Brief Photographic Update with Minor Captioning

We went to the Wings over Halls Air Show last Saturday with the kids. It is a great place for history buffs to explore and ask questions. You can go inside of WW2 fighter planes and there's an air show with lots of acrobatics and stuff. It would have been funner if it didn't get blazing hot right around 1. Lunch time. 2. Nap Time. 3. 20 minutes before the air show was supposed to start. So we were all miserable and sweaty and very tired instead of excited about the air show. Next year, or next time we decide to go, I'm sure we will remember to bring our own drinks and lunches so we don't feel as guilty about purchasing fair foods. That would make the whole journey far more pleasurable, I am sure. Anyway, here are pictures!

Having a good time!

Looking inside a plane!

Thomas cheesin'.

Matthew um...not cheesin'. Hahah this is when everything started to go downhill and we eventually gave up and went home.

And last Sunday, there was a fellowship dinner at our church in honor of the revival getting started! It was super delicious and they even had Gas Station chicken, which is exactly what Thomas had been begging for all weekend!

Thomas and me being cute!

Thomas and me being crazy!

Daddy being fierce and Lara not getting the memo so looking just plain old adorable.

Then the kids went to Mommy's house for Hudson's birthday party, and Matthew and I tried our hand at making stuffed portobello mushrooms! I still don't know if we did them right, but they sure did taste good!!

And here is my most exciting piece of photographic art: the completed and decorated set of shelves that Matthew put in his kitchen, just for me! Aren't they just gorgeouso? Atop our lovely shelves is my budding collection of milk glass, plus a lamp for some extra lighting. The middle two shelves have the most utilized items in the household, the everyday Red And Black square plates/bowls on one shelf, and wooden spoons, fruit bowl, and spaghetti noodles, all displayed in clear glass on the other. The bottom shelf is still a bit of a hodge podge that I am not quite satisfied with, but it sure is cute for now! The three books on the bottom shelf make up my entire collection of cookbooks, haha. Kind of sad! But I find all my recipes online mostly, so I didn't expect to have a whole wall full or anything.

There you go loves! An update and a peek at my attempts to turn Matthew's house into our house as I gear up for one particularly fine day in May of next year!

:D
See Y'all!
TFMM

Summer Vacation!

Interesting how my vacation begins just as everyone else down here is going back to school. I'm not complaining. For the next two weeks exactly, I have no college class, no final, no worries, just making money to take up my time. Another fun college fact, I have a 4.0 at Martin. I know, I've only taken 3 classes, but by my third class at Penn...I had to withdraw from one in order to not fail my freshman fall. Yayyy for being invested in my education and yayyyy for not being in a cut-throat money-hungry college anymore! At the moment I'm in the top 25% at Martin, but I'm hoping to keep climbing as my Penn GPA gets tackled by the classes I take from now on. They don't have Phi Beta Kappa at a low-key school like this, or else that would be my goal by graduation. Hahaha

Anyway, I've been enjoying life for the past week. Not only did it feel super good to be finished with school, but I had a light work week and plenty of time to work on some Parrrrty things for Lara. Plenty of pre-purchasing has been done, but no true official crafting has begun. So continue to stay tuned. The sewing machine will eventually be kicking up dust, and things will be built. No, certainly not cryptic at all. Also last week, Thomas and Lara went back to school! Thomas' first day was Wednesday, and Lara's was Thursday. First grade and kindergarten! They are some big kids. And as if Lara weren't big enough, I took her with me to college on Friday; she didn't have school, and I needed to take two finals in order to pass my classes.

Lara and Pandy the Panda Bear being very studious in the library...playing games on pbskids.org..

Typical college student, passed out surrounded by snacks and study materials.

Lara did great at staying quiet while I took my tests, and of course everyone thought she was just the most beautiful person they'd ever seen. So it went pretty smoothly, I have to say.

The thing that has taken up most of my time in the last two weeks has actually been grocery shopping, believe it or not. I started reading a lot on this blog about meal planning and money saving, and it inspired me to not enter married life as the brokest housewife ever to cross the planet. The writer of that blog feeds her family of 5 on less than $200 a month, which just about blew my mind when I think about how much Matt and I can spend on a Sunday evening if we go grocery shopping together. It made me really stop to think what kinds of dinners I can make that aren't just heat n' serve frozen foods. The answer, two weeks ago, was really not that much. July 29th marked the first day of a two-week (TWO WEEK!) meal plan, for which I did all of the grocery shopping at the beginning of the time period. (Sunday's dinner, on the meal plan, was frozen pizza. I know, I was off to a great start on this whole "from scratch" thing. Haha but I knew it was in the freezer so I didn't see any point in not eating it! Especially because my plan was never to eat frozen pizza again for awhile!)

And can I just say, honestly, that grocery shopping trip where I bought all of the supplies for all of Matthew's, mine and the kids' dinners (just dinners are on the plan) came in at a cool subtotal of $76.00. I near enough fell over in Walmart. Meal plans for the win. $38 a week for dinner for four people. Anybody else excited? Okay good. Because I was really excited.

We've been a lot worried about money saving as we gear up for this here combination of finances taking place on May 25th, 2013. Mostly because there is a big long laundry list of "Stuff We Want to Do" in the next, oh, 5 years or so. And as things do, they all involve some large sum of money that we have no obvious way of obtaining. I guess we'll just pray about it and do those of the things on the list that we can!

I think that's most of my updates for right now! Next weekend we're going to an air show with lots of WW2 fighter planes and other stuff of that nature. So I'm sure history buffs will enjoy my pictures, but I'm sure most others won't. Something to look forward to! Hahahaha

See Y'all!
The future Mrs. McCaslin

Reintroducing you to Los Animales!

I have been taking a lot of pictures of my cats...because they are who I spend the most time with. Given my weird work schedule compared with everyone else's regular work schedule, I'm home alone a lot. And most of my time spent with Matthew is eating dinner. Haha, it's a special moment, okay?! But anyway, the kittenkats.

Since the lawnmower broke a couple weeks ago, Blue has declared it to be his throne. He literally can be found sitting in the driver's seat at any given time of day. He just loves it there. Here he is relaxing and taking a bath as he reviews his loyal subjects.

And here is Blue's most loyal subject! We're teaching her to climb legs, as one does. I think that's an important trick for any small cat to learn.

Blue curled up in a ball next to Sally stretched out as big as she can possibly get, making them look almost the same size. Disclaimer: they are nowhere NEAR the same size. Sally is still a microscopic animal compared to Grandpa Blue.

Enjoying a family meal together, aw.

That's all this post was about, because I happen to have a few pictures of them that make me smile.

A Photo-less Recap!

Finally we have had a weekend worth recapping! By the way, is the word "Recap" short for recapitulate? Recapitalize? Recapture? Recaptain? My spell check doesn't believe that "Recaptain" is a word, so I guess it's not that one. I think recapture sounds plausible. Or maybe recap is just a word on its own. Anyway, this last weekend. I finally didn't have to work, and the kids finally didn't have a million things we had to do with them. Yayyyy.

On Friday I skipped school and asked off work so that I could babysit the kids all day. That's something I haven't gotten to do in months and it was super fun. We went over to Toni's house to play with Jace and her friend's daughter Audrey for a little while. All of us enjoyed the chill out, no agenda time together. And I always love spending time with my future family-in-law. Toni's house always inspires me to come home and either clean or decorate, haha. Because hers is in better condition in both of those areas than here.

On Saturday morning we loaded up the family and embarked on a scavenge through a 17-mile yard sale. Probably 30 or 40 houses participate in a yard sale every summer on this 17 mile stretch of road. It's amazing that they still have stuff to give away year after year! But boy did we find some good stuff. Thomas and Lara both bought a few new toys, and I got 5 pieces of milk glass for my budding collection. It was awesome! Matthew hoped to maybe find a new lawnmower, but no cigar. If anyone has one they want to sell, let me know!

Saturday was the first anniversary of the day Matthew and I met. Jessica drove me to her house from Jacksonville airport, and he was sitting on the couch waiting patiently to meet his wife :-D. I still remember Jessica telling me that John's cousin was staying with them, and he was the best man in the wedding. And Jessica told me that John really wanted us to get together. Well I guess he made a pretty lucky guess, huh? In celebration of our Meet-a-versary, Matthew surprised me and took me out to eat some red Meat at Outback Steakhouse. Get it? Meet - Meat? No, just me. That's okay. So Matthew tried his very first Bloomin' Onion, which, as usual, did not disappoint. I ordered a steak, but I was so full from the bread and onion and salad that came before, I took my whole plate home in a carryout box. Haha isn't that the best way to go out to dinner? Get full before you ever get to the good stuff, and then take it all home for lunch the next day. We also had the pleasure of meeting a friend from Matt's work, Gene, and his family. They were super sweet, with two little daughters. And surprisingly enough, we were seated right next to them! So I got to play peekaboo with the toddler daughter for most of the night. Pretty, darn, fun. And at the end of the night, Gene and his wife left and bought us an ice cream sundae for dessert!!! It was really sweet of them (pun), and Matthew and I officially felt so full we thought we may both either explode or collapse before we made it to the car. If you ever read this, thank you Gene and Laurie for the awesome dessert!

Today was the day Matthew and I hung out at Jessica's reception and stayed up until 5 in the morning and went to the beach at midnight. Memories, memories :) I think tonight will be somewhat less exciting and more same old same old than that night. But that's okay, because that night was an exception in both of our lives.

Anyway! I have to start dinner and do some homework for class tomorrow. I hope everyone's enjoying their last few days of summer vacation OR their first few days of school! Thomas and Lara start tomorrow and you know I am more excited for them than they are for themselves :-P. As usual.

Enjoy your Monday!
See Y'all,
The Future Mrs. McCaslin

I Promise I'm Just Boring...

...And that's the only reason I haven't blogged. I'll tell you what I've done: school, driving, work. That's every day for me. Right now I'm sitting in the library at school because I finished a theatre test early and have 3.5 hours before I have to be at work. This and other similar moments are really the only available time to update, and even now my time would be better spent doing homework. I just don't have the motivation. So aqui estoy!

I would like to put out an open invitation to anyone that wants to come over and help me make some accessories for a one Miss Lara the Fair's Birthday Party. Further details will be disclosed after the party takes place...I don't want to let all the secrets out! ^_^ But the main point is, I'm going to be having a whole bunch of fun in the next 5 weeks, getting ready for what promises to be a really cool birthday theme. Trust Lara to come up with an awesome birthday theme all by herself. Hit me up if you want to be part of the crafting frenzy between now and then! There will be things to cook, bake, sew, draw, and anything else you could imagine. I'm pretty excited.

This weekend we have a little bit more going on. I don't have to work and I get to hang out with the kids allllll day tomorrow (it's been too long since we got to have an all day long play date to ourselves). So maybe we'll all get to enjoy a little bit more of what's going on in my life, post-weekend. I may even do a Sunday weekend recap. Maybe not, though, because I do have several assignments to do for my classes next week. Starting August 10th, though, no more school until the end of the month! Do stay tuned for a bit more fun adventures! I promise that eventually life will slow down, and I'll catch up the way I was for awhile. Right now, though, I'm going to hit the road for Dyersburg and have a lunch date with my man candy before I have to go to work. Doesn't that sound fantastic? Agreed.

Side note: I somehow broke the zipper on my shorts this morning. Can I fix that? Or do I have to buy a new zipper and sew it on...? (Note: "somehow broke" could possibly be attributed to the fact that I bought them on Clearance at Wal-Mart for $4.00. Just sayin'.)

See that wasn't so measly of an update after all, was it?

See Y'all!
The Future Mrs. McCaslin

A Post for my Male Readers

Something Matt and I saw in the Walmart parking lot last weekend: a true feat of engineering. A physical beauty. A beast of horsepower combined with the physique of a supermodel.

I'm lying, here's this ridiculous car we saw. :-D

The men working in the truck next to it were staring and laughing at it as well. We watched the guy get out of his DIY gull wing door and slam it down with all the airs that accompany someone who has a real sense of accomplishment for this vessel of genius he drives.

Do feel free to note and mock the blue painter's tape around the headlights, fresh out of the body shop, er, this guy's garage. Ah yes, because we needed a bit more  evidence that this is the most handmade car in the entire world.

What's the best part? That would be the door handle. Because no, the car doors don't really close, and yes, there are metal handles on both doors of this car.

I thought you all would appreciate it. Matthew and I certainly laughed and laughed and laughed. We just couldn't get enough.

Another fun vehicle from the 4th of July Parade in Millville, Pennsylvania. Note Pennsylvania was not a member of the Confederate states during the American Civil War. Note we don't have much at all historically to do with the Confederate states or associated emblems. All right here you go!

Had a decal on the back of the bed that said "Lift it high - Fat chicks can't climb." Classy, America. This is why people don't like us.

So there ya go!

:-) See Y'all!

TFMM

Road Trip Recovery

After a small vacation from our vacation, Matthew and I both returned to work and school and real life. We spent all of last week in the car  on vacation with my family in Pennsylvania, Thomas and Lara and all. Lots of fun times were had - the day we arrived was a retirement party for my dad and celebration of all 6 kids being in the same location for a whole 24 hours. Throughout the week, we (my parents and Matthew and the kids) went on exciting adventures to World's End State Park, Reptiland, the park, Lorson Mountain, and all kinds of other far off fantastical realms. Here's some pictures!

On our way to the park to try out the Birthday Boy's stomp rockets and giant paper airplanes!

Expert Navigator of this wagon ride.

A picture of the baby dinosaurs missing their mommy with Lara. In honor of her mommy! Thomas and Lara invited their mommy to come to Pennsylvania with us next time so she could see all the cool stuff.

Miniature Paleontologists!

A definitely NOT miniature snake!

Butterfly and bat wings in the Reptiland gift shop.

One of my stepchildren...I mean, wait, my fiance, a grown up. Yeah...

Climbing on the jungle gym at Montgomery Park.

Another stepkid, I mean, grownup.

Having the time of his life :) Color coordinated to a T.

Nanny Nanny Boo Boo, Daddy got higher than you do!

Lazy Lara in the enormous swing so she has to have someone push her.

The skateboard-less skate park adventure

Running down skate ramps is so exhilarating!

4th of July Millville Parade - super hot, super fun! And LOTS of candy!

Handsome boys :D

As you can see, we had a wonderful time. :) I refrained from photography during the backbreaking 16 hour drive to and from. There may have been slightly less happy faces. But we survived, and everyone gained a newfound appreciation for their own beds by the end of the journey home.

See Y'all!

TFMM

(Speaking of which, I've been doing lots of work on my Wedding Registry - how much FUN is that! If anyone wants to see the flippin' sweet stuff we love, check out Target and Amazon :-D)

Well isn't that Eerie.

This was my devotional email for today. Brothers and sisters in California and Pennsylvania? A baby named Mary Lou?! It caught my eye, that's for sure. And it's fairly stream of consciousness, which I know everyone loves.


The Way Things Should Be

So Dad comes off the mountain that he was wintering on.  And big sister flies out on spring break from California.  And little sister and her husband fly out from Washington, and I walk over from my apartment four blocks away.

I don’t know when it happened, but sometime ago it became normal for a nuclear family to live in four different states.  Sure, sister’s in Cali, brother is in Pennsylvania.  Sure, we see each other every few years and shake hands like strangers who happen to be in the same compartment of a train.  I don’t know when it became the way things are, but I don’t like it.

Maybe it’s because twenty years ago the anchor of this family was buried in a Grand Rapids cemetery.

This February a little baby girl was born, name of Mary Lou, same as her grandma’s was.  And by March the far-flung clan was all here.  Dad was sleeping in my apartment; the girls were over with the baby.

The time passes fast and then it is the last night and with one sister already gone we go to dinner at a nice Italian place and there are two decent bottles of wine and it’s two weeks to Dad’s birthday so we sing happy birthday in the restaurant, like any family does, except we’ve never done this before.  We didn’t really do birthdays after a while.

Afterwards we go home and there is the lazy debate over what we should do, but we don’t really do anything.  We end up with the two blonde-haired girls and the dark-haired girl playing a banjo and a piano and singing old hymns, and Dad being Grandpa on the couch with Mary Lou on his knee, and the boys sitting around with books.

I’ve got Faulkner in my hand but I’m not really reading it; I’m listening to the beautiful voices and I take a sip of the wine and man, I feel good.  Like this is the way things are supposed to be.  Like this little miracle baby is what the family needs: a new heart, a fresh and pretty thing to gather around and to take that name, Mary Lou, and not make us forget, no never to forget, but change it around somehow so that the sorrow enhances the joy she brings, making it more true, more honest.  Not a joy of ignoring or naiveté or even innocence, but a joy of full-eyed measure.

Sitting there, I knew that things can get better, and I get an idea of what is meant by heaven.

"And the one sitting on the throne said, ‘Look, I am making everything new!'" (Revelation 21:5).

Catching up on the Last Two Months

As a means of making up for lost time and there really being some things I think I just won't have time to dedicate a whole post to, I decided to just post all of the pictures that I haven't gotten to and give glorified captions for each. That way I can quit feeling guilty about leaving stuff out, and I can begin taking current pictures again so I'm not a week or two behind at all times.

Circa about 2 months ago, we watched a piano and a brother and a Nanny and a Jace ride down the street. This is just as terrifying as it sounds. It's strapped in at the bottom, and we were only going about a mile to our house, but the road was bumpy and we were RIGHT behind them watching its every move. The happy ending, of course, is that it made it to our house!

And now we have a new piano! A lovely lady who is now my hair stylist put up an ad on Craigslist and Matthew got me this little beauty. For those of you who didn't know, he had actually bought me a baby grand piano awhile back, but it was in such bad shape that we decided not to try and repair. This, my new pride and joy, will hopefully be a good start for teaching piano lessons and schooling my kids to be child prodigies. Yay! I love my fiance!

Moving on, here is the most delicious endeavor into Southern cooking I have made yet. A collaborative effort, we made sausage gravy and biscuits (and vegetables, to make sure we're not unhealthy, haha) The delicious idea, the biscuits, and the sausage were made by me, and turns out my Matthew is a gravy makin' fool! So he made the gravy and it was probably almost the most delicious thing we've ever made yet. Soooo good.

Proof that it was sooooooooo goood!

Hey - wait a minute, how'd he sneak in here? ;) Here is Prince Charming himself, looking I do believe very impressed with our cooking skills. He looks so happy ^_^ I like to think I may have had something to do with that smile!

The other man in my life at the moment - Teri's new baby Austin with his Aunt Amanda, Matthew's cousin's wife. In this picture we're all at Granddaddy's surprise 80th birthday party, which was a blast over the first weekend in May. Granddaddy was really touched by the number of people that came to pay tribute to a wonderful man. I can tell he's wonderful and I haven't known him nearly 80 years. But people say that Matthew's a lot like him and looks a lot like him...so I bet we can all say it's safe to assume I'd like him. Anyway, here's an adorable picture of a big ole sleepy baby.

Matthew and his little man checking out the fishing prospects at Granddaddy's pond.

Same ole sleepy baby, now in the arms of Matt's stepmother Candi, who is also now my BOSS. And let me tell ya, she's a  good one. We all have so much fun working in the bakery/deli and it is a great way to spend time with my Father- and Stepmother- in-law.

Thomas enjoying the fishing with his Aunt Shelby and Daddy's foot. 

Lara blowing some successful bubbles. I promise her  look would be a lot cuter if she hadn't had the liberty of choosing socks and wearing a clutch across her body all day. I honestly don't know where either of those ideas came from, but the rest of her sure was pretty!

There's my man again. Still sitting by the pond. Smelling something funky.

Oh wait no he musta just been making a funky face at ME. WHAT?! At least he's happy now ^_^ What a smile. I sure do love him.

Hey the baby woke up! Now in the arms of his mommy and being generally just  the cutest person in our family at the moment.

So...here is a picture I took of the cat...and my attempt to feed him that went somewhat awry. The food did eventually get onto his plate, but uh...it may have gone a few other places. I dunno how he ever got to eat the bits that landed on his back. I guess cats are pretty flexible :P I was just trying to keep him in shape.

Battle scars from my first week at work. 10 points for anyone that can figure out what these marks are actually from! Hint: They aren't bruises and they didn't hurt.

A closer up version of my battle scars, haha.

Just about the prettiest preschooler that you ever did see! So proud of her!  Kindergarten and 1st graders will be in our house from now on!

This cool guy enjoying a spinning flyer that was sent to him as a Grammy gift! We sure do love these!

Andddd kindergarten graduation: Thomas receiving a Science Award! Wooohoo, who's surprised? Not me! Haha

There you go guys. The next post I write up will actually be a little bit current, hopefully. But this will probably keep you entertained for awhile at least. Now you've met Sally and my Car, so we can get on with real life and real updates from now on! Yay!

I'll See Y'all on the flipperoo side!

TFMM