sleeping beauty

 

Gift Idea

This past Christmas, with the economy so crazy and Reed's job situation so tenuous, I was working with a stiff budget. We're big picture people, but we have so many already I wanted to do something different for a change. So I decided to make silhouettes of the kids to give to Reed and they came out pretty great!

it was really easy and very inexpensive and looks pretty classic! I reused some plain black frames we already had (to keep the costs of this project WAY down) but I think if I were to do it over again I'd try to find some simple black oval frames to really make it look cute. I may still yet move these to oval frames. In any case, here they are with some instructions because people have asked for my "how to".

 

First, and hardest part is to take a good side portrait of whomever. This would be really great if you did moms and grandmas alongside the kids and grandkids...maybe even pets? Who knows? I'm not a pet owner but I know how people treat them like family. Anyway, try to take a profile view with as little distraction as possible behind. White wall, straight on the side and click. Upload to the computer and if you wanted to you could easily let this be the most technical thing you do. For those of you without photoshop or another editing program (or without the skills to work them), simply print out the picture as large as your printer will allow onto plain printer paper, trace over the profile ONLY in the picture with a fine tip sharpie and then flip it over to the back to view what you've got. You should be able to see the sharpie bleed-through and only see your profile. Remember to just outline the edges! Don't forget little details like eyelashes, stray hairs, etc that make the profile unique.
If you like what you've gotten, cut it out with a pair of VERY sharp scissors and use it as a template onto some nice cardstock--I used black but I think it would look really neat with some funky patterns, maybe even to match your decorating style. Then mount on nice white cardstock and frame. DONE!

If you're a bit more tech savvy, you know you can do most of that work on the computer. Upload your pic and convert to black and white (grayscale). up/lower the contrast until you get some clean lines to work with and crop the picture down to just the head and neck. Resize the picture to print out as large as you can on your printer. You can stop here, print this image and use as your template for cutting out cardstock or continue on digitally.
to continue digitally, use your want and click outside of your profile. Select the inverse. Get your paint bucket tool, set the fill color to "black" and click inside your profile. Resize your image to fit your frame. Add a name if you want--I personally like it without but I've seen some really cute ones with some old fashioned font. Print out on the best quality on nice paper and voila! :)

my funny boy

My sweet little boy has got a seriously silly sense of humor these days. Carson has always been our jokester, acting crazy, singing silly songs and telling stories. Trevor is so much more reserved and quiet--he's usually just observing things and giggling. I don't know what has gotten into him lately, but he seems to have found his comedic voice. Just about all day he's singing me songs, telling me silly jokes and reenacting his favorite scenes from movies. While I love seeing his little personality, well, get bigger...I also hope he doesn't feel the need to act just like Carson. He adores him and wants to be like him, but I hope he knows he can stay Just Trevor and that will be just fine with us!

 

 

LOL!

Yesterday I was spring cleaning the boys' room and Addie and Trevor were keeping me company. I had left her wayy over in the center of the room but she decided she wanted to check the cleaning progress UNDER the beds. And then Trevor joined her. I just thought this was funny.

 

a few more

Carson and his pal were I think the only little "couple" there dancing to some slow songs and the teachers went wild. My sweet neighbor, Miss Becky (who was Carson's original 1st grade teacher this year before the classes got so big that they moved kids around) took tons of photos of them too because she was just so tickled. I can't wait to see hers, she has a much better camera than I do!

 

 

 

During the Dance

 

 

 

 

Very First Dance Ever

Carson's school hosted a dance to raise money for Relay for Life on Friday. This was Carson's very first dance ever and he was so excited. He requested that I iron his dress shirt because his school uniform just isn't fancy enough. He also wanted to get a flower to give to his friend Chloe at the dance. It was adorable!

Carson all fancied up and ready to go!

 

Trevor, Adelyn and I chaperoned

 

Carson and his sweet teacher, Ms. A. He really enjoys having her as a teacher!

 

Carson and his pal Chloe--see her flower?

 

HAIR CUT!

We were long overdue. Trevor hates getting his hair cut, and subsequently all I ever do is trim his bangs so hair doesn't get in his eyes. Well, it was finally time to go all out again. We went from this:

 

 

to this! We think he looks more like his daddy now with this grown up hair! and he has ears! who knew?

 

 

blowin' bubbles

 

my nickname as a baby was Bubbles because I always did this. funny to see my daughter do it so often, because neither of the boys really did! going on a walk, admiring the trees, and blowing bubbles. sounds like an easy life, doesn't it?

lost memory card

 

 

we lost one of our memory cards in the move and recently found it. LOL it still had pictures from my niece's birthday party on it, so it must have been lost for a LONG time! her birthday is in March, so it's been almost two years apparently. It's amazing how much the boys have changed in a year! This is from the park by our house in Phoenix. And no, I am not neglecting the boys, but they have both just been so ecstatic to play outside again after the winter that they will absolutely not sit for photos right now. They are too busy getting dirty and sweaty and riding bikes. I can't juggle a camera and a baby outside unless she's in the stroller, so I keep forgetting to take pictures of them outside. But yes, they're still rotten and doing wonderful!

7 months old

7 months old, and we had a bit of a scare. at her 6 month appointment the doctor noticed she wasn't reacting quite right to noises, and sent her to an audiologist. Since she'd already failed 3 hearing tests at birth, we were naturally pretty concerned. The audiologist said her right was better than her left but wasn't too happy with the results from either ear and recommended we see an ENT right away. We went this week to the ENT and weirdly, she passed the tympanogram in both ears. He said that it's likely she had some crazy pressure from ear infection or cold that she couldn't get rid of and that's why she failed, but it's good that we get it checked. He wants to recheck her and will do tubes in her ears if she has any more issues. We're guessing that she's just predisposed to infections the way Trevor was and since she never complains of pain or acts the way most babies do when they have an infection it's easy to miss....and go untreated, which leaves her with a lot of buildup pressure in her ears that makes her hearing decrease. So we'll have to be more observant and careful to make sure she doesn't go long stretches of time with hearing issues so that her speech isn't affected.
THANK GOODNESS!

First Party

 

Miss A went to her first party the other weekend for Colton's first birthday. She had a great time stealing all his cool big boy toys! It did help me gauge what she likes so I can know what to buy her to play with. The baby Einstein ball so many of our friends have didn't interest her in the slightest. The hairbow is holding on to like 10 strands of hair and it fell out as soon as she tilted her head down, lol. Oh well, it looked cute for the picture.