I ♥ Faces

I stumbled upon this neat photo blog site the other day. Actually, it's been a while back and I've just been checking it out but now I have decided to enter one of their contests. The contest category is pouting... and since my children are pros at this one, I figured I would give it a shot!

This picture of Mallori was taken at Jace's 2nd birthday party. I have no idea what she was pouting about, but it is actually one shot in a string of pictures I have affectionately titled "The Many Moods of Mallori." Maybe I'll post the rest of them one day!



If you want to check out some of the other photos, or maybe learn some new techniques, jump over to http://www.iheartfaces.blogspot.com/, or click the button at the beginning of this post.

Lazy Weekend

I feel like I need to update everyone because I'm having blogger withdrawls! However, I'm sure it's affecting me more than you! Jace and I didn't do a whole lot this weekend. We went shopping with my mom and picked up some new shoes for me to go walking in. Of course Jace (rotten little thing that he is) got some new clothes! We also exchanged one of his birthday toys that wasn't working so he got a new Wii game.

On Sunday, I ran with my mom to Wal-Mart to a few things, but mostly so I could see how well my photo shoot with Jace on Saturday turned out. I like to send my photos in to Wal-Mart to proof them before I send them off for real :) Anyway, I print my photos at the little kiosk and bring them to the lady so she can give me an envelope with the price sticker. She paused when she looked at the pictures and flipped through them a few times. No biggie, I've had them think mine were professional before (Not trying to brag but I did think it was kinda cool!) However, the first time, the girl behind the counter was cool with it when I said they were mine and I took them. Not the copyright police I got this time! She examined them a few times, asked to see the originals (umm I just told you I took them.. here's my flash drive, it doesn't get more original than that!) Tyler (and a few other people) have been telling me I need to consider doing photography professionally, so I'd also been playing around with a copyright image. Oops. Apparently that was another red flag...

She had me fill out the form where you sign your life away that they are your pictures, and you are not lying. Then turned to question the man that always works in the photo center. If you go to Silsbee Wal-Mart, you know the one. He's a nice man... going bald.. white hair...glasses? After a few minutes (ok probably seconds) of whispering, he just shrugged his shoulders like it's fine!! Let her go!! I was just about to tell her she could just keep them if she wanted to because I was just trying to proof them and didn't need the proof. I was going to pay because otherwise it would be stealing... when she let me have them!

So the question of the day... here's Exhibit A: The picture as it will actually be printed (Without the copyright Image)

From Anderson Family Photos

Question #1: If you were the lady in Wal-Mart would you questions my honesty?
Question #2: If you were in the market for a photographer, would you actually pay me money to take your pictures?

**On a side note, I don't think I would ever make money in photography. The entire reason I started taking my own pictures was because we couldn't afford good pictures. So I couldn't charge enough to make any money at it because I've been there! I'm thinking if I do go into doing it, I would just charge a little more per print (to cover shipping, etc). If it comes to it, I may be asking for your input again!!

Hope everyone has a good week! I'm excited, I just talked to the people I ordered my purse from and they said to be expecting it at the end of this week!! Yea!

On an even more random note, blogger spellcheck tries to correct Silsbee to slobber.... haha too funny!

Wordless Wednesday

From Hillary's Wedding Shower

Monday Gripes...

**Warning: Do not read this post if you don't want to hear me whine for a few minutes....

Gripe #1: Online banking... it's wonderful and horrible all at the same time! You can see minute by minute updates of your account. But what if you deposit money and 3 hours later it still isn't there? Is it a fluke? Is it just taking some time? Have they not updated yet? Did they get the wrong account number :(

Gripe #2: What's up with a hotel chain charging an entire WEEK'S stay as an "authorization?"!?!?!? Get on board with gas stations and charge $1.00, not over $400!!!

Gripe #3: How come when you want something, it seems like everything stands in your way of getting it?!?! I'm trying to buy it BEFORE the guilt hits and I tell myself that it's really too much money, (even though I slimmed down my selection).

Gripe #4: Why did my Internet have to go to Wyoming with my husband??? He has free wi-fi in his room and the cell phone that connects to the Internet. (Hence the reason you won't be seeing as many updates from me!!)

Can I just go home and climb back into bed?!? Preferably without my 4-year old who decided to start sniffling every 2 seconds at 5am this morning!! (Yes Jace has slept with me since his daddy left... However, that is changing TONIGHT!)


*** Updated ***
Gripe #5: My husband calls to say that he went all the way to Wyoming to work and got SNOWED IN the first day night he's supposed to work. Of coures, I had to immediately get off the phone because I for one am not snowed out, rained out, or it's a pretty day let's go home out!! I'm busy (can't you tell??)

Wyoming or Bust...

So it's official. Tyler left for Wyoming this morning at about 7:20... I was sad to see him go but it is definitely necessary! Jace was excited to be going to Nana's again every day. However, I think he was a little confused. I told him I had somewhere to go tonight and he would be staying at Nana's a little longer than normal and he was quick to chime in "...and Daddy's going to Wyoming and then a baseball game!" Well, not exactly sweetie. I had to explain to him that Daddy was in fact going to Wyoming and it's a LONG LONG LONG way off and Daddy couldn't come home each night. He would be sleeping in a hotel. He looked at me like... hey! You didn't tell me that! Both of the kids hugged him like 20 times before he headed out. At one point, Mallori came running back into the kitchen, arms wide open, tears about to fall, and squeezed the mess out of him! I think they will miss their Daddy.... I KNOW I will!

I talked to him about lunch time and he was headed out of Dallas. I don't know how often he will update, but her is a link to the blog he started if your interested!!

http://tjsjourneys.blogspot.com/

My Weekend!

In reverse order...

Mallori shattered a glass cup while writing a letter to Zoe and her family. I had to stop cooking supper to calm her down (reassure her about 100 times that she was not in trouble, it was an accident) and clean up the mess.

You know you live in the country when you are doing laundry (this is not the time to go into how if I wasn't so behind this couldn't have happened!) and you find a SNAKE in one of your husband's shirts!!! I was ok at first. I called Tyler in to get a closer inspection. I couldn't tell if it was a snake or an earthworm because it was small and slithered away as soon as it saw the light. He just yanked the shirt up (which was between me and the door) and then ran out when I started screaming "IT'S A SNAKE... IT'S A SNAKE!!!" Apparently we scared the little booger as much as he scared us because we had to hunt for about 30 minutes for the it! I was NOT giving up!!! After putting on rubber boots/cowboy boots, we finally found him curled up behind the dryer hose in the corner. We attacked him with a swiffer mop and pulled him out where Tyler proceeded to stomp him to death (I mean literally in half!) You know you really live in the country when you tell your children that you found a "critter" in the house and they guess everything under the sun, spider, tree eater (?), water moccasin, and even baby snake. But shhh we didn't tell them what it actually was, didn't want them to have nightmares.

I took a picture of it with my camera so we could find out what it was. It was a Gulf Coast Ribbon Snake, non-poisonous, and doesn't travel in pairs! I had my zoom lens on when taking the picture and was zoomed in all the way. I was probably at least a foot away from the thing but it looked like it was right in my face. I SCREAMED at the top of my lungs when Tyler barely moved it... remember the snake was dead by this point!

Saturday night was MUCH more relaxing... This is what we did... we made baseballs, bats, and gloves. Then we made a football and goal post. I was going to post a picture of mine but don't want you to get jealous of my play dough skills!


After the playing play dough, we played a couple of rounds of UNO. Mallori & Jace absolutely love this game! They are pretty good too!


Let's hope this week goes by more like Saturday.. not Sunday! Oh yea, we did make it to Redbud.. froze to death watching the parade. Each of the kids had 2 long sleeve shirts/sweaters, jackets and pajama bottoms or tights with blue jeans and hoodies on. They were still freezing! I wish I'd thought to take a picture. It would have been a good comparison to last year when they were sun burnt from spending the day in the nice sunshine!

Jace Dictionary

• Actually - A word used to rebuttal anything you do not like to hear. Might work if you say it sweet enough to people who haven't learned your trick
• Baby Donuts - Donut holes. These can be purchased at the "Baby Donut House"
• Bam - Marshmallows. This word have evolved from "Bam" to "Mar-mellows." Now he can actually say Marshmallow (which isn't nearly as cute)
• Beans & Rice House - Casa Ole or Crazy Jose's
• The Biscuit Place - Red Lobster (Monday through Saturday); Tuffy's (on Sunday)
• Chandelier - a lamp, or light that hangs from the ceiling; not the sun. As seen in Horton Hears a Who
• Color-ons - An art medium used to draw Mommy pretty pictures to hang on the fridge. Synonyms (for everyone else): Crayons, Crayolas
• Cow-milk - Can be bought at Subway. Has a picture of a cow on the bottle. Difference between Cow-milk and regular milk is left to be determined.
• Hockey - A game known to the rest of the world as golf.
• Hug-Sugar - When one sweet little boy hugs you with all his might and gives you a kiss on the check at exactly the same moment.
• Huggy - A big tight hug usually involves picking all 46lbs of Jace up
• Light Sketchers - Any shoes that light up when you walk.
• Pokey Sticks - 1.) A game where you poke a white ball with a stick to make it hit a colored ball into the hole. 2.) A game that you can easily beat Mommy at.
• Punchies - a part two parts of the female anatomy which are at the perfect height for little boys to punch
• Sweat-en - Making you sweat. Commonly used in this whine sentence: "Mommy, can I take my shoes off? They're sweat-en me"
• Tackle hug - The warning that sometimes comes before you are laid out on the ground by a little boy who then squeezes all of the breath out of you!
• Tail - Part of a boy's anatomy that girls do not have. Mallori came up wtih this one but it stuck!
• Tie-on's - Any type of tennis/running shoe. You know any of the ones with laces.
  

Wordless Wednesday

From Wordless Wednesdays

What we've been up to

In a nutshell... hopefully..

Mallori has been enjoying her time with Mommy Amy, Daddy, and Bubba. She had an eye appointment yesterday and good news... no glasses!! I'm excited because I wasn't sure how glasses were going to work with her active, hyper self! The doctor said she was probably just being overly dramatic... who would have guessed that!??!

Tyler has been hanging out at the house, finally getting the lawn mower unstuck, mowing the lawn, fishing with the kids, and cooking supper for all of us. He's also been getting ready to leave for Wyoming on the 21st.

Jace has been hanging out a lot with Daddy and missing Mommy and Nana. He makes me feel horrible when I leave every morning. He's practically begging me to stay... wish I could!! I've gottent more hugs and sugers in the past week than I can count... not that I'm complaining! Before long I'm sure it won't be cool to give Mommy kisses!

I've been working, cleaning, not cooking, trying to stay up to date with my Bible study plans, dreading doing things on the weekend, working, working, cleaning, trying to hold my eyes open long enough to hang out with my family for a little while and falling asleep soon after the kids are in bed. Work is really stressing me out right now. We've just got a lot going on and everyone in the entire firm is on edge! Add that to the normal amount of stress I have tryinig to balance everything and the added stress at home right now and you get a BAD combination! It's literally all I can do to get out of bed in the mornings.... I'll quit complaining now though. I have a job. I have a family to tend to. These are blessings. (Well, not so sure about the job thing... but I have to have it to have some of my other blessings... house, cars, etc.) I try to remind myself of that and that God won't leave me alone! He wants to take my burdens and carry them for me... if I would only let go!

Ok ok I know... I said in a nutshell. So that's it for now. Look for tomorrow's Wordless Wednesday!!!

Wordless Wednesday

From Wordless Wednesdays

25 Things You May Not Know About Yours Truly

In honor of having the privilege to walk on this earth for 25 years...

1. I will probably never live to see my real 25th birthday. Although a lot of people are reaching 100 now... food for thought!
2. I LOVE to sleep. I go to bed between 9 and 10 every night. Occasionally, right after Jace lays down. Sometimes I think I could honestly sleep all day. And if I don't get at least one nap per weekend, my week is shot!
3. I would love to be a stay-at-home mom. Unfortunately, (due to decisions of my own making) that is not a financial possibility. Also, I don't know if I could actually handle being at home all day....
4. I struggle with #3 on a daily basis.
5. I get stressed when my house isn't clean. I don't mean spotless clean, that never happens, but at least not embarrassingly unclean!
6. I've always wanted to learn how to play the piano.
7. I have never in my entire life, played any organized sport.
8. I like to stay home after work and on the weekends. I find myself dreading even going fun places to do fun things, like have someone else buy me whatever I want for my birthday.
9. I make myself get out and I surprise myself when I actually do have a good time!
10. I wish crawfish were in season all year long! I think I could eat my weight in them!!! The spicier the better!
11. I have turned into an only child.
12. I enjoy learning. Just about anything new will peak my interest, except politics!
13. According to my husband, I live in my own little Amy world where everything is perfect. "In my world everyone is a pony, and they all eat rainbows, and poop butterflies" - Katie from Horton Hears a Who
14. If I could go back to college and pick any course to take, I would take photography classes.
15. However, I would never want to be a professional photographer.
16. I have stepped in human poop in a Wal-Mart bathroom when taking Jace for a spanking.
17. I believe there is something comforting in the Bible. (Ok I know there is something, and I know who He is!) But what I mean is even holding a Bible, opening it to any passage, even just turning the pages, speaks to your soul before you read a word on the page.
18. I am personally in charge of approximately $1,000,000.00 per month.... wish it were mine! I'd give you some :)
19. If I had a million dollars (of my own), I'd pay off my house and cars, store some for Mallori's and Jace's college education, take a really nice vacation and put the rest in the bank to draw interest!
20. I knew I worked in day care too long when I wanted to discipline other people's kids that I didn't even know!
21. I've only been on one family vacation in my life, ever. And it wasn't even with Tyler and the kiddos! (My children aren't deprived.... we've been to the beach and stuff, but we've never gone anywhere for an extended period of time...except for evacuations. Those definitely don't count!)
22. Jace can beat me at pool.
23. I don't typically let my kids win games when they play with me. I might modify the rules for myself, make things harder than the actual rules but if it is a game of chance, they get no mercy! Take for example Candy Land. If I draw Princess Lollipop, but golly I'm going!
24. I think there is nothing more embarrassing then one of my kids being out right disobedient in public. However, when I see a mom rushing her screaming 2 year old to the bathroom, I don't think she should be ashamed, I feel sorry for her.
25. I'm just me. It's taken me a while to accept this fact (I'd say a good 19-20 years), but if someone doesn't like me, they can deal with me, or they can move on. There's no point in being someone I'm not because what if they don't like the fake me either?
    

Just for fun... if you want to, leave me a comment with which number you didn't know, or found most surprising, or maybe which ones you did! :) Ok.. it's also so I can see who all actually reads this and if you think I'm totally nutz or not! It's fine if you do!!