Scrappin' Seminole

1.7.10 {not beautiful}

What is it about sunrises that are so hard to photograph with an ordinary camera?  I guess it's probably mostly about the lens.  And since I always have had a regular lens, I've never been able to capture indescribable beauty of the sunrise.

Every school morning, first we drop Emma off at school, then Lyss and I head over to her school.  Most mornings, when we drive east towards the main road, the sun is just starting to come up over the horizon and I tell Lyss to look at how beautiful it is.

On this morning, the sunrise was one of the most brilliant, fiery displays I have ever seen.  (Naturally, my iPhone does little justice to it.)

"Lyss, look at that sunrise!  Isn't it gorgeous?"

"No, it's boootifulll!"

"Well, usually it is beautiful, but today it's gorgeous."

"OOoooohhhhh!  Gworjust?"

"Yes."

"Look, Mom!  It's gworjust!"

  

1.6.10 {inquisition}

 

"Mom.  Moomm.  Moooooommmm?"

"Yes?"

"We in the car?"

"Yes."

"OOOhhh. Moomm."

"Yes?"

"Mom, you riding?"

"Yes.  I'm riding."

"OOOhhh.  Daddy's driving?"

"Yes."

"Daddy, you driving?"

"Yes."

"OOOhhh.  Mommy's riding?"

"Yes."

"OOOhhh."

(Emma says something)

"Emma, I wanna to talk to Mom."

(Emma says to go ahead)

"Yes, Lyss?"

"Ummmmm, you got freckles on you face, Emma?"

"Yes."

"Where we goin', Emma?"

"To church."

"OOOhhh. Moommmmm?"

"Yes?"

"We goin' to church, Mom?"

"Yes."

"OOOhhh.  We goin' to church, Emma."

 

And so it goes in the car with the little inquisitor.

1.5.10 {half empty}

So I was thinking about my post from the other day when I came across this picture.

 

I found it on Tara's site and she found it here.

I think it's safe to say that this applies to me.  Big time.

And I'm thinking that it's part of the reason behind the control issue.  Like seeing the glass half empty and all those other great sayings.  Yeah, that's me.  Half empty.  Most of the time.

Anyway. I'm thinking about it.

1.4.10 {flavortown}

Charm City Burger Company. Just about our favorite un-fast food place to eat. We normally just get take out but ate there instead this time.

It's the kind of place you'd see on DDD but apparently Guy's producers preferred this place (also pretty good) which is up the street and right next to the beach. Sigh. They don't know what they missed. 

 
 

1.3.10 {want fries with that?}

Playdough meal courtesy of my creative chef Em. Hamburger, fries and a fruit smoothie, mmmmmmmmm! I won't mention that I took this photo in the bathroom while trying to get my other, stubbornish child to go potty. Oops, too late!

1.2.10 {faith}

 

For the past several years, Ali Edwards has encouraged her readers to choose "One Little Word" that sums up what they want to accomplish during the year. 

My word from last year was "honor."  At that time I was renewing my relationship with God and that was what I wanted to do during 2009, was to honor Him.  I didn't know as much then as I know now about what that really means and I am nowhere close to that accomplishment.  

faith |fāθ|
noun
strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof

ORIGIN Middle English : from Old French feid, from Latin fides.

One thing I have struggled greatly with is maintaining faith in His plan for our lives.  I have a lot of questions about who I am, who God wants me to be and what I need to do with my life.  I'm not certain of where we're heading or how and when we're going to get there.  There is no doubt that my faith in God has helped me through the most difficult and painful days of my life.  I knew He was there and felt His presence exactly like in the Footprints poem.  I knew He was carrying me when I could barely put one foot in front of the other.

As I have pondered my word choice over the past few days I keep thinking about control.  How I like to feel like I have things under control.  How feeling in control brings me comfort.  It makes me look like I have my act together around other people.  It makes me look like I am a good parent.  It makes my classroom look well-disciplined.  But how much am I really in control?  Don't I mess things up a lot when I'm in control?  Even my best laid plans seem to spiral of (my) control with increasing frequency.  And is that all I am concerned about is the way I look to other people?  I didn't think I was that shallow, and yet...there it is in writing.

As I've thought of this one little word, faith, I've had to ask myself:  how can I have faith and be in control?  I think the answer is that I can't.  Faith implies trust and loyalty and being willing to let go.  I've always prided myself (God would not be happy with me for that!) on leaving big decisions up to Him.  For seeking His guidance when it came to where to attend school or where to live or work.  But what about everything else.  Because it's everything else that makes up the majority of our lives.  The big things are few and far between.

So this year I hope to relinquish the desire for control.  To go with the flow, God's flow and experience what He wants for me.

1.1.10 {take two}

I think it's safe to say that last year's Project 365 was a major fail. Lots of reasons but mainly just made it too complicated for myself to keep up.

Then I saw an incredible example of a picture of the day (potd) book here that inspired me to try again.

So this time I'm limiting myself to an iPhone potd. No fancy editing. Pure. Simple. Whatever I can do fast on my phone. I'm not saying I won't include other photos but keeping the bar low is the only way I'm gonna make this happen.

You can imagine my delight when I searched iTunes just now and realized that, yes, there is an app for this, too. Now I can post directly from my phone.

We begin this renewed journey with my sweet eldest child, who has been begging for a Facebook account so she could play Restaurant City. I have said no for a long time because, well, it's Facebook. Finally we decided to let her have a go at it and this is her, on the first day of twenty-ten, setting up her restaurant. After I set up the account under a semi-fake name and locked it down like Fort Knox, of course ;)

Project 365: Valentine week

{Day 43}

Valentine Brush:  scrapnfonts.com

{Day 44}

Valentine Brush:  scrapnfonts.com

{Day 45}

{Day 46}

graphic heart brush:  Designer Digitals

{Day 47}

Love frame:  Andrea Victoria @ Designer Digitals;  Paper:  Mindy Terasawa @ Designer Digitals

{Day 48}

Love frame:  Andrea Victoria @ Designer Digitals

{Day 49}

Valentine Brush:  scrapnfonts.com

Project 365: So much to catch up on

{Day 35}

Super Bowl Sunday.  I am that far behind.  Things have been a bit busier than usual.  Better late than never.  Didn't care a lick about the game.  Went to a little party at my aunt and uncle's and came left around the time the game started so we could get the girls in bed. 

{Day 36}

Slice of life:  a shot of girls in the car on the way home from school.  This is a very telling shot.  Emma's mouth is open because she talks ALL the time.  Lyss loves this "Laughtop" still that Mandy got her for Christmas.  Often, Lyss can be a cranky fussbudget on the way home.  Screeching to have her shoes taken off, put back on, trying to reach a book, NO, the other book.  I remember this day because the toy kept her well occupied.  And, oh yeah--quiet.

{Day 37}

The girls having a snack after school.

{Day 38}

Art work of the week:  Emma's class studied moon phases.

{Day 39}

This was amazing!  Our local grocery featured it in the store and the smell made me turn around to go see what it was.  I have made it three times since (including Valentine's) and am planning to make it again soon.

{Day 40}

Girls' night out:  Mandy and I went out for sushi - which was delicious!  Plus we had a great time hanging out.

{Day 41}

These gorgeous amaryllis bulbs bloomed like crazy for a couple of weeks.  Wait until you see the photo of them lining the walk up to the house.

{Day 42}

Had dinner with a good friend from high school that I hadn't seen in awhile.  This is her cute as can be little girl.

Project 365

{Day 34}