friendly.

Through The Lens Thursday #22

I'm taking this Through The Lens Thursday to finally share our Christmas photos. I've been trying to play catch up this week and I finally got around to putting these all together.

Just to touch briefly on the move, I have to say this was probably our toughest move to date. We really never want to have to move again after this one. It took a day and half to load. I was packing up until the very last thing was loaded. It was long, cold and exhausting but it's over!

Dad and The Man headed to Florida. The weather was as lovely as it looks in the picture; a rather unpleasant rain/snow mix.



Since we didn't leave Kentucky until after 1 p.m. on the 19th, I made the decision to stop and stay the night with my mom in north Alabama instead of making the 12 hour drive to Florida like Dad and The Man. We had a great night with Mom and got to Florida Sunday afternoon. We did as much as we could to get the house liveable over the next couple of days and on the Tuesday before Christmas I finally got to put up our tree. I was doing a bit of last minute shopping and wrapping as well but we managed to be ready for Christmas. It was a really great Christmas but how could it not be? We were all back together again. The girls and I drove to my sister's the day after Christmas. We can do that now because she only lives 4 hours away! My parents and grandma came down and we all celebrated Christmas together. We've not been able to do that since our move to Kentucky so that was really nice. The girls and I spent the night at my sister's and it was so great getting some one on one time to just sit and laugh and talk with her. It was truly a Christmas I will always cherish.

Here's a glimpse at our Christmas.


Each Thursday I share a glimpse at my life through the lens. If you would like to participate, click on MckLinky below and leave a link to your blog post.

Bringing The Linky Back

Just wanted to let everyone know I'll be bringing MckLinky back for Through The Lens Thursday starting this week. There wasn't enough interest to justify it last year but I'm hopeful there's been some renewed interest and we can get it going this year. So start snapping. I hope to see you and your pictures there!

2009 Through The Lens

Seems fitting that my last post of 2009 be through the lens. Here's a look back at our year.



Wishing you all a happy and blessed 2010. I look forward to sharing life with you in the new year.

Through The Lens Thursday #20

The big day is almost here! A big thanks for the kind comments lately. I appreciate your thoughts and prayers so much. I'm sorry I've not had a chance to respond individually. I wonder if you all will be as glad to see me post about something other than moving as I will. This will be my last post until we're connected in Florida. I should be back online before Christmas so have a great weekend. I'll see you next time from the land of sunshine!



Each Thursday I share a glimpse at life through the lens. If you would like to join in leave a comment with a link to your blog post.

Through The Lens Thursday #18

I'm a little behind getting this posted today. I have so much going on preparing for the move. I have several blog posts I want to write, I just need to find the time to do them. We found a place to rent during Thanksgiving break. It's a nice house built in the mid-90s which means we have some hideous really cool salmon colored counter-tops in the kitchen and the bathrooms. The rest of the house is great though with more space that we were counting on including a nice sized pantry in the kitchen. I love pantries! Unfortunately, I got the word yesterday that this move just might be temporary and that we might be moving again sometime next year. I have so many feelings going on about this news. After a little mini-meltdown at church last night I have a slightly better perspective on it today. Thankfully, two sweet friends sat with me as I talked & cried to them last night and then they prayed with me. One sent me a sweet note this morning with some scripture to soak in. Truthfully, I'm tired of moving. We've moved so many times. I was really hoping this move would be it. And really, it might be. There's only a chance we could move again next year. It's not guaranteed. And I know if God moves us again then there will be a reason for it.

Proverbs 3:5-6
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight

Our trip last week was nice though. Our Thanksgiving feast consisted of boiled shrimp, fried shrimp, homemade potato salad, boiled corn, mac-n-cheese(since Baby Girl doesn't eat shrimp) and Key Lime pie(we needed something green on our plates). Not a traditional feast but oh, so good! The weather was cool but we did manage to spend some time strolling on the beach. I couldn't believe there were some people out there swimming. Brr! Here's a look at our trip.















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