Monday Mastery: Smugmug

Recently, I started up a Smugmug account.  It's fairly user-friendly, but some things about it are like a foreign language to me!  New (to me) sites and programs are always an adjustment.  In time, perhaps I can send you to see my pictures there ... but for now ... I'll just have to keep posting a few here now and then, till I get a better hang of things over there.

My favorite animal.  The baby is Amani, a female born recently at the Rio Grande Zoo in Albuquerque.  She's so cute.  Just like her mama.

Monday Mastery: Making the Best of It

I don't do a very good job hiding my negative feelings about Halloween each year.  It's by far my least favorite holiday for several reasons I won't go into right now.  But alas, my five children love Halloween, so I've been forced to find a balance and not be the family Scrooge every October 31.

Monday Mastery: Feeling Kind of Helpless

This is sort of an opposite post today.  I've been dreading the theme for today because honestly, I feel sort of -- stupid, for lack of a better word -- lately.  I don't mean that in a self-pitying, self-loathing kind of way.  I just feel like I am in a bit of a rut for confidence in my role during this season of life.

Monday Mastery: Lessons in Reading

It often feels like the job of teaching kids to read is a lot like teaching kids to ride a bike.

Monday Mastery: Balloon Photos

While I still don't think of myself as any kind of photographer really, but more of just a person who enjoys taking pictures for the keepsakes that they are; this year's Fiesta has given me more of an opportunity to perfect my balloon picture-taking skills.  I'll post here a series of my best shots from this past week for your enjoyment.  Some are favorites because of the situation or sentiment and others because I think they're pretty decent shots.  I will let the pictures speak for themselves for the most part and allow you to decide your favorites.  These are posted in no particular order and were all shot with a Nikon D90 by me.

Monday Mastery: Coin Purses

For the most part, we do inexpensive, stuff-from-around-the-house kinds of crafts for school for obvious reasons.  But sometimes, I like to get something special from local craft supply stores.  This was one of those times.

Monday Mastery: Taking Breaks

Parents all know that their job is 24/7.  But I have to think that for homeschooling families, that is even more so the case.  I'm not saying it because I'm trying to brag ... I'm just saying that much of the time, I'm pretty well tired.  Plus, it doesn't help the fact that I'm a bit of a control freak (my sisters would confirm this ... though, they may argue with the *bit* portion of the statement), so I find it really difficult to take a break -- to hand off the care of our children to someone else just for the sake of taking a deep breath now and then.

Monday Mastery: We Got Her

Our daughter is home again thanks to countless hours of research and time on the part of friends and family -- civilians.  God is pretty amazing in the way He uses regular "Joe's" to accomplish mighty works.  We are truly blessed.

Thank you for prayers, which sustained us all and kept our daughter safe.  Ultimately, I know it was everyone's prayers that brought our daughter home.  We'll all need continued prayers as we heal from this experience and grow stronger as a family as a result.  Thank you in advance for any you are willing to offer up on our behalf.  They will be heard.

Monday Mastery: Putting a New Soundtrack to an "Old" Movie

I was just telling my sister this story and she suggested I make a blog post about it, so I'm going to take her advice.  It concerns our daughter, J, who is still age six.  She continues to be really adamant about not wanting to learn to read (though I continually "catch" her sounding out words and teaching herself anyway -- she learns best when she's self-taught).  However, her semi-illiteracy has yet to really hold her back.

Monday Mastery: Introduction & Tattle Tales

I don't know about you, but Garfield (the cartoon cat) and I have a lot in common when it comes to Mondays.  I don't think I've ever really been a fan of this day in the week and as I grow older, I'm finding more and more reasons to loathe the day.