My inner shutter-bug!

I am not a stellar photographer.

No where near! 

I think you have to be able to pay attention to things like positioning, lighting and creative elements!!

HOWEVER, I LOVE taking pictures and I LOVE LOVE to flip through photography books, magazines, and blogs, inspired by what others are trying and learning and displaying!

If you're interested in this as well, you may want to visit Articles By Amy - a link I've posted on the left side of the page. Oodles of articles from the basics to the fun 'n fancy!!

Let me know what catches your eye!

The end of the day - the end of the "work week"!

I don't think a mamma's work week is every at an "end" - however, there is something about Friday that makes me feel like a "week-end" is in order.

Don't we get to sleep in on Saturdays!? :)

Well, enough about that.

Yesterday Little M made me laugh so hard I thought I was gonna bust. There are a few --- song lines --- that my mother used to sing when I was little. And you know that famous saying that "you're gonna sound just like your mother..." 

And it's true. :)

My mom used to always sing the line "I fall to peeeee-ceeeees" from Patsy Cline. I have no idea why she would sing that particular line, considering she had 4 kids under the age of 8 and we were all highly active, chatty, curious little things :).

Well, yesterday, I had a delightful, raging headache as a result of a "nap" that was actually 4 interruptions in a matter of 15 minutes. Some how, for some reason, I started singing the line from this song.

Little M looks at me and asks why my head was going to fall off.

I looked back and asked would my head fall off?

Because - says she - you said you were falling to pieces.

Ba-dum-bum. 

There ya have it. Humor from our household.

Flutter-Byes!

Since it was bath day ANYWAY, I thought to myself, why not paint the kids feet and make a craft :)?

Sounded like a great idea to them too, so this is what we created for Mothers Day...

We started off with some WASHABLE acrylic paint.

And then INTO THE PAINT went the feet. That part was so much fun. 

In a messy kinda way!

 

Then we made little feetie-print butterflies

After the paint dried, we added the final touches of course ... 

a body, antennae and googley eyes just for fun!

 

Then, in a flash of inspiration, I also hot glued magnets to the back so that our darling Grandmas have no excuse for misplacing these funky little flutters :).

 

 

And VOILA! Great Mothers Day cards for Grandma. Isn't that a fantastic way to kick off a rainy Thursday morning!? I thought so too!

Alas, one MUST give credit where credit is due. I got this idea from Just For Fun.

Oh boy...

A couple of weeks ago, I received an invitation to share a bit in church on Mothers Day - on becoming the mother I hope to be. 

I agreed before I asked for the fine print (note to self: don't do that again!!). 

1) I assumed (incorrectly) that it would be short and sweet. No. 8-10 minutes or so will do. YIKES! I can talk a lot if I have no particular agenda, but ask me to share ALL THE HOPES OF MY HEART for TEN MINUTES in front of others and we have a dilemma on our hands! 

2) Sharing about all that I hope to do and be as a mother feels very much like reading an 8-10 minute list of all the goals I have for 2009. New Years Resolutions are made to be broken by, like, February right!? It's rattling to think that every aspect of motherhood that I long to grow in I seem to face opposition in every day. Patience, gentleness, attentiveness, Godliness. It's not even 10am - let's make it 9am! - and I'm praying for wisdom and grace in the midst of it all.

So, I'm not sure how this'll go. I want to share authentically but also realistically. Honest without getting to heavy. Light-hearted, but without those stale jokes that fall very very very flat!!!

What about you? What kind of person do you hope to be?

Totally glad it's Tuesday!

I am convinced that no matter what occupation you are in - astronaut, civil engineer, homemaker - a Monday is a M.O.N.D.A.Y.

See, the sunny optimist in me says that Mondays are for great beginnings, the start of a fresh calendar week (I am a calendar addict, but more about that issue another day!). It's about slow mornings, a lingering cup of coffee, and planning for the week ahead.

Yeah. Right.

Mondays around here are aka Meltdown Mondays. Wow. You'd think we were just getting over the weekend or something! We invited yet another therapist into our world of people that we are getting to know. Little M chose that exact moment to display her wide vocal talents (and her one-word vocabulary - no! No! NOOOO!). And let me tell ya. There's nothing like having a child development professional peering over your shoulder in your own home!! while you are disciplining to make you feel all those lovely inadequacies you inherited the moment you gave birth.

Yeah, can't you feel the glory of it all. 

Which is why I am so glad we have Tuesdays. Some people live for Fridays. Not me. I like Tuesdays. The sunny, bright, lovely day AFTER the day of recovery. Hmmm. I'm finding some life-parallel in there somewhere. The upheaval, the crisis fades, the recovery is past, and the day of new beginnings dawns. I like it.

O You, Mighty Little Earthworm!

With all the squeals of delight around here, you'd think it's Christmas ... or Birthday ... or someone bringing loads of candy. Or something.

Nope. Around here, all this excitement comes from the discovery of the ever-lovely EARTH WORM.

Ewww. Is all I can say.

I've been asked all sorts of questions about these squirmy little creations. Like...

Do earth worms have teeth?

What do earth worms eat?

Where do they live?

Why are they all brown and crunchy on our garage floor?

Uh. Biology and dissection seems like a reallllly long time ago (which is a good thing, I am thinking!) so here I am, online, seeking out real answers for my 3-year-old who not only asks good questions, but also has a fabulous memory (and I am motivated by the shudder of the thought of misinforming her, and then her sharing that misinformation with a classroom of kids 5-6 years down the line, and then all of them laughing hysterically over her less-than-educated mother!).

IN FACT, earth worms don't have teeth. Which is a GOOD THING TO KNOW if you are picking up an earth worm with your bare hands (which I d.o.  n.o.t.). It munches its food by sucking it in like a vacuum cleaner (great, so I may not get bit, but I might get a little hickey mark on my hand!).

What does it eat? Wellll, these are efficient little critters, eating - well, pretty much anything they can suck in! Not just dirt (which I told Little M), but garbage, poop and the like. Tasty. They eat pretty much non-stop too. Lovely.

Earth worms live in dirt (mostly!). They are found all over the world, and in a variety of habitats (soil, obviously, but also logs and bogs).

As for death and the cause of the dry crunchy worm, we've saved those conversations for another day, and I just say that the worm ran out of water so he's pretty dried up.

Also good to note (for when you realllly want to impress your youngsters!!) 

 - Earth worms have no lungs. They absorb oxygen through their system.

 - Earth worms produce their very own antifreeze. They curl up in a knot, produce their own antifreeze and voila! They sleep through winter!

 - They can make enough poop in one day to be the equivalent of their body weight!

 - Don't even get into the reproductive conversation. It's a little ... ewww. 

There you have it. Another example of  God's might fine creation at work. Fascinating, providing hours of endless entertainment, and something I don't dare touch without gloves. Or a lonnnnnng stick.

Thanks to Worm Watch for the abundant source of information!!

The Far Side Strikes Again!