Solitude & Productivity

Ah, the joys of being alone finally.

With the kids back in school this week, I too the opportunity to get a lot of things done.


I got the house cleaned up and it has mostly stayed that way.
At least until the kiddos got home everyday.

I window shopped at Hobby Lobby, Target, and a few local shops.


Got caught up on a little reading and photography assignments.

Good book. If you get a chance, read this one.

Had an afternoon coffee date with a friend.

Made it to the gym every day this week.

Got the week's grocery shopping done all by myself.

And finally made my homemade laundry and dish washing detergent.

Recipe:   laundry detergent           dish detergent




I better start pacing myself.
Otherwise I might run out of things to do while the kids are at school everyday.

What about you?
What things are you getting accomplished with your alone time?

End of Summer 2012

It's been a good summer.
We got a lot done on our house back East.
Trina went on her first mission trip.
We had good quality family time spent together.

But now the school year has started.

Woohoo!!

In celebration of the end of summer, I let the kids have some good clean fun on the last day.

A shaving cream fight.
Get it? Good clean fun?

I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

 It was a ton of fun.
I think we might make this a tradition every year.
The kids thought it was awesome. So did I.



Monday morning...time for school.

I cannot believe how big they are. Trina is going to high school this year.  9th grade.
I remember that year. Good times, well, mostly.
Josh is in 5th this year. Soon, he will be in high school. Sigh.
And, my baby, James is in 3rd.
Time sure flies by, doesn't it? Weren't they just my little babies?

Stop growing already!

 Such a handsome little man.

This picture shows their personality differences so well. Josh is all boy, all the time. James is pretty quiet and laid back. Funny how God gives us such different kids.

 Lining up, getting ready to go inside.

My sweet 3rd grader.  Have a great day, baby!


All is quiet around the Lantz house today.
And it is good.
Now I am of to get chores and errands done before the kids get home.
Wish me luck!




Linking up with Beth over at You Capture.

SHS 8/26

It's been a crazy week around this place.

School starts tomorrow, so all this past week I've been registering kids, gathering school supplies, doing hair cuts, and meeting teachers.

I am so ready for the routine to start.


To be honest with you, I got all the Hunt shots today except one.
I am pretty pleased that I got to it at all.


Here are my interpretations.


School

 My kiddos backpacks for this year.  They are stuffed full of school supplies. A lot of school supplies.


Rule of Thirds

 I had to look this one up actually. I had never heard of the term before this week.
I got up early this morning and got this shot of the sunrise. I really kind of like it.


Side Profile

 This one is from earlier this year. Jerry is teaching Trina to play chess. He beat her every time.
But she is determined, so he better watch out.


Small

 I was out looking for something to capture "small" and I found this tiny feather floating around. When it finally landed, I got up close to get the shot. As soon as I took the picture, it was off on the wind again.


Motion

  Since the kids start back to school tomorrow, I thought it would be nice to let them celebrate the end of summer with a shaving cream fight. This is one of my favorite shots from the chaos.
I will have a new post tomorrow with the extent of the damage.



Please head over to Ashley's for more Scavenger Hunt fun.


http://www.ashleysisk.com/scavenger-hunt-sunday-112/

I Believe

I believe coffee is for anytime, not only morning time.


I believe Fall is the best season of the year. So hurry the heck up already!


I believe a day at the beach can solve just about any problem. Just make sure you shower.

I believe in chocolate.  Amen!


I believe in love. And in second chances. My parents got remarried last Christmas. And it was wonderful.

I believe in being married to your best friend.

I believe in Superman. From any decade.

I believe that friendships can last a lifetime. Even if you are an Army wife. It just takes work.



I believe in flowers.

I believe that banana splits are a perfectly acceptable dinner from time to time.


I believe in truth.

 What do you believe?

Rough Week

You know, my week started out pretty normal.
Church on Sunday, spending time with the family,

chilling out, maxing and relaxing all cool
shooting some b-ball outside of school

No, wait, that's something else.
(you know, I do believe my mind is 90% song lyrics and movie quotes. They just come out randomly)


Then on Monday, BAM!  Things started to go awry.
Jerry and the boys were laid out flat with some stomach virus and I was playing nursemaid to three needy people.
Jerry got better Tuesday, promptly left for the field for two days and BAM!
I get knocked flat with the bug.

With no help. With three kids to take care of. And school to get registered for.
Yes, I know, that is not grammatically correct. Forgive me, sickness fried my brain cells.

So this was my week.

 I had to strip the bed twice from James being sick on it and then me being sick on it two days later.

Trying to entertain myself while laid up in bed for two days.

I thought maybe I would get caught up on the reading I was supposed to be doing for our ladies' Bible study. But, nope, I didn't even get past one chapter. I slept and slept and slept.


Once I was marginally back on my feet, I had to fill out the scores of paperwork required for school registration. 

Jerry was let go long enough to get it taken up to the school so James could be registered.
Cause there was no way I was gonna be able to handle that right out of my deathbed.


Today, I am feeling much, much better.

Now to deal with the laundry and messes the kids made while I was dying.

Maybe I'll just go back to bed.

Tomorrow is another day, after all.

SHS Haiti Edition

Sorry, friends for being missing this week.

My baby girl came home from her Haiti mission trip this week.
We've been catching up and readjusting to each other.

So, in honor of her first mission trip, SHS this week is done with some pictures of her adventures.
The pictures are not the best quality, but at least she was able to capture some memories.


Mobile

This is one of the first shots I got to see while she was gone. The kids (well, teens, really) made this for their camp.


Hanging by a Thread

They had to go through "bootcamp" before heading out on the actual mission. Katrina said it was a lot like an actual military bootcamp. There was puddle jumping, tire crawling, and of course rope climbing.


Collage

Sometimes they had to sleep in tents, sometimes they got a dorm room. She saw a lot, did a lot, and made some great friends. I hope they will last a lifetime.


Always Look on the Bright Side

She said there were several rain storms during her stay in Florida and Haiti. She loved it, seeing we don't get too much of the wet stuff in El Paso.


Home

She had a wonderful time, but said she was glad to be headed home.
As you can tell, she never did figure out the time stamp on her camera.



I am incredibly proud of Katrina for being willing to help out others. She spent an entire year working and saving up her money to be able to go on this trip.
I truly believe it was a life changing event for her.

Welcome home, baby!

Next week:

1. Forest
2. Morning Light
3. Touch
4. Newspaper
5. Coffee or Tea

SHS 8/5

It's time for Scavenger Hunt Sunday!
I love these assignments each week. I have such a good time with the prompts, trying to find new ways to look  at things.

Without further ado, here are my interpretations for the week.


Going Back In Time

 

The one on the right is my mom when she was 16, right before she got married. Isn't she just so beautiful?

I adore old photos, looking back into a time when I didn't even exist yet. It is so much fun to hear about what my parents did and how they lived before us kids came along and messed things up graced them with our presence.

Something Just For Me

I got an afternoon all by myself this weekend. While the hubby had the kiddos, I headed out for some much needed alone time.
This was my afternoon snack. Sonic Happy Hour drink and Twizzlers.
Don't judge me.


Best Part of My Day

Ahhhh, a lovely, quiet bubble bath before bed. Definitely the best part of my day.


Night & Day

I got this shot this morning during the sunrise. I love it when you can see the moon during the day. I always think it looks so cool that you can see both the moon and the sun and the same time.


Look Up

This is one of my favorite pictures of all time. Last year we went to the Albuquerque Balloon Festival. We had such a good time picking out our favorites. I snapped this one while there was a raging debate on the best one.




Next week:

Mobile (referring to mobile phone photos) 
Hanging by a Thread
Collage
Always Look on the Bright Side
Home