Alphabet photo challenge D!

D is for dirty! 

A storm rolled through last night, leaving quite a bit of puddles and mud in our backyard. Of course, true to boyhood form, my boys wanted to go out and play in it today. My only rule? "You can't throw the mud"...which was a rule given after they had thrown a ton of it all over the house, all over the back door and all in Ezra's hair.

After they came in and laid down, I thought, I should go get dirty too. Just a little. After all, can't a mama have a little fun in the mud? I haven't played in the mud since I was a kid. And while I didn't full on play in the mud, just stepping in it and letting it squish between my toes brought me back to my childhood and all the simple ways we used to have fun.

I definitely need a mood-lifter today, and doing that small thing did just that.

Happy Monday, friends!

A few children's books and a photography challenge post

Every night before bed, Jude wants me to read him a story. And we all know how beneficial it is to read to your children regularly. Jude will get into one certain book and want me to read it every night for a week. This is pretty typical of 4 year olds. Me, on the other hand? It takes a lot for me to like a children's book. Don't get me wrong, I love children's books, but I am hard to please when it comes to the children story variety.

There have been a few lately that have caught my attention. Jude's Nanny bought him this book (Where's Dave), and it is so cute.

I really love everything about it. The story is cute, there is a seek and find on every page, there are different textures to touch for sensory, and there's a safe tip on every page having to do with the story. Definitely get this one for your kiddos!

This is a new book (Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy) we just got from our Dolly Parton books for life deal. It's a super cute story about a girl and boy who team up to fight the (make-believe) bad guys in the playground. This book fosters and promotes great imagination play and playing/working together. Love it!

And this book:

If you want to share a heart-touching, rhyming story about sin and how big God's love is with your children, this is the book (Giant Love). Love it so much!

On another note, I haven't done my alphabet photography challenge in awhile. My last letter was B, and that's when I took pictures of the moon. Now, on to C.

C = Color

Springtime is so full of color, everything is blooming and it's just so pretty. 

Purple flowers

Yellow dandelions

Some type of pretty pink flowers

If you can get over the yuckiness of pollen and allergy season, go out and enjoy the beauty of Spring!

B Photography challenge

Lately I've been kind of obsessed with night photography. I'm not really sure why. I think it just dawned on me all of the sudden that I always chase the light during the day because I love the sun and it's inspiring. The warmness of it makes me happy and makes me want to take photographs in it. But I never think about the light at night, the moon that makes everything look different, but just as beautiful as during the day. There's an eeriness, a peaceful beauty about the night light. And I'm not quite sure I've ever taken one photo outside after the sun has gone down. I've never been inspired to, until this week.

So, for my photography challenge this week, I wanted to try out some night photography. To see how things looked at night through my lens. I saw some pretty amazing things.

I call these shots Brightness Breaking through Blackness. The moon through the clouds is breathtaking. The clouds almost look like smoke and I was in awe as I took shot after shot. I couldn't decide which one I liked the most, they all told a different story.

And my favorite. The moon peeking out through the clouds reminded me of sunrise, how it breaks out over the horizon, but obviously the opposite. It's like the moon was wanting to be seen and known.

I've never thought much about my street at night, but it looks so different during the day.

Through the branches. I could not get my lens to focus on the branches for anything, but I still like how it turned out.

My goal is to start taking more night photos, of people, of landscape, of everything. Obviously it's a little harder to get out at night, so it will be something I work on over time.

I love being inspired. It helps fuel all other parts of my life. There are so many things that inspire me, this is just one of them. What about you? What inspires you?

Photos!

I've been wanting to start an alphabet photography challenge, starting with the letter A, obviously. Trying to think of a word theme that's supposed to be a specific letter was hard. But, here we go.

Here are some other photos I've taken recently.

Love the gold tones of this photo (but hate that I cut his feet off, argh!)

I was trying to chase the light in this one...always love me some sun flare! 

A for awe...he loves to look in the sky for airplanes! (and I love the catch light in his eyes)

Smiling boy!

Vintage peanut butter face Jude!

I'm so glad I've had the inspiration to pick up my camera lately. I think it's the Spring weather. All the flowers blooming and sun shining, it makes me want to take pictures of everything.

Just a few things

Today is not a typical Monday. Ross took a few extra days off work, so we've been hanging around in our pjs, curling up to watch movies, playing outside, sword fighting, pretending to shoot webs out of our wrists like Spiderman, doing lots of dog-piling and wrestling, and enjoying our time together before things go back to normal the day after tomorrow. I didn't leave the house once and I even got a hot, relaxing bath in. It was glorious.

On a totally unrelated, but helpful note, one of my favorite sites, The Frugal Girl posted something neat the other day. Her post was entitled A Simple Air Freshener, and it's something I never thought about before. I love scented candles, but apparently, the fumes they put off are really bad for you, and the good ones can be expensive. She suggests boiling a few things, like spices, (in this case, it was an orange peel, cinnamon sticks and whole cloves). What a great way to get your house smelling yummy without harmful fumes entering your lungs, or having to spend a ton on candles!

Or you could just bake some bread or some cookies. Both make your house smell equally delicious! :)

And here is my weekly photo challenge picture:

This is me playing outside today in my monkey pjs. They were the very first gift Ross ever gave me, which happened to be my birthday, not long after we started dating, 6 years ago. The exciting fact about these is that I haven't been able to wear them in years, but was able to put them back on about 4 months ago. Yippee!!!!

A few New Year's resolutions that I thought of for myself:

• Spend less money on crap
• Get involved in the MCP Project 12 (an online monthly photo challenge contest, to grow my photography skills
• Finally learn how to use my sewing machine
• Connect with and get to know my neighbors more

Happy second day of 2012! 

The Nativity Story

Joseph: If I claim this child as mine, I will be lying. I would have broken a law laid down by God. 
Mary: I would never ask you to lie. 
Joseph: If I say this child is not mine, they will ask what I'm going to do. If I accuse you... 
Mary: There is a will for this child greater than my fear of what they may do. 


As soon as Ross and I popped this movie in last night, I was captivated. I've never seen this part of the story told on screen before, not like this. I was touched by it. I laughed at parts, and I cried at parts. But I couldn't help but wonder while I watched. I wondered what it would be like to be Mary, in her little village of Nazareth, so young, barely married and very pregnant, about to participate in the biggest, most amazing event in history. The looks she received. The rejection she must have faced. The loneliness that this huge step of faith must have produced. People didn't get it. They didn't understand. But somehow she did. Of course, she didn't get the full extent of it and she must have been so afraid, but she knew it was huge, important and that she had to do it. There was a purpose in it. Bigger than her, bigger than anything that had ever been.


My favorite scene in the movie was this:


Mary: You've never really told me of your dream. 
Joseph: My dream? 
[pause, he is teasing her and also contemplating his response] 
Joseph: No. 
Mary: Please, tell me. 
Joseph: An angel came to me. He told me the child within you had been conceived by the Holy Spirit and that I should not be afraid. 
Mary: Are you afraid? 
Joseph: Yes. 
[laughing] 
Joseph: Are you? 
Mary: Yes. Do you ever wonder when we'll know? 
Joseph: Know what? 
Mary: When he is more than just a child. Will it be something he says? A look in his eyes?  How do we raise such a child?  
Joseph: I wonder if I will even be able to teach him anything.


I just love that. Mary and Joseph were just normal people. There was nothing special about them, yet they were about to have and raise the Son of God, God Himself in the flesh. Wow. Talk about overwhelming! And I love what that means for us. That even if the task is scary, and seems impossible, God can and will use us, normal, ordinary people to accomplish His purposes. We just have to be willing to step out in faith and submit it all to Him.


With that being said, I just remembered that I haven't posted my weekly photo yet this week. So, in keeping with the nativity theme, I thought I'd get in a photo of our nativity scene (that I took outside). 

Luke 2: 17-20

''When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.''