Best Shot Monday

A photo of my daughter and the little girl she babysits. It truly is my best shot because I took over 200 photos that day and only a few came out good. I don't know how people who take pictures of toddlers for a living can do it, I could not get that girl to sit still for anything!

Best Shot Monday

Thursday Photo Challenge - Family

My husband and daughter Leanna being silly at Grandma's house....




Leanna hugging Grandma, with Mischief in the shot too....

Inspire Me Thursday - Doors

Picture taken by my daughter, looking down our hallway with all its doors. She told me that she couldn't explain it, she just saw something she liked there. Do I see a budding photographer in her maybe? I don't know....



Visit Inspire Me Thursday.

13 Things to Bring on a Long Car Trip

1. Snacks of various kinds.

2. A flashlight or reading light to keep the kids busy.

3. CDs of music you actually like for the long drive in the radio station wastelands.

4. A blanket because the husband keeps the car too cold.

5. A pillow because the daughter wont let me use hers.

6. A water bowl and water for the dog (its hard to get him to drink out of a regular water bottle).

7. A pooper scooper for use at rest stops (using a plastic bag to pick it up is real yucky).

8. The TomTom so we don't get lost, again.

9. Books, magazines, fill in puzzles.

10. The cell phone car charger because the family calls every 5 minutes to see how far we have gotten.

11. Water, lots of water (for me).

12. All the luggage, double check the house before you go.

13. The family, although sometimes you would prefer to leave them behind :)


For more participants, visit Thursday Thirteen.

I'm Back!!

Did you miss me??

Good news, after some extremely tense moments, grandpa has rallyed again and pulled through. They won't let him come home yet but he is awake and alert, just very very weak.

We didn't want to leave him and grandma, but my husband's leave time was up and I had a job to start when we got back here.

So we're home now, I am swamped with school work because I wasn't able to use a computer/internet while we were gone to research for these papers I need to get done, and the term ends next week.

I also started a new job this past Monday. Yay!! I am the new Juvenile Intake Worker for our county. Basically what I will be doing is whenever a child under 18 gets in trouble with the law I will have to go and do an intake, ask a lot of questions, deal with the parents, decide where the child is to be placed (at home, foster care, or detention) until they go to court. Then if they are placed at a foster home or group home, I will take them there.

Also, any child that is a victim of abuse, neglect, or is a runaway or truant from school, I do an intake on them and place them also.

I am excited about the job, now I just have to wait for something to happen, as it is an on call position.

But anyway, I am here, just buried under stuff, trying to dig out :)

Wordless Wednesday

Out of Town

Looks like we'll be heading out today. My husband's grandpa is extremely sick and we've been called home. All we have to do now is wade through the Army's red tape in order to get approved for emergency leave.

I don't know if I'll have any internet access while I'm gone but I'll try to check in if I can.

Please keep us in your thoughts.... the inevitable is going to crush my husband because his grandparents are like parents to him.

Talk About Tuesday - Blue Man Group

Sunday we drove into Wichita to see the Blue Man Group at the Kansas Coliseum. It was a fantastic show!! Much better than I had expected.



They had an opening act, Mike Relm, who was great himself. I don't quite know how to explain what he does. He does things with sounds and video and choreographs them together, which changes them into something else. Does that make sense?



These blue men, who are actually blue, can play the drums on any type of contraption and make it sound awesome!





These drums were awesome, that is water spraying up as he is drumming....





This show had a lot of audience participation to it, with words on the screens telling people what to do, and the blue men really catering to the audience and getting them involved. The people in this next picture actually were part of the audience, and got pulled up on the stage to participate in some weirdness. That is a huge gob of marshmallows on her head, by the way :)



Its like there was a comedy act in the middle of all the music....







All in all, it was a great show for people of all ages, the group sitting next to me had a three or four year old, and she just loved it, laughing through the whole show. Leanna, who is 16, had a great time also.



This is the guitarist, I just put this photo up because it turned out well :)



The only issue I have is the price of the concessions and souvenirs once you get there. A regular size bag of M&Ms cost $3.00!! and so did a bottle of water. It was crazy! The program for the show, you know we had to get one of them, was $15.00! I almost said no because of the price, but we get one from every event we attend and it was a pretty cool little book. The DVDs were $30.00 so I said no way to that.

To see what other people are talking about this week, please visit The Lazy Organizer.

Happy Birthday To Me!!!

Today I turned 35. Kind of a milestone I guess but I don't feel any different.

So the reason I haven't been around all weekend is because my family kind of turned it into a birthday weekend for me. We spent a lot of time together as a family, something you do less and less of as the kid gets older and everyone has different interests.

Friday we ate at Cracker Barrel, who's Chicken and Dumplings are to die for. Saturday morning we went to IHOP and I ordered stuffed french toast with bananas and caramel on top. It was awesome, just like eating dessert :) Then my husband cooked me dinner using recipes he found. He is so sweet sometimes :)

Yesterday we drove to Wichita (2 hours away) to go see The Blue Man Group perform. It was so awesome!! I've seen videos of them before but it is so much better live. We had floor seats 27 rows back. They were pretty decent seats. Leanna had a perfect view in between people but I had 2 big heads in front of me. Oh well, that is to be expected, lol. I took some pictures and I'll see about getting them up a little later today after I have a look at them.

One thing I have to remember to never do again: Never go to an event with only one camera battery that isn't even fully charged. The camera died on me. So for my birthday I'm buying an extra camera battery (or two).

Question: Has anyone used Ebay or Amazon for camera supplies? I've noticed their prices are cheaper than places like B&H but.... sometime cheap means cheap, know what I mean? I'm scared to shop online sometimes because I don't know what kind of quality I'm going to get. I wish there was a camera store near us....

Thursday Photo Challenge - Silly

The look on Leanna's face when that sheep touched her hand was priceless!!

Lens Day - Comfort

This weeks Lens Day Challenge is Comfort. Being a military wife and all, this photo means comfort to me....

Weekly Winners

Things are starting to grow in my garden....




Really neat blooms on a tree....




A mushroom about ten feet up....




From a wedding we attended this weekend....




Sunset on the way home.....




Death and rebirth....




From my sweet husband :)




For more Weekly Winners, take a peek at Sarcastic Mom.

Sky Watch and Photo Friday - Far From Home

This is a picture taken by my husband while on his plane trip to Korea. It is definitely a sight to see :)



And here they are flying on TOP of the clouds....



The theme for this Photo Friday is Far From Home. Well I think Korea is about as far as my husband can get from home....

For more Sky Watch photos, visit Wiggers World.

Photo Friday - Emotions

Bowling!!

This weekend we took Leanna and two of her friends bowling. Both my husband and Leanna love to bowl, but we haven't done it in a while. (I usually sit on the sidelines and cheer). I think they all had a great time, I brought out the camera and the girls posed for me, so I had fun too :)

Check out more Weekend Snapshots.

Weekly Winners

The first sign of spring in my yard....




My beautiful dog, able to lay outside because its not too cold or wet....




My beautiful dog again :) Does anyone know how to get rid of the "pet eye" he has? I would love to see his pretty brown eyes in a photo instead of always yellow....




A gorgeous plant I bought, can't remember what it is called....




Again in black and white :)




Azaleas....




And more azaleas :) Love the water drops....



Visit more Weekly Winners.

Ten Places I'd Take a Tourist To See in My Hometown

Well my hometown is Rockford Illinois, so let's see....

1. Magic Waters - a giant outdoor waterpark on the outskirts of town

2. Cherryvale Mall - a two floor mall with tons of awesome stores.

3. Beefaroo - a fast food restaraunt that serves the greatest Beef and Cheddar sandwiches and Cheddar Fries, yum :)

4. Nickel World - an arcade where each game is only a nickel.

5. Discovery Center Museum - a hands on children's museum where all the exhibits can be touched and played with. We have been there many times :)

6. Midway Village - a real 19th century village and museum, they do civil war reenactments and a really fun Halloween program.

7. Ski Broncs Water Show - a spectacular water ski show done every week in the summer.

8. Rockford Speedway - a quarter mile Nascar racing track that runs from spring to fall and has lots of special events. When we are home, you can expect to see us there every week :)

9. Sinnissippi Park - on the river, in the summer they have the most beautiful rose garden, in the winter there is the Festival of Trees and the Ice Sculpture Competition.

10. Rock Cut State Park - camping and fishing and hiking, you name something outdoorlike, and it can be done here :)

For other peoples favorite hometown places, head on over to Ten on Tuesday.

Blog Carnivals #2

This week a couple of my posts are featured in five new blog carnivals! They are the Carnival of Inspiration and Motivation.... The Mommy Blog Carnival.... Mom's Blogging Carnival.... The Carnival of Positive Thinking.... and The Dog Blog Carnival. I want to thank the hosts of these carnivals for letting me be a part of them :)

Check them out, there are some excellent posts listed in there :)

Photo Friday - The Good Life

My daughter is going to be mad when she sees this one lol. This is Leanna and Mischief about 3 or 4 years ago. Both of them sprawled out asleep :) I thought it was perfect for The Good Life Challenge over at Photo Friday.



What do you guys think?

I Can't Find My To-Do List!!

I usually keep a very detailed to-do list sitting on my desk by the computer. It isn't there. This weekend my husband and I did some spring cleaning/decluttering in the house. Which is all good and everything except when he does not know what something is, or where it goes, he puts it on my desk. I put most of the things away that he stashed there, and my list is not in the pile that is left.

So now I have to remember and remake the whole thing again.

AARGH!!!