Showing posts with label summer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label summer. Show all posts

Friday, August 5, 2011

{see you in eight days...}

It has been two long years since our family went on a vacation together. Time and jobs and all the other little divets in life kept getting in the way.

Well God has blessed us with a tiny window of opportunity -that coupled with the gift of extreme budgeting -and we are off to the beach for a week.

When we had ALL FIVE of the kids together on that last trip it was so wonderful...and yet we knew it was maybe the last time it would happen. 

With the girls getting older  {18,20 & 22} it is just getting harder to plan around their jobs, as well as ours.

...I think we have been blessed beyond words to have them along for as many adventures as we have...this year we are revisiting this happy and memory filled little island minus one.

{ the sweet joys of having children from 10 -22}


Our oldest daughter just could not get the time off work and while it is 
heart breaking to us, and her, she is quickly realizing how "unfair" LIFE can be.
With her own new little place and bills to pay, it just was not a good time for her to leave work.
We will miss her deeply and are hoping that the weekend will allow her a short escape.

{six sets of crossed fingers can't hurt}

We hope that this year will bring as much adventure and blessed weather as two years ago...
...the time together...the real down time is what we are all seeking.

Eight days of sweet, precious time to relax, explore, connect.
Together.

It will be Heaven!

Enjoy your week !






Thursday, August 4, 2011

{week 7. summer in snapshots}


It is time again for Summer in Snapshots, 
a fun and inspiring party hosted by Amber over at The {Starfish} Blog. 
How can the days get any busier?
I am cramming tons of odds and ends into each day...
...school uniform & supplies shopping, work, work working,
the usual chores and of course, creating...
but creating was extra special this past week. Not because of
what I created, but because of who I was creating with.
You can read about it here.
CREATING FEELS SO GOOD...
...and sometimes, just a simple photo of what we are working on
can be just as rewarding....
Enjoy!


I will be linking up here!
 

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

{ week 4 - summer in snapshots }

It is time again for Summer in Snapshots, 
a fun and inspiring party hosted by Amber over at The {Starfish} Blog. 
This has been a week full of sunshine and beauty.
From water parks, to lake fronts...
... to stopping to smell the roses and  listening to a bird's song.
All the beauty that surrounds us and the beauty before us...
...each child's face telling a new story each time it faces the lens!

Welcome to Week 4. Please join in and follow along!
 
 

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

{ a wake up call - and a little down time }

I had a wake up call this morning. At the first it saddened me...the news so right there in my face...and then I was awakened and realized the happiness that awaited me...

...and the story goes -

I woke up this morning and began my routine, for what is a life without routine? I wrote my Morning Pages, {something I learned from Julia Cameron, the author of The Artist's Way, A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity...thank you Sandi for leading me to her!} I whipped through some chores, made the children breakfast,put in a few hours for my "real job", and finally sat down with a cup of coffee to start my photo downloads & editing, read and answer email, creating  a new post... all the things that come with having a full fledged blog. Not a few minutes into it my Sophia came up to me and asked what I was doing. But she knew what I was doing. The same thing I do for myself every morning for an hour. I told her anyway. She sighed and wandered away. A few more minutes sailed past and she was back. This time undercover. Stealth in her black and white polka dotted tights and Daddy's black t-shirt. She skidded past me on her knees, swiffering the wood floor as she went and landed with a thud under my desk and knees.

My aggravated mother side muttered something silently, but the loving mother side calmly spoke.

"What do you need Sophia?"

"I am not Sophia, I am a ninja."

I ignored this and kept reading, working, trying to concentrate on what I was doing. A pause, and out she crawled. At least I had the good sense to notice she was a little dejected that I didn't play along. But still I read and wrote and edited.

Halfway through the next minute I am alerted to another surprise attack. This time by a much larger Ninja who is trying to slither his way behind my desk.

"Okay Ethan, I see you. What do you guys need? I am busy...go play for awhile...give me ten minutes...I am almost done..."

And there it was....

... from the depths of their sweet imaginary jungle I hear Sophie sadly utter a single sentence that sends my own heart plummeting to the jungle floor.

"But when you are done with that you will have something else to work on."

And the sadness came from the truth in that. I ALWAYS am doing something, working on something, creating something...and while 99% of the time those two little ninjas are having their own fun it is a fact that I need to be there the ONE time that they ask me to be...want me to be....NEED me to be.

And so there will be some down time. I vow to take REAL TIME this summer to ASK my little ninjas what THEY had planned for the day. Most of the time their plans won't include me....their forts and picnics and water balloon fights custom  made for two...but should they ask me to be a part of their day I will be there. ALL OF ME.

Will I be able to blog and edit and create every day? Probably not. Will my life be less richer for taking the time off? Definitely NOT. Will I lose readership? Most certainly....but my heart will be happy. My soul will be richer. My children will smile. That is really ALL that matters.

And so if you do not see me every day, here at this little blog of mine, it is because I am out LIVING my NOT SO SHABBY LIFE!

{p.s. I WILL BE HERE...just not every day....stick with me if you will!}











Thursday, June 30, 2011

{ summer in snapshots . week 2 }

It is time again for Summer in Snapshots, a fun and inspiring party hosted by The {Starfish} Blog. 
This has been the most uplifting idea that I have ensued upon so far this summer. I am finally strapping that camera on and hoisting that lens up again...a habit I had missed sorely.
Welcome to Week 2. Please join in and follow along!
















{I’m linking to The Starfish Blog Summer in Snapshots}

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Summer in Snapshots

Well, Summer has settled herself, with blazing hot finality, into the lap of Florida. I am amazed at how quickly the change came, the searing heat of August upon us already...and while I find myself dragging my drop cloth for those farmhouse furniture projects into the oh-so-sweet reprieve of air conditioning, I DO love this season. The kids are buzzing with energy- ready to break out of the pen that has kept them from their free roaming ways. Lists have been made, projects planned, outings arranged. Everyone is ready to settle in, hunker down and start savoring the sweetness of Summer! 

I broke out the vintage lemonade dispenser, basketed up the pool towels and readied the camera for some delightful down time!









 

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