bittersweet symphony

10 on tuesday

1. happy march 1st! Spring arrives this month! yeah!

2. need a free gallon of milk? go to. www.coupons.comprint out the .55 cent off coupon of lucky charms & the .55 off coupon of cinnamon toast crunch. Print each twice. go to giant eagle. Buy 4 boxes - get a catalina (that coupon the prints out with your receipt) for a free gallon of milk! Giant Eagle on Norton road has cereal - 4 for $8.00 - even though it's advertised as 4 for $10.00.  Deal ends wednesday.  I might need to print some more (also available to print on www.smartsource.com and www.target.com) and go back. Can't beat .90 cents for a box of cereal and free milk.

3. Tuesdays are my favorite day of the week. I seem to accomplish a higher number of tasks on Tuesdays. At work and at home. Off my to do lists this is what I got done today so far:

1.  work - resolved lots of old items, planned a pizza party
2. renewed driver's license, got new tags for both Hondas
3. Stopped at giant eagle
4. Got Brady's haircut
5. Cleaned out the inside of the van while the boys ran around outside
6. cleaned out the refrigerator - leftovers & fruit for dinner
7. did a load of dishes
8. folded a pile of laundry
9. 2 more loads in the washer/dryer
10. baked cookies
11. bath night for the boys
12. blogging
13. cut out coupons

4. And catch up on some DVR'd shows tonight. Eddie is at Akron U with a group of band kids tonight - so I can watch my girlie shows.

5. Okay, boys are in bed now it's 8:38. We needed one more drink of water, train blankets and stuffed animals needed hugs too. Is it wrong that I put the boys in comfy play clothes after their bath? So in the morning - they are ready to go - no need to get dressed - just brush teeth and ready to go! I am always looking for ways to cut down on our morning mad dash out the the door.

6. I am running out of steam and i might now make it to 10 things tonight. Lame. Sorry

7. Bachelor: Chantal or Emily? I think he will pick Chantal. I think he just has a school girl crush on Emily and the kid scares him a little more than he is letting on. But I think Brad is the most genuine Bachelor ever.

8. Trying to book a beach vacation...hoping we can pull it off this year.

9. My taxes are not done yet- oops- my goal was to have them done by 2-28-11. Maybe I should work on 
them...next tuesday.

10. Received awesome news tonight: SGM Dennis Gerber returned home today after his year long deployment! So happy for the Gerber family as they get to be a family of four again. Prayers for all the service men and women still waiting to come home. Thank you Denny for your service & sacrifice. WELCOME HOME!

Random picture: I took some shots of this really old baseball for friends of ours that are going to sell it...look closely you might see Yogi Berra & Micky Mantle's signatures. it's a New York Yankee's World Series ball from the 1940's...I told them I would only charge 10% of the selling price for the pictures...

    

baby Lily

a recent newborn session. Baby Lily. Nicole & Andew's little girl. So sweet & tiny.

i just love the shadows in this one - and her perfect little belly button

she looks like a baby doll in this dress & satin shoes.

this is an out take - but don't you just love baby sneezes? 

this one brings tears to my eyes, and makes my heart hurt. love the zonna is peaking over her son's shoulder to see her granddaughter. how it must feel to see your child become a parent. 3 generations.

thank you zonna, keith, nicole, andrew & baby lily for letting me share a slice of your day!

  
 
 
 
  
  

i heart faces

 
 here is my i heart faces entry. (thanks missy for the tip) this week's theme is hands. this is a part of a series of pictures I did with the great grandkids and our meemaw (who passed away last year). I love this picture for so many reasons...that is my youngest brady's hand, meem's and her daughter's jill (brady's grammie) 3 generations. i love that meem kept busy -you can see her crochet needles, her book, and notepad close at hand. I am sure her Bible wasn't too far either.

10 on tuesday - peek for {S} family

Thank you sweet (s) family! My first session with them, avery was in her mama's belly, now she is 3! 2 sweet girlies. I keep finding new ones as I go thru their shoot - just so much love for each other and their girlies.

I had to throw this one in...yoda and batman today at story hour.

Is it really June already?

(I started this post on 5-27-09)

I love a rainy day - but this afternoon was mosoon! barely could see the road ahead of me and brady kept shouting -puddle, puddle! And riley kept asking me - can you drive thru it again mama? We have been home 4 hours and it's still a steady downpour. Eddie's new grass will love it but I am not sure our basement will.

It's been a while since the last update...so much going on! Here is a run down for May...

• Eddie's last full month of school - concerts, concerts and more concerts! And a band banquet and a stuffed monkey named poopie (it's a band joke thing) 
• photo sessions have begun again for the season
• Jordan's baptism. Brady & I spent the ceremony outside while eddie & riley videoed the cermony in the balcony. Sorry JD & Joanie if you only here Brady shouting DADDY, DADDY on the tape
• t-ball has begun. Practice on Tuesdays, games on Saturdays.
• Becky & David married 1 year
• Mother's day tea at preschool. Nothing says tea like sub sandwiches :)
• Art show, bike day, field day, birthday day, last day picnic at riley's preschool
• more doctor appointments for the boys - thankfully no strep or the flu - just a cold
• Jd's Birthday month
• new haircut & color
• molly turns 8
• Missy & Ben married 8 years
• brady turns 2
• sadie turns 3
• maya turns 5
• Grandpa M turns a big number
• memorial day picnics and parades

ETA...I added an album over <---- there to recap our may.

So ready for June to begin. May traditionally has been the craziest month on record.  Maybe I will be able to catch my breath in June and post more!

newborn session

 

wanted to share this newborn session from February...Miss Adelynne...

 

I hear she is already losing the wonderful red hair...so sweet and so tiny.

sneak peek

For the Asente extended family - we met at Amanda's Aunt & Uncle's home in Cuyahoga Falls. A beautiful home with an amazing back yard.  I got there before Amanda and her family. So I walked right in - and everyone was like - hmmm - who is this girl? Oh you must be the photographer. Here sit, sit, have some wine and cheese.  It was a big family gathering on a Sunday afternoon.  Uncle Chuck and Aunt Lynn - thank you for inviting me into your home and making me feel welcome and at ease. And the chicken soup was tasty.  I have so many favorites I want to share - so I will post an album at the left.  What I love about this family dynamic - is that they have a meemaw too and lots of kids and grandkids running around. Sound familiar?

enjoy and I will be in contact soon with all of your disks!

 

Amanda, her parents & her brother.

family picture day

 

 

 

   

These are just a few shots I picked out during a quick look at this pics this morning. Maybe we hire someone to do the full family picture,maybe in the spring? We can all start saving now. :)  It's hard to tell everyone just to smile and look at the camera not knowing what's going on. But the remote did come in handy(thanks mis!) Whew.

i voted today

Yes I voted today for the upcoming General Election in November.  I filled out my ballot ahead of time and mailed it in.  I knew I wouldn't have time to run around on election day-plus-there are more car accidents that day due to increased traffice since everyone is heading to the polls to vote.  But I am sad I won't get a sticker. But at least my vote will count.

Going to be a very random post while I try to get some things down that Riley has been saying and doing & catch up on life and photo shoots.

In the car on the way home from Wednesday Night Alive (our church's midweek program - dinner is included - tonight was shepard's pie with corn, rolls & butter with pie for dessert - comfort food at it's best) Riley said -mama want to hear a joke ? Sure buddy- what's your joke?  Riley: gooey yucky computer!!  Umm he doesn't quite know the art of joke telling yet - but it will come.

Last Monday night I had a senior photo shoot  (pics to come) and I said my goodbyes to my boys-hugs and kisses all around. I walk out into the garage about to get into the car - when the garage door opens and there is a distraught Riley: Mama! I didn't get to say I love you!   This made me weak in the knees and heart. I hope he keeps this sweetness as he grows up.  The other morning eddie left before riley woke up and when he figured out daddy had already left for school - he broke down in tears: But I didn't get to hug him! Oh my sweet boy. Your daddy and I love your tender heart.  and you are sweet with Brady (at moments)when you will say he just needs a hug and kiss mama to make him feel better!

Guess where we went this past Saturday?

   

(click on images to make them larger- this was my view most of the day)

 

it was a bit cold. But warm when the sun shined. We really got lost in the 3 acre corn maze. Eddie was having trouble with the map - but we eventually made our way out. We got a huge pumpkin and an acorn squash. I love acorn sqaush with cinnamon, brown sugar butter. But no one else in the house likes squash - so I think that will be my dinner thursday night while the boys have tacos or soup and grilled cheese.  I will post an album to the left from our day - lots of pictures to share.  After the farm -we went to lunch - Red Lobster! No waiting during lunch - we got seated right away. Yum.  Riley tried shrimp and real crab for the first time & brady ate a little shrimp for the first time. Although I don't think he noticed inbetween bites of ketchup and french fries. Saturday was also sweetest day - but I didn't think we celebrated this fake holiday in our house - but riley and eddie ran some "errands" saturday morning while brady and I took our morning nap. And they brought me back these:

 

And delivered flowers to Grammie, Meem and Mamaw. Such sweet boys.   So I made brownies with peanut butter frosting during Brady's afternoon nap.

Easy Peanut Butter Frosting

1 cup of creamy peanut butter (reeese's is the best)

1 stick of butter (softened)

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

2 cups of powered sugar

so good and low fat too!

I love right now as i type this post up- eddie and I are sitting at the kitchen table with our laptops. He is cracking up right now trying to figure out a league name for his fantasy football  baseball basketball team. Whenever he laughs I laugh.  I can't post any of the names here because, well, I can tell you this - boy humor is a lot different than girl humor.  The league draft is tonight and they guys are instant messaging trash talk to each other. I love that he shares this banter with me - boys are funny!

Time to rotate laundry and post some new albums. Watch for more  pictures in the next post!

good night all!

picture share

 

   

sweet little girls! sweet sisters! Thanks K & M for being so cute!

   

good bye durango, hello odyssey.

 

my new favorite picture of the boys. Not technically good - but I love the sun glare, love brady's sweet face, love riley's concentration. Just outside riding bikes up and down the side walk, brady fresh from a bath wearing pj's and crocs, enjoying the fall leaves and air.