Coincidence

We're going to go with pure coincidence on the picture below. (the middle finger)

E tested for his high red belt today, the last belt before Bo Dan (which gets really serious)

He was very proud of himself for breaking the boards on the first try. Nice work E!

This is actually my first time embedding a video; I am pretty proud of myself.

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Every single moment is a coincidence.
Doug Coupland

Weird

Does anyone else find it weird (or uncomfortable really) to photography yourself? I see people doing it all the time on their blogs and I think they look fine. ME? I tried to take lots of pictures of myself and they are all too strange to post. It's just weird smiling at yourself in the mirror. The only one I can deal with is this one...

...yes, I know, you can't see me...that's why I can deal with it. I was actually trying to get a decent photo of myself because I was happy with my new haircut and wanted to remember it for the next time. Successful in that respect I guess.

I'm linking up with Emily today for Embrace the Camera.

One of those days....

...the kind where you think of all the ways it could have been better.

Well, if I'm being honest, the entire day was really fine, up until about 8:30 when we were leaving my in-laws' house. We were merely 30 seconds away when the effects of staying up too late and running around like "crazies" became evident....and then 90 minutes later, we were still feeling the after shocks. You see Mr. E needs structure and routine, as all kids do, but for him, he craves even more. When we let our guard down and go off the routine, it isn't good...for any of us.

The good news....tomorrow we get to start again and for that I am grateful. AND, if I'm being COMPLETELY honest, there are so many things that did make today a great day.

"Start a new day with a clean heart. No doubt, no tears, no fear, no worry."

Fun

We had such a fun Sunday visiting Thomas at Edaville Railroad .

How cute is this picture of Little Miss and her cousin? They are such good friends, and I hope they always will be.

These two adore each other as well...never one peep or arguing between the two of them.

..and I am lucky enough to have not one, but two photos with me and each of my beauties!

Linking up with Emily today at The Anderson Crew

How Full is Your Bucket?

If you haven't read this book, you should, especially if you have kids, but even if you don't. The book talks about how everyone has an "invisible bucket" on their heads Our buckets get full of drops with giving and receiving acts of kindness, accomplishing a difficult task, doing our favorite things, etc. When we're not feeling so great, our bucket gets empty and drips...

It's a great message for both children and adults. We all feel great when our buckets our full. What helps to fill yours? For me, it's accomplishing something at work, hearing my kids laugh, reading them a story, taking pictures, donating to a worthy cause, having a date night with my hubby and spending time with loved ones.

My co-teacher and I read this story to our 5th grade language arts class and wrote our classroom rules based on it.

In our house, we have a whole reward system based on this book and the kids love it. More on that in another post.

For now, go help to fill someone's bucket and, in turn, you may help to fill your own.

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted. ~Aesop

Embracing...

with my hubby this week. This picture was actually taken this past June. Time to embrace that camera and take some more recent photos.

Embracing the camera with Emily today.

Fun with Picnik

I've been having Fun with Picnik

Thanks to Shauna from The Reed Life

I always love looking at the photos on Shauna's blog and wondered what she used to edit them. I suppose I could have asked her, but now I don't have to because someone else did. Who knew? She uses Picnik. I've used it before too, but now, it's opened a whole new editing world for me. It's easy, peasy...just the thing for quick, fun photo editing.

Thanks Shauna!

and a completely random quote to end this post.

A very small degree of hope is sufficient to cause the birth of love.
Stendhal