What's New With The Carter Family

This year's Fine Arts Fair was held on Friday, May 13th. Last year the same event was called "Best of Elementary".... and I'm still not quite sure why it got a name makeover. Nevertheless, it was a fun couple of hours which started with the kids walking into the auditorium (see picture above) to perform some songs. Click on the video clip below to see a snippit of the 3rd grade classes' performance. Here is Jem standing by his project (which this year he completed at school, ON HIS OWN -- Yeah!) and giving some "interesting facts" about his chosen sea life animal - The Jellyfish. Go ahead and click on the video below for Jem's "Jellyfish Facts". I thought he did a great, independent job. Well done!

...Jem got a package. He usually gets a little gift when daddy returns home, but this time (since he would be away for almost 3 weeks) Brandon surprised him with a package of goodies. Jem was so super excited to receive it - and was happy to get a letter, some gum, and a few packets of Crazy Bones Go-Go's - the latest thing my little guy is 'collecting'.

Sometimes there are some really pretty sunsets where I live. The sky lights up with the usual colors of reds and oranges and is oh so pretty to look at. On this day, there was something different going on. The whole sky/land had this bluish-green glow to it...it was crazy colored...and when you looked up at the sky it was this bright color of blue that had no business being in the sky at sunset. It was bizzare I tell you! It lasted for only 15 or so minutes, but it was the most unusual lighting situation I have ever seen. I tried to capture it with my camera, though I was a little late by the time I snapped this shot....and it really doesn't do it any justice. I don't know if that kind of sunset will ever happen again, but it was definitely an amazing sight to behold!

I like changing around my desktop wallpaper. Often. Most of the time it will be a recent photo I took of Jem, or maybe of our family. It's almost always a photo of a loved one. I have lots of those kinds of photos. This time though, I wanted to try something different . I still wanted to use one of my pictures, I just wanted it to be people free. Goodness knows I have hundreds of tulip photos from our yearly trek to the tulip fields.... and beautiful scenery photos from our many outings. I found this fairly recent picture in my 2011 folder, from Valentine's Day. This was the bouquet of flowers Brandon had sent to me when he was away in Japan in February. Aren't they pretty? It was a complete surprise - it really meant a lot to me to receive them :) But uh...what on earth was I thinking, photographing these beautiful roses....on my ugly, green, bumpy carpet mat? HIDEOUS! I had to do something about it. So I opened up my picture in PSE 8 and went to town. Some careful sele...

I love being an Aunty to two of the most beautiful girls - and it is a very good day when I get to watch my niece Piper :) She is full of life and is always so darn cute! I couldn't help but get my camera out on this day, and snap a few pictures of her. Isn't it adorable how you can see her bottom two teeth? And the hand - up in the air - just makes me smile. It's her way of saying "Hi", she puts her hand up and gives you a big smile! Love it!

Mmmmm....it sounded so good when I read it on The Pioneer Woman's Blog . Warm, freshly baked bagels - in lots of different flavors. Seriously, I had to try and make them! I mean, how hard could they be? Truthfully - they were not hard to make at all. Not even very time consuming! I was surprised at how quick, easy and tasty these homemade bagels turned out to be :) If you would like the recipe, then just click HERE and try them for yourself!

It's true. We're a carpool family. We kind of have to be, what with Jem's school being so far from our home. It's 20 minutes on a good day, but on a day with traffic...well...it's not a fun drive. We have been fortunate to share the driving responsibility with another NCA family - a family that has become very dear to me after 3 years of travelling to and from school together. I'm sad to say though, that this may be our last year of carpooling with the Conklin kids. It's our cars, you see. Both Brandon's and mine. They only seat 3. And the Conklins have one more little guy who is starting Kindergarten next year. Unless he lays flat in the trunk (and I'm not sure how well that would go over with Jen and Zack), we'll be one seat short next year. Hence no more carpooling. *Sigh* It's the end of an era. Brandon loves to joke around with the girls. He likes to say "Brooke said...." and then tell a whopper, all the while Brooke is in the...