Happy Easter Morning!

Fun little Easter morning!



1. The kids' Easter "baskets". Luke got a movie (The Lorax), a book (Red Pyramid by Rick Riordon), a new hooded zip sweatshirt, some colored bubbles (to do along with his sister), and of course, candy. Elissa got a book (I Love You Honey Bunny), socks and undies, toothbrush and toothpaste (all very exciting for her, I guarantee!), colored bubbles and fruit snacks. They each got a new ball as well.

2, 4 & 5. Elissa ate the fruit snacks out of her eggs and then just moved on :)

3. Luke eating candy.

6. Big smile for the camera! (this is a rarity, by the way).

7. A little iPad gaming after going through the goodies.

8. Elissa's bath whistle, isn't it cute?!

9. Easter egg coloring kit. Why wasn't it used, you ask? Uh, that might have something to do with mom forgetting that the eggs were on the stove and all the water boiling off. Oops.

10. New use for an Easter basket.

11. Australian coffee courtesy of Trevor's sister, Heather. She recently got back from a trip Down Under!

12. Pixel, our cute kitty.

We hope you're having a great Easter with family and friends! Hallelujah, He is Risen!

~STELR

Sharing about Sue & SCI

I know, I know. I have been a slacker with our blog. As I stated in a post or two ago, we have been keeping up with our New 52, I just haven't kept up with the writing. I still plan to catch up! But I just wanted to share today anyway. This doesn't technically qualify as a "New 52" since it's something we've all done before...but a good time nonetheless!

Do you use Groupon? I've used it a handful of times and it's a great way to save some money while doing something you would do anyway or try something new! Today we used a Groupon deal and went to the Science Center of Iowa with my mom and some family friends. (Actually we've known them so long it's more like an extension of our family - do you have someone like that in your life?)

The special exhibit at SCI right now is Sue the T-Rex - very awesome to see! In addition to seeing Sue we ran around, dug for dinosaur bones, played in the water, shot rockets, saw snakes and a snapping turtle (behind glass, of course!) and I got some great shots of the kids. While we were at SCI, Trevor enjoyed a well deserved reprieve at home. :)



~STELR

Bloglovin': My Google Reader replacement

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

I'm sure you've heard by now that Google Reader is going away; if not, you can read about it here. Due to this, I saw several posts on social media this weekend asking for alternatives. Bloglovin' was one that was mentioned several times so I decided to check it out. So far, I really like it. It seems to strike a happy medium between a traditional blog feed service and a more visual service, like Feedly, for example. There is an easy import feature for your Google Reader feeds, it has a clean interface, and a Bloglovin' "frame" that enables you to use 'next' and 'like' features.

So now it's my turn to ask you...what service do you use to aggregate your blog reading?

New 52 | Week 5 | Getting in Front of the Camera

Catch up post #2! (actually written about a month ago)

I saw a Facebook post by a photographer that I follow and admire, Marisa Taylor:
"A message to moms (and dads): I know sometimes that we hate having our pictures taken. Most days we don't have the right outfit, or our hair is not cooperating...which is a daily occurrence for me. Sometimes we feel like if we lose just 10 more pounds, then we can do pictures. Let me tell you what, your kids, the little people that you gave life to, don't care about any of that. To them, you are a super hero. You are beautiful, you are awesome. You are the bringer of food, the chaser of bad nightmares. You are mom, or dad. When they get older, they are going to want to see pictures of you and them...together."

Man, can I RELATE!!! Her post, along with an adorable picture of her and her little girl, was inspiring to me! So, I made Elissa put on some clothes (her choice most days is just a diaper, even when it's 12 degrees out!) and I made Luke put on some nice clothes (his choice is usually lounge pants and a shirt that is too small - he just doesn't seem to notice). We set up a backdrop and I handed Trevor the camera.

I'm just looking through the pics now as I'm deciding what to put on this post and I'm cracking up! At least 12 of the 24 shots are outtakes!! LOL. (Side note, this is exactly why photographers don't give you every shot they take at a session, lol!)




SO glad we did this and yes, we'll be doing this a little more from now on. Now the next trick is to actually PRINT one or two of them!