a boy and his Tadpoles

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Black and White Wednesday with Me as a Mother ::  Black and White Wednesday with like Christmas every day:: ABC Wednesday

Sneaky Light

I have been reading this book of photography that talks about light. The book says the human eye naturally looks towards the part of a picture that has the most light.  

Well, this makes sense to me. 

So yesterday when I was picking flowers in front of my house, Liz put them in her bike basket.  The bike just happened to be in a lot of sunlight and looked so pretty sitting there. Like any good blogger/photographer wanna be, I grabbed my camera and took several shots of this pretty little scene.   

But! here's the thing!!! 

I can't tell if these pictures are any good or not because SOMEONE . . .by that I mean my teenage kids . . sneak on the computer late at night . . . They turn the computer light way down so their dad and I can't see they are up.  

Sneaking! 

You know, it's not that I mind the sneaking so much. I kind of expect that. . .the thing I mind is they don't seem to be smart enough to turn the computer light back to a normal light.  

~ Then we might never know. ~ 

 AND The most frustrating part is: I don't know how to adjust the light on the computer and they won't show me. Because of course, they were never up turning down the light in the first place. 

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Black and White Wednesday with Me as a Mother ::  Black and White Wednesday with like Christmas every day:: :Wordless Wednesday but with Words  :ABC Wednesday

It's Finished!

Remember when I told you Stevie Wonder was making a bench for me? 

I told you how he cut trees down in our woods, stripped the bark and designed this bench all on his own.   He worked on it . . .well. . . forever! 

You remember don't you ? 

I told you how big this bench was and how it would comfortably fit Stephen's 6'5" frame. 

and then. . .We laughed and decided we should call it "the Paul Bunyan" bench.  


So we did! 

Well. . . It's finished! and it's just wonderful! You have to come over and try it out. 

I'll make coffee. 

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Unknown Mami

 Ni Hao Y'all

Playing along with Ni Hao Y'all ~ the first photo is unedited. I had my camera set on "natural light". 

Black and White. . .& RED

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: Black and White Wednesday with Me as a Mother ::  Black and White Wednesday with like Christmas every day::  live and love . . .out loud::Wordless Wednesday but with Words  :: ABC Wednesda

And then . . .

Remember when  I said "until next time", the last time I  posted? Okay then,  Do you remember when I said the last couple of weeks were a little crazy around here?

~ WELL ~ 

I'll tell you. . . it must have been wild wilderness week or something last week because the madness didn't stop with snakes.

~ Yes, It's true ~

Yeah, so anyway: Tuesday,  my sister Lucy *** aka Margaret *** fell by tripping over her sandals. Yep! right over her sandals. The bad news: Lucy stopped her fall with her face. 

On her face y'all! 


Right on her face! and here is where I have to say, "Bless her Heart". That is exactly what we say in the south if someone falls on their face. So, I'll just go ahead and say it again for all of us. 

"Bless her heart!"  


You know it's one thing when you think someone will fall on their face but when they actually do it. . .It's just bad.


Poor Lucy! 

The best Nana ever took her to the doctor and thankfully or shall I say . . .as we say in the South "Thank the Lord!" Nothing was broken. Lucy had bruising and swelling and lots and lots of soreness. 

But! the fun didn't stop there.

The very next morning I called to see if Lucy was okay and she wasn't! She was not good at all. She said she felt terrible. Being the good sister that I am I went to check on her with my concerned face. .. and concerned I was. I found that she was swollen and groggy and just a little bit loopy. . . more so then usual. But then I guess when you fall on your face your going to be swollen and groggy and  just a little bit loopy. So I left her to rest and told her I would bring her back some homemade soup that I had made for my son number one. . .the one that just had his wisdom teeth pulled Monday.           

As I pulled my dented car out of her drive way  ***remember last week the best Nana someone hit my car*** the best Nana ever call and whispered into the phone with alarm. "There is a squirrel in the house!"  

Okay, what???  


I thought I heard you say: "There was a squirrel in the house".   

and the best Nana ever replied 

There is a squirrel in the house! 

I quickly went to help. . . Someone had to do the screaming and I already had practice with the snakes.

It just happened with luck that Big Brother Bill was there. Without a thought to himself, he shinned up his armor, threw it on and became the hero of the day by battling this wild animal that had invaded his mothers home. With nothing but skill Sr. Bill the Knight trapped the creature into the fireplace. Bill would defend his mother to the death. . .  Bill's first thought was to have that little varmint run back up the chimney. . . the same way he came in. 

and just so you know: this is where I helped again because new dishes caught my eye!  


I just love dishes. So I said "Oh! new dishes." and with the squirrel safely trapped in the fireplace I started to unwrap the new dishes and look. Bill said "hey! let me have that paper the dishes were wrapped in."  So I gave it to him . . .and that's when the excitment started. 

With the fireplace safely wrapped in plastic and duck tape. . .Bill lite the paper I handed to him and stuck his arm behind the plastic. He started to take the cerramic logs off there settings . 

THERE!!! the varmint was hiding under the logs! 


In the fireplace you could see the little things heart beat in a panic as a giant arm came closer and closer . . . and smoke filled his secret hideout. 

this wild thing went crazy and scrammebled to get out. 

To bad for him he didn't didn't run up the shoot as planned. Instead he tried to run up the wall and got trapped in the plastic and duck tape. 

This is were Sr Bill the knight caught him with his bare hands. I helped here too by screaming and throughing a towel Bill's way. Bill wrapped this wild creature in the plastic and quickly took him outside. Secured the fireplace shoot so cousins and friends of this crazed critter could not come into the house and avenge their brother squirrel. 

When I told Stevie Wonder about all the excitement at the best Nana's house, he turned himself into one of the Clampetts *** this was a time you needed to be a clean shot! Buck eyes and the whole nine yards! *** 


Stevie Wonder knew the best Nana ever wouldn't want big holes in her walls - he knew when he patroled the property he had to be a clean shot! I even think I heard him say "Hot dog!" when he grabbed his pellet gun and "com-ents to a-runnin"

However, much to Jethro's disapiontment the best Nana ever was not going to turn herself into Granny and cook up sqirraul for dinner. 

And the week ended as it began. . . With a birthday. . . this time it's the Best Nana'a big day. 

Happy Birthday Best Nana! 

Happy Mother's Day Y'all! 

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Unknown Mami

 Ni Hao Y'all

bring your sense of humor

It has been decided by the board . . .that would be me. . .if you step into my life  you need to bring your sense of humor. .  .

For this is my life in a nut shell. . . 

 and I often wonder why  the number one blogging rule is if you have something interesting to blog about you just don't have time to blog it?

Last week the week started off with a bang: It is now official my baby boy, Matthew, is 20! 

20  y'all!  20!!!

Now that I have said it out loud and everyone knows I have a 20 year old son, I really don't think I'll ever say it again.

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The very next day, I allowed, Stevie Mike, my new driver to drive himself and his sister to their science class.  Not 15 minutes later the phone rang. When I saw it was Stephen calling I distinctly  knew something was wrong.

This new driver of mine had driven over roofing nails. That would be 18 roofing nails to be exact. Two tires later I thought all was right with the world   . . . and then . . . a few days later someone hit my parked car.

 Don't ask who it was because I will NEVER tell.

 I promised the best Nana I wouldn't say a word about who did it and I won't. You guys know me. . . when I say I'll keep a promise - I keep it! and that is that!

Speaking of the best Nana . . . she and I took Roy Orbison and her BFF strawberry picking and nothing seemed to happen that day. We just had a good time.                            

At least that is how I remember it.  

It just so happened that last week someone actually (( other then the best Nana ))  found my blog interesting enough to recommend it as a blog to see. I was so thrilled about all this but I didn't have the time to post about all that excitement and then I completely forgot about it  . . .and it appeared as if I didn't care at all,   but I did and do. . . very much.

The weekended was wonderfully quite with the three older ones gone spending time at my sister in law's house.

 Mark and I were able to recharge.

That was a good thing because Monday was coming and around here you never know what an ordinary Monday might bring to the life of a homeschooling mother.

I knew Monday morning I had to be at the oral surgeons by 8 with son number one to have four teeth removed. I was told everything should go smooth and thought okay good. I could use nice smooth Monday.  When we were leaving  the nurse just happened to mention how I should switch the ice pack every 20 minutes keeping both sides of his face iced for a full 12 hours and just replace the gauze every hour on the hour with a fresh  pad until 6 tonight.   . . .Okay! there goes my easy quite day this one told me I was going to have.

Little did I know how true THAT would turn out to be. 

As soon as I got Matthew home Stevie Wonder tells me how much his knee hurts and he thinks he needs to go to the doctor. I take a look at his knee and see that it is hot and swollen. I tell him we can't go yet but, we will go as soon as we can.  We have to wait until I get his brother settled and I know he will be okay. 

As Stephen and I are reviewing our his school work ~ Liz said she wanted to play on the front porch. She came back in in a rush saying . . ."I can't play out there! There are four snakes in the yard!".

 FOUR SNAKES!!!!!!!!!! IN THE YARD!!!!

 Stephen springs into action and runs out the door. Matthew is groggy still on the couch and says "what??? who??? oh okay. . . " and goes back to sleep. I on the other hand . . . I panic!!! Okay! that's not really the truth  . . .

I TOTALLY PANIC!!!!!!!!!!! like in. . . I FREAK OUT!!!!!!

Stevie Wonder turns himself into Indiana Jones (( minus being afraid of snakes )) and battles the snakes in our yard. He captures them and wrestles them into a bucket and completely saves the day. . . NO! He TOTALLY! saved the day! 

My mighty Matt. . .still groggy on the couch. . .wondering why is mother his mother is screaming at the far in of the house but not with it enough to find out goes back to sleep.

My oldest daughter Kathryn causally walks out to see what was going on and then goes back upstairs to finish her math test.    As all this is going ~ the best Nana, my sister Margaret ((sometimes I call her Lucy)), her boys, Brian and Alex, swing by the house to see the patient who just has his teeth removed. Little did they know what they would be walking into.

The boys are thrilled and want to find out how they can move into our little house in the woods that seem to attract so much excitement.

Their mother . . .my sister Lucy. . . TOTALLY PANICS !!!! NO! SHE TOTALLY FREAKS OUT!!!!!!  She throws her soothing gift of ice cream at my oldest son and jumps on the couch screaming. 

In the end. .  .

My savior Indie takes his two cousins, his sister Kathryn and  three snakes to another home releasing them into the wild. When he get back to our home he says . . . "Mother, I really need to go to the doctor now. My knee is killing me."

 and I wonder. . .how can I get my savoir to the doctor today if I can never leave the house again. I mean after all . . .Lizzy said she saw four snakes. 

Until Next time. . .

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Tone on Tuesday  :: Our World Tuesday  ::My 3 Boybarians :: Black and White Wednesday with Me as a Mother ::  Black and White Wednesday with like Christmas every day::  live and love . . .out loud::Wordless Wednesday but with Words  :: 

Way older!

 Did you know that next week my oldest son will be way older then I am?

Way Older then I am! 

WOW! How did that happen?  It's hard to believe time has gone by so fast. . . 

He tells me he wants to earn a Doctorate in philosophy  from a Catholic College.       In a couple of weeks he will have four wisdom teeth removed. All this makes me wonder if one can major in phylosphy without wisdom. . .  teeth.

BYE!!!


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THIS OR THAT THURSDAY ::   Embrace the Camera with the Anderson Crew ::  Favorite Photo Friday

Words of Wisdom

Words of Wisdom from an Alpaca. . .and Voltaire 

"One always speaks badly when one has nothing to say" ~ Voltaire

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Black and White Wednesday with Me as a Mother ::  Black and White Wednesday with like Christmas every day::  live and love . . .out loud::Wordless Wednesday but with Words  :: 

A Question???

Here's a question for ya ~  

Have you ever seen anyone happier then this . . .

 carrying a chicken? 

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 FAVOURITE PHOTO MONDAY photo challenge:

 :: Our World Tuesday ::   ::My 3 Boybarians ::      ::  Communal Global :: 

Just Because

 For some reason when I look at this photo it reminds me of  The Great Gatsby.

Maybe it's her haircut, her short skirt or maybe the exotic animal that give me the Gatsby feel. I don't know. I just look at this picture and think F. Scott Fitzgerld. MMMM maybe it's time for another break from all this schooling we are doing. 

Happy Weekend Y'all!!! 

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Playing along with NiHoaY'all and the Sunday photo challenge: I took this shot with my camera set on natural with Fuji S1000.  I only cropped this photo and didn't change anything else about the lighting.  

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Also linking up with ~ Happily Mother After :: Favorite Photo Friday ~ The Paper Mama photo challenge 

Me and my Little Boy. . .Embracing the Camera

I took these picture months ago. MONTHS AGO!!! way back in February right before Stephen went on one of the many retreats he has gone on. The kid loves retreats!   We had so much fun taking these pictures because I kept cutting off his head. We just couldn't get right. 

That's what he gets for being so tall. . .right???

Anyway, I have been following this blog  anderson crew by emily anderson. This is a mamma of 6 small children. Her Thursday meme idea is to embrace the camera: to get in the photos with your kids, husband, mom, friends, whoever. Like a lot of us, this is hard for me to do. I like to be the one on the other end clicking away, making everyone else uncomfortable. 

 Stephen is the most easy going kid you would ever want to meet and I knew he wouldn't mind playing along. Without any make up I grabbed Stephen before we left for our early morning road trip to the camp and we started taking pictures.  Then, I held on to those pictures for months because I thought: "what was I thinking???" " I don't have on any make up and who in there right mind would post pictures of themselves looking like that? Plus, my nose looks huge!" HuGe!!!  and then Stephen was looking at my blog on day and asked why I didn't post those photos.  He said. . .

Put them up mom. You look great and it was fun. 

So here they are: The picture I took of me and my little boy. . .Stevie Wonder. . .embracing the camera. 

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She HAD a loose tooth

I know! I've been very sporadic with the blog lately. Very sporadic!  It's that time of year when the kids have research papers due. Everyone needs a computer sooner then later and that means I must wait.  But, I'm not here to tell y'all how busy we have been. I'm here to tell you more big news from my youngest:

 She had her first loose tooth today. 

Yeah! You read that right! I said she had her first loose tooth today. 

She showed me with great excitement how her "little baby tooth on the bottom of her mouth was a little bit wiggly"  and then she said she would be right back. When I went to look for her, I found she had pulled the darn thing right out of her mouth. ugggg!  I laughed and cringed at the same time. . . and thought Wow! This girl is tough!  WAY!!! Tougher then she should be! 

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Black and White Wednesday with Me as a Mother ::  Black and White Wednesday with like Christmas every day::  live and love . . .out loud::Wordless Wednesday but with Words  :: THIS OR THAT THURSDAY ::    

Liz's very BIG news!

 Liz has big news she wants to share with you. 

!!BIG NEWS!!! 

Are you ready??? 

Drum roll Please!! 

She can tie her own shoes. . .

without help. 

AND

She wants all my bloggy friends to know.  

Until Next time. . .  

Lisa

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  Black and White Wednesday with like Christmas every day::  live and love . . .out loud::  Wordless Wednesday but with Words::  ABC WEDNESDAY

The Last Day. . .

Today is the last day of debate club for the year 2012. 

The debate forum this year has been: "Should the United States Government change it's policies toward the criminal justice system?" The answer is yes! but "the how" this change is to take place is left up to each team.  My job as a debate club parent is to listen to two teams argue their cases ((one team for change and the other team against that change))  I then decide who was the best team and which team had the best case.  I am also required to give helpful suggestions of how each team should and could improve their cases.  I then decide a winner and tell them how and why they won and lost. 

Do you know how very hard this is to do when you realize ~ the kids you are judging and are suppose to be helping, are way smarter then you? Let me tell you. . . it's hard.  It's really hard. 

So what do I do???

I put my thinking cap on and I fake it.  I pretend I know exactly what these teams are talking about and when we are done listening to the cases - I tell the teams how I think they could be improved . . . the kids thank me and tell me how helpful I have been to them. . . and I think. . . Yay!!! I fooled them again. 

As I said before, today is the last day of debate club for the year of 2012 . . . Today, again,  I will be judging and faking it the whole time - and when we are done - the teams will thank me and tell me how very helpful I have been.  They will tell me how they really like it when I judge their cases because I give them helpful advice. They will tell me I seem to really listen and am always fair.  .  . and I will think MMMMM  maybe these kids aren't so bright. . . I mean after all,  I fooled them again this year. 

Until Next time. . .  

Lisa

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 live and love . . .out loud::  Wordless Wednesday but with Words:: 

A birthday, a few pictures and a creamy cake

Let's face it, a nice creamy chocolate cake does a lot for a lot of people; it does for me. Audrey Hepburn  

It's Kathryn's birthday week. 

She is 15. 

!!15!!  

I'm not sure who has been more excited this week. . . the birthday girl or her little sister. 

So, when looking at the pictures of our birthday celebration . . . know this: I couldn't decide which picture I liked the best, the picture in the middle is unedited and most importantly. . .whatever you do. . . DON'T look at the cake. Just know: the cake was creamy, it was home made, I never use a box, and most importantly it was chocolate. 

Until Next time. . .  

Lisa

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Simple as that

Unknown Mami

 Ni Hao Y'all


   Scattered Horizons Photoblog/Tone on Tuesday ::   Black and White Wednesday with like Christmas every day::

My little boy

The best car safety device is a rear-view mirror with a cop in it.  ~Dudley Moore

Can you guess who got his drivers licence today???  That's right , my little boy.  .  .  
Stevie Mike.


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 THIS OR THAT THURSDAY ::