Don’t you just love handmade gifts?  Especially when it’s little hands that made them?  These are 2 candles my “big girl” Emma made me for Christmas.  The candle on the left she made in her preschool class.  They mod podged little images on the outside & sprinkled it with sparkly glitter.  The candle on the left features three white snowmen made from three of her fingers.  She made that one at our MOPS group.  They are just so sweet & I remember when she gave them to me for Christmas she was so excited to be able to give me something all on her own.  So teachers, childcare workers, caretakers of children everywhere – these little things that you help our dear ones make warm my mommy’s heart in these cold winter months.  Thank you!  And keep ‘em coming!  I’ll gladly fill my entire house with knick knacks if they come from the hands of my girls.

Oh, and I love the title of this post because it reminds me of my mother-in-law’s former store:  Handmade with Love.  She no longer runs a brick & mortar store, but if you like jewelry, love unique things, or love shrinky dinks, you should check out her latest endeavors over at Fun Jewelry on eBay & Create Happiness on etsy.  She’s quite talented!

Well, I better get to bed.  We need to get in some active time tomorrow before the next big snow hits!

Today we trekked through 30 inches of snow for this lil’ guy’s birthday!  Well, not really.  The 30 inches ended on Saturday, so it’s probably close to about 1 to 2 feet packed down.  And Lucas just lives about 10 houses up from us.  So it wasn’t THAT bad, but I like to have one of those, “We used to walk to school with no shoes in the snow….” stories like your grandparents used to tell you.

Today was Lucas’ 3rd birthday party and luckily everyone invited lived in the neighborhood.  Lucas is a major Cars fan (the movie) so his cake was Cars, the decorations were Cars, and most of his presents were Cars.  We felt so lucky to be able to get out & walk to our dear friends’ house to celebrate with them.  Thank you Lucas for inviting us all!  Happy birthday!

It’s snowmaggedon!  The snowpocalypse!  And whatever creative “snow” terms you can think of.  We’re averaging on 30″ of snow here in Arnold, Maryland.  And before the biggest snow hit, Josh had 6 boys from his high school bible study come over to spend the night.  We took on these extra six kids knowing we’d probably have them for a day or two.  And when I went shopping on Thursday, I accounted for that too.  Well, last night, after consuming a LOT of energy drinks, the boys had some energy to burn.  So they went out until 1:30am and built a massive snowman, threw snowballs at each other, & began the biggest igloo I’ve ever seen (in Maryland, that is).  We are guessing the snowman tops 7 feet.  It’s hard to measure since there’s so much snow piled up around it now.  But it is above Josh’s head and he’s 6′4″.

So the above photo  – which I snapped VERY quickly in my t-shirt & jeans – features:  Josh, Dan, Chris, Jake, Brian, Teddy, & Steve.  Thanks for coming over guys, and thanks for eating half a bag of wings, one bag of pizza rolls, 2 batches of pancakes, one pack of bacon, 1 dozen eggs, half a gallon of orange juice, & half a gallon of milk.  We loved having you!

Photos:  I’ve been reviewing Mark & Lindsey’s photos.  They got married back in October & I was working on their wedding album before I go to Ethiopia.  I’ll share that a little later.  Now I’m off to put kids to bed & work on perfecting our igloo!  We’re thinking chimney & fire!

There, I said it!  And I’ll say it again, “Counting calories sucks!”  However, everything that is good for us doesn’t necessarily feel good for us at the time.  Like going to Zumba last night didn’t feel good, but it was good.  I’ve been wondering, with much naïveté, why I wasn’t losing any pounds when I was working out.  Well, now that I’m counting my calories, I know why!  I am simply maintaining my weight.  I put in so many calories that the workout only cancels out the extra calories that I am consuming.  What I should be doing is consuming less calories AND exercising.  I know that most of you bright people out there have already figured this phenomenon out, it just took me a little longer.  So, with the help of my LiveStrong.com app, I’ve been counting those stupid little calories AND trying to exercise.  The LiveStrong app is cool because you tell it how much you weigh, how much you want to weigh, and when you want to get to your goal.  Then it calculates the amount of calories you should take in per day to reach your goal.  And when you add exercise to that, you should, in theory, lose more quickly – but do it safely!

Now why do I want to lose weight?  Yes, to look nice.  But mainly because I want to live a healthy life & be around to see my children grow.  I also want to instill in them what it means to be healthy.  Not that it’s necessarily looking a certain way, but it’s feeling good in your skin, feeling comfortable, and having a healthy, properly functioning body.  So, as I embark on the last year in my 20s, I feel now is the time to do this.  This is one of my “New You” goals.  I feel it will help with stress, aches, pains, headaches, body aches, sickness, and overall health.  Wish me luck, because I’m a total food addict & I hate exercising!  If you wanna join me, I’ll be at Big Vanilla, in my basement on Wii Active, or running even when no one is chasing me.

Photos: Ansel Adams….ahhh!

My girls & I were forced to wait at McDonald’s yesterday while our tire was getting repaired.  For like one whole hour!  Do you know how excruciatingly painful it is to sit in a McDonald’s when that is the very place you are trying to avoid for health reasons?  It’s like major temptation!  I had packed the girls a lunch & got myself a salad.  And stupidly…by habit…got a sweet tea as well.  I’ve been counting my calories with the Live Strong app & realized that a stinkin’ McD’s sweet tea is 230 calories!  That was more than the chicken Caesar salad had!  Ugh!  Good thing I went to Zumba last night with my sister-in-law!

Anyway….on to the above photo.  I thought this older couple was just so precious when they walked in to McDonald’s.  It was a bit chilly yesterday.  They came in, ordered coffee, and she sat down.  He took a little longer because he stopped at the drink bar to get ice & coffee fixin’s.  I just enjoyed watching them interact and I wanted their picture.  I STOLE their picture!  Now, when do you think it is okay to photograph people?  I know there are laws on this kind of thing.  My memory tells me that it’s alright to photograph people in public places, where they don’t have an assumed amount of privacy.  For example, say they are walking down the street, like in downtown Annapolis.  It is NOT okay to be in a public place and turn  your lens into a private place, like someone’s backyard, and start snapping away.  I was not in a public place.  I was in a private business – McDonald’s (aka fast food chain from the Devil) – and these people had an assumed amount of privacy.  So, in retrospect, I should have asked before or after I snapped this photo.  Hand slap on me!  I will do better.  What are your thoughts on photographing people who aren’t your clients?  What would or did you do?  You can write anonymously, too, if you’re scared.  I’m pretty sure I don’t have any law enforcement personnel reading my blog that will come & get ya.

Photos I’ve been looking at:  Jessica Claire.  Now most photographers know who the famed Jessica Claire is!  She’s one of the many OC/California photographers who are uber fabulous.  I really enjoyed this post that she re-posted from 2004.  I enjoyed looking at where she began…how she’s evolved…and that it IS possible to get better & better if you just work really hard.  Her 2004 photos were great.  Her 2010 photos are off the charts!

Oh, and sorry this post is a day late.  I’ll be doing a double today.  I’ve been having this mysterious pain in my right hand, my dominant hand, that starts in my wrist, goes up to my elbow, and even all the way back to my shoulder blade. I think I’m straining it too much on the computer with typing, editing, & reading (& commenting) on other people’s blogs.  It’s time for a little break.  Now I’m off to mail a check to Doctor’s Giving Back for my trip to Ethiopia that is exactly ONE MONTH AWAY!  Thank you to all of you who’ve donated & prayed.  I’m half way there & would really appreciate your continued prayers & support.  Thank you thank you thank you!