Please meet: Priscilla, Blue Moon, Zeus, Sunshine, Kitty Bowie, Apollo, Dorian, Pawdrey Hepburn, Kazu, Azael, Cookies and Cream! Most of these gorgeous babies live in cat colonies down in Florida. You may recognize Apollo and Dorian as two of my own cats. That's not my Zeus, but he was a feral baby just a week ago who now belongs to a wonderful family down in Florida.

Last week was our 2nd annual camping trip. I have to say that it was yet another fantastic time. With my life being so up in the air sometimes, it's just plain wonderful to have something that you just know is going to be amazing. Honestly, I'm already looking forward to next year's trip and that time spent with my family. Those that I consider family are a rather small group but I cannot imagine my life without them and any time that I get to take my boys and share new places with them is the highlight of any period of time.  Here are a few of the pictures that I took while we were gone:








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Woo! Four posts already this week. I am loving it! I guess there's a certain bonus to my body deciding it needs to wake up early this week. I'll take advantage of that for as long as it lasts!

Now, remember how I told you that I brought back a *ton* of items that I'll be reviewing over the next few months? Today's picture is to show you approximately just how much that is. I snapped these the other day to give y'all an idea. Ready? Here goes:



Check that out! Now, a couple of those I won't be reviewing. Like, Ursa Minor because that's just the preview book and I've already reviewed the first issue. A few others, my 11 year old Roger will actually be reviewing. The rest? That's all on me! I've already started reading what will be the first review and so far, it's really good. So, sit back, relax and be prepared to see one heck of a lot of reviews coming your way!




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This isn't a new picture but it's one of my favorite ones right now. These three are my family and I don't know what I would do without them. I love them so much. I took this outside of Cracker Barrel on the day we took Justin back to the airport. This was the first time we took the boys along with us and watching their tears broke my heart just that much more. I am so glad though that we all love each other so much. We really are a family.







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It's Wednesday and that means one of my favorite posts of the week! I admit that I'm still not into the habit of taking pictures on a regular basis, but I did happen to snap some this past week.


This is Peter, Megan (his new girlfriend) and Ben at last Friday night's hockey game. Sadly, the Spartans won (they were playing LSSU where I went to school) but a great time was had by all. I have to say that it's nice to do things as a family "group" versus an us and them attitude.



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I don't think I've done one of these in a while and it's one of the topics I've missed the most. Sadly, I haven't taken any super awesome pictures this past week. That's really something I need to change. I've gotten back into the habit of carrying my camera everywhere, but I haven't stopped to take any photos in a while.

So, while I don't have anything super awesome, I do have a picture. I present to you...Butterflies as colored by me. I posted this on Facebook in an "art exchange" between Kate and myself.






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Wordless Wednesday, or in my case (almost) Wordless Wednesday has always been one of my favorite posts each week. It's one that I really want to get back to doing. I haven't been using my camera near enough the last few months. In fact, I somehow even forgot to take it to Thanksgiving. I was so upset! I'd have loved to have gotten some pictures of our family, our table and even some of our Black Friday adventures. Sadly, I didn't though. What I did do was to wander outside tonight to put down some ice melt and decided to share with all of you the wonder that met my eyes...




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Some of you might recognize the kiddo below. That's Ben, my oldest. Tonight was his first ever choir concert. I snapped this picture in his dad's kitchen afterwards. Ben has cerebral palsy and as some of you know, photographing a special needs child can be difficult. In Ben's case, when he sees the camera, he grimaces (he thinks it's a smile). Tonight, I discovered the secret to getting a real smile from him. All I have to do is pretend to be my bossy gps and he starts laughing.


I love this kid. He did a fantastic job at his concert and I am so proud of him


PS For more tips on how to photograph special needs kiddos, check out this wonderful post by Ryan over at NoMoreBacon.
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My birthday was back on September 23rd and for the first time in more years than I can remember, I had a birthday party! One of my bestest friends ever, Lauren, got some folks together and I have to say, it was wonderful. There might not have been a huge turn out but I felt so loved by those who could come out. It was really quality over quantity. Plus, I got an awesome birthday hug from Chris. I could have one of those every day and they would never get old. Yep, I'm a hugger and that man gives quality hugs.  It was seriously, the best birthday I've had in a very long time. Lauren even made me a birthday cake! I heard her hubby had a hand in it and while that sounds a bit gross if you take it literally, it was one yummy cake!





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This is my grandmother. I think this picture is about 3 years old now but it's the most recent one of her that I could find in my files. I need to take a few more. You see, my grandmother has cancer and it's inoperable. Nobody knows how much time we have left with her...so I'll be enjoying every moment that we do have....






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He's growing up so fast. Every time I look at him, I see more young man and less little boy. Sometimes I wish he'd just slow down a little bit but all the time, I'm incredibly proud of the young man he's becoming.



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Ahh...Wednesday..the middle of the work week for most and the middle of my picking kids up from school week. I love being able to do that now but wow, it has goofed up my schedule and I am still working at putting it back together. It probably doesn't help that I've now become a bit of a workout junkie (trust me, on a small scale) and have gone from working out once or twice a week to up to five times. In fact, once I hit publish on this post, that's right where I'm headed. Insane, isn't it?

Now, one of the bonuses of driving into town every day is that for the past few weeks, every time I've passed this one section of road, there have been anywhere from 6 to 20 deer eating in this field. Sadly, now that the snow has melted, I haven't really seen them. One day, I couldn't resist and I stood by the side of the road taking pictures. They're not the best because you can only get so close to deer before they bolt.  However, I did take this picture and I think it works great for the nature theme over at Sunday Shutterbugs.


Have a great Wednesday all! I'm off to see what EA Sports Active 2 has in store for me today.



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Ahh, Wednesday...The middle of the week...and as usual, a day that I feel a bit meh about. I'm so much more of a Monday or Friday kinda gal. Wednesday's rarely bring anything special or exciting. Of course, now that I've said that, we all know that from now on Wednesdays will start being frantic or something along those lines.

Oh wait, Wednesdays always bring this post so how can I complain? This is actually one of my favorite posts of the week and every since the girls announced that the February theme was Red, I've been seeing red everywhere! In fact, I actually stopped on the side of the road, yesterday, to take this picture:


Have a great Wednesday, everyone! Find something that makes you smile!


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Ok, I know that technically it's Thursday but I'm blaming the snot monster for making me forget to post this yesterday. I actually had the picture all ready to go and then bam! I woke up sick and just plum forgot.

February's theme over at Sunday Shutterbugs is Red. Interesting theme, I'd say being that February has Valentine's and Heart Health Awareness and all of that good stuff. I had this picture in mind that I wanted to take but the lighting is never right when I go past the area. I'm hoping to get it though before the month is out to share with all of you.  Until then...Here is this week's Red photograph:



I snapped this on Monday in Roger's 4th grade class. They had all of their Valentine bags lined up on the chalkboard ledge. I love how this photo makes them look like they're suspended in space. Ok, off to write the post that was supposed to go up today! See you all in just a few minutes. ;)



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Oh my gosh, I am tired today! I don't know if it's because I had at least one weird, disturbing dream last night that broke up my sleep or if it's because I was so dang active yesterday! For those who don't know, I'm on a weight loss journey (blogged at Welcoming Weight Loss) and I worked out for the first time yesterday.  All I know is that man, I am tired today! I have a dozen things open that I should be working on but as soon as I get them open, I forget what I'm doing with them! Sheesh!

I did, however, remember to get my last Shapes picture taken for the Sunday Shutterbugs challenge. Believe it or not, I actually opened up the top of my bedroom window yesterday and snapped this picture. If I can remember long enough, I'm going to do the same thing today to get an after the "blizzard" shot. Blizzard is in quotes because we got a lame 14" of snow, not the 2 feet they claimed we were going to get. Granted, it blew everywhere (including in my back door) but they were all dramatic about the amounts and I totally feel let down.


Oh, one last request before I hit post and try to remember the next thing on my list....I love comments. Oh my gosh, how I love comments but please tell me how you found the blog if you're a new reader. I had a lovely lady leave me a comment on a past post and she said she was from abc (random letters inserted here) and I felt horrible because I can't figure out where she found me or what group she's from!

Thanks all!


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Another Wednesday and I've survived it. That sounds awfully dramatic, doesn't it? I had a bit of a tough day but survived is an awfully strong word. I guess it's true though, huh? I mean if I hadn't survived, it means I died or something and that certainly didn't happen.

So, what's wrong? Nothing really. Money is always a struggle and today is no different. We had a bill that came up that was unexpected and of course, comes at a bad time. Then again, when is a good time for an unexpected bill? We'll manage somehow. We always do. Someone always seems to be looking out for us.

Now, who is ready for this week's photo? The theme over at Sunday Shutterbugs is still Shapes. I think we have one more week left. I actually took this picture about 30 minutes ago and while I had a hard time getting a really good picture, I really like the concept I was going for.







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