Top 10 Tuesday: Favorite Pins

I’m linking up with OhAmanda’s Top Ten Tuesday again this week with a list of my top pins that I’ve added on Pinterest since I joined the site. I really love how great it is for bookmarking ideas and things I find that I like. To have some variety, I’m going to choose one pin from 10 of my boards.

 

 

1. Dream Home - A beautiful breakfast nook by a nice big window – I have always had a thing for window seats & this looks like such a lovely place to sit and enjoy a cup of coffee or a good book!

 

2. Kids Room Ideas – A cute desk made by re-using an old crib

 

3. Yummy Food – Pie in a canning jar – how fabulous is that?? Now all I need is to find some cute little jars like that…

 

4. Art & Craft Ideas – I have a journal fetish and I especially love seeing the creative ways people decorate and create within their journals!

 

5. Photography – I love this maternity photo idea and loved that I was able to use it in our little maternity photo shoot we did this last weekend!

 

6. Party Ideas – I created this board to collect ideas for my 30th Birthday Party & this decoration was definitely one of the favorites of all my guests!

 

7. Quiet Book Ideas – I’m totally not a seamstress or super crafty person, but I love the idea of having quiet books for my kids. If only I had the time and ability to make some of these! This barn with animal finger puppets is especially cute!

 

8. Cute Boy Haircuts – I LOVE this shaggy mop of hair – if only my boy’s hair would lay down so nice and flat like that!

 

9. Beauty – I’m getting so bored with my hair – I wish I could pull off this cute and sleek asymmetrical bob with bangs!

 

10. Organize – I love all things about organizing!! For someone with two small and useless entrances, this boot room is a dream come true!

 

Are you on Pinterest? What are your favorite ideas or pictures that you’ve pinned lately?

Maternity Photo Shoot

Thank you so much to my lovely friend Steph who took these maternity photos for us and to my parents for hosting it in their beautiful home.

**Note: In case you were wondering, yes – I did airbrush my stomach – it is no where near that perfect in real life! **

365 Project – September & October

Again, since I sort of fell of the wagon with my picture-taking, here is my update for both the months of September and October. Admittedly, there are several pictures in this bunch not actually taken by myself (mostly by my mom), but I included them anyway, because this 365 Photography Project has been more about capturing daily memories for me than about honing my own photography skills – which should be obvious, considering the majority of them were taken with my iPhone. This fall included memorable moments such as making homemade tomato soup with my mom, a visit from Joe’s parents and sister, a trip to the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, seeing the ultrasound of our baby, a weekend family gathering in Grand Forks, North Dakota, and celebrating Rayah’s 2nd birthday!

To view larger images of my photos, you can visit my 365 Project blog at echoinghim.tumblr.com.

This month, I think my favorite picture simply has to be one of the many I took in my photo shoot of my daughter Rayah, but I couldn’t possibly choose just one – I love them all! However, I do also love the one of me reading a Bible story to both my kids in bed.

Do you have a favorite?

365 Project – July & August

As I mentioned in my last post on my 365 Photography Project, I fell off the wagon in the month of July, which turned into the months of August, September, October and you guessed it – November. I’ve still been taking pictures, but definitely not every day. However, I decided to still give you an update on the pictures that I did end up taking and here are the ones from July and August. It was a great summer playing outside with my kids, announcing to our friends and family our new pregnancy, celebrating my 30th birthday and feeling baby’s first movements!

To view larger images of my photos, you can visit my 365 Project blog at echoinghim.tumblr.com.

This month, I think my favorite picture is the one of Rayah’s bedhead or the one of me and Justice having Starbucks.

Do you have a favorite?

My Prince Charming

After doing a photo shoot for my daughter’s second birthday, I just couldn’t resist doing one with my son as well. Since he’ll be turning four in March, the weather at that time isn’t exactly the nicest for taking pictures outside, so even though we got our first snow, I managed to sneak in a photo shoot on what may have been the last really nice day of the year. I took 110 pictures, which I narrowed down to my favorite 30, which I was then able to cut in half once more for this post.

I love my son! He is handsome, silly, full of life, joyful, adventurous, mischievious and oh-so-charming! I think I was able to capture many of these traits in these pictures…

My 30th Birthday – Part 4 (The Fun)

If you missed them, you can catch up with Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

For me, most of the fun of my party was just having so many friends and family show up and getting to mingle with them all. But I did plan one activity that I wanted, which was a car rally/scavenger hunt which I got my brother Derek to create for me! Whoever wanted to participate showed up earlier and I think there were about 6 teams who joined in. We were all given a set of directions that would lead us on a designated route. Sometimes these directions were something like “turn right at this sign” or “drive until you have to turn left”, etc. Along the way, there were blanks to fill in of street names or other pieces of information that we had to look for on signs. There were also bonus items for certain things to look for that we had to take pictures of or questions to answer like, “how many garage doors on the house at the second driveway on the left after you make this turn”. Also, a couple times during the rally we had to record our time and our mileage so that my brother could make sure we hadn’t taken a detour or that we weren’t speeding! It wasn’t a race, but it was more about being the most accurate and getting the most points. Joe and I went with our kids, with Joe driving and me navigating and calling out the bonus items we needed to be on the lookout for. Having my iPhone was definitely helpful, but I think we had an advantage since it was our home turf and we were very familiar with the area. In the end, we did win first place and my son Justice was pumped that we were the winners! Here is my brother announcing the placings – I was really proud that he did such a great job at creating the game!

Later in the evening, my husband surprised me with a fun poem that he wrote in my honor. He got some good laughs and I felt really loved and special!

The only other “activity” that I planned was having a photobooth set up outside where I demanded that everyone go get their picture taken, using the bin of silly props that I provided. This was a great thing for people to be creative and have fun with and the kids especially enjoyed it! Here are just a few of my favorites…

Daughter and Father enact a miraculous healing!

Hubby with the kids & me with my little girl

My parents smooching & my brother & sister-in-law

Crazy kids & my silly son

My goofy friends

Me & my friend, Me with my sister & the little guy

More silliness

A friend’s family & me and my hubby

All right folks, we’re almost to the end of this marathon. I think one more post and we’ll be done documenting this milestone in my life. Thanks for hanging in there!

365 Project – June

Some highlights from the month of June were a surprise weekend getaway with my hubby, celebrating my twin niece and nephew’s 1st birthday, and enjoying the summer weather!

To view larger images of my photos, you can visit my 365 Project blog at echoinghim.tumblr.com.

This month, I think my favorite picture is possibly the one I took of the firewood in our shed. But I also love the one of Rayah looking up at me with her hands on my knee and the one of Justice with his face covered in mud.  

Do you have a favorite?

Also, just to let you know, I have virtually stopped taking any pictures this month – I have had zero motivation or inspiration and have simply been enjoying being outside with my kids. So, unfortunately I don’t think there will be any 365 Project post for the month of July and maybe I’ll get back into the swing of things for August.

365 Project – May

Though the month started with a surprise snowstorm, I am soooo thankful to the Lord for spring!! I love seeing some color in my pictures this month!

Breakdown of topics:
Rayah – 13 pics
Justice – 11 pics
Me – 4 pics
Objects - 8 pics
Friends –1 pic
Family - 1 pic
Food & Drink - 2 pics
Animals – 2 pics
Spring – 6 pics

To view larger images of my photos, you can visit my 365 Project blog at echoinghim.tumblr.com.

This month, I think my favorite picture is definitely the one of Justice sliding down the fire pole and then Rayah with her face smashed up against the window coming in as a close second.  

Do you have a favorite?

365 Project – April

April was  a rough month with the loss of my husband’s sister and with Rayah’s teeth accident, but there are still many smiles and fun memories in the pictures above. I especially like the activity I did with my son Justice for Easter, where you can see the tomb in the garden where Jesus was laid after He died for us on the cross and then on the 3rd day, there He is – alive again!! There is so much hope in the resurrection power of Jesus and that one day we will all receive our resurrected bodies and spend eternity with Him – woohoo!

Breakdown of topics:
Rayah – 13 pics
Justice – 10 pics
Joe - 7 pics
Me – 7 pics
Objects - 3 pics
Family - 2 pics
Spring– 7 pics

To view larger images of my photos, you can visit my 365 Project blog at echoinghim.tumblr.com.

Do you have a favorite?

365 Photography Project – March

Here’s March’s pictures of the day! It was a crazy month and so I missed a few days, but I added some extras where I couldn’t pick just one.

Breakdown of topics:
Rayah – 10 pics
Justice – 9 pics
Joe - 2 pics
Me – 3 pics
Objects - 9 pics
Friends – 1 pic
Family - 4 pics
Food & Drink - 2 pics
Winter – 3 pics

To view larger images of my photos, you can visit my 365 Project blog at echoinghim.tumblr.com.

This month, I think my favorite pictures are the ones of the hoar frost. Do you have a favorite?

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