Day 213. Grandma's Bowls.

I had no idea how much I'd use them when my mom FORCED me to take them a few months ago.  She came with paper bags, full of dishes, that all of us Freeman girls were instructed to sort through, and take what we liked.  I believe these were my grandmother's.  They may have been my mom's.  (You can help me out on this, Mom.)  Either way, I use them constantly.  They're GREAT to throw a little something in microwave.  I love the lids, to keep something warm while I'm finishing something else.  Veggies, taco meat, beans... I've put all sorts of food in these.  Thanks, Mom!  :)

Day 212. Happy Birthday to me... again!

I mentioned yesterday that my mother-in-law came to stay with us for the weekend.  This was the first time we'd seen her since Mother's Day.  And she came bearing belated birthday gifts for yours truly!  Makes me feel like a little girl, the way I get so excited about such things... but I do!  I can't help it.  And she knows me well enough to give me my favorites:  anything that smells nice!... and, of course, just about ANYTHING from Target!  :)  Love, love, LOVE that store!  :)  It was a nice, little "happy birthday to me- after the fact" surprise.  So sweet!

Days 205 thru 211. Yikes!

I have seven days to catch up on.  So, here you go, in a brief summary of my life and/or thoughts throughout any given typical week...

Day 205.
I bought this new top only a couple of weeks ago.  I've worn it once.  I really liked it, but as you may notice, there's a big wet circle on the front of it now.  That's because one of my dogs decided to play tug-o-war with it.


This was the end result, so in the trash it went.  :(


















Day 206.  This would be the boys' choice of game the other night.  Do you play board games with your family?  My kiddos love them!  What's your favorite?

















Day 207.  My impatiens have continued to grow through the summer, despite the days of neglect they've endured.  :(  Poor things have not received nearly enough attention.

Day 208.  While I was observing in the front yard, I also noticed the leaves on our sweet gum tree, so bright and green.  I thought of how the it's getting darker a little earlier every evening, and how, VERY SOON, these summery, green leaves are going to turn into a beautiful shade of yellow.  (And that would be my husband in the background, watering the grass... See?  Normalcy, at its best.  :))

Day 209.  Next up, a goofy, little boy, being a ninja in his bathrobe... w/bunny ears, of course.  And, why NOT?

Day 210.  The weekend arrived, and this is a little sign that we received a visit from Grandma.  My kiddos were thrilled to be able to spend some time with her.  And my oldest washed her car, inside and out, while she was here!

Day 211.  Last but not least, my doggie.  Yes, this is the one who ate a hole in my shirt.  I forgave her.  Can you really blame me?  Just look at that precious face!

There you have a very small glimpse into my week.  I suppose it leaves a lot out.  I would have LOVED to have shown you pictures of our worship time at church this morning.  We spent time with our kids in children's church, singing and learning as a family!  And for one of the skits, my husband gladly accepted the role as a stubborn cow!  You had to be there.  ...and I didn't have a camera.  :( 

Nor do I have pictures of the huge plate of steak fajita nachos I had for lunch, as we sat around a table with some of our dearest friends this afternoon. 

I would love to show you how adorable my friend looked earlier this week, in her cute hat.  :) 

Or how sweet my baby niece sounded over a video message, as she laughed while my sister played with her. 

Or the expression on my mother-in-law's face as I dragged her around Trader Joe's on Saturday morning!

How handsome my "baby" brother looked in his dress shirt and tie when I met him for lunch with my sisters.

Or the pure elation in my oldest son as he discovered that putting scotch tape on the wheels of his remote control car, will cause it to DRIFT throughout the floors of our house! 

The imagination of my second child.

The mischief of my third.

But some things aren't photographed.  Some things can't be, to my dismay!  If only I could capture every precious moment and memory. 

My week was filled with everything from excersize, to homework, to laundry, to my photography, to bedtime stories and prayers.  And I wouldn't have it any other way. 

I'll try to be better about my posts this week, for those of you who care.  (Hi, Mom!  :)

Day 204. My Purple Dress.

I wore this dress to church this morning.  A couple of sweet folks reminded me that this dress usually receives a compliments or two when I wear it (which always makes a girl feel wonderful!), so I'm deciding that I should just ALWAYS wear this dress.  :)  If not, then at least, I should always be wearing this color, purple.

This is another "confessions" post.  You know what I think is so fun about this dress???  Well, I'll tell you.

Once upon a time, there was a girl who loved Target.  It drove her children crazy, that EVERY time she would go to Target, she had to stop at all the clearance clothing racks, to sort through every discounted item in her size... and sometimes, not EVEN the ones in her size (because we clearance shoppers KNOW that sometimes the RIGHT sized item, may be hung on the WRONG hanger!).  However, her children didn't seem to mind when THEY would benefit from her clearance shopping ways... but that story is for a different time.

One day, as the girl was quickly browsing through her favorite department of Target, she noticed such a pretty purple, peeking out from among the other colors.  Purple ALWAYS caught her eye, because it is her mother's favorite color.  She pulled out the garment, and it was a long, soft, summer dress.  "Yay!" she thought to herself, because the young lady always loved a new summer dress!  As she glanced at the price tag, she became more excited.  The dress was marked down greatly from its original price,  however there was something slightly disturbing that came along with that information.  Beside the beautiful, bright, orange clearance sticker, in all capital, bold print letters, the word MATERNITY stared back at her. 

"Oh dear," she thought, "Maternity?  Well, it doesn't LOOK like a maternity dress... and for such a great price?... Oh, could I get away with it???" 

She held the dress up and looked it over carefully for any tell-tale sign that it should REALLY be worn by someone who was great with child (which she was NOT, and never planned to be again!).  It looked like so many other dresses of that style, so she threw the dress in her cart, and didn't look back!  To this day, the young lady smiles to herself every time she wears the dress... because SHE knows the secret!  :)

And, now, you do, too!  :)  Yes, my pretty, purple dress is actually a maternity dress.  Heehee!  Hey, I'm not bashful!  I love to tell my "good deal" secrets!  Sometimes, it's okay step outside the box, and just make something WORK!  :)  And you would have NEVER known if I hadn't told you!  Go ahead, take a fashion chance!  Haha!

Day 203. Silly Bands.

Have you all heard about these silly things?  Silly bands.  I suppose they're the newest trend.  My kids think these are just great.  (They all think they're great, minus KS1.  He thinks they're "dumb," but he got his father's ... er... well... more "sensible" gene (or as I sometimes call it... the fuddy-duddy gene)... heehee!)  I always swore I'd be one of those "cool" moms who stayed in touch with all the kids' trends and such.  Ugh.  I have failed.  I don't know if these things are "really" cool, but I see them adverstised EVERYWHERE.  Walgreens had their huge sign out... "WE HAVE SILLY BANDS!"  Well, doesn't every store?  I see them at the grocery store, at WalMart, at Target.  I won't be surprised when they start giving them away as Happy Meal toys! 

When I was younger, there were a few similar trends.  Anyone remember slap bracelets? 

They outlawed them.  Apparently, the bendy metal could cut through the fabric or material and eventually slap a cut right into a child's wrist (well, that's what I'd always heard, anyway... who knows if it's true, because I've recently seen them resurfacing, just like everything else!).  Yikes. 

There were also jelly bracelets. 

We would take two of them and knot them around one another to make such a cool design.  (When I looked them up for the picture, apparently, now they're rumored to mean a whole lot more than what I ever knew as a kid!)

And, of course, there were the homemade friendship bracelets, which are also trendy again. 

I was never able to make any as cool as these, but you get the idea.


What about Swatch watches? 

The cool thing for these, was to have six or seven, and wear them ALL at the same time... several on each wrist.  Or was that just me?  Oh, my dad HATED that phase!

Isn't it funny what comes back around?  Silly bands are new, though.  These weird, little things are actually in the shapes of things.  When you take them off, they're an outline of an object.  My mom just bought some for the boys, of Iron Man, the Hulk, and Fantastic 4.  And they can cost a fortune!  Seriously?  For super hero shaped rubber?

Wow, don't I sound cool?  Whos' the fuddy duddy now?  Do cool people say "fuddy duddy?"  Yeah, I didn't think so.  :/

Day 202. Confessions.

Confession #1:  This is my EAR.

Confession #2:  This photo was taken in my bathroom (because I like the curtain!).

Confession #3:  It's really hard to take a picture of your own ear!

Confession #4:  I LOVE earrings.  I suppose it's a weakness?  I don't know.  I just think they're fun and pretty and I'd probably have them up and down my entire ear, if it wasn't such a pain!  :)

Confession #5:  The top piercing was done about ten years ago, but got terribly infected, so I removed it and said NEVER AGAIN.  Then, a couple of weeks ago, I decided to give it another go.  Did you know that they say getting your cartilage pierced by a needle will heal much more smoothly and have much LESS chance of infection, than when it's pierced with one of those staple gun things?  So far, so good on mine.  It's a little irritable still (as you can probably tell by the pink shade around the top of my ear), but doing pretty well!

All right, so no deep, dark confessions, REALLY.  Some of you already think I'm weird, and if you know me, then you've confirmed it.  :)  Haha!  So, it should come as no surprise to hear me admit that  I get a kick out of ears!  I think they're cute (as long as they're clean... ew!).  I love how God has made each one differently... just like the rest of any other feature.  It never ceases to amaze me how detailed and specific God is. 

My ears are one of those weird things I actually think to thank God for... They are how I hear!  Do you ever find yourself stopping to think about the things we take for granted?

• 
  
  the sweet laughter of my babies.  :)
• 
  
  my husband's voice, whispering, "I love you."
• 
  
  my favorite song on the radio!
• 
  
  the difference between a "hurt" cry or a dramatic one (you mommies know what I'm talking about!).
• 
  
  when the dryer is finished, or the stove timer goes off, or the microwave beeps.
• 
  
  birds singing or crickets chirping.
• 
  
  sweet songs of praise to my heavenly Father.
• 
  
  the slightest stir through the night, that will wake me to check on one of my children.

I suppose I could go on and on.  I think it's good for me to stop and remember to be thankful for things we don't think about being out of the ordinary.  How blessed I am!  Maybe my next post should be about my nose.  Ok, never mind.  I'm thankful I can smell, too, but I'll spare you the photo of my nostrils.  Ick.

Day 201. More of Lauren and Coley.

I've been working on this session this week, and I'm just having too much fun not to share.  :)

Day 200!!!

Wow!  I can hardly believe I'm on my 200th day of my 365 project.  Holy cow.  That's kinda cool!  :)

Well, I promised some more of my "mini" senior session, so here are just a couple.  Such a pretty girl. 

Day 199. One Year Old.

One year ago today, this precious baby girl was born.  She is the first baby girl to grace this side of my family since my little sister was born (who just so happens to be my niece's mommy :).

We were all quite smitten with her from the moment we met her.  We had no idea the adventure we were about to take!  On the morning they should have brought little "H" home from the hospital, my sister called me in tears.  "H" had stopped breathing several times throughout the previous night, and they were sending her to Children's Hospital to evaluate the situation.

We were very blessed.  Her stay at Children's was a short one.  Her test results came back with encouraging news, but the doctors have watched her closely for the wonderful year she has been with us...

...and for that year, they've watched her grow.... AND grow!  She crawls.  She talks.  She throws things (like tantrums!)  :)  All of her milestones have been reached, and she keeps on GOING!  She is a perfectly healthy, wonderful, GORGEOUS one year old baby girl.

If you were one of the many, many friends or family members who prayed for our family during that time, THANK YOU!  God has blessed my sister and her husband with a little ray of sunshine in their sweet daughter.  We have all been blessed to see God work in her life!

...And here we are, a WHOLE year later, celebrating her first birthday!!!

Her mommy treated her to a day out with the girls (her mommy, Mammaw, both aunts... and Big Brother came along for the fun, too).  First, we went shopping at Target... because it's fun!

My nephew "tolerated" it.  :)

Lunch at Bread Co.  Here, Aunt Laura tries to get just ONE good picture of the two of us.  Yeah, not so much.  She was getting grumpy by then, and needed her nap!  :P

Had to bring along some birthday treats to share!

She didn't seem to mind.

And that was enough fun for one morning....  Look at her little, chocolate-covered fingers.  Later, we'll celebrate in style at her party.  But this was a great way to start off the birthday festivities.  :)  I LOVE being Aunt Laura.  :)

Days 196, 197, & 198. Best Friends.

This session was so much fun for me.  These two girls just make me smile.  We've known L for a little while now, and she has the privilege (wink,wink) of caring for our little ones from time to time.  She has a very special place in my heart (and in the hearts of each of my children!).  When I watch her and her best bud, C, I can't help but float back in time, to recapture memories of my own "kindred spirit."  Ah, yes, youth is wasted on the young.  :)

They're just too beautiful for words!

Love their giddy laughter.

I don't think she believes how beautiful she really is.

Look at the smiles!

Last but not least, we fit in a few more individuals of C.  She is starting her first year of college, but never had highschool senior pictures taken!  HELLO!  So, you can rest assured there are more of her to come!  :)

Day 195. Doggie Toys.

Do you have dogs?  If so, what toys have you found actually LAST?  We used to be able to keep toys around, at least, for a LITTLE while.  But since we've brought Ellie home, it has become a lost cause.  We have to keep them around, or she'll resort to chewing on things she shouldn't!  Well, anyway...

the most recent purchase was these:

They are little dinosaur toys that are supposed to be for dogs up to 50 pounds.  Well, Mandy's not 50 pounds...

But our Ellie is.

And let me just say, that these purchases were NOT worth the money I spent on them.  They're already TOAST!  :(

I had to throw this pic in for fun.  Mandy's crooked smile.  Heehee!

Days 193 & 194. Tower Grove.

I took these during this week's senior session in Tower Grove.  Played with them a little, and thought I'd use them to catch up on my days.  :)  Just for fun.  I loved the building below.  It's their church building, actually.  I love those old buildings in the city.  They have such character.

Day 192. More Seniors!

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE doing senior sessions?  These kids are just so much fun.  I love their energy.  I love their outlooks.  So fresh and full of life!  We probably chose one of the HOTTEST days of the year to do this young man's session, and he was such a great sport.  I've known his mom for a long time, so it was fun catching up, and seeing just how much her oldest son has grown!... in size AND in personality!  :)  What a great guy.