The Big Picture.

One question I get asked a lot is how I get the pictures so large on my blog. Let me show you.

I really like large pictures on blogs, and unfortunately Blogger doesn't really give you many options for sizing pictures. Here's what a photo uploaded into Blogger's "Upload Image" tool looks like:


A little too small for my taste.

So the first thing I do is go to flickr and upload my photos to flickr. (flickr is a free photo sharing site, and a super cool resource.)

Once the photo has been uploaded to flickr, click on the photo you wish to put on your blog. Then click on the "All Sizes" button above the photo.


After clicking on the "All Sizes" button, flickr gives you several photo size options. I almost always choose the 'large' size. Then, after choosing your photo size, copy the photo's URL,


then go back into Blogger into the 'upload images' button, and paste the URL here:


And there you go!


I like that much better.

This might have been clear as mud, so if I didn't make any sense, let me know. And if you put up a big 'ole picture on your blog, show me!

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(Also, I should mention that you'll likely need to tweak your blog's html code a bit to make your margins wider to acommodate the larger pictures. This is where my limited knowledge gets even more limited. I just kept changing the margins little by little until I got the size I wanted. Here and here are a couple of links that may help with that. Hope that helps some.)

Laundry - After the Vacation Style.

It's so nice to be home.
My own bed.
My own food.
Being able to walk into the bathroom without that grossed-out feeling of not being in your own bathroom. (I'm weird like that.)

But of course you all know how it goes when you get home from vacation:


The laundry.

If you don't hear from me in a few days, send reinforcements.


The reinforcements I've already hired don't seem to be of much help.

A Bunch of Characters: Theme Park Style.

Boy, it seems like we sure have done a lot of the theme park thing this week.


I'm pleased to report that Avery is officially over her big fuzzy character fear. She has embraced the guy in the suit thing.

Maybe I'll actually get a picture of her smiling with Santa this year, and not with this look on her face from last year:


(And, for the record, the boys did not really want their picture taken with Elmo or Big Bird. They did it solely for the sake of their little sister. I really had to twist their arms. Uh-huh.)

Fun - Beach Style.

We spent a little time at the beach today. (Well, judging by the color of my back, I guess it was more than just a little time.)

I do believe if you were to ask the boys what their favorite part of vacation has been so far, they'd say the beach.


Gary bought them a boogie board and they boogied on the waves for awhile.

I snapped this picture of them.


(And just happened to capture this lovely European gentlemen in the shot as well.)

Avery was all about the sandcastle.


She also liked this "feefee" (aka fishie). This guy washed up on the beach and got stuck.


We looked at him for awhile and then released him back to the sea.


It was a good day.

I think I'll be finding that powdery sand in our clothes, shoes, towels, bags, etc. for a good long while.

And I'm definitely sporting beach hair. (Which - trust me - is not necessarily a good thing.)

Chilled - San Diego Style.

One of the best parts of a San Diego vacation? The relaxed vibe.


It's almost impossible to be stressed while here on vacation.

Even when you're fairly sure your sons are going to get their only remaining set of clean shoes sandy and wet by running into the ocean.


Or when you have to prevent your daughter (repeatedly) from diving head first into the Pacific.


Yep. Here you're free as a bird.


Vacation is good.

Travel - Family Style.

Three suitcases.
Two duffel bags.
Four backpacks.
Numerous books, toys, crayons, and other items of entertainment.
Snacks.
Snacks.
Drinks.
Snacks.
Pooh Bear. (Of course.)
Beach toys.
Laptop. (Again, of course.)
Gas station bathrooms.
Toddler in car seat continually demanding "Unbuck me!".
Magazines.
Facebook, Twitter, and Scramble on iPhone. (Sanity savers.)
and...
Fun.

(More on that later.)


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Also...Happy Birthday - and Father's Day - to my one and only. I'm a lucky girl.

Intrinsically Sweet.

I can't remember where I saw this, but it had me laughing and laughing and laughing.

Please - please - read the first review of this sweet wolf shirt on amazon.com.

(Warning: Forever Folding Laundry and its subsidiaries cannot be held responsible for any peeing of pants that may occur while reading. Thank you.)

Travel Journals.

There is a road trip in our near future. An 8 hour road trip. An 8 hour road trip with three children. An 8 hour road trip with three children who need to be entertained so as not to drive their parents to the brink of insanity.

So of course I'm thinking, "How am I going to entertain three kids for that long without them having to watch an endless stream of movies?". I don't mind a couple of movies - I embrace them, in fact - but figure 5 or so in a row might be a bit much.

So we have books ... mazes ... word finds ... little toys ... and these:


I found these little monogrammed journals at Michael's the other day (and you know I have a thing for letters) for -- get this -- 70 cents each!

I took the already cute journals, tied some ribbons to the binding, and voila!


Even more cuteness.

These are the kids' travel journals. I want them to write / draw / scribble their memories from this trip: what was fun ... not so fun ... new things they did ... funny things we saw.


Hopefully they'll look back on this trip with great memories.

(And hopefully more than just memories of what movies they watched in the car.)

How to Make Your Dog Crazy.

Take one tennis ball.

Place it in front of ball-crazy dog.

Force dog to look at ball while taking many photos and experimenting with aperture settings.



Enjoy.

I Will.

Well, here's my quilt fabric as it stands today.

(I'm kind of behind.)

The Old Red Barn Co. is on week 5 of the project, but I'm holding steady at week 3.

I'm pretty excited about how it looks even like this, though. It makes me happy.

Something else that makes me happy?


Pom poms! I'm trying to think of what else I can put them on. (And if I can somehow wear them.)

So this week I will cut the squares and sew them together. I will.

And I will try to reconcile my love of pom poms.

Boys / Toys.

No ... not the Madonna version (remember her Boy Toy belt buckle?).


The electric guitar version.


These started out as plain, unfinished wood guitar bodies.


And through the process of my dad's awesomeness, eighteen months later they are lean, mean, shredding machines.


I don't think I've ever seen three happier guys.

(By the way, isn't my brother cute? He's totally single. *tap, tap* Hello? Any Northern California ladies out there?)

And he's totally going to kill me.

Seventeen years.

Yesterday was June 12th. I remembered this morning that June 12th is a special day.

It was the beginning of the summer before my senior year in high school, and I was invited to a (don't judge me) Hank Williams, Jr. concert.

I knew nothing about Hank Willims, Jr. and didn't really want to go to the concert, but had nothing else to do and decided to go with my best friend.

While we were there, we met up with some other people from our town. There was only one person in the group that I didn't already know. This one guy.

He tried to talk to me all night. (Despite the fact that I was wearing another guy's letterman's jacket.) I guess he wasn't deterred.

A few weeks later, that guy called me.

And the rest is history.

At our wedding, that friend of mine gave me this wedding gift:


I guess we owe our beginning to Bocephus. (That's his nickname, for those of you who grew up in a high school without a Future Farmers of America club.)

Riley should have been named Hank.

Letter Fetish.

I have a thing for letters.

They seem to crop up all over my house.


I'd been struggling for awhile wondering how to hang three towels in the kids' bathroom on one towel rack.


Now we hang them locker-room style.


Avery's 'A' is holding her special letter 'A' necklace.

I guess my fetish is the reason I can't stop making these:


Have a letter fetish? I'd love to see your letters, too.

Oh, and don't you think my coffee would taste better in one of these?

Me too.

To Do.

The boys and I made a list of things to do this summer.
We're determined to check off a lot of items this year.

We made this list last year, as well, and - shamefully - crossed off too few things.

There is one thing on this year's list, though, that I'm not so sure we can accomplish:


Riley wrote the "plant crops" entry. Not too sure how we'll do that one.

Hopefully he'll be OK with doing the "make our own ice cream" entry instead.

Schlemeel, schlemazel

(A gold star to anyone who recognized the words in the title. And two stars if you can tell me what the heck they meant...?)

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I wonder...was Laverne the first to wear her initial on her shirt? Does she deserve all the credit?

She always was my favorite. So much more fun than Shirley. (Although, if I'm being honest with myself, I'm probably a lot more like Shirley.)

I'm working on something that I hope to put in the etsy shop soon. I made this for our little friend Janie this weekend.


I have so much I want to accomplish this week: organizing...purging toys...sewing...working on my quilt...EXERCISE (now that I'm finally feeling better and don't think I'm going to cough myself to death).

We'll see how much actually gets done since the kids are home on summer vacation. **Deep sigh**

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Oh...and what was "Hassenfeffer, Incorporated". Is that where they worked? I never got that part either.

Two Years.

How could I have known, two years ago, that this screaming, 8 lb. 14 oz., dark-haired answer to my prayers...


...would become this funny, feisty, bossy, blond-haired answer to my prayers.


Happy two years to the girl who has stolen our hearts.

She's Got Her Game Face On.

Avery will turn two tomorrow.

She's been practicing getting her party on for the past couple of weeks.



It's pretty clear...


she's ready.