Getting Back Into The Swing Of Things...Finally

First and foremost, I MUST apologize for "slacking off" the last couple of weeks. Second, I need to explain why. 

I have been out of town, and out of sorts so much lately that I just did not have the energy or time to commit to "An Impassioned Life".  My sister and I are working really hard with our mom, who lives about two hours away, getting her house ready to list on the market for sale.  She is going to moving closer to us (Thank ya baby Jesus) and the grand-kids, but until that happens, it means several back and forth trips to her.  With my Fibro being a factor, I think, I am just wiped out when I get home and it takes me about two days to fully recover. And by the time I am recovered and back to feeling normal again, it seems like its time to make the trip all over again!  So, I sincerely apologize for not posting, but I promise, that time is over.  

I will say, I was so completely overwhelmed when I logged in tonight and saw that over 1100 people have read my blog. Talk about a motivational booster!!  Your comments, and just the fact that you read my posts, is SOOOOOOOOOO appreciated! I love my readers!

Alright, alright, other than moving mom I have also been working on building up my future Etsy shop merchandise. Which means, lots of jewelry making.  I am having a wonderful time doing it and I plan on posting some pics next week. I think I have finally found my niche as far as jewelry making goes. Simple, classic and pretty.  I hope to have the shop open in the next month or so.  I will be sure to let everyone know when that happens.

So, thank you again for keeping up with me on this journey, I promise to not leave you hanging again.  As always, I am always available via email. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend, I know here it's going to be a hot one, so remember to stay cool and hydrated!

Such is the busy life of a stay at home mom...

AHHHHHH! I cannot believe I haven't written in over a week!  With school ending last week, Zoe's birthday and party and me feeling like a truck hit me, I just didn't have the time. 

So here is a re-cap of what's going on.  Iris is now officially a 3rd grader!  And Zoe is officially a Kindergartner!  Iris was accepted into the REACH program at her school, which is basically for gifted children. (Don't ask me how that happened, I may have street smarts, but books...no way.)  She is really excited, I just hope she keeps up that excitement once she is finally challenged in school!  She will be working on 4th grade work, so it's definitely going to be a whole different ball game. But I am so proud of her, I am one happy momma!

Zoe turned five on May 18th...I can't believe she is going into school next year. I swear it feels like yesterday when we brought her home from the hospital.  She is no longer my helpless little baby! It makes me a little sad, but excited for her future at the same time.  She is smart as a whip, and such a comedian.  I think my biggest fear is that she will end up being the class clown!! :) She had a blast at her birthday party. Even though it was hotter than Hades out, the kids didn't seem to mind a bit. Momma here though....whew...I hate the heat and humidity! Now, can I just say that this child got enough toys to keep 5 of her busy??? My goodness...she needs her own house just to store all of her toys. 

The biggest hit at the party though, was the pinata.  The kids each took turns swinging a stick at this thing and let me tell you, these kids have some serious pent up rage...LOL. The looks on their faces was priceless!  Once the pinata busted open, it was a complete free for all.  Luckily, I put five and a half pounds of candy in that bad boy. So there was plenty to go around. 

Tomorrow I am going to the girls' school for a Kindergarten Readiness seminar.  It claims to give you the tools and tips to make sure your little one is ready for school.  I am really excited and hope that I can come away with some useful information.  I really need to work with Zoe this summer to make sure she is on the up and up.  (fingers crossed triple time!) I will report back my findings, and share some of the tips I get for your own use!

Iris' last day of school was also on Zoe's birthday.  The day before her class had their awards ceremony.  Iris got a "Positive Patriot" award for the second year in a row!  A Positive Patriot is someone who exhibits, throughout the entire year, a positive attitude, helpfulness, etc... Basically someone who sets a good example for other students.  I am so proud of her!! If only she could bring that positivity home with her...(sigh)  

So, now that summer has officially started, so has the fighting, bickering, tattling, and general grumpiness. LOL. It's gonna be a long one....

Speaking of bickering...I must go break up the latest round.  But I promise to get down to business now that the beginning of summer has started.  I have been working hard on some new jewelry and will be posting pics soon.  I will also be having a giveaway in conjunction with my latest jewelry venture. 

Have a WONDERFUL Wednesday everyone, it's hump day!!

For The Love Of Photography

Good day! I am so sorry I didn't post anything yesterday. I was out weeding and planting flowers all day, and I may have over done it a bit...just a tad (Stupid "Fibro").  

I know I said in my intro that I love photography, and I wanted to share with you some of my work.  After reviewing a ton of pictures, I realized that I love to photograph flowers and nature stuff. I also love to photograph people, but, something about outside stuff just intrigues me.

Believe me when I say I do not in any way consider myself a "professional", far from it in fact. But, I love to take pictures.  Just ask my computer hard drive. It got mad at me and forced me to move about 15K pictures...

Anyway, here is a look at some of my work...

See, I love taking pictures of flowers!

Black and White is also a favorite of mine. I think 2 things about it. 1. It hides flaws and 2. It brings out some of the best features. I loved the way the vintage fan turned out. Unfortunately the fan belongs to my mom... :(

Again with the flowers! Does it ever stop?? :)  The apple holder is my little one Zoe, and the hands in the bottom are mine and my husbands. Awwww, how sweet, right?

Let me say that in regards to the "Smoke Crack" picture, while I don't agree with the sentiment, I thought the picture turned out well. The phone booths were somewhere in London, I love the phone booths there.  Do we even have phone booths anymore here in the states??? The ehh hmmmm....beverage is a really good beer that I had in Greenwich England. I swear beer tastes better in Europe. And the apples were taken at Anderson Orchard during Zoe's first field trip.

As you might be able to tell, I like to shoot in cemeteries too. I know it's a bit macabre, 

but old headstones are fascinating. I am sure I don't have to point out what the first picture is, but I will anyway, Big Ben in London. That clock is MASSIVE. But it is absolutely breathtaking to stand directly underneath it. The beautiful little girl in orange is my daughter Zoe.

My nephew Alex when he was just a day old. What a cutie pie!

Zoe's favorite horse, Rose. She belongs to my cousins in Northern Indiana. She is such a sweetie.

So there you have it. A small glimpse into my ever expanding "portfolio".  If I couldn't take photographs, I think I might wilt away.  I swear one of my biggest fears is having my pictures or the external drive they are on, stolen. Ahhh, it chills me to even think about it!

Let me know what you think, and please feel free to share some of your own work! Like painting, or mixed media, or any other form of art, photography is a learning process. And the only opinion that matters is your own. (unless you are trying to get into National Geographic or something! )

Thanks so much for reading and following along. I appreciate it more than you know! 

**Please be sure to check back tomorrow, I will be honoring my Aunt who passed away May 12, 2011. She was an artist, business owner, philanthropist, fashionista and just a wonderful woman in general. Her life and death has had an immense impact on my life and so many others. I will try to honor her as best as I possibly can.**

Till Tomorrow, 

Weekend Recap

Whewwww, what a busy weekend!  Hope everyone had a wonderful one, I know I did! 

Saturday was full of sports. First was Zoe's T-ball game, it was my first one since I missed her first one last weekend.  It was SO much fun to watch.  I was cracking up laughing throughout the entire game.  Fighting for the ball, playing in the dirt, throwing the ball to the umpire instead of tagging someone out. It was comical, to say the least.  Zoe had her team pictures that day too, and I cannot wait to see them!  I managed to snag a few pictures for myself to post here.

This is Zoe waiting to get her team pictures taken, she did so good and stayed just like this for a good 10 minutes. That's a lifetime for this little girl!! 

She got to be the "Pitcher's Helper" which put her right where she wanted to be...able to snag a lot of balls hit her way!  She did so good chasing after the balls. Now, if we could only get her to throw them when she got them... :)

I couldn't wait to watch her hit.  We have been practicing with her for weeks now and she's got a pretty good swing, if I do say so myself.  

Since she was the last to bat, she automatically got to run all of the bases.  So, she thinks she hit a home run each time at bat! :) As she rounded the bases, she gave me a huge smile and a wave.  Melted my heart instantly to see her so happy and loving the sport.

One drawback of a 9am game was that the grass was still wet with morning dew. I learned that the hard way when I wore my little cotton slip on tennis shoes. They were soaked before I even got to the field! I absolutely hate wet shoes. 

As you might tell in the picture, the shoes look sort of dark grey. But in reality they are a very light grey. I kept taking them off to sit in the sun for a bit, hoping they would dry, but to no avail. I was mad too, I love these shoes!

Next up was Iris' soccer.  Unfortunately, I missed her first game of the day because it overlapped with Zoe's T-ball, but I did make it to the second one.  She loves playing Soccer and I am so thankful for that.  She is such a girly girl, I was afraid she would avoid sports all together! She made three goals Saturday. One in her first game and two in the second.  Anyone who plays soccer knows how difficult it can be to make one goal, let alone two! 

It was so hot out for the second game, I thought the whole team was going to pass out right there on the field! Poor Iris' face was bright red and she was exhausted.  But, she played right through it.  I could tell by the end of the game though that she was slowing down a bit.  As soon as we got in the car, the AC was promptly put on full blast!  

One thing I realized about taking pictures at Soccer was, they never stand still! It's so hard to take good pictures when they are constantly on the move. The one picture I did get of her standing still, she said to me..."MOM! NOT NOW!!"  :)

So, after all of the games, the girls and I grabbed a healthy lunch at the McDonald's drive through. :)  Later on in the evening, we went down to my brother-in-law's house to watch the Mayweather boxing match.  I tell you what, I would love to see someone finally beat that guy. He is way too cocky.  But, that will probably never happen, because truthfully he is good at what he does. 

I got to see a girlfriend of mine that I hadn't seen since Easter time, and I realized how much I missed her face!  :) So it was good to see her and laugh with her.  The kids had a blast because there were a bunch of kids there to play with. They ended up not getting in to bed until after 1am!  I told Iris, who is my early bird, that she better sleep in.  Apparently, in her world, that means 9am. I swear that kid just can't miss an hour of daylight.  Zoe on the other hand is good for sleeping in.  She didn't end up getting out of bed till around 10:30.  

Sunday was a good day here at the Escue household.  Mike had the girls help him load up grass clippings (with no complaints from the girls! WHHHHAAATT?) and then he took them shopping for a special prize for helping out with no complaints and working so quickly.  After that, we all had lunch at the local Mexican restaurant that we love. Later in the evening, we went to Mike's softball game.  Unfortunately they lost. But, they made a pretty big comeback in the 6th inning. 

All in all, it was a great weekend. I couldn't have asked for a better one. Hope everyone else had as good of a weekend as I did.  Feel free to share any fun stuff you had going on!  

As always...please feel free to email me and PLEASE follow me, by entering your email address over on the right of your screen,  or leave a comment!

Here's to a great week!!

Meet The Fam...

As I said in my intro, my girls are my entire world. However, I failed to mention that I also have a dog (my third daughter) and three, yes three cats. I must be crazy right? Right. My husband is pretty awesome too. He is the male version of myself...for the most part.  That is actually a scary thought...hmmm...At any rate, these people are my world. They inspire me everyday to be a better mom, wife, pet owner and person in general. Introducing the people in my life that make life worth living.

This is my beautiful daughter Iris. She is eight going on eighteen. She is my little "fashionista"...I envision her designing her own clothing line one day and I will be front row at her very first runway show! She is so smart and so funny, but man can this girl have a total "diva" attitude!!

This is my funny girl Zoe. She will be five next month! I can't believe my baby will be in Kindergarten!  This little girl is the funniest kid I have ever known in my life.  If I am having a bad day, this one right here is an instant pick me up. She is also my little artist in training. She loves to create and draw. 

And of course, I must introduce my animal babies! What kind of mother would I be if I didn't???

Greta Bear

Kitty Girl

Smokey Boy

Tucker Man

My husband is such a hard guy to get a really good picture of.  He is either making a really weird face, or he avoids the camera all together. Bah! But, I did find my most favorite picture of all. The day our daughter Zoe was born. The look on his face is one of pure happiness and wonderment. I love it.  He is such a good father and he is such a wonderful husband. I am so lucky to have found him (and actually been able to snag him!).  

So, that is my family. I love, love, love them. And I'm pretty sure they love me too. ;) They better, or they can do their own laundry!