Just Telling Our Story

Innocent & Handsome

Well, I've been swamped with work the past week and haven't made time to scrapbook at all. So, I'm pulling out one of my favorite layouts for the sake of posting something this week! If you and I are friends on Facebook, you've already seen this one.

This photo is one of my all-time favorites of my little man. I only wish I had taken it! Still, I absolutely LOVE it, and I owe all the credit to Connie Phillips, a fantastic local portrait photographer. She'll shoot you about anywhere if you're in central Indiana, I'd bet, so call her up if you want amazing photos like this for your living room walls. You won't be disappointed.

Journaling:

INNOCENT & HANDSOME
This picture stops me in my tracks every time I see it. Not only does it show how incredibly handsome you are, but also how innocent and pure you are at this age. You are changing every day, being exposed to different people, different ideas and different attitudes. Sometimes I wish I could just keep you at this age and protect you from the world. Obviously, I can’t. But I look forward to watching this handsome young boy turn into a handsome young man. I love you, Buddy. Love, Mom.    (11.2009, age 7) 

Supplies • Fonts: Stone Sans (little title) and Minion Pro (journaling) • All elements: Nighty kit by Sherah Kraan, Skrapper Digitals, www.stoneaccentsstudio.com

Finally...an hour to breathe

(Well, I wrote this last Tuesday but saved it as a draft with high hopes of being able to find and edit some pics to go with these. But of course, time has ticked away, and it's just not happening. I've been working in every spare moment again, so I'm falling behind in everything else. So...rather than keep this as a draft and never posting it, I'm going for it—pictures or not!)

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Things have been hectic lately.

Of course, things always seem hectic around here, but lately it has been ridiculously so. My workload finally picked up again (thank goodness), and the faucet is back on full blast. My kids are starting to complain about my frequent evenings and weekends working at the library or local book store, and I am feeling the effects of less sleep and less time (after the kids go to bed) to do the fun stuff—creative stuff—that keeps me sane. Anyway, I find myself with an hour or two free this afternoon, as I am in a holding pattern on a few projects and, frankly, can afford a short break. So I'm treating myself to a long-overdue blogging session.

So here are a few of the things keeping us crazy lately. (There is something personally satisfying about writing down little snapshots of our life as it happens. After all, next year—heck, even next month—this will be history (quite literally), and our life will look much different. Maybe this will make its way into a scrapbook some day.)

1. Soccer! I love soccer season. I really do. Both of our kids played this season, and Chad coached E's team to boot. So we were at the soccer fields four or five days a week for the last eight weeks or so. This was E's first season ever playing an organized sport (I don't count swim lessons), and our shy little girl really had a ball on the field! She's a great example of how sports can boost confidence in young kids, and I was so happy to see her running down the field and dribbling the ball, giggling as she kicked much of the time. She was simply joyful. And that made me joyful.
   
   I was reminded once again how good Chad is at being a coach. He is patient, fun and complimentary to the kids, and he always, always, always just plays to have fun. We never talk about scores with the kids in either baseball or soccer, and honestly, with the exception of G, they never ask. (G's a bit competitive!) And the kids just love him. The parents do, too. He always gets tons of compliments at the end of a season from parents who were relieved to have a coach that wasn't brutally hard on the kids or demanding and competitive. The kids have fun, the parents have fun, and Chad has fun. Can't go wrong there, right? Makes me proud to be his wife.
   
   Tonight is G's last night (trophies), and then we're done for a few weeks before basketball (for G) and swimming (for E) start. So farewell, soccer 2009. We'll be back next year!
2. Our lot! Well, after a couple of years of dreaming about our next home and many months of seriously looking for a new lot on which to build our next house, we finally found it. We closed on the lot at the end of September, and we are SOOOO looking forward to building! Unfortunately, that will not be for two or three more years, as we save some cash for the down payment for the house (just about went broke after putting the down payment on the lot). In the meantime, though, we still get to enjoy our property. It has about an acre and a half of woods (plus about 3.5 acres of grass) that need some attention, so we've been spending some time out there, trimming choking vines away from our big, beautiful trees and clearing paths through the woods so we can make our way to the (mostly dry) creek and enjoy all the state-park-like woods have to offer. The kids have absolutely loved being out there, playing with dirt and rocks and trying to climb trees. They get along well and get some fresh air in their blood. It's a wonderful thing. Still, there is a ton to do, so we'll be busy for the next couple of years. I am craving the solitude and silence living in the "country" will bring. (It's officially part of an eight-property subdivision, but it feels like the country!) Now, I just need to find the strength to be patient as we save, save, save. It's not going to be easy! But it will be worth it!
3. School. School always keeps us busy. There are field trips and events (like today's Pumpkin Run) and open houses and after-care programs and HOMEWORK and so on. Homework, we're finding, is ridiculous for a second grader. G spends so much time every night on his homework -- mostly either a reading assignment or math assignment PLUS spelling, vocab, reading for fun for 20 minutes, reading his AR book (over which he has a test each week), preparing for at least three (if not four) tests plus unannounced in-class quizzes and graded assignments each week. It's exhausting, even for me! We enrolled G in an after-care program a few weeks ago so I could get a few hours of my workday back, and I'm not convinced just yet that it's working for him. He loves having the time to play after school (something he didn't get when he came home to our house instead, because I need to work the rest of the afternoon), but he's not getting that one-on-one (me and G) time for his homework that he used to get at home. He does have an hour dedicated to homework at after-care, but in a setting with all of his friends, he doesn't do as well. He's too concerned about finishing first than he is about studying and understanding what he's reading. His grades are starting to show it. (He's still doing well...just not quite as well as before.) So we'll have to change something soon, probably. Not sure what the answer is. With school, after-care, dinner, sports, baths, evening reading and bedtime, there's really not time to have him do his homework AGAIN when he gets home from school every day. Too much for a 7-year-old, if you ask me.
   
   And, of course, our school seems to be a pro at scheduling days off for the kiddos. Next week, G has three days off - two for fall break and one for parent/teacher conferences. So of course my work schedule gets screwy, and I'm forced to work in awkward chunks of time again. Still, I'm thankful for a flexible work arrangement and understanding clients!
4. Animals. With five animals (two dogs, three cats) in the house, we expect there to be a vet visit or two on occasion. But we've been spending FAR too much time and money at the vet lately. Poor Molly (our 9-year-old Labrador retriever) has been going every month for weight checks and general wellness checks, due to arthritis, a thyroid condition and a special diet she's on to help her lose weight. Then last week, she got very sick. She scared me, actually. That was the first time I really thought we might lose her. And it's technically still not over yet. After lots of tests, the vet said there were no crystal-clear answers, but the most likely diagnosis was a bleeding ulcer. Worse, it could be the beginning of heart failure. She went on a rice-and-cottage-cheese diet, Pepcid and a medicine to stop the nausea sensation in her brain. She has a borderline enlarged heart, fluid on her lungs and fluid in her abdomen. Her heart is working much harder than it should be, and she's having trouble catching her breath, even though she does essentially no exercise. So her age and overweight body frame is doing a number on her. It's too bad, too, because just recently, she was doing incredibly well. She was getting her old spunk back, going with us for walks and running down the sidewalk to greet people—things she hadn't done in a LONG time. Now, she's lethargic, sad and energy-less. She's nauseated, plus she's in pain. It's likely her arthritis medicine that caused her bleeding ulcer, so she's off of it until at least Friday. Then we go back for a check-up and for them to decide if she needs more tests to see if they can find a definitive cause (whether or not it's absolutely heart failure). Breaks my heart to think that she's so sick. But she does seem to be doing better the last couple of days, so we are holding on to hope that she'll pull through just fine. (She could still use a prayer or two, though!)
   
   (UPDATE - Sunday, Oct. 18: We went to the vet on Friday for a check-up, and Molly is doing much better! She's back on some pain meds -- a different one, though -- and her symptoms have waned. So she's looking good! She got a great report from the vet, and we're so, so happy to have a healthy doggie back! Plus, she's lost more than 12 pounds since she started her weight medicine, so she only has five pounds to get to her goal weight! Good news for Miss Molly! Feeling much better about things now!)
   
   Maddie, our three- or four-year-old Lab mix, has some sort of issue, as well. I'll spare you the details of part of it, because they're not pleasant, but in a nutshell we think she has an allergy that is causing her to chew and lick herself nonstop. She has chewed between her paws enough to wear the webbing raw, actually. We need to get her back into the vet for another check on that. There has to be something more to it than what the doc said originally (again, I'll spare you).
   
   Lucy (our calico cat) has three small sores of some sort on her head and neck, too. So SHE needs to go in as well. But she and Maddie don't get along very well, so we'll have to take them on separate visits! I think we need to take stock in our little animal hospital/vet office.
5. Photographers' Workshop. I was lucky enough to get into Karen Russell's Online Photographers' Workshop, an nine- (10- if you count the week intermission to allow people to catch up) week class I have been drooling over for a long time. And yet, with everything else going on, I'm finally in it and I'm WAY behind. UGH!!!! I am learning a lot, though, and squeezing in the lessons where I can, so it's been well worth it. I hope to get the assignments done in a timely manner, but it's not looking good. I think I might have to skip a couple of the ones about concepts I'm very familiar with (aperture, shutter speed, perspective, etc.) and just start in the middle if I ever hope to get everything done! Makes me sad to get behind (I hate that!), but with work and everything else lately, it's been challenging. Still, it makes me happy to download and print my new lesson each day, and I have enjoyed catching up when I can. I just love her photography style. And even though I took my fair share of photography courses in college, there's still so much I have to learn. It's definitely a process, not an accomplishment, to learn to be a better photographer. I'm finding -- rediscovering -- that I really have a deep-rooted passion for photography, so it's thoroughly enjoyable...every minute I can soak in.
6. Friends & Family. Unfortunately, this is not taking as much time as I would LIKE for it to take lately. I feel like we are moving at 1000 miles per hour, and we don't have time to stop and breathe and get together (or even talk, for that matter) with friends or family as often as we'd like. There are a bunch of friends on my list whom we haven't seen in ages, and whom I miss. I want to get better about making time for friends this winter, when things hopefully slow down a little.

Well, that should do it for now. Sometime soon, I'll share a couple of new digital scrapbook pages. However, they've been few and far between. I did get a few pages done for my priest, who retired this month. Hope to find some time to share those.

More later...and hopefully in a more timely manner than the last several posts have been! (Hope to get another digital scrapbooking tutorial up, too. I've been thrilled to hear from a few friends who have been inspired to give digital scrapbooking a try. Want to make sure they get hooked while they're still thinking about it! :o) )

Snow attack!

It's been a while since we've seen a foot of snow in one night, but Wednesday morning we awoke to more than a foot of the white stuff blanketing our little corner of the world. (They said on the news that this is the worst snow storm we've had in 13 years.) Schools were closed (were today, too), and the kids were forced to stay home. Work was quickly out of the question for me on Wednesday, so we bundled up in three layers each, head to toe, and (a half hour later) braved the cold and went for it. The kids were in heaven for about an hour and a half, until both of them started shivering so badly from being wet and cold that we had to quickly retreat indoors. I actually was a little afraid E might have stayed out too long; she took about a half hour once inside and dry to stop shivering and calm down. She was crying hysterically and had the coldest fingers, toes, legs and tush ever. A little mug of hot chocolate seemed to do the trick and calmed her down a bit. That and a quick call to Daddy, who made it into work unlike the majority of the state of Indiana.

Here are a few highlights of the day.

I love seeing Molly outside in the snow. It brings out the puppy in her (even though she's nearly 9 years old). She LOVES digging her snout in it and actually was trying to get Maddie to play with her. Unfortunately, Maddie's 40-foot lead was stuck to the post in the back yard, so all we had was a leash to tie her to the tree with. So she didn't get very far. She wasn't happy about that, but at least she was outside. If we let her off the leash, she'd be gone in a heartbeat. I'm not sure she'll ever be as good as Molly about staying in our yard without being attached to something. Time will tell, I guess.

Who needs white sandy beaches?

If it weren't so much work to get the kids layered up—and then strip them of multiple layers of cold, wet clothes when we're done—we would have gone out again today. But we stayed inside and I worked instead. G was bummed about that. We sent E to day care so I could get some work done. Maybe we'll brave the cold and get out again this weekend. I think the snow's going to be around for a while. We're supposed to get more accumulating snow on Monday. Let's pray we don't have another snow day (for Mommy's sanity). :o)  Oh, and by the way, the snow was not good packing snow. Otherwise, we would have had snowman pictures to share! Before we went outside, G and E both were worried that we didn't have carrots in the house. ("We have to fix it!" said E.) What good is a snowman without a carrot nose? Well, kiddos, as long as you're living in this house, you'll have to improvise for Frosty's sniffer!

Miscellaneous Monday

Hi all! Hope you enjoyed a short Thanksgiving break and are back to your normal routines today. We had an enjoyable Thanksgiving and weekend, but it is good to be back to work today. It helps that I've been playing with pictures all morning (for a work project), which is something I really enjoy!

Thanksgiving was split as usual between my mom's side of the family and Chad's. I was a little disappointed that my sisters weren't at my mom's family's celebration (lunch) at the same time I was, especially since the only reason we were planning on lunch there was so that we could have Thanksgiving together. In the past year or two, many of my cousins have been coming later for dinner, and most everyone who's there for lunch stays for dinner, too, so we would have seen more people for dinner if I had known ahead of time that my sisters were coming later.

Because we were having lunch at my family's Thanksgiving, we were 4/7 of Chad's family that was gathering for Thanksgiving, and they didn't want to have to cook a big meal for the remaining 3/7, we ended up eating out for Chad's family's Thanksgiving. I could tell Chad was a little bummed by it, and I imagine others in the family might have been, too. But what do you do? It's not my sisters' fault that they weren't there for lunch. We just didn't talk to each other before plans were made on Chad's side of the family, or we would have done things differently. Next year, we're going to let Chad's family pick the big meal (lunch or dinner) and we'll go to my side of the family's for the other. I feel like Chad's family got the shaft this year. And because my side of the family is significantly larger than Chad's, Chad's family often does get the raw end of the deal. It's just easier to shift things around when there are less than 10 people total in three small groups, compared with 30 or so in seven or eight groups. Add in the steps and in-laws on everyone else's parts, and it's ugly. Sorry, guys.

(There's a lot more I could say about the joys of splitting holidays between families, but I'll refrain for now. It's never fair for anyone.)

Anyway, at Thanksgiving, we did play a fun game of LCR (Left, Center, Right). I really thought my grandma was going to win, but it turns out it was my aunt, Dick's Kathy. (We say that because I have two aunts named Kathy, both by marriage, so we distinguish them by their husbands' names. She's married to Dick.)

As you can see, there were big bucks at stake ($60!). My uncle Mark (I have two uncles named Mark, too; this one's the one married to Jane) won the first round. He got a cool $54! I was hoping to win, of course, but no such luck!

I love the look on my Grandma's face here, when she realized Kathy won. (Forgive the funky angle and poor-quality photo.)

Thanksgiving evening we went to Cracker Barrel with Chad's family, then went to his brother's house to hang out. A nice day over all.

Friday was fairly relaxing in the morning. It was so good to be able to sleep in and just hang out. Seems like we did do something in the morning, but I can't remember what! Maybe shopping? Anyway, Friday night I took photos for the Downtown Danville Partnership at the town's Christmas tree lighting. It was really fun, and the best part about it was that we didn't have to fight the enormous crowds that we normally do when we go to the downtown Indy tree lighting. Anyway, I got this shot of the kiddos...just a great, real moment. I love that E's sticking her tongue out, seemingly at no one in particular, but rest assured, it was meant for G.

When you live in a small town for any period of time, you're bound to run into people you know at events like this. I ran into several, but the one that resulted in the most excitement was my old neighbor, Mike. He works for the town and got me up onto the top of the courthouse roof so I could get some good pictures for my client. What a cool thing that was. My legs were like Jell-O (I'm not a huge fan of heights), and there was a rather wide lip around the building to keep people like me from falling off, so I couldn't get my camera at the most ideal angle. But I did get a few good pics, I think. Here's one, of our little town's claim to fame, the Mayberry Cafe.

And here's the same restaurant from ground level.

Of course, the main attractions that night were Santa and Mrs. Claus.

And when they lit the tree, well, that was the highlight of the event for some. (By the way, this photo was shot under the absolute worst shooting conditions possible -- horribly low lighting, Christmas lights that need to shine, a long depth of the photo that needs lit, lots of movement and no ceiling off of which to bounce the flash. There is no easy way to get a good picture with all of these variables. The only thing that could have made it worse would have been rain. Thank goodness there was none of that! The pressure was on for me to get a good photo or two for my client. Ugh. The ones that best stopped the motion were dark in the background and had really bright faces from the harsh flash. The ones that had the best lighting naturally showed movement due to the flash setting required. I couldn't shoot in both modes at the pivotal moment, when the switch was turned to ON, because there wasn't time to switch settings on my flash and camera. So I had to choose what I thought would work best and go for it. It was a no-win situation, really. But I did the best I could. This one showed the least movement by Santa, which was most important.)

The rest of the weekend was spent at home. I can't say that it was wonderful, because the kids were, well, not so good. In fact, E lost every single toy she owns (including crayons, markers and scrapbook paper) for three days. It's all in the garage until Wednesday. Let's just say she was a challenge like none we've ever seen. But we did get some crucial things done, like getting our family Christmas photos taken, getting the kids' photo taken with Santa, and doing some serious shopping for the kiddos for Christmas. If we had had everyone's lists by Saturday, I think we could have wiped the whole slate clean! We were on a roll!

But the highlight of the entire weekend for G had to be the fact that he finally got to use his hard-saved money and buy himself a Webkinz eagle. He's been dying to play with him online, but we only let him have an hour a week of video and computer game time. So he's eager for next weekend. (We did let him play for an extra hour yesterday, but now we have to stick to our rules!)

By the way, E got a Webkinz penguin with her money, but not one minute after we paid for it (in fact, it was just enough time for us to turn away from the counter where we paid), she threw an enormous fit in Penney's saying she didn't want it. Things went downhill from there. It doesn't matter much...she lost her chance to play with it by the next day, anyway!

Hope you enjoyed your holiday, too! :o)

Leaf leapin'

Just a quick layout share before I head to bed. I loved the photos in these sequence shots of the kids jumping into leaves and wanted to share! I love the looks on their faces. They were having so much fun with this simple little pile of leaves. I often wish I could find as much joy in simple things as kids do. That's a real gift.

Anyway, this is a digital scrapbook page, and those of you who are scrapbookers will likely instantly notice that it's 12x24" vertical! This will require flipping the book around, assuming I actually get all of these layouts printed and bound into a book. It's a bit awkward, and so unlike me! I like things ordered, straight and organized. So this is a real stretch for me. (You might notice I even tilted the photo strips a little! Yikes!) But it was the best orientation for all of those photos (and they're small enough as it is), so I went for it. Enjoy! [click image to enlarge]

PS That gap in the text block? That's where the page will be split. Also, I didn't use any digital kit elements on this page. The leaf is just a shape in Photoshop. (In case you were wondering...)

Meet Sweet Little Ashley

Meet Ashley, the fourth child of our good friends Kevin and Kelly:

Is she not the sweetest little thing? I love, love, love the crazy baby hair!

We finally made it down to visit our good friends yesterday, two weeks after this sweet one made her grand entrance to the world, and it was so good to see them and meet little Ashley. And it was fun to take a few pictures, too. I just had to share them, because she has the sweetest little baby face. And I love baby faces! :o)

Here are a few of my favorites:

 

Cute even when she cries...

Big sis Hailey is a big help for Mommy, I can tell!

Proud parents!

Thanks, Kevin and Kelly, for letting us come down and hang out with you guys last night! We had fun, and we loved meeting Ashley! You have a beautiful family and are very blessed! (Now Kelly, go get some sleep! :o)  )

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And if any of you are wondering why I don't share my own kids' names on my blog, but I did Kevin and Kelly's...Kelly's blog has all of her kids' names and photos. She keeps their last name private online, which in truth is what I'd rather do. But because my blog was originally intended for (and promoted to) my work clients, and because it is still linked to my business Web site (where my last name is plastered on every page), I keep my kids' first names private. You just can never be too safe, you know?

Crawling out of my funk with Totally Rad Actions

I am in a funk. Ever since the ick bug bit me on Saturday, I just haven't been my same old self. I have been extremely productive with work until about, oh, 11 a.m. today. Then I hit a brick wall, and I feel like I could keel over and collapse. I am worn out, simply put. I haven't had my normal amount of energy in a few days, and adding on top of that two and a half days of basically nonstop work, and it's taking everything out of me. So I'm granting myself an extra hour for my lunch today, and I'm playing, knowing full well I'll be back to work soon enough this afternoon...and then this evening/night...and then bright and early tomorrow. I'm trying not to feel guilty about a little bit of a stretched-out lunch hour.

So here's what I've been up to. I read a number of scrapbookers' and photographers' blogs when I need a five-minute mental break here and there, and several of them often refer to Totally Rad Actions. I have been curious before and checked out the site, and while I have been eager to try out the actions, I haven't been eager to spend $260 to get 'em (because I'd want to have them all, not just randomly pick one set of the two and wonder what fantastic stuff I was missing in the second set). (BTW, actions are little macro-like functions that you can upload to Photoshop that help you edit your photos in different ways...I know...nerdy, but I don't care...they're pretty darn cool.)

Imagine my surprise today when I read Donna Downey's blog and realized there were FREE actions waiting to be downloaded! That's when I decided to grant myself some extra lunch time and play. I'm hoping it will help get my creative juices flowing again so I can get some serious writing done this afternoon.

Here are a couple of examples of what you can do with the Totally Rad Actions in the demo mix sample. Love it!

My original photo of my "baby" girl:

Edited with one of the actions (can't remember which one, and Photoshop just crashed, so I'm being lazy here...something like "super fun" something):

And my very favorite (LOVE IT!):

In case you're wondering why this is so cool when it looks like your simple black-and-white: it's not easy to convert a color photo to a good, high-quality, solid-blacks-and-bright-whites-with-good-grays-in-between black-and-white shot in Photoshop. It takes a million steps and tweaks. This is awesome. So hassle-free.

If you have Photoshop, go get these actions! I can't wait to get the whole set! :o)

OK, back to work...

Photo ShaZAM - you have to try this!

OK, Photoshop lovers! This post is for you. (And if you're not a Photoshop lover, at least you get a pic of my boy.) I have been reading Jessica Sprague's blog for a while now, and I have to share her post from today. It's a little Photoshop trick for adding some extra punch to your photos. Here's what I mean.

My before picture, taken this morning, straight out of camera (SOOC):

Not too bad.

But, wait. Here's her trick at work.

Notice the punchier colors? The better skin tone? I love it.

If you want to learn more about this trick, visit her blog and check it out. She has a better example of  before-and-after pics on her blog. It's a wonderful trick. I've been dying to know how photographers get that extra punch. Now I know. How cool of Jessica to share her tricks for free. I think that's awesome. (Thanks, Jessica!) And this is so simple!

And here's one more version, just because I love using layer masks.

Even with the little flakes of leftover milk around his mouth (evidence of his favorite breakfast, donuts, this morning), I still think he's one of the most beautiful children I've ever seen (along with his lovely sister, of course!). Don't you? :-) (Yeah, that sounds a little, um, braggish and conceited, I guess, but a mom can be proud, can't she?)

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Edited: OK, now that I've posted it, the top two don't look too different from each other. In fact, the second's a little more blown-out. I need a better example. Back in a minute.

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Edited again: OK, try this example. My daughter, straight from the camera (natural light, underexposed, on my old camera, so it's grainy)

It's a bit underexposed, so I edited curves first. Here's what I got.

And with Jessica's Photo ShaZAM trick:

Love it. And there's nothing sweeter than a sleeping baby (or big girl).