7 Quick Takes

Joining up with Jen - I've joined up with three different blogs this week - woohoo!  It's been fun. 

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In all of the books I have read about motherhood, I don't recall any of them warning about the driving commitment involved!  Here's how yesterday went:  Drive separately to meet Eric at doctor appointment (8:15), leave appointment before he's done because I have to run home to pick up girls to go to school and pick up Josh (10:30), drive to orthodontist office (10:40), leave Josh at ortho office because it is a lengthy appointment (11:20), get home and instruct girls to get lunch, leave home with Eric to drop him off at hospital for infusion (they said he'd need a driver, 11:45), drive back to ortho office to pick up Josh (12:15), get him some lunch and take him back to school (1:00), drive back to hospital to see how Eric is doing (1:20), stay for about 50 minutes then leave to go back to school to pick up the gang (carpoolers included 2:15), get everyone home and leave right away to pick Eric up from hospital (3:35), get home and spend some time there deciding what in the world we're going to have for dinner, leave to pick Sarah and Josh up from weekly volunteering commitment (5:10), get home and immediately put pajamas on!!!  Sorry...it had to be recorded...

--- 2 ---

I think most woman are always unhappy with their current hairstyle, right?!  Well, that's me so I found this cute haircut but hubby is not a fan...should we be past the point of trying to please the other as far as looks go or is it still appropriate to respect what your spouse does or does not like on you? (Assuming here that clothing is another issue entirely)

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Beautiful fall sunset last night - made it worth all the running around.

--- 4 ---

Just started reading The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown (I think this was recommended by Jen Fulwiler).  I'm still trying to finish  The Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton but this one seemed like lighter reading.  So far it's pretty good.  The whole concept of this being written by a therapist makes it even more convincing.  She had lived most of her adult life doing the things that she now knows are not good for our souls.  At least that's what I've gotten in just a couple of chapters!

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During 'recess' one day this week playing around with available light and adding a couple of textures:

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Pulling from one of Jen's takes, why is it that so many moms can't stand playing board games with their children?  She really made me feel better about that because it is usually the last thing on this earth that I want to do!  For example, when I finally got home last night and so quickly put my pajamas on to signal the end of any continued maternal responsibility, Lyndsay asked if we could play a game....Jen's analogy of wanting to claw her eyes out couldn't be more appropriate!!  I don't mind playing fast-moving games, but First Word happens to be her go-to game (or Apples to Apples) and it just takes forever especially when all three younger girls are playing too.  (I know, Mom-of-the-Year here)

--- 7 ---

I couldn't attend the monthly photographer's meeting that I so look forward to, but I found out that next month we are using someone's professional studio space for free!!!  So excited about this!  Definitely making the whole family come and hopefully will figure out how to use good lighting in a short amount of time!   Have a great weekend!

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

A First for Josh (finally)!

Being the second oldest, Josh (and the others of course) usually are witnesses to Sarah experiencing everything for the first time (for obvious reasons being that she is the oldest).  He finally got to be 'the first' yesterday by getting his braces removed before her!  Yeah!

So happy for him and his awesome smile! 

Apple pie

Who knew these kids loved apple pie so much?  I haven't made it more than two times ...before last week.  We both looked up the same recipe on Allrecipes.com and it has over 7,000-5 star reviews.  It's got to be good, right?!  RIGHT!  One of the reasons I never make it is because I don't have the patience to peel and slice all those apples.  Well, this apple/potato peeler turned out to be the best $25 I've ever spent for the kitchen. 

 

Obviously, there's a great benefit for the kids to help out too (wink, wink).

16 apples peeled for two pies in about 10 minutes! 

 

One for us and one for a friend.  I couldn't even get a picture of a full pie!  So thankful for modern day conveniences :)

Yarn Along

I don't even know Ginny and her family but I have followed her blog for quite some time and I'm always inspired by their faith and simplicity.  I'm so happy for them all with the birth of their 7th child - he's just beautiful.

I am joining up with Ginny today for Yarn Along.  Linking up with other bloggers is still fairly new to me but I am enjoying it so far and it helps to add things to my blog when I just can't think of anything to post.

I just taught myself to knit this past summer and have only completed a few projects:  a couple of dishcloths, an attempted scarf that ended up very crooked!, some handwarmers that I actually use and now I'm working on a cowl.  It's my first time using circular needles and I'm not following any pattern.  I just decided to wing it! 

I love the rusty color of the alpaca wool and the yellow in the background belongs to my 11 year old daughter.  She has just learned to knit and is so excited to start an actual project - probably a dishcloth :)

I'm trying to read The Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton.  So far it is great, but it gets really difficult to find the time to read sometimes.  It just depends on how our school week is going and how many other things are scheduled.  I almost wish I owned a copy because there have been so many quotes I would like to be highlighting.  I just need to type  them out, I guess. 

Anyway, Congratulations to Ginny and family!

Texture Tuesday

I've been so excited for Texture Tuesday!  It's so much fun to see what everyone does and be inspired by it.  I used Kim's kk_0411 on this and then one of Rita's painting textures on top of that.  (Before the textures were applied I did a watercolor filter on the picture).

 

Happy Tuesday!

Texture Tuesday

I downloaded a couple of free textures today from Kim Klassen.  They are really pretty so I decided to follow Kim's lead and start a 'Texture Tuesday' post here.  This is what I came up with using one of the new textures:

 

Using the 'screen' blend mode makes the images look ethereal...

From my view, it looks as if the print is difficult to read.  Hopefully you can see it better.  

It might be nice to print these and hang them in the bathroom for the kids to see every day :) Thank you for sharing your talent with us, Kim!

Halloween -13

The title of this post was inspired by Lyndsay, who dated all her school papers that way on Halloween. 

Halloween is my least favorite holiday and I can't really come up with a good explanation as to why.  I don't like paying any money for costumes so it seems like we're always trying to come up with something that we already have or are borrowing something from others and, of course, this is always happening at the last minute.

The pumpkins usually get carved the night before and the candy has to be bought in spurts.  There's really nothing wrong with any of that (except maybe the waiting until the last minute which is my own fault anyway).  I don't care for the attitudes of some of the kids that come to the door (but I guess that's to be expected here and there).  It's usually really cold or rainy but this Halloween was actually fairly mild with just a little bit of rain so I can't complain about that either. 

Maybe it's because Halloween isn't really based on anything - I know the origins of Halloween, and kids going door to door dressed in sweatpants, sweatshirt and a mask don't have anything to do with harvesting crops centuries ago... 

I do enjoy the youngest children dressed in cute costumes that are really having fun (including my own).  They make it all worth it.

Happy Halloween!

Thistleberry Farm

We went to this farm last fall with the homeschool group and had so much fun!  We had never heard of it before then.  When the notice came around this year about the group going back, we knew we had to go.  They have so many things to do, the time goes by pretty fast.  They have three different corn mazes, a jumping pillow, a hay ride, a mini train ride, a couple of slides, cart tracks for big and little people, a 'tightrope', a water station, a corn pit, and a rock climbing wall (there are others, I just can't remember them)!