You Only Live Once

 For Spring Break we had a fabulous time at the beach.  My kids had never been to the beach before.  They had never experienced the sand, the blue water, the endless sky, the waves,

or the birds.

They got to do a YOLO board (You Only Live Once).  I got to do the YOLO board too, but ironically there were no pictures.

This is my nephew who had terrific balance and concentration and enjoyed making waves.   I didn't even stand up or make waves.

My son and my nephew

 One of my girls.

Fortunately for my sister, Margaret, I did get pictures of her on the board.  

 Actually I managed to get several.   I'll just share a couple this time.  

My other girl

Some of us (my son) managed just to relax or fall in.  But my camera didn't capture the fall.  Yep, it was cold, and we did laugh.  

How about another year ......

Not sure I even remember how to even blog again it's been so long.  

We did our annual (several times) trip to our favorite spot this summer.  This time, because Andrew was being an excellent camp counselor he wasn't able to be there.

I'm always sad when the summer is over and I know we have to wait nine or ten looonnnngggg months to get back.  But it means that that now it's soccer season:

It's almost basketball season:

(My sister, Margaret, took this picture.)

And birthday season starts with Joe.

Seriously, it's only Joe's birthday.  Apparently R thinks it might be his birthday too.

Andrew is a freshman at college so he can't be here either. (When did I he get that old?)  

So we made sure he was included in the fun.  See him in the phone at the bottom of the picture.  Thanks to the iphone we can facetime.

Maybe I can get back to this again.  Let's all hold our collective breaths .......

Christmas Day

Merry Christmas!  

My kids woke us up this morning.  Early.  Too early.  They were so excited for Christmas.

I finally pulled my camera out from hiding and took pictures today.  I hope all week I can do that.  Shoot, I hope all year I can do better than I did this year.

These are just a few peeks into our day today.

Above:  Last year

Below:  This year

Every year Christmas Day we take a picture in the same spot just to see the difference from year to year.

She has another pink ball, but it's been decided that this one is reserved for indoor use only.  It's just way too pretty to mess up outside.

We'll just let him think he is .....

K just happy to finally be Christmas.

In our house, we LOVE Tim Tebow.

Andrew wanted a hammock for Christmas.  He is trying it out. 

A tradition carried over from my family is Christmas Breakfast.  We have an egg casserole and a special bread, both of which were completely devoured.  It's a good think I doubled the recipe so we can have some tomorrow morning too.

Really?

Bet you didn't do school like this.   I know I sure didn't.  But it gets the job done and there's no reason NOT to do it this way.

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

I haven't participated in Scavenger Hunt Sunday for long time, 

but I was able to pull it together this time. 

WORDS

How could I not resist showing you this one??

(from my youngest child playing Bananagrams)

UNDER

My oldest son is a senior in high school. I'm not sure when I blinked, but apparently I did. This year is crazy...but we are making it through. Joe and I are so proud of him and looking forward to what the Lord has in store for him as he enters a new stage of life.
(he is under the leaves)

ORANGE

This weekend my sister and I took off for some good, old-fashioned, away-from-reality time.We headed into Northern Indiana to take pictures. I think, before we leave, we'll be planning our 2nd picture taking, away-from-reality trip! Yep, we are loving this!! All that to say, though, I captured my "orange" this weekend while we were away.

FLY

This particular foul, that my nephew Brian took, resulted in a little air time.

(My sister's son)

ALWAYS LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE

My husband, God bless him, has the ability to laugh in almost any circumstance. I so appreciate this about him...and I just couldn't resist sharing this picture!! :)

Senior Year

It's that time.  I'm not old - really.  But I'm graduating a child this year.  This is Andrew.

I did NOT do the official senior pictures, these are only of a very, very proud mom.  My sister did the official pictures here and did a beautiful job of them.  I'm just being a goofy, proud mama.  However, out of the 180 pictures I took I do have a few favorites :).  And for what it's worth, the train track is no longer functioning.

Okay - I absolutely LOVE this picture.

Okay, this one too.

And ending with a very natural pose.  Gotta have the phone.

   

More Covered Bridge

My Guy and our daughters.