My Girl

So excited that my son sent me his camera. 

Now, I can play around with taking crisper pictures of my girl.

 Freckles and Missy were my models for this little test run photo shoot.

Thought I'd share my first attempts with you. So far I love it, but now I have to learn it.

Until next time....

Making Memories Through Photo Books

Click here to view this photo book larger

Create your own custom photo books at Shutterfly.com.

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I love pictures...

That is one of the many reasons I love to blog...I love to share what I see through my lenses. Through the years I have kept extensive records of my children's Baby Books with pictures, I have photo books of pictures and have also been compiling beautiful books through Shutterfly with my pictures. These are special memories my kids will always have to pass down to their children and so on. Pictures are worth a thousand words...Since I love to create I had the chance to make this Summer book personal...A memory that will be cherished for years to come. Thanks to Shutterfly and their Summer end promotion I was able to make this 8X8 book for FREE... (just had to pay shipping)

You can too...This promotion ends this Wednesday, September 12th...

Use promo code SUMMERBOOK.

Enjoy creating your memories.

His Graduation Pictures

 
Yup...It's true he graduated early from High School in December 2011, yet we have put off the grad pics. and ceremony till this Spring. It is now official...We home schooled our boy all his years through H.S., then he started attending a Jr. College this last Fall. Now he has one year of college under his belt finishing up in early May. We planned his special graduation ceremony for May 12th. I found a really fun site for home schooled graduates where you can order special diplomas and tassels etc.. We ordered both and found a wonderful deal at the thrift shop for a black grad gown and cap for....2 BUCKS...On sale. And it was in his size. So exciting. The guests are RSVPing, the food is planned out, the pictures are taken.
Now we just wait for the date. I can't believe the time has come...And he will be 18 in June.
 
All these changes. We are very proud of him. He is pursuing what he loves, studies hard and has kept a job through this school year. We look forward to the many blessings ahead that are awaiting him. We pray for him daily, we love him with all our hearts.
    
We had fun doing this little photo shoot. We are on a budget and can't afford to have professional pictures done. I would so much love to do that for him...So instead we improvised as best as we could. Thankfully my camera takes decent photos. He changed his clothes a couple times, we found some spots to take pictures in our town and he smiled his sweetest smile. And thank God for photo editing from Picmonkey
 ( I am so loving it)
 I played with the pictures for a spell and ended up with some nice shots. I am pretty proud of them. He loves them too. Just one more tiny session in his cap and gown, ceremony and party pics.
And we will have some wonderful picture moment memories. I am so grateful to God that we can do all this on a budget and still make it a special memory for our son. Wish we could buy him a car.
 Oh well. (sigh)
 
Just a couple more weeks and I'll get to share the rest of this story.
 Thanks for following along with us. Have a blessed day...The weekend is almost here.

Four Decades...

A candle for each decade. Today I celebrated 4 decades of life. I really can't believe it and I thought it would hit me alright but I woke up this morning utterly in tears. I couldn't quite figure out why I was so upset and crying, but the pit of my stomach and my heart sunk. Maybe I was feeling a little sorry for myself, which for the most part it is very rare. I am not afraid to get older...I just can't pin point why I felt the way I did. I am reminded by God that I am so very loved and worth so much to my husband and children. I know that I am loved, I am blessed. I have nothing to be sorry for, nothing to regret, I have everything I could ever ask for and am content. It took almost all day for me to snap out of it. My dear Mr. Darling gave me a special card and brought home little cupcakes, my daughter made me one and my son came home with the sweetest card, it brought the tears on instantly. We had a little pizza party and went to the movies. My son also bought tickets to see a Pianist in concert after church on Sunday. What a sweet gift.
I am looking forward to us going out to something so special.

As I ponder on this life so far. I am ever so greatful to the good Lord above, even though the beginnings were rocky. My family was a bit unstable, we moved all the time, then the family broke into pieces after my dad left us. I still struggled in life as a young adult until I met my true love who came into my life like a knight in shining armor ( Mr. Darling ). It was not long after that when we were both saved by God. The road hasn't always been an easy one, with the loss of our second child, six years of illness which left me almost bed ridden which led to depression and other health issues that I still deal with today. I couldn't have gone through all that without God's grace and healing hands, or without my dear husband and children and those who cared the most who were always by my side...you know who you are. It has been almost five years since I have been better, even with the little things that seem to keep me down, I know I can do all things through Christ who has given me strength. My life today: I have grown in faith, I try very hard to be the best mother I can be for He has given me the bestest children ever. I try to be the bestest wife ever.... I hug and kiss my kids & husband and tell them I love them many times everyday and in return I am full. I couldn't ask for anyhting more than that.

I am so greatful where God has led us thus far. With a chance to start fresh as soon as Mr. Darling graduates from Seminary this May. I will become a Pastors wife...I look forward to that new chapter in our lives. Watching our children grow up...One is almost ready to fly from the nest... I look forward to what God has in store and thankful for the 4 decades he has given me to grow in Him.
 I pray God will give me another 4 decades. That would be wonderful.
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P.S. The picture above shows the two canvas pics. I got to make for my birthday.
Thank You Mr. Darling...I love them.

A Photo A Day Keeps The Blues Away...

   
I decided to take this photo challenge...A photo a day. Here is the first half. I will post the next half at the end of the month. I love a challenge. This one was fun...I am a very visual person so, it was a perfect challenge to find the right picture throughout each day. Plus it really keeps the blues away. Enjoy.
Have A Happy Weekend.

Come Along With Us Today...

Rise and shine...
We're eating Cheerios this morning with banana's cut up into each bowl...Yum!
 I used to do that as a kid yet, we didn't have yummy cheerios like this when I was young.

Let's take a walk!
 Missy loves going to the doggy park!

Finishing the morning chores!

Leaving the bathroom in order before going on a little field trip!

Freckles at The Old Town Museum....

All dressed up as a Ranch Girl.
 

Still in Old Town...We are dreaming and window shopping.

Back home having a snack...

Yummy home made dried fruit!

 

Maestro working on his score.

 So happy that he's back from Seattle!

Freckles set up her owls and played for a spell.

 This is her family of owls...Aren't they sweet?

Getting ready for dinner...

Here I have my little collection of Pyrex bowls.

 Hope you all had a lovely day!

Linking Up With:

It's A Very Cherry World!

A Bit Of Sunshine!

Just Yesterday.....

Freckles and I went to Old Town to play for the afternoon since Mr. Darling has been buried in writing papers and Maestro is still in Seattle. So we made it a girls day! It was the perfect day to walk around, window shop and just be plain ole' silly. One thing I love to do is capture moments...So I embrace the camera and shoot the day. I am a very visual person....This really puts the topping on the cake for me. I don't really even know what I am doing as far as taking pictures, I just point and shoot what I think is pretty or whatever I find appealing to the eyes I suppose.

One thing I know for sure is that
 I LOVE COLOR !!!
Freckles is such a good sport about me taking so many pictures of her.
 It was just plain fun!


We walked for at least 3 hours through town and our favorite shops. So I treated us to The Old Pop Shop for pop of course! It was either that or a trip to the Ice Creamery... We figured since we are counting calories we would be better off having a pop instead! And, we haven't had pop for quite a while....Since we have cut it off from having it in the home. It was a treat!
Freckles also got a kick out of seeing her favorite car... She loves Bugs and usually doesn't get to see the old ones very often. In about 6 more years I am certain this girl will be driving a bug! She enjoys nudging me in the arm every time she sees one yelling out "Slug Bug".... Yeah I get the punch quite often, for she seems to always be on the look out for them. I don't know if I like that too much!
We had so much fun together...It really was a special time, which made me thank God for making me the Mother of these two delightful children. It is such a gift, to see them grow up into what God intends them for. And that leaves me in awe of this priceless blessing. It delights me to no end to
see their sweet, smiling, happy faces each and every day!
 
Freckles told me that when she becomes a Mama, she wishes to be just like me...Oh that just melts my heart. How sweet it is she would desire that...Because trust me there are day's I don't feel like the world's greatest Mom! Let's just say I do my best.
We even dreamed up how when Mr. Darling finishes Seminary and Lord willing finds a Church flock to shepherd that we would find a quaint little building and make it into an eclectic tea house...We dreamed of how it would be furnished and decorated to what we would serve as far as drinks and goodies go...It would be a funky, whimsical sort of place suited for everyone with good music and a gift shop filled with our art work as well as local artisan's and musicians, & open for special tea parties and such... We visualized the whole set up down to colors and mood, yet haven't agreed to the name we would give it. It was grand to dream... But with all dreams aside, I don't see why we couldn't make that dream real.... In time!!

 
It was yet another wonderful day spent with my daughter...
 A wonderful way to kick off Mother's Day!

Okay let me leave you with this photo again..Too cute for words. If you don't know already about Picasa or Piknic...They are two great sites where you can edit your photo's for FREE! So, since I don't have the greatest camera in the world....These sites help me to enhance the look and feel to my pictures when they seem just okay. I edited this picture in Piknic making it a Polaroid with a vintage 60's/70's coloring to it! Just looking at it makes me feel like I stepped back in time. Hope that helps! Oh, and to show my appreciation to YOU, my loyal readers, I am gearing up for a Give Away!
This will be a fun one!!
Have a fantastic Saturday!!!