These are the days...

Tomatoes

 

Credits Here and Here

Everyone who knows me knows how much I LOVE tomatoes! I was spoiled living in California by having an abundance of gorgeous heirloom tomatoes. There's really nothing like them. So, you can imagine that I was thrilled to learn that Ruskin, Florida was the "tomato capital of the nation". However, when I got here, I had the hardest time finding a decent local tomato. It seems that all of the tomatoes grown in Florida are shipped out to other parts of the country ~ GO FIGURE. So, at the grocery stores, I was buying tomatoes from Canada, Chile, and Mexico!! What's up with that? And they have no flavor at all~ LOL! Then, driving down a random road, I found a tomato stand!

 

     

 Actually, it was like a little farmer's market ~ perfect! The tomatoes weren't heirlooms, but big, juicy beefsteaks and romas. Then, as if my luck just couldn't get any better, I found a "U-PICK" tomato farm in a very rural part of Florida. We took the kids there and watched them run through rows and rows of tomatoes filling their buckets. 

You could fill an entire 5 gallon paint bucket for only $5!! Here are a few of my favorite tomato recipes:

Heirloom Tomato Basil Mozzarella Salad

Heirloom Tomato Tart

Please make sure to share your favorite tomato recipes with me.......we can always use some new ones! =)

I can't wait to get back to California and go HERE every week for heirlooms!

And, if you're wondering, "NO!" ~ I was not the least bit scared of "Sam" and "Ella" ( as PW calls them) out here messing with my beloved tomatoes! LOL! Not even the fear of a gastrointestinal disaster would keep me away from a delicious, juicy tomato! ha!

Another Birthday.........and a surprise at the end.......

We've been really enjoying our summer! Since my last post, we celebrated Sarah's 6th birthday! It's hard for me to believe that 6 years have gone by since we were up at St Helena Hospital waiting for her arrival! Wow! At six years old Sarah loves Hannah Montana, adores her brother, will be a first grader, is creative and independent, amazes me with her vocabulary, has a great sense of humor, and still manages to snuggle up at the end of the day and be my baby! She is a miracle and a blessing ~ Happy Birthday Sarah! We celebrated her birthday with a Hannah Montana party. If you love Hannah like we love Hannah ( always makes me think of Beach Blanket Babylon....." if you love sushi, like I love sushi.........") Okay...sorry i digress! LOL! Anyway, if you love Hannah, check out her concert tomorrow , Saturday, on the Disney Channel! We're all excited and going to make a movie night out of it. 

The kids and I decorated the house for Sarah's birthday. We went shopping for decorations and cupcakes. I decided ( we've had A LOT going on.........stay tuned for the surprise) NOT to bake the cupcakes and instead we had yummy store bought. Then, walking out of the grocery store, I opened up the car doors and out flew these.....Aaaaaargh!

As Hannah Montana sings "Nobody's Perfect".........ha! We called Daddy and asked him to pick up more on the way home. He saved the day! As you can see, we had a NASTY storm about 5 minutes away and we had to hurry home. 

Here's the birthday girl..........

       

      

THANK YOU, THANK YOU to all of the friends and family who sent special cards, wishes, and gifts to help Sarah celebrate her special day! We are SO VERY grateful for you all! 

..........and now for that SURPRISE...........

opportunity has knocked again and we taking another leap BACK to California! We are so excited and have been unable to speak of this until NOW!!! We will be back for the start of school! We are knee deep in boxes and packing paper and ready for another fun adventure! The past year and a half have been amazing and we have made memories to last a lifetime! We'll miss the friends and family in Florida, but know we'll be back for many wonderful visits! 

And what seems so fitting now is ....yes, you guessed it......

Hannah Montana's words "Life's What You Make it.....so Let's Make it ROCK!" 

 

So stay tuned for more updates, pictures and adventures! 

Happy 4th of July

We had such a nice 4th of July this year! Hope every one else did, too! Don surprised us and came home early ~ just in time for the neighborhood fireworks. It is so different for us here in Florida ~ fireworks are LEGAL. So, right out our front door, we had a huge fireworks display. Not just the little sparklers, either....But the BIG ONES! 

Don made patriotic cocktails with raspberries and blueberries ~ (next year I want to try these martinis), I made a cheesecake for the kids ( I might have had a bite or two ~ giggle) , and we sat outside most of the night. It was such a FUN time! One of my favorite moments was watching Sarah and Ryan hold sparklers for the first time! I caught some fun pics of their faces:

This last one cracks me up! How did Sarah know to strike

 the PERFECT Statue of Liberty pose?? LOL! Gotta love that little girl! 

God Bless America! 

Little Cloud

Well, it's the rainy season here in Florida which means A LOT of activity everyday here! Right around 3pm, the clouds roll in and you can hear the low rumbles of the thunder off in the distance. Apparently, Florida is the lightening capital of the US ~ nice, huh? And, let me just say "We Believe"!!!!!! The kids, like Marty from Madagascar, call it "CrAckALackin" ~ funny! 

This past spring, Sarah and I went to see the stage production of Eric Carle's works. It was a great time and we especially loved "The Little Cloud". Since that time, we have really had fun finding shapes in the clouds. With the rainy season here, we are able to look up to find all kinds of great shapes! I have to admit that this really takes me back to being a kid again. Here are a few of our "FINDS" and cool cloud shapes to share:

After the lightening stops and the clouds release their last drops of rain, we are rewarded with these gorgeous Florida sunsets! Simply breathtaking! 

So, we have learned to look forward to the afternoon showers. =)

.....I got the job!

It's official ~ I'm part of the fabulous Lauren Reid's ~ of Little Dreamer Designs 

~ Creative Team for Summer!

WooHoo......I can't wait to get started! Thanks so much, Lauren! I can't wait to work with you! =)

 

The Red Hat......

We had such a fun time playing "dress up" yesterday! Between outfit changes, Sarah donned this little red hat and let me take some portrait shots. After our little photo session, Sarah asked me if she could put on some of her dress up eyehadow. I agreed. She looked hilarious lovely! After lunch I realized I was down to one diaper for Ryan, so we loaded up and headed to the store. When we pulled in, I realized Ryan was wearing BLUE eyeshadow, too! LOL! Oh my.........=D

We grabbed our diapers and a pack of these wafers......fun! 

I have this sneaking suspicion that our summer is going to get 

VERY BUSY here in the near future! ;P

So, we really are enjoying the slow, lazy days of summer right now! =D

Before I post my pics......This is for Bubba! LOL!

           

           

               ******** and let's not forget the pink eyeshadow! ha! *********

A Little Digi Scrappin......

I have to admit......I haven't been doing a whole lot of scrapbooking lately. My love affair with my camera has taken up all of my free time! ha! But, I realized how much I enjoy the creative process of creating a digital layout. I think I'm also realizing that my style has evolved quite a bit. I am really leaning towards clean, simple pages ~ it allows the photograph to tell the story and not be swallowed up by embellishments. So, that has kind of been a challenge.

This past weekend we went to a fun bowling birthday party for the kids! It has been over two years since we went bowling. in fact, the last time was in Napa with the Clark family! Ryan was still in his carseat/stroller. So, this time was quite a difference. The kids had a great time and Sarah has decided that she wants a Hannah Montana birthday party as well ~ oh boy! ;P She can't stop talking about "The Wig"....LOL! Are we really moving past the Disney Princesses and Little Ponies..........say it isn't so!! 

Here are a few pages that I managed to finish. I am in love with these quick templates! I used this template for the bowling page. And, you really should check out Kate Teague's blog here. She is extremely creative and generous ~ she gives away a lot of great freebies and creates some fun stuff like this frame. And, this is another favorite site ~ funky playground designs. I am planning on creating Sarah's kindergarten album with some of this  and that!

Whenever I get in a creative rut and frozen by my own "self imposed" need for every project to be "perfect" ~ I am reminded of the importance of "just creating" by this quote:

"To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong." 

Joseph Chilton Pearce

And before I forget.......Here are a few pics from Father's Day 2008:

and I just love the cards that the kids made for "Don"...haha!

A tea party under the oaks......

I have agonized for two days over a new slideshow software and I cannot get it to work "Just upload your FTP to your HTTP and then blah, blah, blah, blah!" ~ Aaaaargh! It's not that I don't like Smilebox ( I really do! ) ~ I just like the clean, classic lines of this other one. oh well......... sigh.......technology sometimes stinks! And, I'm not in the mood for the learning curve on this one! LOL! So, here's a Smilebox slideshow to share =) Oh, if you click "view full screen" it gives a nicer feel.

The other day the kids had a tea party with lemonade and watermelon. It was so fun to sit back and watch them "cheers" and "slurp"! ha!

The photos will all be uploaded into my SmugMug Album. =)

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Pancakes with Daddy........

   We woke up today to Daddy suggesting pancakes! The kids were So excited! Sarah and Ryan stood on their stools taking turns helping make the perfect circles. They added chocolate chips and blueberries, too!

 

 

Happy Father's Day to all of the special "Daddys" in our lives!

You make everything so special!

Slide........

I know what you're thinking....."Not another series of park pictures!".....LOL!

But, YES....there's more! ha!

We went to a new park the other day and I took this series of pics of Sarah going down the slide. As fast as she could fly down, she would turn around and run right back up. 

I was a little concerned because she has been telling me how much her hip hurts. It started hurting a few days ago when she was running. She was born breach and the doctors told us that she may have some ligament issues surrounding her hips. I sure hope not. It's feeling great today, though! Thank goodness. 

The last picture cracks me up! She flew down the slide so many times that her hair was standing up from all of the static electricity. Don't you just remember the days of rubbing your head with a balloon to see who's hair could stand up the highest?? ( Am I the only goofball fun, spontaneous kid that did that kind of thing? LOL)

I have been diving head first into photography these days. I convinced the family to come with me for a photo shoot. It was easy ~ wine for Don and food/candy for the kids! ha! I hope to have those fun pics up later today. It really gives me a lot of joy to see life through my lens. I have no idea where this passion will take me....but, I sure am enjoying the journey! =)

"The journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step."

Lao Tzu

 

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