project 365

starting in 2010, i'm going to attempt to take a picture every day for the year. not sure what I'm going to do with them once I have them,...but it will be a fun little project. :)

anyone else interested in joining?

creating.

Berlin Mae, 1 year old.

I've been trying to take a break from work photography so that I get passion for it back. I feel like I've gone a little stagnant. bored and boring. and uncreative. i'm going to continue this break for a little while. so far i haven't had a huge break because of orders and such but even the slow down has been great for my creativity. i used to paint, draw, attempt to crochet, sew, make various items like soap, as well as bake. I wasn't always good at everything (remember my crappy totes that i tried to sell at a craft show... *cough cough (lame)*) but I was at least having fun. Almost everything I'd do would give me a sort of high. Right now I'm sort of on one of those highs for scrapbooking again. I haven't done it in a while and got back to Elijah's album. I'm all caught up to present time now. So far, 88 pages! I have some ideas of books that I want to get to but I think I'm going to start Izzie's and then do a family album. I've come across some really amazing websites for papers and elements. I've also already learned a few things that will help me when designing people's albums! so yay!

I can't wait to share all the neat things that I'm learning! i think i may even get the wacom tablet out and try to draw some of my own elements which would be nice to learn. I'm even more excited to get Elijah's book to print!

If you are interested in digital scrapbooking, check out www.blurb.com. They make it really easy to design and order albums using their program. Also, hit me up if you are interested in more links for papers and such.

izzie pie.

i got a new boppy cover because i think my last one has seen it's last day. i like the bright pink. and i think izzie does too. :)

oooh.

While James was gone at the store with Berlin, I had a nice quiet hour or so with Eli. It was really enjoyable! He played in the tub...I gave him a mohawk which lasted a whole second with his thick hair. But he has been making this really funny face which is usually accompanied by him crossing his legs and saying "oooh" really high pitched. He kept doing it in the tub and I got his picture. Funny kid.

Ice Princess.

Today I took Berlin to the ice arena to ice skate! I had SO much fun! Berlin did too! She recently watched Ice Princess and was really into it. I took skating lessons when I was 4 and I still remember loving it. SO I thought I'd take Berlin. She did great. She kept watching the girls doing jumps and spins and would attempt to copy...and was a little anxious to try to do it alone but she skated for over an hour with a smile on her face the whole time!

Lucas Steven is born!

In an attempt to stay up til the middle of the night because I thought I was in for a long night... I drank some starbucks at 10:30, so now I am awake at 1:30 am. Thank you peppermint mocha. Oh well, now I'll get a post up asap! I got the call that Sarah was heading to the hospital to have Lucas...she didn't get there until about 9 pm and by 11:30 he was born! Lucas was born 6 lbs 10 oz. 20 inches long. Sarah is doing great and Ryan was all smiles as the proud new daddy!



Ryan coming to tell us.

inked.



Grandma

Aunt Chrissy

Grandpa

Happy little family (minus ashton)

Chef Elijah.

Here is Eli, cooking up some cuteness. :)







Enjoying the "fruits" of his labor. lol.

Happy Turkey Day!

We had a really nice Thanksgiving this year. We went to my parents' house to be with family. We had a FULL house as usual there. Not counting kids-- 18! The food was good...company was wonderful. My mom decorated real nice downstairs and made some really pretty centerpieces. She cut out the centers of apples to put tealights in them...which I thought was pretty festive. I don't have a picture of it though. Girls played Cranium while the guys watched the Lions lose.

Isadora and Chrissy

Sarah

Uncle Chuck and Berlin

Izzie Pie

Alissa came in from Florida. I haven't seen her since Eli was born so it was really nice to see her!!

Ashy

Aunt Barb had a super cute outfit on, per usual. Roger. :)

James

Mom and one of the turkeys

One of the table centerpieces.

Berlin.

Elijah-- wouldn't hold still for a minute!

Izzie in her cute outfit... first Thanksgiving.

The kids played with this box forever! Ryan pulled them around for a fun ride. Gotta love uncles.



Steve watching the game

The guys. James, Ryan, Charlie.

All I want for Christmas {James and Amanda}

Sorry for waiting so long to get this up...been busy. Posting from my phone! :)

James:

iTunes gift card
Assasins Creed 2 video game. (xbox)
Left 4 Dead 2 video game ( xbox)
xbox controller- prefer colored fun, not white
Them Crooked Vultures CD
Wolfmother (cosmic egg) CD
Microsoft xbox live points card

Amanda:
beaded necklaces
victoria's secret Amber Romance perfume and lotion
Abercrombie 8 perfume
iTunes gift card
Paramore CDs: Brand New Eyes, All We Know is Falling, Riot
Sondre Lerche CD: Heartbeat Radio
good water bottle- NOT aluminum
slippers- fun monkey ones from target or pretty ones from kohls size 9
Urban Outfitters gift card
Books: Parallel Worlds: A Journey Through Creation... By Michio Kaku
Hyperspace: A Scientific Odyssey.... By Michio Kaku

Thanks! Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Ours was great!

Shake up the Makeup.

Isadora is now 3 months old! She is now reaching for things--doesn't have a far reach yet but anything she can get she chews on. Slobber all over her clothes and blankets... pretty funny when she is sitting with me while folding laundry because I have to watch that she isn't eating the socks. :) I found out she is ticklish too. She laughs so hard if I tickle her neck or her thighs. LOVE it!

Below are a couple of pictures of her from last weekend. I got a camera off ebay to hold me while I get rid of my other one and so I was doing some test shots to make sure it was functioning right. YAY for working equipment! I'm planning to do some more pictures of her for actual 3 month pretty ones that I'd want to hang up....but I think these ones are cute too.

Also, today while looking for the cotton balls for our art project, I came across my Mary Kay kit in the basement. Berlin was amazed by all the stuff and wanted to play with it. SO, I got her out a mirror and some sample stuff and let her go to town. She did pretty good. The second time she forgot what the sample lipstick was and thought it was for eyes, which was a little harder to get off...but it was a fun time watching her. She was bathed before James got home though so that he wasn't horrified by his 3 year old with all this makeup on. Uh, it was cute but I don't get those stage mom's that do this to their kids.








Isadora, 3 Months.

All I Want For Christmas. {Elijah}

Elijah is 1 1/2 and into everything! He likes animals, dancing, and painting. He also likes to drum and do anything athletic.

Eli is in clothes size 2t and shoe size 7 toddler.

Pajamas-- size 2T or larger.

Drums... electric.

Magna Doodle-or something of the like. I heard that they have glowy ones now...but the original is just fantastic.

Art Projects- He particularly likes watercolor paint. So watercolor paper and paints would be nice because I go through it like crazy!

ROAR! He likes anything with animals. Dinosaurs, puppies, lions, snakes...etc.

Little People. (we have the airplane, race and load carrier, dump truck, racetrack, day home, and carnival) but he plays with these all the time. I think he would really like the Learn About Town set or the Noah's ark one if they still carry that.

Helmet for bike riding.

Tricycle. The Radio Flyer one seems nice. I think it would be nice for him to not ride a pink one anymore :)

Scooter-- Radio Flyer makes one that is easier for smaller kids.

Kids size balls: football, basketball.

Gator Golf game.

Travel games or thing to occupy in the car.

All I Want For Christmas. {Isadora}

Izzie is cute and little... she is about 13 lbs and 23 inches. She is wearing clothes 3-6 months now. She is all set for summer clothes for next year due to the massive amounts of dresses that Berlin had...and some that I bought before she was born. Her room is done in pink and yellow. She is holding her head up and rolls front to back but trying back to front. She is a happy princess. :)

Anyway, here are some ideas for Isadora.

Piggy Bank.

Bitty Baby. Or bitty twin. Sure she is too young now but eventually, she is going to want one like her sister and cousins. Either blond with blue eyes, or light skin with brown hair and brown eyes.

Pajamas. 6 months and up.

Soft balls and blocks. Such as: Bright Starts

JJ Cole Essentials Blanket. Don't care what color, but it is water resistant and nice for outdoor playing.

ANYTHING from Janie and Jack.

Pacifier Pod.

Bike Carrier for back of bikes. We do a lot of bike riding as a family. It would be nice to take Izzie. :)

Isadora is hard because most of the essential toys for her age, we have. But if you pick out something and have doubts, just ask!

All I Want For Christmas. {Berlin}

I have been trying to get the kids' Christmas lists down...so I'll be posting a blog for each kid.

Berlin is now 3 1/2 going on 15. She is mommy's little helper. She likes all things rock and roll and pretty. She likes to tell stories, do learning and art projects, and make believe such as dress up and puppets. If something has sparkles, she is going to LOVE it. She likes the color PINK. And blue. But doesn't like the color green....in her mind, green is for boys.

She is in size 4T and wears a size 9 toddler shoe.

Leap Frog TAG reading system

Fancy Nancy Book for TAG And other TAG books that are for the ages 3-5 or so.

Books. We could use some good storybooks for her that aren't board books... she really likes the Olivia book she got last year.

Leapster.

Games for Leapster. Such as Disney Princess game.

Drums....electric. This will also be on Eli's.

Drum..this one is cute.

Pram for baby doll. LOVE THIS ONE!!

Art project items. Paper, paint, jewelry making, kits of any kind geared to 4 year olds.

Toddler Luggage for staying with grandparents!

Hannah Montana singing doll. Yikes... yeah, she loves this thing.

American Girl Items Below: (she picked these out.)

Ballerina To Be outfit.

Snowy Owl outfit.

Bitty Baby: Blonde hair/blue eyes. She has a bitty twin but pointed to this too...

My kids...grease balls?

Ew. I was gone last night at the store and James gave the kids a bath....not realizing that I had left my bath oil next to the kids' soap. SO when he was getting the kids' jammies ready, the kids dumped 1/2 a bottle of bath oil (of a 30 oz bottle!) in the tub. Eli's hair looks ridiculous. I gave him another bath this morning and it is still not wanting to come out all the way.

I'm really looking forward to this weekend! My friend is opening her photography studio and is having an opening party. So James and I are going to that and then out afterwards to a movie! Very excited for a night out! I hope everyone has a nice weekend!

Thank You Thursday. {Fearless Communication.}

This is a bit off from my other thankful posts. I was going to write about these super good brownies that I discovered but at the moment...I am just really thankful for good communication.

I was in a funky mood and feeling just... well, "AHHH!"... if you've had those days. But really, I had nothing to complain about other than my dumb camera. I just felt off. And NOW I feel better! Amazing what a little talking with your husband will do. I'm so thankful that I am able to talk with James about anything. I know a lot of women that can't talk to their husbands like they do their friends and I've always felt like we can talk about anything. We may not always have answers for things but at least there is understanding and a whole lot of openness.

As well as feeling better from talking with James... My mom and Kate are always especially good to bounce things off of. So thank you... you talkers that help keep my sanity and keep me focused on the things that are important.

Joys of an internet society.

Well, I didn't do that great at having a blog post everyday for the month of November...which was my original goal. I usually will blog several in a row and schedule them but I forgot over the weekend that none were to be posted. Oh well. Also, I am camera-less for a little while since my one camera is in the shop and the other one is being borrowed. So sorry for no pictures. I am looking into doing a little switcharoo with my equipment since I keep running into failures and stuff. One downside to all this fun technology. It isn't always dependable.

SO, since no pictures...you get to read my randomness! lucky you! :)

I just adore online shopping! I usually buy online for all of the business stuff. But clothes and other personal items, I just haven't done much until now. I started more when I found out I was due with Izzie...bought her crib set online for a fraction of the cost it would be at the store. I've been loving the joys of shopping online for clothes for the kids as long as it is a store that I frequent and know the sizes. No dragging kids through a store...which seriously ruins concentration when deciding what to buy. I can compare and even plan outfits buy searching different stores at once! UH, and it sort of stops this really annoying thing that seems to happen every single time I go shopping for the kids' clothes... SIZES! I can see right there if there isn't their size.

Where do I frequent? Well, since you asked....

www.target.com (they even have a newish boutique section that is so awesome)

www.amazon.com

www.littledreamerdesigns.com (if you scrapbook on the computer--love this!)

www.etsy.com

www.ebay.com

www.gap.com

Now, if I could just have my grocery shopping done online too... I'd be all set! I like to go shopping for fun. When it is shopping for needs, it stresses me out. So yay for online!

One of the paper packs that I recently got. FUN!