I've got my eye on you!

Reunions are always sweet

Gulls and Gals

The last day of our vacation, Saturday, I woke up before the sun because I remembered that THIS would be the day I would see Mattie. After that thought found its way into my head, I couldn't get back to sleep so I got up and prepared for the day. I remembered seeing a HUGE mess of gulls at the river and thought it would be a perfect opportunity to get out and have some fun while the rest of the house was asleep. So I went and as I thought, the golden morning sun was as glorious as I had anticipated.

But.

This was the only gull shot that came out halfway decent. And I took quite a few! ;-)

They were just too far away to do anything with if you didn't have a serious zoom or special lens. So I took pictures of the only other possible subjects...flowers and me.

Right before I left, this gull flew up and let me get surprisingly close before flying off. I was thankful to have gotten ONE keeper.

(Only ONE more set of vacation pictures! Next up will be of Mom's birthday party! I think after this, I will be more wordy and less picturey for a while. Especially given my dinosaur of a computer giving me timing issues...)

Have a wonderful day!

Morning dew

As for today...

I am deep in the thick of bridal shower preparations for this Saturday. Another woman is in charge of games and prizes, everyone is bringing an appetizer or fingerfood, and I am in charge of decorations and some themed food. Just my thing! So, I have been looking for inspiration in ALL my cookbooks and wracking my brain for ideas. I am excited at the prospects. The bride-to-be is a good-natured, down-to-earth, outdoorsy kindof gal so I wanted to choose a color theme not too frilly-that is not at all her style.

I decided upon robin's egg blue and dark brown...that combination will be LOVELY considering my chocolate fountain will be at work there and will match perfectly my $5.00 bird vase purchase a month or so ago! There was ONE problem though, and that was I didn't have any light blue tablecloths nor did any church ladies. The very day I chose the color scheme, I found brand new LOVELY light blue tablecloths on sale at Gabriel Brothers for $1.00 a piece! And they had enough for me to make due with! WA-HOO! I practically floated out to my car!

It all seems to be coming together well-to stay on the cheap, I will only buy one set of fresh flowers-for the bird vase. The rest of the arrangements will be twigs of blooming trees (in my backyard) set in my antique blue jars. The twigs will work nicely since the stems are obviously-brown.

I got the more expensive disposable napkins-you know, the thicker ones...and I am going to be folding each one in a crown fold to jazz things up a bit.

I do so LOVE party planning! Good thing, too, because three more ladies are preparing for their weddings in the coming months! :-)

A Peek Today

Hanging laundry on the line. There is a heavenly breeze and so drying will be quick. A sunny day and warm-oh this feels Goooood.

The beginnings of sunrise eggs. Onion, garlic, orange pepper, tomato and a bit of salsa added to scrambled eggs. Yum! I thought it was so pretty with the sunlight pouring in on it like that.

More kid shots

My parents have more kids under 10 living in their house than all of their adult children have put together. Needless to say, visiting them will naturally result in lots of kid pictures. Sorry for the overabundance-they are ALMOST done. :-)

Popeye

Andrew pushed this car with Cameron (6) inside and Adrianna (3) sitting on top. Granted, it has wheels, but GOLLY. He made pretty good time!

After all the snow from the beginning of the week, I was ready for LOTS of sunshine...

The girls and their babies joined me and my Panda for a walk about town.

To end-a tea party at the park

I don't know WHAT Corynn is doing here, but she reminds me of a wine connoisseur. It cracks me up.

Believe it or not...this was only after ONE jellybean!

Dutchies

Couldn't resist getting a picture of my littlest darlings in front of the windmill Matt and I built for Mom and Dad in celebration of 30 years of marriage. Or two...

Today is the Day update:

Well, we are back! Our whole family is BEAT, let me tell you. Downright exhausted. And believe it or not, we didn't squeeze everything we WANTED to into our trip. There never is enough time in the day, is there?

My bumpkin is STILL tired from all the driving, my suitcase is still packed, and my camera card is FULL to capacity. It was good to visit, but it is good to be home. Very good.

While there are bags to be unpacked EVERYWHERE-I think I have to put them off for a day. Andrew has a doctors appointment and our cupboards are bare-like echoing. :-) Not to mention-it is about 80 so I have some laundry to hang on the line.

Here is a tidbit for you travellers out there...actually, two.

1) If you are coming home with MORE than you brought and simply don't have room in your suitcase for more...ROLL your clothes. In fact, you can do this on the way TO, also. Rolling your clothes takes up far less room and so you can fit lots more into your suitcase. I know because I fit an entire trashbag full of extra clothing into the suitcase when we returned home. It may even make for less wrinkling.

2) If you are travelling to a place where you have access to a machine-utilize that! I washed ALL of our clothes except the clothes on our backs before packing the suitcase...and so those clothes that you see in-those are ALL clean and need only to be put away. Sometimes the worst part of a trip is unpacking, but that heavy load can be lessened with just a BIT of preparation.

Take it or leave it, but there it is! ;-)

Now-in order to get these pictures posted but not get far behind on the present day stuff- every time I post, I will be including a present day post AND a selection of photos from our trip. It will be a week before I am entirely caught up. YIKES! Oh well.

I got spoiled with Dad's computer-it works so much faster than mine. I am aging here-and there is much to be done so this is it for today!

I look forward to catching up with everyone this week! Have a great sun-filled day!

Week Reminiscent: A Day at the Park

Inevitably, a park visit must include one or two of these...

Saturday last

Saturday last-the kidlets and I met Aunt Jessamyn and Auntie Beth with all the youngsters at the Science and Discovery center. Three adults, seven kids. It was fun. And loud. And chaotic. And rushed. But fun. I am totally convinced that when the Lord blesses Aunt Jessamyn with children-if he blesses her with septuplets right off the bat, she will be totally capable. She was awesome. Prepared lunches, prepared clothes, prepared for ANY catastrophe and she has NAILED the behavioral cues that Mama's need to keep the upper hand. You did awesome Jessamyn!

I am still failing miserably at learning the lesson 'less is more', as is shown by this plethora of pictage. I apologize especially, to those of you who keep up to date with the lives of both my sister and I. I purposely avoided posting photographs that consciously (or subconsciously) was one half of a pair of twins.

Two more days til I see my sweet Mattie! I rejoice!! I REJOICE!