Pointless Pudding & Pictures and (not pointless) Answer Me This

Happy Sunday!  

Ya'll.  I went to the grocery store to get the Sunday paper (for the coupons) and it was one of those if-you-give-a-mouse-a-cookie moments.  If you send a pregnant woman to the grocery store for the paper, she'll get thirsty and buy some coconut water.  On the way to check out with the coconut water, she'll pass the snack aisle and see...PUDDING!

Have you ever seen anything so beautiful? 

 The pudding bug hit me a little late this pregnancy, at 27 weeks.  With Max I was like EAT.ALL.THE.PUDDING. in my first trimester.  In fact, the evening before my c-section I told Andres that we had to go to Harris Teeter rightnow because my parents were coming into town and they might want pudding.  So, on our last night as "just a couple" we were in the grocery store at 9:30 buying a basket full of pudding.  I don't even think I was allowed to eat anything at that point, but...we desperately needed pudding.  Your lives are enriched by my telling that story. De nada.

To enrich your lives further, I will share that I finally made a staircase gallery wall.  You are probably thinking I'm all pinterest-y right now.  My gallery wall is far from a pinterest-fail, but I wouldn't call it a smashing success either.  It's more along the lines of a pinterest-oh-look-how-cute-it-is-that-she-tried.  Bless her.
Anyways, I love it because every time I go up and down the stairs I get to look at my people:

Photo credit:  BC Photos

If you are thinking about adding a gallery wall to your home, here are my biggest tips:

1.  Trace the frames on paper and cut them out.  This way you can tape your design to the wall to test it out before you start.

2.  Use painters tape to measure the distance between photos.  

Once again, de nada.

I recently discovered a blog written by Kendra, a lovely mom of 7, called Catholic All Year.  She hosts a link-up called Answer Me This, where other bloggers answer a variety of questions. Sort of like blogger small-talk, which I completely stink at in person.  Well, I saw the first question and knew I had to participate.  The story of how I got my name is a pretty interesting, "it's-a-small-world" story, and it's one I like to share (when the opportunity arises).  Here we go...

1. How did you get your name?

When my mom was pregnant with me she taught second grade at a small, private Christian school.  One day during show and tell her student, Danielle, shared about her new cousin named Heather Lynn.  Heather Lynn?  Hmmm...Heather Lynn...I really like that.  It sounds Scottish, fits with our last name...and when will I ever meet the first Heather Lynn or interact with this family again? thought my mom.  My dad loved it too and six months later I was born and named Heather Lynn.

Eleven years later, my father passed away.  (Don't be sad or sorry.  It's ok!  You can read why  right here.)   One year after that, my mom began dating a man named David, who is now my stepfather.  One evening, David was showing my mom pictures of his family.  My mom stopped at one picture and said, "Oh wow! That looks a lot like a girl I used to teach named Danielle.  In fact, we got the name Heather Lynn from her sharing about her cousin with the same name."  Well, David told my mom that the girl's name was in fact Danielle and then showed her a picture of his other niece who just so happened to be named...Heather Lynn.

So, yes, I was named after a baby who became my step cousin 12 years later.  What a crazy, small world!

2. Do you have a set time for prayer in your day?

Yes and no.  No, in the sense that I don't have a time to personally and privately pray for any intentions.  Yes, because I always pray with Max before he goes to sleep.  We have a little prayer list that we run through:  First, we pray for a good night's sleep.  Then we do an Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be.  After that, we thank God for all the wonderful, fun things that happened during the day.  Our routine ends with me singing 5 or so hymns, usually ending with How Great Thou Art.  So, yes, I guess the answer is I do have a set time for prayer every day.  

3. Did your mom work or stay home (or both)?

She stayed home until my sister entered kindergarten.  Then, she took a job directing the Mom's Morning Out program at our church, which enabled her to be home when we left for school and when we got home.

4. Do you vote?

Yes, but only in the presidential election...um, should I admit that?  I really need to start paying more attention to local politics.

5. What's your favorite drink?

I would love to say margaritas, Bloody Mary's, and coke...but my body gets mad at me if I have anything other than water.  So water.  Sometimes I indulge, but it's never really worth it.  Just water.

6. How are your photography skills?

Well, ummm...poke around my blog and make your own conclusion.  If grainy iphone photos copied and pasted from facebook is a skill...then I rock it.