Introducing "Life at the Casa"

Ah, here it is, my very own blog . . . a clean, blank window of opportunity just waiting for me to dress it up with witty repartee and photos depicting our lives here at "the casa."  No, our family is not Hispanic (as you'll note from the photos), but we've called home "the casa" since forever.  I guess it started when our oldest daughter was 3-ish, and I worked with the Spanish Branch of our church.  I was trying to infuse a few Spanish words into our daughter's vocabulary, so whenever we arrived home I'd say, "Here we are at our casa!"  (One day she asked me, "How do you say "casa" in Spanish?"; I realized then she was assimilating words with some confusion as to origin, but that might be a topic for another post . . .)  "The casa" has always been synonymous with "home" to our family:  the kids call and ask what's going on at "the casa"; we invite people out to "the casa" for the 4th of July, we share stories of the crazy weather at "the casa," etc.  It seemed only fitting to title a blog about our lives "Life at the Casa." Since life here pretty much revolves around the seasons of the year, I've decided to include some pictures from the past year as a background-building first entry.  I hope the photos illustrate how much I love my "Life at the Casa."

The 4th of July is always a day I love the most.  The entire fam shows up to spend time together playing games and eating bar-b-q.  Everyone brings something--there's always way too much food, but hey, we have to keep up our strength for all the activities!  This year we played "Just Dance" on the wii, soccer, and kick ball.  We roasted marshmallows and made s'mores in the fire pit.  My family's the best!  The day was perfect

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I love the 4th of July!  Everyone's there and the fun goes on all afternoon and into the evening.  The next best thing to the 4th of July was the "1st Annual Family Shoot-out."  Fall is such a beautiful time at the casa, and this year I wanted to take advantage of the Indian Summer we usually have and get everyone together for a shooting competition.  Unfortunately, it was a slushy, rainy day all day until we began about 3:00 PM.  It was so great to have the sun come out so we could compete with shotgun clays, paintballs, and bows.  

Everyone kept warm with hot cidar, coffee, and the fire pit.  At the end of the competition we gave out awards--Darren won the "whole shooting match" and received the new shotgun!!

Fall colors make this time of year my very favorite!  Then comes Halloween, and the craziness of my family!

The first winter snow created a real wonderland at the casa.

Then came the annual Greg and Steven put up the Christmas lights  time the day after Thanksgiving.  Way cold, but way fun too!

So, although this has been an extremely long-winded introduction to my brand-new blog, I hope it will show how much I enjoy my "life at the casa."  It will be a joy for me to write about all the great things that happen here!