sneak peek | seniors - three cousins.

I posted about taking Sarah, Jacob and Austin's senior portraits.  But, I forgot to mention...they're all cousins.  My cousins.  We decided to take all of their pictures at the same time.  So, I had to get some of the three of them together!

a perfect thursday.

The boys and I had a perfect Thursday a few weeks ago.

It was a gorgeous, seventy degree day at the beginning of March.

Thank you, North Carolina! 

 We took a ride with the sunroof open...

 With sandals and pink, spring toes.

Okay, well...I was the only one with shoes or pink toes.  I'm sure Jordan is thankful that I didn't paint the boys toes pink :)

Jamming out to Seeds of Praise.  

I heard of the Seeds Family Worship from Jami's blog, Hello from the Natos. 

They are fabulous!

It is scripture put to music.  The boys got Seeds of Praise and Seeds of Purpose for Valentine's Day :)  

We listen to them anytime when we're in the car and I've already caught myself singing scripture!  I can't wait to hear their sweet voices singing along someday.

We took a quick pit-stop at Starbucks...

For a decaf, carmel frappuccino.

Yummmm.

And then headed to Barnes and Noble. 

I got to drool over their endless inventory of colorful moleskine journals....

Tate stayed awake to enjoy perusing with me.

Crews was not as entertained...

I bought The Hunger Games and a new journal for church!

Two of my favorite things!  

A new book AND a fresh journal!  

That evening, when Jordan got off work, we went for a walk downtown.

Again, Tate was wide-eyed.  Crews slept :)

I would definitely see this as a perfect Thursday! 

Hopefully there will be many more of these to come!

cirque du soleil.

We had the best time last night!  We went to see Alegria for my Valentine's Day present.

We rushed to get ready once we got home from work.

Worker Man was waiting in the truck for me when I made him jump out and take a couple of self-timer pics.  We never have pictures together so I'm trying to work on this.   But, clearly, I'm going to have to get a little better about the self-timer.

Terrible background, blurry camera strap showing at the bottom and the second pose?  Well, I had to crop it because we were standing in the most awkward pose ever.  I will get better at that part.  Promise!

And maybe I'll get better about opening my eyes during pictures.

And maybe I'll start wearing lipstick more often.

And maybe I'll get a tan at some point this year. 

So we rush to Greensboro.

Decide we have enough time to eat a quick supper.  So we stop at Moe's.

Scarf our food down.

And rush over to the coliseum because Worker Man hates to be late. 

We arrive at 6:30.  With the show starting at 7.

We get there and here's what we see:

Not a good sign.

[This is where the pictures stop - no cameras were allowed].

So we laugh hysterically and head inside.  It's not much better in there.  There were a few people here and there but not many at all!  We realized we might have made a mistake.  I tell Worker Man, "I thought this was like a big deal" and he agreed.  We also noticed that almost everyone else that was there was 60 years old or older.

We sit for a few minutes and then at five till 7:00 we run up so Worker Man can buy a $4 bottled drink.  [Sheesh].

We come back down and I'm wondering why the lights weren't dimming or anything.

Look at our tickets. 

The show doesn't start until 7:30.
Whoops.

But, after the show finally did start [more people did get there.  it wasn't slammed but a lot more people were there than at 6:30] it was amazing!

My favorites were the contortionists and a hula hoop girl.  But everything was so good!

I would definitely recommend going!

Don't forget the giveaway ends tonight!
I'll announce the winner on Monday!

Happy Friday!

the pros.

this weekend we went yard saling [?] with the pros.

worker man and i have tried to be yard salers but haven't been successful.
i think part of the problem could be that we head out around 9 and stop for breakfast.
we can never figure out why there are no good deals at 10.
ha.

so, the pros invited us to tag along on saturday morning.

they showed up bright and early.
6:45 am.
all smiles.
with their newspaper out and already circled.

worker man found a nice toy in the backseat to play with.
he mentioned that d's driving was like a nascar race.
so maybe this was fitting...

after hitting some yard sales, we stopped by biscuitville for breakfast.

and coffee, of course.

ummm...have you ever had biscuitville?
because....yum.
it's fabulous.

and, just a little side story for you:  my mom pulled through biscuitville one day [there's only one nearby them] and asked the lady if they had anything fat free.  i think the lady over the intercom waited for a few minutes, to see if she was joking, before saying..."umm..NO".  if any of you have ever eaten at biscuitville, you will know - nothing fat free is anywhere close to that place!




we got in and out, in and out.
looking and laughing and just having a good time.



we did buy a few things.
they got a futon.
A got a purse and a coffee maker.
i got a vase thingy for my bathroom and a tupperware cake carrier thingy.
so exciting!




we really had a good time.
it might just have to happen again :)


how was your weekend?

5k.

worker man and i ran a 5k last weekend.

we had such a blast.

the race was for young life.  it gives high school kids the opportunity to go to summer camp.

i went to the yl camp in georgia during high school and it was wonderful.  so we were really excited to be able to help kids go to camp this summer.  our sweet neighbor saw us out running and we stopped to talk to her about it one evening.  she decided she wanted to sponsor us which was so sweet!  she was really excited about it.

here are a few pictures from the day.

one of fmil's beach buddies is on the committe for yl.

here is fmil's beach buddy's husband and the yl area director.

discussing the results.

my sweet friend, crystie.

we went to high school together and then went to two different colleges.

but coincidentaly we ended up in the same town and she's working on staff for young life.

she's awesome. you should be jealous.  that i know her and you don't.

she's that awesome.

some of the college life girls were there for the race too.

they are so much fun to be around.

and then there's meg.  who is equally as amazing.  she also works for young life. 

she's super cute and hilarious.  another blessing in my life :)

oh, and she's pregnant.  which makes her even cuter.

she has a new name for the next 6-7 months. 

preggo meggo.

and then there's us.

we really had a blast.

and now i've got the 5k bug.  i'm ready to do another one.

worker man? 

not.so.much.

strawberries.

you know strawberries are in season right now, right?




and you know that you can make strawberry freezer jam in like 30 minutes, right?


well....if you didn't, you do now.
and you should.

so if you're looking for a quick suzie-homemaker project for the weekend, here it is!

first buy a gallon of strawberries.

it's best to buy locally grown.

and fun to make a day of picking the strawberries too.

but if you don't have time, they typically have some that are already picked.

so you can just buy them.

rinse the berries and then cut off the tops of your strawberries and slice them in half.

then you smash them.

or, if you're lazy, just throw them in the food processor and chop them a few times.

you'll need two cups smashed.

[a gallon will give you more than enough - but of course you have to buy a gallon because you know you or someone will eat quite a few]

then you add 4 cups of sugar and mix.

yes, 4 cups.

just don't think about it.

allow that to sit for 10 minutes.

then [i forgot to take pics of this part] but you take your sure jell and add it along with 3/4 cup of water to a saucepan on high.  continuously stir the mix until it starts to boil.  then allow to boil for one minute while stirring.


pour this mixture into your strawberries and sugar.
stir continuously for three minutes.

then pour into your containers.
leave them sitting out for 24 hours.
then store in the freezer.

jam will last three weeks in the fridge or up to a year in the freezer!


happy friday!

i got the receipe from here. just thought i'd repost it with pictures of my process :)

frock!

look what i wore yesterday!

here's the front.
i promise i ironed it.

although you wouldn't think so looking at this picture.

and the back.

i'm so happy with it.
even if it did cost me $40.


have a great tuesday!

giveaway!

sooo, there were some good suggestions on the giveaway - and one of you was thinking the same thing I was thinking...






how about a spring kitchen towel?!?

here's the deal.

just leave a comment  - i'll announce the winner at 8:00 am wednesday morning!

easter 2010.

we spent easter with worker man's family this year.
and can i just say...it was wonderful!

such a sweet time with his beautiful family.
so many babies/kids.
so much to talk about.
so much laughter.
so much love.

we are blessed.

with wonderful families.

but more importantly, with a savior that overcame death.

shrrrubbbs.

worker man and i spent saturday doing this.

[yes, that is my husband.  in shorts and brogans].

speaking of brogans...do you know what i mean when i say that?!?  this is what my family always called working boots.  but i've come to realize most people don't call them that and typically have no clue what i'm talking about.  aaand, i just googled the word to make sure i was spelling it correctly and this is what came up:

and no, these are not the kind of boots worker man wears.

anywhoo...

we planted shrubs and lillies and annuals on saturday and oh.my.word.

i slept so good on saturday night. 

it also made such a difference to the way our house looks!

maybe the neighbors will start to associate with us.  i think they think worker man is crazy. because for the last three years worker man has lived in our house and each spring he cleans out the beds and gets all the weeds out and makes a nice little edge.

and then....

does nothing.

no mulch, no flowers, no shurbs.

just pretty dirt.

so maybe our neighbors will finally start talking to us and waving when we drive by.

but, two years in...i'm not getting my hopes up.

i think they are just trying to steer clear of the crazies across the street.