Shooting the Moon

We recently had a supermoon this month in case you missed it. The moon was the closest it has been to the earth in over 18 years. And of course photographers around the world were excited to "shoot the moon". I wanted to get an awesome shot myself but I was stumped on how to do so. How do you take a picture of a big ball of reflected light? Thankfully I follow an amazing Photography blog done by MCP Actions and headed up by Jodi. She has incredible photoshop actions and tools that I am completely in love with and use quite often in my post production editing. Her blog is full of incredible information and all things photography. I'm an avid reader! So of course she posted an amazing article on shooting the moon. It was full of step by step, easy to understand, and practical information that made shooting the moon easy for a first timer like me...even if it was cloudy. Of course these tools can be used no matter if its a super full moon or not. So check out the blog and try it out next full moon!


http://www.mcpactions.com/blog/2011/03/21/super-moon-photography-how-to-shoot-the-moon/
Here's my attempt by the way. MCP's blog has pictures that blow mine out of the water from all over the world. It makes me green with envy. :)

Awesome giveaway!

A most talented photographer in the Lake Stevens, Wa area is celebrating her Photography biz's first year birthday!! Congrats to Wishful Thinking Photography! In honor of her success she is hosting a fabulous giveaway! Check it out and to all my Lake Stevens friends, book her! She's awesome!

http://wishfulthinkingphotography.blogspot.com/

Giveaway Alert!

Recently I've been having a hard time getting my kids to eat their packed lunches at play school. So I've been trying to bento! I'm not that creative so I turn to Bentobloggy for inspiration!

Bentobloggy along with AllThingsForSale.com is giving away a bento box set in either pink or blue! Go check it out and enter to win. While you're there check out the cute bento ideas on her blog!

The Battle of Wills

My children are difficult. I love them. I adore them. I thank God for them every day. But they are not the easiest children to raise. Don't get me wrong. I'd never trade them in. In fact, I believe they are the most perfect children for me to raise. They never bore me, they keep me on my toes, and never does a day go by where we are not falling into a heap laughing together at least once. My house is filled with laughter and mischief and though sometimes I want to pull my hair out, I absolutely love it. Both children are strong-willed, stubborn and mischevious. Jaycie is creative beyond belief and she is always thinking of ways to get one by me. Jacobe is more overt in our battle of wills. He will take me on like a raging bull--screaming, spitting, hitting, biting, and throwing himself to the floor. Sometimes I cringe at what the years ahead hold for me as their mother, especially adolesence. Even then, however, I thank God for giving me the opportunity to raise such wonderful children who I know will grow up to change their world. I might be biased, but I know they have the potential to do whatever they put their minds to. Their creativity and stubborness will take them to amazing heights...if I raise the right. And I constantly pray that God gives me the wisdom, the understanding, and the patience to do so.

A Magic Raisin and Toddler Compassion

Neither one of these really have anything to do with the other, but I thought I'd double up the topics on this post instead of posting twice. Let's start with "A Magic Raisin". If you watch Spongebob (which unfortunately, Jaycie loves) then you might remember the episode where SB and Patrick play inside a box all day. Squidworth is determined to find out where all the realistic noises are coming from from inside the box. SB keeps insisting that it's the powers of "Imagination" and makes a rainbow like arching motion with his hands as he says the word. Yesterday, Jaycie was talking to Josh and when he asked her where she came up with something she made an arching motion with her hands and said " it's a magic raisin, Daddy!" Of course, not seeing the episode, he was thoroughly confused as I was dying in laughter. He asked her what a magic raisin is and she just laughed with me slapping her knee from time to time. After I finally gained my composure I explained to him that it was "imagination" she was trying to say. Regardless of how she says it, Jaycie does have oodles of magic raisins.

On to "Toddler Compassion". This is a more sombering topic than the previous paragraph, but it's too sweet to pass on. My daughter not only has oodles of imagination she is also filled with compassion. Whenever she thinks Mommy is hurt or upset she gets upset and tries to fix it. Take last week for instance. I just got home from Walmart at 11:30 pm with the Tylenol for Jaycie's fever. I had started to feel chest pains on the way home but I tried to brush them off. I came home to find Jaycie awake on the bed and Josh fast asleep. So I gave her her medicine and then climbed into bed. Shortly afterward my chest pains got unbearable. I grabbed my chest and curled up and began to whimper in pain hoping not to scare Jaycie. She knew something was wrong though and patted my back telling me to calm down that she was here. My breathing had gone ragged through the pain and she tried to wake up Josh telling him, "Daddy, Mommy can't breathe!" He woke up for a second and asked if I was ok not waiting to hear the answer before he fell asleep again. Jaycie, however, stuck by my side hugging me and stroking my face telling me it was ok until the pain finally subsided. I hate that she had to witness Mommy in such pain, but I'm so glad that my little girl has such a heart of gold. She's makes me so proud.

Oh, and I do have an appointment to see the Dr tomorrow about my chest pains. I've had them for several years now and I always thought they were panic attacks. However, I think there's something else wrong since I get them even when I'm not stressed or worrying about something.

Mommyhood Is Exhausting But Amusing...

I'm so tired--incredibly tired. I don't know when the last time I had a good night sleep was. Jacobe was sleeping pretty well and suddenly he's not. I get to sleep late because by the time I finally get him to sleep I haven't had any "Me" time and most likely any "Us" time with Joshua either. So we stay up late...usually to watch a movie. By the time I do get to bed Jacobe is ready to play again. Last night it took me an hour to get him back to sleep...only to have to repeat the process an hour later. I got lucky though, after that he actually slept until 5:30am. He was ready to play. I fed him, amused him for a bit then put him back in his crib and he slept for another 2 hours. I was lucky last night. I don't usually get that much sleep. So I'm pretty sleep deprived lately. Add to that Jaycie's seemingly non-stop whining (likely due to teething) and downright devious acts and throw in the fact that Jacobe seems to be in just as foul of a mood. Well, I'm not the jolliest person to be around lately. However, I do try to be patient with them. I don't always succeed.

In the midst of the recent dysfunction are glimmers of the happy children I once had. Such as today when I asked Jaycie if she was my fuzz head (a recent nickname for her that she loves). She replied saying "No, I'm not a fuzz head, I'm a little genius." So now anytime we ask her if she's a fuzz head she says she's a genius. Or like the other day when she came up to Josh, turned around, pointed to her booty and said, "There's a baby in there!" then farted. Where did she get that from?? She also came up to me today and said, "Hey Santa Claus, I need to potty." When I answered in my normal voice she insisted, "Hey SANTA CLAUS!" Until finally I answered in what must be Santa's voice with a hearty "Ho Ho Ho!" Not only Jaycie, I also get flashes of my sweet baby boy. My boy who used to be so happy is now usually crying if I'm not holding him and a lot of times when I am holding him. I'm at the end of my rope with him. I don't know what to do with him since he refuses to sleep at night or for naps. But when I'm reaching that point of total exasperation he looks up at me and smiles. He reminds me of that happy chunk that I love so much. OK, so I love him even when he's screaming bloody murder because I walked out of his sight... but it's nice to see him happy again. It must be teething. I hope I never ever have to have 2 teething children under the same roof again.

So, though my children are driving me insane right now and I tear my hair out and stare at the clock counting down the minutes to Josh's arrival, I still love them. And I try to remember the little things that they do that make me smile, or melt my heart, or have me rolling in laughter. I love being a mom, even when I hate it.

15 Things I Love About Being A Mommy

Today I was thinking about how much I love my children and everything about them. I thought about the different things I love about them, and the things they do that make me smile. So I thought I'd make a list of the first 15 things that came to mind that makes me love being their mommy.

1. How Jaycie talks back to me. It makes me mad and frustrated and she does get disciplined for it. However, it shows that she's her own little person who's learning to think for herself. Besides, some of the things she comes up with are pretty clever and hilarious!
2. How Jacobe gets so excited in the morning when we get ready for the day and how he nearly jumps out of my arms in excitement when we walk out of the bedroom and greet the day.
3. I love seeing Jaycie's creativity blossom. I love her huge imagination and how she can make a game out of anything even if she just has two little bread crumbs to play with.
4. I love how happy Jacobe is and how he's happy almost all of the time. I love how he smiles when you look his way. I love how he smiles when you pick him up. I love how he smiles when you talk to him. He just loves to smile. I love it.
5. I love the looks Jaycie gives me when she knows she's not supposed to be doing something but thinks she just might be able to pull it off. Or how when she gets caught she acts like she was going to ask permission all along.
6. I also love when she does ask permission first...Like when she sees my Coke on the table and begins to ask "Can I?" with the cutest little face while wiggling her eyebrows until I finally give in.
7. I love how since the very first time I nursed him, Jacobe will pull off every so often to look up at me and give me the sweetest smile.
8. And how his laugh is the cutest laugh ever!
9. I love how both my kids are the cuddliest babies ever. I love how they both love me to cuddle them and especially to fall asleep. While this is annoying at times (like when they decide that's the only way they'll sleep), I do love that I can snuggle them they'll fall asleep on my chest or in my lap.
10. I love how Jaycie sounds on the phone, especially when she's talking to me. She's so stinkin' cute!
11. I love how Jacobe's a definite mama's boy. I love how nobody can make it better like Mommy can. And while this can be such a pain, I still love it. And I love that Jaycie was that way too when she was a baby, and how when she's really upset no one soothes her like Mommy can.
12. I love how Jaycie can fall hard and jump up and laugh it off saying, "I'm ok, Mommy, I'm ok!"
13. I love how Jacobe thrashes around when he's sleepy. It's so sweet and funny and a little disturbing all at the same time. haha.
14. I love how some of Jaycie's best friends are "puppets" made from mommy's hand.
15. I love how both kids love me unconditionally and are so quick to forgive my imperfections. When I take too long to get Jacobe out of his crib he's just so happy that I'm getting him to dwell on how long it took. And when my patience wears thin and I yell at Jaycie, I love how forgiving she is and how quick she is to give me a hug and tell me she loves me.