Wordless and Wordful Wednesday ~ Decorating the Tree

I can't believe that it's been a couple of weeks since I've updated my blog. I had a pretty sick kid on Thanksgiving. Sam ran a VERY high fever (105.1) off and on for a couple of days. Medicine would bring it down but as soon as it would just start to wear off his fever would sore again. He was really upset about it because we were going to put up our tree on Thanksgiving (which is a first for us doing it that early) and I kept putting it off until he was feeling better. By Friday he was feeling well enough to help me put the tree up and decorate it. Wait...let me rephrase that...HE put up the tree and decorated it. When I got the tree out and was getting things ready he said that this year he wanted to do it all by himself. Who am I to argue! He did a fantastic job! Here's a picture of him with one of the many ornaments that went up this year.

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Wordless and Wordful Wednesday ~ World Series Edition

Since the World Series is in full swing I thought I would re-post some pictures of Sam getting an autograph from his favorite Ranger's player, Mitch Moreland.  Hit a major home run last night and had some amazing plays at 1st base including one where he practically did the splits!  GO RANGERS!!!!

To see more Wordless and Wordful photos head on over to Wordless Wednesday and J. Leigh Designz.

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I Heart Faces ~ Best Face Photo from Summer 2011

I have been thinking that I want to concentrate more on my photography again.  Don't know how much I can put into it as life is always changing.  One way to concentrate on it more is by participating in photo challenges that I find.  I love doing them as it makes me grab my camera and head on out there and take a photo that I otherwise would not have done.

I've been asked by many (and I'm very proud to say "many") if I'd be willing to sell prints of some of my photography.  I'm going to look into doing so this week.  Going to try to find out what all it would entail. So if you have any hints or tips my ears are open!

In the meantime I'm going to jump back into doing the weekly challenges over at I Heart Faces.  This week is a great week for me to jump back in because it's "Best Face Photo from Summer 2011" week.

The photo that I'm submitting is one of my son enjoying his favorite summertime treat....Berries and Cream Popsicles. I had originally wanted to take a photo of him eating one with his eyes open and ended up taking many.  But as luck would have it those photos didn't turn out nearly as well as this one did.  This one shows the pure enjoyment of taking a lick of the popsicle. 

The Muppet Movie

What is it about The Muppets that can make anyone feel so good inside?  I remember growing up watching The Muppet Show every week.  Would love to have the released seasons on DVD at some point.  Believe it or not but the other day Sam and I were watching the Disney channel when some Muppets and other personalities were singing The Muppet Theme Song and I started to sing along.  Sam then asked me, "Do you know this song?"  I responded..."Of course I do!".  Then Sam asked me if it was an old song.  My response was just a long and loud sigh.  He's seen some of the shows but not many of them.  So some day I'll get them and sit him down to watch them all.  For now...enjoy the trailer for their new movie which is due out on Thanksgiving this year.

Wordless and Wordful Wednesday ~ Flag Football

Sam is playing Flag Football with Upwards again this year.  This year will be his last year to play with this organization and I'll be sad to see this season to come to an end.  We were blessed to have the coaches from last year (which were the BEST) as his coaches this year.  Last Saturday was their first game...and they won!  Sam is wearing number 88 (in the white jersey) and he is sooooo much better this year!  Last year started off really rough because he would drop the ball a lot and his throws wouldn't hit their target and he was really discouraged.  This year?  He is catching and throwing like last year never happened.  Here in this picture Sam was passed the ball, he caught it ans was running for a first down.  Sorry the photo is a little blurry but I was so excited I was cheering at the same time I was taking the picture.

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Crazy Days of Summer ~ Bubbles

This weeks theme for Crazy Days of Summer is Bubbles!  Now one would think that this would be a great way to spend your summer day.  But for one that is living in Texas where the heat and drought are EXTREME I didn't want to get out in it more than I had to.  I'm thinking that the last time we saw any rain was back in May.  This week we are under an Extreme Heat Warning.  Temps are going to be near or at 110 degrees.  Along with the fact that having just moved one would think that I would have remembered where I packed my camera battery charger.  Hey...at least I had my camera ready to go.  So for this week I'm going back into the vaults while my camera battery is charging (Yes, I finally found it.) to bring you some unusual bubble pictures.  I give you Milk Bubbles!

Who said that bubbles have to be made with soap and water!

Wordless and Wordful Wednesday ~ Legos

STOP!  Before you do anything else I have a HUGE favor to ask you. Please read this post "HERE" and vote for the school mentioned trying to win the grand prize from Big Lots. You can vote 3 time a day per day until July 4th. It would mean the world to them as they have so little while we all have so much. Then come back here!

My son doesn't need any kits to build with his legos...here's proof:

This kid amazes me every time he builds something!

If you would like to see more Wordless photos head on over to Wordless Wednesday, 5 Minutes for Mom, Live and Love...Out Loud, Project Alicia and J. Leigh Designz. Now if you're like me and sometimes you can't stay wordless head on over to see some Wordful Wednesday photos at Parenting by Dummies.  Don't forget to sign the Linky below.

Wordless and Wordful Wednesday ~ Santa at the Ballpark

We all went to the Texas Rangers game a few weeks ago to celebrate the end of the school year with Sam. This is the third year that we have done this and we always go on a Friday night as they have fireworks.  Where we were sitting this time Santa showed up and like a good Santa he visited with all the kids and handed out candy.  He's a regular at the games but we've never sat in his section before.  Sam rolled his eyes at me when I said he was there but obliged when I took their picture. I played around with the picture on Picnik and added a texture to it.  I like the way that it turned out!  Love that site. 

If you would like to see more Wordless photos head on over to Wordless Wednesday, 5 Minutes for Mom, Live and Love...Out Loud, Project Alicia and J. Leigh Designz. Now if you're like me and sometimes you can't stay wordless head on over to see some Wordful Wednesday photos at Parenting by Dummies.  Don't forget to sign the Linky below.

Off He Goes...My Boy Is Growing Up!

It's hard for me to believe that I've had this blog going now since May of 2006!  You all have watched my son go from a 6 year old boy to an 11 year old young man.  This morning he headed out on his very first week long Boy Scout Camp.  It's strange knowing that he'll be gone a whole week (the house is already so quiet).  He had many feelings going on within him this morning.  The main one being that he didn't want to go and that we couldn't make him.  He's right in that we couldn't make him go but when it came time to go he did get into the car willingly and once we got there he wanted nothing to do with his Mom saying goodbye to him.  I know that he'll have a ton of fun once he's there and sees all the fun that he's going to have but there is that part of me as a Mom that wonders how he is doing every second of every day.

I only have the photo of him in front of the house and of the vehicle that he was in as they were pulling out as my camera battery was dying on me.  Below you can also see a video of the camps here in the Texas Longhorn Council.  His camp is at the 2 minute 50 second point.  There is a part of me that wishes I could be there with him as it looks like a ton of fun but this year needs to be about him.  Maybe in one of the years to come I'll go...we'll just have to wait and see.

Wordless and Wordful Wednesday ~ Getting an Autograph

Tuesday morning I took Sam to one of our local Whataburger's and stood out in this wonderful summer weather amazing heat already for June (it was 90 degrees by 9:30 a.m.) so that Sam could meet one of his favorite Texas Rangers players...Mitch Moreland.  He was so thrilled to get his hat signed and I got his rookie card signed.  Here are two photos from the event.  They didn't allow poised photos as he was only going to be there for one hour and I'm so glad that we did get there early!

If you would like to see more Wordless photos head on over to Wordless Wednesday, 5 Minutes for Mom, Live and Love...Out Loud, Project Alicia and J. Leigh Designz. Now if you're like me and sometimes you can't stay wordless head on over to see some Wordful Wednesday photos at Parenting by Dummies.  Don't forget to sign the Linky below.

Summer Fun and Last Day of School

Summer is officially here at our house. Sam actually finished his school awhile ago...and he is a straight A student again this semester! We are just sooo proud of him. We've got a lot on our plate for this summer and we are ready to have some fun. One place that we will frequent is Hawaiian Falls Water Park. Thanks to my parents our big Christmas gift this past Christmas was season passes! So we can stay cool in this Texas heat. In fact we've been having summer temperatures since a week before Easter this year. Here is a video about Hawaiian Falls Water park that aired this morning and if you notice the time and temp in the lower right hand corner it really does say 9:25 am and it was already 82 degrees!

Sticking with tradition Sam and I will celebrate the last day of school by staying up all night and watching movies. Thanks to RedBox we rented Gnomeo & Juliet, The Green Hornet and Gulliver's Travels for just over $3! I know...no expense spared here. We'll have pizza, popcorn, popsicles, smores (in the microwave with peanut butter cups...yum!) and Twizzlers.  I'll post pictures soon from tonight as I'm sure we'll have fun. We'll also see how late he/I stay up this year.

Wordless & Wordful Wednesday ~ Where Oh Where Is Spring?

No, it's not snowing here.  No, it's not cold here.  In fact about a week before Spring ever officially started we were up in the 80s!  Andy and I were remembering our first Spring here when we actually had Spring temperatures for most of the Spring season.  Last year we had a few weeks of Spring temperatures.  This year?  Forget Spring...let's go from Winter right into Summer.  Oh yippee....can you just hear the sarcastic tone in my voice? Sigh...wishing for Spring to be here now.

If you would like to see more Wordless photos head on over to Wordless Wednesday, 5 Minutes for Mom, Live and Love...Out Loud, A Beautiful Mess and J. Leigh Designz. Now if you're like me and sometimes you can't stay wordless head on over to see some Wordful Wednesday photos at Parenting by Dummies.  Don't forget to sign the Linky below.

Wordless & Wordful Wednesday ~ Typical Week

Here is a typical week for Sam.  I take what's on his schedule and then re-do it for his week and usually add more lessons from the following week onto the current week.  At the rate he's going he'll be done with school by the first couple of weeks in May! For those of you that may not know he attends a virtual public school through Connections Academy and for the first time every he's a straight A student!  And he has been one all year!  WOO HOO!   

UPDATE:  I should add that he starts school around 9:00am and is usually finished around 1:30pm.

If you would like to see more Wordless photos head on over to Wordless Wednesday, 5 Minutes for Mom, Live and Love...Out Loud, A Beautiful Mess and J. Leigh Designz. Now if you're like me and sometimes you can't stay wordless head on over to see some Wordful Wednesday photos at Parenting by Dummies.  Don't forget to sign the Linky below.

Wordless and Wordful Wednesday ~ Boy Scout

I now have a Boy Scout!  This picture was taken just as he had walked over the bridge.  Was just awarded his Arrow of Light and was being greeted by his new Troop.  It was a great night.  Makes a mom proud.

If you would like to see more Wordless photos head on over to Wordless Wednesday, 5 Minutes for Mom, Live and Love...Out Loud, A Beautiful Mess and J. Leigh Designz. Now if you're like me and sometimes you can't stay wordless head on over to see some Wordful Wednesday photos at Parenting by Dummies.  Don't forget to sign the Linky below.

Wordless and Wordful Wednesday ~ Science Lab

If you would like to see more Wordless photos head on over to Wordless Wednesday, 5 Minutes for Mom, Live and Love...Out Loud, A Beautiful Mess and J. Leigh Designz. Now if you're like me and sometimes you can't stay wordless head on over to see some Wordful Wednesday photos at Parenting by Dummies.  Don't forget to sign the Linky below.

100 Joys....Almost Done...Joys #80-#89

I find myself here again at the end of the week beginning of a new week and I realized that I haven't posted much on my blog this past week.  I am still very determined to share with you the last of my 100 joys.  I do hope that you all are still enjoying going through this journey with me.

#80 is a picture of my dad and niece.  We were on the train at Silver Dollar City and they were singing along with some Christmas carols.  It was very dark so when the flash went off it really wiped all color from the picture but I love it all the same.  Singing Christmas carols are so much fun and I love to not only listen to them every year but to sing them as well.

#81...Here are the three cousins again doing something they really didn't want to do.  Pose for another picture as gingerbread boys and girls.  We loved having them doing it no matter what they thought.  It was fun....for us adults at least.

#82 is my dear hubby and one of my nieces riding a roller coaster in the dark.  They both had so much fun that they did it again. The arrow points out where they are.  I love that they could share those moments together.

#83...beautifully decorated trees always bring a big smile to my face.  How can one not be joyful when seeing them?

#84...forgot to share the hippo picture from the zoo with you.  He had gotten back into his pool and was wanting to play with the white barrel that you see there.  Poor guy couldn't reach it but we sure did have fun watching him trying to get it.

#85...This is one of my favorite pictures that I got of the three of them.  Seeing them all so happy makes me very happy.

#86...Sam opening a present (a monster truck which he LOVES!) from his Grandma and Grandpa.  I am just kicking myself that I didn't get a picture of all three of them together.  I thought I had but once we got home and I started going through my pictures I couldn't find a single one of them together.  Next time we're together I will get one.

#87...my Mom, Sam and I all got to go visit with my Uncle Wayne.  I love Sam's love for his relatives.  I also love seeing him talk to them and actually be engaged in what they are saying. 

#88...its not the greatest picture but it's the only one I have of the three of us visiting with my Uncle Wayne and Aunt Judy so I will cherish it forever.

#89...we ALL LOVED watching the Rose Bowl this year because TCU was playing in it.  AND.....THEY WON! 

100 Joys ~ Numbers 69 through 79

I'm finding myself here wondering if I'll ever get through these 100 joys.  I had hoped to be done by this weekend and here I am with 11 more to share with you but still not finished.  But I have to say that I'm still enjoying them and going through each photo and picking just the right one is a great way to relive all of these joys!  You'd be amazed at how many photos I took/take when trying to share something with you or for me to preserve the moment.  LOTS!

#69 is of a manger scene that my parents have in their stairwell.  I'm pretty sure that this one had previously belonged to my grandparents.  Either way I grew up with it and I love looking at it every year and remembering every year past.

#70 is a good game of Wii boxing between cousins.  They were sweaty and worn out after this match.

#71....umm, excuse me I'm eating here.  We had all gone down to Silver Dollar City to see their Christmas Lights and on our way we stopped at McD's for dinner.  Caught one of my nieces off guard.

#72....We finally made it there and we're walking from the parking lot up to the front entrance.  I love going there every year to see the lights.  I don't think it will ever get old.

#72...is Sam poising with one of his cousins.  They were having fun and chatting with each other when I turned around and took this picture.  They stopped what they were doing and poised for me.

#74...THE TREE!  This tree is lite up in different colors and is always changing.  They also put it to music and we love stopping to watch and listen.

#75...okay...it's really the same as #74 but who can resist another view of the tree in a different color?

#76...Sam and his other cousin having fun.  They all had fun this year and got along so that made us all very happy!  One year they will be grown up and won't want to hang around with us so I'm cherishing these moments as long as I can.  I hope that they stay close the rest of their lives.

#77 has got to be my favorite tree in the park!  I look forward to it every year.  

#78 is a picture of my niece and myself.  It's really not easy to take the best pictures of yourself by holding the camera but this one turned out the best.

#79 is a picture of Sam and his cousin on the train ride inside the tunnel.  I love the expressions on their faces as it was at night, pitch black in the tunnel and they had no idea that I was going to turn around and take their picture.  These are great moments!