Photo Books for a Great Price!

I'm working on a photo book of our trip to India. I'm a Mac girl. I use iPhoto for all my photos. I made four photo books (the small ones) as gifts for Christmas and heard great reviews from the recipients.

I've been planning to use iPhoto to create a book of our trip. However, I came across another site today. It's called Blurb. It looks like really good stuff when you compare apples to apples. I'm thinking I might use Blurb for the India book.

Another site I found is ArtsCow. A friend told me about it a while back and I tried to sign up. Too bad Mac users...it's not for you. However, you PC people might love the deal they're running right now. You can get an 8x8 photo book for $6.99 (20 pages) and FREE shipping! Plus, you get a crazy amount of free prints when you sign up. Click here to visit their site.

Have you ever made a photo book? Which company do you prefer?

A Different Swing

A friend recently asked me if the swing pictured in the previous post was "the swing" I've wanted for a long time. While I did say I wanted that IKEA swing 'for a long time', it's not "the swing".

"The swing" I really, really want is this one:
It's my stepmom's swing.

I love it.

It is the perfect shape. I can make it swing by just pushing on the chain with my feet (instead of my legs getting tired from pushing and having to sort of stick straight out, as with traditional porch swings).
The bonus of this particular swing (the actual one you see) is that it is on a screened-in porch in NC. That makes it even more perfect.

Since I can't live in NC right now, I would really like to have a swing just like it!

So, what do you do when you want something? You go look for it.

Only problem...there is only ONE company in all of the world that makes this swing. They are in Georgia. No problem...pay to have it shipped. "Expensive," you say? Well, maybe. But, that would be if they still made them.
After a year of calling, emailing, contacting via web, etc., I finally talked to sweet Mr. Rudy himself today. He says "I'm sorry, we quit making those about a year ago." He also laughed a little when I said "I live in Texas...yes, I know you are in Georgia."

That's okay. My amazing husband wants to make me one.

I keep telling him it's what I really want. We'll see if he can do it. He's pretty awesome, so watch out. Next thing you know, I might be posting a picture of my very own swinging lounger!

(seriously...all these photos were taken by my stepmom and she described in very clear details how this swing is made. it's awesome. Mr. Rudy told me today "it's really just designed to contour the body, so if he can draw that out, it's pretty easy." ha! For me, not so easy. For Joel, quite possible.)

Sweet Siblings Swinging

Sometimes I feel like my commentary distracts from a good sequence of pictures. So, enjoy this sweet scene of swinging siblings.
We took down the "baby" swing and got this second-hand IKEA Svinga that I've wanted for a long time. The kids can all fit on it together, which is fun. They like to push each other. I love the shots above where the twins are looking the same direction--in 2 pictures. Cute. And, yes, Jenna LOVES to close her eyes like that when she's swinging (or spinning on her zebra). And, you wouldn't believe how hard it is to get all three kiddos smiling, with their hands down, not being cheesy, eyes on the camera...whew! But, they sure are cute!

And, the last shot...we've been studying the book of Isaiah at church lately.

"How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
"Your God reigns!"
Isa. 52:7

I pray daily that my children's feet will be beautiful!

Games are Fun

The other night Joel played a rousing game of Hi Ho Cherry-O with the kids right before bed. As you'll see from the pictures, they were fresh from the tub and looking adorable in their jammies. I just love watching their expressions as they play games.
Jenna is probably the funniest. She gets incredibly excited and talks very loudly when she gets something good. When it's a bad spin of the wheel, she still cracks me up by saying "oh man!"
It's also cute when she drinks from her cup while holding onto her big toe!
Asa is very serious. He can be a clown, but sometimes he's all about the game. Something made him laugh and I actually caught a great shot of his handsome smiling face!
And, Rylee just wants to win! She is so much like her mama, it's scary!
After the kiddos went off to bed, Joel finished up another project in our kitchen--new lights over our bar. They add some much-needed lighting in this area. Plus, Joel put it on a dimmer switch so we can have this awesome soft glow at night! I am blessed to have a handy man!

Valentine's

I know, I know. It was a month ago! I just realized I never posted any pictures.
Rylee goes to preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays. They had a Valentine's Party on Thursday, Feb. 12th. She made some Valentine's for her friends. I wrote all the words, but Rylee wanted to write all the names and sign them. She did a very good job. We filled little baggies with gummy bears and teddy grahams and the note said "You are my beary special friend." (idea from a magazine; i'm not that creative) Jenna and Asa were busy with a sticker book while we worked on Rylee's cards. Then, friends joined us for some fun. We never made it out of our jammies, though. I love having friends who don't mind that we are still in pajamas at 10am. Cody, Kyle, and Andrew were lots of fun. Cody read to the whole crew. Way to go, Cody! I snapped some really sweet shots of all three handsome boys. And, I must admit that all the photos of me and kids being silly were retouched. I was not about to broadcast my two red zits on the blog. So, even us non-supermodels use the "retouch" button on the digital pictures every now and then. Just keeping it real! Then, on Friday, we went to a Valentine's party at the church. The kids had lots of fun eating snacks, decorating cookies, playing games, and dancing.

Double Trouble at the Fire Station

A few weeks ago Rylee's preschool was having a special visit from the firetruck. I knew the twins would be sad to hear they missed such an awesome treat. So, on our way home from running errands, I whipped into the fire station just around the corner from our house. One of the firefighters generously let us look at the engine. He let the twins get inside, gave them each a fire hat, and gave them stickers with the "Stop. Drop. Roll." reminder. Then, we went outside and he let them get inside the ambulance.
As if seeing the firetruck and ambulance wasn't enough, a train then went by right beside the fire station! They were thrilled with all the excitement.
It was great to meet one of the faithful men who serves our area. To all of you who serve to protect our family and keep us safe...Thank You!

An Amazing Recipe

I meant to do a post on this a very long time ago, but never did. I even took pictures!
It's on my mind because this is what we're having for breakfast this morning!
Clone of a Cinnabon is absolutely amazing. Here's the link to the recipe. I think I would be infringing on copyrights or something to copy and paste. Plus, you get a better picture of it looking very professional on the allrecipes site!

The last few times I have made these rolls, I make them at night and then put them in the fridge. Then, in the morning, I can just pull them out while the oven heats and bake them for a quicker sweet treat.

Oh, my timer just went off. Time to go frost those babies and enjoy a yummy morning!