Gone Fishin'

Yesterday Sam went fishing with Uncle Joe. Because of my thalassophobia and general fear of drowning, this was a huge thing for me. Sam + lake + boat = PANIC! Luckily, Joe is one of the most trustworthy people in the world, and Aunt Yan went along as well. I'm pretty sure that two adults can keep one four and a half year old from drowning. Still, I was fretting and rending my garments until I got this text message:

How could I, even with all of my neuroses, continue to worry about this boy, who was obviously having a blast and reeling in large mouth bass like it was his job?

After three hours of fishing (two and a half more than I thought Sam would last) Sam decided that it would be best to throw his prizes back into the lake. And also he accidentally threw about $100 worth of Uncle Joe's equipment into the lake as well. But everyone had a great time, and I didn't explode from worry.

I think that's worth $100, don't you?

W is for Watermelon

I think we really lucked out with timing when we started this project. We began in the late winter so we've had nice weather for the majority of the alphabet. So many of our shots were taken outside. Plus finding a lovely, colorful watermelon would have been a little harder in December than in July! I wish I could pop over to Chrissie's house to share some of this lovely melon with her.

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For more Team Up Thursday visit Melody, Megan and Flickr!

Blog, Interrupted

I've been really neglecting this blog recently, haven't I? Will you accept this heart shaped chip as an apology?

Last weekend was my family reunion, so my brother and lots of other family members were here visiting. We hosted a small gathering for some folks who won't be here when we have our house warming in September, Saturday was the golf outing, Sunday was the family reunion and on Monday my brother had a concert at the Y in our hometown.

Then Monday night dear aunt Yan arrived for a visit and we had our first date night since we moved last night. It was very romantic. We picked out paint colors at Lowe's and went to see Inception.

Phew! I think Maggs has the right idea.

This weekend we have a first birthday party and then on Monday a dear friend from Philly is coming for a visit with her two daughters. The week after that the kids are going to go to camp for a few days at their new school, then it's Lucy's birthday and then it's fall.

Life is flying by these days. It must be something in the mountain air.

V is for Vase

For more Team Up Thursday visit Megan, Melody and Flickr.

Over His Head

This week at I Heart Faces the theme is 'Over My Head' and as soon as I read about it, this shot came to mind. My brother has a lot going on right now, so not only is Lucy over his head in this photo, but he might also be feeling that life is a bit over his head at the moment. Here's hoping things calm down for him soon!

To see more of the 'Over My Head' photos, visit

Gems of West Virginia

It's wild berry season here, and you can't really mind that, can you? I wish I could say I picked these glistening treats myself, but being a new resident I don't really know all of the good berry picking spots yet. Maybe next year, but until then I'll happily pay for these beauties at the farmers' market!

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For more Best Shot Monday visit Tracey Clark at Mother May I.

U is for Umbrella

It rained almost every day here, but of course I didn't see a soul out with an umbrella. Maybe it's because we don't have sidewalks in our neighborhood. There were probably folks out in town, but I couldn't get there during the storms because they were in-sane. Luckily, I have a little girl who was more than willing to play with mommy's umbrella late one non-rainy afternoon. Chrissie got this 'U' shot a while back, and I think it makes for a lovely pairing with my little Lucy!

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For more Team-Up Thursday, visit Megan, Melody and Flickr.

Beautiful Misconceptions

One of my many hopes for our new house was that I would have a huge, spectacular garden. Sadly, those hopes have been smashed to smithereens by my neighbors. I guess that I should have figured that since a large percentage of the street names around here contain the word 'deer' that the four legged beasts might be a little more pervasive than in Philly. Turns out that the only way to keep the deer from eating everything you grow is to put up an eight foot fence. Which? Is not really an option, according to our HOA. So after picking our neighbors' brains, I decided to put some plants on our deck, which is twelve feet off of the ground.

Since we were so late in getting set up, we only have four tomato plants and three pepper plants. I know I won't get the bounty we've had in the past, but even if we only get a few tomatoes warmed by the sun, I'll be satisfied!

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For more Best Shot Monday, visit Tracey at Mother May I.

T is for Turtles

We missed last week because of me. We were recovering from a power outage, and I was in crazed mode. But this week we're back in the saddle. I took this turtle photo back on vacation, and Chrissie was kind enough to find a T to go with it!

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For more Team Up Thursday, visit Melody, Megan and Flickr!

Weekend Shenanigans

We had dip...

And Master Yoda watched over it to make sure no one double dipped...

And we also had a slam dunk show down...

SOB's brother-in-law won...

And a good time was had by all!

Adventures In...

I had intended to write entire posts of each of these topics, but time is short these days, so here is a summary of each post, as they had been written in my head.

1. Dieting

So I'm back at the ole' WW. Today was my second weigh-in and I lost 2.5 pounds! I was, to be honest, a little surprised. I was kind of half-assed with the whole points thing at first, and I ate a lot last night. But maybe because I'm back at the gym (finally!) and doing some different things I got lucky. We'll see how next week goes.

2. Bees

So Lucy got stung on her big toe by a wasp or something that can sting multiple times on Wednesday, and Sam got stung on the finger yesterday. My kids' digits must be covered in nectar. Or maple syrup. They do eat a lot of waffles.

3. Gardening

So I left my peas back in Philly, along with some volunteer tomatillios, and this was very sad for me. I knew that, despite the later growing season here, a true garden was out of the question. We'll have to construct a big fence to keep the deer and other wildlife away, and that isn't on the agenda for quite some time. So to appease my lust for fresh produce, I hauled some seriously heavy bags of dirt and large planters the previous owners left to our back deck and installed a container garden. I'll let you know how it turns out!

4. Kids

My kids are trying to kill me via their quest to kill each other. The main trouble is that we haven't met any new kids yet, and they are totally sick of one another. Then they want to play with me, but they fight over who gets to have me/pick the game. I try and play fair and choose activities we can all do (I even brought out the beloved/dreaded fingerpaint (HA! I just ran spell checker and I accidentally typed 'fingerpain'. So true. So, so true.)), but between getting a new house in order and taking care of the babe, my time is often limited. What to do, other than switch on the TV?

5. Grocery Stores

I'm starting to believe that the quality of life hinges entirely on one's access to good grocery stores. And all I can say is hallelujah for the new Kroger here in Mo-Town, otherwise I'd be a pretty miserable girl right about now.

Happy 4th! Have fun blowing things up in honor of our country!

Macaroni Pictures: The Music Video!

My brother made a music video to go with the title track of his first CD, Macaroni Pictures. Check it out!