The Week In Review - A Photo Blog (8-6)

We've had a pretty quiet week. Even so, here's how it went:

This is our first harvest from Colin's garden. We gave the big one to his Nana who inspired him to have a garden and helped him to start it. She was very excited!

This is just a random picture of Zoe from the week.

Colin cut his hair! Last time he cut it, he regretted it afterwards so I really encouraged him to THINK ABOUT IT FIRST! 

Nope, he was sure. I think he did it to be faster in running though.

This was from a couple of weeks ago, just to give you a comparison.

This is Oreo :)

 We gave him a bath this week. He doesn't mind. Whenever you want to wash your hands, brush your teeth or do the dishes, he is right there trying to get in the water! 

He is a CRAZY cat! LOL

This may not be nice but ... This picture TOTALLY cracks me up! LOL

And I have spent a lot of time with these two books this week. That has been really good for me.

It was also Matt's birthday this week (but I didn't get any good pics from it). I am so thankful to God that He blessed my children and I with this man in our lives!! It has made all the difference.
What have you been doing this week? I'd love to hear from you!

May the Lord bless each of you as you seek to know Him better :)

The Week In Review - A Photo Blog (7-23)

This is my niece, Princess Alexis. She turned 5 this week.  She had a very princess-y party!

She loves bumblebees so my mom made her this sweater with bees on it and there was a bee in the pocket :)

 

 This is her big sister, Valerie.

  Colin's garden is coming along great! We are looking forward to making our own salsa soon! YUM!

Even Oreo has been hot this week!

These are from my hostas.  I never noticed before how delicate the petals are. They are like a transparent film and you can really see it around the edges.

I love the one with the bee!

 Since it's been so hot this week (today was the highest - 98!) we thought we would go to the coast. Maybe it would be cooler. Boy, were we wrong!! Only in one spot did we find that wonderful ocean breeze that we were seeking.

I love this picture of Zoe! She always poses and this was a candid accident shot!!





This was called a 'beach' but it was very rocky and the rocks were very hot on bare feet.

 Don't mistake my feelings when I talk about how much I love New Hampshire and the mountains there. I absolutely do love it but being on the coast today reminded me of some of the reasons that I love Maine too. I wish I could bottle the smell of the salt air for all of you land-locked readers!

And I will get back to posting the rest of our vacation to New Hampshire soon :)

I pray you all had a wonderful week as well!

Our Vacation To New Hampshire - Part 1

For the last few years, my in-laws have taken the family (their 5 children, 4 spouses and varying amounts of grandchildren - the number grows every year) and spent a week on vacation in New Hampshire. We meet up there with extended family from Maryland and Massachusetts and this year we even also had cousins from New Jersey. This is always a great time and is something that we talk about and look forward to all year. I am going to attempt to share the highlights with you here, but since I took over 1900 pictures, this will probably only end up to be part one :) 

This was the view from the porch at the house that my in-laws stayed in. We didn't sleep at this house because there were too many of us for the number that this house would hold. We stayed up the hill in the woods, which I thought was also perfect!

This was my view from my bed! I absolutely ADORE the sound of the wind blowing through elm trees!!! There is something about elm trees that sounds so much more relaxing than other types of trees. (Sadly I do not have any elm trees at home.) Below this window there is a beautiful deck that we made great use of last year, but this year it was either too hot (even in the shade) or I was too busy. This was a very busy week. It's funny to me how different each year is and that you can't predict from one year to the next what it will be like. Last year was extremely relaxing, while this year, even though it was relaxing, it was also very active.

 We hiked to these falls one day. There were several levels that had areas of *pools* to swim in and the kids LOVED it!!

 If you go up 5 or 6 levels, you are rewarded with this!

Or you can just not bother with scenery and simply play in the falls and splash your cousins!!

I love the way the trees are reflected in Matt's sunglasses :)

These next two are my two favorites from this particular day!

Does it get any better than this?!?! I can't imagine that it does!

The Week In Review - A Photo Blog

Here are some highlights from this past week :)

This is me with Oreo.

We had a bonfire over the holiday week-end - complete with S'mores!! I did not have a s'more this time. I had birthday cake instead.

These are some random shots that I got in my mother-in-laws backyard. She has the most amazing wild rose bush! If only I could figure out how to bottle that smell!!

Zoe and Colin went to a youth group pool party this week.

 

This little cutie also showed up at the pool party. I couldn't resist getting some pictures of her!

And we had a storm this week. The sky was so amazing. It was literally half blue and half black!! Our house is toward the blue section but it quickly darkened up.

Have a blessed day everyone!!

Some Random Blah Blah Blah

First off, hot summer weather has finally arrived here in Maine and I am LOVING it! Winters are so long and the summers are so short that I want to take full advantage of all the hot weather that I can.

I have been attached to my camera lately. I think I have taken over 1,000 pictures so far this month!! If it's a day that I'm not working, I can average 300 - 400 pics in a day. I think I will do a photo blog in a day or so. I have really gotten some good ones lately :)

I LOVE hearing feedback from you! If you have any thoughts or comments, then post them! Let's get some chatter going on here!

I think I have finally gotten the look of the blog to where I like it. Of course it has to be pink! I like other colors too but I am always drawn back to the pink. And that flower picture at the top? I took that out on my rose bush! I was very happy with it!

I would like to share with you my sister's blog. She claims that God laid on her heart to do a blog but she was very hesitant. Then, out of the blue, I started mine and she felt like God was really telling her to do it. So she did. Here is the link to her blog, called Treasures of Faith.
 http://treasuresoffaith.blogspot.com/

I have lots of blog posts on the back burner but just haven't had time to write them. Some of them are started while others are just notes in a notebook or an idea in the back of my mind. I am officially on vacation for the next ten days so hopefully I will have time to do some writing.

I found this new song on the radio that I really enjoy. I feel like it speaks very well with what I am going through with Zoe and Colin's birth-father right now. (No, that's not over yet.We have one more court appearance on Monday morning and then hopefully that will be the end for a while! If you feel lead to pray for us about that, I would very much appreciate it.) The song is called Strong Enough by Matthew West.

Lastly, I will leave you with this picture of Matt and I. It was taken last Saturday, on our 4th Wedding Anniversary!

May God bless you all as you seek to know Him better!

Happy Anniversary!

Today is our Anniversary! We've been married for 4 years. Boy, has it gone by fast! In honor of that, I thought I would post some pictures of our Wedding Day!

This was Colin before the ceremony. He was only 8 then.

People always ask if that was my real hair! LOL I don't know why people ask that. But here's the proof - my sister Sarah doing my hair!

Zoe decided that she wanted to have her hair done too. She's so beautiful!

I don't even remember this! What a great picture though!

 I don't think these next two need any explanation :)

This was when we were leaving the church. The only time it rained was in the car going from the church to the reception. I was so relieved about the weather!

 This is us with Matt's grandmother, Nanny. I was so happy to get this picture with her since she passed away a year later.

These are 3 of our nieces.  These are clearanced Easter dresses from Sears. Who says a wedding has to be expensive?! My mom took this picture and actually won a Blue Ribbon for it -I think for the black and white version though.

 The reception was at Matt's parent's. They live on a dirt lane and I thought it would be neat to take some pictures down the lane.

It hasn't always been easy, but I am so grateful for this life that we have together!!