An Unextraordinary Life

Maybe.... Facebook?

2012-05-11T14:17:11Z

Okay, I miss you guys a lot, but it's clear that I just won't be able to keep up with you ON LiveJournal. :( :(

If you have Facebook, please feel free to add me! I'm trying to be more active there now too and have created a private list to post to. I'd love to add you.

http://www.facebook.com/lynda.giddens

Absent

2011-08-10T13:08:25Z

I have my head stuck in the sand.

I'm not really posting anything outside of Flickr and G+ right now.

https://plus.google.com/101174714442258565659/

G+ is a LOT like LiveJournal except it's easier to control who sees your private entries. If anyone wants an invite, I'll be happy to send you one!

I'm also posting pictures on Flickr, which can be found here if you want to keep up: svp_photos

I need to make time to come back here and read your posts. :( I miss you guys and hope you're doing well. ::e-hugs::

Some Random Stuff

2011-03-10T16:52:32Z

Apologies for those who subbed to photolynda, but there's a personal photo update on my blog from our recent trip to Fossil Rim, a drive through wildlife reserve. If you're interested, you can see it here.

I've been ridiculously busy the past couple of days and had no chance to exercise. Well, on Tuesday I cleaned the kitchen for an hour so I'm counting that as my exercise. I didn't tell Mark I flaked on my end of the bargain, but I was thinking about exercising for an hour today and tomorrow to make up for it.

My fingers are all sorts of messed up. I don't have hangnails, I'm not sure what they're called... but I have little pieces of skin coming up from the sides of my fingers. I instinctively bite at them or pick at them and it just makes things worse. My fingers (thumbs mostly) have been a wreck for months. Does anyone know what I can do to get my finger skin normal again? Just lots of lotion? This is painful and I'm tired of it. :(

That's all my random updates for now.

I hope everyone's having a great Thursday!

I'm a Bad LJ Friend

2011-03-07T19:22:58Z

But I promise, I'm trying to be better.

I have periods where I don't check LJ for days or weeks. I have notifications set up for some people on my FL, but not all.

If I haven't been commenting on your entries, I'm really sorry. :( You're an awesome person, which is why I wanted to follow you to begin with, I just have really sucky time management skills.

If I've missed anything super important, please let me know or leave me a link!

Mama Guilt

2011-03-07T15:25:55Z

Yesterday the kids were driving me batty. I have no idea why. They were relatively well behaved, but I was in a MOOD.

At one point in the morning, Elias asked to get out the Play-Doh. "Please? Please, Mommy? Please!?"

I said maybe after or during Noah's nap. All I could think about were tiny little playdoh snibbles all over my kitchen floor.

We never played Play-Doh.

I feel like such a heel.

We did dye eggs later in the day (not for Easter, just for fun) and Elias seemed to like that.

I usually try to honor reasonable requests, but when I'm in a MOOD I find that if the request requires a lot of interactivity, set up or clean up I'm much less inclined to agree. I don't want to be a lazy mom. :( My own mom didn't let me do a lot of art projects I asked to do because she didn't feel like cleaning up the mess and I don't want to be that way.

Maybe I'll have the Play-Doh ready for them tonight.

My Blog is Cross-Posting Elsewhere Now

2011-03-04T18:12:53Z

Since I know not everyone on my FL digs photography and I post huge images from my blog, I'm no longer going to cross-post my blog entries to this journal.

I know from my stats that some of you DO like to follow my photography posts, so I've created a new account: photolynda to cross post all my blog entries. Please feel free to follow that account if you're interested. You can still post comments to the LJ account and I'll see them.

I Need a Top!

2011-01-31T15:05:44Z

I found the charger for my Cannon point and shoot which can do video, so I've been taking a lot of videos this weekend.

This one really cracks me up. We were waiting for pizza to warm up. Elias is upset that his cup doesn't have the sippy cup top on it. When he's about to tell me he LOVES a top, he breaks down. Then he gets too distracted from his tantrum watching TV that he can't get his words out right.

At the end I pan to Noah who's eating pretzels and shaking his butt.

Six Flags!

2010-11-22T18:49:35Z

Mark's company hosted a private event at Six Flags over Texas on Saturday, so the two of us planned to take Elias. My mom watched Noah, who we felt would not really get a whole lot out of the experience and would make it much harder for us to get around.

We got there around 9:30 and they'd already opened the park (was supposed to open at 10am.) Mark took a majority of the pictures that day, however I stupidly left the camera on ISO 1600 and didn't think to change it, so all of our photos from the day are grainy and look weird. Booooooooo. I'm also not in love with most of the photos taken that day because I'm in them.

To say Elias had a great time would be an understatement! He's around 38 or 39 inches now and there were tons of rides for 36" tykes. He loved everything he rode on, even the mini roller coaster (which I rode with him even though I HATE roller coasters) and The Conquistador, which is their version of the boat that swings backward and forward, very high off the ground. I HATED the Conquistador, by the way. I'm not much for thrill rides, even the more tame ones. Those two weren't the only rides I had to put on a brave face for, either.

We grabbed lunch around 11:30am, which was a great time as there were no lunch crowds yet. We had to drag Elias kicking and screaming into the Johnny Rockets' for lunch. He wanted to ride an attraction he was too little for and broke down. He'd said he was hungry just moments earlier, so I'm pretty sure the break down had a lot to do with it. Later in the day there was one more ride where he broke down when he found out he was too little to ride it. I'm surprised we stayed at the park until about 5pm and aside from those two little mini-melt downs, Elias was in a terrific, cooperative mood all day long. In addition to that, every time I took him to the restroom, he was dry. He LOVES going potty in new places.

We're thinking of getting Season Passes for 2011 because we all had so much fun.

Here are a few pictures from the day.

Haircut Before & After

2010-10-21T22:33:19Z

Time again for my yearly hair cut!

Didn't realize until looking at this how much grey I had. (This is slept-on hair... please excuse it..)

I actually liked the stylist I saw and will likely go back to her. She didn't insult my hair a single time. She had curly hair as well and she has a 10 month old, so we had something to talk about.

I really like the color! I got highlights about two shades lighter than my natural color.

I asked her to straighten it since I'm so lazy and rarely do it. The wind was blowing, but you get the idea. I'm nervous to see what it looks like curly because it's much more layered than I've done before.

Sweet Kids

2010-10-20T14:47:27Z

Last night we were out front playing in the yard and walking up and down the street. A little boy who looked between Noah and Elias in age came by with his mom on a Cars power-wheel.

Elias ran up to him and said, "Hi little boy! That's a NICE car!" He bent down, thoroughly inspecting it and petting it like a dog.

The mom told the little boy to say thank you and Elias said, "Thank you!"

He's a really sweet kid.

Of course after writing that Noah is ~~the spawn of Satan~~ a challenging toddler, he was in a great mood all last night and this morning. He did throw a 10 minute tantrum at the back door when we wouldn't let him go outside right before bedtime. He didn't want to be picked up and wouldn't come over and play toys with me, so I ignored it. Sorry kid, you don't get everything you want.

Part of the reason for the tantrum is because Noah was SO tired. When I went to pick them up from daycare at 4, his teacher said he'd been trying to fall asleep right before that. We went out to dinner and the boys did REALLY well. Elias sits in a regular chair when we go out now. He ate up pizza and spaghetti. (Frequently, he'll eat nothing at all.) Noah ate up pizza and my mom's fettuccine alfredo. Toward the end of the meal, the boys were getting RESTLESS and running around near our table. We were the only people in the main dining area, so I didn't really feel bad about it. I never would've let them do it otherwise. I need to remember to bring activities for the kids when we go out to eat.

Noah's been waking up around 5:30-5:45 in the morning and it's annoying. Mark doesn't need to get up until 6 or 7 (depending on his schedule) and I can sleep as long as the kids let me sleep. Elias is also getting up earlier than usual so we decided to push back their bedtime to see if it helped any. Bedtime is at 8pm - Mark gets Noah to sleep and I get Elias to sleep. Elias takes substantially longer because we read additional stories and I stay there singing songs and rubbing his back until he falls asleep. (Prior to moving to Texas, we'd just tuck him in at night and he'd drift off on his own. He was afraid of his room when we first moved here, so I started cuddling him until he fell asleep and that's the way he wants it now. I'm fine with this and actually look forward to it.) So Elias falls asleep usually 30-60 minutes after Noah does.

We tried bedtime at 8:30 last night. Noah woke at 5:15 and Elias woke at 6:15. Maybe when we get back from Austin, we'll try pushing it back to 9pm. I'd like to have SOME time alone with Mark in the evening before we need to go to bed.

This morning I didn't want to get up at 5:15, so I took Noah to bed and to my delight, he quickly fell back asleep. I'd been putting him in between me and Mark, but he kept kicking Mark in the back and side, so I just put him on the side of the bed next to me. He's really good about getting down from the bed and even if he did fall, it shouldn't hurt him. This morning Elias came into our room and climbed up in bed and cuddled Noah. It was adorable. Of course, Noah woke up and was raring to go, so he climbed down off the bed.

I got out of bed with Noah and told Elias he could stay in bed cuddled up to Daddy if he wanted. Noah and I went into the bathroom so I could get dressed. It's his favorite place to be in the morning. He walks around pointing to everything and throws things into the tub. When I came back out into the bedroom, Elias and Mark were cuddled up face to face and Elias was stroking Mark's beard. He's the sweetest kid EVER.

I really love my family.

Five Ways to Feed Your Creativity for $35 or Less

2010-07-08T00:31:43Z

Starting this week, I’m diving head-first into a plethora of creative endeavors and I hope not to overwhelm myself. While there’s a huge variety of free inspiration to be found, sometimes you need to shell out a little bit of cash to get quality material, tutorials or one-on-one interaction.

In the world of photography, one can easily spend hundreds of dollars and come away feeling dazed and like they just threw their money down the toilet. SO many photography workbooks, workshops, tutorials and the like cost hundreds of dollars! I’m not saying they aren’t worth it, but I am not a professional. I just want to learn more about photography and take great pictures of my kids and my life. So you’ll excuse me if I don’t want to shell out $250 for a workshop or $400 for what amounts to a book.

I realize the value of paying for quality, but I also recognize a great deal when I see one. In this article, I’ve detailed several photographic resources or workshops I’ve recently purchased. All were right around $35 or less! I hope as I start or continue to use these resources, it will provide more fodder for my blog.

1. Love That Shot – $35

Love That Shot offers photography and photoshop tutorials with premium content for paying members. I signed up for a quarter’s worth of access because I was interested in taking their Blossom Workshop at the end of July. The workshop focuses on floral photography and is free for paying members, but $65 as a stand-alone. Joining up seemed like a no-brainer to me! You can also get monthly membership for $15. Their tutorial information is very good and they have some awesome freebies on their site. I’ll be writing more about their freebies in an upcoming article series on free texture and action resources.

Even though I don’t have a macro lens, I’m excited about the workshop. I figure you’ll probably tire of seeing the three flowering plants located on my patio, so I should probably plan on trips to the botanical gardens during this time.

Tagged: blogging, books, inspiration, problogger's 31 days, workshops

2. Clickin’ Moms – $30

Clickin’ Moms is the largest group of women photographers I’ve seen collected. So many people whose blogs I follow are members of Clickin’ Moms and their photos are awesome! I’ve read nothing but great things about them, so when they had a discount promotion last week, I jumped on it. I signed up for six months for $27. I have to admit, part of the reason I signed up was their little blurb about “Optional Workshops” as a membership benefit. I did not realize until actually gaining access to the forums that these “Optional Workshops” are all $250+ and sell out so quickly that few members who are interested can ever register. It’s very difficult to get into any workshops unless you have a Lifetime Membership, at about $200. The forums seem very fun and I can’t wait to dive into them more, but I’m not sure if that alone is worth me continuing with them after my six months are done.

On the plus side, Amanda Padgett convinced me to sign up and I did so through her affiliate link. She thanked me by gifting me FIVE of her Everyday Actions for FREE! That alone was definitely worth the $27! I chose Cool and Crisp, Morning Light, Bluegrass, Hip Retro and Cow Special. I can’t wait to play around with them and see what they can do!

If you want a FREE resource similar to Clickin’ Moms but not nearly as developed, try out The Photo Moms. I’ve just joined their forum, but it seems comprehensive and has a lot of activity!

3. Photography Books – $36

Books are probably the cheapest way to get reliable photography information. Most photography books I’ve seen on Amazon are priced between $15-$45 so they are very affordable! The topics are varied, so you can select only the books you need or want to become a better photographer.

It was very difficult to limit myself to just two books! I didn’t want to spend a whole lot of money all at once, nor did I want to overwhelm myself with information. Since having the kids, reading books is not something I get to do often. In fact, I need to finish reading Understanding Exposure before starting the two I just bought!

After diligently researching the contents of the book through the Look Inside feature and reading through reviews, I chose The Digital Photography Book by Scott Kelby. I’m familiar with his Photoshop tutorials and it was so very difficult not buying one of his great photoshop books, but at the moment I want editing to take a back seat to learning photography. He’s up to his third volume of this book now. At first I was going to buy the third volume, but after looking inside and reading the first few pages, I realized that it’s a continuation of his second volume and it would be wise to start with the first. I’m excited to get this and start reading it! He phrases his tips very conversationally and states point-blank that he tells you how to achieve great results without delving too much into the “why”. He figures people will care more about why their photos are turning out great once they start seeing consistent results from their efforts. I like the idea of this approach since I learn so much more through example than book learning.

I found a whole series of photo workshop books by Photoworkshop.com and they’re all very highly rated with glowing reviews. They’re on the cheaper side of photography books, so I decided to try out Photographing Children Photo Workshop. Apparently you can go to the website and register for free to follow along with the assignments in the book. You can upload your assignment submission and view others.

As a side note, if you like shopping at Amazon.com and you’re not a member of Amazon Prime, I cannot recommend it enough. You pay $79 for a year’s worth of access and get free 2-day shipping on all Amazon Prime eligible orders. We actually LOVE this because we don’t like shopping for most things in a store. Using Prime saves a lot in shipping costs over the course of the year if you purchase frequently from Amazon and they almost always have a lower price than a brick and mortar store. Think of it as saving yourself time and gas! You can get a lot more from Amazon than books and movies too. We get a lot of household items and toys there. I’ve even bought vitamins and hair products off Amazon before! With Prime I know that I’ll get my order quickly and can buy almost anything I want without worrying about shipping costs.

4. Problogger’s Build a Better Blog in 31 Days – $15-20

I’ve already talked about this quite a bit. On July 19, a group of bloggers over at Bloggy Bootcamp’s BlogFrog forum will be participating in Problogger’s 31 Days to Build a Better Blog workbook. I’ve been blogging for over 10 years, but this is the first blog I’ve had with a true purpose. I hope following through the workbook’s suggestions will help me improve my content and gain me some readers. It will be reassuring going through the 30 day process with a large group of other bloggers as well and I can only imagine that will increase my readership a little bit as well.

There is still time to take advantage of the 25% off by participating with the group! Just head on over to the BlogFrog discussion thread to sign up. The ebook is regularly $39 and they’re running a promo right now at $20. That means it’s only $15 if you use the coupon code: BlogFrog25! What a great deal!

I’ve read through most of this ebook and a lot of the tips can be found on Problogger’s website, if you want to dig for it. The workbook puts all the tips together into cohesive lessons with assignments. The book itself is about 90 pages, but if you go through and read all the recommended links, it’s probably closer to a 400 page workbook. If you’re interested in being a better blogger, I definitely recommend joining us on the 19th!

5. Simplicity Photography eCourse – $20

I saved the best, as I promise you this is by far the best value of all the great deals listed here!

Simplicity Photography eCourse started on Monday! The instructor, Faith, is an amateur photographer who takes wonderful photographs and I feel so privileged to be taught by her in an environment of other really good photographers! The interactive portion of the class is on my favorite photographic website, Flickr and it’s working out so well! Each week includes two PDF lessons which are short and make for easy reading, but are packed with tips and tricks! Her writing is conversational and easy to follow and she uses photographic examples to illustrate her points, which I love. There are two assignments each week and a guest photographer is invited each week to critique the submissions. Faith responds very quickly to all submissions and questions and is a wonderful workshop host!

She is offering a more advanced DSLR eCourse starting in September! Registration will open soon and starts at $22. In August the price will be raised to $25, so register early! I already know I’m taking her workshop in September, so I would love to work alongside you!

Week One of this course is about Lighting and Potographing People. It’s a wonderful start as lighting is one of the most challenging aspects of photography. Our first assignment was to photograph an object near a light source from three different angles and post the straight-out-of-the-camera results. My results are shown above. Both Elias and Noah were nearby when I was trying to complete this assignment and keeping their hands off the object being photographed was impossible. I meant to shoot in manual mode to make sure I was challenging myself to the full extent, but I honestly forgot! I was just trying to take some shots before the kids knocked over my subject. Still, the experiment was very enlightening and I think it deserves repeating from time to time.

Inspired by Faith’s lessons: On the left, I used a flash on Noah as filler light in the harsh bright daylight. On the right, I took advantage of the lighting to capture Elias plaing.

If you’re kicking yourself for missing the registration for the beginner’s class, as you should be, Faith is offering it again in October! Have no fear!

It’s a crazy expensive world out there for photographers, so I hope you found one affordable way to boost your creativity and improve your skill through my links. Please feel free to leave a comment with your suggestion to feed your creativity for under $35!

Tagged: blogging, books, inspiration, problogger's 31 days, workshops

Published at Daily Window. Please comment there or here.
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Posted in: Photography. Tags: blogging, books, inspiration, problogger's 31 days, workshops

Noah’s Coming [133/365]

2010-05-15T06:41:55Z

The boys and I spent about two hours in the playroom tonight. It was refreshing to see Elias actually play with his vast amount of toys instead of running all over the house or watching TV. Noah was happy as a clam to go from one end of the playroom to the other as long as Elias was in sight.

My mom got this classic pop-up toy for Noah shortly after we moved here. He doesn’t understand the concept of pushing, twisting or flipping the button to get the doors to pop up, but he enjoys closing the lids.

Blog Comments

2010-05-04T02:53:45Z

I realize I'm going to lose comments from some of you, but I've decided to disable LJ comments on my public blog cross-post entries. I am excited about having a public blog again and want to keep it up. I don't think that's going to happen if I keep using LJ as a crutch.

I hope that you'll consider making comments on my public blog because I really appreciate each one of them. You don't need to leave your real name and your email address is asked for, but never used for anything. If you create or have a Gravatar account, you can associate an icon with your email address.

Unfortunately when I changed that setting, it deleted all my cross-post entries and I lost all your comments so far, which saddens me. At least I still have them in emails.

Old Friends

2010-04-28T17:35:26Z

Happy birthday dreamalynn. (At least according to LJ.) I miss you and hope you are doing well.

I think of Dreama from time to time. I know she withdrew from the internet, at least under that pseudonym. I don't know what caused her to leave, but I certainly respect her decision. The last I heard from her was shortly after I found out I was pregnant with Noah.

There are so many people from the old school journaling community that either left the internet for good or I completely lost touch with. It's hard to believe I've been following some of you for as long as I have. I feel blessed to have been able to share in the stories of your lives.

Comment to see

2010-04-28T12:11:16Z

A couple of years ago, I did a "comment to see" meme which was fun, so I'd like to to do it again, but I need your suggestions!

If there's anything you want me to take a picture of and see, even if it's something mundane like the inside of my purse or whatever, please comment here! I'll take a picture today and hopefully post them all by tomorrow.

Mostly a Noah Update

2010-04-27T19:48:04Z

Noah's feet get dirty as all sin. I have no idea how this happens, but it's been that way since he was a newborn. His feet must attract dirt to it. We do not give daily baths since the rest of him doesn't need to be cleaned daily. Yesterday I took a wet rag to his feet to rub the dirt off and he giggled and giggled! Baby laughs are the cutest.

Meeting his brother's milestone, he finally started crawling at 10.5 months. For the past month or so, he's been able to get where he wants to go by laying on his side and sitting back up in a different position. It's been funny to watch. Now he's finally connected how to move his arms and legs together to crawl. It's also a really funny sight. I'm reminded how much I hate the crawling/pulling-up stage though. I'd rather have a walker than a crawler.

He likes standing up at his toys, but he can't pull himself all the way up yet. If you prop him up on something, he'll remain standing for a good 5-10 minutes before returning to the floor.

Picture taken by Mark

Though he is smaller than Elias was at the same age, he is much more demanding when it comes to food. If you're eating and don't offer him some, there will be hell to pay! Sometimes he screams because he can't shovel the food into his mouth fast enough. At the ball game, Mark's niece gave him some of her fruit chill. He wasn't expecting something so cold, so he started crying when the bite entered his mouth. He spit the rest onto the hand of Mark's mom. Once he swallowed what he had, he yelled to have the rest of the bite returned to him. He's never met a food he didn't like.

Here he is with a lunch of green beans, peaches and a cut up hot dog. (I know hot dogs aren't the most healthy things. Bite me.) Last night he had cut up chicken; macaroni and cheese; and a yellow and green string bean, carrot, cranberry side with a cranberry balsamic glaze (it was a pre-packaged frozen side dish, but yummy!) I didn't give him the cranberries, but I figured the glaze wasn't going to hurt him. We're pretty much over food restrictions now with the exception of peanuts and shellfish. He hasn't had berries or citrus yet, but I think he's close enough to a year to try them and monitor his reaction.

He's very adept at picking up food and putting it into his mouth. He is like his brother in that one hand always contains back up food and the other hand focuses on delivering the food to the mouth.

Yesterday he ate a WHOLE banana. He demanded it. There was only one banana left this morning so Elias got it. Elias has been eating a banana a day for breakfast since shortly after he turned a year old. Everyone else likes to eat bananas too, on occasion. Thankfully bananas are cheap because I buy an awful lot of them! I have no idea how Noah can can fit so much in his belly.

Wow. I'm sure I have more to say, but I've had this post sitting open for three or four hours now, so I'm just going to post it and hope I didn't forget anything too important. :)

I hope you all are doing well.

Saturday - Rangers Game

2010-04-26T13:11:42Z

Every year Mark's parents take the family to a Texas Rangers game to celebrate his mom's birthday. His parents are HUGE Rangers fans! We've never been able to go before, but since we're living here now, we were able to go! It was a lot of fun.

My mom and I went to the mall Saturday late morning with Elias trying to find some Rangers gear for toddler and infants. We didn't find anything there but a Carter's sale at Sears. My mom bought them some clothes and also got a Thomas the train backpack and some sunglasses for Elias. We had a lot of fun at the mall. We didn't take a stroller because Elias has two perfectly good feet and I was hoping it might tire him out enough to take a nap when we got back.

After walking around the mall a while, mom and I got some smoothies and intended to go sit down and let Elias play in the kids area. When we got there we found it was socks only (Elias was wearing sandals) and he didn't meet the height requirement. I would have let him go in anyway if I'd had socks because there was nothing there that would have hurt him and there were kids shorter than him there. So instead, we sat down in a cushy seat and people-watched. At one point, a girl who was obviously older than Elias passed by us in a stroller. Elias pointed and said probably too loudly, "Baby!" The little girl (she must have been at least five) glared at Elias. But seriously... why are parents pushing their very capable kids around in a stroller?

We went to Target after the mall and found Rangers outfits for both of them! I spent way too much money again (KEEP ME AWAY FROM TARGET!) I got another dress, some fancy looking flip flops (I hate shoes and only had a pair of black flats which went with none of my new clothes) a new purse (the zipper off my old purse broke in the Target) and a couple of bottle of nail polish for my toes (I don't wear it on my fingers.)

We didn't get back until a little after 4pm and by then it was too late for Elias to take a nap. He slept a little in the car ride back, so that was something. We left for the game around 5:30. It started at 7:30.

Elias and Noah did really well. I didn't pay attention to the game at all because keeping track of the both of them was a full time job. That was fine with me. The atmosphere was fun! Elias had a good time going from person to person begging snacks from them. I tried explaining to him that the pitcher threw the ball to the batter and he was interested in that for half an inning. Noah was skeptical of it all from the walk to the parking lot. He was passed around to the whole family and cried on just about each of them. Finally Mark's parents started feeding him snacks and he was happy.

We left in the middle of the 6th inning (around 9:30pm). Both boys were still doing okay, but I didn't want an all-out melt down from each of them and I wanted to spend some time with Mark since we were apart most of the day.

Lots of pictures below. The full Flickr photoset is here

Project 365 – A 3 Month Detour

2010-04-24T05:31:26Z

In February we unexpectedly and quickly decided to move to Texas, as my husband was offered a job there. I thought I could keep it up, but my goal to take a photo a day for the full year (Project 365) fell by the wayside in all the chaos. I did pick up the camera every once in a while, but nowhere near as often as I should have.

I’m excited to start shooting here in Fort Worth! Technological difficulties and time constraints have prevented me from being able to edit my photos, so my camera’s SD card has been full. I’ve been deleting photos here and there to take another (which I hate to do).

By May, I will be back to daily photography and resume Project 365.

Row 1
1. 02-20-10 Elias in the Pantry, 2. 02-19-10 Noah in the Exersaucer, 3. 02-20-10 Noah in the Booster, 4. 02-20-10 On a Walk

Row 2
5. 02-20-10 Teyla Freshly Groomed, 6. 02-20-10 On a Walk 04, 7. 02-25-10 Noah and Train Toy 03, 8. 02-26-10 Waffle French Toast

Row 3
9. 02-25-10 Turtle Brownies, 10. 03-08-10 Noah on the Bathroom Counter 02, 11. 03-18-10 Packing, 12. 03-22-10 Noah Crayon Face

Row 4
13. 03-24-10 Unpacking, 14. 03-30-10 Elias Messy Hair and Sidewalk Chalk, 15. 04-12-10 Sha’re, 16. 04-22-10 Earth Day Elias and Mom 02

Originally published at Lynda's External Blog. You can comment here or there.

Back on the Horse

2010-04-20T01:16:18Z

The whole entire weekend was a wash. I ate more calories than I burned both Friday and Saturday and didn’t even bother recording my calories on Sunday. I didn’t work out Friday through today.

I haven’t eaten wonderfully today at all, but I’m on target calorie-wise. I definitely plan to get up early tomorrow and exercise. I know I’ll feel better.

Unfortunately I can’t reach all my week two goals, but I’ll take these as lessons learned for week three. I’m getting back on that horse and not letting a few bad days and poor choices get me down.

Originally published at Lynda's External Blog. You can comment here or there.

Eating Out

2010-04-18T03:02:56Z

I’m already behind on my Week Two goals. I did not work out today, though I could have. I didn’t feel as bad as yesterday, in fact not bad at all. To make matters worse, I made the poor decision to eat Whataburger last night which was about a million calories. I did record it at DailyBurn to try to keep myself honest. It completely wasn’t worth it. Not that it wasn’t good, but it wasn’t even worth breaking my diet for.

Then tonight we ate at a steakhouse. I got a 6oz Filet Mignon, baked sweet potato (I ordered it loaded with marshmallows and caramel since my day was already ruined nutrition-wise, but the gods intervened and the waiter didn’t hear me so I got a regular baked sweet potato) and grilled vegetables. But I also had rolls and sprite, which completely pushed me over the edge.

We ate On the Border on Thursday and I actually came in under my goal.

No more eating out though. And I need to work out tomorrow no matter what.

Originally published at Lynda's External Blog. You can comment here or there.

Low Energy Day

2010-04-16T15:21:21Z

I am so low energy today, thanks to what I can only assume is the start of my cycle last night. I didn’t wake up until 8am after a rough night of sleep. I couldn’t bring myself to work out. I ache and generally don’t feel like moving at all. At least now I know why my weight was fluctuating all last week.

I really hope I feel better tomorrow. I don’t want to waste away the weekend being unable to move.

What foods work well to boost your energy?

Originally published at Lynda's External Blog. You can comment here or there.

Recent Camera Phone Pics

2010-04-11T03:56:44Z

Click the photo for a larger size.

Elias likes to pick the flowers off the weeds and bring them to us.

Someone was eating food and not offering any to Noah.

This was an accidental project where I spilled a whole bag of foam ball stickers on the floor and Elias wouldn't relinquish them. I got him a piece of construction paper and he happily stuck ALL the stickers on the paper. The process took at least 30 minutes. About halfway through I put one of the stickers on my nose and he thought it was hilarious. I handed him the sticker and he did the same. When I snapped this shot, he immediately wanted to see it to see what he looked like! After that, each of the stickers was placed on his nose before it reached the paper.

Elias is all about the crafts lately! Yesterday we came upon some of his Crayola toddler markers when I was unpacking a box and I got out some paint brushes and we painted a picture. Today he asked specifically to paint, so I set him up with the markers (which can be pressed down to make a little puddle of paint), paint brushes, foam brushes and some cat stamps I found from when I did scrapbooking. The stamps worked really well with the markers and Elias loved them! After a while we got out some stickers and he put those on. (That picture is not the one shown here. I really like the way it turned out!) I used one of the paintbrushes and the marker to paint a little heart on his face, which he also loved.

The whole session lasted about 2 hours and Elias did four pieces of art total. The first two were done with finger paints, which was MUCH messier than the markers. Easy to clean up, yes, but I don't like dealing with all that mess as it's happening. The best part about this painting time is that he doesn't need much help at all, won't make a mess on his own and is really interested in making his art. I was mostly organizing the kitchen, stopping to help him every so often, while he painted. It's a lot of fun to sit there and paint with him, too.

DailyBurn?

2010-04-08T19:20:55Z

Is anyone else on DailyBurn? It seems a pretty cool and easy way to track your nutrition and workouts. So far, I like it better than Spark People (much easier to use).

Here I am:

http://dailyburn.com/locker_room/digitalwoe

Please share your profile if you're using it!

Easter Fun! Pictures and Videos

2010-04-06T16:10:10Z

Warning! This post is VERY photo-heavy!

We had an awesome Easter! Mark's parents got two Easter baskets and Elias picked out the one he wanted: it had a squirt gun inside! Mark filled it and took Elias out immediately to play with the squirt gun. Elias loved walking around the huge backyard pointing out flowers and objects and squirting at various things.

Mark tied the bow from Elias' Easter basket to his wrist so he had a little corsage on. So cute! My mom later ridid it to go through one of his button holes on his shirt, but he didn't like that and took it off shortly after.

Once we finished our backyard adventure, lunch was about ready. We had ham, brisket, baked beans, a cheesy rice and broccoli casserole and sweet potatoes. Mark got Elias his own plate with a little bit of everything, but he wouldn't touch it. Noah, on the other hand, eagerly ate a good third of Elias' plate. Eagerly doesn't really describe it because he'd get downright pissed if it took too long for me to put something in his mouth. Eventually Elias did eat some food off my mom's plate and he got some chocolate pie from both Mark and my mom.

After lunch, we did the Easter egg hunt. Mark's sister Kathy led it - she is SO good with Elias and children in general. Once Elias found all the eggs, she started stealing some from his basket to rehide.

For some reason, Elias put his first couple of eggs in the basket I was holding.

Real eggs were hidden along with plastic eggs that had chocolate and jelly beans inside. When he found his first plastic egg, Elias stopped to examine its contents and the hunt almost ended right there. LOL

Noah: "Hey, this egg belong to anyone?"

Noah went down for a nap after the hunt and Kathy, my mom, Mark and I took Elias to a park nearby. There were lots of people there, but you weren't tripping over people and nothing was too crowded. We started out on the playground, then went to feed the ducks and geese, walked across a "bridge" in the water, then visited the train and finished our walk by visiting the lifesize buffalo statue. People were having Easter Egg hunts all over the park and Elias almost crashed a couple of them (but what do they expect, "hiding" eggs in a public park?) Unfortunately many people there didn't know how to pick up their trash, so Kathy and I went around collecting some non-gross trash to throw away. By the time we went back out to the car, Elias was pointing at trash and calling it out. Someone even threw a dirty diaper in the parking lot! What on earth is wrong with people!?

That park was really awesome and it was the perfect day out for it! I think we'll need to visit that park regularly when we visit Mark's parents. Maybe my mom can even take the boys over to his parents' house for an afternoon and go to that park. We have a little park a short walk from here, but it's kind of crappy.

Looking down the pole slide. That's Kathy in the background.

Elias' first big slide! The look on his face as he started down was sheer terror, but by the bottom he was raring to go again!

Kathy climbed up the playground equipment with Elias. She is a wonderful aunt!

Some kind stranger helped Elias down this smaller slide.

Elias was a little anxious about swinging. He's never been much for movement. We think he probably won't like rollercoasters.

Video of Elias on the swing:

Video of Elias feeding the birds:

Water drain for the creek

Video: Elias' commentary on the train:

Ahhh, refreshing water

When we got back home, we learned that Noah woke from his nap shortly after we left. Mark's dad took him out to his mom and Noah fell back asleep almost immediately. Noah and his granny had a nice afternoon nap together!

Hey Moms

2010-03-27T13:50:50Z

Supporting someone does not mean telling them what they want to hear or telling them it's okay to take the easy way out.

Why is that so hard to understand, especially with regard to breastfeeding?