blessings a2z: June 2014

Monday, June 30, 2014

here for a second (basically) ...

so yes, we're home from our trip!

we left around 6pm on monday, the 9th (Zoey's last day of school) ...

we stopped for dinner and then hit the road!!

we saw lots of family!!!

we saw lots of animals at the zoo, the aquarium, and grandma's house -

Zoey loved all the dogs and cats there!!!

there was swimming ...

playing ...

hanging out at the house ...

visiting ...

food, fun, family ...

one last sunset ...

then we were back on the road, headed home!

we were away from home for 17 days!

we spent a total of 46 hours "on the road" (including stops).

we got two kids through being sick,

a teenager through a mope fest while out to lunch,

our big group through the zoo and the aquarium/botanical gardens,

the hubby got to shop games stores with his brother,

I got to have a shopping day with my sis in law (it's tradition),

many quick runs to walmart,

lots of yummy food,

tons of fun, smiles, and laughter,

over 1500 photos taken,

video of cousins playing together and enjoying each other,

and on the way home we stopped to see friends!!!

it was a great trip!!

we're home now, but the kids and I are about to hit the road again -

Oregon bound!!!

so, the blog will continue to be quiet ...

Friday, June 6, 2014

official photo time ...

I have about 75 photos like this, which I now have to choose

from for a photo on my living room wall!

we all remember back when I got my nice camera ...

and how I vowed to do my own pics to make it worth the price ...

well, here we are five years later!!!

the kids have grown - both in stature and in their loathing of being the subjects of photos.

sigh.

how did I manage to do this?

me, the wanna-be photographer!

me, the mom who sees the beautiful family portraits online and gushes

and gets excited for the possibilities of poses and places to do pics with her own little brood!

I have, indeed, stuck to my vow ...

we have not stepped foot in a studio since 2008 (before the camera)!

and, I have lots of adorable pics from my little photo shoots -

mostly of the very young and individual, but even a few of all four have managed to thrill me!

this hasn't happened for a few years now, though.

and days like today - when I end up coming home with four cranky kids,

wishing I could throw my own little tantrum - these are the days I seriously question my vow.

I guess I get what I get and I won't throw a fit.

the photos meant for the wall may never get there ...

and the random ones that amaze me will!

for today, I share the reality of "picture day" in our family ...

and I'll wonder how many of those "perfect" pics online have grumbling kids

and immensely frustrated parent photographers behind them!

Thursday, June 5, 2014

FYI ...

put this together today!!


what is "I'm going to home school"

I thought of this idea earlier while driving ...

it was one of those ideas I just had to follow through with!

hey, I feel clever, let me have my moment!

that's right - call me crazy, ridiculous, insane, whatever ya like ... but we're gonna try this again!!!

the boys are coming home next year to be educated along with Annicka - I'm praying that the difference between K12 and a local charter will make it doable this time around!

for the time being, Zoey will continue to attend a special day preschool class - and they're

opening one up much closer to where we live, which I'm very excited about!!!

Monday, June 2, 2014

so you remember the story of me buying the pool, but not being able to inflate it - so using Zoey's tiny pool! there are so many pics, I've decided to break it into at least two posts!!! here we go ...