Delanee and Mallory

I love these little girls. 

 Delanee and Mallory.

When I first got separated and was living through some of the

 deepest, darkest days of my life,  I stayed with my friend Heather

(aka Cheddar to those of us who love her)

and her husband Ed during my nights away from my kids. 

Having to stay away from my kids a couple nights a week made me really sick. 

Couldn't eat or sleep much for a long time.

SO...

Cheddar made me stay with her. 

A LOT.

I'm so glad I did. 

I got to know these punkins really well when they were tiny. 

 Poor Delanee had to get to know me REALLY quickly

the night her mama went into labor with Mallory.  

I took her home with me so that we could take care of her until Ched was well

 (She had some serious complications immediately

after labor and was very sick.  Ed was a wreck and stayed with her.)

Once that was over and divorce was under way,

I continued to stay with them pretty regularly.

I slept on their couch and did many midnight feedings with Mally-boo.

Once or twice when Ed was out of town I just slept with Ched. 

 And we were all, "not it" when Mallie woke up during the wee hours.  Hahaa!

Seems like such a long time ago. 

I don't miss much about those dark days...

but I do miss these two. (and their parents)

 I don't get to see them that much nowadays.

So glad I got to see them this past weekend...

and so grateful to hear them scream

"AUNT SUZY'S HERE!!!" everytime they see me.

BEAUTIFUL

 BEAUTIFUL

girls!!

52 Photos Project

The theme for this week is....

I Found it on the Ground

This past weekend, I had a photoshoot with a dear old friend from elementary school.  I got to shoot her and her sweet family (along with her big sister and her two kids).  There were three kids in all.  Two boys and one girl.   The youngest boy (9) was pretending to be a secret agent and was being very careful to go back and cover his footsteps everywhere he went. He was cracking me up.  He pretented to have a rather large assault weapon at one point and  while he was pretending to shoot his brother,  I heard him yell out, "POW!!"  I swear, right at that moment I looked down and this was written on the sidewalk. 
FREAKED ME OUT.
 (he thought it was pretty funny...and i'm pretty sure he had already seen it...but still...cracked me up.)

I had to use it for 52 photos.  It was too perfect. 

Quotes from the Littles

 Here is a little collection of interesting comments I have heard in the last couple of weeks: 


"Things are going to be a LOT better when I'm 10.  I just know it."  F

While listening to QUEEN..."Why don't they make music this good now?" H (When those words rang in my ears, my heart sang out like Freddie himself.  Loved it.)

"Why does that OTHER Stella have to be in MY class?" S

To math teacher..."Um. Mr. Mahoney, can you PLEASE fix my grades on Parent Assist because my parents really believe what's on there and NOT what I tell them."  M

Call from school..."Mom.  Can you bring me some clothes?" 
Me- WHY?
"Because I'm wearing a shirt that has lace and they are telling me it's inappropriate."  M  ( never in a million years did i expect to hear that from HER.)

"I have all As again Mom!! Even in Art History!"  H

"I am pregnant."   S
 "is it two this time?" Me  
"Not this time.  This time it's only one.  And it's a unicorn named Horse Juice"  S    (oookaayyyyy)

"Mom I think there is something wrong with my body on the inside."  M

"Yeah Reese likes this girl named Sarah.  But she doesn't like him." F
 "who does she like?" me
"Me, of course."  F

"Everybody needs to be quiet and NOT talk during this GLEE party, GOT IT???"  H

On my way to parent/teacher conference..."Oh he's probably going to tell you something bad." F   LIKE WHAT?? Me  
"Oh you know...they always tell you a couple of good things and one crappy thing that i'm gonna have to work on."  F


 Phone call 30 minutes after school has let out..."Hello? Mom?  Can you come pick us up?" M
"sure but i will be late as usual, i have to get hailey" 
"Okay... and can you take Kate and Alana and Savannah home too?"   
"sure"
"Oh. And Mom, Blaise really needs a ride, too."

Dear LORD. 




I'm trying to remember to write down some of the goofy stuff they say. 
There's more.  I just can't remember right now. 

52 Photos Project

COLOR

This week's theme is color.  I usually look for BIG BRIGHT colors.  This time I decided to look for soft and peaceful pastels.  I was running out of time and I hadn't gotten any shots that  I really wanted.  THEN last night I went into Stell's room to see what she was doing.  She was sitting at her vanity, putting on lip gloss, and she was just as peaceful and happy as she could be.  So I decided to shoot her!!  Try as I might, I just can't get into still-lifes and landscapes.  Kids are my favorite subjects, hands down.  

watercolor faces by Madison Licare

 stella

 finn

 maddy

 hailey

Madison Licare (Madde) painted these for me. 

 Nick handed her four pix of our kiddles and then asked her if she could paint them. 

She did these in about 20 minutes. 

I need to frame and hang them up. 

LOVE THEM. 

52 Photos Project

I am just now starting to participate in The 52 Photos project.  (there is a link and an explaination on the left)  Basically I am sort of doing my own version at my own pace, while still using her prompts.  I am going to try to post each week with the photo and the prompt.  Don't know if I can make it all 52 weeks, because life gets in the way, but I am going to try and make Thursday my photo day.  This will probably take the place of One Word Wed photo for a while...who knows, maybe I will do both.  I just know that it's FALL and I am starting getting lots of photo shoots (for holiday photos of course) SOO I wanna make sure I am using my camera every day.  This helps to keep me motivated.

The prompt for this week is ...

NURTURE

Technically, I was supposed to use a new photo.  And I did that...I went outside and took lots of photos with water dripping from leaves..all pretty..BUT THEN I remembered old photos of Stell nursing her baby like a professional...feeding herself and the babe...and I decided to process those in black and white to see how they looked.  For whatever reason, this is my favorite.  ( I think i'm gonna send this photo to my cousin Janet who is horrified and disgusted by the new baby that  has come out in Europe. It's a "nursing baby" that makes sucking noises.  HA!  My kids never needed "nursing" babies..they just used the ones they had!)



One Word Wednesday

REFLECTION

"I love those who can smile in trouble,

who can gather strength from distress,

and grow brave by reflection.

'Tis the business of little minds to shrink,

but they whose heart is firm,

and whose conscience approves their conduct,

will pursue their principles unto death."

Leonardo da Vinci

My boy can kick!

Fast moving feet!!

I tried to post a video of his skills but my phone wouldn't let me. 

Heart Art

This is one of those this-was-an-experiment-but-I-like-it kind of things.

 I'm going to put it in Stella's room.

MaddyMoo, Masha, Madge or Mooney Take your pick.

I love this little sassy punkin head.  I thought about her all day. 

She and I had an emotional day together yesterday. 

But while we were hanging out (all day) together, I kept thinking about how special she is and how much I LOVE her. I want to remember how awesome she is right now, at 13.5 years of age.

So here are some reasons:

1.  She still holds my hand in public.
2.  She's very compassionate (siblings excluded..hahaa).
3.  She has no idea how beautiful she is.
4.  She's very intelligent and still asks TONS of questions about EVERYTHING.
5.  She's freakishly intuitive and always has been.
6.  Not many people know this but the girl can sing.  REALLY well.  (she's in chorus right now and i know she secretly LOVES it.)
7.  When she was tiny, I called her baby Pocahontas.  She still looks like a Pocahontas princess to me.  (and my Granny LOVED her dark hair)
8.  She doesn't always like to take showers.  I have to force her in there sometimes.  And it cracks me up.
9.  Men love her.  I don't mean in the inappropriate way, I mean they tell me all the time how cool she is and that they want a daughter just like her. 
10.  She loves sports.  She defines herself as an athlete, and rightfully so.  Her coaches love her and always say that she is a natural leader headed for greatness. 
11.  She tells me everything.  Way more than I expect her to.
12.  She was sort of "saved" last year at soccer camp.  Religion is very important to her.
13.  She loves her family even more than she loves her friends.
14.  She LOVES her friends and has tons of them.
15.  She has a ridiculously high pain level tolerance.
 (I often think about what it will be like when my girls are in labor.  When Hailey is in so much pain she can't take it anymore, she will be at about 2cm...like her mother.  When Maddy is about to collapse from labor pains, they will tell her to push.)
16.  She is very brave.
17.  She knows the names of all professional basketball, football, and soccer players.
18.  She has a really loud laugh (just like Hailey and I do)
19.  She makes her Dad take her out for driving lessons...already. ( i refuse to cause i'm not THAT crazy)   Bless his heart.  Lord help us all when she's legal.
20.  She's growing up too fast, but she's still my brown eyed baby girl.

*heavy sigh*

One Word Wednesday

WEDNESDAY!!

Wednesdays are hard around here. 

They feel a little overwhelming sometimes.

But it's all downhill when it's done! 

 Happy Wednesday folks.

Testing

This is  a test to see if I can post from my phone.  I think it's working. 

So here is a week in review...all from my phone. 

First, Stella went back to school and LOVED it as usual.

So far, so good.

We went to Zada Jane's Friday night and it was so good

that I stuffed myself and felt sick for hours afterwards. 

They have a vegetarian quesadilla that has blackbeans, sweet potatoes, and pepper jack cheese. 

It's so good I can't stand it.

The skies were a lovely CAROLINA blue this week and weekend. 

 Hailey and I kept taking cloud pics WHILE we were driving down the road. 

(cause we ride down the road A LOT together.)

AND

one of my favorite parts of the week was meeting my friend Lynn for coffee. 

We decided to write love notes to strangers and stick them in books and magazines at the book store.  It was so much fun. 

 We laughed a ton as we stuck these notes all over the place and tried not to get caught.

(we mostly chose books that we have read and LOVED to place kindness/encouraging notes inside. 

 and i had to stick a couple in INSTYLE and VOGUE reminding women that they are GREAT just the way they are...but the FUNNIEST note for me was the one I placed in a Wiccan book about potions or something. 

It said,

"Today, let all of your decisions be based on love and NOT fear." 

I figured if someone was gonna try to do some black magic, and then found that note,

 maybe he/she whould at least think about it first. 

 HAHAHAHA. 

Anyway, it was tons of fun.

Our hope is that someone will find a love note and smile a little.)

So there it is.  My week in review. 

Throw in the same old 3.5 hours a day in the car M-F

and 3 soccer games on the weekend...and there you have it.

( i would also like to add that i LOVE my iphone.  i mean LOVE.  i have had crappy phones forever...never had a really good one (or a new one for that matter. i got this one a couple of weeks ago  AND i love it love it love it. )

One Word Wednesday

HOMEWORK!

Good gracious me. It's Wednesday already.

While everyone around here get's back to work, and homework,

Stella reads. 

She has decided to "read" this book until she's "finished." 

Not sure why she chose Deepak Chopra. 

But I sure hope she can gain some insight and share with the rest of us. 

(she's been on the same page for days but i ain't sayin a word.)

Side note:

Cute conversation in the car after Finn got out of school...after Finn hugged Stell and tried to make her laugh..etc.

Finn:  Mom, you know how Stella's name is really Estella?

Me:  Yep

Finn:  You know how Estella really means star?

Me:  Yep

Finn:  Well, I think she's really partly a star.  (he's being very serious.)

Me:  How do you figure?

Finn:  I mean I think she's part star and part human.

Me:  OK.  So why do you think that? 

Finn:  Becuase she's a warm and sparkly, beautiful person.  I think you picked the perfect name for her.

The boy made me cry.

Love Notes

We had a nice long weekend and the kids are back in school today. 

 It feels way too quiet around here. 

 So I wrote some love notes and hid them in their rooms.