Congratulations to my hubby!

In all of the military promotion and retirement ceremonies I attended while I was in the military I would hear people say that they could not have done it without the help and support of their spouse…and you know I would sit there and think that the spouse probably had nothing to do with it, the guy was probably just trying to earn some brownie points by recognizing their wife. I guess while I was enlisted I never really thought what spouses went through.  I remember constantly doing orders for people who were going TDY, many for the same people over and over again. I never ever thought about who they were leaving at home. Since I have left the military and Jon has progressed further into his career,  there have been moments where I hated the military for taking so much of my husband from me, moments where I wished he was a slacker and he would just come home instead of staying at work to make sure all his guys were taken care of and off the flight line.  It’s not easy to share my husband with the military, but you know at the end of the day I am here for him and he is here for me.   So, yes honey congratulations on making MSgt and you know damn well who you have to thank for it too!

Poor Little Lady

It seems like lately my girls keep coming down with cold after cold.  As soon as one gets better the other gets sick with something new and then passes it on and the circle never ends. It is tough taking care of little kids when they are sick, they can’t always communicate well enough to let you know exactly how they are feeling and of course they are grumpy and moody. Which of course makes everyone else grumpy and moody…no one is happy when there is a sick kid in the house.

While I wasn’t looking

Yeah, I know it has been a while since my last post…so much has passed since then, but you know life happens. Plus, sometimes it is good to get caught up in what your family is doing and to put the camera down for a while. I want to experience what going on around me and sometimes capturing it all the time gets in the way.

But today I could not resist because what happened today made me think that I shouldn’t worry too much when my kids bend the rules or do things they are not supposed to do (I will probably regret saying that later) because it builds character. Not that they should be hellians, but a little fun never hurt anyone. One of my fondest memories from my childhood was listening to all the stories my dad told of when he was kid. They all sounded daring and so much fun! I like to think that I have a few stories like that (none of which I am willing to tell my parents…just yet), but I am sure they are nothing compared to the stories my dad has told me.  After reflecting on what Elaina did today, I wonder if I my parenting style is preventing my kids from having those awesome stories to tell their own kids later in life.  So instead of sending Elaina to a time-out, I just hugged her because she drives me happy.  And BTW, she didn’t even really do anything crazy, but I thought it was cute and daring for her to do it.

And here is she, sitting on top of the counter eating crackers that she dug out of the cupboard trying to watch the TV all the way across the room.

Happy 5th Birthday Evangeline!

Where has the time gone? I can’t believe my little lady is going to be 5 when we wake up in the morning! I really can’t say enough about how blessed I feel to have her in my life. She has taught me so much more about life than I could ever hope to know. Every moment (good, bad, hysterical, scary, or sad) has been an adventure with her and I am thankful for every single one of those experiences, because with out them who would I have to drive me happy? Happy Birthday to the girl who knows everything because she can think and loves everyone because she has a heart! I love you my Evangeline.

 

Sticky Spit

I will never forget the first time Evangeline licked an envelope, she was so amazed that the envelope flap stayed closed. This led her to believe that she had awesome sticky spit, which no one else has….only her. I can’t help but let her think that its true, so now I let her lick all the envelopes. Today we were sealing up our Christmas cards and I asked her if I could help her. This is her telling me “No, mom only I have sticky spit!”

My little “not-so-helpful” helpers

Who knew the trick to getting your windows perfectly clean involved two little girls, a wet shirt, and bucket of soapy leaf soup! I will tell you my windows have never been so leafy clean, I just love the fresh outdoor smell and not to mention how green this method is. I highly recommend it all of you, in fact I will send my little “not-so-helpful” helpers to your house so they can teach you how to do it properly. Because no one can do it like Evangeline and Elaina do, and that’s a fact :P

 

Proud Momma

I know it’s been a while since my last post, but what better way to get back in the swing of things with some great news! We had Logan’s Parent/Teacher conference this past week and I am so proud how well he has done in school. We have a great teacher this year who recognizes Logan’s strengths and has helped Logan do well. I couldn’t be happier with his achievements. He has done so well he has made the A/B Honor Roll!

Crafts Gone Wrong

Do you ever have those brilliant ideas for things to do with your kids that just leave you pondering “What the heck was I thinking!” Yeah, well I tend have those just about every day! From shaving cream art with food coloring to stained window glass with tissue paper.  Whatever new craft I think up, it never goes how I see it in my head. It might be that I don’t factor in that children will be doing the craft or that it is MY kids doing the craft. Whatever the case might be, crafts at my house are bound to have a disastrous (but fun) ending.

My last craft gone wrong was making corn pictures with popcorn kernels. As with any craft you do with kids, things will end up falling to the floor.  We quickly found out that popcorn kernels tend to bounce when the fall.  Turns out that my cat loved this, he chased the kernels as they fell on the floor. Which only enticed my girls to throw about 2 cups worth of kernels all over my house. I do have to admit I did kind of let them do it. I loved hearing them laugh as Oliver went running around like he was crazy, not knowing which kernels to chase after because there was so many. At least this time the vacuum took care of the mess and we did end up making some very lovely corn pictures.

How do Beetles sing?

Evangeline has gotten into the habit of asking who the singer is and the names of the songs we listen to.      Lately the girls and I have been listening to ” The Beetles – Greatest Hits” in the car whenever we are out and about. She asks me ” Mom, if we are listening to beetles sing, why don’t my beetle friends sing?”   For those of you who do not know, Evangeline is the most fearless girl when it comes to bugs. All bugs are her friends and she will not hesitate to pick them up (as seen below)!

I can only imagine the pictures going on in her head of beetles standing in a line singing songs….I’m imagining it was something like the Califorina Raisins!

Evangeline’s Beetle friend!

The beginning!

Hi!

I’m Samantha, I am a wife, mom, and photographer and welcome to my life.   I love taking pictures, they are the window to our memories. This blog is about capturing my family’s story and is a way for me to share with my family and friends.

I got the name Drive Me Happy from my daughter Evangeline, I was having a wonderful stressful mommy day.  And if you know Evangeline you know that she is full of life and it pours out of her every minute of her life! So on this stressful mommy day with Evangeline’s crazy wild happiness pouring out of her, I told her “Evangeline, you are DRIVING ME CRAZY!!” in the silliest voice I could manage at the time to help relieve the stress.  Immediately she smiled and replied in her lovely sing-song voice “No Mom, I don’t drive you crazy…I drive you HAPPY!!”  Instantly my heart just melted, she was right.  Even though she was making me bonkers I was happy that she and my other two kiddos are here in my life to do that.

My love is my family and they inspire me everyday.  My husband, Jonathan, I just don’t know what I would do without him. What can I say, I can’t help but fall in love with him everyday. He has encouraged me to do things I would never attempt to do one my own and he supports me every step of the way.  He is also not perfect and I love him even more for that.  My life would be so different without him and I hope I never find out what that’s like. My husband, is the man of my dreams and more. Together we have created an awesome family, we are fun, unique and we are just us!

So I leave you with a quote that I feel best describes me and my family.

“We may not have it together, but together we have it all”

Samantha