snip-its from the Zoo

^^ these little guys are a must see for Miss Maddy and Kate at the Children's Zoo
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^^ this Zoo Interpreter was sitting at Kate's very favorite spot - the prairie dogs. He thought he really knew what he was talking about until these girls came along. Here Maddy is filling him in on prairie dog info. I love how it captures how animated she is when she talks! Love this girl!!
^^^this was the scene all day... so sweet
My pretty brown eyed girl.
^^^"Sir, please get off of the polar bear." Yep, they stopped the carousel. :D
^^^my son, the penguin-- or is he a puffin?
^^^ the crew. First stop was the penguins since last time they visited we didn't get to go in. We had a ball in here. Longest I've ever stayed. It's freezing!  

^^^checking out the maps, getting together our plan for the day 

If you didn't figure it out these loaded up backwards...(and I was too lazy to do all the rearranging) This was probably the most beautiful day, weather wise, I've ever had at the zoo. The company made it perfect.

Hoping to get another post up with the rest of our visit soon.
Will be online here and there (FB and maybe twitter - gasp - ) and here with a possible post or two next week. If I can get my big hiney out of the lounger and into the condo. :) I am a sun goddess, ya know.

eta: I really need to pump up the saturation on these. In photoshop they look right, but blogger washes them out somehow... hmmmmm......

more coming soon ...




Have lots to share from our wonderful weekend. Took lots of photos and have been having way to much fun editing and playing with them... I'll get them on here tomorrow!  I will say that there are very few friends in your life that you are 100% yourself with, who you feel like they are family, and we are so thankful to have Jeff, Jacki and Maddy as ours.  
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Getting ready this week for vacation. With my stress level where it's been lately, it can not come soon enough. I'm going to make a very conscience effort to let it all just float away and *relax*. No worries, right?

In the meantime, I'm making a list of all the stuff to do before we go and willingly acknowledging that 1/2 of it may not get done. But, I'll put it on there anyway because I like to make myself crazy like that. :)





Caution: happiness ahead

I have several posts that have been written and not published due to:
a. being interrupted
b. photos not edited
c. stupid rambling that is far from blog worthy

I don't know what's  up with me and the blog, but it just hasn't been jiving lately. 
Nothing much new around here. Summer is in full swing. I really love summer. Love the smells of sunscreen and chlorine, love the popsicles, the fresh corn and tomatoes, sunkissed faces.
I love that it seems like there is always something to look forward to. Lots of fun planned.

For instance, 
we have company coming: 

To say we are excited is an understatement. Jeff, Jacki and Maddy are coming to hang out and celebrate the 4th. There is talk of seeing penguins, and the Magic House, too. One of our favorite parts of the summer is our time with them. Every morning for a week, Kate has asked first thing in the morning "what day is it?" and then rattled off the days until Maddy comes :) I love that they have become such sweet friends ... who knows, maybe someday they will schlep their families down the highway to visit each other, too:)

Then we have a short recovery week, and it's off to: 



not ^^this beach (last year in St. Pete) ... but Panama City Beach.  Sooooo looking forward to it and going to soak up every single second of it. Staying with friends down there, and looking forward to fun times with them! 

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a few fun happy things:
*Mat Kearney has a new CD out -- yea!!! Love the single "Closer to Love"

*Ben got a new collar -- with his name and phone number embroidered on it from this Etsy Shop
He got the navy and red plaid madras one. It's looks so handsome on him, and bonus: no shiny tags to make him crazy!


*my new favorite... Arizona Pomegranate Green Tea .... delish! Add a little sparkling water for a refreshing spritzer!! 





well, hello there

 It's been crazy to say the least, but things are starting to settle down and we are looking forward to summer's full swing. 
quick recap:
Jonathan was in C'ville for golf clinic for a week and 1/2. Missed him.
Matt was in England and Scotland for 2 weeks. Missed him.
Hannah is now in Colorado at church camp. Miss her. 
Me and Katie, we are holding down the fort. I've had some visitors that have been helping break up the days/weeks. Now, once Hannah gets home on Sunday morning *early*, we will all be home together for the first time since Memorial Day! 

Here is Katie with Mrs. Harris, her Kindergarten teacher. I was blessed to have her start off all 3 of my kids in school. She's so special to our family:) Katie *graduated* from Kindergarten, here Pastor is presenting her with her diploma. She's so funny, already talking this summer about missing him. He does a wonderful job at making the children of the school, even if they don't attend church there, feel like he is their 'shepherd' and being accessible to them.
So now she's a 1st grader! and... I have a 5th grader and Freshman! Somebody stop this train!


Here's Hannah (w/her bffs) getting ready to board the bus to head to Colorado (they look much better than I did at 5 a.m.) 200+ highschoolers on 4 chartered buses, 18 + hours for a week long trip. They are horseback riding, white water rafting, hiking, and learning about God in the majestic setting of the mountains. 
I can't wait to hear all her stories and see her pictures. Memories that are life changing!

* Otherwise that's the big stuff. You can hear about Matt's trip to the UK on his blog (linked on my sidebar). I have the job of organizing and editing his 800 pictures, so that may be a while. 

*I'm starting the planning for Amy's baby shower at the end of the summer/beginning fall. We do know that she and Doug are having a little *Boy*!!! Mama and baby are doing great and he's growing big and strong already.  We've done one quick maternity photoshoot, but have more to come and ...then come the baby pictures!! Can't wait to hold that 'lil punkin:)


 

My Girls
Hannah (14) ~ Katie Rose (6)

TidBits

In no particular order:

* online browsing for a swimsuit -- which I've found is waaayyyy more enjoyable than actually going to the store and trying them on.

*new pet peeve: super skinny models in the "Trimmer" and "Miracle" swimsuits... show me a chick with a gut and how it sucks it in and makes her look like *that* girl and then I'm buying... otherwise, it could be one of the most ridiculous pieces of marketing ever.

*This past week nearly did me in. We had multiple goings-on every night, plus work and school. But we survived, which is the goal that I set at the beginning of the week, so it's all good.

*It won't be long before my husband heads for the "other side of the pond" Great Britain and to what I'd like to think of as my homeland, the beautiful Scotland. Same sort of trip as our wonderful Italy excursion, just without me:(  More on that later.... 

*We've been knee-deep in baseball for the boy and so far this year has proven to be the worst for coaches (not ours, thankfully), umps, and parents taking this sport way to seriously. He's playing great though, especially his hitting...

*Which he's been doing sans glasses....say what??? Yes, my son has successfully broken all 3 of his pairs of glasses, including 2 lost lenses. Next week insurance will buy a brand new pair, so we are just waiting until then. I am REALLY surprised that he seems perfectly fine without them. If you didn't know that he had them before, you wouldn't know he had them before. Still, I know he has quite a hefty astigmatism in one eye in particular so I don't quite get it. Anywhooo --- he's getting new ones next week. 

*I don't think I've posted before about Katie Rose and her eyes. She has been going to vision therapy the past few months and I've been very happy with the whole process. We found out through consistent complaining of headaches, and another eye exam since the fall, that she has a focusing issue (which has an actual medical name that I don't remember right now). No need for glasses, just these very thorough exams with the specialist and some "games" that make her stretch her focus. This has made a big difference for her and I'm thankful that we followed our instincts and check into this for her. So a PSA for moms and dads: follow your gut

*Back to Jon Carter, those of you who are on FB know, that he got hit in the face with a baseball 2 weeks ago. It was the by far the worst injury he's ever had. We made a trip to the ER and they did a head CT to be sure there was no bad stuff going on in there. He came home with a major bruised, swollen face and headache but otherwise, just fine.  At one point he had one big black eye and and greenish, purplish nose. Kate was very interested in all the colors that Bubby's face was turning:) So thankful my boy's angels were at the ready that evening...I can't bear to think what it would have been if the ball hadn't hopped before hitting him...

*On a lighter note:  a  fashion trend that I'm not on board with just yet...I'm not saying Never, but I need convincing is the very strappy, very "look at my cankles!!" shouting gladiator sandals. Not familiar with them?? Here are a couple from Urban Outfitters:

I've seen them work on some people, with certain outfits, but I'm thinking my Old Navy flip flops are going to be my summer go-to shoe again this summer. 

****** I know this has been a very long rambling post. It tends to happen when I've been gone too long. I have more to fill you in on, but I'll put it in the vault for later.  I know you just can't wait, can ya? Seriously, things are maybe going to slow down around here and I can be coherent enough once the house is quiet to chat more than I have lately. 
Thanks for stopping by!



Saturday morning conversation



Daddy asks Katie if she wants to help him plant the garden this morning.
Katie says, " Yes! Are we going to the daycare?  You know, the nursery that was closed yesterday to get the flowers??"