Promotions and Giveaways

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I have a lot of new visitors to my blog today some from www.spoiledbutnotrotten.net others from www.fitmomsforlife.com/ and I am so excited to welcome you all here.   

I have teamed up with Fit Moms For Life to do a giveaway on their Facebook Page.   Please enter to win my book "A Mother's Guide To Photographing Your Children"  and 3 other fun books here.  

This is the perfect gift for Mother's Day so make sure you don't miss the opportunity!!!
The giveaway will last for 7 days and I will email my book out to the winner.  The Promotion on Spoiled But Not Rotten will last until May 12th so hurry and enter.  

Thank you so much for your interest in my blog, I look forward to keeping some of you around!!!

Take care and good luck,

Les

It's like magic

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They are magic...

No matter how hard life seems, they can make life seem so perfect at any moment.

They can make me forget for a minute that there are things that need to get done.

That I have work to do.

That I have a house to clean.

That I'm stressed out like crazy trying to just keep up with everything.

It's like magic

Watching them whisper and giggle together.

Listening to them come up with plots to jump on me and scare me because they want me to take a break.

Watching them play together and develop this sisterly bond between them that I won't ever be apart of,

but I understand it completely because I have my own sisters,

so I get it.

Every little thing they do is magic

If I just stop...

I get to see it.

Thank you, my little lady's for putting a smile on my face every single day.

Something had to give

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I'm sorry for the abrupt stop in my photo a day idea, my life kind of went crazy for a while and something had to give.  Unfortunately the only thing that I could let go of was just time in front of the computer.  My daughter Taylor has been not feeling well, it's nothing life threatening just frustrating for her.  She has been covered in a rash on and off for about 3 years now but the last year has just been incredibly hard for her. I kept taking her into the doctor showing them the rashes and they would continue to tell me it was eczema and they would send me out the door with steroid creams that didn't ever work.  I was honestly in the doctors office about every other week trying to find help and relief for her, but they would essentially throw up their hands and tell me (basically) that she was over reacting and that I should probably get a psych evaluation on her.  Even with rashes that looked like this ALL OVER her and these pictures don't even do them justice:

I started to believe them and I was getting so frustrated.  She would punch me in the face and give me black eyes.  Or kick me and give me a fat lip.  I would be driving down the road and she would unbuckle her seat belt and run down the isle of my van and punch me in the head.  She was honestly OUT OF CONTROL!!   I couldn't get a grip on her, I felt like we were both going crazy.  I hate to admit it but I was so angry with her.  I was doing EVERYTHING the doctors told me to do, and I was trying so hard to help her, but she was still not responding to me or any treatment at all.  This is how it was all day and night for us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awEhvWlphV0&feature=youtu.be 

This video is hard for me to watch because it was almost my breaking point with her.  I kept praying asking for help with her.  Praying that she would get better.

One night I prayed and finally just asked Him, "Please help me to be a better Mom and to just love her even when it's too hard to."  It was late and my husband was out of town.  I had a feeling to go upstairs and to check on her right after that.  When I got to her room she was quietly awake itching and crying.  I picked her up and held her in my arms and she said to me, "Momma, will you please make my itches go away?"  and then she curled up in a ball on my lap and sobbed on me.  It was at that moment that I knew it was going to be up to me to fix her and to find out what was going on.  I stayed up for 2 nights in a row until 3:30 am looking on the internet just trying to find some direction.  The 3rd night around 11:00 p.m. I found a rash that looked similar to Tay's, it was a celiac rash.  I posted on Facebook and asked my friends about if they knew anything about gluten rashes and I had a lot of friends that had some answers for me.  (THANK YOU)

For the next few weeks I put her on a gluten free diet and the rashes started to clear up.  She started turning into my sweet Tay Bugs again.  She was smiling and hugging me.  Her "I hate you's" were replaced with "you are the bestest mom in the whole world."  She would go hours without itching and she was sleeping again.

I feel bad that I made so many mistakes with her during all of this, but I am so grateful that we are getting it under control.  She is starting to do well in school again and she is turning back into just a normal kid.  I got her tested for celiac this last friday and the test came back negative, but the doctor still told me to keep her very far away from gluten, even beauty products, hair care products, and obviously all food.

I'm so glad I have my Happy little girl back!!

PS.  Along with the long break I took a little time to switch my blog over so all of my blogs were together.  It was too time consuming trying to keep it all straight and through all of this I have learned that time is valuable.

Les

It takes the village

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This is my village

(minus a few, due to a lack of organization skills of my computer files)

When I was 15 I became an Aunt for the first time.  I was so excited because I was the youngest one in my family and I couldn't wait to be around a baby.  I remember hearing my Mom say all the time "It takes a village to raise a family."  and It used to drive me crazy.  I honestly thought that was the dumbest thing I had ever heard until I had a family of my own.  When I had my little girls I thought it was so easy at first they were so simple.  However, when I started to see that they were developing their own personalities and I was seeing a small glimpse of who they were it terrified me.   Not because I wasn't happy with how they were turning out but because they were different than me.  I thought to myself, "What am I going to do when they need me and I don't understand them?"  This is when the true meaning of "It takes a village to raise a family"  jumped into my head.  I found so much relief when I needed someone to help me with little things and big things.  It's that village that helps keep me moving and trying my hardest to do my best, and when I'm incapable of  something there is ALWAYS someone there to fill in the gaps for me.

So with that said, I hope this blog can be a small help to you and your family, to help you fill in the gaps.  As a mother and or wife we are expected to be everything to these people.  We are somehow supposed to know how to do everything right, even with little to no training on the matter.  And when we fail, we see that disappointment in their faces and it feels impossible to be what they need us to be.  I want this blog to be about helping and lifting each other up.  I want it to be an extension to your own village no matter how small or big it may be.  Thank you for stopping by.

Take care,

Les

15web

New Site for Print and Canvas sales!

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So I have received a lot of questions about how to create a canvas wall similar to this.  I have created a new site called www.cheapprintstocanvas.com where we are selling canvas wall designs.  We will be adding an upload feature in addition to a section where you can buy and print custom sized vintage prints.  I have ran the pricing through all the major online canvas vendors and our compelte canvas walls are $200 to $300 less than all of them even Costco cannot compete with the custom size pricing we offer.  Thanks for stopping by and feel free to email me at filterprinting@gmail.com with any questions. You can create and purchase this canvas wall and other by going to www.cheapprintstocanvas.com and checking out the Shop page.  We also are offering other canvas wall prints as well as a new Instagram WALL with 5x7 or 10x10 tile options.  Check it out!  www.cheapprintstocanvas.com

This has been my project this week.  I love my new canvas wall!!!!

I have been getting a lot of emails from people on pinterest about the sizes of these canvases so I thought I would post this for all of you.

Photo a Day : Day 192

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I was trying to figure out a time to get Laurens 3 year old pictures taken and I couldn't decide what I wanted to do.  I finally decided that I was going to follow her around for 5 minutes each day for a week and get a week of her in her 2's.  I didn't want portrait shots of her, I wanted to remember who she was a 2 before she turned 3.  So please put up with me for a week while I upload lots of pictures of my little 2 year old just being herself. 

Photo a Day : Day 188 & 189

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Day 188

We unfortunately don't get to make it up to Logan to visit my in-laws much any more.  When life wasn't so crazy we used to get up there to visit at least once a month, but now it always seems like we have something.  When we do go up there I always notice how big my kids are getting when they sit in their kitchen chairs.  They look so much bigger then the last time we were there, Lauren finally sits at the table and is just a part of the crowd now.   You can hardly see her face poking over the condiments but she is getting big none the less. 

Maren's teacher asked me to come to her class and take pictures of the kids for a special activity.  They had some people for the Aquarium come and talk about lizards and snakes and different reptiles.  Maren was in heaven because she has wanted a snake for a while now.  I told her I'd take a picture for her so she could have it, but that's as close to getting a pet snake as she'll get.  When she moves out she's more then welcome to buy a snake, but I will not snake sit for her. 

Photo a Day : Day's 185 & 186

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Day 185

Being a stay at home mom sometimes you feel like you do everything wrong.  There are so many small decisions to make that effect everyone else that seem to add up and then you feel like you can't do anything right.  For example, sleeping in a little and then having to run around the house like a crazy lady to get everyone ready and then being late to pick up car pool.  Or when I wash whites instead of blues and now the kids don't have clean jeans for school.  Or forgetting toilet paper at the store, or having to work so much that your kids have basically watched tv for the whole day.  It's these little things that keep adding up that made me think to take a picture of my snack so I could remember that I made a least one good choice that day.  And then I stop and smile and tell myself to stop being so hard on myself because no one else cares but me, and that my choice to be upset about toilet paper is honestly a little nuts.  Then I eat my tomatoes and then chase it down with a spoon full of Nutella and then life is good again. :)

Day 186

498w

498w

Childhood

Photo a Day : Day 184

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We went to the pumpkin patch again this year with my family and it was a short visit that ended in the ER.  Lauren had a HORRIBLE reaction to the hay and grasses at the pumpkin patch and she couldn't breath.  I didn't get many pictures but I got a few fun ones at least.

The little blonde here in the red disneyland shirt is Jason.  He's my 5 year old nephew with Autism.  It's rare for me to ever get him to look me straight in the eye but he was looking at my camera and I got a shot of his beautiful blue eyes as well as a smile.  Though he's an enormous trial for my sister and brother in law he's honestly a joy to be around.   

Jason and Dad

Uncle Jeff with a group of them

Yes this is Uncle Chad with his infant son in arms.  I thought he was going over for sure, but his football skills must of kicked in at the last minute.

My cute girls and nephew

Jeff always doing things a different way and his wife Berrie.  Berrie's butt didn't handle the bumpy slide like she'd hoped.  I keep telling myself that's why I have a little extra padding on mine...for comfort reasons of course. 

Right before I picked her up and called it quits and took her to the ER.  I love this picture of my girls. 

Photo a Day : Day 182

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  It's so rewarding to lay next to your child and listen to them reading to you.  Maren has started to ready Harry Potter and while she isn't the fastest reader yet she is doing such a good job.  I love watching the light click on for my kids with school because I have struggled with dyslexia my whole life and it always been a fear of mine to have a child that struggles like I have.  Luckily if any of them do have the same challenges, there are far more resources available to them then I ever could imagine.

When I was in school I had teachers that made fun of me in front of the classroom because I couldn't multiply, divide or read or write well by the time I was in 6th grade.  My parents struggled through the painful hours of homework and tests that I always either failed or if I was lucky got a c+ on.  I firmly believe that the years of unsuccessful school has taught me so much about what I am instead of what I am not.  I am grateful for the small trials in life that help mold and shape who you are.  I have found a way to express myself not through words (as you notice I try really hard not to write too much on this blog so that you all don't notice how awful my punctuation is :))  but through photography.  When I found photography I finally felt like I could speak in the way I felt which I had never been able to do before.  So thank you all who follow and read my blog for putting up with my many many pictures of just randomness.  It's so much fun for me to share my family with you and express to you through pictures how I feel.