Rewind

After a splendid Sunday my kids sit now at the counter eating cereal and bananas for dinner.

We've just had a bit of a dance off, not quite as comical as Bill Cosby and 'Sandman' Sims (remember that, "challenge!") but my son kept at it saying, "Mommy, can you do this?" At first he seemed surprised that I could and then he became impressed and then really competitive. "Well, how about this" doing some jump into a spin, jumping out and landing directly on his knees. Ah, not with these ol' knees, even on carpet, but give me a pair of knee pads and I'll barely keep up!

Right before this the kids were outside enjoying the spectacular that Autumn has to offer on sunny days. My son steps inside to say, "The baseball is stuck up on the roof, but it's not going down into any guts.......(10 seconds pass)....What are you laughing at? It's not even a joke or anything!"

During "quiet" time my daughter who is fighting naps lately sung and put about six babies and bears to sleep singing to various songs to them and then woke them up saying, "all fall down!" Yes, I use the word quiet time loosely!

Previously we took our dog Tyler for a walk. I chatted with my Dad, my son climbed trees while my daughter rolled down a small hill. All thoroughly enjoying what the day had to offer.

We dropped Daddy at work after a morning full of church and wonderful worship.

Now the kids are showering and then we'll go pick up Adam, get kids to bed and enjoy some time together. I have a feeling he's going to make me guacamole for my dinner - yup serious health kick and organized meal planning needed around here!

Life is such an amazing blessing!

Full Relationships

I've recently been convicted about something. I've been terrible at sending birthday gifts, cards and general well wishes. I still haven't sent my Mom, Dad or sister their birthday cards or gifts from July and August.(I know, GASP!)

Part of it is that it's hard to pick out gifts(we have only one car), get to the post office (expensive to send) and how many other excuses - for people that live across the country. But they are not just people, they are MY people.

This video shows a school teacher, Mr. Stroup, who writes to all of the students he's ever taught on their birthdays. All 2,500 of them, every year! It is so sweet and encouraging.

I'm sure that my family would have appreciated even a hand written letter on lined paper. I know they appreciated that I called and emailed and facebooked them all to acknowledge their day. My family all tell me it's okay because I'm busy with my life and my kids. While it might be okay, my life is NOT about me and I'm not outwardly showing that to those closest to me. I desire for them to know that even though I'm busy, I took time out especially and just for them. Because YOU are that special to me!

John, chapter 4 tells of Jesus and the woman at the well. I never really got what others I knew so deeply loved about this passage. Living water, yes, that is very important. The thing that hit me this past week however was that Jesus spoke to a Samaritan woman. You might think, big deal. Yes, big deal! Not only was she a Samaritan, but a woman, and an outcast or at least not very well liked by the others. She had to come get her water in the heat of the day when no one else would be there. She had five husbands and was living with another man, she was a sinner, in a big way!

He was all about relationships and He always had time for others, even in his own weariness. No matter how noble or humble their lives were, He cared for them. He didn't miss an opportunity because He was too tired from His journey, He made no excuse or complaint. He loves every one of us and I believe he wants us to have a life full of the relationships of those around us. He wants us to care and love one another as He loves us.

I know that no matter how hard any of us tries we'll never be perfect at loving others like Jesus was in his life on earth nor as he loves us still. We are not capable of the perfect love of God, yet another reason we need His Son! Does this then mean that we shouldn't try, just because we won't be perfect. Of course not, the reward is the fulfilling lifelong relationships with those we love. Reaching out to them not to show perfection or out of obligation but desiring them enough to do something small to let them know just how big they are to our hearts.

Spiderman Saves the Monkey Princess!!

But first, let's go back to last night. While Mom busily cooked an amazing meatloaf with spinach and biscuits,

the baby painted a beautiful pumpkin.

Across the dining room, the big brother pointed out where his Dad should carve out his pumpkin.

All had a blast!

Including the Daddy who carved his own masterpiece!

This morning, the Butterfly family awoke to some most unusual happenings. First, The Big Brother had a mark on his hand that looked like some kind of bite, he also showed signs of unusual strength by carrying his sister around. The Baby Sister only wanted to eat bananas all morning long, not really so unusual but she was also climbing the counters (still fairly normal) and her ears seemed a bit larger.

Pretty soon, "shazam" things were really out of control. This "friendly neighborhood Spiderman" showed up to save some sort of Monkey Princess.

The Mama just figured she better help out, so together they found the Monkey Princess. But she couldn't find her bananas, and she was very hungry.

Spidey quickly retrieved a bunch of very ripe yellow and slightly brown bananas with his super fast webs. Then he remembered, "ooops" Monkey Princesses only eat very special bananas with no brown, only gold and yellow sparkles.

Quickly three glittery bananas were located and Spiderman saved the day for one little cutie. Reunited with her banana, the Monkey Princess spoke a very happy "oo-ooo-aha-ha-aa-aa" and they all lived happily ever after.

The End.

Behind the scenes: Spidey is one funny and silly little guy! He tells me that he doesn't like to hurt anyone, but bad guys have to get to the police. So he helps the fight grime. He also wanted everyone to see the face beneath the mask! Yikes!

Just one more...

Since March I've been reading a photo workshop book called Photographing Children given to me by my fabulous sister. Applying the things I've learned has made a vast improvement in my photos. My husband has a knack and a raw talent for photography, he really enjoys it and he's good at it. For me it wasn't so natural and I was having trouble figuring out what I wanted from our family photos. I was also frustrated that we could both use the same camera but my pictures never looked as good as his.

This year it was easier for me to communicate what I wanted. Even though we were not all dressed (coordinated at all) for family photos the ones we took turned out cute and these ones of the kids on the stool are priceless. I finally was able to convey to Adam that I wanted the background out of focus, and he easily did it where it still takes me a minute. I'm slowly learning how to take the photos that I desire.

I just happened to turn the stool backwards when we were just about done and I like it better than most of the ones of their front. Even though it seems like most of the photo is of the bars of the stool, to me it brings the focus to their faces, not their clothes. We were also fighting clouds vs direct sun so without having any excess equipment we did our best. Again I'm using the term 'we' lightly, I really must say thank you to my wonderful husband for being patient with me and truly amazing. He really rocks! It will only take him a minute to photoshop the people in the background out, I'm still a snail at that stuff!

No more pouting about bad photos...

Second Fave!

I know, it's not a typical family photo and when we took it I didn't think I'd like it at all, usually I like the kids to be more prominent. After looking over the more posed pictures I really like that the kids are in the background being natural.

Some silly ones toward the end of our marathon, I don't think the camera wanted to focus anymore by this point!

Wondering What this says about me!

Out of 653 photos my husband took of all of us yesterday, this one could just very well be my favorite.

Something about fall says 'family photos' and after two parks and a ton of casual cute photos this one speaks to me. Maybe I'm just a backwards gal! We did get TONS of cute ones of the kids, SEVERAL out of focus, MANY pouting faces but this is my FAVORITE family shot.

I'll share my second favorite tomorrow :!)

My Knight In Shining Armor

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Ephesians 6:10-18