Sunday, September 30, 2012

Homecoming, Court, Tears...

Our oldest child, Claire, made homecoming court this year.  It has been an exciting, fun, crazy...draining...month....I wouldn't change a minute of it!  To get a chance to be a part of a child's life, to see the excitement through their eyes, is priceless...I hope she never forgets a minute of it!


Claire and Zach

love them




Brighton, Ellie, Caroline, Claire and Taylor

Caroline, Brigitte and Claire




Junior Court

Lauren, Caroline and Lily


Lily, Princess Brigitte and Lauren, all week I bribed them with the opportunity to meet a princess, Brigitte...I built it up a lot, because they asked everyone "where is Princess Brigitte?!"

Lily waiting for Princess Brigitte to arrive!

All of my Pittlets, Claire, Samuel, Caroline, Lauren and Lily

Claire, Anna, Lauren and Lily

Larkin and Caroline


I love you Claire Bear!!

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

summer, beach, design...

We took our vacation at the last possible week this summer, due to endless camps and required practices for kids sports and activities....and by last possible week I mean, the day after we got back home I had school orientation meetings.  We went to Panama City Beach for a week....every year I tell myself I am going to be better organized and learn what wonderful things await us when we arrive at our destination....this year, our trip was filled with so many mishaps and catastrophes that activity planning went out the window.  I did, however, have one thing on my to-do list, tour the design home open house being held just a few miles down the road from where we were staying.  Being a mom of five, I feel guilty leaving them behind, I had mentioned it to my husband a couple of times but played it cool like I really didn't want to go, but after the week we had I decided to go ahead and plan my escape.  I had my oldest take all of the kids to the pool which was not that far from the condo and I gathered my camera and went for it....seeing my 16 yr old expression as I drove past them was priceless!!  She knew where I was going, felt a little guilty, but not for long.  As I pulled into the Rosemary Beach community I was giddy!  It is beautiful, like, dream Stepford Beach, beautiful.....I compare PCB to flying coach and Rosemary Beach is first class....you know it's better behind the curtained off section, you just don't realize how much better into you catch a peek.
 
My main passion, not really a passion, I mean, I don't get passionate over things such as this, so that is not the best word, I guess I would say "interest", or things that intrigue me...whatever, my thing I am drawn to is design, I love fabrics, ribbons, paint, furniture, all that make life prettier.  So for me to get to see this beach house that was decorated by one of my favorite designers was simply wonderful.  As soon as I entered I was in awe, I have a pinterest board dedicated to the house but haven't had time to get all of the pics uploaded (returned home from vacation to a dead computer, so that kinda took priority over pinning).  I took photos of everything, I even had to delete some of the photos from the Taylor Swift concert I went to see with my daughter and her friends/moms (gasp, I know t.swizzle...so hard to delete, not) in order to make room for more interior photos.  So here are a few, makes me almost feel that I am back in Florida, childless for an hour, in this beautiful community, that I couldn't get out of because my GPS kept taking me to a road that was an empty field...
















I returned back to the condo, got the kids dressed to have another go at beach photos, we had taken some that morning but the glare was too much....I was so relaxed and happy from my outing that I did not fuss once, which, when it comes to photographing 5 different personalities in one shot, is a miracle....darn near Sainthood.

The home shown in the photos was sponsored by Coastal Living magazine, I got my copy in the mail not that long ago so it should be in stores now.

Photos taken by me, so as not to confuse anyone that may think they were professionally taken...that is a joke.  Photos shown are in random order, sorry.

Interior Design by Erika Powell with Urban Grace. 

If you would like to follow my boards on Pinterest (trust me, I am under no illusions as to how many people will actually read this, my third post), you can find me here:

Monday, September 24, 2012

Truth, Justice and the American Way


Oh my goodness!!  The ONE morning I decide to go back to bed after everyone left for school/work, would be the one morning everything goes crazy and...just plain weird!  Calls and text waking me up, (seriously, that does sound awful, waking me up, I really never go back to sleep but the weekend just wore me out) alerting me to the drama that was taking place at our school, a bomb threat!!!  Here I am, asleep and my precious love child, Claire, is texting me, telling me what was going on, along with a friend....how is it that I was, literally, asleep at the wheel?!!  There goes my Super Mom title;)
Fortunately, it was a prank, one I am sure will get someone into serious trouble as police, fire and bomb sniffing canine were dispatched to the schools that received the threats.  So back to my regular routine, for about an hour then I got a call that Caroline was not feeling well:(
After bringing Caroline home, going over the morning events with Ben over the phone, realizing how blessed we are, things could have been a lot worse.  We have such wonderful staff of teachers/administration that work at the school, I have never felt anxiety or worry about what could happen....then I couldn't help but laugh as I remembered, no way would anything bad happen today, not as long as we have "truth, justice and the American way" and a handful of superheros.....

Yep, today was Superhero day at school!!  Here is my favorite Superhero, Samuel, the blue Power Ranger!  Also protecting the school and kids were, Iron Man, the Hulk, Bible Man (gotta love Christian schools!), ninjas, Superman....and various Batmans.  

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Facebook is not a blog....

For several years now, I have been blogging...on my facebook.  I keep getting the same message from friends, "you have got to start a blog!!"....this morning after talking to my best friend, who brought up the subject of me starting a blog, I have caved....I mean, why am I not?  What am I afraid of?   Can I be myself, will people think of me as that crazy girl who posts every silly thought that comes to mind....I mean, that's ok, it's not illegal.  And surely this will be a relief for my facebook friends, not having to read about all that goes on in my crazy world...right? Then the thought of where do I start, maybe I should wait until something really great happens or wait until everything is perfect and then the thought of what do I write about, the very first post that will set the tone for everything else that follows.....that is a lot of pressure and is the reason I haven't done anything!  So this is it...me, getting started, because facebook is not a blog and I need to stop treating it as one.......so bear with me as I get this started, see I am already supressing myself, because the original thought was, "as I get this party started", but that sounds so goofey, but that is me....goofey.
Sherry