Saturday Snapshot - The Ducks

I'm in bed today...turns out I don't have a virus...I have bronchitis, a sinus infection and my blood pressure is too high.

I guess I'm sick! :p

Days like today I really really appreciate my trusty laptop...I found this picture this morning...I had forgotten all about it :)

The Head of My Household took this photo...he had my camera to take pictures of a hawk that visits our lake sometimes and randomly snapped a few of our youngest.

I love how the sunlight is shining behind her hair and even her arms...I'll probably frame this one...if I ever get out of this bed!  I'm a very grumpy patient!

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce @ At Home with Books.

Snapshot Saturday - Thanksgiving

I might have mentioned a time or two that Thanksgiving is one of my favorite days of the year.  I actually enjoy the entire 9 days off...the days leading up to the big meal and the quiet days after.

My oldest daughter is in charge of decorating our mantle

We clean house from top to bottom since we host the annual family celebration

Even Layla gets in on the action ;)

My youngest is in charge of decorating the piano

And my middle daughter is famous for her Butterfinger Pies

No idea where she gets the taking pictures of your food idea :/

Our new recipe for last year was one called Green Bean Bundles...it was a hit so the recipe automatically earned its place on this year's menu...my youngest helped wrap the beans in bacon and spear each roll with toothpicks

She's a "Wicked" good cook by the way ;)

Snapshot Saturday is hosted by Alyce over @ At Home with Books. 

Saturday Snapshot - Community Thanksgiving

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce @ At Home with Books

I challenged my Comp I students with a Thanksgiving Community Service project.  Although we are all thrilled to be home and with family for 9 whole days off from school, there are a lot of families who don't have that luxury.  There are also a lot of school children who will be off from school like us for the next 9 days but will NOT have enough to eat.  The 2 hot meals they eat each day at school won't be available to them over the break.  

I told my students that I would give them 5 bonus points for 5 cans of food or other non-perishable items.  

They went crazy.

Most brought more than 5 items even though they knew they would only receive 5 bonus points.  Others specifically picked out "kid" food such as Cinderella and SpongeBob chicken noodle soup, ChefBoyDee ravioli, etc.  

I wanted to cry on Friday, which was the deadline.  It took 10 of my students from my last period class to load my car. 

My daughters and I packed the shelves of the church food pantry this morning.  Please notice that the cans go all the way to the wall and are stacked as high as they can go.  My church opens the pantry to those in need 12 months out of the year...November and December are the hardest hit months.

Several people at the church this morning said they couldn't remember a food pantry haul this large...ever...

I'm officially making this an annual Community Service project for my students.

I love my students...they make everything else about my job worthwhile.

Saturday Snapshot - Let the ShowChoir Season Begin!!

It seems our last ShowChoir season just ended...

and here we go again.

This will be my middle daughter's last year in Show Choir.  It has been exhausting and expensive, and I've sometimes wondered if all the effort is worth the payoff.

Then I see pictures like this of my middle child:

She comes alive on stage.

She has a sense of confidence and self-esteem I don't see anywhere else.

 She's having a BLAST!

 And, she can work it, Girl!

 You wouldn't believe the amount of energy, hard work and perseverance is put into this program.

 By all of the kids as well as the adults.

Is this my kid who has always felt as if she's in her older sister's shadow?

Somehow I don't think so! :)

Snapshot Saturday is hosted by Alyce @ At Home with Books

Saturday Snapshots

Imagine you are Barbie, and you looked up and saw this...

Yikes! ;)

Thomas O'Malley loves playing with my youngest daughter's toys...we have laughed and laughed at him flitting around inside the dollhouse and my middle daughter finally caught him with her camera phone the other day.

He's such a little imp ;)

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce @ At Home with Books

Saturday Snapshots - Two of my Best Girls

My youngest and Layla were exhausted after Layla's first soccer game.  I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship :)

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce @ At Home with Books.

Saturday Snapshot - Marching on...

Satuday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce @ At Home with Books. 

Graduation accomplished...let the next step begin!!

My firstborn is the next to last person on the right of the standing row...her new soccer coach is the redhead standing beside her :)

I took these photos on Soccer Media Day...the group of signees this year are a smart, independent, hard working group of gals...but I'm not biased at all ;)

The beautiful young woman sitting in front of my firstborn is her new roommate beginning in August.  They've played soccer together since the 2nd grade but graduated from different high schools.

While change and endings are difficult, new beginnings and possibilities are exciting!!

Have a great weekend!

Saturday Snapshot - Fishing with Daddy :)

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce over @ At Home with Books.

When I arrived home from the grocery story yesterday afternoon, this was what had been going on in my absence.  My youngest was so proud of her very first "real" fish and was determined to eat her catch.  Once she supervised the Head of My Household cleaning, filleting and otherwise "preparing" the fish for the pan, however, she quickly changed her mind and opted for a slide of cheese pizza instead.

No more worries for the fish in our lake...my little angler will toss them back in from now on.

I guarantee it.

:)

Saturday Snapshot - Strawberries :)

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce @ At Home with Books

My youngest picked these plants from the co-op last Spring

and was so disappointed that they never made.

As we're getting ready to prepare our garden for this year we happened to notice that our 1 little strawberry plant had increased itself to 10 little strawberry plants!!!!  All of them have some little buds, flowers and even the beginnings of little strawberries!! None have turned red yet, but there was enough progress to send my youngest over the moon!!

I'm sure everybody knows more about strawberries than I do, but the green in the middle of the flower is actually the beginnings of a strawberry!!!!!

:):)

Saturday Snapshot - New Mommy and Baby

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce @ At Home with Books

Obviously I didn't take this picture since I'm the new mom holding the baby :)

I have a very serious look on my face bc this is my middle child and she had a little trouble breathing when she was first born and spent her first couple of days hooked up to all kinds of monitors, etc.

I was relieved to finally be holding her in my arms.

She is almost 17 now and participating in the Jr. Miss program tonight.

Wow!

It's called Distinguished Young Women now...and she is certainly growing into a Distinguished Young Woman :)

Saturday Snapshot - February 12 - Uh-Oh

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce @ At Home with Books.

No, unfortunately the white stuff surrounding my buddy Uh-Oh is not snow.

It is toilet paper.

:(

I took this photo this past Halloween as we were trying to clean our yard after the annual wake up on Nov. 1 to find our yard rolled routine.

This year the hooligans used the cheapest, thinnest toilet paper they could find, and it took us a month to get it all picked up.

Joke's over.

Uh-Oh enjoyed the clean-up process as much as the jump around in the toilet paper as it whips in the wind from the branches scenario.

You can tell from his on alert eyes and his readied claws that he is on a mission.

:)

Next year Uh-Oh and I will be waiting on the hooligans. 

Mwah ha, ha ha ha ha ha.....

Saturday Snapshot - San Francisco

Not the greatest picture in the world, but this is the view of San Francisco this morning from my hotel window through the lens of my Blackberry.

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce over at At Home with Books.

Saturday Snapshot - That's What Little Girls are Made Of

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce over @ At Home with Books

This past week immediately following the game during which this snapshot was taken (by me), my firstborn officially committed to play soccer in college next year.

It was a tough decision with several offers to consider...We are proud of her final choice, and I personally am relieved that she'll still be close enough for me to continue getting pictures like this to add to my collection :)

Whoever made up all that Sugar and Spice nonsense obviously didn't know my kid (the one in the white jersey)

She's a little like her mama :)

Saturday Snapshot - New Mommy and Baby

My brother is 11 years younger than I am, so we have always been a generation apart as we pass through life stages.

My oldest child will graduate from high school this year, and his firstborn is a newborn.

I have never ever in my life wished to return to some previous stage in my life.

I really cannot even explain it.  I just enjoy all the grown-up roles I get to play ever year that I get older :)

This past weekend I got to play the role of older, more experienced mom.

I got to hold, sing, bounce and take care of the little high maintenence bundle while his mommy got some much needed sleep.

When the snapshot above was taken (by me) she had just come downstairs from several straight hours of sleep.  She had color in her cheeks and love in her eyes again.

I remember vividly those days.

I remember wondering how I might take my next step...much less ever live normal life again :)

I couldn't help thinking last weekend as I just finished reading Little Women that in past generations this is why the women of the family surrounded the new mother and helped take care of the baby around the clock.  Even in the infancy of medicine, women knew that a new mother must be allowed to rest and heal if she was to be able to take care of her child.

Interesting that we think we know so much today...but maybe, just maybe they knew more then.

Imagine that ;)

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce at At Home with Books