Shari Barnes - Wife, Mother & Photographer

Guess what I spent the afternoon making??  Four dozen of these patriotic cupcakes!  I wanted them to be pretty simple.  I am not a fan of blue or red icing since your lips or face always seem to end up that color when you are done eating them!  ;-)  When I started I said I wasn’t going to eat any since I am trying to get back on my diet… but I couldn’t resist.  I HAD to have two and man they are GOOD!  I LOVE white cupcakes with buttercream icing.  We haven’t made them in a while either so they were just too tempting! 

I delivered these to a couple good friends today.  I LOVE surprising my friends with sweet treats!!  I just hope that they enjoy receiving them as much as I do giving them!!  Here are the sweet little tags that I made for the cupcake boxes (thanks Shabby Miss Jenn for this adorable kit!).  I do have to say that it feels weird not delivering any to Dawn.  :-(  She is already up in Ohio visiting family.  We are all so anxious to meet up with them in a few days! 

We hung up a Happy 4th banner in the kitchen too.  I LOVE decorating for holidays/events.  We aren’t having a big get together at our house so I didn’t go all out.  I am hoping we are back on the beach this time next year!!! 

DINNER TONIGHT

I decided to try and make Teriyaki Chicken for dinner since that is one of my kids FAVORITES when we go out and eat.  I let them marinate in Teriyaki for about three hours and then basted them again while they were on the grill… smelled soooo good! 

Then I decided to make some Fried Rice to go with it since that is another favorite in our house and we rarely EVER make it on our own.  I usually stick to the old east standby’s most of the time… plain grilled chicken, burgers, frozen pizza, etc.  LOL! 

Then I put some DELICIOUS french bread in the oven too!  This is a HUGE family favorite!!!

I have been trying soooo hard to cook at home all week.  We only had one day (I think) where we went out which was yesterday to Zaxby’s for dinner.  I had had a ROUGH day and we had church last night so I just wanted to go out and grab something.   Then after church, we went to Starbucks because I have recently become addicted to the Carmel Frappuccino.  Sooooo NOT on my diet either.  Can you tell my willpower is not so great these days??  Bad thing… the Great Wolf Lodge that we are staying at next week… has one right in the hotel.  OH NO!!! 

After dinner, we headed to the tennis courts to play until a bit after dark.  The kids are just LOVING playing.  We made daddy go along tonight.  I know Eric hates going, but he is sweet enough to do it for us.  I hope he knows how much we appreciate it because we have so much fun out there.  Ü

HE’S OFF WORK!!!

So excited because Eric is now off work until the 14th!  YAY!  The kids will love it!  I still can’t believe it is just a couple days until we leave on our trip.  I guess I should be packing and getting all the laundry done.  I always wait until the last minute to do it though.  I seem to do better that way… and less likely to have a certain little miss adding and taking away from the bags!!!  ;-) 

SAM’S CLUB

I am not the only person who loves Sam’s Club.  Kendall has been BEGGING for this playhouse ever since she spotted it there.  She literally asks me EVERY morning if we are going to go get it today.  So sweet!!!

It is actually even cuter in person and larger that it appears here.  I am sure we will end up getting it sometime for her.  I think it would be PERFECT.  I don’t like those plastic playhouses because they fade and always look yucky after a year in the sun.  This will just fade and match the wood swingset that we have.  Now if they would just decide to put this on a price reduction to like $150 - then she could get it sooner rather than later!    ;-)  Maybe I can convince mom and dad to go in on it with me for her birthday.  I can even see Noah playing in it with her.  He is so good to play things with her (sometimes).  LOL! 

PHOTO A DAY

I am doing good so far with my “Photo-A-Day” Challenge for July.  I always end up at the finish of summer with very few pics of my family.  I get so caught up with shooting/editing all my weddings/sessions that I don’t pick up the camera for my clan.  I am working hard to change that!  I have been evaluating my life a lot this year… learning where I need to make changes for a happier more balanced life.  I have cut back on work a lot… which has definitely helped (except for my wallet) but I haven’t been doing enough for me.  I don’t mean buying myself stuff… or going out and spending a lot of me time away from home.  I want MORE pictures of my family… more of the EVERYDAY chaos that is our life documented.  I know one day I will look back and it will seem like it was all gone in an instant.  I also know that so many of the kids memories are tied to the pictures that I have taken.  They might not even really remember certain things… but the memory is alive for them through the pictures.  I am so thankful to my mother for taking so many pictures of me growing up and giving me the photo bug!!  ;-)  One of the things I want is to take off my photographer hat and let another photographer document MY FAMILY.  I am a true Type A personality with serious control/perfectionism issues so it is HARD for me to let go.  I have finally found a friend/photographer that I trust to document my crazy little happy family for me.  I can’t wait!!!  We are doing that toward the end of July.  I am so excited!!!  Now I REALLY need to get on this diet and lose a couple pounds! 

I didn’t mean to write a book today!  I hope everyone has a WONDERUL 4th and takes LOTS of pictures to document it!  Until next time…

Today is a better day than yesterday.  I am not usually a “downer” but I was really stressed out yesterday, if you couldn’t tell.

However, it doesn’t help that I am reminded of where we were on this day last year…

We were leaving Disney after several FUN FILLED days and heading to Destin for a week with our best friends.  I think I am more depressed now.  LOL!  The kids keep reminding me how we have spent the past several years on the beach watching the 4th of July fireworks.  This year we are watching them in our little small hometown… not quite the same at all.  :-(  I sooooo wish we could have made the Florida trip this year, but we had a bunch of other stuff come up that made scheduling the trip pretty much impossible.  However, we are planning to go over Christmas to Disney - but it isn’t quite the same.  It just feels like we are breaking a family tradition by not being there over the 4th. 

ON A BRIGHTER NOTE…

We are leaving in 4 days to head to Cincinnati with our best friends for a few days.  I think I mentioned this before, but we staying at the Great Wolf Lodge (never been before) and then heading over to Kings Island for a day too!  The kids are SUPER excited about the indoor waterpark at the hotel, as well as all the FUN rides at Kings Island.  When we lived up in Cincy, we had season passes to Kings Island, but at the time the kids were not quite ready for the big coasters… now they can’t wait!!  Of course, having their good friends with them makes it all the better!! 

SCRAPPING AGAIN…

I am going to try and get back to working on my family vacation album from last year.  I have it about halfway done, so I need to get it finished up.  I am planning to print a Shutterfly book.  I am using all templates… which makes it so much easier for me.  I also plan to pick up this awesome new kit from Digital Design Essentials.  It should look great!!!  I didn’t realize that the kids would notice that I wasn’t scrapping lately, but they have all mentioned it.  I guess they did like their books more than I realized!  Also plan to use this kit by Shabby Miss Jenn Designs.

TODAY’S ACTIVITIES…

Today, I took four kids down to City Hall to renew Eric’s car tags.  It wasn’t as bad as it could have been so I was happy about that!  It so happens that Starbucks is across the street from it, so there was lots of begging to head over there!  Eric had borrowed my camera so it wasn’t in my purse like usual (boo-hoo!) but I did take a couple photos with my phone camera.  I wish I had had my good camera though because we could have had some fun in there and downtown! 

It would have come in handy if I had some idea on how to use the camera on my phone.  LOL!  Seriously… if you only knew how many times I had to take the first picture… at least 10 or more.  I swear I would hit save… but it never did.  The boys informed me it was definitely operator error… little stinkers!!  Then I would hit a button and get off the camera and they would have to rescue me and set me back up again.  LOL!  I guess I should get out the manual and learn how to use it!!!

After Starbucks, we headed home and got ready to go play tennis for a couple hours!  The temperature was only in the upper 80’s today (we have been in the mid to upper 90’s) so it felt wonderful!!  I took my camera but never did get it out to take photos.  :-(  I got busy trying to teach Kendall and Noah how to play.  Noah got the hang of it and did really good for his first time!! 

Until next time…

SATURDAY - The hubby and kids went to lunch with mom and I on Saturday before we had to leave for our wedding.  We ate at Chili’s.  I had to have something substantial to tide me over until 9pm when our coverage ended.  I love their Fajita Trio… YUM! 

The wedding was beautiful and went off without a hitch, except for the limo being late to take them to the reception but that was pretty minor compared to other things that could have happened!  They were great sports about it too!  When we got home from the wedding we were greeted with a special dinner made by Logan…  Chicken Tortilla Soup!  I do NOT eat soup… I have NEVER been seen eating soup… but this was GOOD!  I chose to just dip my tortilla chips in it kind of like salsa.  It was super yummy!!

LOVE all his little notes on his recipe!!! 

As he was dishing this out, he looked at me and asked me why I wasn’t scrapping anymore?  I am not sure if that was meant that I don’t take enough pictures of him anymore or that I don’t sit on the laptop for hours making pages…  Either way… he will be getting his own page in the photobook of this culinary delight. 

Did I say how HAPPY I am to have him home from camp!  It was a LONG week for this momma!

SUNDAY - Typical Sunday… headed to church in the morning and then out to run errands.  We had to pick up Noah some new tennis shoes and Eric some misc. clothing items that were wearing out.  Nothing super exciting!  I did make a trip to the grocery store to pick up this week’s menu items.  I actually planned our meals for the week in advance!!  For some reason, I am looking forward to eating at home this week!!  I guess its because I know we will be eating out all next week!  We did have lunch with Dawn and her family (including her sister and kids) so that was fun.  :-)  Then we had church Sunday night and then home for some YUMMY cooked our steaks.  I wish I had a picture of them because they were DELICIOUS!!!  I made up a marinade for them to bask in while we were at church.  Sooooo good!!  We also had garlic butter crescent rolls… those are WONDERFUL.  If you haven’t had them… TRY them!!

MONDAY - Logan had his routine dental cleaning appointment… NO CAVITIES!  Yay!  Then we went to Steak-n-Shake for milkshakes before heading to Sam’s club.  Logan enjoyed picking out some yummy things to eat & drink this week!  They were doing samples of the PB&J Jamz sandwiches.  We normally DO buy the Uncrustables but these were much better.  They will make great picnic lunches or packed lunches for long car rides, air shows, etc.  We also love their Mesquite Grilled chicken.  It is so good after throwing it on the grill for a few minutes.  Quick & easy!!  We also picked up some General Tso’s chicken - which is Noah’s favorite!  He would eat it everyday if I let him.  Logan really likes the Farm Rich Pizza Slices, so those came home with us too!  ;-)   My mom and I had looked at some salsa last time we were in there, but didn’t buy it.  We decided against it because we have tried about every premade one known to man and NONE are good enough for us.  Well, today we ran into my good friend, Amy, who RAVED about this one at Sam’s so we bought it.  Oh my goodness… it is sooooooooo GOOD!!!  I can’t wait for Eric to try it.  He always gets stuck making fresh salsa for us, so I am sure he will be glad that we found a premade that we like.  ;-)  I am really learning to LOVE Sam’s club.  Now if we just had a Costco too…  my parents are so lucky! 

QUESTION FOR YOU…

What are your favorite food items to pick up at Sam’s Club??  I would love to have some new things to try out! 

This afternoon, Logan got out and mowed the grass… for the FIRST time.  A sure sign he is getting older.  Of course, we had to pay him… but hey it is one less thing on my “to-do” list this week.  Gotta LOVE that!  I know he enjoys earning more money too! 

This was his “no, do not take pics of me face”…

And then his mom making him laugh (he was trying not to though)…  ;-)  Gotta LOVE that smile!!!  He is so handsome… despite the fact that he looks like his mom! 

He is having a friend spend the night, so I better get off of here and finish picking up a little.  Until next time…

Yesterday was a lot of fun.  We met up with Dawn and Zach at Chick-Fil-A for lunch.  When we got there, we ran into Wendy and Amy and the girls so that was a special treat too!  Always good to see friends!  Ü  After lunch, we went back to Dawn’s house so the kids could swim and play for the day.  They had lots of fun, as usual!  Dawn and I got our mini vacation booked.  We are so excited!  We are all going to Cincinnati for a few days.  We are going to stay here and let the kids have a ball!  I have never been but it looks like tons of fun!  Then we are also going to Kings Island one day.  I think we are going to go to the Zoo and then out to Cheesecake Factory one night for dinner.  It should be a lot of fun and we are all ready for a little getaway!  My only fear is that it will make me want to move back.  We lived there before we moved here and I really miss it.  :-( 

PINK EYE

For the sad news… pink eye has hit our house!  Yesterday, I kept telling Dawn that my eye was just killing me and it felt like sandpaper or a knife was going across my eye.  She looked in there and we rinsed it out good and did everything we knew to do and nothing helped.  When Eric got home, he took one look at me and said “you’ve pink eye.”  Sure enough… I do.  :-(  I have had it many times before (as a child) but never had it “hurt” before - it always just got red and goopey.  This time it HURT.  I am on drops and am suppose to not be contagious after tomorrow.  Good thing since we are going to see Logan at camp!!! 

DIGITAL SCRAPBOOKING

I have not had any time for digital scrapbooking lately, but I do try to keep up with the latest products as much as I can.  I just LOVE this new kit by Heather Ann Designs.  It is so cute and I might just have to pick it up to document how fast my little ones are growing up on me!  Her design team put together some AWESOME pages with it too just to inspire you!  I especially love this one by one of my favorite scrappers.

MY AMAZING MOM

I can’t even begin to tell you how wonderful a mother and grandmother my mom is.  She always puts the needs of those she loves before her own, ALWAYS.  I really wish she would do more for herself, but convincing her to do that is just wasted breath!  Anyway…  I am so blessed to have her as an assistant at most of my weddings/sessions.  We always have such a good time talking and working together.  It is nice to be able to chat with her without having my three kids constantly pulling her away.  My mom has always been my best friend.  I just can’t even put into words how much I love and admire her.  She is such a pillar of strength for our family.  She taught me how to love… how to respect others and how to be a strong woman.  One of the things that I really love is how comfortable my children are to talk to her.  They are so open and honest with her and will confide in her when they need to get something off of their chest.  I am so thankful that they feel they can go to her. Mom, I hope you know how much I love you and how much I appreciate ALL that you do for us and the kids.  I work hard to try and show you how much we appreciate it, but I know I fall short.  We love you so much! 

I am off to work on my long “to-do” list.  Until next time…

We’re reunited and it feels so good!!  I have missed my kids sooooooo much this past week, although I would like to have a little bit of the silence back!  ;-)  They were all very happy to see us arrive yesterday at my parents house!  I know they had a WONDERFUL time with them, but hopefully they did miss us at least a little bit! 

Before we headed back home, we let them go swimming for a bit.  They had so much fun in the pool.  Here are a few of the pictures…

She LOVES when Logan throws her in the pool.  Can you tell by her face? 

This girl LOVES her older brother! 

LOVING these summertime freckles on my girls nose this summer!!!  I swear there is NOTHING cuter than THIS girl in those pink goggles! 

Noah never slows down long enough for pictures! 

DINNERTIME

Tonight, my AMAZINGLY TALENTED cook of a husband made me fried cinnamon sugar bananas for dessert… they are sooooooooooooo DELICIOUS!  I totally blew my diet by eating them but they were well worth it!  (Thanks, hon!!).  Now I just wish I had taken a picture of them before I scarfed them down.  I guess he will just have to make more!  Before dessert, he cooked out some yummy pork chops, corn, green beans and french bread.   We also picked up a new cookbook for grilling out last week that we hope to put to good use in the coming weeks.  We are all pretty burned out on eating out, so hopefully we can eat some more meals here at home. 

Speaking of food, we started a new rule at our house (following the footsteps of Tara and Heather) that the kids MUST try one bite of EVERYTHING that is cooked for their meals.  If they don’t like it, they don’t have to eat another bite - but they MUST try everything.  I know there are all kinds of foods that they will like if they will just give them a try.  They all did great tonight and tried everything.  Ü  We will see how long it lasts. 

NEW ALLOWANCE/CHORES

We are also starting a new allowance program tomorrow.  I got this idea from Brandi… the kids will earn $1 everyday that they complete their chores.  They will get the $1 right then… I think the constant reward will keep them on task better than waiting until week’s end.  We will see.  They have liked having the chores to do though.  They are always eager to get to work on them.  There are a few chores that I rotate between them each week.  Kendall was telling me which ones she wanted this coming week since she and Noah have to pick up Logan’s chores while he is at camp! 

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!!  Ü