day 4- josie jade

on this fourth day of gratitude i am truly grateful for:

josie jade

the love i have for this cute redhead is off the charts.

she is so stinking funny yet opinionated it's not even funny!

she is 5 going on 15 and makes her presence known to all who enter our home.

outside of the house she is a quiet and shy.

inside these four wall, watch out- she runs the place!

i love that she is the spitting image of her dad, both in looks and personality.

they are two of a kind for sure.

the world is a better place because of our little red.

love you josie jade!

day 3- jessica payton

oh jp where do i start?

see this girl?

she is so a middle child.

she is a fashionista. a punk rocker.wild child, yet rule follower. she can drive you to the edge and then have you rolling on the floor laughing.

she is smart. talented. funny. artistic. organized. grumpy. bossy. beautiful. a skinny minnie. independent. loving. caring {sometimes} and is my middle child.

even when she was little she was a turkey. this child of mine cried, and cried and cried, constantly.

if she wasn't held at all time, she would CRY! ugh.. seriously thought something was wrong with the girl.

although she is quiet at times, she makes her presence known. she is a leader at school and gets straight A's.

i am curious as to what our relationship will be when she gets a little older... shall we pray? {ha}

so i love ya jessica payton, our lives wouldn't be the same without you!

day 2- jordan

for on this second day of november and in listing my 30 days of gratitude, i am thankful for jordan.

she is by far one of the most amazing young ladies i know.

i know all mom's think this way about their children, but there isn't enough space in this post for me to list all of the amazing things she is.

one could not ask for a more delightful child.

she has always been good. even as a baby. never cried, never complained. you could literally take her ANYWHERE and she was happy.

she is the same way now.

it's hard to believe in that in a short amount of time she will be 14. it seems like just a few years ago she was so little, and now she is growing up so quickly {right before my eyes}. before we know it, she'll be gone living her own life. i'm not sure i'm going to like that to be honest!

so on my second day i am ever so thankful to call jordan my eldest wonderful daughter!

day 1

so i guess it's all the rage to have 30 days of gratitude {well at least what i am hearing} so i thought i would extend this to my blog.

now, don't you just feel so darn lucky?

don't answer that, i don't want to know how you really feel about me..

okay, so on with the purpose of this post.

i think {or shall i say i will try/hope/really try/really hope} to post my 30 days worth of gratitude here on the sweet life.

so i give you day 1:

i am thankful for my awesome husband.

for he is kind, loving, caring, giving, respectful, wonderful, hard working, supportive, smart, funny, smelly, goofy, grumpy, smiley,
great, creative and all around amazing.

so very thankful for him and the life that he provides for us!

updates....

first of all, yes we are alive.

second, i'm sorry for being a really bad blogger.

so, are we still friends?

okay, i'll take that as a yes-

so, where to start:

jordan just finished up her final season of middle school volleyball. she loved every single second of it but, is thankful it's over. she is now looking forward to basketball season. not for herself you see.. it's so she can go and watch a certain young man that she is slightly attached to.

jessica is loving marimba band and camera club. she spends 2 days a week at marimba practice {post on that one soon} and 1 day a week at camera club. in her free time she loves to hang with josie and her friend kayla.

josie is well, josie. nothing too exciting to report other than she is loving school {for the most part} and loves spending time with jessica. well, that is when jessica is being a nice big sister and letting her hang out...

mark is in the middle of a seriously busy term of school. hating every single second of it. {well, not every single second of it, but pretty darn close} i'm super proud of him and all of his hard work.

me, well i'm hanging in there. my schedule is pretty full with photography work {for which i am thankful} and somehow i signed myself up to be the classroom parent in not one, but two classes {jess and joey's} rooms. oh, hang on a second- i was also sweet talked into being on the site council for jordan's middle school. i swear i must be drunk when these forms come home. i never recall signing up for this stuff! ha ha

anyway, that's what we've been up to lately.

i'll try to not be such a bad blogger and update my blog with stuff that is a little more exciting!

loves

these are my loves.

my life.

my everything.

they brighten my day like no other.

they make me crazy.

they make me mad.

they make me proud.

they make me happy.

and at the end of the day,

they make me so happy to be their mom.

i've got the best job in the world and wouldn't trade it for anything.

for these are my loves.

beauty

couldn't post to my blog without some eye candy.

did i mention how much i love to take pictures?

did i mention that i forgot all about my beloved macro lens?

i have no idea how i did that, but i did.

sorry mr. macro.

so i broke him out and took some pictures.

love them all.

could sit and shoot and edit for hours.

but there is not enough time in the day for that!

so, i give you a mum, macro/shara style!

the little ladies

okay, so i know it's not nice to brag, but who says i'm nice!

so, last week i get not one, but two cards in the mail from jessica and josie's school telling me that BOTH of them are being honored at their school for respect and responsibility.

seriously? both?

figured it was a mess up.

well, as you would know it josie was SO excited about the award. she picked out her outfit 3 days in advance.

jess, well she's kinda an old hat at those sorts of things so she was like "cool"

well, wouldn't you know it, i totally messed up {big time}

one would assume that since it's an awards ceremony it would be held at the same time, right?

WRONG~

josie's was at 9 am and jess' at 9:45.

i of course only read the one that said 9:45, so guess which one i missed?

by beloved joey's first award.

i was completely heartbroken and felt like such a horrible mom.

i apologized many time to joey and to which she replies, "it's no biggie mom, i'll get other ones"

gotta love my girl!

so, needless to say mark and i are extremely proud of these girls of ours. they make our job look easy.

love you girlies!

jordan {again}

okay, i know i just had a post about jordan and volleyball, but....

i just have to brag.

did i mention she rocks?

yeah, she gets it from me! {so kidding}

she has been rocking at volleyball this season.

did i mention she is captain?

oh yeah {it's cause she's bossy and that she DOES get from me}

she is by far the loudest on the court.

you can always hear her.

i jokingly asked one of her teammates about her leadership skills and they replied with...

yeah, that's just jordan, why do you think we elected her student body president?

cause when she talks, most tend to listen.

guess it's good to be a leader.

gosh i love that girl.

she makes me pretty darn proud to be her momma!

mark

see this guy?

he is the love of my life.

{well, him and the girls}

before too long we will be celebrating out 16th wedding anniversary.

did you know that he is a wonderful, amazing, loving, caring, funny and father, friend and husband?

did you know that right now he is juggling {with many balls} and hasn't managed to drop any yet?

i am so proud of him as he is in the middle of this term of school taking 11 hours worth of classes?

and working/owning a business. putting up with the drama his brother creates. being the dad & husband he was meant to be.

he is all around awesome.

i had no idea that almost 18 years later {as we've been together about that long} that we would be living the life we do.

there isn't one single thing i would change about our lives.

i love it. every single second of it.

and i love him more and more every single day.