Live, Laugh, Love...

Ahhh, the weekend!!  Most people LIVE for the weekends.  I have to say, I am one that looks forward to those days at the end and beginning of the week that are sit aside for leisure, relaxation, play and, yes, usually the place on the calendar that we pencil in all of our DIY, fix-it projects that need to be done.
This weekend, my husband had to work... Overtime = Bittersweet.  Love that overtime pay, but not so much the hours and the "not being together as a family" thing.  So, the kiddos and I have played extra hard to day and enjoyed each other's company to the fullest.  There was fun to be had by all, in between me playing referee and breaking up the fights that spontaneously break out of nowhere about nothing.... SIGH. 
I got to thinking about my two little beautiful monsters.  How my life is so full of meaning, adventure, blessings, cursings (hee hee), LAUNDRY, fullness, LAUNDRY, laughter, giggles, stories, LAUNDRY...  These two little bundles of joy have made my life enriched beyond belief! 
So, on this glorious, a bit chilly for Texas, Weekend, I hope you are enjoying the blessings that have been put into your life, whatever they may be.  Those people who make your life sweeter and richer.  Just don't forget to LIVE, LAUGH AND LOVE!!

Easy Holiday Treat YUMMY!

Ok, who doesn't like chocolate?!!! (rhetorical question)
I LOVE chocolate!!!  And I love mixing it with other goodies to make those goodies even better!!!!  =)
So, here is a YUMMY, EASY treat that your kiddos can do!!  My daughter is three years old and had no trouble whatsoever making these.  I did the microwaving, she did the rest!
Chocolate Covered Pretzels:
All you need is :

• a bag of pretzels (we used the big stick pretzels.  Wal-Mart brand just $1.50)
• Microwavable Chocolate =)  The baking isle is full of it!!!!   I used the big blocks of it by Plymouth Pantry (just $2.50)
• Wax Paper
• Mixing bowl and spoon
• Sprinkles (optional, but makes the pretzels look more festive)

****Of course, if you are letting your kiddos help, PLEASE be careful when working with the hot chocolate and the mixing bowl will be hot when you get it out of the microwave.****

Break chocolate into small squares and microwave....use the instructions on the package...

• Use a spoon to help coat chocolate on the pretzel sticks.

*You can put as much or as little on the pretzels as you want, but come on, its CHOCOLATE so the more the better!!! =)
This was Kensey's favorite part.... well, aside from actually EATING the chocolate covered pretzel....



• Place the chocolate covered pretzels on wax paper to let them cool and harden

• Sprinkle fun little sprinkles on your pretzels =)

• Let stand for 15 to 20 minutes

• ENJOY!!!

Ho, Ho, Ho! Here We Go...

I'm still here!!  I have not gone AWOL or MIA or any other sort of military acronym... I'm still here!!
I had recently tried my hand at "mobile blogging" and it doesn't seem to like me... I actually sent an update from my phone and on my phone's part it said it was successful...but it's nowhere to be found here online... That update is just floating out there somewhere in cyberspace.
So, I did make the ATTEMPT to update my blog, technology just was not cooperating!!
I don't always have time to actually sit down at the computer and type away, so I figured mobile blogging would be perfect!!!  I will definitely have to work the kinks out (if I can) and try again in the near future.
On another note, Christmas festivities are in full swing here on the home front.  Parties and Plays and Programs and dinners and lots of lots of sweeties and energetic kiddos!!!!!! ... WHEW!  But it is fun!  I will keep reminding myself of that... "It IS fun"!! 
Just finished this school semester out with one kiddo, Monday we will finish the school semester out for my other and then it is all the family planned festivities left on the agenda!   Holidays can be so BUSY!!!!   I will need a vacation to recover from this Holiday "Break" (I use the term "break" with tongue in cheek).

death and the past

Death is such hard thing to explain to a child. We had my uncle's wife's funeral today and Kaiden has asked a thousand questions. He doesn't look at death as something permanent which I suppose is good... He just says, "Jesus already gave her a new body". I guess he is brighter than I give him credit for. He doesn't really understand the "sadness" of death yet. He hasn't experienced this feeling of loss. But it is refreshing to see death through the eyes of a child.
I am very careful about how I explain things to him. And I don't really correct him if he is off a little. Sometimes the way he looks at something such as death is much healthier than I do.

I have been in an incredibly nostalgic mood today. We found some of my old music cds in our shed while we were cleaning it out. Its amazing how a song can take you back to a time and a place and you're there! For that moment, you're there.
So sad that things have to change so much as you "grow up". The older you get, the further you go and the more things change. Sometimes its at an uncontrollably fast rate and you reach out and try to grab tiny little snippets of your past before they are entirely out of reach. Its hard to stop straining your eyes looking back and turn and walk forward into the unknown of the future. I'm very thankful that my past gives me "warm fuzzies". Such good times. I am also thankful that those tiny snippets of my past that I managed to grab are still close to my heart where I will keep them safely stored forever.

This and that...

Well, what do ya know?...I'm blogging!


Seems like everyone is blogging these days. Guess I have to get on the band wagon.


I have been working on watermarks today for my photographs. How exciting! No, really, its exciting. I have been thinking more and more about my photography studio. I am ready to get started on it. There is so much to do though, it is almost disheartening. But, chin up! I have to start somewhere and somewhere is the beginning. The beginning is just so grim and non-exciting. The place where I am going to set up my studio is in shambles. It is in our "shed" in the backyard. We already remodeled about a 1/3 of it into an office and it turned out wonderfully. It is just so much work and most of it has to be done my Josh, my true and faithful sidekick! :-)


I am trying my hand at different types of photography. Black and white seems to be my favorite. My subjects (Kaiden and Kensey, my two beautiful children) don't always cooperate with me, so I have been parenting more and more and photographing less and less. Some days they go hand and hand, but some days not so much.


I am looking into getting some really great props. Props have turned out to be quite expensive, but I am finding "creative" ways to use everyday things as props. But some I am going to have to buy...the more specific type props.


So, I'm off to do more of that parenting I was talking about. Maybe my camera will find its way into the big mix too!