Life is Good.

I have a hard time writing about my emotions on my blog.  It's easy peasy to write about something good that has happened, or something I did that I'm proud of and I'd like to share it with you.  But when things aren't perfect, I guess I go a little more quiet than normal.

Because who wants to come and read a blog about me being sad or stressed, right?  I want to keep this a light, fun place.  I love making people smile.  I love hearing from someone that I've made them smile.

I read something the other day on one of the too many social media sites that I'm 100% addicted to that said something like - Try to go 24 hours without complaining, and just see what happens. So I did. And it was honestly eye-opening. Of course I failed. But I will say that I significantly cut down on my complaining for that day, and I'm trying hard to carry it through to every day. Lord knows I do my share of complaining (who doesn't need a good vent every now and then, right?), but I really, really don't want to complain here.

I'm not even really sure where I'm going with this, just that sometimes we are dealt with challenges that make it easy to overlook the good stuff you have in your life, and to be thankful for it. I'm so lucky to have friends and family that remind me of this when I most need it.

So yes, my list of stress causing issues is ever growing and rotating, but so is my list of blessings.

Mom is feeling good today.  They have decided to space her chemo treatments from every 4 weeks to every 6 weeks to allow her body more time to produce healthy cells in between treatments.  This is a VERY welcome change in her treatment plan.  The doc said last week that she is responding to treatment the best possible way she could be.  Hopefully with this change, she will need fewer blood transfusions between treatments.

We are 2.5 weeks into the school year, and I think we are starting to get used to schedules again.  There are still things to be added, but we'll squeeze them in.  (Hockey hasn't even started yet!  Ha!)

Last night I prepped and froze 17 quarts of apples from the In-Law's backyard.  Full freezers make me happy.  I have 55 pounds of tomatoes that will be delivered to me next Wednesday that will be turning into canned spaghetti sauce and salsa.  We will be well prepped for the apocalypse.

So although I have a ton on my plate right now, there is more good than bad.  Someone reminded me this morning when I was up to my eyeballs in crud, and in the middle of a major complaining session, that God only deals you what you can handle.  Yes.  I totally needed that reminder.

Life is good.

XOXOX

NH

A Wedding! Chris and Kristin

I used to babysit this beautiful bride when she was just a wee one, and when she got old enough, she babysat my kiddos.  Now she's all grown up, and we had the pleasure of seeing her tie the knot with her beau this weekend!

It may have rained, and changed the plan for the outdoor wedding, but it was still beautiful, and I thank you for inviting us to be a part of this day with you!  I wish you many, many happy years together!!

XOXOX

NH

Football Season is Here.

Which means there is something new to blog about!

Last night was our first scrimmage, which was really run more as a practice since we just pretty much scrimmaged ourselves.

I will admit that football isn't my favorite sport to watch.  But when your kid is playing it, it gets a whole lot more interesting.  

Andy took last year off, but decided he'd like to give it another try this year,

So there have been practices after school almost every day so far.  He is exhausted when he gets home, and all of his stinky gear stays at the school in the locker room.  Win/Win!!

Coach is awesome.  "You four stooges here in the back row better be paying attention!"

Strategizing... and then they put Andy in for Quarterback for the rest of the day!

Awwwwwwwkward.

I sure wish these football players would realize that my pictures would turn out much better in this drizzly darkish weather if they would just hold still.

If I were going to be a quarterback, I'd much prefer the play where I would stand back a bit and the other guy would throw it to me.

See?  They only stand still for a minute, and then it's just a flurry of motion, very disrespectful to the photographer who hasn't mastered her camera settings yet.

You will have to trust me that my kid is somewhere in the middle of this mess, and that he threw that football up into the air.

Still for a moment...

Still for a moment...

And then everything moves everywhere.

Ahh, well, we still have 6 games left, so hopefully I'll get a little better at this as the season progresses?  We can only hope.  Ha!

XOXOX

NH

My First Real Photo Shoot.

Well, sorta real.  If it's your daughter and her friend, it counts, right?  It does to me.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again.  I'm so so so lucky to be goofing around in photography in this digital age rather than years and years ago.

Also a repeat statement: I have SO much to learn.

The girls and I had so much fun pretending that I'm a better photographer than I am.

These two are peas in a pod, and have been since day one.

(Those spell LOVE in case you couldn't see it.)

They are the perfect models for me to practice on.

They make it so easy to take fun pictures.

All they do when they are together is giggle.

I don't understand half of what they are talking about because they are usually giggling too hard to make out words so any normal human can figure out what they are.

They are growing up together.

They are so lucky to have each other.

I love watching them grow up together.

Don't take a day for granted, girls.  I love you both, very much.  Thank you for being such perfect models.  Let's do it again soon!

XOXOX

NH

Stuff that makes me happy.

Someone said something mean to me this morning.  It was someone I don't know, who had no business saying what he did to me, and it shouldn't mean anything at all to me, but it did.  And it hurt my feelings.

Just like that, he was gone and I will probably never see him again, but I keep hearing his words over and over in my head.  Dumb, I know.  I never did have very thick skin.

So I decided that it was time to do something to get those dumb thoughts out of my head.  Time to blog some stuff that makes me happy!

Mom and Morgan picking strawberries together.  This was a very happy day.  We went home and made lots and lots of strawberry jam.

Andrew dressed as Captain Jack.  This is the funniest kid I've ever met.  His older brother has played hockey and baseball with Andy.  I've seen this kid come to games dressed up as Brett Farvre, Indiana Jones, and the Incredible Hulk.  I'm sure there are others I'm forgetting.  I can't stop laughing around this kid.  He does my mood good.

Morgan's choice of colors for a fresh pedi, and a cool design they added just for fun.

Dinner and a play with my favorite girl in the whole world.

Sometimes a glass of wine at home on the couch while watching TV with the kids is exactly what I need.  

Ok, no.  Gross spiders don't make me happy, but the fact that I took this picture, and it captures some interest is really, really cool to me.  Kinda makes you wonder how I got it, huh?

Fresh veggies from my CSA box prepped and ready to go on the grill.  I don't get to eat beets enough.  They are soooo tasty.

When this happens naturally in my hair.  It's not too often that it's a perfect little ringlet like that, and there's a reason that my hand is strategically covering the rest of my rat's nest of a hair do, but dang.  This one made me happy that day.

Getting cool pictures of Army planes as they fly over...

Baseball teams winning first place in the city championship game (and free popcicles handed out afterwards!)

Birthday martinis...

This kid.  All the time.

Celebratory post-chemo lunch with lots of family (and some friendly ladies sitting beyond our table who pretended to be part of the family for a few minutes)...

12,000 pageviews on my blog (how cool is THAT?!?!)

Pretty sunsets.

Birthday presents from sissy that make my coffee taste even better!

I'm not exactly thrilled about this, but I knew it was coming.  I'm finally ok with admitting that he has passed me up!

Making wishes on Chinese lanterns with a bright moon and more stars out than I can count.

And feet up on the fire pit, with flip flop tan lines.  (plus I had shaved my legs like 2 hours before this and they were soooooo smooth!  Sorry for more info than you needed, but it made me very very happy.)

There.  I feel much better now.  Do you?

XOXOX

NH