It's a beautiful day for a princess...

Yesterday was a beautiful day for a beautiful couple to start a new life together. Here are a couple of sweet moments from Princess Andi's special day with her prince Jacob...

The Princess herself


My little princesses in training were the flower girls


A good princess loves on her loyal subject


... and provides nourishment for all in the land


Only a true princess could wear garments with such fine details...

Congrats to the new Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Furr...

Top 10 reasons why we love hotels...

1. Cable tv. Lots and lots of cable tv. What can I say, we haven't had a working television in 3 months, and we're making up for lost time.
2. Hotels have the best ootchie-schootchie pillows. According to my daughters that is.
3. it's 100 degrees outside, but the AC is on so high that we have to snuggle under the blankies
4. some one else is in charge of breakfast. And cleaning the bathroom. Can't beat that. They'd better have housekeepers in Heaven.
5. Grandma lives "next door"
6. adventure is right outside our front door. If it wasn't 100 degrees outside, and the tv wasn't on I'm sure we'd be out there soaking it all in. Maybe.
7. The most important thing I have to do this afternoon is beat my mother at Bejeweled blitz. Since I did that 5 minutes after I got here, I guess I'll just have to watch cable tv some more.
8. Dude. Theres a pool. And Grandpa makes a good babysitter. I mean lifeguard. I have important things to do today.
9. JUMPING ON THE BED. Need I say more?
10. Life simplified with the people I love. Who wouldn't love that....

Time to get out of dodge...

The Peterson family (minus Jory - boo hoo!) is off on a great adventure! We're headed down to North Carolina for a wedding, and hopefully a day at the beach! We'll keep you posted as to the highs and lows and quirks that will surely come along the way!

(nearly) wordless Wednesday

fly away home...
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Giggle Girls

I love these photos of my daughters. they are a perfect representation of their relationship during this phase of their lives. Sundresses, missing teeth and giggles.

Oh my with the giggles.

I don't know if its a twin thing or what, but they regularly errupt in uncontrollable giggle fits. And it cracks me up. Every sigle time. Even when they're supposed to be sleeping but they're in there giggling away about noses or something. I can't help it. They're just too darned funny.

Blessing in the shape of a bubble

Let this be your daily reminder to stop charging through life. Turn off the crazy and be amazed by the simple beauty of bubbles

Share a golden sunlit moment with the ones who bring you joy, you won't be sorry.

A day in the life...

While Alex was with his peer mentoring group this morning I took the girls out and about so I could get some more practice time with my camera. We spent a little time playing at the playground before it got too hot and we had to go hide from the sun at Grandma's house...

My part time baby - Elizabeth. Theoretically she belongs to my mom's neighbor...

Mmmmmmmmmm... hot dogs for lunch.

Love this one...

My brother teased me for this one, I had to bribe her with a cherry to get her to look away from the tv long enough for me to snap it...

Overall very pleased with the very little editing I had to do with these photos. Even the ones I took under horrendous lighting conditions just to see what I could get. One. Happy. Mama.

My new best friend...

Hello new Canon 60D. It's so nice to meet you. I have been day dreaming about you for a whole year now, but for a long time I just couldn't justify bringing you into my family yet. You see, there is a little boy in a far off land who needs to be a part of my family just a little more than I needed you.

But then my old camera was stolen. That sucked. Not really, it had over 30,000 photos on it, and it was ready to die any day. But in searching for a replacement I made a pit stop at the store of Grandma and Grandpa. They had a special deal on a camera I already knew how to use. So even though I really wanted you, I gleefully took their bargain.

I should have just been happy with that, but no. I had a taste for you, and you were singing to me from the depths of Best Buy. So recently I was in a situation where the lighting was absolutely horrible and my photos showed it. I was so miserable, I wanted my photos to be better than they were and I wanted my camera to be better than it was. Guess what. The crazy God that I serve heard my cry. Even though money is so tight right now, He gave me permission. Not only would everything be just fine if I took that crazy expensive leap (not the first crazy expensive leap I've taken this year, mind you), everything was going to be great. If only I could learn to trust God, just a little bit more. God does want good things for me. Including a super slick camera that I never would have purchased if it hadn't gone on sale the week after I had the "I can't afford that" argument with my savior.

So welcome to the clan little camera. I'm sure we'll enjoy getting to know each other. I gotta say. Dude. You're heavy. Maybe you should go on a diet. Better yet, nope. No diet for you. Have all the sugar you want, just be sure you share it with the rest of us.

(nearly) Wordless Wednesday

I got my eye on you...
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Whispers from the garden

Over the weekend I was Walking around in my garden. After I noticed all the tiny buds and other treasures my garden had to show me I stopped to listen to what my garden had to say to me. I have to admit, my plants make me chuckle.
I have dill growing in random places (that I'm quite sure I didn't plant) which is surely the result of the epic dill seed fight my kids had with their brother Max last summer. Oh Max and his dill. I have never met someone who could plop themselves in the garden and pick dill and eat it like candy. Now that I've been to Russia I understand the relationship. Next year there will be a large section of dill in the garden, just for him.
On a completely unrelated note, I also had a little conversation with my black eyed susans... the ones who are literally taking over each garden I put them in. It went something like this: You are not allowed to take over this garden too. You can have that one over there, but not this one. Really. You can't. I have no where to transplant you, and none of my friends want you. So just stop growing. I'm not kidding. If you don't watch it you're going to end up on the compost pile.
Am I the only one who talks to her plants? Probably not. I'm just the only one who records the conversation for other people to read.

Weekending

This weekend Daddy while was off on his own great adventure with the boys, Mom and the kids had our own little adventure. We met up with my mom, uncle and grandmother and headed to see Marblehead lighthouse. While the lighthouse itself is only interesting for about 10 seconds or so, the rocks at it's base are entirely way more interesting. I think my kids would have played there for at least another hour if the old folks weren't bored and ready to move on.

Letter to Alex

Dear Alex,
9 years ago today, you changed my life forever. Ever since day one you have been a sweet, even tempered little guy who is just a joy to have around. It's fun to look back through the pictures of this last year and see just how your personality has developed.
I can tell that you love Jesus very much, the fruit of your faith is obvious and abundant. This year you've really developed a thirst for memorizing scripture. I think you memorized almost every single verse your Sunday School teachers gave you, with little to no help from us. Whats even better is that each time you earned a reward for memorizing a certain number of verses, you gave your treat away. Every single time. A mom like me could learn a lot from a little guy like you.
You are thoughtful and compassionate. Kind and gentle. You love little kids, and are quick to play with just about anyone, no matter their age. You are going to be an awesome Dad. I pray that God would bless you with a whole houseful of little ones to love on.
You love to play Legos (especially with your best buddy, Jake), draw maps, and read. You are always making something, and it usually involves cardboard.
I can't wait for you to have a brother, someone who will always be on your team. Max couldn't ask for a more devoted and loyal brother.
Love, Mom
ps. your hair looks funny and your ears are falling off. *wink*

2 matches and a scrap of paper later...

Let me just preface this post by saying that we live in a swamp where nothing ever burns. The few times I've tried to set brush fires, it's taken forever to burn even the slightest portion of the pile. So one day last week I decided to take advantage of the drier than usual weather and see if I couldn't burn a little more off that pile that's been collecting for several years now.
About 2 minutes into the burn I decided it was going well enough that perhaps I did need a way to put the flames down just in case... by the time I called the kids to bring out a few buckets and the hose not only had the entire 6 foot wide pile gone up in a puff, but also 10 feet of surrounding underbrush had gone up with it. Eek.
Fortunately we managed to get everything under control before it got too wild and scary. Nothing we cared about got burned, infact the wildflowers and raspberries and all of our grass that were growing inches from the front edge of the flames survived the heat just fine. The kids even had a great time playing fireman.

So if you take a tour of my garden, please excuse the 10 x 10 black scar of charred wood and blackened soil that is rather noticable, even if it is tucked into the back corner...

And while your at it, please do not tell the local fire department (or my dad!) about our little mishap. If they knew, they would surely give me a really hard time for not having the water handy before I started the blaze. The last thing I need is to have my fire safety merrit badge taken away.

(nearly) wordless wednesday

Crown of Thorns
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Wake up call

This morning I received a rather interesting wake up call. It wasn't the loud obnoxious one that lives on my nightstand, it was more of a gentle tug, and it was in my heart. Jesus had something he wanted to show me, and he wanted me to see it NOW.

So before my alarm went off, I picked up my camera (because when Jesus has something to show you, it's going to be good, right?) and stepped out into the still cool morning. I walked past all the obviously interesting stuff in my garden, that's not where I was headed. I had my eyes glued to the dew coated meadow next to our house that was dazzling in the early morning sun. I stopped to admire the diamond coated grass that came up to my knees, but that wasn't it either. I walked a little further to the section of 5 foot tall Queen Anne's Lace. There standing in the shoulder high weeds I found my treasure. Not only did I find delight in the beauty of God's creation, but I also found the joy and peace Christ offers when you follow.

So you wanna see my souvenirs?

The fruit of a meltdown

Think back to before all the holiday hoopla, back before our fun adventures with friends, the fireworks and food. It started on Friday, but by Saturday it was full blown. And it was ugly. I admit it, I had a temper tantrum. The mother of all temper tantrums. More accurately my inner artist who was tired of being ignored had a tantrum. I tried all of the tantrum techniques I used to deal with my kids when they were toddlers. I ignored it, redirected it, bribed it... Nothing worked. I finally just needed a time out. With my art supplies.
So I'm not exactly proud of my behavior, but I am pretty proud of what I made. Wanna see?

Also, some cute little girls wandered in and were inspired by the fruit of their mother's tantrum. Here's what they made.

Holiday Hoopla Round 2

Just a few images from our weekend at the lake. Our dear friends from church (who've been on our blog a lot lately because all we do is hang out with them!) went with us this time.

Highlights from the weekend include, playing in their kayak, kids splashing up a storm on the orange raft, berry picking, their first trip to an amish bakery, the neighbors cute kittens, and finding the perfect American flag shirt for Max to wear home from Russia (on clearance!)

Lots of laughter, lots of fun.

Holiday Hoopla Round One

Yes, I realize it's Thursday, and we're all a little over all things holiday, but some things are just too good to keep to yourself. And the joy that came with this weekend is one of them. We had an exceptionally great extended holiday weekend full of family, friends that we love like family, and good food, it's impossible not to share it.
The fun began on Sunday at a backyard cookout with some dear friends from church. They had a decent view of the local fireworks display from their backyard, so they invited us and some of our other favorite families from church over for dinner and a show. What we didn't know is that when the "official" show was over, their neighbor had an even more spectacular show planned to set off in the field behind their houses. So we were treated to a double feature.
I swore up and down that I really didn't need more firework photos, but when the show started I couldn't resist. I'm so glad I did. Most of my shots were the typcial burst shots that I get every year, but I had a few that turned out rather funky and poetic that I thought I'd share. I'm not sure why these turned out so atypical, but I love them.

(nearly) wordless Wednesday

ka-boom


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