Homework at the Tender Age of Four!

Caroline and a 15 year old friend of the family were discussing homework last night, and I got such a kick out of Caroline's response.

Caroline: "I have homework too!"

Jes: "Oh yeah? What do you have to do?"

Caroline: "Feed the cats and help Mommy fix peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!"

Treasure!

Today was our community yard sale day! The highlights of my findings are: a like-new Coach purse for $1.00!! and a Sm'ores Maker. We tried the latter out tonight and it's kind of like roasting a marshmallow over a candle, but it has porcelain bowls if you're into accessorizing your puffed sugar. I really bought the kit for Caroline because I know from a certain amount of experience just this past week that you can make a fine sm'ore in the microwave, but this little find made for another action packed Saturday night at the Fields'. Must peel the kiddos off the ceiling now...

A Perefect Ten

Ten (at least) "sh'mores" (as Caroline calls them) per family member over two years old.

Nine o'clock p.m. and our sleeping bags felt heavenly!

Eight times during the night I hovered over my kids to make sure they were warm enough in the 40 degree temps.

Seven hundred times I must have thought, "Sherando Lake is so gorgeous!"

Six (at least) mammoth sized crickets were determined to serenade us into the wee hours of the morning. (We must have camped on their space. Personal vendetta, I'm sure.)

Five visits with our very gregarious forest ranger.

Four perfect hot dog/marshmallow skewers carved by my manly man.

Three hour early morning, FABULOUS field trip to Starbucks and Super WalMart.

(This should be a new Girl Scout badge!)

Two nights in the wilderness,

One very HAPPY family,

And ZERO curling irons, y'all!

Who would've thought a flashlight and a dark tent could be so much fun!

Camper Caroline and Her Coloring Crayons

Caroline was thrilled to find PINK marshmallows at the camp store -- Super WalMart!

It was so nice not to worry about manners or dirt!

Dig break! You never know what you may find!

Be still, my heart!

Our Little Mountain Climber

A Sweet Moment or Two For Momma

35 Years Ago Today...

Happy Birthday, Donnie!

We treasure and adore you! I am so proud and honored to be your wife. You are an amazing husband and father full of integrity, wisdom, equipped with a servant's heart, an easy laugh, and always ready to have fun. I'm so thankful and excited about going through life with you. I love you more.

Out From Under The Dell

Yea, I did it! I fasted from Face Book today with the exception of 10 seconds upon which I accepted a friend's invitation to be her friend. See, pure goofiness.

It did help that my day was packed. I "did lunch" and birthday shopped with my friend Elizabeth (http://elizabethmiller.blogspot.com/). What a hoot it was to share life between the Red Robin balloon bouncing beneath our faces and shouts of "truck" and "S'cuse me, Mommy, s'cuse me!" thrown in between. Elizabeth was a trooper though taking Caroline under her wing and even shopping (although from afar) the men's department at Sears with me. Let's just say "she was there in spirit" while she and Caro hung out in the Lands End section. As a side note, does the thought of The Men's Department at Sears bore anyone else to tears?

Moving right along, my fam and I had a homemade dinner with a load of friends and other special folks at our church's Family Night. If someone had told me 10 years ago that Family Night at a church would be a highlight in our day, I would have absolutely rolled my eyes and laughed, probably abused the Lord's name and prayed that it would pass! Oh, God does move mountains!

Then to top off my day of real-live relationships I ran into my friend Cindy (http://hersmanfamily.blogspot.com/) at Food Lion and we perused the coffee creamers together. It was great to have her unexpected company during a last minute, mundane errand. It's so true the simple things in life bring the greatest joy! She even stood by me when much to my embarrassment I realized that my driver's license was not present at checkout. I was there but not my only viable piece of identification which did not work as a credible excuse with the cashier. Does this strike anyone's funny bone or have my natural highlights gone to my gray matter? I admit I have this bad, bad habit of putting these things in my back pocket then forgetting where they are when I change my clothes.

So this ends my experimental day of getting away from the Dell and out there where my darlings are! So glad I did.

Face Hook

"Face Hook" would be a better name for Face Book, don't you think? My goodness I have just spent an hour AGAIN being sucked in. What a waste of time! Not good for a gal with addictive tendencies. This is going to take some discipline. I feel like I've been fishing in an empty well. No doubt it's been intriguing and has satisfied some curiousity, but more than anything it has dredged up chunks of the past that are better left under the muck of old memories. I'm just confiding in you, my tens of cyberspace friends, that this is proof we live in a society that is excellent at building loads of relationships that are about an inch thick in depth. Time for me to get off the computer, stop typing at myself, and make a phone call to a real voice or better yet make plans with a friend! Anyone free?

"For real though!" (Anyone ever say this?)

My latest portrait...

Just keeping it real, y'all!