One Blue-Eyed Kid

Braaten Noelle has a penchant for photography and taking beautiful photos.

My friend, Amy, who took this photo, also does. She's a pro.

Amy is willing to take Braaten under her wing and show her the ropes and that excites my girl. It excites me, too.

Here are some of the photos Braaten has taken over the course of this past year.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Melanie Grace on the beach at Edisto Island, SC.

      I shot this one. Eh, it's ok. :-)

 I love her ideas for photos.

 Yes, my sweet, true love does wait. And how blessed
you will be to wait for your husband! Only he deserves you.
Be patient. God has the perfect one set aside just for you.

Braaten, I am truly proud of you and all you put into learning 

about photography. It blesses me and those that see what you can do.

Continue to learn, and grow, and the Lord will soar you to great heights for Him.

brace yourself, pet peeves, and other updates

I think braces are pretty.

 I'm not sure I have always thought that, but they sure look great on my kids. 

Austin (16) and Braaten (14) just had them put on last week, on May 2nd to be exact! And you might be wondering how 1 family puts 2 kids in braces AT THE SAME TIME!! I am wondering that, too, except a payment plan with no extra fees, that extends over a 3 year period plus the health savings plan that my husband has through work is what has made it possible. God has provided and we are ever thankful.

It is estimated that they will have to wear them for 12 - 14 months. Back in the day, didn't people wear them for like 3 to 4 years? Ahhh, technology.

 You see that wad?

Yeah, it's not a wad of cash, but a wad of very expensive Kinesio-tape that I purchased with the intent of using on patients that might need to be taped.

My postal carrier left it on the porch, and my sweet pooch decided that he needed to have whatever it was that was in the package. It didn't matter that it wasn't food, or something exciting, he just had to have it. And boy did he make a mess of it!

I very carefully went through the entire thing and cut it into strips that still had the adhesive on with the protective paper over it. I think I was able to save 80% of it. Whew!

 Here's the culprit!! 

Yes, he's cute, I know.

 Some mornings I eat Froot Loops because they are ever so yummy

and I love my morning coffee. I thought you needed this update.

We have 2 new batches of kittens. There are 4 cuties in this litter. I have no pictures

 available of litter number 2, but I will soon.

Braaten shot this yesterday.

 Last year, in July, my sweet husband let me buy this camera. Mind you 

it is at least a couple of Christmases and birthdays worth of presents for me.

Braaten has had an interest in photography for a few years now, and 

the photos she takes are A*MA*ZING! Look out for a blog post that 

has her work in it coming this week.

Random things I love...

**Days off at home allowing me to cook and get some projects done.

Today happens to be one of them. I'll be running boys to baseball a little 

later, but that's ok.

**Having all of my kids under one roof after we've been apart. 

Melanie went on a wonderful vacation with friends and returned home last night.

Yay!!

**Helping people feel better physically when they come into my office.

And getting adjusted by my own chiropractor. She rocks!

**Finishing half marathons after months and months of training.

A post about that is coming...

**Homemade Italian Sauce with Meatballs.

My mother taught me well.

**Sunny days.

**Planting flowers all around the house.

**When school is almost done for the year and summer vacation.

**New friendships and old ones that are always there for me.

I love my friends!

**Newly created scrapbook pages.

**Freshly polished toenails.
There's no photo of that, thankyouverymuch. :)

  OK, so that's the post of the day.  I shall try once again to be more regular.

Thanks, Connie, for inspiring me. :-)

just like my dad taught me

When I was growing up, one of my dad's hobbies was crabbing.

Summertime in NJ was peak time to buy chicken necks, set it as bait inside the crab nets (they were technically cages, but Dad called them nets), and then hope the crabs were biting. 

Dad taught us all the art of crabbing and we all love it to this day.

Spring break for us this year was all about going to the beach at Edisto Island, South Carolina, with the hope of crabbing maybe once. Austin found some crab traps on eBay and I bought them. 

On day two, I took him crabbing for the first time. We caught 1 blue crab which was too small so we threw it back. It's body has to be a minimum of 5 inches.

Austin got the crabbing bug, nonetheless, so we went back day after day.

There is great joy in the catch. When you pull that trap up from the bottom of the water, snap it closed quickly as you begin to pull, you anxiously await whether or not a big enough crab will be accompanying your chicken neck. 

Another very sneaky method of crabbing is using a drop line. You put more of your chicken at the end of a line, drop it down in the water, and a few minutes later you slowly pull it up. A second person is waiting with a scoop net already at the surface of the water to scoop up any greedy crab that is being tugged while munching away. Much to its dismay he is sitting in a net not knowing what just happened. You then drop him in a bucket to bring home a little later.

We were somewhat successful throughout the week catching 9 blue crabs, 5 stone crabs, and 5 shrimp. We waited until we got back to Michigan to cook it all up Bobby D style- he always made spaghetti and crabs.

That's what we did last night. 

The girls and I are not lovers of seafood, but I did enjoy a little of it. 

The men in the family were blissfully happy at the dinner table cracking away at crab legs and building a personal pile of crab debris to be cleaned up later.

Edisto Island was wonderful in many ways. More pictures and stories to come of our family's spring break 2012. 

Fun Family Traditions at Easter

We got home from our trip at 4 in the morning Saturday. 

We were just in time for a weekend of some Easter fun and settling back in before the beginning of a new week.

Bye-bye Paas, hello McCormick neon food coloring!

Our eggs turned out beautifully. 

The kids were having a lot of fun experimenting with all the new colors.

After going to church at the early service, we came home and hid the eggs.

You're never too old to hunt those eggs, either. Austin made sure to ask us not to put it on Faceb*ok, but he failed to mention my blog. :)
He scaled the front porch railing in search of the most eggs. Actually we put a cap on them (3 real, 10 small plastic, and 1 large plastic).

Good find, Grant.

I think you found one, Cooper.

We were all gathered around trying to figure out if anyone was missing any of their eggs.

Braaten said she likes searching around the pool.

It looks like Melanie had a similar idea.

It was time to see what was in the eggs. Each of the big eggs had some cash in it for fun. One of them had the biggest amount we've ever put in. The only problem with that is the other 4 children that did not get the prized egg felt badly. They were really good sports actually.
The big winner was... Austin!

And at the end of all the fun, we enjoyed baked ham, cheesy potatoes, heavenly eggs, and some salad.

I hope your Easter was blessed.

The Lord is Risen!

Happy Easter!

 What a glorious day of celebration of our Lord, Jesus Christ, and how He conquered death. 

In the words of my pastor, Pastor James, "Many have died for good causes, but only One rose again. Jesus Christ."

Hallelujah!!

Lord, thank you for choosing me to know you personally. 

I am humbled and ever grateful for your infinite grace and mercy.

(the above subway art is beautiful and can be found here:

http://antsi-pants.blogspot.com/2011/03/easter-subway-art.html