As one author on parenting titled her book, “Aren’t they lovely when they’re asleep?”

Can I just add that I love bounce flashes?  All of the above were shot in pitch black bedrooms yet come out like all the lights were on!

From now until 1/31, at ArtsCow.com, get TWO 8X10 canvas prints for $7.99, shipping included! Just upload your photos, select your two canvas prints (same photo or two different ones), and use the coupon code B1F1CANVAS8X10 at checkout!

We’ve already taken advantage of the offer to take a bunch of portraits of the kids and print a bunch of canvas prints of these:

Who?  Well, our littlest one, of course, who just passed the 14 month old marker!  She’s not quite walking yet, but yesterday managed to climb up and back down a footstool by herself with a little assist from a nearby table.  The following sequence was taken discreetly, til the last frame:

With the way my boys store their clothes, it’s difficult to find a long sleeve shirt.  I decided to solve the problem by turning a short sleeve shirt that my son had outgrown into a long sleeve shirt.  I know. . . interesting way of solving the problem, but at least it’s more fun and interesting for me.  I’ll just have to teach them the right way of solving their laundry sorting problem some time in the future.

Here’s the original shirt that’s too small:

Now it’s a long sleeve shirt.  I added sleeves and lengthened the bottom:

My boy modeling his “new” shirt.  Once again he can show to the world that he still loves his daddy.

I’m really stoked that this actually worked and I didn’t even spend a penny!

My boys and I have been enjoying playing Set, a card game of visual perception.  Cards are categorized by color, shading, shape, and number.  A ‘Set’ consists of three cards in which each feature is EITHER the same on each card OR is different on each card.  Sounds a bit confusing, eh?  Well, fear not, here’s an online tutorial to get you started.

I secretly bought this game to help my kids work their brains, but as a result, my brain got a workout too.  I’m quite nerdy this way.  I only like games that make you think, but not too hard.  My 7-year-old is quite good at it and he’s beating me these days.  Even my five-year-old is catching up and beating me.  They have a knack for it.  They see things better than I can.  Maybe it’s because my brain is more clogged with other stuff than theirs.  At least my math skills are still better, but I wonder how long it’ll last.  I take comfort in that they feel sorry for me by encouraging me and praising me when I can’t find a ‘Set’.  Ahhhh. . . . my boys. . . I love them though it’s rather embarrassing at times, but I don’t mind.

A week ago, we offered a giveaway of a lovingly homemade cover for an ESV study bible.

We decided to do the old-fashion way of drawing a name from a bowl.  In spite of my husband’s urging of doing [fill-in-geek-talk-about-randomization-algorithm-implemented-in-an-Excel-spreadsheet].

The boys participated in this completely random drawing (overseen by a nationally recognized auditing firm) by pulling a name…

(Feeling the suspense building yet?)

And the winner is …

The winning entrant is invited to contact us by e-mail to let us know which fabric you’d prefer.

Thanks to all for participating!  Please come again for a future giveaway!

Lois is enjoying making more cute shoes for Bethany…

And just for kicks here are a few fun photos of the kids from today: