In action

I spent a ridiculous amount of time today trying to get this image rollover to work on my private family blog. I just post pictures there for the grandparents to see, so including a few aunts and uncles, the total number of people who will see it on that blog is maybe 7. But, only 7 viewers can't justify all the time I wasted today trying to get this to work. So, please check out this picture of Gustin in action by rolling over the image with your mouse and help me justify my time management choices.

Now maybe the amount of minutes spent on this simple trick will fall below 20 minutes per viewer.

And, if you'd like to waste time on your blog, too, I'll help you out a bit with a link to the correct code to use for a rollover on blogger. You're welcome.

Things I Love Thursday

Relaxed holidays with family.

Beautiful weather and lots of playing outside.

Tree swings.

Inside-out and backwards Aggie jerseys on 4 year olds.

Cousins swinging together.

Sun flare.

Getting things completed on my Christmas to-do list. Christmas cards ordered? Check!

Pictures my kids take.

Jonathan's fire

Elizabeth's shadow

Little girls twirling their dresses.

My goodness! I have a very blessed life!

What things are you loving on this Thursday?

This little girl...

She's quite a little stinker. She's almost two, you know.

It's practically impossible to get a good picture of her anymore. For one, she's always on the move.

She's got big brothers and a big sister, you see, and she has to prove that she can do everything they can do.

Including cartwheels.

And, she moves so fast now!

Neither me nor my autofocus can keep up!

Besides, she knows all my tricks to get her to look at the camera and smile. And, she's not buying it anymore.

My hard drive is cluttered with these goofy faces. Though I really don't mind.

What's not to love about this little face?

Photography tip of the day: Don't wait for the perfect smile. Shoot the imperfect ones, too.

The evolution of a room

Thanks for all of your nice comments about my new curtains and our master bedroom. But, I have to giggle a bit, because my room looks that nice less than 1% of the time. A glimpse into someone's life through a picture can be very deceiving, can it not? I do try to make my bed everyday, but I had to do a lot of tidying before taking that picture, removing debris from the floor and banishing a random collection of junk from the window seat. Also, just out of the frame is Clara's changing table, laundry basket and a stack of large boxes of diapers and wipes.

It's also interesting to me to think of the slow transformation that our bedroom has gone through. Of course, we started our marriage with an eclectic mix of hand-me-downs from our parents and cheap college furniture. We had a bed frame, but no headboard or footboard, and Eric's childhood chest of drawers and that was about it for the first few years of marriage. We later added a hand-me-down dresser and nightstand. Our first purchase of our own was the white nightstand seen in the picture. It was $25 in an "antique" shop (more like a junk shop) and was painted a streaky red color. We repainted it white and added the knobs.

My parents found the rocking chair at a second hand store and refinished it and Mom made the cushions for the birth of my first child, Jonathan. 

Our first "real" new piece of furniture was purchased around the time of our sixth anniversary. I bought the bed seen in the picture at a huge flee market in Canton, Texas for, if I remember right, about $250. It's solid wood and the gentleman we bought it from made unfinished furniture on the weekends to supplement his family's income. A can of spray paint made it black.

I bought the bedding for our ninth anniversary and we really splurged as the quilt, shams and sheets are from Pottery Barn. The green throw was a $7 purchase from Bed, Bath and Beyond. Somewhere along the way I made the throw pillow on the bed; it was my first attempt at piecing and I was pleased with the result at the time. I pieced a second pillow cover, as well, and it remains unfinished in a box hidden in the back of a closet even though it only requires a few seams to be complete.

The photographs above the bed, as I already mentioned, are my own and I had them printed on canvas and framed about two years ago. They are the focal point of the room and I love being greeted by them each time I enter my room to put away laundry or change a diaper. With the addition of the curtains I feel like our room finally looks beautiful (at least when it's tidy), and it only took 11 years! For many of those years our room was anything but beautiful, full of random things: boxes, outgrown clothes, pictures that never were hung on the walls, junk that I didn't have the courage to throw away. Now my room is a respite and a haven from the craziness that controls the rest of the house. Such a blessing!

I heard somewhere once that it should take you until you are forty years old before your house is fully furnished. I'm 34, so at the pace we're going it will probably take at least until I'm 50; but, in the mean time, I'm really enjoying the journey.

Happy halloween!

With the help of my mom, I made each of the kids a cape for Halloween this year. They picked the color, I made the cape, and then it was up to them to come up with the rest of their costumes.

Elizabeth says that Clara is a butterfly with her purple cape.

Gustin put on last year's astronaut costume, added his red cape and said he is a rocket.

Elizabeth dressed herself in all white and is Princess Leia while Jonathan is Luke Skywalker in all black.

I hope you all had a very happy Halloween and may the force be with you!

7 Quick Takes Friday vol.11

--- 1 ---

I am a podcast junkie. The first podcast I found was the Faith and Family Live! Cast and I listened to it on my computer every once in awhile. Then, after several months, I discovered how much easier it is to listen to a podcast if I actually put on my iPod (who would have thought?) and then I was really hooked. I loved listening while doing all my otherwise boring chores: cleaning the bathroom, folding laundry, doing dishes. Now I look forward to those chores so I have an excuse to stick in my earbuds. I also discovered SQPN.com and their line up of fantastic podcasts that are the perfect marriage of Catholicism and nerdy-ness (just like me!). Some of my favorites are Catholic Weekend, The Break with Fr. Roderick and Secrets of The Hobbit. Another favorite is the family podcast called Justa Buncha Hacks.

Are there any other great Catholic podcasts that I need to know about?

--- 2 ---

We recently went on a Cub Scout family campout at Brazos Bend State Park here in Texas. I never realized that such an exotic place was within an easy drive of my house. There are several swampy lakes in the park and they are all inhabited by alligators!

I wish I had a telephoto lens to get good close ups of the gators but I definitely wouldn't want to be physically any closer. Considering there were no fences or other barriers, those gators were really close! It was so cool to see them in their natural habitat with frogs jumping out of their way as they swam through the muck and birds alighting on tree stumps nearby. The views from the observation tower (in the background of the above photo) were really amazing.

The park was just teeming with wildlife! We saw deer, raccoons, armadillos, egrets and even snakes.

Gustin had a bit of a close encounter with this snake. He almost stepped on it! Thank the Lord that he didn't because we think it was a water moccasin!

I really can't wait to go back, but with just our family this time. Or maybe some of my local blog friends would like to join us?

--- 3 ---

My maternal grandmother passed away last month. Unfortunately, I didn't know her nearly as well as I would have liked to. I've spent most of my life in Texas and my grandparents and much of my extended family are in Nebraska. I am so grateful that I was able to go back for the funeral as I was able to catch up with all my cousins, aunts and uncles and I learned so much about my grandmother that I never knew when she was alive. She was a vivacious, spunky lady of tremendous faith and she is such a wonderful example for me of how to live my vocation. She will be greatly missed!

--- 4 ---

I love to read but I have to admit that I'm usually very leery of Christian fiction. So often the Christian message of these books is written in a very in-your-face manner with very little depth. The character's spiritual struggles are merely surface level and their prayers and manner of speaking trite. I long for well-written books that force me to examine my own beliefs and through the story bring me to a better understanding of God.

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger fulfills all those desires for me. I hesitate to label it as "Christian fiction" because it is so much more than that; it is literary fiction at it's best and is a book to I will be reading again. It is filled with sacrificial love, adventure, fascinating characters, moral dilemmas and miracles and is very beautifully written. I highly recommend it.

--- 5 ---

My mom and dad recently moved just 15 minutes away from us (they used to live on the opposite side of Texas, about a 9 hour drive away) and having them nearby has been wonderful. Besides the joy of seeing my kids' relationship with their grandparents blossom and the readily available babysitting, I now feel confident enough to start some sewing projects because my mom is here to help me. So, thanks to Mom, I started and finished a sewing project this month, a feat I haven't accomplished on my own in years!

Here are my new bedroom curtains:

Aren't they fabulous?! The curtains flank the windows and help define the window seat area of the room. Now this space reminds me of Jane Eyre who would curl up on the window seat and draw the curtains around her and look at books for hours. I've always dreamed of having a window seat like that!

The fabric is bolder than I normally go for when I decorate, but I wanted curtains that would bring out the colors in my photographs that I hung above the bed. Now, I need to add some pretty colored pillows for my bed to complete the look.

As you can see, my room did not stay in a picture-worthy, tidy state for long, thanks to my little helper and model. But, she's so cute that she gets away with it.

--- 6 ---

Here's a quick photography tip: How to make eyes sparkle.

First, turn the flash off on your camera and take your kids outside. Have them sit down in a shady spot and look up at you while you stand close to them and shoot down. The bright sky will create beautiful catch lights in their eyes.

To get Clara to look up, I kept asking her questions like, "Where are Mommy's ears? Where are Mommy's cheeks?" She's all about identifying body parts these days.

If it's a bit too bright out for your child, just tell him to tilt his head up but keep his eyes closed. On the count of three you tell him to open his eyes and you snap the pic!

Note that I did not specifically photoshop their eyes in these images, though I did do some color and contrast editing and sharpening to the images as a whole.

Try it and then marvel at the amazing and unique beauty of the eyes the Lord has given your children.

--- 7 ---

Wow, these picture heavy 7 quick takes weren't very quick so I think I'll leave it at 6. Have a great weekend!

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

I'm still here! And, I'll have a real post up on Friday for 7 Quick Takes Friday. Stop by then to find out what we've been up to around here, get by latest book recommendation and a fun photography tip. See you then!