February Wrap Up

59/365 Sunday Afternoon Lights

I was out at Southside today and found it kind of funny to be looking at the "Friday Night Lights" field on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. Ah, sweet home away from home.

58/365

57/365 A Riddle for You

Riddle: How do you know when payday rolls around in a house full of boys?

Answer:



(financial tip of the day: buy stock in Food Lion & Walmart)

56/365 Mmmm Mmmmm Good

I'm so blessed to be married to a chef. I love that Davy has developed a love for cooking and experimenting in the kitchen. It is definitely a culinary treat. Tonight for dinner we enjoyed homemade teriyaki fried rice with veggies and ham. It was perfect for a cold, damp winter night. Another great symptom of our healthy eating habits and creative cooking is that our boys enjoy all types of food. On the first day of kindergarten, Tyler was the only 5 year old to list "sushi" (then pronounced shoe-shee)as his favorite food!

55/365 Car Wash

The last two day's worth of stories are proving to be hard to top for today, so I'm just going with a few pictures that I think turned out kind of cool. After all the salt on the roads from our recent mid-winter travels, our car was in desperate need of a carwash. This is the view from the inside!

54/365 A Gas Problem

The boys and I walked in house to be hit by overwhelming gas odor this afternoon. After some investigating and a bit of light-headedness, it turns out that a burner on our gas stove had been bumped on and left open all day. I was super relieved that all are safe - our home and our dogs. It was certainly scary. Obviously, the boys and I couldn't stay while the house was airing out. We hopped in the car and headed to McDonald's for a snack and some homework time. When I told Davy over the phone that there was too much gas in the house to stay, Tyler apologized for too much farting/burping this morning. :) Only at my house!

53/365 No words...

If you ever need to borrow some petroleum jelly, I am not the person to ask. In fact, it's been almost 5 years since I've had any in my possession. Why? Well, it's funny you should ask. One night when the boys were almost 2, we heard four little limbs climbing up the stairs to our bedroom. (parenting tip 1, don't assume your kids are asleep without doing an official test) As Davy rounded the corner, he found David climbing up the stairs, hands covered in Vaseline. Following the shiny trail, he discovered Spanky, our sweet, gentle Cheasapeake Bay Retriever with thick, coarse, long, curly hair, resting in the hallway with a empty jar beside him. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, David had lovingly smothered Spanky with Vaseline. Ummm, yeah. What do you do with that? (parenting tip 2, here's how you do that)
1. Immediately, put the dog in the crate. Keep him there all night and all day.
2. After school, while your husband is 2 hours away coaching a high school baseball game, load the crate and the dog into the Suburban.
3. Load up the twins and drive 45 minutes to the nearest PetSmart.
4. Unload the shiny 65 lb. dog and the twins and get into the groomers.
5. Explain to the desk clerk why your dog is covered in Vaseline.
6. Explain to the manager why your dog is covered in Vaseline.
7. Leave the dog and head to the mall to kill 3-4 hours because it's too far to head home and come back.
8. Answer the phone and explain to another groomer why your dog is covered in Vaseline. Just respond "I have twin boys." (parenting tip 3, this explains most things)
9. Hang out at the mall. Go eat at Chic-fil-a once it's turned freezing cold and everyone is tired and ready to head home.
10. Watch helplessly as Tyler vomits his lunch all over himself while you realize that you don't have extra clothes because of the madness with the dog.
11. Wrap your child in a random blanket you find in the car, hope he isn't freezing, and walk into Petsmart to pick up the dog. Try to contain your tears.
12. Pay $80 to have had the dog de-greased and his hair cut. Thank the worker profusely when he can tell you are crumbling in front of him and offers to walk your dog out for you.
13. Leave threatening messages for your husband that he better be home when you get there as you drive the 45 minutes home.
14. Get everyone inside.
15. Crash... and try to guess how long it will be before you can laugh about it!

52/365 Sight for Sore Eyes

When I've been away from home and from my guys, there's little I like to see more...

51/365 Whispering Pines

This morning, I hopped in the car way too early for a Saturday morning. I am in Raleigh with NC Teacher Academy for the weekend, and I got the inspiration for my picture of the day while on the drive along Highway 264. A few months ago, we were headed on a trip to see my parents, and as we approached Raleigh, the boys made the statement "We're getting closer to Grammy's." I was curious about how they knew this, so we asked. They looked out the window and said, "There are whispering pines!" It took a minute for us to catch on to the fact that the trees had turned to pine trees and the boys recognized them as the same trees that are at Mom and Dad's house in Whispering Pines, NC. Too cute!

50/365 Dress Down Day

Today was "Dress Down for a Cure" Day at CPS. David and Tyler were super excited to get up and wear their jeans and hats to school, something they are only allowed to do on this one day per year. As the coordinator of this event to kick off our fund raising for Relay for Life, I loved seeing all the kids walk through the doors this morning. One parent even hopped out of the car and took pics (like me) of her cute little daughter. Over 475 students brought in their $2 donation for Relay for Life and we raised $969 as a school for Relay for Life. Way to go CPS :) Someday we're going to talk them into letting the teachers do it too!

49/365 Guest Speaking

Last night I was invited to speak during Dr. John Strange's EDM (education) class at the University of South Alabama. His students are required to read my post at the Edurati Review of "It's Not About the Technology." I enjoyed reading his students' responses and was honored to get to speak with them and answer their questions. The opportunities that technology offers are truly amazing. I definitely wanted to capture this moment to remember!

48/365 Fragile

Today's photo prompt was to photograph someone or something fragile. There are so many things that we could post. I chose this cropped picture of these daisies. Cut flowers are always so fragile, yet they are so beautiful. I think their frailty adds to that innocent beauty.

47/365 Bam Bam Bam

I decided when I started this 365 project that I would use the photos and my blog to tell stories of our family. Some of these stories, as you have seen, have been current. Other times, like today, I want to tell the stories of our past, those things that we don't want to forget. So, today's photo does just that.

You may be thinking, a clothes dryer? So what? That machine is a part of every family's past, more than any of us would like to admit. However, how many of us can say that we've seen the dryer from the inside out? Tyler can. When we were living in Oxford, our small laundry room was the walkway to our back porch. Our friends Susan and Greg had come over for a cookout with their son Barrett (these were the pre-Anna days). The boys were barely two and were running around the house playing. The laundry room door and back door were open as we were going in and out to the grill. At some point, we started hearing a "banging" noise. With 2 boys, this wasn't all that unusual. Somehow, though, this was different. Muffled. We followed the noise into the laundry room and realized it was coming from inside the dryer. As we opened it, Tyler popped out laughing. The boys had been playing hide-n-seek, and Tyler had found a great spot. It's just that David latched him in there instead of "finding" him! The strangest thing to me now is trying to remember how he ever fit in there!

46/365 Big Boys

Today I want to brag on my boys. This weekend was their first real experience with the death of a loved one, the activities and solemness that surrounds these times, and long days of quiet and solitude. To be honest, I didn't know how it would go, but I hoped for the best. Our little men proved better than we could have dreamed. They showed their respect, caring and compassion countless times over this long weekend. They sat peacefully and quietly through hours of services, visitations and more. They met extended family and visited for long periods of time, chatting and playing quietly. In many ways, I think David and Tyler crossed a new line this weekend. They certainly asked questions about death and about Papaw, but they seemed to really internalize what was happening and the love that everyone felt despite their sorrow. Kudos to my boys. I'm so proud of them!

45/365 Sunday

Today we laid Davy's Papaw to rest. We rejoiced in the fact that, while his body is resting, his spirit is skipping and running up and down the streets of gold in Heaven. This flag reminds me of him in many ways... standing over us, flying high, never failing, strong and reliable.

44/365 Snow Day

Finally, a snow day that we could enjoy! About 3 inches of snow fell in Lexington this weekend as we spent time with family at Nana's house. The dogs enjoyed playing in the snow, especially Spanky who loves to eat it. David and Tyler even got to have a snowball fight with their cousins, Andrew and Caleb. I thought the bird feeder made for a great shot today because it was full of birds seeking refuge and nourishment all day long. Even the squirrels, who wouldn't venture out of their trees, couldn't ruin it for them.

43/365 Papaw

I am pre-posting tomorrow's 365 photo. John Pace, Papaw, passed away this afternoon. I am so blessed to have been born into a loving family. I am just as lucky to have married into one. I have so many special memories of Rev. Pace, starting with his kind, caring eyes. His love for his family and the Lord will always have a strong imprint on our hearts, and I feel so fortunate that our little ones got to make their own memories with their great-grandparents. In this pic, the boys were just turning 5. The days ahead will be long and sad, but I find assurance in the fact that I know Papaw is singing and dancing with the angels and always watching over us from Heaven.

42/365 Stop

Sometimes this is all we get. And we must. The key is knowing when to start up again.

41/365 Cloud Gazing

The sky fascinates me. It always has. As a kid, I remember loving watching the weather. During late night storms, I would pull a chair up to my bedroom window and watch with fascination as the lightning would illuminate the backyard. I remember sitting on the old porch swing with my dad while at our summer house in Carolina Beach right after we moved to Wilmington. As the sky grew darker, we would sit outside on the porch and watch the storms rage off the coast - never to actually make the turn inland. Cloud watching is always another great pastime. This morning's ominous skies and gale force winds brought a whole new meaning to the idea of finding cloud shapes. In the top picture, I see a turtle swimming on its back. I wonder what you see?!

40/365 Something Beautiful

Tonight's Daily Shoot photograph was to look around and snap a picture of something beautiful. Well, that doesn't really narrow it down, now does it? It's 9:00 PM and I'm just recently home from school. It's cold and rainy. I've been at work for more than 13 hours. So, what's beautiful to me right now? (other than my bed & PJs). I snapped this picture in our school cafeteria where hundreds of parents, students, teachers and family members crammed in to enjoy pizza, a silent auction and a spirited BINGO game. It's beautiful to me because it symbolizes a great relationship between our school and our community.

39/365 Mmmmmm

Tonight was muffin night because any time is a good time for strawberry cheesecake muffins! David mixed and poured the muffins. Tyler helped clean out the bowl.

38/365 Curves

The daily shoot prompt yesterday was to take a picture that was designed to highlight curves. Well, yesterday the important event was the new haircut, but I did manage to capture this shot of my yoga ball. I love that thing! Don't get me wrong, I don't do a lot of yoga, but when my back is hurting, there's nothing like laying across it to stretch my back out! We won't talk about the abuse it gets from the boys.

37/365 Fresh Looks

It was a very lazy Saturday, but it was totally spiced up with a trip to see my girl, Susan. We've decided that there must be a cosmic Kelly-Susan connection. My roommate/boss/hair stylist/friend/wedding coordinator in Wilmington's name was Susan and she was totally fabulous. Yet, this Susan goes back even farther. There are little girl bikini pics of the two of us running around Sunset Beach, NC in the early 80's. We've been known to rock out with some Barbie dolls and our parents are best of friends. When we moved to Washington, I was thrilled to find Susan living and working in Greenville. Every girl should have a stylist that she trusts completely. There's nothing like sitting in the chair and saying "do whatever you want" and meaning it. It's even better when it's a long time friend! Thanks Susan :)

36/365 Last Looks

It finally struck me that I'm always on the shooting end of the camera when I ran facial recognition in Picasa on my albums and there are thousands of pics of each of the boys, hundreds of my family and very few of me. It was time, I guess, that I post myself up here, like I do to the rest of my family. Besides, I am getting a haircut tomorrow and I can't wait! I am turning my head over to Susan, so who knows what will happen? I've been fed up with this hair for a month, and I have a decent hair day right before I chop it off :) Figures...

35/365 Red Handed

Right after David and I got married, we built a great house in Leland and it had a space between the tops of the kitchen cabinets and the ceiling. I obviously had to have something to put up there, and decided to start a cookie jar collection. Now, 9 years and several dozen cookie jars later, I love rotating out my favorite seasonal cookie jars every few months. Each cookie jar has a special memory and meaning and came from a special place. I love that I have ones from my husband, parents, kids and even students. This is one of my favorite ones, and it's one of the few snowmen that I actually enjoy! If they only came filled with peanut butter cookies, I'd definitely be in heaven!

34/365

33/365 Groundhog Day

Today may have been Groundhog Day, but there were no repeats here. I gave blood for the first time in the Beaufort County Schools Red Cross Blood Drive. I love that our school system is civic minded, and considering the recent tragedy in Haiti, it's so important to consider others. I will say that it was kind of difficult trying to explain it to the boys though.

32/365 Great Start to New Month

Waking up after 8:00 AM (on purpose) is a great way to start a new week and a new month, especially on a Monday! Yeah for 2 hr snow/ice delay :)