Car Seat Safety!

I'm the kind of person who follows the rules, and I get anxiety if I'm doing something that's even borderline.  I want my kids buckled up in the safest way possible.  For the most part.  Convenience does play a part sometimes.  But these are some videos that have changed my views on car seats and I now honestly believe in extended rear facing (til at least closer to 2 year instead of 1 or YOUNGER! although really the longer the better) and extended 5-pt harness.  Take a look...

The Importance of a 5 point harness car seat from Laura Bower on Vimeo.

These are REAL stories about REAL people.  You just don't know what might happen in the next minute, the next day...

Man oh man....

...I am having a hard time this year adjusting to the time change.  I am SO TIRED every night, by like 8pm.  I think it's because it's our first year being in school and really following a tight schedule.  Alarm for wake-up, alarm for getting shoes and coat on, alarm for when the bus is almost coming home. Last Wednesday we went to AWANA 15 minutes early because it was pitch dark and I could NOT convince Eli that we really weren't late, we just changed the clock etc.  "But it isn't NORMAL!" he insisted.  So hey, why not. We were already ready plenty early so off we went just to wait. Seriously though, anyone else still struggling this year??

Truth.

I haven't been on here much lately.  Life has exploded in a variety of ways lately, mostly good.  But busier.  And the truth is, sometimes I feel like I post all these great ideas and never DO THEM!  Like I still have yet to "get in the picture", I've totally bombed on my "blessing others November" (though I do hope to do a little catch-up), half the things on my Monday Meanderings never get done week after week after week, and I'm still watching my TV shows I said I was going to quit.  I did for almost a whole week and then went back.  Honestly they're not that bad anymore and I really like the medical drama and ethical situations. *sigh* Just can't get with it to complete my goals and ideas!  I do have some more photos coming, and I also have a Christmas game I'm creating and will post here for y'all to download if ya want.  So don't give up on me!  I'm just taking care of life right now!

{November Challenge} Bless someone today.

I can't believe it's November TOMORROW! So I spent some time thinking this morning about different ways and people to bless every day in the month of November.  I put together a calendar but basically it's this schedule:

Sundays - church leaders
Mondays - special friends locally
Tuesdays - extended family members (SILs, grandparents, etc)
Wednesdays - teachers, including AWANA and Sunday school teachers, tutors, mentors, or even your regular babysitter
Thursdays - your immediate family members (kids and husband). write each of them a letter, saying the things you love and appreciate about each of them
Fridays - community members
Saturdays - friends far away

You can add variety by doing notes, making cookies, putting together small gifts, coloring pictures, or you could even take a friend out to lunch! Try to get the kids involved in as many of them as possible, and bless those around you!

You can DOWNLOAD THE CALENDER HERE and then write your own names on it.  The text is a tad pixely (sp?), but that's the best I could do with the calendar I found!  Yes, it's quite a bit of work and time to follow through, but something I hope I can do and I guarantee it would be worth the time!

Family Fun: Fall Scavenger Hunt

Hannah's preschool teacher asked my friend Nikki and I to organize a fall scavenger hunt for families to come and do together.  I wish I could show you pictures of the event but it's not until next week and fall is ending soon and I wanted to get this post up so you could maybe USE it!  Me and my Type A, chart-loving self decided it would be fun for kids/families to not only find items but examine them as well, filling out a chart as they go with details including color, texture, measurements, and so forth, trying to include all the senses if possible.  And since this is a family event, I want the scavenger hunt to somehow MAKE something in the end, as a way to preserve the memory of doing that activity together. So most of the items will get used to make a fall mobile afterward.  We are going to set up the string and other supplies so families can make their mobiles THERE, otherwise they're probably more likely to take their stuff home and then forget about it.  Here is the scavenger hunt list, DOWNLOAD HERE (there is a little more than what's pictured here).

And here is a picture of what your mobile will sort of look like!

I'm excited!  I think it will be fun for the kids!  Let me know if you do it!

Monday Meanderings - Oct. 24

Bible Study...  Week 5 lessons of No Other Gods,

Memory Verse...  Philippians 4:8

"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things."

Husband Encouragement...
♥ Bake some goodies for him to share at work.

♥ Date with him on Saturday! Gotta figure out what exactly our plans are.

Train Them Up...

* AWANA verses.
* Family fun day on Friday.  Kevin will be off and Eli has fall break from school. I'm thinking children's museum since we have a couple more months til our membership expires.

* Spelling work with Eli. And help him write a letter to his pen pal.

Personal Goals...

- Early bedtimes.  I'm just so tired.

- Drink more water.

New Habit of the Month...  {october} Rise early. 30 minutes is too short but 45 minutes of quiet time is just about perfect. I had a terrible time getting up at all last week, hence the need for earlier bedtime.

MUST Do... 

* The boys' clothes are packed away. Now time to tackle some 3T girls stuff.

* Starck and Brown photos to CD.

Zone(s)... laundry

Menu -

M - we'll probably just pick something up since I'll just be finishing photos

T - meatballs

W - toasted sandwiches

Th - hamburgers

F - couples game night

S - Omaha

Su -

FUN THINGS!
* Photoshoot today for the Martin family.

* Conference at our church tomorrow.

* Early out and parent-teacher conferences for Eli on Thursday.

* No school Friday. That night we're hosting a couples game night!

* Going to Omaha on Saturday so Kevin and I go on a date.

* Singing at church on Sunday.

3 things I'm thankful for today...

1. BEAUTIFUL fall weather.

2. An afternoon with Paul and Holly last Saturday. It went way too fast!!!

3. Discovering secret spots! Been doing a lot of scouting around, searching for new photo spots!

Photography: The Starck Family

My friend Nikki had family visiting and she wanted me to take some family pics for them. So I did!  Just a mini session, it was pretty chilly and Lucas just wanted to go back inside to play with his cousins.  =)

same pose, different angle

And I try to do couples pics as a part of every photoshoot, whether you'd asked for it or not. Consider it a gift from me to you.  Most couples haven't really had pictures done of them since their wedding or engagement.  And it's important to still view yourselves as a COUPLE. So here are Jennifer and Kai:

Hair cut!!

After I took my BEFORE pic this morning I was doubting again whether I really wanted to chop it, but I took in my inspiration pics, MY previous hair pics and talked with the stylist about what I liked and what I haven't liked before and she went to work!  And I LOVE it!  It feels so fresh again!  And I'm excited to play around with different "looks" with it!  And I'm SUPER excited to be able to DO it every day because it will take no time at all!!!

longest in the front and angled to the back. love it!!

Photography: Maternity

My friend Kayleigh has her baby shower in a couple weeks and she'd asked if I'd take a few maternity pics before then so she could display them at her shower.  Her professional photo shoot with her hubby and everything is after the shower so this was a mini-session, but we had fun.  Kayleigh is GORGEOUS and she's older than 3 so we very cooperative.  =)  I really enjoy photoshoots that don't require me acting like a complete doofus!  =)

Get in the picture.

This is one of the links that I came across on Pinterest today, and I actually clicked over to the article to read.  Definitely got me thinking.  Does this sound familiar to you too??

“Yes, honey, I was there, too. I was just the one taking the pictures.”

Is that the way you want your children to remember you? As the ghost in the frame? We all talk about how important it is to document life, to capture memories for our families, to have a visual history of the day-to-day because the years are fleeting. Well, I have news for you: you’re a part of that. You need to be in pictures.

So you don’t like to have your photo taken, huh? I don’t, either. Get over your vanity. I say that lovingly. Take a shower, put on a little makeup, throw on that shirt you love but never wear because you’re afraid someone will wipe his little ketchup smeared face on your shoulder. This goes way beyond pictures – when you feel good about the way you look, your whole attitude changes for the better. Take care of yourself. Or don’t. Maybe you don’t have time to blow dry your hair today. Your children don’t care. What they will care about is that they can see what their mom looked like at 25/35/45/55, that she played with them, that she gazed at them lovingly, that she laughed with them … capture that for them. We need more than just the memories. We need pictures. You know that better than anybody. Stop making excuses.

Read the rest of the post and you can learn 13 tips for family self-portraits.  Some of it's more posey than what I like if you're just trying to remember yourself as part of a memory but still the point is very valid: get in the picture, preserve that memory for your children.

Alright, ladies I have a challenge for you!  I hope you participate!  Take a picture of YOU doing something with the kids and post it to your blog.  And link up below so we can see!  It's been so long since I've really been in a picture, so I'm kind of excited.  I'll add mine to this post once I take it.  What do ya say? Are you IN??