287/365 - Friday Night Lights

I am not a big fan of football, but my brother-in-law is the head football coach at Marion High School, so every once in a while Michael drags me along to a football game. Most of the time, I have no idea what is happening on the field, nor do I really care, but the kids have a great time, and it's a fun place to take pictures!

286/365 - Dragonfly

This dragonfly belonged to my Mom. She loved Dragonflies.



One year ago today, Mom went into the hospital to have her hernia repaired.
Little did I know how our lives were about to change...

285/365 - Glowsticks in the bathtub

I saw this idea a while ago and while in the process of cleaning out stuff, I found a tube of glow sticks and immediately knew just what to do with them. The pictures didn't come out very good, but the kids had a lot of fun with them, so I still consider it a big success. And even little Teddy thought it was good fun...he loves to wander on the edge of the tub when the kids are in the bath.

284/365 - Pressure Washer

When we first moved to Texas, we lived in a really small house, so we put a lot of things in storage. Now that we finally have some room for all our stuff, we moved everything from the storage unit to the house. I've been in a cleaning mood lately and have been sorting through things we haven't seen or used in over 3 years. It's amazing how much stuff you think you need...that is until you don't have it for a while and you realize you really don't need it after all. There are some things I'm glad to have again, but other things I've realized I have no use for anymore, so I've made several trips to donation centers and have been putting some of the bigger things on CraigsList. Over the weekend I got rid of a garden cart and a porch swing and today we moved on to one of the pressure washers (we have 2). Michael put fresh gas in it, fired it up, and Ryan had a blast playing with it. When he got done he said "Mom, that was totally awesome!" Unfortunately, Michael later used it to spray off the driveway and the engine made a loud popping sound and blew up, so I had to call the guy that was on his way over to get it to tell him the bad news (but better it blew up on us than on him). The good news though is it's now one less thing taking up room in the garage.

283/365 - Happy Birthday Papa

Happy birthday to my wonderful father-in-law. I love you very much!



Today I'm sharing a picture taken last year since I don't have a current picture of Michael's dad. Today is his 73rd birthday and he looks the same here as the day I met him; I don't think he ever really changes...inside or out. He's a strong man, a fair man, a generous man, a caring man and someone I look up to and admire very much. He's done so much for me, in good times and in the rough ones too, and he's someone I know I can always count on no matter whats going on in my life. Thank goodness because he's now the only father figure I have, and he's got some pretty big shoes to fill, but knowing him, he'll wear them well.

282/365 - When it rains, it pours

After being in a severe drought for months, we finally got some real rain last night and today. When it finally let up, Ryan couldn't wait to go out to check out his rain gauge...which showed we got a whooping 3"! Yahoo!

281/365 - Goody Bags

It seems like there's always one toy in the goody bag that all the kids go nuts for...today it was the light up top. All the kids were on the floor playing with their tops and all I could think was "I SO wish I had my camera". We got home late, but Ryan obliged me by letting me take a couple of shots with him and his spinning top.



Happy Birthday sweet little Sydnee and thanks for the cool top!