Easter

we had a beautiful Easter day.  after a week of rain and cold and even some snow, Sunday was full of sunshine and warmer temps.  the sun warmed my soul and i felt such joy in my heart for an amazing Savior, who's sacrifice I will never grasp but can only have a heart of gratitude for loving me so much. 

well after church, i decided Easter pictures were a must.  all of us. dressed up. at the same time.  such an occasion does not happen all that often.  i must document it.

a decent-ish  pic of all the girlies...... 

and then the not-so-great, read wildly unsuccessful attempt at a family pic:

the youngest two looking elsewhere and the second dd is pulling a "where's waldo"

hmm, another where's waldo and only 2 of the 6 of us actually looking at the camera

the last attempt... miss j can't help but point at the camera since we are telling her to look at it.
patience had worn thin and it was as good as it was gonna get. 
maybe next year.  (i wonder how many years yet i will proclaim this until we actually get a decent pic?)

5 things i {heart}

my lack of picture taking lately leaves me to trying to think of other things to post on my blog.

for prosperity sake (really? probably not) i will note the top 5 things that have my attention lately (well, aside from the everyday stuff like my kids/hubby/house,etc...)

1.)  running.  (WHA????) yep, running folks.  this from a girl who was a self-proclaimed non-runner and would intentionally slow down her pace in high school when running the mile so she would never have to run the 1 1/2 mile.  currently i am up to running 2 1/2 to 3 miles a day.  so no marathons or anything and i'm not super fast by any means but i feel pretty good about it and love the burst of energy it has been giving me. woot for running! (who knew?)

2.) fashion.  shocker to those friends and family who knew me long ago right? not really.  my mom teased me about changing my clothes ump-teen times a day as a little girl and i LOVED to shop with her (even just to the grocery store) i have always loved clothes and fashion and shopping.  having babies and one income kind of put a damper on that for awhile but recently i have rediscovered my love for fashion and clothes.  finding a personal style and feeling comfortable and confident in what i am wearing is awesome! something that fuels my fire for this (a.k.a. something i spend WAY too much time looking at each week) is this weekly blog linky party: http://thepleatedpoppy.com/2011/04/what-i-wore-wednesday-20/  and while i have no plans to participate in such things i do find myself running off to my bedroom to dig through my closet and try different outfits on. 

3.) thrifting.  this goes somewhat hand in hand with the above.  i have discovered the fun of "thrifting" (especially for fun vintage items) but it's a good thing there aren't too many "Goodwill" stores nearby.  we would only have beans to eat then since i would be using up our grocery money on all those great finds! this stems farther than just clothes though (actually the thrifting for clothing is a very new practice of mine... i've done it, umm, twice now i think? and i probably still prefer to just shop sales at regular stores) it started with looking for things for my house.  i really really really love vintage things. really. my most recent vintage find that i am in love with:
a little floral tea tin by Daher (here is a link to similar on Etsy cause i am too lazy to take a pic of it and upload it: http://www.etsy.com/listing/71953728/pretty-tin?ref=sr_gallery_34&ga_search_query=Daher&ga_search_type=vintage&ga_facet=vintage)  it's adorable and came home with me for only $1 :)

4.) Echo Park Paper Co. http://www.echoparkpaper.com/collections/
seriously cute kits for scrapbooking.  in the last few months i have gotten the "Walk in the Park" and the "Life is Good" kits but have my eye on several others. 

5.) Pretty Little Studio http://shop.prettylittlestudio.com/welcome/ 
related to scrapbooking again, i came across this company a couple months ago through another blog i follow and totally fell in love.  not a big surprise when you see that they are all about adorable vintage images and classic patterns. mmmm, lllloooovvve. and the BEST part of all this???  i entered one of their giveaways and WON! yay me! i won the entire "April Showers" collection and it should be arriving at my door next week sometime.  made. my. day.  can't wait to use it :) 

so that is all for now.  time to go hop on the treadmill before naptime is over :)

all grown up

i think it's official.

my hubby is all grown up. 

he is now the owner of a suit.  like a for real matchy pin stripe spiffy suit. 

the occasion?  he officiated his second wedding last weekend. 

side note: the first time he officiated a wedding it was an outdoor wedding and more "casual" so he got away with just a tie and white shirt... well, and pants too of course ;)

but let's be real here.  a suit does not make you a grown up.  it just gives the appearance of being a grown up.  i just played kickball with him at youth group tonight and watched him slide tackle one of the students, kick dirt on one of the students and in general just be a total fun loving freak.  I have to say, I LOVE that about him.  I also think he looks hottt in his suit.  Best of both worlds is what I've got ;)

portraits

confession time....

i really stink at getting professional portraits of my kids. it causes me "mommy guilt."  i have a lot of excuses  valid reasons for my failure in this area of mommyhood.   it's pricey.  it's not necessary for survival. it stresses me out to have to figure out a cute outfit, hair done, well napped, well fed all coordinated together. 

i thought maybe with miss baby i would be better about it. 

i thought wrong.  i have only had her pictures taken "professionally" one time.  i took her pictures myself at 6 months and last month i decided i had to try again. i don't think i got the one  (that illusive perfect shot)  i am far from a great photographer and am pretty clueless when it comes to my camera (i even read the manual!) but still some cute shots (after all she IS a pretty cute baby, just sayin)

 

so is it worth it?  do i suck it up and go in and get some portraits taken? do i let it go and try to let go of the mommy guilt?    

100

this is my 100th post. yay me????

in other news:

my husband is the bestest.

he just rescued a bird out of our fireplace.

this bird has been haunting me for over 24 hours.  i believed it to be a bat.  i strongly dislike bats. really realllllyyyyy strongly dislike them.   i had visions of it attacking me in the night.  ripping my babies out of my arms.  (k, that may be just a smidge dramatic)

BUT it was a sweet little bird.

a mute bird apparently, as it never made a peep giving us the slightest clue that it was not a bat. an icky gross disgusting foul bat.

it just fluttered it's wings trying to escape the dark.  sounding like a bat. a detestable bat.

now it is free, thanks to my brave, tennis racket and plastic bag armed hubby. 

he rocks.

my world. ;)

that is all