Good to WOW Week 12–Grass Pt2

Today is the day we get to complete the second half of the Good to WOW challenge.  In order to do so we go to Ashley’s blog and check out the tutorial she posts and then apply it to our photo.  You know, the photo that I wasn’t going to take of grass and then did.  :)

I’m a bit short on time today but that’s OK.  There wasn’t too much to do to this photo.  At least not that I’m capable of yet since I’m joining in late and haven’t had a chance to back track and catch up yet.  If there are any of the past week’s lessons that you feel would be helpful to this photo feel free to chime in.  That said, here’s the photo:

SOOC

Our grass is pretty green but there are nasty dead leaves everywhere and a bit of fence in the corner by Towzer’s head.  So despite not really needing to turn dead grass green as in the tutorial I did think it could use brightening and something to make those leaves less noticeable.  I started with the “nice and easy” recipe I learned last week which really is nice and easy.  Then I did the colorize part and discovered I was pretty limited to that since I’m using Elements and not the full version so I don’t have the option of playing with the reds, blues and yellows to make the green a little more…um, realistic shall we say.  Also, since the only part not grass in my photo was Towz and he represents such a small part of the photo I didn’t do the two step process of adding a black fill layer and THEN painting Towzer white to bring back his “normal” color.  I left the whole picture colorized and then just painted over Towz with black (and now I know what my dog would look like if he ever bathed in green food coloring).  I also dropped the opacity of the colorizing layer just a skitch so it wasn’t so cartoony green.  And here you go:

After

And for you guys out there who would be really disappointed if I don’t show a side-by-side, you know who you are:

Right now I’m not going to put up the hedge photo, but I may go back and play with it when I have more time and am not supposed to be getting the house ready for out of town guests. 

Remember to send some love to other folks participating in the challenge, just click the button.  G’head, it’s so easy.

Texture Tuesday

Apparently my new addiction is photo challenges.  Ah, well, there are worse things.  This challenge is brand new and is hosted by Kim Klassen who is the wonderful lady who’s classes I have been taking.

I haven’t played with textures too much yet so choosing a photo wasn’t too difficult. 

These pretty blossoms are hanging out on one of the trees in my front yard. Yay, Spring is coming!

For this I did minor adjustments to levels, brightness/contrast and hue/saturation and added a level of Kim’s “Chamomile” texture twice, once in soft light blend mode and another in multiply both at 67%.  And that’s that.

Pop on over to Kim Klassen’s to join up or check out more photos done with texture.

Sweet Shot Tuesday

Getting back into photography is helping to sharpen my decision making skills and BOY do they need sharpened.  I’m the worst.  I hate making decisions, choosing a favorite.  My favorite can change from day to day.  It didn’t take me tooooo long to choose a shot for Sweet Shot Tuesday.  Here’s my offering:

My sweet girl entertaining her “guest” at an impromptu tea party.  Eva is very nearly the most tolerant cat I’ve ever met.  I am so happy that we got such a good kitty.  I clearly recall my kitty growing up tolerating me putting him in doll clothes and the baby swing.  I feel safe putting that in writing because Zion can’t read yet but, please, nobody say it out loud around her.  She doesn’t need any more ideas.

Head on over to My 3 Boybarians to enter your own sweet shot, you know you have one, and/or see what others have put up.  It’s quite fun, I promise!

Good to WOW Week 12 - Green

I told myself I was NOT going to do grass! Nope, not gonna do it.

I did it.

To my credit, I accidentally clicked on the wrong blog this morning and went to Ashley’s first.  I read that she was going to show us how to make our grass true green.  Then suddenly I wanted to shoot grass because I wanted to really be able to see that.  Summer is coming up and the percentage of my pictures that have grass in them are going to skyrocket. 

So I ran out and I took this:

Towzer was mostly cooperative even though he really let me know he only laid down on the wet grass because he was a good dog (those eyes asked me like five times “really, Mama?” before he did it).  I on the other hand failed to realize there was on of the kids’ buckets in view so I had to kind of cram him in one corner in order to avoid it.  It REALLY didn’t add anything to the picture but I didn’t want Towz to take the opportunity to leave while I moved it so I just shot the picture.  So let’s just say I did that on purpose, artsy, right?  Right.

On the other hand, I took this one at the bus stop on Friday:

I’d really like to see what can be done with this photo as well.  It’s the shadow of a tree on a curved hedge in case you hadn’t quite gotten there yet.

Click on the button below to participate, it really is a lot of fun!  And even if you don’t want to participate, go there and check out the entries and then comment on them to let the photographer know how much you oohed and awed over them.  :)

Room To Breath–Day 2

Continuing my telling of my little getaway…

First let me start by telling you that I went to bed the night before on a king bed (sweet!) in a nest of pillows.  At one point I realized I need to roll over (or “pancake” as we call it in our family, when you need to flip over) and thought “why is it so light all of a sudden”.  I grabbed the clock and brought it reeeeeeal close (have I mention how awful my eyesight is?  Yeah, it’s bad) and the clock said 7:30!  Now, I really wish I could put that in ALL CAPS for emphasis but you can’t do that with numbers.  You just get &:#).  Which makes no sense at all or looks like I’m trying to curse.

Do you realize what this means?  I slept – SLEPT! From the time I got into bed until morning.  Heck, I didn’t even move out of the position I fell asleep in.  I absolutely cannot remember the last time I did that.  It hasn’t happened since our first was born that’s for sure.  That’s at least 7 years. 

It was the strangest, most disorienting feeling.  Not the waking up in the new place just waking up and having it be morning like that.  It was almost like going under anesthesia.  I remember when I had my wisdom teeth pulled and they put me out.  They said I’d feel a stick and then I’d go to sleep, I thought to myself “OK, I can go to sleep now.” and the next thing I knew someone was shaking my shoulder telling me they were done and it was time to wake up.  This was kind of like that.

AND THEN I stayed in bed for two more hours before getting up. Ha!  TWO HOURS! 

The first thing I did after putting my contacts in was set up my tripod in order to take a picture of me jumping on the bed.  Why would I jump on the bed you ask?  Because my friend, Emily, told me to.  And I ALWAYS do what my friends tell me to!  OK not really but I did think it would be funny to take a picture of me doing it.  And there you go:

Then I tucked into the breakfast that I came prepared with.  (‘Cause I didn’t even want to leave the room to go down for the hotel’s free breakfast.  THAT’S how much I wanted to not leave my room.  Technically, THAT’S how much I couldn’t be bothered to get dressed and I thought they might not let me come back if I went down in pajamas.)

After breakfast I set up my space near the window.  Knitting things and my laptop with my first movie of the day, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

See how cozy?  And that’s my lunch.  When I watch movies I often like to design my meals around them.  Lord of the Rings makes me want bread, nuts, crackers, summer sausage and hard cheese.  Is that weird?

The view from my spot by the window.  It turned out to be an absolutely beautiful day.  So much so that I actually felt a teensy, weensy bit guilty spending it indoors (and that takes a lot for me).  But I did have fun taking pictures of the beautiful day and people watching.  Lots of families came to the water today.  Not to be IN the water of course.  This is the Pacific Northwest and that would be ridiculous.  Just to walk on the rocks and the docks and skip stones and watch the ducks.

The little boardwalk past the hotel (which stuck out entirely over the water) ended at this little dock:

I spent my day working on my shawl (the one I swatched the night before), watching (mostly listening to) movies and eating.  I also painted my nails and took a long hot bath.  *sigh*  It was lovely.  For dinner I found a local RAM restaurant that delivered and had a garlic swiss onion burger and sweet potato fries.  Let’s just say it was a good thing I was rooming alone after that meal!  It was SO good though!  And I’m loving how my shawl is coming along (trying to change the subject here):

Then the sun starts to go down and everything gets all dreamy, smooth and blue.

And eventually it’s time to hit the hay again.  Goodnight knitting.  Goodnight laptop.  Goodnight street lights.  Good night moon (even though I can’t see you).

I Heart Faces–Slice of Life

I’m excited to participate in my first I Heart Faces challenge – a slice of life.  When I read what the challenge was this is the first photo that came to mind and I WILL NOT second guess myself!  (OK maybe I will, second guessing is my super power, but I don’t have the time to do much of it right now so I’m just going with my first thought.)

I love this picture of three of my precious babies.  Zion loves to help with her babiest brother and there’s Gideon in the background, in his own little world as usual.   This IS a little slice of our life.

As usual I encourage you to click on the button below and check out the entries and even enter yourself.  It’s fun and easy and it’s awesome to go check out other people’s photos (and comment on them to let them know how cool they are).  Go.  Click!

A Day in the Life

5:40ishAM- Elias wakes and needs a change and a bottle.  He doesn’t go back to sleep right away either.  Since Maisy (the cat) had me up multiple times that night I was disappointed that he didn’t sleep later.

~

7AM – I hit the snooze button for the first time.  I hit it a few more times before finally getting out of bed about 7:30.  OK, maybe it was closer to 7:40.  Still enough time to get the kids breakfast though I do recognize how lucky I am that my 1st grader will get himself up, showered and dressed usually before I’m even out of bed.

~

8:25AM – Head out the door with all the kids to take Gabe to the bus stop.  I’m super excited about this today and grab my camera.  This is why:

The night before I’d secretly run to Target while the kids slept and got Zion a new carseat, came home and installed it for her to find in the morning.  And not just any carseat.  A GIRLY carseat!  It’s purple and she loves it!

~

9:45 – It’s clear that Elias is ready for his first nap early.  No surprise considering that he was up at 5:30.  I’m ready for my first nap too.  Elias has, however, hit that stage where when I put him to bed instead of going to sleep he pulls himself up to a stand and is then “stuck” there.  This requires many, many trips up the stairs to lay him back down so he can fall asleep.  It is currently 10:19 and he’s still awake up there.  I’d better go check to see if he needs help getting down again.  Back in a bit…

~

10:26AM – I’m embroiled in that age old argument that every mother (goodness, I hope EVERY mother and it’s not just my weird kids) has with their two-year old at some point (or points, like three or twelve times a day).  If Gideon insists on staying in his jammies then he doesn’t get to go outside.  It goes a little something like this:

Me: Do you want clothes on so you can go outside?

Him: No!  I wa’ stay in jammies!  (And he puts his arms around himself and holds his jammies even tighter to his body so there’s no mistaking his preference.)

Me: Oh-Kaaaay.  Then you don’t get to go outside.

Him: I WA’ GO OUTSIDE!

Me: Then you need clothes on.

Him: No!  I wa’ stay in jammies!

You get the picture.

He’s still in his jammies in case you were wondering.

~

11:11AM (I LOVE 11:11!) – Made lunch for us.  Snack lunch today, no surprise there.  It’s their favorite and it’s easy.  Zion had spread her blanket on the floor and put out pillows, books and her play tea set so I suggested she have her lunch there.  So she added Eva’s food bowl too and invited me to join her.  So we picnicked in the living room today.

~

Noon – lunch is over and Elias wakes.  Over the monitor I can hear Zion singing nonsense songs to keep him happy while I finished putting that picture of our picnic up.  She’s such a sweet girl.

~

1:23PM - I attempted to have a photo session with Elias as it’s his 9-month “birthday” today.  He was less than cooperative.  I managed to read Zion a good length story with only about a half dozen interruptions.  I have Elias at the table eating some Puffs and was about to put Gideon up for nap when he announces that he’s poopie – again.  I’m off to … well, you can figure it out.

~

2:06PM – All kids down in areas of rest.  Gideon is quiet in his room probably snoozing on his back with his hands behind his head, his favorite sleep position.  Elias is in his crib yammering in his way that leaves you to wonder if he’s going to break out in a full cry or just fall asleep (fingers crossed it’s the later).  Zion is utilizing the blanket she had previously laid out for a picnic and watching the Charlie and Lola DVD we borrowed from the library.  In all likelihood she’ll fall asleep by the time it’s over.  I am torn between trying to spiff up the photos I took of Elias or going to sleep myself.  Or dear, full cry. Later…

~

2:13PM – False alarm.  I got up to make him a bottle and he got quiet somewhere in between my filling the bottle with warm water and trying to find a can of formula.  That reminds me, I need to order more formula.

~

2:16PM – Crap, both of the websites that reliably carried Elias stinkin’ expensive formula have jacked the price up.  Off to contemplate whether I should sell my blood or pawn something.

~

2:55PM – Elias really didn’t give me much time to contemplate my taking a nap.  He’s awake already.  Maybe that bottle will be what he needs to fall back asleep.

~

3:21PM – He took some of the bottle, got a fresh diaper and put back down with a teether (a ring, not something edible) but he’s still kind of fussing.  Stinker.  Gabe will be home in 20 minutes.  I need to figure out what to make for dinner (or should I just order pizza, hmmmm).

~

3:43PM – It’s a nice day so instead of driving to the bus stop to get Gabe Zion and I step out the front door and watch the street so he can walk home.  When Zion sees Gabe round the corner she always runs to him as if they are long lost siblings.

Once back in our yard she suddenly notices that our trees are pink.

~

3:48ish – I settle down on the couch to download the most recent pics including this lovely which is straight out of the camera (can’t wait to “play” with it a bit):

~

3:50ish – Zion begs me to come outside to see the beautiful yellow flower she found.  She is using a sandbox shovel and a pool of water in one of the ride-on cars to water it “To help it grow!” she says proudly.

5:04PM – I back out of the driveway having bundled us in the van.  Sonic for dinner.  The food may be mediocre but since we don’t have to get out of the van I needn’t be concerned as to whether or not we’re presentable for public.

~

6:10PM – Elias was strangely fussy so we’re home.  Now he’s laying in my lap with a paci (highly unusual for him to want one) and being stll (even more unusual).  I’m typing with one hand.

~

6:30ish – Elias got all restless for a bit but finally takes his bottle again.

~

6:44PM – I carry Elias upstairs and put him to bed as he’s fallen asleep in my lap. 

I can’t recall the last time he did that.  I hope he’s just tired since he didn’t get much of a second nap and not getting sick again.

~

6:48PM – I realize we’re out of licorice.  Dagnabit.  Who let that happen?!

~

6:55PM – Jellybeans leftover from my Christmas stocking will have to do.

~

7:30PM – I have the kids brush their teeth and potty downstairs since Elias is already asleep and then try to usher them quietly up to my room for devotion time.  Half way up the stairs Gideon lets one rip and shouts “TOOT!”

So much for quiet.  At least Elias didn’t wake up.

In my room we hunker in and around the rocking chair and read our devotion and have prayers.  I tuck Gideon in and tell him Gabe will be in in a minute, he doesn’t like to go to bed without his big brother.  Zion is snuck into her room where I whisper-sing her goodnight song in her ear.  Yay!  Successfully got the two loudest in bed without waking the baby.

Then Gabe and I get to have reading time, just the two of us.  Right now we’re reading Alcatraz Verses the Evil Librarians.  We’re a few chapters in and laugh continually, it is a really good book.  Alcatraz, the main character, is a young boy with the power of destruction.  Where we’re at in the book it hasn’t sunk in yet that this is a power and not a curse, he’s not your average klutz.  The day after he turns thirteen he receives a surprise visit from a grandfather he never knew he had.  He has the power of being late to things.  Yep, a really fun book to read.

~

8:22PM – I’m writing this.  No really.  Right this mi– oh wait, now it’s 8:23.

~

11:11PM (woohoo, twice in one day!) – Rob called a few minutes ago to let me know if plane landed and he is headed to the lot to get his car.  Elias has been fitful tonight.  He woke up at 10 and he got a new diaper, jammies and a bottle and he just had a hard time settling afterward.  He felt warm but I didn’t want to bring him downstairs in the bright light to check his temperature so I don’t know if he does have a fever.  Poor baby though, something’s amiss whether it’s just teething or yet another sickness.  I have been puttering around the house getting some tidying done and puttering around on Photoshop with the pictures that I took today. You’re going to have to wait for the rest of the pictures I took of Elias but here are two versions of the photo I took of the pink blossoms earlier:

The one above is what I just learned is called a “clean edit”, just minor adjustments for levels, saturation and contrast.  The one below is the clean edit copy texturized.  Whenever I do stuff like this I can never decide which I like best.  I love them both.

Well, the day’s not over yet but I think this will be my last update on my “Day in the Life” post.  Good night, y’all!

Edited Good To WOW Week 11–Flowers

My very first Good to WOW is coming to a close.  Clearly I need to go back and read up on the first 10 weeks because I had no idea what was meant by a few things.  Good thing I have a friend who has been doing it for a while.  I only called her three times with questions. 

One of the recommendations for this week’s GTW was to use a program called Pixel Bender.  I heard that it doesn’t work for my version of PSE though so rather than spend time testing that theory (didn’t have much time today) I played around with filters available on my PSE. 

Here’s the original:

 

Here’s the clean edit:

 

Here’s the “artistic” edit with a watercolor filter:

For this particular picture most of the artistic filters didn’t seem to do that much.  Lots of flat background, lots of little flecks in the petals, not much to go with for a poor little filter.  Still, I like the watercolor a lot.  The picture went from bright to moody.  I like both.

And now that writing this post has been interrupted by a call from Rob who is working out of town and many, many requests from Zion to look up funny cat videos on Youtube (a favorite activity of hers) I have no more time left for Good To WOW. Gotta go.  But you can go and check out what other people posted:

But wait, there’s more!  I went back and played with it a little more tonight (it’s midnight, what the heck am I doing up?!) and here’s what I got:

I don’t know, I think I like it.

Room To Breath

Sometimes you, OK I, just need a little room to breath.  And move.  Move without bumping into a short person who wasn’t there two seconds ago.  Without thwacking a small head with my elbow because, again, it wasn’t there two seconds ago.  Being hung off of by a small someone.  Having my pants nearly pulled down by a small someone.  Because they’re using them to hang off me. 

Sometimes you, fine I, just want to prepare or eat a meal or even a tiny little snack without interruption.  Like a hundred of them.  Let’s not even talk about being able to go to the bathroom without “help”.

My four babes are beyond precious to me.  My love for them is indescribable.  And yet sometimes I just long for time to do what I want for how long I want without fearing that someone is going to holler for me, get hurt and cry, ask a gajillion questions or wake up ANY SECOND and thus cut short my project.  Whatever it was I was working on.  I’m at the mercy of naptimes and babysitters and hate that feeling of time running out.  Constantly, time is running out.  There’s a never ending loop of the Jeopardy theme song running through my head.

So I took some time.  An impromptu weekend away.  Just me.  Rob stayed home with the kids and I got Friday through Sunday to do what I wanted, when I wanted without bumping into a soul or having my pants pulled down by a child who is learning to pull up to standing (not naming names but I think you know who I mean).

I packed my knitting bag first.  Priorities, people.  Then picked what movies I wanted to take with me.  The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Mama Mia, The Holiday, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.  Then got things together for packing my camera and laptop which would get stowed last and all my personal spa things, foot soaks, hand scrubs, bubble bath – whee!  Finally into my suitcase went two sets of pajamas, one warm, one cool – you never know how those hotel rooms are going to be heated, and a shirt for wearing home (and unmentionables of course but, really, those aren’t supposed to be mentioned). 

Oh, don’t forget a plate and a super sharp knife in a case (thank you Pampered Chef for knives that come with cases they don’t fall out of).

No really.  I stopped at the grocery store to stock up on food and snacks and didn’t want to be caught unprepared.  Next time I know to bring paper towels or napkins too.  : )

Finally I was off.  My hotel room:

Note the fireplace and water view.  Two of my requirements in addition to a fridge, microwave and wifi, otherwise who cared where I was. 

The view from my room: 

It was a bit gray that day.  Just how I like it.

Another view IN my room: 

I forgot to ball my yarn before I left so guess who got to hand wind a ball using her feet as a spindle?  (Should I bring my ball winder next time?  I think so.)

Later that night:

I’m writing up a pattern for a cozy little wrap so I had out my stitch dictionary and knit up a swatch.  Then called Rob to help me with the math.  Don’t laugh.  I really did.

And even later:

My evergreen and mint foot soak powder is da bomb!

By now I’m feeling pre-tty good.  Tune in for more to come

Sweet Shot Tuesday

So maybe it’s not Tuesday here yet but at the risk of posting late due to things getting busy (not that things ever get out of hand in our home) I’m putting this up now.  By the time you see this it will most likely be Tuesday – OR it already is Tuesday FOR YOU! 

Though this photo isn’t technically impressive and likely isn’t the sweetest shot I got in the last week, it does represent how truly sweet it was to be able to take a personal getaway last weekend.  Just me.  No hubs.  No kids.  No pressing matters.  Just me, a hotel room, my camera, my laptop and my knitting.  And, clearly, a bed worthy of jumping on.

To participate in Sweet Shot Tuesday, head on over to My 3 Boybarians and follow the directions to post and link up.  And even if you don’t post about it still head on over and check out the pics people have put up.  They’re great! 

Week 11 good to WOW–Flowers

You might be thinking to yourself “Week 11?”  Yes, 11.  I just found out about this so I have not done weeks 1-10.  Oh well, se la vi.  I am super excited to participate in this photo challenge which is a two-parter.  FIRST, you go to Jill Sampter’s blog (a button is below) and find out what the theme of the week is and post a picture on your blog (and link up to the challenge of course).  Then later in the week a different blog posts an edited photo with a “recipe” of the edits.  You follow the edits on your photo and post the “after”, then go to THAT blog and link up.  Two separate days, two separate blogs, same photo each week.  Got it?  I knew you were smart!

This weeks photos is flowers.  I’ve taken quite a few flower shots lately and in fact took more today.  So I’m just going to use one of those because I haven’t had a chance to play with them.  I sound all easy going about that but in reality it’s killing me to have to choose only one- especially since I think some others I’ve taken recently are better.  Arg! 

Moving on…

Just some simple carnations today. Oh, and it looks like folks are giving the stats, this was 1/80 f5.6 ISO 800.  And I think that’s it.  Oh, click on the button and it will take you to the post to join in. 

Driving Me Crazy

Yesterday I made foot prints of Elias’ feet and a hand print from Zion and Gideon.  The feet are for gifts I’m making my dad and Rob’s dad for their birthdays (admittedly a little late) and the hands were because Zion and Gideon will not be left out of anything.  Luckily there was some of the stuff left over.  Right now they are drying on a cookie sheet in my kitchen.  Big mistake.

Every time I walk through the kitchen I catch site out of that tray out of the corner of my eye and for a second I get all giddy about having a cookie.  Then I remind myself that they aren’t edible.  What a stinkin’ let down.  I really need to finish this project so I can stop being so disappointed all day.  I want cookies!

Gideon

Have I mentioned lately how cute this kid is.  I know he’s mine and all but he nearly explodes my heart a dozen times a day with his cuteness.  His mannerisms, the things he says even just his voice.  It’s all just so darn cute.

I ask if he’s poopie.  He says “No, Mama, I pretty good.”

Today I asked and he said “Yes (and he holds up his finger) I be back in minute.” and he dashes off to find the box of batteries to fix his train first.

As I’m typing this I peer over and see him up on a stool attempting to sprinkle fish food in the betta tank.  He loves chores. 

He calls his vitamins “vitacines” (vitamins + medicine no doubt).  “Mommy, Viiii-taCINes” he sings.

I told him it was naughty to get into the medicine (he rubbed Menthol Camphor on his face, he thinks it’s Aquaphor) and he said “I did dat, sorry ‘bout dat.”

He answers every question very confidently and without hesitation no matter who I’m talking to, most often NOT him.  It’s like having a living Magic 8 ball following me around.

Right now his favorite movie is “Spickle Me” (Despicable Me) and he tries to copy the littlest girl when she makes the annoying noise and tries to dance like the people at the end of the movie.  Two-year old + disco = hilarious.

Today he was the subject of most of my photos and my pic of the day (the one on the left).

He followed me outside when I went out to watch Gabe walk home from the school bus stop so I grabbed my camera and shot some pictures while we waited.  I thought it was especially cute that he was wearing overalls today which was his choice so I had him sit on the milk box (we get milk delivery – best milk EVER).  But mostly because I would like to live a lot more rural than we do so sometimes I pretend that we are living on 21 acres instead of .21 acre and overalls and milk boxes help me do that.  Gotta keep my delusions, I mean dreams, alive.

Gabe’s Art

Can’t say how many times I’ve meant to scan some of Gabe’s art and post it.  He gets really creative and detailed.  Today he drew a picture to give to his friend at school so I scanned it before it was gone.

The colorful creatures are Yoshis and the people on them are characters from Mario games.  The picture shows coins, stars, lives, blocks, a Gumba and a pipe.  I think his little friend is going to love it!

Sweet Shot Tuesday

My favorite photo meme, SOOC Saturday, hasn’t run in a while so I was very excited to learn about Sweet Shot Tuesday from My 3 Boybarians.  Here is my first offering:

It is very easy to participate.  Post a picture on your blog or flickr then go to the Sweet Shot post and link up.  Then the real fun begins, go check out other people’s sweet shots!  Comment, love, encourage, be inspired, have fun!

Alrighty Then

A few weeks ago when the kids had a snow day and I made them that muffin tin lunch they had asked me what was for lunch and I told them they were “making their own darn lunch”.  I was joking around of course, little did I know how much it stuck with Zion.

They’ve all got the sniffles again.  (You would need to beep out some of the words in my thoughts about that, I’m so sick of the sickness.)  Low fevers and snotty noses (and those cute adorable stuffed up voices that come with a child’s cold).  Gideon wanted waffles for lunch and Gabe concurred.  Zion said she wanted “snack lunch” (what I call it when I just throw a bunch of tidbits on a plate and serve it as a meal).  So after I served the boys and called her to the kitchen she came and saw a plate on the kitchen cart and was clearly expecting to see the muffin tin.  Made obvious when she suddenly, sadly blurted “I thought I got to make my own darn lunch”.  She was clearly not trying to be sassy.  She was merely repeating what I had said before.  It was pretty funny.  I’m still laughing, she was so sincere in her plea to make her own darn lunch.

For the record, I filled some muffin tin cups and let her make her own darn lunch (which was my plan all along).

Earlier today I made her some darn leggings.  I bought some women’s socks on sale at Target weeks ago fully knowing I was still suffering from sewing machine anxiety but telling myself I could do it.  I don’t know why but I’m afraid of my sewing machine.  I know if I use it frequently enough I’ll get over it but I wasn’t.  I hadn’t used it in ages.  Well, perhaps not quite that long since I only bought it 5 years ago but I’ve used it a precious few times since then.  Today I finally did it.  I set the machine up, made a bobbin (while consulting the manual), threaded it and made the leggings (super easy just cut off the feet in a line parallel with the top hem and then make a bottom hem).  I do believe these leggings are darn cute.

And she must like them too because she wore them to bed.

p.s. someone has pulled up to standing twice, the first time on Saturday and the second today.  Both times I missed a photo by this ---><--- much.  Darn again.