~this moment... five years ago~

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week ...

five years ago today.

A simple, special, extraordinary moment.

A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Inspired by SouleMama

~diary of a birthday kid~

He woke to find his favorite color of the traditional birthday streamers hanging from his door.  Mom had to pull the door shut to get a picture because you wouldn't want to see inside.  If you did, you'd wonder why we even left the house this day at all instead of staying home and cleaning up his room.  

But it was his 8th birthday.  

And we had an adventure planned for the day.

Be advised: photo dump, junk food, sugar, sugar, and more sugar.  Did I mention junk food and sugar? 

Yep.  Looking back at these photos I'm asking myself what i was thinking.  But we had fun.  TONS of fun.  

Just Derek and me. 

 

I told him months ago when we ran into the local gas station that he could have some of these little gems, "maybe for your birthday."

Guess what?  He remembered.  So we ran up to the store and got these for breakfast.

Later in the afternoon, we headed for the "big city" about 40 miles away to visit a few places and take advantage of some coupons. Derek's request for lunch? 

I-Hop. 

This boy loves pancakes.  L.O.V.E.S. T.H.E.M. 

He was too full to finish his plate. 

Somehow he managed to find room for the ice cream the whole staff brought out to him while singing 'Happy Birthday'.  He got a kick out of that!  But he immediately told me to get the red cherries off the top.  He's not a fan of those maraschino ones!

What would you like to do now, Derek?? 

What's that? 

You want to go ride the escalator at the sporting goods store??  Um....OK! 

(It really is the simple things, isn't it??)

I don't typically take pictures including me,

or the inside of a bathroom,

or of me and my kid inside a bathroom,

a really yellow bathroom... 

BUT

today was an exception.

First off, I hope I'm not the only mama out there who still makes her kid go into the woman's restroom with them if need be.

If dad is along or big brother, by all means... head to the men's.

But there are some pretty weird people out there.

And you just never know who's inside!!

And I can't go in to peek.  

So guess what?

He got stuck with me. 

But we thoroughly enjoyed the huge mirror and took advantage of making funny faces and weird poses and I just had to get the camera out and take a few.

(Just glad nobody walked in on us being silly!)  

I'd like to know if there are any other kids out there able to walk by one of these without putting? Mine can't.

Off to Chuck-E-Cheese to use his 20 Free Birthday tokens.

Yep... I'm that kind of mama.

You send us a coupon for something free and I'm there.

Skee-ball never gets old... no matter how old you are!

Some of my favorite photos are the sketches from this place.

We have ones of both the kids through the years but this was the first time I jumped in with him. 

I'm glad I did. I mention on my ABOUT ME page trying to get more pictures including me since I'm always behind the camera.

Slowly but surely it's getting easier.

Off to the book store to pick out a new read.

 Mama got a Grande Carmel Frappaccino, but she shared.  

Derek got his free birthday treat for being part of the Kids Club at the store.  He picked the chocolate brownie with chunks. More than half came home with him for later!

(And yes.. if you are keeping track so far we have donuts, pancakes, ice cream, frap, and brownie. Oh my!!)

We're finally back home and he can try out his new mini basketball that he bought with birthday money from grandpa.

It "works" really good!

What would you like for your birthday dinner Derek?

Red Baron pizza (don't ask!!)

Red potatoes

Frozen Red Grapes

Red Cherry Dump Cake

 It was a RED dinner, indeed.

It is his favorite color after all!

I'll always remember this day with my boy!

It was sweet! 

*************************

Disclaimer:

Not a paid advertisement or endorsement for any product, service, company, or brand.

~this moment~

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week.

A simple, special, extraordinary moment.

A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Inspired by SouleMama

 

 

 

~10:34 am~

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

Happy 8th Birthday, Derek!

We are so proud of the young man you are becoming.

Wishing you a day of happiness and a year of excitement and fun!

We love you!

Mom, Dad, and Austin



~this moment~

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week.

A simple, special, extraordinary moment.

A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Inspired by SouleMama

~just grandma.... and one hot date~

"Chef Derek" with "Just Grandma"

When the kids were old enough to talk, we had a huge decision to make.  This decision would last a lifetime, so it had to be made with great care and lots of thought. 

What are the kids going to call our parents? 

Was it going to be Grandma and Grandpa? Mamaw and Papaw? Nana and Papa? Nanna, mimi, granna, pa-pa, paw-paw, granny, grandad...

We settled on "Just Grandma" and "Grandpa".  I always called both sets of my grandparents Grandma and Grandpa and my husband did as well.  If the children started calling them something on their own, we would have gladly allowed whatever term they came up with.  But, they did not and we have always just used these simple traditional names. 

My mom had joked once that she didn't want a slang nickname, she wanted to be called "Just Grandma."  So, every now and then we'll sign a card or address a letter to, "Just Grandma."

Thank you, "Just Grandma", for taking the boys home to stay with you and Grandpa for a couple of days of fun.  It's a much needed little vacation for them (and us) and I know you'll have a blast together.

And the best part of this little stay:
Guess what the hubby and I just did for an exciting date without the kids??  This is big time.... fun stuff, I tell ya!

You ready???
  
We headed to the library and turned in our Adult Summer Reading Forms. We filled out some trivia papers and author searches to try to win a Kindle. Then we looked at newspapers and browsed the shelves, kid free.  Ten years ago this might not have sufficed as a good date in my book.

But guess what?

IT...... WAS....... AWESOME!! 

Alrighty. Time for you to share.

What do your children call your parents??

~how to feed 19 fish in the sea~

Gift giving is one of my favorite times to be creative.  It seems as though we have numerous birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, teachers gifts, and coaches to appreciate through the year. 

The end of this past school year I wanted to make something extra special for Derek's teacher.   His teacher has been absolutely awesome and has made learning more fun than any other teacher either of my kids have ever had.  To say she is amazing is an understatement.  We felt so blessed that each day Derek wanted to go to school because he was excited for the next day or project or lesson.  

After putting some thought into what we wanted to make, we headed for the store to pick up a frame (2 opening 5x7 frame, mat removed, turned horizontal) and some stickers.  That's the fun part... picking up inexpensive supplies ($5.00 total!!) that you turn into something beautiful, unique and personal. We went with a fish theme because Mrs. Carpenter loved fishing and I knew we could play on the "school" theme.   

Derek picked out each fish for every kid and placed them right where he wanted them to "swim".  Mrs. Carpenter was the biggest fish and he put her right up top in the middle with all of her "school" around her. (Notice how Derek put himself right next to her... loved it!!) Then we added bubbles, pearls, waves, shells, and starfish. I wanted to have him write all the names, but he wanted me to because the names had to be so small to fit. 

My favorite part was adding the "School" Year 2011-2012 to the bottom left corner. 

We made sure to include the students that "swam" away through the year and the new students that joined the "school" mid-year.

Wrapping the gift and the presentation is just as much fun as making the gift itself.  We added a fish to the envelope and some bubbles going upward.

Derek added his message to the inside of the handmade card and I left a note on the right side.   Again, we added a fish and played on her name, Mrs. "Carp"enter, and told her, "You are 'O-Fish-ally' the best teacher!" Then we wrapped everything up in lots of bubble-wrap and brown craft paper with twine.  There was also a Snickers bar taped on top. Derek had to add her favorite candy bar.

Derek was so excited to take the package to his teacher the next day.  All of her "school" came "swimming" over to watch her open her gift.  She loved it!  The kids enjoyed seeing their own fish/name and remembering the few who "swam" away through the year.  Lots of tears and hugs and thank yous and laughs were shared. 

Thank you, Mrs. "Carp"enter, for feeding our little fish and encouraging him to flap his fins daily.  You've taught him so much, made learning fun, and he truly knows that there is no limit to how far he can swim in life.
Oceans of love to you,
Mama Fish

~Linking up with:
Todays Creative Blog 
Hope Studios
Craft O Maniac
Funky Polkadot Giraffe

~this moment~

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week.

A simple, special, extraordinary moment.

A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Inspired by SouleMama

~pick your own strawberries~

The weather yesterday was too good not to go out for an adventure.  I decided we'd stay local since we had plans for the evening and didn't want to be gone all day.  Our town librarian told us about a field that was only 11 miles from our house that we could go pick our own strawberries.  We've always traveled farther to another place years prior.

Why had I not known about this place before now!?!

 We headed out on our big adventure and stopped along the way to look at the clouds and admire some of our favorite farms. I decided to surprise the boys and we stopped at an old gas station/pizza place/post office/ice cream parlor in a nearby town. Yep.... one of "those" places.  Where you can find just about anything and you can get your gas from a vintage pump where the numbers turn like an old clock and you have to go inside and pay.  Love these!!    

The boys thought it was pretty cool to be eating in the middle of a gas station, grabbing pizza right out of the box, picking out a pop from the cooler to drink with it, and admiring the racks of candy and chips surrounding them.  You would have thought they were in junk food city!! And no.... this mom didn't give in to any requests.

So, we were back in the car and on the road again. We traveled down one lane roads and took in all the sights, animals, landmarks, and talked about the history of the couple towns we drove through and the people who had farmed this land years ago. 

 The produce farm we arrived at was full of busy workers and friendly faces.  We were told we could pick right there or head down the road a bit to some more fields.  Back in the car and down a lane we continued on.

The boys had a fun time pulling the buckets apart.  We each got a bucket to carry and then we dumped them all together before we checked out.

Austin seemed to enjoy this adventure more than Derek, surprisingly.  He got right into the picking and found "the perfect spot".  Derek was more interested in walking up and down the rows, checking out the watering system, and playing with the Wiener dog another couple brought with them.

Derek did find what he called the "Big Daddy Strawberry" just laying on the ground that someone else had probably dropped from their bucket.  This was the first one we washed and ate when we arrived home.

A while later, we found our buckets were getting full and we needed to go back to the farm and pay for our sweet gems.  Austin questioned this system and how the owners kept track of the other fields and of who payed and who didn't.  It was a nice opportunity to talk about the 'Honor System' and how it's hard to find places around like this anymore.  
 

One of these beautiful hanging baskets came home with us.

And of course a little bear of local honey that Derek just loved. He asked if he could keep the bottle when it was gone to put our other honey in. It's the simple things in life, isn't it!?!

The ride home was just as nice and beautiful as the ride there.  The clouds looked like, "stairs to heaven."

One more stop at the Dairy Bar in our town for some ice cream and then we'd be home.

I tried out a Lemon Italian Ice and thought it was pretty tasty.

Back at home we poured the strawberries into the sink to give them a good wash and put them out to air dry on towels on the counter.  Needless to say, there were a few dozen missing from the group within a short period of time.  It was so nice to have freshly picked, warm, sun-kissed, delicious strawberries to enjoy!! We just might make some freezer jam today.  (If there are enough left by then. Otherwise, it's back to the fields tomorrow for some more!)

That evening we all loaded up into the car to meet some friends at a Minor League baseball game.  We had a fun time, even though our home team lost.  Austin was lucky enough to catch a ball that one of the outfielders threw into the crowd after a third out in the inning.  And guess where the camera was??
At home,
on the counter,
next to the strawberries. 

It was a beautiful day from start to finish!