Pages

Pages

Showing posts with label Trees. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Trees. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

On golden pond

Some things that made me smile in the past couple of weeks:
(basically, a bunch of photos of the kids!)


Liam hanging out in the trees at my grandma's house. 
I'm so grateful he loves & appreciates the outdoors.


The pond near my mom's house. Every year I look forward to
seeing the trees' reflection in this pond.


These tiny pumpkins I placed by my dad's gravestone with Liam & Chloe's names
on them. It may seem odd that this made me smile...but I feel peaceful after I visit 
his grave (after feeling sad and bummed out of course). It's quiet & peaceful at
the cemetery and I feel like he's close to me/watching over me when I'm there.


This little peanut in the stroller, out for a walk.


And this little man, insisting that he walk instead of ride in the stroller.


Seeing my nephew hang out with Chloe on my mom's living room floor.
He's a high school boy, so you think he'd be 'too cool' to hang out with family, right? 
But that's not the case at all. He has so much love for his family and younger cousins.
I'm grateful that Chloe and Liam have my nephew Tim to look up to some day!


Chloe and my nephew Hudson, just chillin' out. Pooping. Burping. Sleeping.
How cool that they'll be growing up together so close in age :)


Seeing my brother Nate and niece Bella ride on my mom's lawn mower together.
 It reminds me so much of when I would ride on the lawn mower with 
my dad when I was Bella's age!


Our mantel, decorated for Halloween.


Mattcrow.


Liam so proud of his pumpkin.


Chloe trying to touch her pumpkin. S--t--r----e--t----c---h


A vintage globe that Liam got from his Nana. I'm lovin' it.



That's it for now...

Enjoy the remaining days of October folks!

Friday, October 25, 2013

80s flashback

This past weekend Liam and I took a little road trip to my mom's house.

Matt was out of town for the weekend. He had a work event in Florida (lucky duck). So I thought it'd be nice for Liam and I to "get away" as well. Although Liam and I did not escape to palm trees and warm weather and sunshine, it was still nice to see my mom and family.

Both of my brothers and their families were there as well. So Liam basically ran around with his cousins the entire time (which is awesome because it gives me a bit of a break)!

On Saturday night my sister-in-law, my nieces and I took a trip to Hobby Lobby (it's kind of becoming a tradition, since my SIL and I are both craft nuts), had a mom-made meal and watched the Badgers game on TV. On Sunday we bundled up the kids and ran around in my mom's yard, picked apples from my mom's apple tree, visited my grandma (who lives next door to my mom), watched the Packers game and enjoyed my mom's famous chicken noodle soup.

      
             
                                                                         
         

The highlight of my weekend was digging through my mom's basement and finding a ton of mine and my brothers' old childhood toys. I went into the basement to get my old Barbie dolls for my 5-year old niece to play with and I came across a goldmine of memories!!

I found my brothers' old Matchbox cars collection, a box of their Transformers and GI Joe guys and a box of Constructs. I found two bins full of Barbie dolls and endless accessories, a box of Trolls and a bunch of stuffed animals (my Cabbage Patch doll, my Minnie Mouse from when we went to Disneyland, etc.). I found myself immersed in a pile of childhood memories. And a cloud of childhood laughs. Oh my sweet, sweet childhood....

And the best part is -- my nieces and nephews and Liam LOVED playing with all of these ancient (ha ha) toys! It was like a little Jason and Nathan and Erin sitting on the family room floor playing all over again...

Of course I HAD to take some photographs of some of my favorites! They're not the best quality (I snapped them quickly on my iPhone) but you'll get the point. I wonder if any of you had these exact same toys??


The game of Perfection.
I'm not sure why they called it Perfection...has anyone in history ever conquered this game before BAMMM!!! the dang base pops up and flings your pieces everywhere?

The kids enjoyed it. And Nici.

Holy trolls! I can't believe my mom saved my trolls.

Okay...so who else had the exact same Barbie storage case? Or Barbie refrigerator?

Books  never get old. I swear I remember reading each and every one of these books as a child.


A cluster of my bros' dolls. I mean "super hero men." Heaven forbid if we called them dolls.

Matt had the exact same Matchbox case as my brothers. And his mom still has his too!

I used to play with these all of the time too. My favorite was the yellow Volkswagen Beetle.

Liam and Rylan picking out their favorites.

I played with this thing ALL of the time....

....and it came with this camper, which was even cooler than the truck.

Who else had this barn? When you open the left barn door it "moos."

My first camera.

I could have taken photos of more things, but I don't want to bore you too much :)

Did this bring back any childhood memories for you?

Thank you, mom and dad, for keeping so many of our toys!

Monday, April 22, 2013

Mother Earth

Autumn in Wisconsin

I love, love, love our Earth. 

I love the look of grand trees reaching towards the sky, the colors of a rainbow after a rainstorm, flowers in their shades of purple and yellow and pink, clear lake water sparkling in the sunshine, squirrels scurrying through the grass, corn stalks swaying in the warm summer wind, tomatoes glistening on their vines, lightning shooting through the sky on a stormy night.

I love the smell of gardenias in the hot sun, the smell of ocean salt and fish, fresh spring air flowing through our windows and into our home, the green smell of ripened squash and cucumbers in our garden.

I love the feel of grass tickling my feet as I walk through our yard, the cold snowflakes as they melt on my face, the juice of a fresh summer strawberry running down my chin.

I love the earthy taste of spinach, sweet taste of fresh picked summer raspberries, bitter taste of kohlrabi, hearty taste of potatoes, unique taste of avocados.

I love the way the Earth makes me feel. Nothing else makes me feel as energized, as peaceful and as relaxed as when it's just me and Mother Earth. Walking through the woods at our cabin. Walking along the lapping waves of Lake Michigan. Walking on a beach in the Caribbean. Laying on our porch listening to the birds chirp. 

There is nothing like our Earth.

We need to protect her, respect her, love her. Cherish her. Enjoy her. Give back anything and everything we take from her. 

Happy Earth Day everyone!
___________________________

DAILY SMILES
Things that made me smile last week:

4.15.13
We cleaned a bit of our garage while enjoying the 55 degree weather

4.16.13
Liam walked up and down our driveway 4 times all by himself!

4.17.13
Our neighbor left some delicious locally grown lettuce on our doorstep

4.18.13
We got good news from our cats' veterinarian - Marlee is healing and getting better

4.19.13
We took Liam swimming and he LOVED being dunked underneath the water

4.20.13
We enjoyed some local maple syrup

4.21.13
We got our bedroom organized a bit