Highlights from our Afternoon.

Eli's awesome drawing for his second six-week GATE project.
Sarah's fun pumpkin necklace from school.
Sarah's fall bird, also from school.
Rob helping me design a totally rad label for my customer proof preview cds.

a not-so-brilliant picture of Eli with his blown blood vessels. He's feeling a lot better today. doesn't he have the most beautiful eyes??

Ballerinas, Robots and Strep Throat

This is the big reveal of the kid's fall fest costumes. Eli wanted to be a robot, so Rob and I put our heads together and this is what we came up with. Eli was super impressed. He likes it when Sarah flicks the switch and he pretends to turn on and off. Very cute. And of course, we have a delicate prima ballerina too. Grammy Dee made the tutu two+ years ago for Sarah's birthday and she thought it would be really fun to wear it this year, along with some ballerina slippers.

Also, Eli came home sick from school on Tuesday, with a slight fever and a sore throat. He laid around on the couch all day yesterday, but seemed a lot better by bedtime. He was up at 5am with a major fever, and vomited the Motrin I gave him. Poor little guy, vomited it so hard that he blew a bunch of blood vessels all around his eyes. I thought he'd developed a rash overnight at first! But we went to the dr this morning, confirming my suspicion of strep, and he's on antibiotics now and hopefully is on the road to recovery.

Now, if we could all just get some sleep!

My Trusty Assistant

Remember how awesome of a help I said Jennifer was? Here's some proof. She bought a shirt and pants and shoes just to match me, isn't that awesome?? We looked good. :)

DUDE.

this movie was absolutely amazing.

And I'm totally not just saying that because I'm a huge High School Musical fan. It was way more awesome than the first two flicks. Even critical Rob was convinced. I fully enjoyed it from opening credits to ending credits. It was a bit more 'grown up' than the first two, but I still really was amazed and I'm trying to find a time when I can go watch it a second time in theater on my own. And the music, wow.

I Survived.

Wow. I'm exhausted, but in that amazing-I-worked-my-can-off kind of exhausted. Today was an amazing day in my career as a photographer. I shot my first for-hire wedding and I'm feeling really good about it. The bride was stunning and easy to work with and everyone cooperated and I didn't miss anything crucial!! I could not have done it without my trusty sidekick, Jennifer. She was amazing! Every time I needed something she was right there ready to provide it or had already anticipated it! She literally followed me around during the ceremony with a lens in each hand, ready to switch them out with me. I am so blessed to have a friend like her.

So now, I'm up to my eyeballs in post-processing, but I am blessed, let me tell you. and tired. and not quite ready for Sunday morning, but we'll survive. :)

PS - I just finished loading the photos onto my computer and there are 1525. wowsers. the crazy thing is that I deleted quite a few during the event, so I wonder how many I actually took?

Feeling Christmas-y

Do you ever get that way? I guess it's just because I've been working on my cards already, or maybe that I really need to be feeling some 'goodwill toward men' but I'm getting in that holiday swing already. Hey, it has to hit early for us crafters or we find ourselves in the lurch in mid-November. :) I started baking a bit yesterday, and man that felt good. Plus, it's just been so cool lately (for southern tx) that it's just started to feeling more like the holidays. I've been tempted to light a fire the last few nights, but I know it's really not that cool yet. Anyway, I'm working on a few special projects for church this holiday season and with one of them I came across this survey and it just seemed like fun.

1. Does your family send out Christmas cards? YES! about 120 of them this year. goodness.
2. How soon do you start shopping? as soon as I feel like we can afford it. or can't afford not to. :) I'm a terrible secret keeper, so I can't start too terribly early.
3. Who do you shop for? my immediate family.
4. Do you put up a Christmas tree? the day after Thanksgiving. although this year, we'll be roofing the day after Turkey day, so it may have to wait a bit.
5. If so, is it fake or real? unfortunately fake.
6. Do you like tinsel? nope. not at all. much to Sarah's chagrin.
7. Do you use homeade or storebought ornaments? I like homemade.
8. Do you put Christmas lights outside your house? a few. we are pretty conservative. (mostly cause we're cheap)
9. Do you put lights on the tree? it's pre-lit. we are lazy too.
10. How about popcorn and cranberries? Oh for sure. the kids love doing that!
11. Is there a wreath hanging on your door? Yes, red berries. hoping to replace it this year, it's looking pretty ragged.
12. Christmas Eve - Do you celebrate it? We always dress up and go to candlelight service, take a family photo and open one present. (usually pajamas) And then after the kids are asleep we get out all the presents and spend some quality time snuggling near the fire.
13. Do you hang up your stocking? of course.
14. Does your family read "Twas the night before Christmas?" sometimes.
15. Favorite Christmas Movie? the Santa Clause.
16. Favorite Character from any Christmas Movie? eh.
17. Favorite Christmas Song? Silent Night
18. Favorite Christmas Memory? toasting marshmallows with the kiddos in our fireplace last year.
19. Give or Receive? hmmm. equal. Gifts are my love language.
20. Eggnog or Cider? Dr. Pepper should be an option.
21. Red or Green? lime green
22. Ham or Turkey? Honey Baked Ham
23. Star or Angel? Star
24. White Lights or Colored Lights? white
25. Blinking Lights or Still Lights? still
26. Were you Naughty or Nice this year? depends on who you talk to. :)
27. What do you want for Christmas this year? a new point and shoot camera
28. When do you open your gifts? after I've put on my makeup and done my hair.
29. What's the best gift you've ever gotten? my engagement ring from Rob
30. What's the worst gift you've ever gotten? can't really think of any.
31. Who gives you the most gifts? historically, my mom.
32. Have you ever had a secret Santa? nope. sounds like fun though.
33. Do you like wrapping gifts? yes.
34. Do you put change in those red buckets? always.
35. Do you burn a yule log? no. that sounds dangerous.
36. Can you name all the reindeer? probably. it's a requirement with a 7 year old in the house.
37. Do you bake cookies? all year round
38. Have you ever seen your mommy kissing Santa Clause? no.
39. Have you ever gotten a kiss under the mistletoe? yes. back when we were dating.
40. Do you go caroling? I like to. but I like to sing.
41. Do you drive around and look at the Christmas lights? every year.
42. Have you ever left Santa cookies? always. :)
43. Have you ever sat on Santa's lap? yes
44. Who do you celebrate Christmas with? my dear family. we are so blessed.
45. Where do you celebrate Christmas? at home if we can at all do it. it's important to have traditions for you kids.
46. Have you ever had a white Christmas? almost always. not likely this year though.
47. What part of Christmas do you look most foward to? The children's programs, sitting with our family in church, Christmas morning.
48. Does your family always take a picture at Christmas? Yes, always. I love seeing our children grow and change, I'm so very proud of them.

Monster Cookie Madness

I love monster cookie day. I really look forward to it all year round. I'm not a big Halloween person at all, but this is our one exception.
Oh, and we have a new Jack-O-Lantern in the house. :)

New Hotness

So I found 2 pairs of dark wash Levis yesterday, for $10.99 each! And I got this great new Gap pink sweater from Freecycle a couple weeks ago (for free, thus the name Freecycle) and a pair of flats that I happen to be breaking in for Saturday's big wedding.

I felt the need to photograph it all just for you.

somedays it just all comes together.



Oh. And we looked at another house today. I liked it. A lot. Suprisingly. Especially when you consider that the ceilings were wallpapered. yep, you read that correctly, ceilings. But it had really good bones and lots of neat 80's extras that I loved cause I'm vintage like that. I could totally see us in this house. Oh, and did I mention that it's like 8 blocks from the church and in the school zone we want? It needs major work - all cosmetic, which totally doesn't scare me, except for the wallpaper on the ceiling... It does feature an amazing kitchen - huge. Like I seriously walked in and just wanted to start making Thanksgiving Dinner, despite the dead cockroaches throughout the home. (that's any empty home in TX - for the record) Oh, and cabinets are crazy high end and amazing, a good coat of Lysol and some new hardware and it would be a new room.

So, we have a couple major obstacles in our way still. This house is a foreclosure, which is good for price, but bad for mortgages and closing costs. Because of our primo economy right now, we currently have a conventional loan at a decent interest rate, but with our stellar housing crisis, we only qualify for an FHA loan with a higher interest rate with our same mortgage company. I'm not sure how 16 months of perfect payment history makes us a great risk for an amount 25k lower than a year and a half ago, but that must be that new math talking. :) So, we need a free $1000 for earnest money to make and offer and to sell our house uber-fast since with a foreclosure they won't accept a contingency.

But all of those issues are nothing for our God. If this is His will, He can do it all as quick as He'd like. We are trusting Him. Oh, and still waiting for our insurance check. It's not like Ike was 6 weeks ago. Oh wait, it was...


one question.


Didn't their arms get tired when they put that wallpaper up?

New Pages - it's all in the details

So I decided it might be fun to post some scrapbook layout photos and I got all inspired to take photos of different angles and details on the page, so lucky you!
This page was pretty much a sheer accident, but I wound up loving it.
Those HKS butterflies really made the page, I'm loving polka dot paper lately. What's with that?

Here's the bigger picture, along with the fun details. I busted out my ancient Making Memories tiny type stickers. But I still love them. I smell an Expo review in the near future!
And I'm totally in love with these letter stamps from Heidi. They are making a starring appearance on my Christmas cards this year, so look forward to that!
These are some fake flowers I had that just gave the page a little extra dimension. Can you tell I've been playing with the f-stop on my camera lately. sorry. :)
This special drawing of Eli's inspired the next page. It's all his favorite comic book heroes plus a few of his own invention. This kid is brilliant with a pencil, let me tell you! My favorite is "the Joker's Girlfriend" - only from the mind of an almost eight year old!!
I had so much fun with all the details on this page, including a whole bunch of hand stitching. (imagine that, Mom would be so proud) I also love the black owls peaking out on that bottom border. I think this is my best page in weeks.
This features an ancient chipboard heart from Lil Davis Designs and some new cardstock letter stickers from October Afternoon. Oh, and the MM journaling notebook that I'm ga-ga over.
See, didn't it all come together nicely? I have such a happy scrapbook now. And all my reviews are ready to upload to Expo. I just need to sit down and do it.

Feels Like Fall Today

Alright, I admit that I didn't take this picture, I googled it. But other than the achingly green grass and the greener leaves here right now, it really is feeling like fall lately. The temperatures have finally started to fall, it's still 80+ during the day, but cooler at night - making you want to snuggle closer to your loved one under the covers. ;) Late in the afternoons I can close my eyesand almost pretend it's an indian summer day up north, smelling the leaves burning in the neighbors ditch and feeling the crisp wind blow through. Of course, it's still quite humid here, so that takes a bit of getting used to, but I've really been enjoying the weather this October.

We've been insanely busy. I know all my readers think this is nothing new, that we are busy all the time, but even when that's your constant lifestyle, different busy is still an adjustment and it doesn't lessen the blow of living at that pace, even if you've been doing it for a long time. We have resumed all of our previous responsibilities as we are all walking out of the wake of Ike, plus taking on new responsibities with Rob's position as Youth Rep. ATP has been very successful lately, so that's awesome. Also we put our house on the market 3 days ago, so now we are trying to keep it show ready, so that's always fun. :) Then you factor in all the fun of finishing dealing with the insurance adjuster (it's only been more than a month now) and trying to get our checks issued and then scheduling the repairs that need to be made to our home. In and amongst all that we are looking at our options for moving to the other side of town, trying to find a landing spot in case our house sells quickly - which is looking like a strong possibility. (praise God!) Then, with all of that, the biggest most exciting aspect of our life right now is the Financial Peace course we are taking (consuming really) and trying desperately to apply it all to our finances. It's exciting and overwhelming and discouraging. We did have a major breakthrough today though and it really served as a wonderful reminder that God is in controll and He owns a thousand cattle on a thousand hills and He truly does want us to prosper. I believe that the enemy has kept a stronghold in the area of our finances for far too long as a means of discouragement and even shame. We are walking out of it right now, thus the fight on his end. So we've acknowledged that and now we are going full guns ablazing towards financial freedom.

So, you can see why I say we are busy and I am tired. But hopefully some of these stresses will drop off soon. We'll get a check from the insurance company and be able to repair our home and that stress will be done. Our house will eventually sell and we'll find a place to land that will be closer to the church and then the stress of 12+ trips to church will be gone. Rob will adapt to his new 'job' and it will flow into our normal life rhythm. Someday in the near future, Ike will be a distant memory and we'll all smile when we think about how God provided in the face of disaster.

Somedays you just have to pull yourself up by your bootstraps and walk through it. October has had a lot of those days so far, but I'm believing for a bright future. God has never failed us yet. Not you or me.

A New Lens

I've been drooling over this lens for months now, practically since I bought my camera, actually. But I had to have a really great excuse to buy it, and turns out a wedding is excuse enough!! I'm in love. It's awesome. It's not the most expensive lens ever, and I can tell already it has it's drawbacks, but it's still doing so much more than I could do before!! Here are a few photos from this evening. These are unedited, no photoshopping whatsoever.

I have a problem...

Between the UPS guy and the adjuster, I seem to have become a stalker.

More Random Images from My Life

These are just some random photos I've been meaning to post the past few weeks. Some are just playing around with a new lens, and some are just 'grabbed the camera and took a few photos'.
First of all, there's this guy. Dude, I love him so much. I count it a priviledge to wake up next to him every day. He's absolutely got my heart. Rob challenges me, he interests me, he keeps me on my toes and I'm so grateful to God for the life He has allowed us to have together.

Then there's this crazy chick. I walked into the living room to find her and her dolls watching tv like this one day. Just cracked me up. Also, the fun of my cute high heels (my fav. pair right now) sidled up to Rob's man-shoes. very fun.
And here's Eli, in some very funky light, playing on the computer. Both of our kids have suddenly become absolute Mac junkies. sheesh, I wonder where they get that from?
And this is just an example for you of what my husband's eyes do every time I use the flash. Seriously, every time. I'm glad I'm not shooting his wedding! This is a photographer's nightmare!
We owe these guys a debt. They are from BluRoof, a FEMA operation that tarps people's homes in the aftermath of a hurricane. We now live in a Smurf house. :)
Sarah has been very involved in helping me cook lately. We made chili for lifegroup on Sunday. Unfortunately, she still didn't eat any of it.
And this kid just makes me smile every time I turn around. I think every family should have an Eli. He's amazing. This morning I was waking him up and telling him that he had 12 hours of sleep and not to complain because t was half what I got. Still rubbing his eyes, he said wow, I only got 6 hours of sleep. I teased him about being a GATE student, being able to do division before he was even awake and if he was that much of a genius we should probably have someone stand guard while he was sleeping to catch any moments of genius he may utter. He thought that was pretty cool. But his morning breath stank and I told him I figured no one could handle smelling his foul morning breath all night and he decided that he needs a robot to watch over him all night and record his impressive intellect while he sleeps. Cause robots don't breathe oxygen Mom!! and they can't smell!

love it.

Being a mom is the best ever.

Guess Who I Spoke With Today???

So, I was about to get in the shower, had Relient K blaring and everything, when I thought, hmmm, my phone is on vibrate, I better go find it in case the adjuster calls. So I hunt through the house and literally find my phone as it's ringing (silently) and it says undeliverable. It's Autumn!! Calling uber-long distance from Thailand! It's the first time I've gotten to talk with her since she left back in July. I miss her so much! She's my lunch buddy, we would meet at El Torro for some authentic Mexican and talk for hours. Do yourself a favor and check out her blog, she's doing all kinds of cool things in the PenAsia office for the AG over there. It was so good to hear her voice.

And the best part is she's coming home in 74 days, so we'll be having some El Torro for Christmas. Yippee.

Manic Monday

The quiet is deep this morning. Rob and the kiddos took off about 20 minutes ago and I'm just sitting here enjoying the noiselessness after a busy weekend. It's a lull in the storm, because starting this evening we dive into another week of insanity. Funny how it all comes back in a hurry, right?

The good news.... Rob took his ordination test on Saturday and did fantastically. We'll now call him Pastor Rob. J/K. He's actually already Reverend Rob, free to marry and bury as we say, but ordination is the next step. Basically, it's the hierarchy of the church saying, "yes, you've been a pastor for a while and we can see that there's a call of God on your life oh, and by the way, we'd like a little more money each month". :) It's actually really a beautiful service and I'm really excited for it to take place at District Council in April.

But we aren't quite there yet, we have our interview on Thursday. I'd better keep my mouth shut, I could blow this whole thing for him yet, don't you think?? :) I'm a little nervous for his interview, but I'll just try to keep quiet and let him with his Bible degree answer all the questions.

So today I have serious editing catch up to do, I'm two shoots behind. I also have a huge house to do list, we are still trying to decide when is the right time to put it on the market. I have a few more things to do; ie paint the shed, organize the garage and declutter the kiddos rooms. We have yet to hear from our adjuster, but I'm trusting eventually they will call, right??

Tonight there's a sectional youth meeting, and the exciting part is that we are having Chickfil-A catered in. yipee!! Plus, it's really fun to get together with the other youth pastors in the area. Should be a fun evening.

Dude, I'm so thankful.

Today was a truly great day.

First of all, it's Thursday and we are happy because it's Thursday, right?? I love Thursdays, they are officially my favorite day.

Rob and I spent the day together, well almost all day, right after he slept in. lucky. But we kicked around the house a bit this morning and then headed out to see Fireproof over in Webster. It was a drive, but very worth it. I really recommend this movie. I will say, there was a bit of lousy acting in it, but the overall point was really good and I found myself wiping away tears at many different points in the movie. It was along the lines of Facing the Giants, but better. Oh, and Kirk Cameron (Growing Pains anyone?) is in it and still as adorable as he was 15 years ago. We enjoyed it though, and we've kind of been in a theme of really tending to our marriage this past week or so, it was very good timing. I'm going to be looking into 'the Love Dare' for us as well.

So we were strong and resisted the overpriced popcorn during the movie, but picked up some Cheddar's spinach dip and chips for the way home. It was still a pretty cheap date. :) We drove home via Nasa Road One and Seabrook, seeing a lot more of Ike's wrath. I took some poor photos on my camera phone, but haven't uploaded yet, maybe tomorrow. It made us very thankful for our home and it's relatively little damage and not quite so annoyed with our a-wall adjuster.

We came home in time to pick up Sarah and drop me off at Jennifer's for my highlights and haircut, which turned out great, I'm always so grateful to her. We are working towards a bob now, and bumped up the highlights, chunking just a bit more and a little heavier on the right side, I'm thrilled with the results. Funny how a boost on your color puts a swing in your step, isn't it? Rob got his cut too, and he's looking good. :)

Then we headed off to the park at Stephen F. Austin Elementary for a beautiful picnic and some family fun time on the swings and the playground equipment. It was such a wonderful evening, the weather was absolutely-only-find-it-in-Texas-Fall perfect. Just golden and beautiful and lovely. The kids were amazing and it was just one of those memories that I will treasure for years to come. Thankfully I had my camera phone and I could capture just a few photos of it. I've had a ton of fun posting directly to Facebook right from wherever I'm at now.

Finally, we headed to our Financial Peace class. It was a hard night, where you are preparing to sit down and do your cash flow plan. ergh. But I know that this is important and I'm really thankful to be doing this right now. Rob and I are so excited about this class and all of the cool things we'll be able to do through it.

So, just an amazing day. I had to take a moment to share because I don't want to forget it.

Oh, and ATP is really picking up, it's extremely exciting. God is so good people, you know? He is so, so good.