Frosty the Snowman...

...Is melting on my cookies!

  Aren't these just the cutest melting snowmen you ever saw?! 

We baked 24 of these cuties for Kyrie's kindergarten class party!

Tutorial can be found HERE

My kind of Coffee!

This, my friends, is MY KIND OF COFFEE! Rich, Strong, Deep... I love to drink it in all day long - it touches the soul. Ahhh, those EYES!

Confessions

I have a confession to make; I've been working on my photography skilz and didn't tell you. Wanna see? Maybe you've already peeked?! A few of us are doing it together... sorta. Come take a look! Shutter Friends Blog



 I have another confession to make... That cool little 'signature'? It's driving me NUTS because it never goes where it's supposed to without me banging on the key board and mouse and thinking about throwing something at my monitor. I didn't have the energy to fight with it today.

The only difference between the Men & the Boys...

...is the size of their shoes and the price of their toys!
We have a new toy in the house... Keep your head down!

Autumn Splendor

Autumn is my FAVORITE time of the year! I love the warm colors, the change, the crispness and coziness of it all! This year, we have enjoyed more color than all the 8 years we've lived here put together - but unfortunately, I never got a picture of the TREES! Here's a few of the things that I LOVE about this time of year...

 Sausage Potato Soup

  Warm autumn scents

 

 

The Pumpkin Patch!

 CANDY CORN! I love this stuff! 

 (and I LOVE my Longaberger butternut muffin pan!)

Beautiful hand made accents that never go out of style

Comfort Food - the kind that involves melted chocolate!

 

Sweaters - the cable knit kind - heavy and cozy.

More comfort food 

- the kind that involves cream cheese, bacon and green onions.-

(and my Eggplant Longaberger!)

 

Homemade soup with Homemade Bread. It just doesn't get much better than that!

It would seem that most of my favorite things about Autumn involve FOOD! It's a wonder I'm not 300lbs! 

  I've been putting off this post thinking "maybe I'll see something else I'll want to add"...

Doesn't look like that's going to happen!

Last Minute...

There's no time like the.. er... last minute!

  Today is Kyrie's school Fall Party. Not halloween party - FALL party. No costumes allowed. 

Last night, when I was tucking her into bed, she said "I want to wear something fancy for the fall party". Right... because we have a closet full of fancy clothes just waiting to be worn to school! Have you noticed, that there are VERY FEW "fancy" clothes out there for this age?! I don't want rock star, preppy princess or scull & crossbones, OR tween queen for my 6 yr old! Just some cute and maybe a few fancy clothes would be great, thanks!

  

  Back to the FALL party. So instead of coming up with something clever for her to wear for the fall party last night, I spent a few hours finishing my long overdue photo-editing. And this morning at 6:40 I decided to come up with something clever. Her ride was supposed to be here at 7:30... wonder WHERE I picked up the "last second gene"?! (Love you, Mom!)

  But really, who needs fancy clothes ready made in the closet when you have a hand-me-down-black-dress-for-next-year, photoshop, a printer, iron-on printer paper and an iron? (I burnt it - surely the teacher won't notice the slight stench - they should have given the directions for 1/8 page - 30 sec- BEFORE the directions for more than 1/2 a page - 3 minutes - just sayin'!)

  And we have a "fancy" outfit for the fall party! She wanted pictures taken too.

And we didn't make the 7:30 "bus" - I had to take her at 8:55 - but she was still smiling. Ah, small victories. =)

Friendships

 Friendships are special - there's no denying that. But I never stopped to think, 13 1/2 years ago when this friendship started between these kids' parents, just how incredible it really is!

Today, I'm thankful for Friendships. The kind that encourages - the kind that even when you don't see each other often, you can pick up right where you left off the last time - the kind that leaves footprints on our hearts - the kind I never want to take for granted.

 

 

I'm a sucker for a cute camera bag!

Check out this fun giveaway... Have you ever seen cuter camera bags?!?! I sure haven't and would LOVE to win one... that's why I'm spamming my blog with another giveaway! :)

One Word...

One Word... What's one word that comes to mind when you look at this photograph?
  (click to enlarge)

A better life...

Why is everyone so concerned about giving their children a "better life"? 

 As I recall, when I was a child, I didn't know the difference. There were people who had "more" and people who had "less", and that was just life. Maybe I'm the minority here but I didn't grow up thinking "my kids will have a better life than I did" - I never noticed there was anything "missing" from my life!

We wore hand-me-down clothes, we WALKED to school, WALKED to the library, WALKED to the grocery store, WALKED to our JOBS... We shared bedrooms, no one bought us cars, we mowed the lawn and scooped the snow and our siblings were our best friends.

 I saw this comment the other day, in a conversation about "large" families: 

"I would rather provide well for the ones I have which is why I don't have more"

Now, don't get me wrong - I don't think anyone should have more kids than they can handle, or have more kids than they can support, but why the need to provide WELL? I admit, I don't like just "getting by" and I like "the finer things in life" as much as the next lady, but what ARE the finer things, really?!

"There was a time when husbands and wives worked hard to ensure they could afford the blessings of a large family. Today, the higher your earning bracket the fewer children you have, but then we always knew that many turn money from a blessing into a curse." (quote from the above linked article.)

I saw this today, and loved it. It goes well with my thoughts on "living well"

Paul Harvey Writes:

We tried so hard to make things better for our kids that we made them worse.  For my grandchildren, I'd like better.

I'd really like for them to know about hand me down clothes and homemade ice cream and leftover meat loaf sandwiches.  I really would.

I hope you learn humility by being humiliated, and that you learn honesty by being cheated.

I hope you learn to make your own bed and mow the lawn and wash the car.  And I really hope nobody gives you a brand new car when you are sixteen.

It will be good if at least one time you see puppies born and your old dog put to sleep.

I hope you get a black eye fighting for something you believe in.

I hope you have to share a room with your younger brother/sister.  And it's all right if you have to draw a line down the middle of the room, but when he wants to crawl under the covers with you because he's scared, I hope you let him.

When you want to see a movie and your little brother/sister wants to tag along, I hope you'll let him/her.

I hope you have to walk uphill to school with your friends and that you live in a town where you can do it safely.

On rainy days when you have to catch a ride, I hope you don't ask your driver to drop you two blocks away so you won't be seen riding with someone as uncool as your Mom.

If you want a slingshot, I hope your Dad teaches you how to make one instead of buying one.

I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books.

When you learn to use computers, I hope you also learn to add and subtract in your head...

I hope you get teased by your friends when you have your first crush on a boy/girl, and when you talk back to your mother that you learn what ivory soap tastes like.

May you skin your knee climbing a climbing, burn your hand on a stove, and stick your tongue on a frozen flagpole.

I don't care if you try a beer once, but I hope you don't like it.  And if a friend offers you dope or a joint, I hope you realize he is not your friend.

I sure hope you make time to sit on a porch with your Grandma/Grandpa and go fishing with your Uncle.

May you feel sorrow at a funeral and joy during the holidays.

I hope your mother punishes you when you throw a baseball through your neighbor's window and that she hugs you and kisses you at Christmas time when you give her a plaster mold of your hand.

These things I wish for you- tough times and disappointment, hard work and happiness.  To me, it's the only way to appreciate life...

Another fun giveaway to blog about!

I saw this blog today... thanks to Lenetta! But who wouldn't LOVE to have a craft cutter like this?!
  What do you think I'd use it for? Hahaha!

Found a new AMAZING blog = GIVEAWAY!

Thanks to Janel, I found this really cool blog! Check out her stuff - isn't it to drool over?!

  Plus, they're having a giveaway... who wouldn't LOVE this dress for their little girl?!

So here's my shout it out! Go "be-fan" them and enter for your little girl!

I trust you'll treat her well.

Dear World:

...I bequeath to you today one little girl ... in a crispy dress ... with two blue eyes ... and a happy laugh that ripples all day long ... and a flash of light blond hair that bounces in the sunlight when she runs. I trust you'll treat her well. 

She's slipping out of the backyard of my heart this morning ... and skipping off down the street to her first day of school. And never again will she be completely mine. Prim and proud she'll wave her young and independent hand this morning and say "Good Bye"... and walk with little lady steps to the schoolhouse. 

Now she'll learn to stand in line ... and wait by the alphabet for her name to be called. She'll learn to tune her ears to the sounds of school-bells ... and deadlines ... and she'll learn to giggle ... and gossip ... and look at the ceiling in a disinterested way when the little boy across the aisle sticks out his tongue at her. And now she'll learn to be jealous. And now she'll learn how it is to feel hurt inside. And now she'll learn how not to cry. 

No longer will she have time to sit on the front porch steps on a summer day and watch an ant scurry across the crack in a sidewalk. Nor will she have time to pop out of bed with the dawn to kiss lilac blossoms in the morning dew. No, now she'll worry about important things. Like grades ... and which dress to wear ... and who's best friend is whose. And the magic of books and learning will replace the magic of her blocks and dolls. And now she'll find new heroes. 

For five full years now I've been her sage and Santa Claus and pal and playmate and father and friend. Now she'll learn to share her worship with her teachers ... which is only right. But, no longer will I be the smartest man in the whole world. Today when that school bell rings for the first time ... she'll learn what it means to be a member of a group. With all it's privileges. And it's disadvantages too. 

She'll learn in time that proper young ladies do not laugh out loud. Or kiss dogs. Or keep frogs in pickle jars in bedrooms. Or even watch ants scurry across cracks in the summer sidewalk. 

Today she'll learn for the first time that all who smile at her are not her friends. And I'll stand on the front porch and watch her start out on the long, lonely journey to become a woman. 

 




So, World. I bequeath to you today one little girl ... in a crispy dress ... with two blue eyes and a happy laugh that ripples all day long ... and a flash of light blond hair that bounces in the sunlight when she runs. I trust you'll treat her well.

(Thank you, Lani, for the poem... and for making me cry!)

Today I sent my baby girl to School! Granted, it's only their 'evaluation day' and the real thing doesn't happen until Monday, but today was the first day of school, in our minds.
  Jim is in California and won't be flying home until tonight so she called him on the way to school. It was fun to listen to her tell him all the things she thought they might do!
  Good thing there was a parents meeting after I took her to her (temporary - teachers haven't been assigned yet) classroomm - no way was I going to go in there bawling and blowing my nose and making a scene! It was sad coming home without her though, with only one little boy in the vehicle... he thought so too!
  She was a bit nervous after she got in the classroom and realized her 'best friend' wasn't in the same room as her! I'm sure she got over it quickly and will be all smiles when I pick her up this afternoon... I know I will be!
 

Where did she go?

Someone once said to "Remember the last's". We're always so focused on the "First's" - first steps, words, first pig-tails... what about the last? When was the last time I kissed these chubby little girl cheeks? When was the last time I hugged this little toddler-girl, so vibrant and full of life? When was the last time I saw her and did I even notice she was gone??? (pic summer '08)

When did she turn into this little girl? The one who can count by 5's and can read and write all the names of her preschool classmates - the one who is learning to roller-blade? The little girl who prays so innocently for "help to be a good girl, for ever and ever"? (pic summer '10)

Time doesn't seem to be moving that quickly from day to day but I was shocked to see this picture of her that my Mom took, after having just come across the previous picture the day before. Have I spent enough time teaching her the important things? Have I made the right impressions on her to prepare her for the conflicting impressions that will be made as she starts Kindergarten in 3 weeks?