{ First day of School }

Shadow pics are disturbing....this makes me look so weird and so much bigger than I am.

It's just me! Instead of 3 shadows in the back yard, there's just one.

I was kinda sorta hoping this day wouldn't come for a little while longer, as much as the kids were eating me out of house and home, I just hate sending them off for hours and not seeing them.

I miss them....like....a LOT.

Is that wimpy of me?

Anyway, here's the obligatory Back to School photos. I just can't believe how much they've grown, they need to slow down a bit.
It's hard to think that I have a Sixth Grader and a Second Grader, but then again, I AM turning 36 tomorrow. BLECH....forget I said that, I'm turning 30. Yes, 30!

Nicholas is starting Second Grade and he's excited for it, and yet all I can think about is....Oh No...no more bathrooms inside the classrooms, he has to go to the big boy bathroom....I mean, really, is anyone else as paranoid as I am?

I said on Facebook earlier, these precious freckles warm my heart, though I have freckles myself but can't stand them on me LOL

Oh boy, Lord have mercy. This girl is growing so fast, so so extremely fast that it's starting to scare me.

Jasmine is starting Sixth Grade and at this point I'm only allowed to show affection behind closed doors, when we're in public it's NO CAN DO. Persona non grata!

She has grown so much and she's becoming such a stunning young lady. Curt has started talking about shotguns and no dating and all that kinda stuff that I really don't even want to think about yet.....but then I look at her and all I can think about is high school and dances and all that fun part of becoming a young adult and I can't help but be excited for her.

But anyway, I've been counting the minutes and staring at the clock all day long, I miss them. I miss them terribly and I can't wait to pick them up from school.

Maybe homeschooling is the way to go for me LOL Then again, wouldn't that be unfair to them? I can't just home school because I want them with me all the time.....can I?

{ Happy Homemaker Monday - August 9}

New HHM banner

The weather in my neck of the woods:
Sunny but a little windy.


Things that make me happy:
Food....but you knew that right?


Book I'm reading:
The Vampire Diaries The Fury and Dark Reunion by L.J. Smith
Sookie Stackhouse Series by Charlaine Harries


What I'm enjoying on TV:
Haven on SyFy
True Blood on HBO
Pretty Little Liars


On the menu for dinner:
Butter Chicken


On my To Do List:
Put away clean laundry
Get books ready to be mailed


New Recipe I tried or want to try soon:
Last week was all about new recipes and boy were there some delicious ones. You can check them out at Full Bellies, Happy Kids.....Cheesy Beef and Bacon Burger Meatloaf and Chili with Corn Dumplings.

In the craft basket:

Granny Stripe Crochet Blanket.

Looking forward to this week:
My kids returning to school today, looking forward to some quiet time in the house but I'm also going to miss them terribly.


Tips and Tricks:
You know how you take some pictures with your digital camera and sometimes you want to enhance them a bit, but finding the best and nicest looking actions for Photoshop can sometimes be a little difficult. Where here is a link with a few that you can download and start enhancing your photos.


My favorite blog post this week:
I did no blog reading last week, you all know that our family had some tough days and I honestly didn't have the inkling to go online and blog hop.


Blog Hopping (a new discovered blog you would like to share with the readers):
^^^^^^^ Read post above


No words needed (favorite photo or picture, yours or others you want to share):

Lesson learned the past few days:
To let go and let God. It's so tough when you're faced with a situation where you feel completely helpless and need some comfort, but I've learned over the years to really stop trying to do things on my own and to put all my problems and my fears and worries in the Lord, ESPECIALLY during those tough times. He always comes through.


On my mind:
My kids at school, hoping they have a great first day and hoping they have a wonderful school year.


Devotionals, Scripture Reading, Key Verses:

Let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!

Amos 5:24

{ Last day of Summer Break }

It's not fair, I honestly feel like just yesterday the kids were getting out of school and celebrating the first day of Summer Break, but here we are, last day, school resumes tomorrow and I'm left with a bitter sweet feeling.

Sweet because the kids are ready to return and quite frankly, goodness me, they are eating me out of house and home. Why are kids always starving? And why do they eat every 5 minutes? And why does it always seem that no matter how much food you buy there's never enough?

Bitter because I love my kids to death and I love having them home with me everyday and sleeping in late and staying up later and watching movies, going to the park, taking walks or just being silly. I am going to miss that, I hate not seeing them for hours during the day.

But anyway, it's life right?

Tomorrow it's back to the usual busy school routine, up early and crazy mornings getting kids to school and homework.....oy the homework that never ends.....and other stuff like germs. BLECH!

Tell me something, are your kids like mine who go the whole summer healthy as horses with no colds/flus/sinus issues and then the minute they return to school you just know that within a few weeks they will start getting sick???? It can't be just me is it?

Makes me want to homeschool, ALMOST want to homeschool. Haha

So here's to a new school year, to possibilities and new friendships, to growing older and nurturing the soul.

To another year of worry as I see them go off on their own and know that it's just another step towards them growing up and one day leaving the nest. I wish I could not think about these things considering they're still young, but I can't help but to. Do any of you feel the same way?

When do your kids go back to school, or are you homeschooling? Let's chat, we haven't done that in a while.

{ Last time, I promise }

I apologize if I've given you whiplash with my template change the past week, I pretty much just threw things on while I worked on getting Diary of a SAHM and Full Bellies templates to match.

It's done now, so no more whiplash and no more coming in to see something completely different....promise I won't touch it for a while.

{ Sometimes all it takes }

What a week!

It's safe to say that I'm beyond thrilled that it's Friday afternoon and that I can put this past week behind me.

It's been a tough one, filled with worry and fear and busyness and the usual day to day life and as much as there have been times where all I wanted to do was crawl into a corner, pull the shades down and pretend that I'm far far away from everything, I find myself pushing through it and going forward.

It's all you can do in this life, you can't let it run you and you can't let things get you down.

As I sit here this Friday afternoon and contemplate on the goings on of the past few days, I realize that I'm still way stronger than I give myself credit for, even though if truth be told, I feel like I've been holding my breath for days and am just now exhaling.

So......here I sit, with a glass of my favorite guilty pleasure, taking in all the scents and sights around me and allowing myself to just BE. Have you ever done that? It can be quite scary at times, when you're faced with just YOU and nothing else.

But not for me, I'm reveling in it. I've earned it and I intend to take full pleasure in it.