What Matters Most To Me

Today I love...

The sound of laughter from the girls running around in the yard catching fireflies, the tickle of the green summer grass on my feet, the taste of homemade lemonade, the comfort of home.

A favorite song the girls and I sing along to, especially in the summertime-

"Fireflies"

Before you met me i was a fairy princess
I caught frogs and called them prince
And made myself a queen
Before you knew me i traveled 'round the world
I slept in castles and fell in love
Because i was taught to dream
I found mayonnaise bottles and poked holes on top
To capture tinkerbell
They were just fireflies to the untrained eye
But i could always tell

[chorus]
I believe in fairytales and dreamers dreams like bed sheet sails
And i believe in peter pan and miracles
And anything i can to get by
And fireflies

Before i grew up i saw you on a cloud
I could bless myself in your name and pat you on your wings
Before i grew up i heard you whisper so loud
"life is hard, and so is love, child, believe in all these things"
I found mayonnaise bottles and poked holes on top
To capture tinkerbell
And they were just fireflies to the untrained eye
But i could always tell

[chorus]

Before you met me i was a fairy princess
I caught frogs and called them prince
And made myself a queen
Before you knew me i traveled 'round the world
And i slept in castles and fell in love
Because i was taught to dream

I know this picture is grainy but that is what you get with 1600 ISO and taking a picture with no flash with very little light outside. But....I love it anyway. I love the excitement on her face, with catching a firefly.

 

Happy Fourth of July!

 

 

 

Our three little kids at the Memorial Day parade watching their Daddy march in the parade.

And a THANK YOU to all of those that have served our country.
 I am glad that I no longer have to place the yellow ribbons on our front porch for my husband being gone. I am so blessed and happy that he is home with us.

We are all still up finishing up celebrating Spencer's birthday.....yes, at 1:30 in the morning. And yes, I. am. tired.  We took him and a few of his friends to see the new Transformers movie.  Of course being "twelve" now, lol, he didn't want to sit with us but rather his friends on the other end of the theater.  It was a great movie, very action packed for sure.  We didn't have dinner before the movie (lots of popcorn for the kids in the movies though, well...that includes my husband), so after the movie we went to Walmart and picked up a few pizza's. I put the pizza's in the oven, the boys started playing video games. We ate our pizza and then the kids asked for the birthday cake (the thought of eating birthday cake at midnight just made my stomach flip flop but we did it anyway). We had to, it was his birthday cake, dirt cake to be exact, oh and....without the gummy worms (he insisted it was to childish to put gummy worms in his birthday dirt cake).
We have now tucked the girls in bed and put our p.j.'s on, the boys are settled down and playing video games. I think me and my hubby are going to brush our teeth and climb in to bed. Who knows when the boys will go to sleep. The Mt. Dew they bought at Walmart won't help any I am sure, lol.
Goodnight, and I'll post some birthday pics tomorrow.

Oh and what is a good birthday post without a picture from birthdays past?

 

From Spencer's  9th birthday at Grammie's house. Amazing the difference in a couple of years!

~Amber Hope

Little Surfer Girl

Kate is feeling much better today. She had a stomach bug yesterday...it was awful! I felt so sorry for her, she cried and cried with her stomach hurting...then to add all the peuking....she felt awful. Jerome made a bed for her in our room last night, she was begging to sleep with me. I fell asleep thinking I would only get a few hours of sleep before she'd be up peuking but was so happy to wake up to the sun shining this morning and her sound asleep in her bed in the floor. I am so glad she is feeling back to herself.
I had a dentist appointment this morning and she went with me, had lots of fun (just joking). Then we met Jerome for lunch and he and Kate got an icecream at their favorite icecream place, Austin's. I had a few errands to run and she happily tagged along with me. While we were out she found this dress and fell in love with it. She was begging me to get it for her, "It looks like a surfer girl dress mom", she said. Then she got a pair of sunglasses to match. It is nice having one on one time with each of the kids. Last week when Kate and Spencer were sleeping over at their friends houses, Natalie and I had our one on one time together. Natalie picked out a pair of earrings and a necklace that she says looks just like something Taylor Swift would wear, lol.
On the way home, Katie said to me, "Mommy, you should let me dress up in my new dress and take some pictures of me when we get home."  I told her that sounded like a good idea, then she said, "You need to paint my toenails and fingernails too......please?".
So we did just that, I wasn't passing up the opportunity of her actually wanting me to take some pictures of her.

I'll have to repost these later, the color looks absolutely AWFUL! My computer has been down for almost two weeks and I am going to have to recalibrate it, the pictures look great in photoshop but online the color looks awful.

We are leaving now for church. We are taking the "Fireproof Your Marriage" class, we both love it. Although....we didn't manage to get our homework done last night.

Don't ask me why I can't get the underline off either....urgh!!!

One Proud Momma

Natalie went to the gym with me this morning. Well, actually all three kids went, you should have seen us trying to get out the door on time! But Natalie went to class with me. She sat and watched while we did the step aerobics class, then after talking to the supervisor about Natalie doing class with me, he said I'd have to ask the instructor. After step we went and talked to Mary, the instructor, she talked to Natalie, asked her age and told me if she wanted to do the class it was fine with her, as long as she was with me the whole time.
Natalie did VERY well in the class, I could tell she was enjoying it. All the way home she talked about how the step class looked fun and she wanted to do that class too.  The weighted workout, I can see her doing. But the step class is a little more advanced, and well, I just don't think it is a good idea for our Gracie Grace to take....not just yet.  On our way home, my neighbor Stacey, who took the class too, said as she was leaving the Y there was some old woman at the front desk complaining about the girls being in class (there was another little girl there with her mom too).  What an old bitty, in my opinion! I guess she didn't have anything better to do. In a world we live in where kids are struggling with weight because of busy schedules and convenient drive thrus.......what is wrong with teaching my child something good? Something that she can grow to know as a normal part of her everyday life. It would be different if I was pulling her into class kicking and screaming, but come on, she was awake before the alarm went off this morning because she was so excited about getting to take class with me today,  she proudly stood beside me in class, watching my every move, doing just as well as all the other women in the class.....with a grin from ear to ear on her face. She loved it. She enjoyed it. What is wrong with that? I am very proud of my daughter, she accomplished something great today!

We signed the kids up this past Saturday for football and cheer-leading. At first Natalie was hesitant to do cheer this year (and that was perfectly fine with me, especially with all the drama from last year). We were just going to sign Spencer up for football and Katie up for cheer-leading. But as we were leaving Natalie came in and told me she had changed her mind. I asked her why and she said, "Because when I went in my room and saw all my trophies and pictures I decided I wanted to do it.....even if the coach does yell a lot". So, we went to the field, signed all three kids up and then took a deep breath because we know come August there will be NO FREE TIME due to their practice schedule and every single Saturday we know we will be at the field......ALL DAY LONG.

I want to do as much summer fun stuff as we can before August. So far we have been swimming and the kids have had company over. However today.....we are getting their rooms cleaned so that I can finish up and get ready for the yard sale we are having this Saturday.

These pictures are from last year, at the Wayne Cheer Competition. It was Natalie's first competition and she was so thrilled with her awards.

The girls spirit stick. This is one of my favorite shots.

 

Natalie proudly holding her award in the air.......

At the Pool

I was so excited when a friend of mine on Facebook told me that Kate looks like me here. I never hear that, I always hear "they look just like Jerome". I've always secretly, well not really secretly, always wanted at least one of my kids to look a little bit like me....even just a teeny tiny bit would be nice.

We went to the pool the other day to swim. I love having the YMCA membership and spending our Summer days at the pool. Plus, it gives me a little bit to bribe the kids with.....the rule is......we don't go to the pool until your room is clean and your chores are finished. But the other day, the rule went out the window. I just wanted to enjoy a Summer day with the kids. Trust me, their rooms ARE NOT CLEAN. I have been trying to get ready for a yard sale we are having here this weekend and I have been cleaning and de-cluttering every single inch of this house.

I look at this and feel old....they are getting so tall and so grown up....

Poor girls....lol....I know they have to be getting tired of the "dress alike clothes".

They basically LIVE at the diving board while we are there. They absolutely love jumping off the diving board. This year, the pool has new rules and the kids had to take a swim test. They have to wear a green bracelet everyday so the life guards will know they are more than capable of swimming in the deep end of the pool.

 

Love the crazy goggles Natalie wears. I found them two years ago at Target, I wish I would have bought two pairs. They work so well, unlike many of the other pairs I have bought for the kids in the past.

They were watching the big kids jump off the diving board and just talking to each other while sitting on the edge of the pool here. I just love this picture of the two of them.

And....I wish I had a lot of pictures of Spencer to post, which I do but I don't think you would like to see him sticking his tongue out at me with a mouth full of food......gross! So here are the ones I do have that won't gross you out....

Spencer and his friends trying to dunk each other under water in the pool....

And here is Kate and Kate. Someday my Kate will make such a good little mommy. She adores babies and loves to hold them and play with them.

My friend Kelly's little girl, Kate.....

Thank you to everyone for the emails and phone calls asking for "the password", lol. I didn't realize there were so many wonderful people out there reading this blog everyday. You are all so wonderful. I don't want to stop sharing this blog with friends and family, it has always been a way for me to keep a record of our everyday life (when I post often enough, lol) and I also use it in our yearly family book. It is amazing the little things that simply slip away until going back and reading them. I love being able to record my family's life here and post here. I will keep a close eye on the numbers and try to protect this blog as much as I can, which means large logos and copyright strips across each picture to help protect it. Until then, if you are a regular follower of this blog, please leave a comment a little bit about who you are....it would be nice to know the people in all the stats numbers. I may in the future put it back to password protected, but for now I have decided not to.

~Amber Hope

A Quote for Today . . .

Life isn't about waiting for the storms to pass . . .

                                                     it's about learning to dance in the rain.

Bed for sale| SOLD

 

What a GREAT idea!

                       
                           

I have been cleaning the house like crazy today, trying to get to the organized life I have always dreamed of, hahaha. I really need to have a yard sale soon, the pile of stuff to get rid of just keeps getting larger and larger.

I have also been taking a small break here and there and looking on-line for some great organizing ideas. I love the one that I posted above....what a great way to keep everything running smoothly! Here is the link of where I found it at, Weekly Organizer Wall Shelf . It would be the perfect necessity in the back hallway, right where all the kids bedrooms are. I think I am going to come up with my own type of hanging like this seeing that I already have the pegboards for the length of the back hallway area painted and ready to hang. I just love the weekly chalkboard idea.

I have also finished cleaning and organizing the linen closet in the back hallway. The girls now both have full size beds, so I went through and pulled out all of the twin size girls sheet sets that I have. I made room for the summer pool stuff and beach towels and in general did some major de-cluttering. It looks so much better now. So simple, so neat and so clean. Not to Martha Stewart standards though, lol, I was on her website earlier looking for organizing tips, ideas and such. Under her "Organizing Tip of the Day", one of the days that I was looking at, she was talking about folding sheets. She said that a properly folded fitted sheet should look the same as a folded flat sheet after folding. Ummm.....she has never seen my attempts at folding fitted sheets. Needless to say I closed out of her site, because in my real world, I fold the sheets the best I can, but I always dread folding those fitted sheets....they are just a pain to fold. Who knows, maybe someday I'll give her way of folding a fitted sheet a try, some day when I have more time to worry about how my fitted sheets are folded. Right now, lol, I'd just like to get the kids toys up off the floor and the laundry caught up, the bathrooms scrubbed and beds made.

And since there is no fun in a post to the blog with no pictures, here is a picture I took the other night.  Natalie and Katie have been sleeping in the same bed for a few nights, I love taking a peek in at the kids while they are reading before bed.

Our Garden So Far

We have had so much rain, we are really having a problem.

I made the change

........and it feels good, one less thing to have to worry about. Which is good because after my doctor's appointment yesterday, I was instructed to "try to not get so stressed and take it easy". I am going later today to the lab for some blood testing. I hate getting blood drawn, I always get poked at least 2 or 3 times. I am hoping everything will be fine.
But in the mean time, I will be trying to make my life a little less stressful. Hmmm....where to even start? My mom asked me this morning why I am so stressed, she didn't understand because she said, "Well, your not going through anything major". No, I am not, but it is the everyday things that get crammed all in to one day and I never seem to accomplish or finish anything because there is never enough time. Jerome works overtime so much, we are worried about the change from Verizon to Frontier. He is hired through Verizon, but Frontier just bought them out. He isn't as worried as I am.....I worry all the time. He wants to get as much overtime in as possible before the change over. I asked him the other evening what we would do if he lost his job due to the change over and his reply was,"Well, that's why I've stayed in the military. I could always volunteer for another deployment". Yeah, my reaction wasn't to great to that one. Just what I want to do, go through another 2 year deployment and worry myself sick everyday for his safety on foreign land. So basically he works a ton of overtime, we are paying off bills and saving what we can that way we will be in a better situation if he would lose his job.
With him gone so much that leaves all the responsibility on me. I am a person that cannot multitask very well at all, never have been. So everything to me, unless I can finish it, just seems so overwhelming. The house, the yard, the doctor's appointments, the dog, the photography business (that consumes ALOT of my time), the kids schedules, the "trying to live a healthier life", going to the gym, paying the bills, keeping everything running smoothley. If one thing goes out of place, it seems they all get out of order and it takes me forever to get everything back in order.
I've taken a long hard look at my life and what is important to me and my family right now. What is best for our family. What I could take out of the daily schedule to make my life a little less stressful. The first thing that came to mind was the photography business. I have mentioned it before with close friends or my sisters. The reactions are always the same, "Don't quit, your to good at it to quit". I've thought long and hard about it and the question that keeps coming to mind is, "Is it something that is worth sacrificing my family for?" And my answer is no, no because it takes up so very much time of my day with everything else there is to do here with keeping up. Besides, something that I once loved to do, isn't so much that way anymore. I loved photography at one time, I couldn't learn enough or take enough pictures. Now that it has become a job, I find myself rarely picking up the camera to take pictures of my own kids. Isn't that what this journey was all about in the first place? I wanted to learn to photograph and take pictures of my children so that one day they will be able to cherish the moments they had as a child. I've always loved photographing them, to me I felt like I was telling their story, their story of growing up. And now to look at my empty folders on my "family pictures" hard drive, it is disheartening. I miss having that love for photography that I once had. It's just not there anymore. In my own heart, I know that I could walk away from the photography business and it not bother me. But then I have friends and family prodding me on telling me not to quit, and in some odd way I don't want to let them down.....even if it means doing something that I really don't have the heart for anymore.

So, at least for now, I will be doing a very small amount of photography. I need to get our life in order. I need to get my life in order.....I need to destress my life.....some how or another.

Thinking about making this blog private....

For several reasons, I have been considering making this blog password protected. Reasons I cannot explain. I have thought about this for a while now and can't decide. I am giving myself a little more time to consider it, but will be deciding in the next few days. It's a great big world out there, and just not knowing who is looking or reading this blog makes me wonder if I should password protect it.

 I started this blog when my husband was deployed for two years.....it was a way for him to see pictures of the kids growing up and know what is going on in our lives here at home. Then friends and family started reading and it was a nice way to keep in touch with long distance family and friends. Even locally, there have been a few teachers and nice wonderful people in this area that have been a reader to this blog. There are wonderful people out there, but just not knowing who all the other numbers are that hit this blog everyday.....that is a part of what is making me consider password protecting it.

If you would like the password to read this blog, just send me a message/comment/email, a little bit about who you are and I'll send you the info.

Thanks,
Amber Hope

Camping at Summersville Lake

Well, we are off to go camping for the weekend! 

This picture of Natalie and Kate camping out in a tent for the first time this year is one of my favorite pictures of them.
 We are still up packing away and getting ready to load everything in the van. We are going to Summersville Lake with our Sunday school class, it will be lots of fun and a great way to get to know everyone a little more from our class. There is just so much to pack even if it is just for one night!

Busy as a bee...

I have so neglected this blog. It has been at the bottom of my "To Do" list. And seeing that there are sooo very many things on my "To Do" list everyday, welll, I just haven't been able to catch up. And honestly, I'm just stopping in right now because I gave the kids another 30 minutes of play time on the trampolene. I need to be in the kitchen getting dishes loaded in the dishwasher, but I thought I'd sit down and take a breather and get a post put on here so that everyone will know that I am still alive and breathing, lol.
I'll put a post on later tonight after I tuck the kids in bed. Jerome is working over this evening so I will have a little bit of quiet time to myself after I put the kids to bed. I am excited that school is almost out. The only thing I can't figure out is what to do with the three of them while I go to the gym every morning. I'm not looking forward to dragging them out of bed on their summer days off but.....I've made the change and I'm sticking to it. I have been doing so good lately and I don't want to slack off any, I want to get to my goal....someday:)
Well, I'm off to load the dishwasher......hmmm....or maybe go jump on the trampolene too. Which sounds better? I think the trampolene does!

Dance Rehearsal | Little Apples

For the girls dance this year they are both little red apples for the Enchanted program. I love, love, love their dance, song and costume. They are dancing to "Don't Sit Under The Apple Tree" song from the 1940's and their outfit resembles it too.

       

Natalie told me as I was tucking her in bed after her dance rehearsal last night, that she wanted to always do ballet, "For the rest of my life", she said.

        

Kate did wonderful on her dance. Her and Natalie are partners in the dance which helps because they can practice it together at home. They didn't wear tap shoes, I think it would have looked cute though.

       

       

At the end of the practice the girls teachers asked for the dads in the audience. Jerome thought she needed help moving stuff so he volunteered......little did he know what he was volunteering for, lol. She closed the curtain and taught them a dance. The dads that volunteered are dancing to the song, "Macho Man", hahahah!  I took sooooo many pictures and Spencer took video. Then they opened the curtain and let us see the dance, the kids were laughing and yelling, "Go Dad!". Hahaha, great moment. When he walked of stage I told him he did a good job and how I now have bribery for life:) "I can't wait to put these on the blog", I said. "You better not....or you'll find your computer crashed." he said laughing. He's such a good dad to stick with it, the girls were tickled watching him dance and are now excited about him being in it too. The program is Enchanted and the "Macho Man" part is mimicing the part where the princess steps out of the manhole in New York City and all the construction workers around.
I said I was going to put a picture of him dancing on, so here goes...
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awww, I won't be mean. We'll just keep those pictures tucked away on the computer, lol.

*My 50mm has decided to not work anymore. I am so disappointed in the pictures that I shot with the 50mm, it isn't focusing well at all. It has been a good lens, I have kept it on my camera 98.9% of the time since I've had it....4 years. I love that lens but now refuse to use it anymore. I wish I would have just kept the 85mm on last night. Oh well, maybe I'll get some at the recital Saturday.

Freckleface Strawberry

Freckleface strawberry, that is a nickname we have given to Katie. A few months ago she came running through the door pulling her book fair order form out of her backpack after getting off the school bus. They love it when they get to order books. We went through and found a few and one of the books listed was Freckleface Strawberry by Julianne Moore.  Since the day she has brought the book home it has been one of her favorites. Looking at the cover of the book you can tell that it is a book that is read very often.
       

The older Katie gets the more red her hair seems to be.  Since she was old enough to ask she has always asked why her hair is red and everyone else's hair (mommy, daddy, Spencer, and Natalie) is brown. I have always told her that God made her special with beautiful red hair and green eyes. Then I remind her that mommy has green eyes too, and that is one of the ways we are alike.

Katie had her 1st grade music program at school yesterday evening. They were to dress in red, white and blue. I painted her toes with some new nail polish that looks like "Dorothy's ruby red slippers", as Katie put it. She loves the red glitter in the nail polish.

She came home from school and got in the shower to get ready for her music program. I was in Natalie's room putting clothes away and I heard Katie singing in the shower. I tip toed to the bathroom so that I could hear her singing, it was so cute. She was singing the songs for the music program, practicing I guess.

       

Katie and our crazy dog Molly. Molly is such a good dog, very patient. Everyday she waits in the spot where the kids get off the bus, when they see her she starts wagging her tail like crazy and playing with them.