There is LIFE... Go Get it!

Dear Friends,

Lucky for us, life sometimes takes us away from "here".

To Nana's or grandma's...

Out and about... Here and there...

There we go again...

There he is... being a stinker, no matter the weather or the company.

But good gravy, I love that rapscallion!

And there we have a princess...

Oh, Wait! We always have a princess!

It's always drama, drama, drama with this one...

Can't imagine where she gets that!

[fish-lips, huge sigh, crossed-eyes and exaggerated shrug]

There we are all together...

and yes, we scare people.

It's like a family tradition with us...

Makes me feel all warm and cozy inside...

in a strange, freaking-people-out-is-my-hobby sort of way.

There they are, cutie "tub-buddies".

We contemplated making them sleep in there...

 but I relented on account of really liking when three children all crowd into a bed much too small for the 4 of us and I spend the night almost falling off or barely avoiding suffocation due to the foot jammed in my face... the joys of motherhood, I tell ya!

There she is, my snow angel.

My quirky, silly, snufflepuss of a girl.

Whatever would I do without her?

Besides scrapbook with two hands and some free lap-space!

See, there I am... exercising the amazing talents motherhood bestows on you, unasked for, but SO necessary!

There we have puppy-love at it's strongest... thank goodness the sensible side of me sets in before we actually take one home.

There I am... being pampered with softer, sweet-smelling feet prepped for Summer sandals and some mindless brain candy to read as well. Can I just say that sometimes it is the most awesome gift to just sit down, be cared for and think about something other than weaning the almost two year old from his pacifier and how to best balance the over the top grocery list and the down the drain budget?

Thanks, just needed to get that out there!

There we are aware of nothing but the beauty of country life. We savor it, wallow in it...

Dance the moon walk in it?!

Now Michael only wished he could have rocked camo like this.

Thank you, thank you, thank you very much!

There he is, another stinker!

I am surrounded by cute stinkers.... a blessing and a curse... a blessing when they say we look alike... not so much when I catch a whiff of their three-day-old socks! STINKERS!

And to think, I actually take these hooligans out in public... by choice!

See, there? I really am a nice person.

Ask them... at least right after I take them out on a fabulous outing and buy them super-sized ice-cream cones, that is.

There he is, running with the big dogs.

There I am, making a big deal over having warm feet.

It's the small things in life that matter, you know...

The really small things.

Like taking a minute to read aloud...

And freaking out over Valentine's goodies...

Like picking up a driver's manual for your "baby" brother...

And taking your children to a much anticipated library activity.

Here or there that's the stuff that counts... the stuff you want them to remember... The good stuff.

Love,

Stuffing in Every Bite in NE