I Created This...

Mama got some sun...

...and had a GREAT Mother's Day out by the water! A couple weeks ago when my brothers and I asked our mom what she would like to do for Mother's Day, she said boating was top on her list since it had been so long. It sounded great to everyone else too, and so plans were made to boat and beach on Mother's Day. Some of the family came by boat, some by car, but we all met up and had a great 6 hours out by the water. We took turns going out in the raft that was pulled behind the boat. What a wild ride that was!! I laughed so hard and thought for sure I was going to fly out of the thing as we hit wave after wave after wave. I don't have any pictures of the boat/raft in action, but here are a few I took while everyone was hanging out at the beach.

Mom spent almost the whole time in the raft while the boat was parked. The only thing that changed was who was in it with her. Here I captured the three youngest of the five grandchildren that were there.

While mom and the young ones where out on the raft...the adults congregated around the shade ... and the coolers.

This little guy (thank goodness) felt good enough today to have a great time enjoy the day as well. Hooray for antibiotics!

And with all the shells and endless treasures the little guys seem to find in the water and on the beach, this one was the winner for most unique. Someone's long lost sunglasses that are now home to quite the family of barnacles. 

I'm off to end my wonderful Mother's Day with the start of a new book, the finishing of a scrappy project and the watching of the Survivor Finale. Perfection.

Thank you little guy for making me the luckiest Mom in the whole world...

Fighting Back...

For those who have been keeping score...our past month has gone something like this:

Me with Laryngitis for one week.
Robby with fever and lethargic - missed 3 days of school.
Rob with Laryngitis and cough - out of work two days and a weekend spent resting.

THEN this past week we have had the pleasure of introducing round two:

Robby with double pink eye, double ear infections and upper respiratory infection - missed 3 days of school.

Lovely.

Luckily, both antibiotics Robby are on are kicking in quick and he seems back to himself. He was home from school again yesterday, but needed it. He spent most of the day just relaxing on the couch...which included lots of guitar playing. Here he is providing Oscar some a soothing little jam...

 

I haven't been doing too much creating lately at all and am ready to get back into the groove. I've missed it and am due for a scrapping marathon! Here are a few layouts I've created over the past couple months for Tinkering Ink.

Happy Mother's Day Weekend!! :)

Feeling Better...

Finally feeling good!

It took me a full week to get over my laryngitis. Luckily no other symptoms came with it, but I sure was tired. We were able to start fresh again last Monday (or so we thought) but that was our only 'well' day around here for the past two weeks. Tuesday morning Robby woke with a fever and getting physically sick. The fever lasted about two days, but the tiredness and congestion is still hanging around even now. But things are much better and I think this will be a good healthy week for us! Finally!

Otherwise, we've been busy doing lots of fun things. Bowling, end-of-season little league party, truck day, etc. I actually didn't take many pictures for any of those outings though. I need to get used to having the camera with me again. I go through phases and I need to get back to having it with me as I always regret the photos I don't take.

Happy Monday! :) 

grrrr...

still sick.
actually when i first lost my voice I wasn't sick.
at least i didn't know i was.
now i am.
and i'm grouchy.

nights of coughing.
sore chest.
nose running everytime i lay down my head.
and even when i don't.
three-nap days.

thank goodness for my three male saints.
my dad, my husband, my son.
putting up with an out-of-order me.
and filling in like no one else could do.
i'm very lucky.

but still very sick.

and grouchy.

grrrr.

Can you hear me now?

Lost: Voice

Missing Since: April 13th

If found please return to: Linda Harrison

:(

Friend or Foe

We love nature.
Love that we live on a pond which brings in lots of birds, turtles and is even the current home to a small, but growing, alligator.
Because of all the action by the pond, we recently put in a couple bird feeders and a bird bath for the smaller of the birds to have a place to enjoy too.

They love it.

Doves wash up in the bird feeder.
Cardinals and blue jays feed every morning and evening and many hours in between.
This morning a woodpecker even grabbed a little breakfast for himself.

However, there is one backyard visitor, who 'pre-feeders' used to be a favorite of ours, but has quickly falling to the bottom of the 'awww...aren't they cute' list.

The squirrels.

Bird feeders are the one thing that can quickly turn a very cute and much liked creature into the most annoying little varmit ever. So it's become ritual that as soon as one of us gets home, we peek out at the feeders to make sure that one of these seed-guzzling rodents hasn't made himself at home once again.

So this morning I get home after taking Robby to school and there are no signs of the intruders. YAY! Maybe they are starting to get the hint. So I let our dogs out back to do their thing and glance over past one of the feeders and see this.

   

This little guy was all curled up in a palm branch just watching the action.
And yes, I KNOW what he was doing there.
ANd I know this little resting place was strategically chosen.

But awwww....isn't he so cute!

3 days past the weekend

It's just not happening.

My intentions were to post some of the many photos I took this past weekend at an air show we attended on Sunday with my dad and Bobbi. I started going through a few Sunday night, but it seems as if that is as far as I am going to get this week. So although I have a few ready to share...not even one is of a plane in the sky. I think I am on 'airplanes in the sky photo overload' and if I wait to decide on which one(s) to post out of the (over 400) that I took - I will never get back to posting. So here are a few to share.

Why does that pilot look so familiar?

:)

Escorting the junior pilot to his first mission. ;)

Simulated 'bombings' as the fighter jets flew over head. Even from a distance, the heat was incredible!

Alright, by the end of this post I thought it was a little silly that I didn't have even one photo of an airplane actually in the air...I mean it isn't called an 'AIR show' for nothing, right? So I went and grabbed a quick photo. Here it is. Cropped, but not flipped. The pilot is the one who has flipped. As in out of his mind. NEVER will you see me on an plane that can do this.

 

Happy Wednesday!! 

Confiscated

I was under the impression that SEI sent this box for me to use.

But who am I to argue with the in-house checker-outer.

By the way, did you know that buttons are now $80 a tube? Whoa! ;)

Spring Break Portrait

So the four of us...

Robby, myself, Oscar and Sammy, decided we would take a fun photo of ourselves while we were home for spring break. Robby and I thought it sounded like a wonderful idea. Oscar and Sam...well...

<Take One>

<Take Two>

<Take Three>

<Take Four>

<Take Five>

...to be continued...

Emotion Overload

Most of the people in my adult life don't know that I used to play a ton of tennis when I was young. For years, I played almost daily. Participated in summer training camps, had months of private lessons, played a huge amount of junior tournaments, earned my Varsity letter for four years in high school, etc. I was all set-up to continue my tennis into and through college, but decided against it. I wanted to fill my time with new college experiences and so tennis fell into the background and has been there for the most part ever since.

Then Robby turned 5, and on the same day, received his first tennis lesson. *sigh*

My dad, who still plays tennis many times a week just as he did when I was played so many years ago, bought Robby some tennis lessons to get him started and to see if it was something he would like and somethine he was ready to learn. I had my first lesson at 7, so 5 had the possibility of being just a little too young for one-on-one teaching. I didn't accompany my dad and him to the first lesson last week, but went with to the one yesterday.

Oh my goodness.

It was such an emotional 30 minutes. First it brought back a ton of memories of my times on the court. The sound of the racket hitting the balls, the sight of the balls scattered all over the court and even the smell of fresh tennis balls .... so many memories.
But what really got me was just seeing my son out there listening so well and really giving it his all. He seemed to have a different kind of comfort out there than he has when he plays t-ball, or does his swimming, or anything else he has tried. Yes, it was only his second time ever on a tennis court, but I think he is doing so great! Even if it isn't something he ends up enjoying years down the road, he really seems to now, and that's awesome.