You Capture: Lunch

Every week, Beth over at I Should Be Folding Laundry, hosts a photography link-up.  She gives you a theme and you have a week to take a picture representing the theme and then you post your link at her blog.

Since I have absolutely nothing to do right now with Christmas being only three weeks away, I thought, what the heck, I'll do it this week!  Also, the point of this link-up is to get you using your camera and heavens knows I need help with my camera and I guess one way to learn how to use my camera is to actually use my camera.   So here I am!

This weeks theme is Lunch.

And here's what I had for lunch today:

It's nothing fancy - just some Romaine, chicken, pineapple chunks, goat's milk cheese and Asian dressing.

It was delicious!  The only problem?  I could have eaten two plates. Next time I think I need to add more pineapple. And more cheese.  You can never have too much cheese!

To see how everyone else captured the theme, head on over to I Should Be Folding Laundry.

Oh Christmas card, oh Christmas card your photos aren't so lovely.

We are heading to Washington, D.C. tonight to spend a long weekend with Dan's sister Cathy.  We are taking Colton - Peter's best friend.  Even though we are a few weeks late, this is to celebrate Peter's birthday.

And while I am very excited to go on this trip(probably just as if not more excited that the kids!), it puts me even further behind on all of my Christmas work.  Last night, in an attempt to get the Christmas card photo, I hurried the kids to the shower immediately following dinner and made them put on a nice outfit and stand and fake smile in front of the tree.

And let me tell you.  They were none too thrilled.  Especially Peter.  Oh that boy hates to do anything that isn't on his master plan for the day.

I snapped and snapped and snapped and as I am sitting here reviewing the pictures, I realize that I have 25 great pictures of Sarah and 25 great pictures of Peter.  Unfortunately, out of the 50 pictures I took, that greatness doesn't coincide at the same time. 

I've got Sarah smiling a great big happy smile and Peter looking up to the heavens as if praying to God for relief.

I've got Peter looking happy and relaxed and Sarah staring off to the side as if looking for an escape route.

I could go on and on but you get the idea.

So without further ado, let me present you with our 2012 Christmas card picture:

I really should invest in professional shots next year!

Ding dong around the world!

So now that Black Friday and Cyber Monday have come and gone, I'm finally sitting down to my computer to get a little Christmas shopping done.

I have asked, begged, and cajoled the kids in previous years to make a list for Santa they never do or they make lists and contain items that are no longer made or sold out (Peter) or contain items like globe and bell (Sarah).  What four-year-old asks for a globe and a bell?

The kids had all last week off from school so I took them to Target one morning to get some ideas for their lists. 

Peter wrote down one small Lego set and three video games and then got mad when I told him three video games was enough to put on one list.

Sarah wrote down microphone (the same kind my mom got her last year for her birthday that broke and we had to ship back to the manufacturer and then the replacement broke again) and Barbie make up purse.

After writing those things down, she said, "I don't want to do this any more."  When I asked her why not she replied, "Because then I'll know what I'm getting.  I want to be surprised." 

So I've been drinking coffee and pursuing Amazon for gift ideas and have not had much luck.  But no worries.  I will continue my search and I will be victorious. I think I've done a good job for the last 10 years.  
And if all else fails, I'll get them a bell and a globe. 

The Midway Christmas Parade

Sarah's Brownie troop had a float in the local Christmas parade this weekend.  She had been looking forward to this for weeks and even said, "Mom, it's like I'm going to be famous!" 

The girls decorated a tree, dressed in Christmas colors and tossed out pounds and pounds of candy along the parade route.

When their float approached Sarah and Cheyanne were alternating between smiling and waving like a beauty queen and tossing out candy. 

The girls decorated the tree and the float themselves.

Here they come!

Sarah and Cheyanne were throwing candy and we couldn't get their attention.

Waving to the crowd!

She finally sees us!

The girls had a blast and were already asking their troop leaders if they could be in the Easter parade.  I guess they enjoyed their first taste of "fame".  I think their leaders were ready for a nap!

What I Wore Sunday

Is it really Sunday already?  Is our long weekend almost over? Sigh...Must be because here I am dressed for church this morning:

Cami: Kohl's
Shirt: Lands' End (I know!  Not Kohl's or Target!)
Pants: Kohl's
Shoes: Shoe Carnival

Necklace: Kohl's

I really probably should have tucked this shirt in but thanks to a lot of eating this last week and a lot of not working out for the last two weeks, my pants were feeling a little snug and I didn't want to have to sit with my stomach sucked in during Mass. 

So, there you have it - What I Wore Sunday.  Head on over to Fine Linen and Purple to see what everyone else wore today. 

What I Wore to Thanksgiving

Grace, over at Camp Patton, is hosting What I Wore On Thanksgiving. She called me stylish when she asked me to participate so of course, I agreed, because flattery. Hello!

And while I don't think I'm stylish at all, Grace certainly is. Check out what she and her two really, really cute kids are wearing today. Kind of makes me embarrassed to post my outfit but here goes...

Shirt: Target
Jeans: Kohl's
Boots: Target

I have a love/hate relationship with this shirt.  Well, mostly hate.  I've had it since last year and the few times I worn it, I've worn it with black pants and have hated it.  I love the cut of the shirt but I guess it's the pattern I don't care for. 

This shirt was actually in my send-to-Goodwill pile but I dug it out and thought I would see if I liked it any better with dark jeans and my brown boots.  And I guess I like it a little better although with my not working out very much in the past three weeks, I really need a much looser top to balance out my ever tightening skinny jeans. 

So there you have it!  What I Wore on Thanksgiving.

The nice thing about taking this picture before heading over to Mom's for lunch?  When I saw the size of my saddlebags, I decided not to have dessert.  And I'm going to start working out again.  On Monday.

A little DQ can make it all better.

We were supposed to go camping with the Cub Scouts this weekend.  Which in September, when we signed up, sounded like a really good idea.  But now that it's November, and cold, and windy, and cold and ugh, camping.  What was I thinking?  So I was not heartbroken when two  families backed out at the last minute and the trip was postponed until the spring.

And now I'm like, camping?  In the spring?  That sounds wonderful!  I'm in!  Let's do this!  But I know I'll be singing a different tune when it's time to actually sleep on the ground and pee in a latrine.

But not camping this weekend left us some free time so my husband decided we should go for hike.  He wanted to try some place new so we headed for the Piedmont Environmental Center in High Point.

The trail we took was nice - only about two miles.  It weaved through the woods around the shores of High Point City Lake so we had some nice views.

But Sarah decided about half way through the hike that she was over it.  She wanted to get home to work on a project and bugged me about ideas for this project the entire two miles.  Every time I would give her an idea she would say "No. Think of something else."

Maddening.  She's lucky she's so cute and that I really, really love her.

But it's all good because at the end of the hike, we headed for Dairy Queen.

And everyone knows a whiny hike and Dairy Queen trump camping any day.

What I Wore Sunday

I'm participating in What I Wore Sunday once again.  So, let's see what I wore...

I have one on of those bat-wingy type shirts on.  Is bat-wingy even a thing?  No?  Well, it is now.  Anyway, I had a pale grayish whitish bat-wingy shirt on.  Every time I moved my arms material flapped up at me. It must really be hard being a bat. I am wearing a burgundy tank top underneath but you can't really see that in the pictures but trust me, it's there.There would have been a lot of unsightly pale flesh showing every time I moved my arms if I didn't have on a tank underneath.  shudders

I am also wearing some darker gray skinnies.  And I'm wearing a long silvery chain.  After reviewing these pictures, I think I need a heavier darker necklace to go with this shirt.  The silver is lost in all of the gray.

I have the same boots on from last week but they didn't make it into the picture.  Apparently my photographer doesn't understand that shoes can make or break an outfit.  And I also don't think he really understands the whole concept of taking a picture of your outfit and posting it to your blog.  I have so much to teach my sweet husband.

 Shirt: Target
Tank top: Target
Jeans: Target
Boots: Target
Necklace: Target

Someone needs to quickly step away from Target and perhaps head to the mall or something.

Sarah wanted to have her picture taken as well because she is quite pleased with her outfit.  Dan and I kept making comments like"Sarah, are you done with that big proposal yet?" or "Sarah, what time is that meeting you called?". And Dan kept making her look at her wrist and then say, "Half day today, eh Bob?" We really cracked ourselves up this morning.

Shirt: Consignment Sale
Skirt: Consignment Sale
Shoes: Target (where else?)

Isn't she going to make a really cute executive one day?

And here we are together right before we dash out to the car. 

Head on over to Fine Linen and Purple for more What I Wore Sunday.  I'm sure the other ladies that have linked up are a little less bat-wingy and perhaps have shopped at stores other than Target and Target.

7 Quick Takes Friday

--- 1 ---

I've been at the school a ton this week.  I've been volunteering with the Scholastic Book Fair.  I took donuts in for Peter's birthday and his class is also doing a Thanksgiving Feast today so I'll be helping with the set-up of that as well. 

--- 2 ---

I was going to say that I'll be looking forward to a normal week next week but I just realized that the kids are off ALL. NEXT. WEEK. so nothing will be normal about that.

--- 3 ---

Speaking of taking donuts in for Peter's birthday, when I asked him what he wanted me to take to drink, he quickly replied, "Milk.  Whole milk."  Apparently whole milk is like fine wine to these kids.  When I took the birthday treats to the class, they were at computer class.  As they filed back in the room, I was pouring the milk.  Everyone of them asked me as they were walking by, "What kind of milk is that?"  When I responded, "whole milk," there was a lot of fist pumping and "oh yeahing". Seriously, I think I could have left the donuts at home and just brought in a couple of gallons of whole milk and they would have all been perfectly happy.  I guess by age ten they are starting to realize that 1% and 2% tastes a little chalky.  Or maybe their moms are making them drink....SKIM MILK!  Good grief!

--- 4 ---

Now that Peter's birthday has come and gone, I can focus on Christmas and all that is involved.  I have the worst time getting Peter and Sarah to make Christmas lists.  I think next week when they are out of school I am going to let them wander around Target to get some ideas.It really shouldn't be this hard but it always is.  Like pulling teeth.

--- 5 ---

Now that Peter knows where babies come from I wonder if it's time to tell him about Santa.  Although, a little part of me thinks he might already know.  Last week he said, "I don't want you to get me a ton of books like you did last year for Christmas."  All of the kid's gifts come from Santa so all of those books came from Santa.  I should have said, "Santa brought you those books" just to see what he said but I wasn't ready to go there so I let it drop.

--- 6 ---

If you don't want Santa to bring you a bunch of books kid then you better make a list!

--- 7 ---

Well, I'm off to get my hair did.  Have a great weekend, y'all!

 

For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at Conversion Diary!