Friday, April 23, 2010

More Clara

Clara rolled from her back to her tummy for the first time this morning...


... and got stuck ...


... and was not happy about it.


But that has absolutely nothing to do with these pictures, which are just plain cute.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Oh, the smiles (sigh) ...


It's impossible to get too many of them.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Bits and pieces of our days

I'm way behind on blogging so this is a catch up post. Here's what we've been up to lately!

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I recently stumbled across goodreads. Is anyone else on it? I absolutely love it so far. It's a social networking site as well as a place to organize lists of books, ones you have read or plan to read. You can review and rate books and follow what other people are reading. I used to keep lists of books in a word document (I wanted to remember all my favorites so I can share them with my kids when the reach appropriate ages), but this site is much more user friendly and I love the graphic representations of the books. I also like that it helps me keep up with all the books I plan on reading. When someone gives a recommendation of a book that sounds interesting, I go and add it to my "to-read" section on goodreads.

If you're on goodreads I'd love to add you as a friend! You can link to my profile on my sidebar.

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Our new house is completely wonderful, but it is also treeless. Back in February we planted two trees, a red maple and a Shummard red oak. We had so much fun choosing the trees and planting them ourselves. Everyone helped, though Clara's role was mostly supervisory. :)



I so look forward to watching these trees grow as my kids grow alongside them. And, this fall we'll even have some fall color in our yard, even if it is only about 7 leaves worth!

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Infant photographers earn every dime they make! Seriously. We tried to do a little photo shoot with Clara in her Easter dress. She's three months old now and we need a nice portrait of her to share with family.


We tried propping her up on a bean bag and a Bumbo seat covered with a blanket. We waited until she was well rested with a full belly so she'd be happy and smiley. We shot outside on an overcast day which should create the perfect light.


But, the pictures on the bean bag and Bumbo looked awkward, she hardly gave us any smiles and, though it was overcast, it was too bright and she was squinting all the time. I have so much to learn about infant portraiture.

The one good thing from the shoot is that at least you get to see how adorable her Easter dress is!

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Gustin came in from the backyard with this black eye the other day. I have no idea how he got it!


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I had a good Lent this year. "Good" meaning that through prayer and introspection I've discovered I'm a shallow, dysfunctional, rule-follower and I'm questioning whether I've ever truly loved God or if I've always just been a good girl because I don't like breaking rules. Yeah. I'll still be chewing on the things I've learned about myself this Lent when next year's Lent comes around.

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One more mirror picture for Clara's collection.

3 months old

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My hair has been slowly going gray for many years now (I started seeing my first gray hairs when I was 18!). Every time I look in the mirror, though, even after all these years, I'm shocked at all my gray. I still picture myself in my head as a pure brunette.


I started out plucking my grays and for a short time I colored it. But, to be honest, I really hated coloring my hair. I'm a natural girl and I hated fighting my hair color so I've just let it go. That doesn't mean that I'm used to it, though!

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I guess that's enough for now. I'm hitting "publish" then heading to bed. G'night all!