These Precious Moments

One of my goals this week was to experiment and play with my camera more. I'm trying to learn more about different light settings and exposure and aperture and all that junk because I have a wedding coming up in August that I will be photographing! It's very important to me to do the best job that I am able to do because the bride and groom and so awesome and because I do take pride in what I do. Not that I've ever done any photography sessions before... but it's an art form I have always been interested in and so I am excited to do this for them!

So I have taken several shots this week that I love but I wanted to share just two of them with you today. The first is of my middle child, Marah, who is a little spit-fire. She's full of emotion, knows how to be bossy, and isn't above telling lies. She's really quite different from Jenna in most ways. However she does have her moments of pure sweetness and they seem to be coming more and more often lately. It's always nice to capture one of her sweet and innocent moments of quiet.

And then there's Alex. The boy keeps me on my toes! He's quite the overflowing handful but in all the best ways. His smile lights up a room and his antics are hilarious. He cracks me up every day! One of the things I love best about Alex is the way he looks at Eric and me with the most obvious adoration. We can just see, in the way his eyes sparkle, how much he loves us and when he falls blissfully into our arms for a big hug or cuddle there is just nothing better in this world.

Make each day count!

Taking it Easy

I'm not sure why, but this summer has found me feeling completely unproductive and without motivation. It's been a bit disheartening but I'm trying to just go with the flow and relax a bit. Taking it easy isn't a bad thing. Sometimes we go through a season of needing to let go of those day-to-day things that can start to burden us. Taking a season of rest can be a very good thing. I'm hoping it will leave me feeling refreshed and ready to take on a new school year with an attitude of joy and excitement!

So I've been sleeping more than usual (which, if you know me, even the usual is quite a bit more than most people), cooking more simple meals and trying to worry about only the most pressing of house work and letting the mess not get to me quite as much. We've been reading together more, creating together more, and just enjoying the down time while still managing to get plenty of play and learning in there as well. It's been nice.

A little random fact about myself- I love to scrapbook, but I do all my scrapbook pages digitally using Photoshop Elements editing software. Here are a few of my most recent pages:

Creating my layouts in this manner allows me to put my work away quickly, hit undo when I mess up, and enables me to work without my kids getting into it all. I love it! I haven't done much with it lately, but every once in awhile I will get a few pages done. It's more than I would do if I had to do it with real paper, that's for sure!

Anyway, I was really excited when Jenna received a scrapbook kit for her birthday! She was given a ton of photos from her Girl Scout troop leader of all the events they did through the year so I figured now was a perfect opportunity to create her first scrapbook. We have been having a great time with it. It's nice to work on this with her. I have been letting her do most of it herself while just showing her a few tips her and there. She's been doing such a great job! Another thing I love about this project is that we are including her patches and Try-It's in the book so that she can have a place to keep them instead of on her sash. It's turning out really great.

This is why I use the computer. Oh, and this was after half the mess was cleaned up.

Gotta get these thank you cards done!

Make each day count!

Wordless Wednesday

Alex's Firecracker Freak Out

List Love

Today I've been thinking about what I would like to accomplish for the week. I figured I should make a list in hopes that writing it down for the world to see will motivate me to actually do it!

- make bow clips. lots of them.

- make place mats for table.

- finish (start... lol) garden

- get one of Jenna's summer Girl Scout badges completed.

- start Jenna's Girl Scout scrapbook with her.

- 3 math lessons with Jenna on Time4Learning.com

- 3 math lessons with Marah on Time4Learning.com

- 3 language lessons with Jenna on T4L

- 3 language lessons with Marah on T4L

- Library trip to return books and get new ones!

- Splash park

- Read from Beezus and Ramona every night with the girls.

- Practice with my camera every day.

Alright, I think that's plenty to work on. What do you want to accomplish this week?

Make each day count!

Mini Vacay

We're packing up for a mini trip to Minneapolis this weekend! I'm excited but apprehensive, as I typically am before a trip.
Excited
- to go to a Twins game in the new stadium
- to eat at The Cheesecake Factory for Jenna's birthday
- to be in a big city again
- to spend time with my family
- to eat junk food on during the road trip (what? that's something to get excited about, right?)
- to have a set budget for the trip so we can't go overboard and then get home and freak out over not being able to pay bills for the next few months!


Apprehensive
- about sitting in a vehicle for 5 hours with six other people (I get a bit claustrophobic and anxious)
- about sharing a room with the boy because I snore and I know I snore and I'm a light sleeper and I worry that if I snore I'm going to wake up the boy and thereby wake myself and so I just end up hardly sleeping at all.
- as you can imagine, this makes for a very crabby lady the next day.
- as you can imagine, this, in turn, makes for a very crabby husband.
- as you can imagine, this makes every irritating thing our children do seem ten times more irritating.
- I don't like the traffic in Minneapolis.
- I don't like the freeways either.
- They stress me out.
- Like, big time.
- The thought of taking the three kids to a baseball game is pretty much freaking me out.
- I hope Grandma and Grampa are prepared to fork out lots of treats to keep the kids from causing me to lose it.
- The fact that my apprehensive list is quite a bit longer than my excited list is causing me to stress out.
- It's making me pretty much freak out, too.
- Like, big time.

I'll see you on the other side!

Make each day count!

These Three

Her

and her

and him.

My treasures from God. They make every day a better day, even when they make it tougher. I am so very thankful for each of them and what they bring to my life. Make each day count!

Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?

I've had my brother on my mind a lot lately. Growing up we seemed to be the worst of enemies most of the time, but then one day we became the best of friends and my heart couldn't be happier. If only he lived nearby, I know he'd be such a beloved uncle to my kids. Sadly, he is in Japan for God only knows how long and we've seen him once in the last 4 years. Breaks my heart :(

Still, I'm so thankful that we have each other.

PS- I also am the proud big sister to Leah and Krista, lest they think they've been forgotten. But that's a post for another day. I promise :)

Make each day count!

June 7th- A list

So very thankful...

#11- for my dear and wonderful friend, Elizabeth, who is always there for me and who I feel completely at ease and able to say anything to. She is a friend in the truest sense of the word.

#12- for beautiful, albeit windy, weather this weekend which equaled a successful yard sale that earned us a bit of extra money which we greatly needed!

#13- for a weekend without my girls because their wonderful grandparents took them camping. This meant a low stress yard sale for me as well as some much needed quality time with the man of my dreams.

#14- for the internet which keeps me connected to my parents and siblings and aunts and uncles and cousins and friends who all live so far away from me. How would my family be able to watch my kids grow without it?!

#15- for the abundance of creative people who share through blogging so that I can get lots of awesome ideas for parties, crafts, organization, etc.

#16- for the moments that Eric really gets into playing with the kids, like last night when he played pirates with them.

#17- for government grants and student loans that allow my husband to go to school.

#18- for the freedom to homeschool my children in the way that I choose to.

#19- for having a home with central air.

#20- for Marah's enthusiasm for learning!

Are you keeping up with The Gratitude Project- An Expression of Thanks? I would love a link to any lists you've made.

Make each day count!