New Find

I've been very much on the fence when it comes to flower hair accessories. You know the ones with the flowers on headbands or alone as clips. My girls look very cute in them, and though we don't have many, (okay, TWO), I am planning on getting more. But for me? I just didn't think it would work. But then I borrowed a friends flower piece for Doug's christmas work party, and decided that yes, I CAN WEAR FLOWERS. Just not obnoxiously large ones I think. I am going to have to be particular about what what types of flowers I will wear. Don't want to look like I'm trying to be 17 again! :)

I love it when I stumble upon new things by accident, without much effort at all on my part. I really don't spend a lot of time on the internet. Is that shocking? Do most people spend inordinate amounts of time on the internet? Anyhooo..... I came across a site called Whippy Cakes. Have you already heard of this site?

What does this drum up in your head? Food? Fluffy frosting? (Gotta love fluffy frosting. I don't like that heavy stuff.) Well guess what? It's not.

It's flower headbands and clips! But they're not your usual flower headbands and clips. They're very retro, like a throwback to the 30's, which is soooo in right now.

As I perused the inventory and read a little about how she got started with her business, I realized that one of my favorite photography sites, Sky Johanssen photography (I'm not looking up the spelling. You can see it at the bottom of my blog under favorite photography sites. Yes, I am that lazy) uses her headbands in her photography of children.

I fell in love with these flower designs, and am now adding the "Crumpet" to my birthday wish list. Sorry Doug, birthday list is getting long! :)

Anyway, check it out if you're looking for something different. Just wanted to share my new find! :)

What I like to call "Dog Tag Jewelry"

I've gotten asked a lot recently where I got my "dog tag" necklace, and if I knew of any other websites that are nice, so I decided to blog about it. Vintage Pearl is where, but there are other sites that I have found since then that I like also. The only problem is that I don't remember which sites those are when I've been asked, so I decided to sit down and compile the ones that I did find that I like.

This one here from Chantelle Nicole Designs is having a FANTASTIC deal for the next six hours. Normally these kinds of necklaces are around $60, but she's selling this particular one at $32, which is basically like half off. The thing I like about it is that it's a disc, just a plain simple shape. There's just something to be said about simple. Good clean lines. You can put your hubbies name on this one along with your kids, AND it includes the freshwater pearl that I added to mine from Vintage Pearl. Check it out. I think it's super cute!!


Chantelle Nicole Designs (I really like this one)
Lisa Leonard Designs
Charmies Online
Three Sisters (I really like this one too:)
I tried to find the other ones that I've seen, but since I can't remember their names or where it was I found them, this will have to do I suppose:)

Hope this helps! Good luck in finding your perfect piece.

Oh, and HI MARY!!!

New Actions

Wow, three posts in three days. What's the occassion?

I came across a photography site some time ago when looking for some actions for my Photoshop. Let's face it, actions take the angst out of editing, especially when one finds photoshop very daunting. I've been trying to teach myself various functions of photoshop, but it has been very slow going. Actions just take all the hair pulling out of editing and make the time you spend editing way way less that it would normally be. Plus, you can tweak actions to fit your own personal style. See, it's just a win win:)

I stumbled upon "Paint the Moon Photography" when I was searching for some high quality professional actions. I actually thought that I had found another photography site that I love, but then I quickly realized that she sold her actions that she uses as a professional. She creates her own actions that you can manipulate.

Sold. And SOLD.

And really, I don't find them that unaffordable. Granted I could spend $200 there and not bat an eye, but I'm still a novice at using actions. Baby steps. Baby steps.

So I happened to check back with her to just remind myself of my wish list, and I saw that she was offering a free action for saying you "Liked" it on Facebook, for a limited time. Well SHOOT! I don't do facebook. BUT MY HUBBY DOES!!! :)

I ran downstairs. LITERALLY. I literally barreled my way downstairs. I'm glad my kids weren't there cause they would have probably gotten an elbow and thrown into the wall as I cycloned my way downstairs.

I made Doug put his movie on pause and explained to him what I wanted. Which was a very big deal because he had rented Inception the day prior but was only just getting around to some quiet time before I very spastically made him follow me upstairs.

Here's how it went down. He puts the movie on pause, runs upstairs, with me close on his heels like a labrador, and sits down at the computer. I show him the link to click on and as I try to explain more in depth he brings up facebook with such swiftness it would've shamed any olympic runner, and logs in. I am still jabbering at what an awesome thing this is and try to explain to him when he says, "No offense hon, but I just want to get this up for you and return to the movie."

No offense taken I assured him, and then he bolted back downstairs leaving me with this stupid grin on my face like I'd just discovered my computer made gold and was in the process of spitting it out at me.

Truly people, this stuff excites me. And when you can get it for free, OH MY WORD. How totally generous was Paint the Moon to share her stuff. Granted, I was going to buy a couple action sets (hopefully) in the next couple of months, so this was just the appetizer to the main course if you know what I mean.

Finally sat down to figure out how the action works. I pulled up this school photo of Zak. Here's the one I edited. And I still like it very much.



So then I took the original SOOC.....



and ran the Jubilee action.

WOW. Talk about professional grade. Most of the actions I use don't have nearly the layers that this one has. There was something like 15-20 layers that can be tweaked. 15 to 20!!! All to achieve different results when adjusting the opacity.

Oh my gosh I've died and gone to heaven.

This woman is absolutely amazing! I am in awe of her abilities. Truly. And she isn't paying me to say this or, really, even knows I'm alive. I'm just giving credit where credit is due. To create these kinds of actions is just...wow.

So here's what I came up with after playing with Jubilee for a few minutes.



Or this one. I decided I didn't want the center that bleached out.



Thank you thank you "Paint the Moon" for letting us mere mortals try your amazing actions!

I am in love! :)

Life's Ironies

Life is great. It really is. One thing I like about life is it's little ironies, or as in this case, one really big irony that smacked me upside the head.

Wanna know what it is? I'll tell you:) And if you haven't read the post below this one, you might want to so you can get the full scale of how completely ironic this truly is.

I had emailed Andon's teacher a couple days ago about me taking in some form of treat for the kids for Andon's birthday today. I asked her if there was anything that she absolutely didn't want in her classroom and a good time to bring said goodie in. I heard back from her after school yesterday, a few hours after yesterday's post here on my blog.

She told me that they would love to celebrate Andon's birthday, gave me a good time to bring in a treat, and then..... then she made a suggestion. And boy am I trying not to laugh right now. Can you guess what it was????

Wait for it....

Wait for it....

CUPCAKES!!!!!

I couldn't believe it. Seriously???? CUPCAKES??? I don't even like to serve cupcakes to MY kids! :)

You may be interested to know that I am leaving in a few moments to go pick up some doughnuts. Andon nixed the smoothie idea. It is HIS birthday after all:)

(Did you think I was going to say cupcakes?) LOL

So much for getting my panties in a bunch. Really though? Of all the things to suggest, she had to suggest cupcakes:)

Just shaking my head:)

School Treats?

Warning: I am going to vent a little. Or a lot. Who knows? Here goes!

Andon's birthday is tomorrow. He turns 7. I know...where did the time fly? I ask this every time one of my kids has a birthday. So I've been thinking of what to bring as a birthday treat, besides the same old cupcake. For one, it's extremely messy, and I have been in the classroom helping on those days that a parent brings in cupcakes and the teacher just sighs and says, "I hate those things." So cupcakes were out before it even got started. I'm not particularly clever in the food department. Love to eat..hate to cook. I joke that I should have been a food critic. Now that would have been fun!

So I get online to see what other people have been up to. (Seriously you guys, I google EVERYTHING:) The internet, and especially blogland always have great ideas. Seriously, people are so dang clever! I thought for sure I'd find SOMETHING. And I did. I was looking for something easy, not altogether unhealthy, but definitely something the kids would like without the proverbial "It's a birthday. We have to eat crap for a birthday, don't ya know?" Well I came across a blog and I'm thinking that this site will have lots of great ideas, cause that's what the name generates right? Weeell..no. Google failed me:) This actually is a blog of some domestic diva spouting off her ideals on politics. Well, after all, it is free speech. Just like this blog is too, so really, whatever rocks your boat. Say what you will, I don't have to read it. But I was intrigued because she had posted a letter from her child's teacher that her daughter had just brought home. This is what the letter said:
Dear Parents,
This year I am trying to give the students only healthy treats and snacks. Please do not bring cupcakes or cookies for birthday treats. They are very messy and hard to get out of the carpet. Other ideas for treats are: crackers, fruit snacks, fresh fruit or veggies, pencils, or erasers.

I thought that sounded like a cool idea, we've even had teachers that have requested that very thing over the years. I continued onto the comments section and was amazed at what was shared. There was comments like "school's are sucking all the joy out of childhood," and "My wife is a teacher and I know she'd never get picky with parents like this....pencils, erasers for snack food? I'd think the teacher's an idiot."

REALLY!?!?! Sucking the joy out of childhood because the teacher asked for healthier treats???? Mocking some child's parent because they wanted to bring in something that wasn't food or sweets???

So I am completely incensed by now and keep reading on. I come across a comment from some woman named Sandy and here's what she said:

"Really? Is it so offensive to request that kids have a healthy snack at school? Sucking the life out of their childhood? Oh, what a horrible life. Crackers and cheese. An apple. Please, Rebecca. Give'em the hostess at home; kids won't have a miserable childhood because they eat one less cupcake a week. Maybe, as adults, they will thus learn to lead a more balanced life. Sandy. "

I am thinking, "FINALLY!" Someone with some sense. I'm also thinking that there are going to be more people that agreed with her.

Nope.

Not a one.

She got blasted. And I was so mad!! I tried to leave an anonymous comment but it wouldn't let me, and I didn't want any backlash on my blog here.

She then quotes the bible: "Proverbs 24:13 My child, eat honey, for it is good, and the honeycomb is sweet to the taste. I wonder what God is trying to tell me."

Pause.

Say WHAT????

I just shake my head sometimes because that's all you can do.

So here's my opinion, and you can tell me if I'm way off base here. What is so HORRIBLE about the teacher wanting to have healthier snacks? What is so bad about a teacher requesting that there be items that she doesn't want brought in to her classroom? And if that means healthier treats being brought in from home, what is the problem? I don't see anything wrong with this. It's certainly not hurting anyone for pity sake. You want to serve my kid an apple? How dare you! (Really?) I understand the schools have to provide healthier lunches than they did 20 or however many years ago. I really don't think it's a bad idea to ask parents to bring in healthier choices for birthdays. Especially when there are food allergies, or religious restrictions, or you're simply just trying to eat healthier. Just because it's tradition to bring in the sweets doesn't mean we can't bring in an alternative option without the idea being ridiculed. I think that's what's got me so up in arms; that the idea of not being allowed to bring a treat into someone's classroom is so very offensive to some.

I for one don't remember all the crap I ate as a kid. I remember the memories. And honestly, those memories wouldn't be tainted because a cupcake wasn't involved!!

Was I thinking of taking in veggies to school tomorrow? No. If my school had a policy about the healthier snacks being brought verses the junky ones, I would abide by that. However, I was thinking of trying to minimize the amount of sweetness in whatever food I decided to bring and thus am giving to other people's kids too. I actually was thinking of taking in smoothies, or something that didn't have a ton of sugar in it, or some small little toys instead of food. There are quite a few religious restrictions and allergies in Andon's class. Do I think less of you if you bring in cupcakes? By all means, NO. I've brought in more cupcakes than I care to count. I just think that if the teacher asks that there not be messy foods brought in, she shouldn't be ridiculed for it.

What do you think? Am I way off base here?

Hopefully this hasn't offended anybody. It is solely my opinion, but I welcome comments if you have an opinion. You can disagree, just be nice about it. My fragile feelings can't handle it:)

Oh, and if you have an alternative idea other than cupcakes for birthday treats to school, I SOOO welcome the idea.

Christmas Photo Shoot

Elisha, this was so EXTRAORDINARILY difficult to narrow down what pictures to show you for your sneak peak. They all turned out amazing! (If I do say so myself:) So I decided to post my favorites.

FOURTEEN favorites. And I make no apologies:)

I still haven't finished editing all of them yet, and it's looking like there are going to be QUITE A FEW, and I do not envy you the job of figuring out which ones to frame:) Your children are so very photogenic, and despite the fact that it was raining when we first started, I'm glad we stuck with it. When the rain cleared we got what we came for! And I'm so glad too:)

The boys were so fun to hang out with and we got some great photos of Addison as soon as we figured out how to get her to smile and be happy. Thanks for letting me take your family photos! I had so much fun!

And a special thanks to Coleen who makes an excellent assistant:)

Here you go!

My Mia- Well, Kindof

Are you tired of all the photography lately? If you are, you can quit reading:)

Tara asked me to take some photos of Mia in dress up for her room. I was super excited to do it! Mia is just gorgeous and photos so well. And I'm going to share just a few.

It's so hard for me to share just a few too! :)

Mixed Up

I've been meaning to post this for some time, mostly so that I won't forget the funny little things my kids do that make it all worth it. Which truly was the WHOLE reason I started a blog in the first place, but I suppose like everything else, things change, get sidetracked, or evolve. This blog is no exception. Or I kid myself, and this has happened quite frequently in my life, that "Oh, I'll remember. This one I surely can't forget." But alas, I do.

Here's what I want to remember:

Andon came home with his homework one day, and as I was going through it I noticed that on his spelling test he missed all the words. All 6 or ten, or something. (see, this is why one should right down these things as one thinks of them.) I was confused. He usually either gets them all right, or he misses one. He's a pretty good speller:) I asked him why he missed all of the words. I showed him the test as he didn't seem too concerned about the fact that he got EVERY SINGLE ONE wrong, and though I wasn't overly concerned either, (as he is just in first grade), but I was curious. He says, "I mixed up the words."

What? Still fairly confused, which isn't necessarily anything new for me, but still.

"What are you talking about? Why would you mix up the words? Aren't you supposed to spell them the correct way, as best you can remember?"

He says, "Yeah, but Ms. Buback told us to mix them up."

And again, HUH???

I stared at him a few more moments, and then, cause it takes me just a minute:), the light bulb went off and I realized that what she probably said was that she was mixing up THE ORDER of the words. And here my son thought she wanted him to mix up the actual word.

HAAAHAAAAHAAA!!!!

And no, I didn't laugh at him, I held a straight face and stifled my chuckles until I could burst out with them later in the privacy of my bathroom.

But here's what I think is so cool. Andon had enough knowledge of the word that he could actually mix it up and not spell it correctly. I mean, these words were seriously scrambled!!

Oh heavens, my kids make me laugh. :) And then the next day, they're making me irate and I'm learning a lesson in patience.

Life just keeps coming at you:)

She's Done!

Yes! I'm done with my kids' photos! And she really was a great sport. It wasn't nearly the revenge I thought it was going to be:) Guess I'll have to try something else next time.

Coleen, I'm almost ready to send the photos to you so you can do my christmas cards!

There was so many that turned out so darn cute but I am only going to share my favorites of Britt.

Shoot- I would just love to have her hair.









This is truly Brittnee:)

School pictures #3 Andon

My sweet Andon. My sweet Andon who is suddenly fully aware of his vocabulary. Not in a bad way of course, but in a funny child-who's-growing up way.

For instance: We were talking about his Christmas list, and he was saying how much he wants Legos. I'm thinking, "Sweet! Cause we bought a big ole tub of em!" Of course he doesn't know this so he says, "I think I only put LEG-O. I better add an 'S' to that so I can have MORE." Can't disagree with that logic. Today after church, he sees his old primary teacher Bro. Beale and says hi to him. Bro. Beale stopped to talk to him for a second, after which Andon turns to me and says, "That's my old primary teacher." I said I knew, (after all, I'm his mother and as far as he should be concerned, I am ALL KNOWING) and then I said that he is so sweet. Now in my defense, this really is a compliment. I love sweet people! I really do. So he cocks and eyebrow, (which he's so good at), looks at me and says, "Mom, he's a man. You don't call him sweet."

Really?!?! When did he turn sixteen! Sheesh.

Andon adds so much joy to our home. Especially lately:)















One more left! And she's the hardest one to let me take her pictures. Should be fun:) Bwaaahaahaaa! This is my form of revenge:)

Black Friday

I've been so caught up in photography lately, and editing said photography (that takes the most time) that I have completely forgotten to document the fact that my husband actually went with me shopping at midnight on Black Friday.

Side note: For the longest time I wondered why it was called Black Friday. I figured it was because of all the craziness that ensues on these sorts of shopping excursions, thus making it "Black" for some people, especially the ones that got trampled, but alas, I was wrong.

I detest Walmart normally. As a general rule I avoid it, but when they have some stellar deals, well... even I like to save as much money as I can when out spending it. Seems somewhat ironic I suppose. But when I saw what WalMart was selling on Black Friday, we just couldn't pass it up. It's really true that money talks, cause my money was saying, "you'll save yourself over a hundred bucks if you suck it up and shop at WalMart." So we did. We headed over there at midnight, took turns standing in line and shopping until 2am, at which time we got our bracelets to reserve our items. At this point the employee says that we have to be back between 5am and 6am to pick it up or they're going to give them to other people. WELL... that ain't gonna happen. I didn't stand in line for two hours for nothin!! (Yes, my redneck tendencies/grammar pop up now and then.) So Doug and I thought that we'd just go home, sleep for a couple of hours and come back. So that was the plan. Until we got in the car.

The reason I am documenting this is because I have never heard such words coming from his mouth.

EVER.

IN MY LIFE.

He says, "Let's just go shopping. There's got to be a bunch of stores open, then we'll just go back at five and pick up the other stuff."

SWEEEET!!!

So we ran up to Citrus Heights as we knew the Toys R US was open, but first we stopped at Denny's. Um, HELLOOOOO, it was incredibly packed. When has there EVER been a line to eat at Denny's??? But we had time! :) Doug and I had pancakes and hashbrowns. MMMMM...I love me some good pancakes.

But here's the thing that was so surprising. People were actually really nice! Even at WalMart of all places. I was really truly surprised. I thought I was going to have to do some take-downs, ya know? It was almost like being part of this exclusive club that only few people know about. A club where great deals happen, where people talk to perfect strangers as if they've known them for years, where the hustle and bustle is actually quite fun. Who knew?!?

We hit Toys R Us for a couple of items. One of the items was the last one so I was glad we got it. Then I overheard someone say that the mall was opening at 4am. Well why not? We had time! :) We ran over to the mall which opened promptly at four. Lots of teenagers there by the way. Fortunately we made it to Teaghan's favorite store quickly because the table with the $10 hoodies went in a matter of minutes. I grabbed a bunch, Doug grabbed a bunch, and we sorted as we stood in line. Mega deals we got there too, along with some freebies for spending over $100! And we are just having so much fun! There were a couple of times I thought Doug was getting a little green around the gills at the amount of money that was being spent, but he actually did pretty good. The man likes to save too.

After that, we headed back to Wally Mart (yes I did that typo on purpose), picked up our "prizes" and headed home. Got home at 5:30. The kids didn't even get up till 10am so we even got five hours of sleep out of it. The Christmas miracles just keep coming:)

But most importantly, I got to hang with my best friend. And he actually liked shopping this year! Wonders never cease.

Teaghan School Pics

Two kids done, two to go. How come this is taking me so long!? I'm planning on using the kids photos on the christmas cards so I suppose I need to kick this into high gear.


Teaghan and I had so much fun taking these pictures!

McCall Family Photos

This is the cutest little family!! Jessica, who is a friend of my sister in law, asked me to take their family photos. They were such troopers in the 48 degree weather! I was a little concerned that it would be too cold to take photos but Jessica assured me that her children wouldn't even notice. She was so right!!

And WOW...the energy level. These two keep their parents at a run. But what was so great is that Jessica and Jeremy were so calm as they ran after these two. They didn't even seem to be fazed. :)

Jessica and Jeremy, you guys are AMAZING. Your children are beautiful! I hope you enjoy your sneak peak.

Brittnee turns 11!

My ever enthusiastic cheerleader Britt turns 11 today. It's hard to believe that she's getting older, but the proof comes year after year. I will always see my beautiful red headed baby. In fact her hair was so pretty that I had hair stylists telling me that they wish they could bottle the color. She was just a darling baby with a spunky spirit! Even then.

Brittnee has thought for this last week that she was getting Barbies for her birthday gift. Doug and I didn't buy her Barbies, but as we joked about it, she became convinced that that was what she was getting. A day didn't go by without her telling me that she no longer played Barbies and it wasn't a good gift for her. She became progressively paranoid as the days went by. It was so hard to not tell her the truth. We had many good chuckles at her expense:)

Heavens but it was fun. Usually Britt is the one pulling the jokes on us.

Little did she know that she got the motorized scooter that she'd been asking for. Plus, she is a big fan of the Wimpy Kid books. She has all of them and the latest one just came out a week ago so I hurried and snagged that too. (Side note: I got the book for $1.24 because it was 20% off and I had $10 in Borders Bucks. A DOLLAR AND 24 CENTS!! I could hardly believe it. I love love love getting good deals!)

We charged the scooter for 18 hours. Yes, 18 HOURS. But it was worth the wait. She loves it! She picked BJ's for dinner tonight. Then we'll bring home fixings for banana splits. All in all, I think she had a great birthday!

Love you Britt!! Your humor and zest for life never leave us bored. The mold was broke when Heavenly Father created you.









She was even gracious to share her new scooter with her siblings who now want scooters for Christmas. (sigh)



Thanks also to Grandma for going in on the gift!

Stocking Stuffers

I can't believe I just wrote stocking stuffers! Good grief. Is it that time of year already? Didn't we just do this???

I love Christmas. I really do. But ALREADY?!

Another fundraiser came home with the kids. I wasn't even going to look through it. (We did the last one.) But I gave in cause curiosity apparently got the better of me, and I am so glad I did. Because I found this. Yeah!!



What in the world is this selling? I know you're asking. If you look close you can see the model holding a bag. On the bag is a round ball attached to a clip. It's lip balm that clips on to your purse, or for my use, the girls' backpacks. That way they never lose their chapstick! I know, it's genius.

These are just some of the kinds they have.





I was so excited to see that they were in this fundraiser the kids brought home. And the exact two that I wanted even! How crazy is that?? The only problem is that you can only get Twist and Pout in certain stores. Dilliards for instance, and Amazon has some. Twist and Pout doesn't sell off their website so I was going to call my sister in Utah and have her ship me some but now I don't have to. YIPPEEEE!

Good thing the girls don't read my blog:) They'd know I am throwing these in their stockings!

To see more Twist and Pout you can go here.

I just love fun stuff like this! I may have to order myself one for my stocking:)