It’s a photo mash-up as I link up with two of my favorite blogs/bloggers –  Cari for Theme Thursday: Shaming (I’m ashamed of the language that came out of my mouth when I read the theme for today) and Like Mother, Like Daughter for {pretty, happy, funny, real} .

{pretty}

Last night we had our first real rain of the season and we desperately needed it! When I woke up the next morning I am ashamed to say that the kids were late for school because instead of making their breakfast I went out on the deck in my pj’s and bare feet to watch the sun rise over the trees and snap some photos.

It looked like a scene from a tropical paradise, especially as the fog sat at the bottom of the hills.

So they were late getting to school…and I’m ashamed to say I’d do it all over again!

{happy}

I’m ashamed to say that for the last week the housework has suffered (Never mind that it’s not a shock. I mean more than usual!), the dishes have been left in the sink every night and everyone has run out of clean underwear because we have been using all our spare time to send Christmas care packages to our soldiers before the Post Office deadline. However, I am happy that my three little elves have gotten into the spirit of  Christmas and have been helping me out fill out the soldier’s Christmas stockings…

…even though I am ashamed to say that after 15 minutes of their “help” I sent them to their room to play with Legos because the chaos was driving me nuts. 😉

{funny}

I was dumping out some old magazines and I’m ashamed to admit how my reading material compares to Brian’s. While he is reading about the Pope’s latest homily…

…I’m checking to see what Daryl is up to and what the Governor will do to Rick and the gang.

{real}

I’m ashamed to admit that I have been celebrating Christmas since Halloween. I am ashamed to admit that I love to watch every single movie on the Hallmark Channel’s countdown to Christmas movie list, especially the romantic ones. And the other night Brian sat down with me to watch one (doesn’t he just rock!) and the two main characters were falling in love as they baked Christmas cookies and made hot chocolate. Brian suggested that we make some hot chocolate so we paused the movie and made our treats. The only thing missing? The cookies. Then I remembered that I bought a tin of Christmas cookies for a friend who loved them and I hid them in the garage so no one would be tempted to eat them.

I’m ashamed to say that I sneaked out to the garage, took them from their hiding place and opened them up so Brian and I could enjoy. Then I hid the box so the kids wouldn’t see them and Brian and I could have a secret treat another night. heehee. Yeah, I’d totally do that again, too.

(As I am typing this, Bella came into the room and saw this photo of the cookies. She said, “When did you guys have those?” I stammered and said, “Have you finished your homework?” She said no so I sent her off. I escaped this time but my crime may be found out once they start sniffing around. 😉 )

Have a blessed week! Please pray for us that we have a safe trip. I’ll post a pic from Disneyland. 🙂

xoxo,

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, GoodReads or Instagram. 😉

It’s another photo mash-up today as I link up with Like Mother, Like Daughter for {pretty, happy, funny, real} and with Cari for Theme Thursday: Double. That was a tough one! But I finally thought of something. See {real} to find out what!

{pretty}

You can never have to many shots of the ocean, right? 😉

{happy}

I already posted photos from Bella’s Scrapbook Birthday Party with her friends here. These are from her actual birthday.

It is a family tradition that when the birthday person wakes up they will find our dining table decorated with their theme and various stuffed animals. The Winnie the Pooh Bear, that Bella got when she was born, has been the master of ceremonies for a decade now. He has dressed up as various characters, including a pirate, train conductor and Jedi Knight. The night before Bella’s 12th birthday I mentioned to her that she is probably didn’t want that sort of thing anymore. But no, she was still looking forward to waking up to see her  decor. So this year Pooh was one of the Newsies. 🙂

 The birthday girl with John-Paul.

I’m adding a random photo of Andrew just to make him happy and not feel left out of the post. 😉

{funny}

Bella was opening her present from her aunt, which included some rolls of candy, and you could see what was running through each one’s mind. 🙂

{real}

I’m linking this photo with Cari for Theme Thursday: Double.

It has become a bit of a joke in the house that when one of the boys gets hurt they need one of “mama’s kisses” to make it better. Throughout the day they’ll come running to me with (low key) injuries – a bumped knee or a hurt finger so I can kiss it. It’s gotten to the point where I don’t give it much thought if I don’t see blood or a bruise. Well, the other day Matthew came to me while I was working on the computer. He was whining and held his finger out to me. I quickly kissed it and told him it will feel better but then I did a DOUBLE TAKE. He had a curious look on his face and the kiss tasted a bit weird… he wasn’t holding out his finger for a kiss, rather, he wanted to give me the booger he poked out of his nose. Yeah, that’s right. Don’t envy my glamorous life. 😉

Thanks to Cari and LMLD for hosting!

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, GoodReads or Instagram. 😉

It’s another photo mash-up today as I link up with Like Mother, Like Daughter for {pretty, happy, funny, real} and with Cari for Theme Thursday: Out. The other day we were all in the house cleaning and doing Saturday chores when I could not bear to be cooped up in the house any longer. The weather was gorgeous so I told Brian we needed to take a break and get out for a little fresh air. It was funny when I checked for the theme this week and realized it was OUT. So here are the photos from our afternoon out.

{pretty}

We took a walk on one of the little nature trials by our house. There are not many flowers this time of year but I was able to find a few here and there.

{happy}

 I love this shot of Brian and Matthew. It makes me so happy to have a husband that is such an incredible dad. Swoon.

{funny}

Forget the scenery and the flowers, the boys favorite part of the walk is through the tunnel where they scream like mad to hear their echo.

In the meantime, Bella and I chat and laugh at the boys as I snap photos. (Next time I will get a pic of both of us too!)

{real}

Okay, I ran out of “out” photos so I’ll share this pic from the Planner Addicts Photo Challenge hosted by A Bowl Full of Lemons. Day 20 was a sample of our handwriting. 🙂

Thanks to Cari and LMLD for hosting!

Oh, and a completely unrelated commercial – don’t forget to enter the contest to win a free copy of  Small Steps for Catholic Moms OR ABook of Saints for Catholic Moms here. 🙂

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, GoodReads or Instagram. 😉