Creative Memories Spotlight - Memory Manager 3.0

Did you see the Crafty Crafty post from earlier this week?  I shared how I created some graduation albums for my niece and nephew!  Today, I wanted to share more about Memory Manager 3.0


This program is designed to help you easily organize, cross-reference and prioritize your photos.  I also love it because you can do simple editing to your photos as well.  Here are just a few samples of how I edited some recent photos:

This was the original picture - a little washed out and far away.

I pulled the boys closer, turned it to the sepia tone and that "brightened" the over all picture.  Much better!!

This one is almost perfect as it is . .  .

But I did brighten up the colors and pulled him in a little closer.

Super cute, right?  But it is kind of bland.

I brought him closer and than played with the shading to really intensive the greens in the photo and change the shadows. 

It is amazing how much your photos can change or improve by just editing them slightly.  With this program you can also remove unwanted items from a photo.  The program allows you to tag photos with stars so you can search by only "star level' to get the best of the best and, you are able to search right down to the day for photos. 

If you are looking for an easy way to organize your digital photos - this program is for you!  Feel free to check out my WEBSITE for more information. 

Thanks and have a wonderful Day!

21 Days of Prayer Challenge - Day 4 - Avoiding Foolishness

Today, I would like to share the complete encouragement section from the Leader's Guide as written by Brooke.  I think she really says it better than I could:

Encouragement from Brooke

In their book, Instructing a Child's Heart, Tedd and Margy Tripp have this to say about foolishness:

"The Bible's definition of foolishness is concise. The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.''

(Psalm 14:1). If there is no God, I am autonomous - a law unto myself. There is no consideration in

life more profound than, 'What will please me?' Children don't say those words, but such foolish

thoughts are the underlying justifications for hundred of impulses every day. It is expressed in all

the acts of disobedience, selfishness, willful temper, and compulsive self-love." (p 112)

He sits across from me with his head down, this little love of mine who steals my heart and breaks it all at the same time. I ask him for the fourth time that day to tell me how many kinds of men there are in this world. Hisanswer?

Two.

The foolish man, who says in his heart there is no God, and acts like a law unto himself.

The wise man, who fears God and obeys Him.

Foolish choices bring unpleasant consequences. But the wise man has security in loving God and all the power of heaven on his side. And I ask him again to tell me what kind of man he wants to be. His answer?

The wise man.

I know there will come a day when my little love will have to own this faith, but I believe with all my heart that teaching both of my sons to think in biblical terms now will help them choose in biblical terms later."

So, today's challenge is to read through 10 prayers from the chapter on Avoiding Foolishness.  Again, you can look back at older posts by clicking HERE

Here are a few more ideas of ways to get time to pray:

1. Take time to actually knee beside your bed and prayer through the lists for your boys.  Whether this be first thing in the morning, just before bed, or while your boys are napping.

2. Related to that - knee at each of your boys' beds, and pray the prayers for them right there.  Don't be afraid to let them see you pray for them either :-) 

Dark Chocolate Cake with Hot Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Look at that Chocolate goodness!  I knew when I first saw this recipe posted over at What Megan's Making, that I would be making it  My husband loves cake, I love chocolate - it is a match made in heaven.  Plus I had been looking for a really good Chocolate Cake Recipe that I could have in my recipe binder to make for parties.  This is perfect!!!

Dark Chocolate Cake with Hot Chocolate Buttercream

Cake: 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 2 cups granulated sugar 3/4 cup Dark Cocoa Powder 2 teaspoons baking soda 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 2 eggs 1 cup strong black coffee 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract Preheat oven to 350 F. Prepare 2 x 9″ cake pans with butter and flour or parchment paper. Sift the dry ingredients into the bowl of electric mixer. Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl. With paddle attachment on mixer, mix for 2 minutes on medium speed (you may need the plastic splash guard that comes with mixer). The batter will be liquidy. Pour into prepared pans. Bake for 20 minutes, then rotate the pans in the oven. Bake 15 minutes longer or until a toothpick comes out clean – approximately 35 minutes total. Cool on wire racks for 20 minutes then gently invert onto racks until completely cool. Icing: makes enough to frost 24 cupcakes or one 8-inch layer cake. If you want extra icing for decorating the cake, I would make 1 1/2 times the recipe. 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 1/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 2 tablespoons milk 1/2 cup heavy cream 1/3 cup powdered hot chocolate mix (I used nestle hot cocoa mix) Cream together butter, cocoa powder and salt. The mixture will be very thick. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the powdered sugar. With the mixer on low, mix in powdered sugar while slowly adding milk and vanilla extract. As the sugar incorporates, raise the speed of the mixer to beat the frosting. Beat until smooth. In a separate bowl, stir together heavy cream and hot chocolate mix. Turn mixer speed to medium and pour cream mixture into frosting in a slow, steady stream, until you’ve reached your desired consistency. You may not need the full amount of hot chocolate mix and cream. Here are a few notes: 1) I did not use dark cocoa powder - I had regular cocoa powder on hand and just used that - the cake was still fantastic.  2) Coffee always enhances the taste of chocolate so don't leave it out!!! (You can't taste it!) 3) I obviously made cupcakes - I set my timer for 15 minutes and checked them with a toothpick until it was clean.  You don't want to over bake :-) When I make cupcakes for us to just eat - I don't frost them.  I keep the frosting in the fridge and take it out after dinner ; when we are ready for a treat, it is soft enough to spoon on top :-) Enjoy!

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21 Days of Prayer Challenge - Day 3 - Integrity

Integrity can be defined as "Firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values or the quality or state of being complete or undivided".  I personally think that one of the wonderful things that someone can say about an individual as that they have Integrity.  To me, it means that a person chooses what is right no matter what the consequences. It could mean losing friends or, sadly, even family; or not getting to do something that everyone else is doing; or, in rare cases, it can mean losing a job or leaving a church.  Brooke makes this statement in the leader's guide "I have a feeling that integrity is probably caught rather than bought." Yikes!  That means, it is up to my husband and I to show our boys what integrity really means!!! Not only do they need to see these choices, they need to understand why we made the choice we did so it is important that we explain the choice we made - "Pausing to help our sons understand why we chose the way of integrity over what might have seemed to be a better or easier way trains their minds to ponder the blameless way." (again, from Brooke). 

Today, commit to praying the 10 prayers in the Integrity chapter of the book.  You can click HERE to see ideas on how to pray those prayers throughout your days. Plus, here are a few more:

1. Do your children play sports?  Make sure and take the list with you and pray through the prayers while watching them practice or play. 
2. If you have any appointments to attend to - grab that list and use the quiet time in the waiting room or office to pray through the prayers.

The more visible the list, the easier to pray through the list of prayers!

Tot Time - The Week we almost died of sweat.

This week I had fabulous plans but then a heat wave hit and, quite honestly, we did nothing.  As a matter of fact my 31 month old who hasn't taken naps for a year, fell asleep in the living room on Tuesday and Wednesday and slept for 3-4 hours all from the heat.  We did a lot of reading this week and that's about all! 

So, what I wanted to do was share a link with you for some great teaching ideas that you can use!

One of my favorite sites besides 1+1+1=1, which inspires my Tot Time ideas, is Oopsey Daisy.  You can access her full blog by clicking the button above. 

Currently she is doing a series on Fridays that is all based on activities to do with books.  To check it out just click the button below :

She also does fabulous Mommy School Packets and has a new one posted for M is for Monsters.  Plus she has a tab for other packets as well.

It is supposed to be cooling off so hopefully I'll get my motivation back (it disappears when it is HOT!) and I can get creative!  My printer is no longer usable to print Tot things and I don't have a office supply store local where I can go and print things.  I have a few ideas for next week to use with colors and numbers so we'll see how I do :-)



21 Days of Prayer Challenge - Day 2 Submission to Authority

How did you do on Day 1?  I found that new habits are hard to fit into an already busy schedule but I did get the time to pray the prayers for each of my boys today (in between saying "Please obey the first time I ask" - kinda fitting, isn't it? LOL)

Before I hit the challenge, Kristi, From Warrior Prayers, has opened up a Flicker group where we can all post a picture of our "Whys".  If you are like me you are scratching your head at what that means.  It took me about 30 seconds (and the fact that I read the rest of her email she send to leaders) to realize that she meant our reason for doing this challenge - our boys!   I posted one picture out there but thought I would post a few here for you to see my 2 "Whys"

Isn't that just too much fun?  These were pictures we had done recently for their 1/2 birthdays :-)

One last piece of info - in case you were wondering why the leader guide is not in the same order as the book . .. that was a mistake!!  I'm going to go in the order of the leader guide so just flip in your book to the section for the day - we will hit them all, just not in the right order.

Today's challenge : Commit to praying the 10 prayers in the submission to authority chapter during day two. 

This topic flows perfectly with Obedience, doesn't it?  All of their lives, our sons will find themselves needing to submit to someone.  From parents, to teachers, to bosses, to government officials, and even to God Himself, they will always have someone in a position of authority over them.  Most of us tend to buck at the rules, don't we?  I attended a pretty conservative Christian College and it always amazed me at how many people broke the rules because they felt it was their "right".   Or, when I worked outside the home in the banking industry, I was amazed at how employees would purposefully break rules just because they didn't agree with them.  Somewhere in my life (probably from my parents HA) I was taught that if you choose to attend a college or work somewhere, you chose to follow the rules.  You don't have to agree with everything but you have to follow them.  If that authority asks you to do something that is either legally or morally wrong, then you must do what is right even if it costs your job or means you have to walk away from where ever you are at. ( Isn't that the basics of submission?  Accepting the guidelines and living by them?  I am convicted sometimes by the example I set for my boys - am I showing submission?  I'll just say I drive a lot slower now than I did before I had kids :-)

I listed a few ideas yesterday on how to organize your prayer time - here are a few more ideas.  I can't promise new ideas every day so feel free to share anything you do too!

1. Tape a copy of the prayers in your kitchen and/or your bathroom mirror.  Every time you enter the room, commit to prayer 3-4 prayers (or as many as you can fit in).  You'll find quickly that you'll end up praying through those prayers several times, not just once.

2. Place a copy near your computer at work or home - pray through those prayers as you do your computer work.

If you have missed a post, just click HERE and it will link you to only the posts related to this topic. 



What I'm Loving Wednesday

I'm loving . . .. that it is going to be cooler by the weekend (how's that for not complaining about really  hot and humid days?)

I'm loving . . . that the 21 day Challenge from Warrier Prayers started today - nothing better than praying for my boys!

I'm loving . . . .checking out books from the library!!  The boys love the variety and I love the savings (I used to think I had to buy every book for them . . . )

I'm loving . . . .that I got my little garden planted.  We'll see how it goes . ..

I'm loving . . . I'm little family of three - they are so much fun!!!!

What are you loving today?