Wordless Wednesday | 03.31.2011

I Live in a Neighborhood...

I live in a neighborhood.

It’s tiny and quaint.

Six houses to be exact. Each with four walls and a door. 

Doors that while often are closed, will open, graciously, at a moment’s notice, and embrace you and welcome you in.

I live in a neighborhood.

That breathes love and understanding. 

Compassion. 

Helpfulness. 

Community.

I live in a neighborhood.
That has loved and lost.

Too much.

That is grieving and yearning for happier days.

I live in a neighborhood.
Where cancer has come knocking.

On too many doors.  

Too.

Many.

That has taken it’s owners’ loved ones and swept them all away.

All.

Too.

Soon.

I live in a neighborhood.

Where trees have been planted.

To remember those loved and lost.

To remind us to not lock ourselves behind four walls and wallow in grief alone.

To get out and breathe.

Fresh air.

To enjoy the sunshine. The birds. The trees.

To take walks together.

To meet in the culdesac, chat by the mailbox, hang out by the pool.

To smile and to lift one another's spirits.

To help us survive yet another day.
Without.
Our loved ones.

I live in a neighborhood.

It’s tiny and quaint.
Perfect for me.

A blessing from God.

by: Suz Mannecke 08.30.2011

5 months since she's been gone...

...and I still feel her love. Holding on tight to that. Always and forever.

The Weekend Lens | August 26-28.2011

Had a lovely weekend with some nice downtime with just us. Our little fam of four. (Plus our four-legged family too, of course!)
Here are a few pics from our weekend:
A little Wizarding 101. (Our nearly 7 year old laptop gets some use).

Someone kept trying to play hard to 

"capture" in my lens. Daddy Mick attempts to help. Let me stress attempts here. ;)

 Some WWF and HWF and texting. Just a smidge though.

 The smell of citrenella. Ahh...reminds me of summer and cabin love.

                                     

 The spectacular view we enjoy...oh so often and oh.so.much. Will never tire of the view. EVER.

 Inspiration for Halloween pics. ;)

 The boys were quite taken by this tree. Had to climb in and around it. Even wanted me to take their pictures by it (despite complaints that "I need a haircut" and "my hair is greasy, can you tell?" (Shhh..we won't tell!) :) Both were begging me not to make scrapbook layouts with the pics from this weekend. I told them it was a "Right" as a momma to be able to scrap (nearly) anything about our kiddos. For crying out loud, 18 hours+ of labor with no epidural for 12 is reason enough to be rewarded with a few pics and a few layouts to scrap through the years, no? ;)

 Despite the fact that we've been coming to the lake for at nearly 7 years now, and despite the fact that I said they should not leave the house without being sure they had their swim shirts and trunks, did they listen and follow through? No, of course! So...my eldest is wearing my running shirt and my youngest is wearing my T-shirt and hand-me-down swim trunks from a cousin that I keep on hand at cabin for just such "lack of planning." Eldest, lost out as there were no swimming trunks on hand at cabin big enough for him except his dad's. And there were, well, a tad big for him...Ok...well, more than a tad...Think "Pants on the ground, pants on the ground...lookin' like a fool with my pants on the ground!"

 Playing with sticks and stones while we finished loading up 4-runner and I finished waxing the boat.

 Finally remembered to take a pic of this as it is a common part of Mick's routine of getting the boat out of the water and ready for transport.

I still need to download some pics from my point and shoot and from my iPhone. Got a few good capture there as well. Hope to get to those tomorrow.

Things I want to remember about this weekend:

• Wizarding 101. How Ethan started playing it and then Big Bro wanted to learn and to play to. It was so sweet (in a tug-on-a-momma's-heartstrings kind of way) watching Ethan help his Big Bro and how happy he was to do it. How happy he was that his brother was interested in something that he liked. How happy he was that his Big Bro was interested in spending time with him. Good stuff.
• Watching episodes of Gilmore Girls. All of us. No one had to. They all just wanted to. With each episode I understand more and more why Linny loved Lorelei so much. Why she loved The Gilmore Girls. I love them too. I, for one, am a fan for life. 
• Waking the boys up to fresh homemade caramel pecan rolls. One of their very favorites.
• Ethan drying out his (my) shirt using natural wind power as we drove the boat along the water. He thought that was pretty cool. (So did I). ;)
• Bella sticking her nose through the door from the bedroom. (Have this on Instagram. Will try to post later. So stinkin' cute.)
• Driving home and listening to the radio. Juice Newton came on singing "Break It To Me Gently." I asked Mick, "You know who i'd like to hear sing this?" He asked, "Who?" I replied, "Fantasia." To which Ethan piped in, "MOM! Fantasia doesn't have ANY words!!!" :) (Umm...you're right Dude but I was actually talking about the singer, not the Disney Classic).
• Playing with and loving on Connie's (NDN's) little boston terrier, Buzz. So. stinkin. sweet.
• Getting a really happy scrappy email with news that I will share soon. ;)
• Checking in with my Twitter scrapbooking friends who live along the east coast. Making sure and finding out all are doing well and are safe regarding hurricane Irene.
• Ian watching an old epsode of Friends on DVD and saying, "Hey Mom, I didn't know Jennifer Anniston was on Friends." (Um...yep...that's where she got her fame Dude).
• The boys doing the dishes with a relative air of peace and harmony.
• Playing with some Amy Tangerine scrapping loveliness! SIGH.
• I want to remember that we need to keep checking Craigslist for a new-to-us stove as our current one, while, quaint and quirky, just isn't quite cutting it anymore in functionality with only one burner that actually works. LOL
• Listening to the Sugarhill Gang while on the boat and turning up the volume. Dancing ensued. Some crazy white girl dancing I might add. I also might add, one can get away with dancing like no one is watching on our lake because no one is!!! (Well...ok...except for my little ole family of four). It's just one of the many things I love about our lake and our little bit of heaven here on earth. :) :) :)

Hope y'all had a great weekend! Be back soon with more pics and with the full reveal of September's Freehand Scraps kit!

Ok...I'm back! Here are some of the Instagrams I captured from this weekend:
Love that this one captures the vintage/retro old and the new (technology). :)

 Love this cookbook in all of it's vintage loveliness and the fact that it is written in and has a tattered spine just adds to its charm. :)

This one never misses a meal. Ever. Bet you wouldn't have ever guessed it!. Sometimes though, other people miss theirs. ;)

 My homemade caramel pecan rolls. They never see a second breakfast. Nope. Not in this cabin!

Doing the dishes. Busy. Busy. Learning a strong work ethic. One can never start this soon enough. 

 And my fav of the weekend. Oh. So. Precious! Live that she is nearly camouflaged into the woodwork and door. :)

September Freehand Scraps Sneaks are UP!

Here are a few that I contributed:

 This kit was so, SO much fun to work with! Lots of different textures and embellies, with many new products from this summer's CHA. (Including some goodies from Amy Tangerine's latest line from American Crafts as well as Jillibean Soup. (Can I hear a big, "Woot! Woot!" ?) I am still playing with the kit even after submitting my projects as there is such an abundance of scrapping goodness.  Just in time for the cooler, crisp falls days that signal less time outdoors and more time in!!!(Scrapping of course!) ;)
Happy weekend everybody!

Nerdy Bird Flies the Coop...

...to school. It was the first day back to Ethan's gifted class today. He was up early and even though he had laid most of his "First Day" ensemble out the night before (this from the child who like to sleep in and do everything last minute) he put the finishing touch on his outfit with a pair of these:

Here's a few pic SOOC:

This dude so needs a haircut. (We trimmed the back briefly this am before heading out to take pics, but there's more work to be done with this towhead.) ;)

 He is so rockin' the "Stink" look here. Yeah...Here comes trouble!

The sweet face:

 The intellectual face:

 And...back to the "Stink" face!

Hope everyone is having happy "back to school days" for those that have started. Back later with some sneaks of the awesome September release of Freehand Scraps' kit! :) :) :)