Digital cameras are killing me

If someone wanted to do my family a favor, they would buy me a 35mm camera for Christmas. Otherwise, my children will grow up with no pictures of their childhood. Digital cameras are a great invention, and I love how much my camera holds, don't get me wrong. But that is exactly the problem. My camera holds too much. And, if it runs out of room, I just move pictures on to my computer. Where they sit. And sit. And sit. I even have a folder on my computer entitled "to print". Maybe I need to change the name to "the best of" so in 20 years, my children know where to look for all the good pictures.

I'm notorious for having empty picture frames in our house. The pictures are either outdated, or they house some other family. We moved into our new house in June, but it took me forever to decorate. I'm slightly (okay, a little more than slightly) OCD, so everything has to be perfect. Just the thought of hanging stuff on the wall gave me an anxiety attack. I finally decided to host the weekly neighborhood coffee at the end of September, in hopes that it would encourage me to finish decorating the house. I had picture frames that had been waiting to be put into a collage on the wall, and thanks to the coffee, they finally got there. Only problem, when people arrived, half of the frames still had the commercial family print inside from when you buy it. The other half had pretty backgrounds from a grouping I did in our old kitchen. HOW EMBARRASSING!!! A couple of weeks later, we hosted an Aggie game and I filled the frames with the commercial prints with maroon paper. Somehow, in my head, this made things better. There they have sat.

Well, I'm hosting the neighborhood coffee again tomorrow. Not only are the picture frames still without actual family pictures, but I just spent the last hour trying to find a picture to put in a new blank frame that sits on our entry table. I wanted a family picture, but all I could find was a picture of me and Daniel from before we got married (we look like babies) or a horrible picture of me and Emily. Either way, there is no good picture to put in the frame.

Maybe I will host the coffee again in January and finally get some recent pictures up. It's all about baby steps, right?

In the meantime, I leave you with a picture tour of the pictures that do grace our walls. Keep in mind, the only reason these pictures got selected is because they are some of the only ones I had actually printed off. And we actually have some more recent ones in our bedroom, but nobody sees those. The following is what people do see.

First, the wall collage...

This next picture of from our ski trip December of 2006. We had just gotten engaged... how young and naive we were! This picture actually looks good up right now, it being Christmas and all. Only problem... this picture stays up all year long.

Here is a family picture from the pre-wedding crawfish boil Lucas (Dan's best man) threw for us.

And here is another picture from the crawfish boil. I obviously was on top of things to print out two pictures from the same party. I'm impressed, aren't you? This one is of my group of friends. Sorry, no Dan in this one.

The following picture is the only picture we have up of Emily. She was only 2 weeks old. No older picture of her exists printed off. Sad, I know.

And that is it. Out of the 14 picture frames we have in our living room and kitchen, only 4 have actual pictures.

The first step is always admittance...

Child labor

Children amaze me. You don't think you are teaching them anything by your day-to-day activities, but they are picking up on so much. Last night, while I was cooking, Emily took it upon herself to set the table. She got the timing right, but the placement was a little off.

I'm glad to know that chores can start earlier than I first thought.

Multitude Mondays - Week One

Thanksgiving has reminded me of all I have to be truly grateful for. It's unfortunate that on this one day a year we continually give thanks -- something that should happen every day of our lives. I have to admit, I come to the Lord all too often with more prayer requests than thanks for everything he has blessed me with. One of my daily prayers is that I see the hand of Lord in everything, so I can constantly remind Emily (and future children) of God's truths. I am hoping this list will help me be thankful for EVERYTHING he has placed in my life, and as a result, nurture thankful children, as well.

The idea comes from the blog, A Holy Experience. I love what writer Ann Voskamp says about her experience...

"Too often I miss him, oblivious, blind. I don't see all the good things that He is giving me, gracing me with, brushing my life with. True, he is everywhere, always. But maybe, before the Gift List, I thought of Him as further off, not so close. When I started to see all the things that I love bestowed upon me, I started to see Him as near, present, everywhere, showering me with good things. Seeing the things I love all around me gives me eyes to see that I am loved, that He loves me."

Today I start my running list of a thousand gifts and every Monday I will add to it. Would you like to, as well? It's about making our life all about worship and experiencing God's transforming powers.

Here we go...

1. My wonderful husband who loves me unconditionally.

2. The timing of our first great blessing. That I currently have an 18 month old who amazes me everyday.

3. My fluffy puppy who keeps me company when my husband is far away and the babe is in bed.

4. My Bible.

5. All the Word has revealed to me.

6. My alone time with the Lord that I attempt to fit in every morning before our little one wakes up.

7. Hearing the voice of God through others.

8. Trick-or-treating bags carried around as purses that put smiles on little girls' faces.

9. Women that encourage me by their faith in the Lord.

10. Realizing that I am not a horrible mother and that others struggle with the same things I do.

11. Pumpkin spice muffins.

12. Blogs that encourage and inspire.

13. Doing dishes every night and hearing the uncontrollable laughter coming from bath time with Daddy.

14. A new little one constantly moving in the womb.

15. That Emily folds her hands any time she hears the word "pray" or "God"

16. Fake Christmas trees that don't need to be tended to.

17. Christmas trees that are already strung with lights that are perfectly spaced out.

18. Our Christmas decorations that went up the day before Thanksgiving.

19. Setting out our nativity set for the first time.

20. Remembering every time I walk by our nativity how important of an event this was.

Daddy lessons

This Thanksgiving, we are especially thankful for Daddies who teach us valuable life lessons. Without them, there are some things we would just never learn...

What do you keep in your purse?

For a solid two weeks leading up to Halloween, Emily carried her trick-or-treating bag with her everywhere she went... to the grocery store, to church, to friends' houses. Her interest in it finally died down, but we still keep it around the house for her to play with. Today she insisted on taking it to church with us. I find it funny the things she feels necessary to bring along inside it. Usually it is a basic grouping of toys, but today she brought an odd assortment... 5 baby washcloths, her sippy cup, and a plastic condiment bottle.

Yep, that is what I keep in mine, too.

Our little dancing queen

Halloween festivities

If you remember from last year, I have a new found love for Halloween. I think I started setting out decorations about mid-September, despite the 90 degree weather. Then, I found this amazing little dress that I was dying to make. Once upon a time, I thought I would get into sewing. That was before I learned it took multiple days to make an outfit. This halloween outfit was definitely worth all $10 I spent and very fast to put together.

I asked her to pose, and this is what I got...
We also carved pumpkins this year. Emily was having a blast, as you can tell.Daniel's is the way impressive one in the middle, mine is full of Texas pride, and Emily's is the lame uncarved one on the left.
Since it was 85 degrees and incredibly humid, we didn't put her costime on until the last second. She absolutely LOVES her trick-or-treating bag. I will post more on her new "purse" later -- it's too funny. She insists on carrying that thing everywhere we have gone the past week, including church.

You can tell she loves her costume. I was impressed, though. After the first minute of trying to get it off, she didn't tug at it anymore. I guess she gave up.

We really only trick-or-treated at one house. I think she was confused as to why a stranger was putting something in her beloved purse. In this last series it appears as if she is a pro, but I don't want to mislead you. She was just holding her purse, walking up to the Boyle's where we spend most of our time anyway. So really, it was like any other day to her.

I'm sure she will love Halloween next year.

And maybe we can get some cooler weather?