Anna's Prize

Mom: Hey, Anna. I want to take a picture of you with your prize for cleaning up dog puke without being asked. (Click here and here for background history)
Anna: Camera's out of batteries.

One week later.
Mom: Anna, can I take your picture?
Anna: Not now, I need to take a shower.

Two weeks later:
Mom: Now?
Anna: Camera's out of batteries again.

Three weeks later:
Mom: Anna!!!
Anna: Braid my hair first.
Mom: Could you change your shirt so it matches the prize?
Anna: You're kidding.
Mom: Nope. Fact, while you're at it, move to the left so we don't get the lamp shade in the background.
Anna: Hurry up. I think the batteries are almost dead.


Okay. We've finally got our ducks in a row.

For doing the dirty deed, I gave Anna, Piece de Resistance, a book she'd been wanting.



She really likes Sandra Byrd's christian fiction French Twist Series. She'd read Books 1 and 2 and had to wait a WHOLE YEAR for #3. It's a fun series about a lady who learns how to be a French baker and pastry chef. The series makes you want to run to the nearest French bakery and eat something decadent. You'll never want a Wal-Mart donut again.

Book #1
Let Them Eat Cake

Book #2
Bon Appetit

Thanks Anna for your servant's heart. If you can clean up dog puke, you are well on your way to acquiring essential motherhood skills.

Happy Reading!

Erica's Photo Album Pt. 2

Pity the poor people who walked into our house

this week, and were asked,

"Do you want to see Erica's photo album?"

This was an 8 X 10 hardcover album from Shutterfly.

Someone asked about the cost.

Costs vary by size and type of cover.

My first 20 pages were $30 and each additional page was $1.

Shipping is $6 extra. Shutterfly runs specials all the time.

Photo books are often 20 % off. I had a coupon

for a free 20 pages, caught a 20% off and free shipping

special. So this 100 page book cost $65. For all

the time and mess it saved, it was worth every penny.

Here are a few more pages.

Double-click picture to see it larger.

Few of these pages look like people's heads or feet are cut off.

It's just the upload, they aren't cut off in the real book.

Camping Trip to Palisades State Park in Garrettson, SD

Hiking two weeks later at Palisades

Another camping trip with friends

Homeschool class

Skiing at Mt. Ashwabay in Bayfield, WI

Misc. Family Shots

Take a Look See

I'm so excited. Erica's photo album came in the mail yesterday and I'm so pleased with how it turned out. I want to put the whole album on here but don't want to load 100 pages, so I'm just posting a few of my favorite pages.

I made the book on Shutterfly. It is so easy to do. Choose layout, click and drag pictures, pick a background, and label pictures. The hardest part is choosing layouts and background paper because there are so many options. These pictures here don't do the book justice. The cover is nice, the pages are nice, the color is great. I could do ads for Shutterfly.

Digital scrapbooks cost less, are less messy, and take up less room than conventional scrapbooks. I still like to do regular scrapbooks but this is fun too and has its place. Especially when you're years behind and need to get a lot done fast.

I don't know how to do the really creative digital scrapbook pages some people do. I just used the templates on Shutterfly so these pages are basic.

We have to leave shortly for a volleyball game, so I'll post a few more pages tomorrow.

So without further ado:

Field trip to a Children's museum

Valentines Tea Party

Families are like fudge: mostly sweet with a few nuts

Omaha Zoo

Lake Pajoha - Inwood, IA

Camping with friends in Brandon, SD

Kayaking on Lake Superior by Washburn, WI

Love Note

Dear Rachel,


Love,
Andrew

The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From the Tree

“God, this isn’t fair. Why can’t I have daughters who don’t fight?”

Amy and Lani had just had their third fight of the morning. My patience was fried and we hadn’t had lunch yet. I sent them to separate rooms to calm down.

Suddenly I realized, I sound just like my children when I complain to God.

“It’s not fair.”
“How come I have to do this and not them?”
“You give me all the hard jobs.”
“Why do I have to do this every day?
“Why do I have to do this again?”
“It’s too hard.”
“It’s too much.”
“I can’t”
“I don’t want to.”
“Could I do something else instead?”
“How come they get that and not me?”
“If only…”
“But why?”

No wonder my children whine and complain. I do the same things on a regular basis with my heavenly Father. No doubt God is as tired of my whining and grumbling, as I am of my girl’s complaints.

God wants me to trust that He knows what’s best for me and my family. He wants me to obey Him even though I don’t always understand why.

Oh for a heart that listens better, obeys more, and complains less.

Do everything without complaining or arguing.

~Philippians 2:14~

I Didn't Know That

While we're on the subject of why snow is white, Jon Peters from Peters in a Nutshell, informed me that a Polar Bear's fur is not really white.

Who needs Google when you have blog friends who know more than you do?

I'm so much smarter now than I was three days ago.

I found this explanation at Polar Bears International:

"Despite what our eyes tell us, a polar bear's fur is not white. Each hair shaft is pigment-free and transparent with a hollow core. Polar bears look white because the hollow core scatters and reflects visible light, much like ice and snow does.

"Because the polar bear's fur lacks pigment, it appears white when clean and in sunlight, especially just after the molt period, which typically begins in late April or May and is complete by late summer."

Let me get this straight - An animal with transparent fur sits on a frozen clear substance and light makes everything look white.

So the question begs, what color is snow and Polar Bears when it's dark?

Why Is Snow White?

I've pondered this of late. My kids look at me and say, "Who cares?"

But how can a person get to be 50 without ever stopping to wonder how the cold stuff piled outside as far as the eye can see gets its white color? I mean snow is crystallized water and water is clear.

I've googled this and don't understand the answers. Can someone interpret this explanation from Discoveryonline. com to someone who lost a lot of brain cells raising seven kids?

"Photons, or light particles, come in a rainbow of colors. When photons encounter an object (a mirror, a black dog, an apple), they may have various reactions: They may bounce back (reflect). They may bounce sideways (scatter). They may pass right through (transmission). Or they may assault a molecule in the object, give up their energy and die (absorption).

Individual wavelengths, or shades of color, may react differently to the same object: An apple looks red because most of the colors in the light spectrum are absorbed by the apple. (Kudos to those who are still reading. Are your eyes glazing over yet?)

That said, why is snow white? The answer lies in snow's messy construction. A beam of white sunlight entering a snow bank is so quickly scattered by a zillion ice crystals and air pockets that most of it comes zinging right back out of the snow bank. No one wavelength is preferentially absorbed or reflected, so snow is essentially the color of the sunlight reflecting off it -- white."

Crystal clear isn't it? Or is it just me?

Oh well. Even if I don't understand why snow is white, I know the girls enjoy skiing on it.


And the girls lost to the boys in a snowball fight after church on Sunday.

And the snow ice cream the girls made this week tasted great.

And it was white. Very white.