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Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Anticipation

Long before there was this kind of anticipation

Until our Christmas tree goes up, the presents are stacked--not quite like this now--in our bedroom. Grace (6) artfully stacked these.

there was this kind of anticipation.

Jesus talking with Jewish children.

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.



Merry Christmas!


This post is linked to 5 Minutes for Mom and Sarah Halstead at The Naptime Momtog for Wordless Wednesday, and to Ashley Sisk  for Wittle People Wednesday.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

This week's scavenger hunt items were
  • Sparkly
  • Door
  • Decorate
  • Stripes
  • A Few of My Favorite Things
OK...I'm going to "cheat" a little with this week's post and cover it all with two shots.  Here is my new sparkly wreath on my front door.  It's a new addition to the things I decorate with since my 2012 Secret Sister gave it to me for Christmas.  (Thank you, Missy!)   Oh, and see the stripes?  It's candy cane striped mesh ribbon.



It's inside the house since I've been warned by a few friends that if I placed it on the outside of my front door, they would take it.  I think it's unanimous, at least around here:  females love this wreath; males do not understand it one bit.  

Have I mentioned I like chocolate?  Oh, yes, I do.  These are a few of my favorite things...



Click on the link below to see others' photographs or to join in the fun!  


Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Patience


Bono (8 months) with Grace's baby dolls

This post is linked to 5 Minutes for Mom and Sarah Halstead at The Naptime Momtog for Wordless Wednesday.

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

This week's scavenger hunt items were:
  • Season
  • Colorful
  • Weather
  • Silhouette
  • Calm


Season

How 'bout Christmas cookie baking time with my friends?


Colorful

There were colorful lights on my friend's Christmas tree...


...and lights reflected on the wall.


Weather

We had some foggy weather earlier this week.  You can barely see Josiah (10) walking our puppy Bono in the right lower quadrant of the photo (between trees).



Silhouette

I thought this was a lovely silhouette of bare trees against a pastel sky.


Calm

This was as calm a photo as I could get from this bunch of best friends.  :)  They played together all day while the moms baked cookies.  

Josiah (10) and Grace (6) are on the far left.

Click on the link below to see others' photographs or to join in the fun!  



Thursday, December 6, 2012

Eat More Chicken

Earlier this week, Jason had me drive all over the county to a few places to photograph some things including this fire station.


(And I also found this antique fire hose reel cart at another fire station.)


But back to the first fire station...while I was snapping away with my camera, I was being watched...

Stared down...

Intently...

By this cow. 



Josiah (10) said it looked like the cow was telling us, "Eat more chicken."  Then again, Josiah is always hungry.  He was probably just trying to use the power of suggestion to get me to stop at Chick-fil-A...

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Fall Colors

Random photos from last month...







Hmmm...I wonder where this trail goes?


This post is linked to 5 Minutes for Mom and Sarah Halstead at The Naptime Momtog for Wordless Wednesday.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

The best of all is, God is with us

These are some photos from a trip we took to see family earlier this year.  We stopped by their church, and this quote by John Wesley was on the wall:


I went a little crazy taking pictures of the church during our visit...because that's what I do.  :)

February 2012

The stained glass windows...





The lights...



Yes, the lights.  I like interesting light fixtures.



Does that make me strange?  (Don't answer that.)



Josiah played a few pieces on the piano...with permission.




And I took pictures of the piano.


 Grace (5 at the time) checked out the playground with my dad


and stabled her horse Johnny.



This Christmas, and all through the year, remember...

"The best of all is, God is with us."
John Wesley

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Toothless

Here is a less "in your face" photo of Grace (6) sporting a new empty spot in her mouth.

Grace (6) reclining on our big puppy Bono

She lost her first tooth on Monday, and you can click over if you want to see more toothless photos--you know, the more "in your face" (but less furry) kind of photos.

This post is linked to 5 Minutes for Mom and Sarah Halstead at The Naptime Momtog for Wordless Wednesday, and to Ashley Sisk  for Wittle People Wednesday.

Monday, November 26, 2012

The Tooth Fairy is Coming to Town

I was beginning to wonder if my girl would ever work one of her loose front teeth out.  Grace's two bottom front teeth have been loose for a while, and the two permanent teeth have already come in behind them...

and Grace has been reluctant to wiggle the baby teeth.  She has been so reluctant that she had started talking about how she was going to be like a shark, with more than one row of teeth.  Seriously.

However...

...tonight, with much less drama than either Jason or I expected, Grace lost a tooth!

Grace (6)

And, as you can see here, she doesn't really have a gap because of the grown-up teeth hiding behind her baby teeth. 


Whoo hoo!  Way to go, Grace!

Now, do it again.   Soon.   Please.  :)

Product Review: Signazon.com Custom Vinyl Banner

I was recently contacted by a representative from Signazon.com about a product review.  I was offered the chance to receive a free vinyl banner or another product from their website, so I decided to design a simple outdoor banner to promote our church's yearly VBS--one that can be reused each year no matter what the theme.

The design process was extremely easy.  I decided to design the banner using one of the templates on Signazon.com rather than uploading a file, which was also an option for uploading the full design or a particular graphic element such as a logo.

During the design process, I had the choice of various templates for the banner.  I chose a rather plain one since I already had in mind the text layout I wanted and knew that I didn't want any images or designs with the text.  (I could have also started from scratch with a blank template.)  During the customization process, I chose two different fonts out of a total of 40 available fonts as well as the colors of the text and background.  A preview of what my banner would look like was always in sight, updated instantly as I made changes, and I could easily play around with the fonts of the two text lines to get the look I wanted.  I could have added clip art at this point, too, but I  wanted only text on this banner.

Here is a screen shot of a recreation of the design process.  :)


You can see the pop-up box for the color wheel in the bottom left quadrant of the screen shot where you can customize the color palette, and there is an eyedropper tool, too, to copy a specific color from elsewhere.


Because this was a product review, I was instructed to email the company representative my cart number so she could complete the transaction.  I was able to do this step within the design process, which is a great feature for someone who is designing a product but needs final approval or input from another person before placing the order.

Since I emailed the representative my cart number and then exited the website, I received a friendly email from Signazon.com asking if I needed any assistance with my order. In addition to the email order confirmation (November 13th), I received an email with installation instructions for the ready-to-hang banner (illustrated instructions with the best way to attach the banner to a pole, a fence, the side of a building, etc.).  I also received an email letting me know my banner had been shipped (November 16th), as well as an email letting me know that my banner had been delivered (November 20th). 

I have been very pleased with Signazon.com during the entire process.  The design process was very easy, and both production and shipping were fast.  Communication was excellent, and I appreciate the email letting me know the banner had been delivered because my address is very similar to--and frequently confused with--another address in my neighborhood.  The banner looks great!  It looks very durable and I think this will be a fantastic way to advertise VBS at our church for many years in a row.  I appreciate this opportunity to review a Signazon.com product and look forward to working with this company again in the future.

Want to see the finished product?

There are metal grommets on each of the four corners.

Banners can be for indoor or outdoor use; I chose the outdoor option.  I chose the standard 2x4 foot banner, although there were many options for the size of the banner.

Signazon.com also has window graphics, stickers, magnetic signs for cars, car lettering, and several other graphic products.  Their website is well-organized with information provided on their various products.

Disclaimer:  In exchange for this product review, I received a custom vinyl banner from Signazon.com.  All opinions expressed in this post are my own. 

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

This week's scavenger hunt items are:

  • Home/Thankful
  • In the kitchen
  • Couple
  • Bubbles
  • Trees

HOME/THANKFUL

There is so much to be thankful for...

Photo taken July 2011

Thank You for the cross, Lord.
Thank You for the price You paid.
Bearing all my sin and shame, 
In love You came and gave amazing grace.

~Worthy Is the Lamb by Hillsong


IN THE KITCHEN

Snickerdoodles fresh from the oven...Yum!


I'm including this next photo not for the shot but to share the idea:  this is my "double boiler."  I have a metal mixing bowl sitting on top of heated water in a pan that the mixing bowl will...float...inside.  This worked very well for keeping the chocolate melted!  (I dipped marshmallows in the chocolate, in case you are wondering.)  Just be careful of the steam escaping from the pan!  



COUPLE

These are a couple of mischievous boys.



BUBBLES

Bubbles in a paper weight...



TREES

Um...yeah...this is where I went a little crazy.







Trees seemingly dwarfed by tall grass.

Click on the link below to see others' photographs or to join in the fun!  




Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Wordless Wednesday: Grace and Bono

Grace noticed me taking pictures of her with our puppy Bono



and asked me, "What are you going to call these pictures?"

Grace (6) with Bono (8 months)
I told her I was going to call them "Why we can't have a chihuahua."


Because, seriously, we can't have a chihuahua...


This post is linked to 5 Minutes for Mom and Sarah Halstead at The Naptime Momtog for Wordless Wednesday, and to Ashley Sisk  for Wittle People Wednesday.