Sitting in my living room with the windows wide open this February First I decided that a Root Beer Float would make a mighty fine treat.  Did I wait for the kids to wake up from their naps?

No.

Did I selfishly indulge all by myself?

Yes.

Sometimes a little thing like an afternoon treat, enjoyed in silence, can change the tone of the rest of your day.

It appears that the idea of posting little things I have accomplished each day has turned into more of a gratitude journal….I think I’m okay with that.  Taking the time to capture the moment in a photo…and then share it…makes its impact on my day more significant.  Besides, taking a picture of a root beer float is much more interesting than the 5 loads of laundry I did….. and if I waited to take a picture of ALL five loads…they probably wouldn’t all get put away, anyway…

The second of our three vehicles is now paid in full….and ahead of schedule!  We now have our Honda Odyssey and our Toyota Tacoma paid in full.  We have had the van for 2 ½ years (we paid cash) and the truck for almost 2 years.  The only thing left is the motorcycle…which we’ve owned longer than any of them.  Guess what?  I’m paying that one off THIS WEEK!

Okay…this isn’t really a LITTLE thing…it is a HUGE accomplishment….but it was the little things that got us here: buying used cars, following a budget, skipping a lot of “extras” and committing to the goal of not having debt.

My husband, in particular, often struggles with “the big picture”:  “How do I work so hard and I can’t have X”   This escapes my realm of reality.  I think we are doing FANTASTIC!  Our home and student loans are our only debt.

The little things can literally add up faster than you think.  One penny at a time.

A smile is not always a little thing;  sometimes its the hardest thing to conjure….but it is always the easiest thing to give away.

When I drop my son off at Kindergarten each morning, I park in the parking lot and walk him across the drive.  I could wait in line and throw him let him jump from the car as I glide past the entryway….but this little bit of extra effort makes him happy.  It is less stressful to him (and, frankly, to me) to hold his hand and walk up to the classroom door where I can hug him goodbye and plant one large, embarrassing Mom Kiss on his face as I send him off into the world.

This morning when I was returning to my car, one of the women who very faithfully directs traffic and monitors the parental drop off craziness each and every morning said to me:  “I just love seeing you every morning, you always wear such a great smile”.

Happiness.

Despite my harried mornings, despite my often dragging spirit and the bags under my eyes… I’ve been smiling…and apparently it makes someone else’s day.  THAT is something to smile about.

It’s the little things in life that make the difference….and not always just to ourselves.

This photo was taken by my friend Kristen from Dine and Dish during a photo shoot that my other fabulous friend Sandra from Sandra Hale Photography was doing during our (not so) recent get away in November.

A little thing like making a list can make a huge difference.  Just breaking it down and facing what most needs to be done, a place to ground yourself and refer to when life starts to spin out of control.

I fell under the bus last week.  Well, really at the end of the week.  Making cookies for SuperBoy’s birthday treats at school….then putting his party together on Saturday….

I’m back on track for this week. The next two weeks are relatively event free so I want to make the most of them to get caught up around the house and with my work…really get back on track from the holidays…FINALLY.

I started with this list…not for the day, but for the week.  Tomorrow I might try to break it down into a daily thing but today is already rolling.

I wanted to make a quick run by the Apple Store in Leawood today because, well, we were in Kansas City and I really wanted to get the camera connection kit for iPad to use during my photographic outing tomorrow.

All three kids (ages 2, 4 and 6) in tow… I steeled myself and we headed into the store.

The kids were immediately wide eyed and in a manic trance when they spotted row after row of sleek iPads and MacBooks.  Having been pre- threatened warned advised to keep all hands and feet to themselves, they ran frantically forward yelling “Mommy!  Look at THIS one!!” and before I could look they were on to the next shiny object.  At one point SuperGirl exclaimed, “This store makes THE BEST THINGS!” 

Why yes, yes it does my brilliant child.

I quickly filled my Apple employee in on what I needed and told him to “run like the wind” as it would be less painful for all of us.

He did.

Poor thing looked shell shocked.

He was all of 24.

Maybe.

He was friendly; while checking us out he said to SuperBoy, “Maybe if you’re really good YOU will get one of these one day!”

SuperBoy looked at him with what I thought was a look reserved solely for me when I require something obscene from him like “Change your underwear”.

“We already have our own iPods. Mommy and Daddy have iPhones.  Mommy just got one of those iPads and her computer has that Apple on it, too…I just don’t know what its called.”

Like, DUH.

SuperGirl, who was whirling by, stopped for just a moment and chirped:

“Don’t forget the Apple TV!”

I have a baaad habit of dumping my suitcase on the floor when I arrive home after a trip.  I’m always exhausted and I just don’t want to deal with it.  Inevitably I live out of the suitcase, as least in part, for days on end.

I’m trying to change some of these bad habits.

Last night SuperBaby and I returned home from our whirlwind trip to Nebraska at 11:15pm.  I managed to unload everything from the car…and I put it all away…including emptying the suitcase and sticking it back in its storage space.

Ridiculous, I know.  But it’s the little things that add up, right?

A shiny sink….go FlyLady!

When I first got pregnant with SuperBoy six and a half years ago I became infatuated with FlyLady.  A small group of women who I met on BabyCenter and I put on our purple wings together and started down the rabbit hole that is, the FlyLady.  We took pictures of our projects; before and after and shared them with each other.  We would post out our “To Do” lists every morning and check back in at the end of the day.

Ahhhh, life before kids.  So much follow through.  So many accomplishments.

One thing I’ve held on to is that when I am drowning….. I need to have a shiny sink.  The very first step according to FlyLady is to shine your sink.  She’s right.  It is FANTASTIC to wake up to a clean, shiny sink.

Today was one of those days…. three kids to appointments in Kansas City, home late…dishes from last night never quite got finished…..BAH.

I’m back on track for tomorrow!

I got the recycling out today!

Back in November, PayPal put a fancy little freeze on my account for “security reasons”.  All I had to do to get it unlocked was follow a series of very simple steps that never worked or allowed me access.  I fought with this until finally getting it unlocked at the end of December.  The only bill I have that pays out of PayPal is to our recycling company; in the process of this simple PayPal snafu… our recycling service was cancelled because the payment couldn’t be withdrawn from PayPal.

I kept thinking I’d deal with it later.

But I didn’t.

Then Christmas hit and brought with it eight million cardboard boxes and six tons o wrapping paper.  All recycling.

I got the service reestablished the same week his truck broke down.

Last week I filled the van and hauled off a big portion of the recycling to WalMart.

Today I sorted through the PILES of recycling in our garage and got the majority of it out to the curb…and it was carted away.

I’m a little disappointed; this picture does not do justice to the 45 minutes I spent on this project….but very thrilled that I can now make my way through the garage again.

At least the part that used to contain the recycling. (#MoreforAnotherDay)

Other friends are laying out business plans, publishing books, losing weight….the adventures go on and on.  I’m feeling lucky to climb out of bed these days.

I’ve got a lot on my mind, a relatively heavy heart.  This year will bring many challenges for me as an individual, as a mom, as a wife.  I’m not feeling terribly prepared.

I AM feeling sorry for myself.

Time to pick myself up and carry on.

My favorite pic from my Facebook PhotoStream

Yesterday I finally felt like getting my act together.  After weeks of illness and feeling like crud…I could see a little light at the end of the tunnel.  I chose to do ONE thing:  I cleaned the living room floor.

That sounds so silly; but ever since Christmas our living room has been transformed into the toy room: Legos everywhere, half colored pictures, colored pencils, whoopee cushions (thank you Uncle Matt),  puzzle pieces, crayons….the list goes on.  When I got the flu I set up their craft table in the middle of the living room so I could just lay on the couch as much as possible and still keep them alive be able to claim “supervision and enrichment”.

So yesterday I cleaned it all up and vacuumed.  The overwhelming sense of relief and gratitude made a world of difference on this “poor me” attitude I’ve been sporting.  Then it occurred to me:  it really IS the little things that add up and make a difference.   I need to recognize them and give myself a break.

So here it is, my project for the new year:

I’m going to attempt to catch a picture each day of something I’m proud of accomplishing.  Just one thing to remind myself that I DID get something done.  It doesn’t have to be huge but I’m hoping this transforms into me getting the things done that I’ve been putting off….the proverbial “to do list”.  Some positive attention on accomplishments should work to turn my negativity around a little bit, and it might snowball and become encouraging, too!  It doesn’t have to be a fancy-schmancy picture…it might just be Instagram (which is pretty cool, too)…. or just my little ol’ iPhone.

So here it is:  I’m pretty darn happy that I can see across my living room floor…..I’ve wanted this done for DAYS and DAYS…and now it is.

I got something done today; it’s the little things that make a difference.

This is a picture I took of our dog, Maggie, using my new 24-70mm f/2.8 Nikon lens.  I’m just getting used to the lens; it takes some beautiful pictures, but it is so heavy that I’m having a difficult time getting a good focus.  I’m going to have to implore use of my Manfrotto Monopod, no matter how silly I feel using it if I ever want to get a nice clear shot!

Of course, I edited this photo a little bit.  I lightened it using a new technique that is a “healthier” way to lighten your photos according to Amanda at Everyday Elements.  (Go read this tutorial to find out how…its so simple!)  I did a little bit of spot healing to remove the super gross chunks of doggie eye goober from her eyes (ruined the entire photo….really), cropped it and then I applied Amanda’s new “White Sands” Action that she is giving away for free until January 4th.   It is a really pretty action that just adds a little bit of haze…or glow to your pictures.  What I really love about this action is that I don’t generally like “artsy” actions.  I really want my photos to look like what I see.  This seems to simply enhance the photo to make it more beautiful!

Here is my “Before and After” of this picture….Maggie’s photo straight out of the camera, and her beautified photo:

I happened upon two boxes filled with clothes of mine that I had completely forgotten existed.  Clothes from when I ….. worked.

(Side note:  I can’t wait to show SuperBoy who has been fascinated with the idea of me working in an office since I first showed him my old office building in Kansas City… “YOU had a JOB like DADDY?”….uh…yeah…)

So anyway…. I went through these boxes and was pleasantly surprised to find the clothes were in decent shape and I believe they will fit me…if they aren’t a little big!  These aren’t clothes I’ll wear everyday…or really very often…but it will be nice to know I have a few outfits for those occasions when I have to speak, teach a class or hob nob with the real bloggers I know.

I reached the bottom of the second box and found something I was not prepared to see:

When I was in high school my mom bought this sweater for my dad. He looked very handsome in it.  Being the fashion savvy teenager I was; I thought it looked better on me.  I used to swipe that sweater when he had left for work and I would wear it to school.

I thought I was cool.  And sneaky.

Never mind that I stretched that thing out to no end…. it was a grunge thing.

It became a point of contention…. I wouldn’t stop wearing that sweater, dad would holler at me for wearing the sweater.

When I went off to college I remember hearing something akin to “You’ve already ruined it …just take it with you!”.… or possibly that is how I assumed the conversation would go as I stuffed it into the bottom of my suitcase.

That was nearly 20 years ago.

I loved that sweater.

While I absolutely adore Christmas and have so many wonderful memories attached to it in my adult life (SuperGirl was born on December 26th for starters!)…there is a corner of my heart that aches.

This is a difficult time of year to remember… my dad’s last Christmas was spent in the hospital, just weeks before he died on January 13.

I loved my my dad.

Tonight I drift off to sleep wrapped in the memory of his love;  in this stretched out, faded, wonderful sweater.

I have a collection of ornaments that I received annually from my mom and my grandma, I haven’t opened the box in years.  This year we decorated a “family tree” in the basement and I pulled them out to add to the chaos decorations.

Why, in 1981 would they have gotten this brown haired, brown eyed girl an ornament emblazoned with a little blonde girl with long hair?

Because 30 years later my beautiful blonde 4yo would pick it up and exclaim “You saved this your whole life, just for me?”

Why yes.  Yes I did.

Because you are a piece of my heart and have been with me all along.

This picture was taken on my iPhone 4s and processed on Instagram.

As my kids get older I’m finding more and more joy in celebrating with them.  With each New Year we find ways to have fun and relish our time together…to celebrate the smallest moments…and the big ones.

This year I’m looking forward to New Year’s Eve so that we can talk about our goals…what we loved about this year and what we look forward to in 2012.

I’m a champagne kinda girl myself…but I suppose we need something a little more “kid friendly” on hand.  Enter Team Kansas City and our awesome take on the British tradition of New Year’s Eve Poppers…. “Snap.Crackle.Poppers Rice Krispies® New Year’s Eve Treats”!

Snap. Crackle. Poppers Rice Krispies® Treats

• 3 Tbsp. Unsalted Butter + extra butter for “greasing”
• 4oz.  marshmallows (1/2 bag) – make sure bag is left open overnight (this will make the poppers crunchier when they are finished).
• 2 c. Traditional Rice Krispies®
• Candy of choice to fill
• Decorating Supplies (frosting, glitter, stickers – pretty much anything you want to use to make it unique.)

Melt 3Tbsp. Butter in a heavy saucepan over med-high heat.

Add marshmallows, stirring constantly until melted and mixture is smooth.

Add RiceKrispies® to hot mixture in saucepan (this keeps them warm, and thus easier to manipulate, longer)

Mix thoroughly.

Butter plastic cutting board.

Place half of marshmallow mixture on cutting board and make into a small loaf. (Around 5″ by 3″.) Try to compact the mixture as much as possible.

Once you have a compact loaf, take a small pastry roller  (or other small rolling pin) and roll out the mixture to a 1/4 inch thickness – trying to keep the shape of a rectangle. (You will need to work quickly.  The cooler the mixture gets, the more difficult it is to shape.)

Take small fondant roller and “roll” mixture into a cylinder with a 1 1/2″ circumference.

Remove fondant roller and pinch one end to desired look. If going for a tapered end, start about 1 inch in, pinch and crimp the end.

Tilt and fill with candy of choice.

Pinch other end.

Set aside and let harden for 24 hours.

Repeat with other half of RiceKrispies® mixture.

Decorate once hard with fondant, icing, stickers, glitter, etc. It’s all about being fun!

Note: You can make these ahead of time and freeze. Another idea is to put a small fortune, saying, or inspirational quote inside the crackers.

Place these Snap. Crackle. Poppers on each child’s plate on New Years and let them “crack” them open and see their New Year’s Surprises.

Now the part I KNOW you are waiting for….. the $100 Visa Card Giveaway!!

Here’s How To Enter The Giveaway

(Remember, each comment is considered a entry – so leave a separate comment each time.)

• Leave me a comment and tell me if you make New Year’s Resolutions.

• Additional entry: Become a SuperJenn subscriber.  (I promise, I won’t spam you….when I DO post its generally at least a LITTLE interesting.) And then leave a comment and let me know.

• Additional entry: Post the following on your Facebook page, “Want a to win a $100 Visa Gift Card? Check out this great giveaway from SuperJenn http://bit.ly/vHl3Xc” And then leave a comment and let me know.

Contest will be open until 11:59 pm CST December 11, 2011. Winner will be notified by email and has 48-hours to respond before another winner is chosen. Good Luck!

Abbreviated Rules:  No Purchase Necessary.  Begins no earlier than 12:00AM (ET) on 11/14/11 and ends no later than 11:59:59PM (CST) 12/11/11.  For complete Official Rules, go to http://web.mediacdt.com/docs/RKBloggerHolidayRules.pdf   Open to legal residents of the fifty (50) United STates and District of Columbia who are 18 years of age or older at time of entry.  Subject to complete Official Rules.  Void where prohibited.  Sponsor: The Motherhood.

Guess what?  All three of my teammates, Kelly from Kansas City Mamas, Kristen from Dine and Dish and Julie from My Kansas City Mommy are each giving away their own $100 Visa Gift Card, too.  Visit them for an even better chance of getting some “Happy Holidays to ME” cash!

Finally…Want to see the amazing competition we are up against?  You can see all of the entries on TheMotherhood.com Making Memories Circle. The pictures above were taken by the lovely and talented Kristen Doyle from Dine and Dish. (Someday I might MAYBE be able to take pictures as beautiful as she does…until then…. I’ll drool over hers.) But, these pictures are her property. Don’t steal them.

Full disclosure: This is the final competition in a series of four that I am being compensated for.  The Motherhood and Rice Krispies compensate me for my time and I stand to win a prize if they decide Team Kansas City is cool.  All of the words and ideas in this post are mine (or collaboratively mine/Team Kansas City’s) …the point is… I don’t post anything here that I don’t think up all on my own….the kind of companies that supply you with content don’t visit here…. they seem to know better by now.

I’ll be the first to admit that I go waaaay overboard when it comes to baking during the Holidays. I’m willing to bet that every other recipe that I see is one that I want to try to make….and I really, truly believe I can make them all.

One way that I can simplify this baking extravaganza you mere mortals call “December” is by making double batches of goodies and freezing as we go through the month. I usually start around Thanksgiving and mix up batches of my favorite cookies. I roll/cut/shape them out on a wax paper lined cookie sheet as if I was going to bake them, then set them in the freezer for about a couple of hours. When they are set I can pop them off the cookie sheet and put them in a labeled bag and stick them back in the freezer. Now they are ready to go when I’m actually ready to bake them. I have prepared….and I don’t miss out on that yummy baking smell filling up the house later.

I also like to have quick breads and muffins in the freezer. I often double up on these recipes so I have one for now, and one for later. These make for great snacks and breakfasts when company starts to arrive. Made in mini-loaves they also make great gifts for teachers or neighbors.

My favorite bread is Cranberry-Orange. I could make this all throughout the year but it is much better with a little anticipation, so I break out this recipe only during the winter months.

Cranberry-Orange Bread

Ingredients

• 3c. Flour
• 1c. Sugar
• 1Tbsp. Baking Powder
• ½tsp. salt
• ¼tsp. Baking Soda
• 1 Beaten Egg
• 1 ²⁄3c. Milk
• ¼c. Oil
• ¾c. Chopped Nuts
• 2tsp. Finely Shredded Orange Peel
• 1c. Coarsely Chopped Cranberries

Directions

• Stir together dry ingredients with orange peel.
• In a separate bowl mix together wet ingredients (except cranberries)
• Mix wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined.
• Add the cranberries and nuts.

Bake at 350° according to the following time schedule:

• 1 – 9 x 5 x 3″ Bread Pan 1 – 1¼ Hrs.
• 2 – 7 ½ x 3½ x 2″ Pans 40 – 45 Mins.
• 6 – 4½ x 2½ x 1½” Pans 30 – 35 Mins.

Cool in pans for 10 minutes then turn onto a wire cooling rack and cool thoroughly. Wrap tightly overnight.

P&G Beauty is also helping to simplify your holiday season. Instead of buying friends and family another gift card, surprise them with P&G Beauty gift sets! These gift sets feature items from Olay, Pantene, Secret, Venus and CoverGirl…all fun gifts to keep them feeling pampered and ready for those holiday parties well into the New Year. These gift sets are available almost any place you normally buy P&G products and start as low as $9.99 so they are not only a great way to pamper someone, they aren’t going to break your budget, either!

You can find out more about these and other great P&G Beauty products and gift by visiting their Facebook Page. You can also read what the Wall Street Journal had to say about the holiday gift sets HERE.

Now the really good part? You can win a P&G Gift Basket with over $90 of excellent P&G products! Keep them to pamper yourself or share them as gifts and stocking stuffers.

How To Win:

To enter you just need to leave a comment here with your favorite tip for keeping the holidays simple!

Want an extra entry? Tweet this phrase: “Enter to #win a P&G Gift Basket with $90 of pampering fun from @SuperJennBlogs #giveaway http://bit.ly/vF6nwO”

Then leave me an additional comment with a link to your tweet.

Official Business:

This giveaway is open until 11:59pm CST Sunday December 4, 2011. Open to residents of the United States age 18 or older. I will draw a winner using random.org and notify the winner via email. Winner will have 24 hrs to respond before a new winner is drawn. SuperJenn, The Motherhood and P&G Beauty are not responsible for lost or undelivered emails.

I received a P&G gift basket and compensation for writing this post. The recipe is mine (okay..my mom’s) and the thoughts expressed in the post are mine.

I did two edits of one of my favorite pictures, both had to be lightened but other than that, they are drastically different.  I like the one that looks the most like what I saw, obviously, but I get hung up when I play around and then I kind of like the artsy colorizations, too.

Leave me a comment and tell me which one you like best.

What a beautiful day for Thanksgiving in Nebraska!  We had so much family come together and had such a great time.  I had so much fun taking pictures and playing with my new speedlight flash.  Right before sunset we decided we would grab those last rays of light and take a family picture outside.  I set up my tripod and my schmancy new flash.  We set the self timer, I jumped in the picture and….. voila!

I took this picture with my Nikon D3100, an 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6 lens, my SB700 flash and the self timer.  (Let it be known that I use my 50mm f/1.8 so often that I was struggling for a minute with zoom and focus!!)  I set the white balance to “cloudy” which made the really rich, warm colors of fall stand out.  I cropped the photo a bit and used Pioneer Woman’s Color Boost in post-edit.

SuperGirl: “Mom, you know what that is?  It’s where they make clouds and blow them up into the sky.”

34 years ago another little girl riding down the highway with her Mom had an awe inspiring revelation and exclaimed: “So THAT’S where they make the clouds!!”

Like mother, like daughter.

I remember reading a parenting book when I was pregnant with SuperBoy and what resonated with me this idea:

As parents, we want to encourage our children, build their self esteem and make them realize that they can take on the world; do whatever they want to do. Consequently, we too often don’t allow them to fail. We also get busy and frequently offer “blanket praise”… a “That’s Great, Honey!”  Kids eventually realize that no matter how far out of the lines they color, we will say “That is amazing and beautiful!” The book went on to teach that not only can you be honest with your kids (gently and with a kind heart, of course) but that when you are praising them, be specific. Make your compliment or praise unique so that they realize it is not that blanket statement: “I really love the way you made the whole picture purple! It reminds me of grapes and those are my favorite fruit.”

I’ve tried very hard to adhere to that idea. To take those few extra seconds to be specific, to truly appreciate what they’ve done rather than spitting out a rote compliment.

Recently in a parenting group I attended at church it was suggested that while sharing with our children how proud we are of them, ultimately their self esteem must come from themselves….they need to be proud of themselves.  (Well, duh.  I hate it when something obvious finally becomes, well, obvious.)

So I readjusted my mindset and made a determined effort to say “You should be really proud that you chose to follow directions and get your room cleaned” … (or other such daydream material).

A few weeks later I had the revelation that while I was headed in the right direction…I was still telling them what to be proud of. The idea of pride in one’s own work was there…. it was however ultimately provided by me.

As being a parent is a very obvious progression and work in progress, I made another adjustment to my “style”.

Now, at the end of each day, I ask my two big kids, “What have you done today that makes you proud?”

I was stunned the first time I asked this question and got blank stares. They didn’t understand what I meant. *deflation of self-proclaimed master parent status*

We talked though what they did in the day and eventually landed on what they were proud of. Now SuperBoy(5) gets it and is starting to provide a quick reply. SuperGirl (3) still has a rough time with the definition of “proud”; she seems to think it means something she likes so I often get the answer “The dessert we had after dinner….”. I’m getting good at redirecting: “You mean that you are proud of yourself for making good decisions so you got to eat some yummy dessert?”

“NO! I mean the dessert!”

Okay.  We’re all learning.

What Have You Done Today that Makes You Proud?

I raised three beautiful children. 

One thing I am NOT good about is having my own picture taken.

Outside the realm of my discoveries in photography I am, like most most moms, always behind the camera during family events, play dates…. in daily life.  I don’t end up in the pictures; and most of the time that is fine by me.  What inevitably ends up happening is that if I DO end up in the photos I am:

• At my kids’ birthday party and I’ve been baking/cleaning/wrapping presents all day and forgot didn’t have time to shower. I slapped on some make-up and did a do-over on my hair.  And it shows.
• Haggard.  I’ve been wrangling the family to birthday parties/family holidays/events and/or preparing for the same said events and I am sleep deprived.  Oh, and I forgot didn’t have time to shower, slapped on some make-up and did a do-over on my hair.  And it shows.
• Post Partum.  The largest number of photos of me that exist (outside of the plethora of pictures of my butt on my kids’ iPods) are at the hospital as I am or have just delivered my children.  I am both haggard and didn’t have time, energy or an ounce of care about showering.  Or putting on make-up.  Or doing my hair.  And I’m pale.  And fat.
• Wearing clothes that don’t fit.  Between pregnancy, breastfeeding and my normal struggles with a healthy diet I rarely have nice clothes that fit well.  My clothes aren’t appealing because they don’t fit right or if they do… they are in every picture I’m in because I’ve worn them to death.

There are times when I think about what my children will have to look at when I’m old and I cringe.  I have pictures of my grandma from when she was younger and she is beautiful.  Flawless.  And those pictures are in the days of pre-post-editing.  I have almost no pictures of my own mother and this makes me sad.  I want my kids to have pictures that remind them not only of what we did in our lives….but of me enjoying our life.

What’s a girl to do?

Oh, wait.  I have all of these amazing friends who take amazing photographs.

Last weekend I worked with 4 blogger friends who I adore, trust and with whom I can generate amazing ideas and content.

After re-tweeting a “Before and After” photo shoot on Twitter the other night, Sandie came to us and said:  I need to practice my portraiture and I want to try out something new.  I need guinea pigs and you all are it.

So along with writing, learning, and sharing over the weekend….we had some photos taken.  In clothes that fit. Fully showered.  Make-up and hair that was done with purpose and skill. (Did I mention there are no kids on this trip?)

The catch?  We were doing “Before” and “After” pics like the ones in the links above.

I was terrified.

But I made the conscious decision to let that go.  I was with people I love and trust.  The pictures aren’t going to be risque … they are meant to be beautiful.

There is no reason that I shouldn’t love having some pictures of myself.  So I  committed to loving them.

And love them I did.

There are many pictures from the shoot…and from pictures my friend Kristen took of Sandie taking pictures of me…that I love just as much because they remind me of how much fun we had.

And I’m going to post them.  Soon. (Along with pics of the beautiful B & B we stayed in …)

Promise.

I wrote a post a couple of weeks ago about “Found Time”…. this time I’ve got “Found Money” (on a side note…. if you say “Found” enough times…even in your head…it begins to look and sound weird no matter how you phrase it …. #random).

I made the unfortunate decision several years ago to sign up “Black Tie Service” at Best Buy when we purchased our first iPhones.  It seemed like a good decision with small children at home:  $15 a month, per phone…. for full replacement/repair should something happen to them beyond the scope of Apple Care.

When nearly a year had passed and we upgraded those phones to the iPhone 4 ….. we assumed that the “Black Tie” service plan would be cancelled.

It wasn’t.

Once we figured out that we were still being billed for the service plan, we had more miscommunication: I thought SuperDad was taking care of it, he thought I was… and somehow when I saw those $15 charges each month… I would think:  “I wonder what he bought at Best Buy?”

Seriously.

So now that I have upgraded my phone a second time since I first purchased that service plan that covers a phone I owned two phones ago…. and I still haven’t ever gotten around to cancelling the plan.

I called once and was on hold for so long that I simply couldn’t take it anymore: kids screaming, places to be, diapers to change…..

Last weekend I admitted this deep, dark secret to a close group of friends …. who lovingly proceeded to hound me several times each day this week until I got the damn thing cancelled.

There is no way to cancel this service online.  I had to sit on hold on the phone, again.  After 32 minutes I was able to talk to a customer service agent who was so very kind and pleasant to work with…..she even laughed light heartedly at with me as I fumbled through my disorganization that was the recollection of this financial debacle.

And you know what?  She not only cancelled the service … she refunded us the money from the time we purchased the iPhone 4s (4es?  4ss? 4²?).  I now have “Found Money”.  Money I didn’t have, money I won’t spend unnecessarily again.

I really don’t like the kids, especially SuperBoy, to start their day off stressed, or rushed.  I like to park and walk him across the crosswalk at school so that he isn’t subjected to the “Slow Down and Throw Your Kid from the Car” mentality of the drop off lane.  It is with a calm mindset that I want them to start their day.

Some days that works.

Others, when we are ready to walk out the door  SuperGirl, having previously been dressed, shows up with her backpack on…in her birthday suit.

Some days SuperBoy melts down because he has not had enough time to finish playing Legos/Puzzles/iPod.

My all time favorite, however, is when we walk out the door and SuperBaby lays out a four alarm, squishing out the top,  poopy diaper.

I’ve been discussing the idea of natural consequences with them.  Little bits at a time, pointing out what natural consequences are; both in their world and in the adult world.  I’ve prepped SuperGirl’s morning gymnastics instructors for the very distinct possibility that she will show up one day in her underwear (they are on board….giggling all the way).

This morning we had another little talk about it as we were getting ready.  Everyone did a GREAT job today.  Except for me.

I chose to sleep a little longer this morning instead of getting ready straight out of the gate.  As the morning went on I decided to get the dishwasher running and respond to an email from my Mother in Law about Thanksgiving before getting dressed.

And then it was time to go.

The kids were ready.  I contemplated throwing some clothes on while they got in the car and waited for me. I have NEVER dropped off in my pajamas.  Ever. Chances were, though,..this would make us just one minute too late for school.

So I took this as a teaching moment: my natural consequences for the choices I made this morning were that I would have to take SuperBoy to school in my pajamas.  I said “I really hope I don’t have to see anyone today!  I made bad choices with my time this morning”.  I patted myself on the back: the kids didn’t have to know that I planned to go through the drop off lane; our morning had been so calm and pleasant I figured it would be okay this once.

We get to school and had missed “the sweet spot”:  that time right before all of the parents arrive en mass trying to get their kids dropped off in time for first bell.  This meant that we very possibly would not be able to get SuperBoy through the line in the 5 minutes before bell.  Doing what was best for my child now meant I was going to have to get out of the car and walk him across the crosswalk.

In my pajamas.

I sucked it up.  The kids said “Everyone is going to laugh at you!” and followed with monumental laughter (we have not yet reached the stage where I embarrass them with my appearance).

As they halted traffic for us to cross the walk I joked with the teacher in charge: “Today we’re teaching natural consequences!”  She laughed.

SuperBoy hugged me and ran off into the school and I returned, unspotted by most, to my van.  As I slipped into the warmth of my heated leather seats, I saw sitting in my cup holder: SuperBoy’s water bottle.  He had specifically wanted to take a drink with him today.  He had asked about the bottle on the way out the door and I offered to grab it for him.  Rather than handing it to him when I climbed in, I stuck it in my cup holder and promptly forgot.

I was going to have to take it to him.

In his classroom.

I drew a deep breath and grabbed the cup.  I marched it up to the door of SuperBoy’s classroom when another teacher offered to take it in to him.  “Bless You”, I say as I turned and high tailed it back to my car.

We all know that I am NOT crafty ….but that I love to think I am!  Tonight’s FB chat should get me inspired to get those Holiday cards under way! One of the things we will be talking and learning about is a new feature on Kodak Kiosks that allows you to use photos you already have on Facebook when you are designing your cards.  (Good for people like me who have a difficult time pulling it together on more than one medium

Here are the details:

What: A Facebook Chat called Holiday Cards 101 – How to design the best family cards. The chat is the first of a two-part series, sponsored by Kodak.

When: Tonight at 7 – 8PM CST (8 – 9 PM EST)

Where: Kodak’s Facebook Page

About the class: With the holidays just around the corner, it’s time to think about creating the perfect holiday greeting card!  If you’re planning to design your own this year, this Facebook chat is the place to be!  Amazing creative mind and card designer Bonnie Marcus will be joining us to answer any and all questions you might have about how to make gorgeous family holiday cards. As a bonus, Bonnie will be telling us all about the cool new Kodak Picture Kiosks in Target and CVS stores, which use RSS technology to connect you directly to your Facebook albums – allowing you to retrieve your favorite pictures to use in your own photo creations!

The chat is sponsored by Kodak, moderated by Jenny Cisney, chief blogger at Kodak, and features talented card designer Bonnie Marcus.

I will be a co-host for this event along with six other bloggers:

Ashley at  Cute As A Fox Creations
Jamielyn at  I Heart Naptime
Kristi & Kelli from  Lolly Jane
Kristyn at  Li’l Luna
Rachel from  Family Ever After
Steph at Somewhat Simple

I am being compensated by The Motherhood and Kodak to co-host this event and share information from it with you.  As always…my opinions and comments are my own (I’m starting to think this protects them, more than me ….   )

I have decided its time to start sharing a few more of my photos here, I’m never going to learn without subjecting myself to constructive criticism.  As I’m experimenting I’m going to start putting the pics up here and there …. if for no other reason than to make myself; to overcome my own criticisms.

Saturday afternoon I went outside and sat and took pictures of this seating at this pond….for about 45 minutes.  I played with the settings on my camera: white balance, pictures settings, aperture, shutter speed, ISO… I’m trying to learn more specifically how each step, each little change, affects my pictures. 50 pictures later, this is the one I liked the best.

This picture has a little bit of editing I did in Picnic: I straightened the image, cropped just a tad off of the edge and added a bit of a vignette to darken the edges.  I shot this with my Nikon and a 50mm f/1.8 at around 3:30pm.

I am tired.  I am really not able to think.

But I walked in the door to the happiest little faces and suddenly nothing else matters.

SuperBoy’s face lit up and he threw his arms around me …. then launched into great detail about the space ship he was building in the basement out of an old box from when we purchased our microwave last year.

SuperGirl woke from her nap slightly after I arrived home and still rubbing her eyes asked me to come to her room “Right away!” to see what had happened:

She had cleaned her room.  Nothing short of a miracle itself…. I was impressed she had worked on it when I wasn’t home.  “I keened my room so you would come back to see it!”

SuperBaby was the last one to realize that Mom had arrived … and when he came toddling out of his bedroom after nap he saw me and broke into a full run. “Mahmma! HOME!” He hugged me and crawled right into my lap….and made that his “Home” for the next half an hour.

Delightful.

We ate cheese and crackers, fruit and veggies and homemade twix bars for dinner while we watched Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Santa Clause is comin’ to town.

I am so glad to be home again.

I’m spending my weekend in Bonner Springs, KS working with some of my girlfriends on our blogs.  Our plans were to clean things up and catch up on our “To Do” lists…. the things that always get shoved to the bottom of the list and sort of hang over our heads.

On my “To Do” list is to update my “About” page here at SuperJenn.  With much encouragement from my lovely friends…. I finally got it done.

So if you want to know more about ME …and what I pretend to do here…. visit my About Page.

Photo Credits to Sandra Hale Photography

When we felt tremors from an earthquake in Oklahoma, all the way in Kansas last week my first response was to go to social media for answers.  And I got them faster than any other news source.

When I am struggling, when I need advice…heck, when I don’t want to call the doctor because I’m afraid I’m just overreacting yet again to the tiny haze of a rash on my son’s leg…. I turn to social media.

A day spent with my children is wonderful/tiresome/overwhelming and often lonely.  Having social media at my beck and call connects me to a world of adults, knowledge, politics and humor that isn’t readily available from my current companions.

But this week I learned that there are times I wish I could turn it off.  I wish that I could X out the things I don’t want to see or hear.  I learned that the drama other people implore upon what has become my personal space feels like pollution.

I actually commented to a group of blogging friends earlier this evening that my chosen circle of friends within social media…the close friends and family that I keep consistent tabs on, does not suffer from the drama I so often hear about with Facebook or Twitter.

My family is hurting.  We all handle it differently.  It is more difficult than I would have thought in a situation like this, to deal with the way others implore social media when it affects my life so personally.

This is me, cursing the fact that I didn’t get one written earlier today.

This is me, cursing the brain in my head; riddled with ideas and creativity and blog posts that I can hear with brilliant clarity but discombobulated enough to keep any of it from coming to fruition.

This is me cursing the situation brewing at Penn State for filling my heart with a sadness that rocks every piece of my soul. The decomposition of humanity to a state where a coach being fired for neglecting his moral responsibilities as a member of the human race being inspires rioting by college aged children who want their voices to be heard and their coach allowed to retire with dignity…. all while ignoring the fact that no one heard the voices of the actual children who were stripped of all dignity, sense of safety and security because said coach is not the upstanding, amazing person everyone thought he was.

I love taking pictures.  Any kind of pictures, really.  I’m still such a novice and such a geek that I will take hundreds of pictures of the mundane, just to experiment with the different capabilities of my camera and light.  I’m often disappointed that I can’t make my pictures look like what I see … or more accurately I have difficulty making my pictures convey the same emotions I feel when I’m taking them.

So I practice.

Yesterday I was cutting up apples for applesauce, which I intend to turn into apple butter, and thought “Oh! I should take a picture of the apples because they are so pretty and red … and maybe someday I’ll write a post about the applesauce/butter.”

So I proceeded to spend over an hour taking photos of a basket of apples.

Not gold apples.

Not apples emblazoned with the face of Jesus Christ.

Just apples.  In a basket.

It was fairly dark outside due to the rainy weather and I’m still struggling to never use a flash (detest flash) so I broke out the tripod and my remote shutter release (which I’ve never used) and geeked away.

I had no one to share this adventure with.  I posted on Facebook so that a few folks would get a giggle; but that was it.

Then SuperBoy entered the room and asked why my camera was on that thing with legs.

I talked with him a little about shutter speed and focus, aperture and light.  He really enjoys taking pictures and the little bits I’ve explained to him over time he soaks up like a sponge. (He always checks to see where his light source is when he is taking pictures so he doesn’t get “back lighting”!)

He thought that was pretty cool and wanted to try out the remote.  I showed him how to work it.  He took a picture and thought it was cool.  He adjusted his view with the tripod and thought that was cool.  I showed him the light meter and we talked about how it worked; he figured out how to change his point of focus and experimented with that a few times.

It was SO MUCH FUN watching him play and discover…and he wanted me to tell him all about it (be still my heart).  He looked adorable standing there directing the tripod around.

Then he said to me: “Mom.  You know what I love about this picture?”

No sweetie, what?

“I love the way the apples are so red.  And smooth.  I like that they are smooth and the basket is not.  I like the way there is a shadow over here and how that makes this apple look.”

*Jaw Drops Open*

Maybe I do have someone to share my photo obsessions with after all.

SuperBoy, 5,  shot these pictures on my Nikon D3100 with a 50mm f/1.8

Throughout the month of October SuperDad and I have been conducting a little experiment:  eliminating gluten from his diet to see if it helped with some major pain and discomfort that he has been  increasingly suffering over the past year.

The result?  He lost more than 15lbs and, without going into way too many personal details, he feels 100x  better.

So now that he sees the proof in the gluten free pudding, the challenge is for me to provide him a healthy gluten free diet, rather than him simply excluding foods that he normally eats.

I’m not much of a “buy it pre-packaged” kinda gal…so I’ve been reading up on how to incorporate this style of eating into our life without buying lots of “substitutes”.  Among the myriad of new recipes I’ve found to incorporate into our meal planning, I’ve also been thinking about the many, many things I cook and bake that he loves that have flour in them…and wondering how I can tweak them.

I’m so lucky to be part of a great group of Kansas City area bloggers that gets together to enjoy each other’s company and benefit from each of our individual areas of expertise.  One such blogger is Johnna Perry from 52 Sweets  (Side note: You absolutely MUST go read her “About Me” page because I think it is one of the coolest becoming-a-blog stories…as well as an amazing ongoing project).  Johnna is a vegetarian baker who also eats, and bakes, gluten free.  So who do YOU think I went to for advice??

Tonight I put together Johnna’s “Go To” flour substitute:  a combination of White Rice Flour, Brown Rice Flour, Potato Starch and Tapioca Starch.  This is similar to several other suggestions I’ve read around the web but, well, I know Johnna so I’m going to trust her recipe above all else.  The idea is that this combination will substitute out cup for cup with all purpose flour in most recipes (the general rule of thumb being that it works best in recipes consisting of 2c or less of flour).

Visit 52 Sweets to get the actual layout for this gluten free flour substitute and give it a shot.  Let me know what works for you!

It is a very busy week here…but I’m hoping to give this a roll with some amazing pumpkin pancakes I made for the kids and some jalapeno cheddar corn bread that he has been craving when we eat chili later this week… I’ll be sure to let you know how it goes.