my weekend started with having a little impromptu point and shot class with my mother...she cant get her bokeh photo's to...well....bokeh ...


i ordered a side of beef from Shells' dad about a month ago...for the first time since then, I cooked some steaks for dinner...ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm delish! LOL...I love to top steaks with mushrooms and onions...LOTS of mushrooms and onions....

and look at this! Yes ma'am....I have buds coming up from my grandmother's sedum plants so you know what that means...Spring HAS to start... no more cold and snowy weather....

We had a pretty quiet weekend...I like that. My oldest stayed busy with work and hanging out with friends a couple times. My youngest and I kinda just did whatever we felt like doing. we hung out in my bedroom, downstairs, at stores/mall and then we got this desire to go for a nature walk (which really means, I want to take pictures) so we did just that...

With everything going on with my oldest...sadly a lot of people's minds have been on him instead of the fact that my youngest graduates from middle school on Tuesday. Yes, folks he will be a high-schooler...urgh...my stomach just knotted up....okay whewwwwwwwwww woo-sa..back on topic...anyway...we went for a walk and he stayed with me at first but after several times of him running ahead then coming back to me I finally told him 'Go sweetie...just stay on the trail and come back to me. You'll be fine...' and he was.

Whew...sorta like life...



yes folks...he has his pj's on...remember I said we just decided to go for a walk..we'll we really did JUST DECIDED to go for a walk. hopped in the car and we were gone.


there was a bunch of logs chopped off and a couple stumps so he decided to jump on them...i'm telling you...boys!

i love his personality... i so do.

ya'll know i cant do this without my blossom photo's...c'mon now...

i think at this point we both heard something in the woods and his steps started getting slower ...mine got a little quicker until we were near each other.... yes...we are both scaredy-cats, LOL

i think i want a water display somewhere in my yard...but with a cat and dog...I dont know how clean I would be able to keep it. besides the OBVIOUS of them using it for a place to use the bathroom, I'm sure they would drink out of it and that doggy/cat slobber cant be good for water fountains...

i so want to do a Naturescape. Just using plants and flowers native to Missouri...with them being native one would think that they have a better survival rate, right? And then I want something to attract nature...well...as long as the 'nature' wasnt snakes, mice, raccoons or frogs...

and this was the end of our trail. kinda cool...

*my oldest is doing a little better. he has the usual...lost appetite, little boy/young male bravado, trouble sleeping and every once in awhile the emotional outburst. we've gotten wind of some information (I"m sure everyone can figure out what it is) that is heartbreaking for him but i told him nothing good comes out of being vengeful...and trust me, I keep saying that to myself. Terminator Momma is buried under my skin and she's rearing to come out but me fighting his battles is NOT going to do him any good.

if i say that enough times...I WILL LIVE IT AND BELIEVE IT

:-)

Ms. Mia-Peahy...she is getting so big! She is very alert and aware...sometimes I feel like she is looking at me thinking...' are you suuuuuuuuuuuuuuure you know how to change my diaper?????'

Trying to get some semblance of order in my photo's...deleting and tagging. You name it. I seem to be on a purging kick again...trying to de-clutter(is that a word???) odds and ends...and right now the odds and ends of my photo's is high on my list, LOL I love this photo....dont know why. I look at it and it reminds me of wishes, dreams, being a kid, no worries.....fun times. Peaceful times.

A Wii night......

Jalil and Okoye boxing....

I realllllllllllllllllly want to get a Wii...this is

not a game system....this is torture carefully disguised as a

game! I did it and I felt muscles that hadn't been used

in a long time!

AND....gotta have the cuteness factor for the night....

my great niece, Ms Mia laughing or having a

gas bubble....I take laughing....

She is AMAZINGLY alert....

Of course, babies are not happy all the time....I felt

a need to document THAT personality trait

to.....

Snow Dayz

Why can't life be this simple? You know, like a sign saying 'to avoid gaining 50 pounds...keep right!' Or 'keep right to avoid getting hurt!'. Or 'must turn left HERE for happiness.'....I guess if we had it all layed out in front of us...we would never learn, never grow and definetly never LIVE THE LIFE that was set out for us...

My 'get up and go' cocktail....strong coffee with hot cocoa and a cold bottle of water....

Man...I have been sleeping sooooooooo much lately. New Years Day I slept so much...not from a wild party the night before, although I did go over to a friends house, I was still at home by 11 to ring in the New Year with My Boys.... We got up yesterday, ate breakfast...I napped. Got up to start cooking my chicken for a huge pot of gumbo for a New Years Day dinner with my folks. Once I put that on...curled up on my couch with my green blankie....

Woke up about a half hour later to sautee some onions and shrimp for the gumbo. Set that aside...ummm is that my green blankie calling me??? I do believe it is. So I took another nap!

Been in a huge mood to take photo's so joined up with Shutter Sisters 365 project on Flickr. The shot above is my shot for today. This, I think could be fun.

Happy New Year peoples.....

!LIVE!

Usually for Christmas we play board games. Usually its Taboo, Yahtzee, Monopoly or something like that. Well, now..thanks to that wonderful thing we call technology, they have board games on computer and TV... Enter into the fray...Family Feud. On DVD. It was The Boys vs The Adults and we had a blast doing it....took a little getting used to but we stepped into the NEW CENTURY in regards to board games....

Jalil, it seems is upset at a 'steal' us Old
Fogey's had on the youngsters.....

I thought this question was a little....wrong

The Old Fogey's try to beat The Boys

Yeah...even Okoye was surprised they

were winning against us.....

So we wouldn't steal any of their
answers, they convened their round table to the

dinning room....

God...thank you for the blessings of family, fun and love

I was in Walmart tonight...yes, I went this close to Christmas and no I'm not crazy nor a glutton for punishment...any way...the excitement that kids have during this time of year...is AMAZING! You can feel it popping off of them now... Since I've got two older boys, who KNOW where their presents come from...a little tinge came up in me wishing I had that 'excitement' running around in my house now...


My great niece taken in November

And this, folks, this little girl is Mia....Ava Rae's little sister.....my great niece... she was born Saturday afternoon (2 weeks early) and when people was touching her...she wasnt too happy. Understand they were poking and prodding her.....

Mia and Daddy...daddy was whispering to her at the time and it was the sweetest thing....their first daddy/daughter conversation....

when they werent poking, prodding stretching her...Mia was sound asleep. She slept a lot this weekend...

And here is Ava Rae seeing 'Sissy' up close...she is already very protective her and at one point, when the nurse was taking her away to clean her up, Ava was SCREAMING 'SISSY!!! BABY! SIISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSY...' but she was also going 'ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww' at some of the guck that was still on her

Mia in all her Christmas finery....

of course i got more photo's and to be honest, i so wish i could post them. they are very intense very emotional and when I gave them to my niece she was very touched by them. Labor, for the most part, this is true: you know you went through some pain but over the years, it kinda fades to furthest corner of your mind...and all that remains is when they place your baby in your arms for the first time. THAT is what you remember and that is what you treasure.

A night and morning spent in the hospital........


My niece Shanell and her fiance Dale breathing


Pretty much, Mz Ava Rae was a really good girl......except she wanted the ice chips too....

Mz Ava Rae and Daddy Dale feeding her ice cubes...one for mommie...one for me...one for mommie....two for me.....one for mommie...all for me....

The nurse's were really good with trying to keep Ava occupied...but she seemed to be the most entertained with latex gloves being blown up.....Here Grammie (my sister) blowing up the gloves

And here, my sisters fiance and Mz Ava Rae makes a castle out of urine testing cups

"It sure seemed like a good idea to lick that metal pole that was frozen with ice on it...."

Some more of CJ...his dad plopped him into my lap at first to which I had the pleasure of realizing that CJ has a powerfull set of lungs on him. These beautiful eyes filled with tears so fast! I hurried up and tossed him back in Nicks (dad) lap. What do babies love more than mom and dad??? Flashing yellow and green lights on camera's. I kept doing my zoom on my lens which makes lights flash on my camera and I instantly had a friend in Mr CJ...do I feel guilty for inticing him? NOPE.....

CJ is the youngest son of a high school friend of mine.

My great niece, Anika

I SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO overstand the need for a nap, right now.......