card {happy birthday}

this is the birthday card my mom made me (several months ago). isn't it just gorgeous?!?! not mention, super fun.

{real}

this is me today...totally real.

comfy clothes (stain on shirt)

no makeup

no effort on the hair at all

glasses

bra straps hanging out

camera never too far away

this is me.

photos {grandma's funeral}

1 - This is a memorial canvas that my mom made of her mom. It was on display at the visitation. I think it was therapeutic for her to work on this during the week between my grandma's passing and the funeral.

2 - The whole family after the funeral. Many of us wore purple to honor my grandmother who adored the color.

3 - Mom and I before the funeral at my house (she never smiles in pictures - I hate that).

4 - Matt and I before the funeral at my house. My eyes are closed, I'm hoping mom got a better photo. It's an extreme rarity for me to wear a dress...

photos {the dogs}

just in case anyone forgot what my two precious babies look like... ha ha!

rio has his look of just playing hard -- ears back, tongue out. just random picture of cooper.

photo {random spencer}

This is Spencer’s “I’m watching TV and nothing else in the world exists” look. I see it all too often… especially when I’m asking him to do something. In this case, I think he was supposed to be putting on his shoes.

photos {opening of football season}

Watching the first Carolina game of the season. I didn't take many pictures but did get a couple silly ones with these wigs. That thing is the best $10 we ever spent! Anyway, our neighbor wanted his own wig so Spencer gave him his Winthrop one...not exactly the right color, but oh well. I swear, I think he wore it the entire game. Doesn't he look like one of those trolls that used to be popular, especially with the "hair" pushed back???
Anyway, we won this game though we didn't play great.

photos {hanging out in the street}

This is one of the reasons I am really enjoying our neighborhood...sometimes, for no reason and without warning, we all end up just hanging out in the street - talking, drinking, kids playing...sometimes it even leads to eating together (I think this night ended up with a group pizza order). The pictures don't do the 'crowd' justice because we actually had about 6 houses worth of folks. But most of the pictures I took were of the kids. And bless Spencer's heart...he gets stuck playing with these youngers kids and he does so well with them!

link {crop photos}

I forgot to post this here... photos from my fundraising crop can be found on the crop's blog.

photos {father's day}

I just realized that these pictures from Father's Day never got posted.

Do you like our matching outfits? It was an accident!

3 Generations... Matt's parents in the middle - Matt & Spencer on the left - Matt's brother and nephew on the right (Matt's niece wasn't there)

update {spencer's new world}

Since I went into such detail on Spencer's new "rules", I thought I should give an update. So far, so good. He isn't doing a great job of keeping track of what he has earned/used, but I think that will come with time, as it becomes more of a habit. But the last weekend that he was at our house, he spent more time outdoors than I think he ever has in one weekend at our house. He actually has several hours of video game time built up right now that he hasn't used. So...I think it's working...