2014 Wrap Up

2015 has already been quite eventful, and I haven't even had the chance to wrap up 2014 yet! So let's do that before 2015 totally overtakes me and I just blow off the 2014 wrap up all together.

January - It seems I started doing a photo a day in January.  Here is the first post. I'm not sure how long this lasted - I guess we'll find out as I move through the year.  I kinda hate I quit because it's great to look back and see what you were doing on a day by day basis!

February - February brought snow to the South.  Yes, we kinda lose our freakin' minds when it snows because we don't see too much of the fluffy white stuff around here.  So photos galore and happy children playing in the snow is the theme of this Photo Challenge Wednesday.

March - I was pretty darn happy in March.  The ice and snow melted and Spring slowly started to emerge.  Lots of fun photos of pretty sunsets and flowers and all things nature. And sweet niece voting! See more here from one of my Photo Challenge Wednesdays!

April - I love otters, did you know that? I think otters rock! I also love Spring, flowers, mild/warm temperatures, and cuteness on babies. :)  April I only posted three times - all three Photo Challenge Wednesdays, which I find impressive.  Check one out here.
























May - Spring time photo shoot with the chappies!  Sweet niece #1 is a perfect princess to pose for photos. She is really photogenic, too.  Sweet Niece #2 ... well it's a bit harder.  You can check out some of the pics here. Just looking back over May, I can see how work was pushing me under without a breath, trying to drown me!

June - Things got ugly in June.  June was sickness for me and about 8 doctor visits?  June was sickness and emergency surgery for my sister, too, which was obviously stressful.  And an election, which is what my job is all about.  Read some here, which was written before we realized she would have surgery.  It also shows photos of my house all cleaned up!, thanks to the goodness of my mom and sister. But there was a lot of good in June, too, as this post shows. Painting party being one of them!

July - Let's finish up the medical drama, including mom getting shingles, in this first post.  You'll also get fighter niece! HI-YA! And then, because I know no one wants all that drama, I shared fun photos of both kids and great scripture verses.  

August - Ahhh... August.  With August came EDISTO.  (Or Edislow as it's called).  Man, if we all didn't need a break to soak up salt water mist and melt into warm sandy beach.  Yes, Edisto is good, and you can see how good here and here. I also got crazy crafty with my LOVE canvas here and the office-grown pumpkin, fru-frued up for the fall holidays, which is featured here. :) 

September - It's my birth month! But during an election season - yeah, it's not as much fun.  But I got Downton Abbey so WHOOPIE!  Also took Baby Sweet Niece to a pumpkin patch - loads of fun! Check it out here! 

October - Man I love autumn and the beautiful leaves of the season.  Love it.  Enjoy lots of it here. And a stroll down a Friday's Letters Lane here. 

November - This is a very excited Ellie! She's part of this Friday's Letter! Along with Shrek, Sunsets, Macy baking cookies, ... all kinds of funness.  And one little Thanksgiving blog with no photos here. 

December - Obviously, the Election is over bc I finally caught up on Halloween and Thanksgiving here!  A new kitten appeared in this post "Run Faster, Catch Up With Life!"

And I think I will end it there.  Of course there were dozens of posts outside of those highlighted here, but eh, that's the past! Onward to the future! :) And to the first post of 2015! :)  Thanks for joining me on the journey. 

Friday's Letters

Happy happy joy joy - It's Friday! I took yesterday and today off and have thoroughly enjoyed my down time :) and I got good news at the cardiologist today woop woop!! Visited with a friend, spent way too much money in Hobby Lobby... Life is good! So y'all pull up your chairs and let's dive into Friday's Letters! 

Sweet Nieces, y'all are so adorably cute. :) exhausting and a handful-both of you!!! But I love y'all very much and I'm so proud of you! 

Baby Sweet Niece, I get to spend more time with you because you are here full time. This week you've been super sweet and loving and challenging. We've read books, played blocks, princesses, fought over picking up, experienced how stubborn you can be... Oh my. But you are such blessing. 

Dear brother and sister-in-law, thank you for inviting me over for supper!  It was great to just kick back and catch up. And the dogs were great entertainment. :)

Dear Dunkin Donuts, thank you thank you thank you for pumpkin pie donuts. That us all. 

Dear Lord, you have answered prayers, blessed and always loved. You know these private prayers that weigh heavily. Please continue providing strength and comfort. 

Y'all, I'm so happy most of my shopping is behind me. I'm wanting to visit Santa with Macy, see Christmas lights, send cards and dive into this in-depth study of Christmas in Sunday school. Very excited. :) :) :)  I hope your weekend is a good one! *salute!*

Friday's Letters

Dear toner cartridge, yes I know you tricked my short coworker into thinking you were secure on the top shelf. I know you waited for me to come in and peruse the paper selection so you could knock me unconscious. You almost succeeded. You gave me a serious headache. Now let's see if you give me two black eyes, as well.

Dear Autumn, I'm so thankful you are here. I love your sunrises and sunsets. Your colors make me oh so happy. And seeing the sun set on my way home from work totally rocks.

Dear Facebook, deleting your app from my phone has freed up so much space for more sweet nieces photos. No regrets. 

Dear Election, I'm so happy you are over and certified! Seeing everyone's sticker photos made you a little easier to endure, because people voting is what is all about. Wait, what do you mean we have a January election!??!? Argh!

Dear Sweet Niece #2, you've had us worried, little girl. Four doctor visits in three weeks is a little extreme. Seeing thi smile tonight made me so happy - hopefully it means you are feeling more like yourself.

Dear Sweet Niece #1, the stomach bug?? Heaven help, I hope you are recovering. My heart broke a bit for you when you were unable to try out for basketball. Hopefully another sport will work out. 

Dear tree farm, I got a little excited when I saw your sign this morning!!! It's beginning to look like Christmas!!!! Yay yay yay yay yay!!!

Tomorrow is a great pottery show so I'm heading there. Then I promised Macy she could come over and jump on my bed. So now I must sleep so I can prepare for hyper little miss! ;)

Letters on a Monday

I think this makes 22 days of work in a row, so don't be surprised if this is a rambling typo-filled mess :)

Dear Autumn, I'm glad you are finally here. I'm not crazy about your cold temps but so far I'm still chillin' in flip flops. Even as I scrape ice off the windshield... 

Dear Sweet Nieces, it made me so very happy to see y'all for all of 15 minutes this week. You were both still half asleep but so adorably cute! I love you both much!!!

Dear Sweet niece #2, going trick-or-treating with you was so much fun!!! You were so excited to be around other kids that you didn't really care about the candy. :) 

Ok y'all I'm falling asleep you know I won't been around here for a while long. Get out and vote!!! 

(I actually typed this up late last night and fell asleep before I could post it. Oops!)

Lovin' the Leaves

I know, ya'll have heard me complain about working so hard... I'm sure you are SICK of it. But one of the reasons I get all grouchy is because I. LOVE. FALL.  I love the crisper temperatures, the deep blue of the sky, the sun streaming through the bright red, orange and yellow leaves - it's just my time of year.  So being stuck in an office late at night and multiple weekends during this favorite time of year just turns me into a grouch.  I want to go to every pumpkin festival with the nieces and take a million photos of their adorable autumnal garb amidst tons of fallen leaves and plump pumpkins.

Insert sad face here.

But... today, Sunday, I once again skipped church, slept late, took a hot bath and zoomed up to a dive meat and three to grab lunch before the church crowd got out.  On the way home, I took a very slow and leisurely spin through Kings Mountain Park, windows down, Christmas harp music blasting, soaking up the sunlight, the colors and the autumn spirit that I've missed so very much.

I will admit to being totally lazy and not getting out of my car for any photo today. 

I know our color isn't peaking yet - maybe it will wait until work slows down! Whoopie! I hope so, but this 30 minute drive did a lot to refill my soul.  Honestly. It was just so relaxing, my shoulders slipped down away from being hunched up at my ears and my head fell back with the wind totally destroying any styling left of my hair.  GOOOOOOOOD STUFF. Loved loved loved it. 

I'm also gonna share some pics I pulled off my real camera from earlier in the month.  I'm not sure why I'm so fascinated by fog on my morning drives to work, but the way this hill is, you kinda are above the fog, then in it, under it, in it again and back on top.  Just weird but so cool at the same time! 

Above it all, heading down under it and will be in it soon. Isn't it so cool?!

 The sun filters through so prettily 

 Until you get down under the fog and the sun just can't seem to penetrate the heavy layer of mist

 But wait! On the way up and the sun is coming back! 

I mean, honestly, can't you see why I'm so fascinated with it? Ok, maybe not, but hey - it keeps me entertained on the way to work in the mornings. :)  God is the most cool artist ever, with beautiful surprises around every curve. 

I could get started on the pumpkins growing outside our office... yes, more pumpkins! Folks coming in to vote are all interested in the pumpkins, someone picked up the vine trailing outside of the bed with pumpkins on it and placed it inside of the bed so it wouldn't get inadvertently damaged.  They are so in awe of the pumpkin in our office, grown right out front in the flower bed! If anything actually comes of the half dozen we have starting out there, you know I'll let you know... :) 

You still have a few hours of daylight, friends, run outside and enjoy it while you can! 

Autumn

Today was one of those blessed days. The weather was completely perfect and the memories are great. We kicked off the morning in the pumpkin patch, after arriving in said patch via a hay ride.

After finding THE PERFECT PUMPKIN, we measured ourselves against the apple tree and experienced a fierce pony ride (Macy insisted she almost fell off, but this is not true. Haha).

We celebrated our fall festival fun with a trip to McDonald's - a rare treat for Macy. And she got to sip her Mommy's sweet tea - bonus!!! This child is SOUTHERN! 

I left them for a work adventure that was a total bust. :(   That was kinda sad. I hate spending my weekends with work that is just wasted time. Oh well. It happens. 

But after work a friend from Colatown came up and we had a great time!!! She caught me up on South Dakota, Alaska, Charleston, her awesome business at www.leenmachine.com and how The Lord is working in her business. As she said, "I'm glad time slowed down for us today!"  I am, too. We spent over an hour in the local park, swinging on a porch swing and just catching up. Even spotted a turtle and hot air balloon! It was just a soothing and energizing visit. 

And now it's time to wind down and go to bed. Lovely memories - things to add to my scrapbook! And blessing to thank God for tonight. 

Joyous Monday

Ok not really, it was a Monday! But now I'm in my bed snuggled under the covers and about to go to sleep. Monday is looking better :)

This weekend my parents celebrated their 44th wedding anniversary by going to the mountains. They are so cute together :)  Katie and I cleaned their house and the girls made Fru Fru pumpkins for them while they were gone. 

AH's was really nice - loves the buttons! And she's only 12 so I thought it was very creative and cute. 

Little niece is two and hers was more of an abstract look plus glitter. :) but you know grandparents love this stuff. Little niece was so excited to be decorating a pumpkin for MawMaw and PawPaw! She sang Happy Birthday over and over. Kinda like anniversary ...

The two Sweet Nieces on the way to buy pumpkins. ❤️❤️❤️

AH made volleyball so I'm going to have to hit up a game or two. I know nothing about the sport but I can cheer loudly! Her first game is this week. 

It is past my bedtime and it crazy busy at work. So let's roll over and snooze. Y'all have a great week!!! 

Nite!