Thursday Round Up

Item of the week this week….check it out! Thanks…

And an extra special post over at Just The Girls: RealBeauty Blog. I wouldn’t be so eager to share, but the guy who wrote it is kind of special.

And ETC! 

My mom seems to have taken to heart my ETC post from last week, as she was very willingly in pictures this weekend. (Thanks Mom!)

These pictures are from a family trip to the park. We packed a picnic lunch (and stopped to by MCD tea…)and went to enjoy a beautiful fall afternoon. This park is probably my favorite of the local parks. It has beautiful old trees, which means shade. The play equipment is big enough to accommodate traffic of various ages, but not so big that I can’t easily keep tabs on the kids.

As I was getting these pictures ready to post and thinking of what made all the pictures I had to choose from either good or bad, I realized a few things. First as the photographer, it is important to be generous to those you are photographing. Even when just snapping family shots, take the time to say “your bra strap is showing”, or “here, let me fix your hair.” Not that ever picture has to be perfect, but if you can why not fix it now instead of hate the picture later.

Secondly, editing, specifically cropping is a beautiful thing.

 And finally, just get in the picture! The more pictures you are in the more chances you have to like one, right?

Don't forget to stop over at The Anderson Crew and check out all the other ETC fun!

Vintage Button Bracelet - Item of the Week plus a great find to share!

I have been totally slacking this morning. Well, aside from sending my daughter to school dressed for Yellow Day a day early…but who’s counting, right?

Today’s post is the item of the week. I have decided to create a separate blog page for this. So here is the link. Or you can check it out at the TIAMO shop, here.

And in all my slacking I found something to share with you on another great blog. So check it out here.

And have a Happy Thursday!

There is a great giveaway going on over at Naptime Diaries that includes some goodies from the TIAMO shop. Including a hair tutu of choice from the list of Hair Tutus of the month, and a set of Glad Text cards similar to those found here. I hope you will go enter for a chance to win!

Thursday…Can you believe that it is Thursday already?

Our two week summer reprieve is quickly coming to an end. It really was more like a crazy blend of mad dash to get life back in order and a lazy laid back family decompress.  The kids have really blossomed under their daddy’s influence. 

But today is the end…We have Grace’s pre-school open house and just like that a switch is flipped and the semester begins. Back to School picnics, back to school events, prepping assignments and books, checking calendars, and this year the addition of Grace going to school and on-line classes for me, as well as the commitment to make TIAMO a go and my husband will be working part-time not at school.

As much as that sounds like a heavy sigh, bordering on a complaint…this year it feels like a challenge, a challenge I might be able to live up to.

Regardless it is full of blessings! Like fellowship that is treasured respite from the hustle and bustle. Like a home that is sacred space for our family.

The greatest blessing though is my husband (as much as we might drive each other crazy, as much as I know there is HUGE post-law school adjustment a head of us!).  As he starts his third and final year of law school there is so much happy, fulfilling future in front of him.

He has always been a hard worker, though he sometimes does his best not to look like it. He is thriving on the rigorous law school schedule.  If it is possible, He is more excited about the start of classes now than he was two years ago, and not just because it is the final first day. He loves law, he loves analyzing, he loves “putting bad guys in jail”, and he loves seeing God’s law in our law, and is going to love being a lawyer.

There isn't any greater blessing to a wife than a happy husband. The kids thrive off of that happiness. It makes home life agreeable.

Sometimes it is hard to compete with law school and all that comes with it, but I know he is happy and I know some day (very soon) he will be done and the pace and focus of our lives will change. I am trying not to wish it away, trying to let him have room to savor his successes and prepare for the next challenge (finding a big lawyer job to pay all these big law school bills!).

I couldn’t be prouder…So let the games begin!