happy memorial day

flag, originally uploaded by holly k 123.

diana and andy's wedding

i'm done!!! i've FINALLY finished going through the 1200+ pictures i took along with my brother's fiance mandy. she was an amazing assitant - i wouldn't have gotten through without her! so, without further ado here is the link to the flickr album with the pictures - diana and andy's wedding. you don't need to be signed in to flickr to look at them - they shouldn't have any restrictions. but if there are please let me know - i may have missed changing the permissions on a few. here are a few of my favorites.

i think you can tell andy's trying to hold back the tears. not very successfully, i might add! :)


the limo driver supplied us with a huge umbrella. i wish i had thought to have brought a few for the group shots! i was so worried about getting the bottom of diana's dress wet, though.


i had fun with the detail shots...






diana looked so beautiful!!!


this picture just makes me giggle. my dad always sticks out his tongue when he's thinking. lol!


they finally got it figured out and are looking GOOD!


my mom looked beautiful too. this picture is with her aunt (my great aunt) margie and her husband dean. it was so great that they could make it to the wedding! unfortunately they were trying to follow the caravan to the reception hall and got lost along the way. we didn't see them for the rest of the night. we were a bit worried! thankfully they had just decided to head on to their hotel instead.


i hope i did the day justice! i loved being able to do this for them, but it was kind of stressful. i'm just praying the prints turn out ok and everyone's happy. i still have so much to learn but i did the best to my capabilities, i think. congratulations again, andy and diana!

poor willsie...

he has a little temperature and a random rash. it's really getting in the way of his social life. he didn't get to enjoy the beautiful weather we had today and he sat at the window asking for "aba" and "ewi" for quite awhile before he finally gave up and let me read to him. we're trying to keep him from doing this too much since the girls' last days of schools are almost here and we don't want him to share his germs. poor bub!

happy it kit day!!!

congratulations, kelly!!! i've been so honored to be a part of it kit. i still can't believe it's already been a year! be sure to go check out the it kit studio blog for a chance to win a free kit! denise made some beautiful tags that are included in the june kit. (i'm saving them for one of my project for next month - i wanted to do them justice and i ran out of time.) in honor of her tags she's offering free shipping at her etsy shop. she has the most adorable lamp stickers and i used one in mimi and papa's room in my little house.

i had so much fun with this little house! i was inspired by claudine hellmuth's amazing artwork. claudine was featured on martha stewart awhile ago. marth's site has some free clothing templates available for download here. i had to expand the tummy of the dress on tall anna since she's 20 weeks pregnant. she and john have the book "what to expect when your expecting" on their coffee table (with the cubs hat and the sears tower replica). mimi and papa have flowers and a country home magazine on theirs. i had printed out a tv remote on there but ella thought it looked like lip gloss for some reason and i have yet to find it 3 days later. i think you can tell what most of the goodies are on our floor, except the hannah montana cd is hard to see in this picture. i still need to do pages for mandy and chuck and diana and andy. i forgot to print pictures of lola and jack and i was working down to the wire so i'll have to finish those a bit later. after i finish editing wedding pictures. (i'm trying, diana and andy! i'm sorry it's taking sooo long! don't look at my card too closely because it's probably for you!)

i am a bad blogger.

sorry! we've had a great 7 days since i last posted. mimi and papa came to visit. i got to go shopping with mimi and on a date with kurt. unfortunately kurt had to work mother's day, but the kids gave me the sweetest gifts - beautiful artwork and sweet pictures from both girls. kurt got me an ipod that i can't wait to get to use. monday i got the afternoon to work on my it kit projects. such a gorgeous kit this month!!! and today is the 1 year anniversary of it kit. yay!!! we got some great news from mandy and uncle charley. they are getting married next may!!! congratulations!!!!

the kids are all doing great. not much longer until school is out! anna is a little sad about school ending, but i know she'll be glad to get to wake up whenever she wants. of course as all kids do she only has a hard time getting up when she HAS to get up, otherwise she rarely sleeps in. ella is so glad that sundress season is finally here. she has grown up so much in the past few weeks. she's starting to be a little more outgowing and not quite as shy around people she doesn't know. around those of us she does know she's still kind of grumpy sometimes. we're working on that. wilson is learning a ton of new words lately and talks NON-STOP. lol! he suddenly learned a little fear, but of all things he is suddenly afraid of bugs. don't know where he got that from! ;) he saw our buzzing bee book in the bookcase and he jumped back and jumped around pointing at the bookcase and screaming bee! bee! bee!!! we had to take the book and hide it from him he was so afraid. the bug guy came on wednesday so we had a few stray belly up spiders and he was freaked out by those too.

well shoot, i had more funny kid stories to document but my brain isn't awake yet and i'm not feeling very witty. lol! maybe after some caffeine. :)

it's a girl thing...

 

the saturday before last the girls and i had a FUN day of shopping. we hit limited too and the children's place, finding fun cute out fits, swimsuits and flip flops. it just happened to be webkinz day, so we scored 2 free webkinz for each girl from our purchases, too. what fun! then we found ourselves at libby lu. the girls got glittery hair, mixed their own lipgloss and body splash, and got some CUTE free bracelets for joining the club. i was so impressed at how gracious the girls both were, even though there were 100's of things they wanted to buy at the store. it was so fun to get to stroll hand in hand with them through the mall.

well, fast forward to last saturday. the girls convinced kurt into taking them back to libby lu. this time it did not go so well. the girls gave kurt a hard time about wanting to buy more and more stuff. unfortunately for them their dad is not as easily swayed as their mom when it comes to shopping. they left the store in tears (although i'm more than sure they were fake). guess maybe libby lu really IS just a girl thing, huh? :) they did get to make one more mix of stuff, and anna chose to do a face mask. here we are on saturday night. :)

nevermind...

i had a big long post up about needing help on a photograph. i wasn't exactly sure which photo i liked best. i had a feeling about it, but it was late at night and i wasn't sure. but i think i'm sure now. :) i took these during the wedding weekend (i'm STILL editing the rest). they was inspired by a photo by allison tyler jones.

blogging?

what's that? ha! we've had so much going on lately and every time i think about updating i get overwhelmed thinking about how much i need to cover. we had a GREAT time at andy and diana's wedding! we had so much fun with our families. it was so great to have everyone together. ella wants to go back and stay for 10 whole days. lol! i can't wait to share pictures of the event! i took SOOO many, so i'm still working on editing. hopefully i'll have some to share soon!

we've also had the kids' art fairs and a field trip to the durham western heritage museum with ella's school. that i also have pictures of that need editing. help! lol!

also in the midst of all of this i finally got to go to the dr and i do have hypothyroidism. yay! lol! i know that sounds crazy, but i'm so glad to know why i've been feeling so rundown and dizzy so much lately. i'm having a bit of a hard time adjusting to the medicine, too. so hopefully it will all even out soon. i can't wait to feel better!

ok - what a random post! but we have to run to get ella at school now. i'm not sure if i'm coming or going! lol! hopefully i'll have time for a less crazy post with pictures soon! :)

we did survive!

spring break, that is! the kids really were great the rest of the week, especially considering the weather. snow during spring break is just wrong! i somehow caught my worst cold of the season, and i'm still really dragging and sounding awful. thankfully kurt had friday off. i spent the rest of the weekend resting and finishing up this month's it kit projects. now we're all gearing up for uncle andy and diana's big day! we are getting so excited to see everyone. i'm still so nervous about the photography, so most of the day today i've been pouring over all of my inspiration. i just hope i remember to take extra time to pick the best angles, double and triple check backgrounds, and compose the best shots i can. i was thrilled that this week's big picture photo class subject focused on taking more interpretive shots. i've always known those were the types of shots that i loved the most, but somehow just putting a label on it and comparing documentary vs. interpretive shots really made things click for me, i think. i hope for this weekend especially! here are a few picts from anna's big day and my it kit projects. hope everyone has a great week!

spring break day 2

we had a MUCH MUCH MUCH better day today. :)
we had a GREAT visit with ter and ali,
the neighbor girl came over right after that
and they all played in the basement until naptime.
the b's got anna a kit of 10,000 beads for her birthday
so the rest of the afternoon we all made bracelets
and took turns playing webkinz and watching george with wilson.
it was GREAT fun!
but now i'm ready to crash!
well, maybe after one more game of goober's lab. ;)

spring break. day 1. 9:58 am

i want to preface this post by saying i love my children and kurt so much and i know they are the most wonderful gifts and blessings from God. i know most of you know i feel this way and think i'm a good mom. (boy do i have some of you fooled! ;) ) i'm so thankful when you let me know that, even if a lot of the time i don't feel like it's true.

yesterday was a near perfect day. it was my turn to sleep in, kurt got krispy kreme and starbucks for us, wilson and i had a wonderful bonding time while the girls and kurt were at church (we try to take turns - wilson can't handle church yet). the girls had a wonderful time playing with the neighbors outside after church and i got a little cleaning in while watching the cubs win. after that our sweet wonderful babysitter came and kurt and i got to go out to dinner and did a little shopping. then i got to put the girls to bed and snuggle. ella and i had a sweet chat and then i played with her hair a little as she fell asleep. then anna and i crawled in her bed and read american girl books until way too late in the evening. kurt came in to check on us and had a huge grin when he saw us both there with our noses in our books. after we finished the books we were reading at nearly the same time anna rolled over and was almost sound asleep in my arms before i snuck a kiss and stole away. it was just a wondful day.

fast forward to 3 am. ella is in our bed with her feet digging in me and i can't sleep. we had turned the furnace off and forgot to turn it back on, and it was COLD! i fell asleep debating whether or not to turn on the furnace, so we all woke up a little too early since we were freezing. this, of course has already led to the grumpies. we receive a text from our cousins saying they are coming to visit tomorrow morning. great news!!! but no, anna cries because they aren't coming for the whole entire week. 5 minutes later (so about 8:30 am) the girls decide they want to go play outside. so e puts on her sundress and silver glitter flats and starts to head out. did i mention it's COLD? i mean like 30 degrees. so the battle ensues and lasts for at least half an hour, in which time anna gets dressed and proceeds to start in with the same argument. apparently if you are playing basketball you are immune to any kind of coldness known to man. she gets her basketball out, which is of course flat because of the cold. i have to go out to get the pump and as i go wilson starts screaming and throwing a fit because 1, he can't be more than 3 feet from me without doing that, and 2, he wants more than anything to go outside even though it's 30 degrees and he's still in his pajamas. so i slip out with him on my heels and anna on his, and he manages to get the door open and smashes his little fingers in it. i can't find the air pump. so now anna's mad and wilson's screaming. i get ice on wilson's fingers and everyone settled down and think maybe i can sneak up for a shower while they watch monsters inc because anna wants to go to target to see if they have doll clothes and we need food for dinner.

i get in the shower as fast as i can, but as i am washing my face wilson bursts in, excited to have found me, and proceeds to flush the toilet, causing scalding hot water to come out of the shower head. i of course get soap in my eye and can't see and am jumping around to keep out of the steaming hot water's way. wilson worries or probably more likely is just curious and starts opening the shower doors to see what's going on. i have no choice but to block the water with my body so he won't get sprayed. i yell for anna which scares the poor guy, but she is now so caught up in the movie (that she's seen at least 50 times) that she wouldn't be moved by anything short of an earthquake. finally the toilet stops running, but wilson thinks that must not be right so he goes to flush it again. i rinse off as best as i can before the next hot shot and try to get dressed. although this too is a challenge because wilson is holding on to one of my legs and i'm trying to stuff my other leg into jeans that don't fit because the only pair that does fit now since i've gained so much weight is in the laundry. so as i'm standing half naked, with jeans on one leg and wilson on the other the girls come up crying because ella said anna's american girl has poop in her pants and ella won't apologize. i smooth things over, assuring anna that molly does not have poopy pants (not a conversation i ever dreamed i would have), hand wilson off to anna, finished getting dressed and sit down to email kurt and ask where the basketball pump is. and i think to myself i had better write this down.

i almost always try to look at the bright side of life, and i imagine someday i will look back at this and laugh. i do know ignoring the little bumps and embracing the bright spots is the only way to live. but in those 2 minutes alone in the shower i got to thinking about how even though know wilson is so clingy i'm going to have such a hard time sending him to school. even just having him grow out of this huggy, lovey stage will be hard. i already have a pit in my stomach just thinking about sending ella, let alone wilson. not that i will miss either of them more, but just when wilson's off to school that will be it. so maybe if i look back on this on his first day i can remember that it's not always easy. and hopefully i'll get to go for a run and take a nice, loooong shower. and even though then and now it will sometimes be hard, i'll remember to enjoy and appreciate the here and now.

ps - it's now 11:17 and anna has been sent to her room for arguing yet again about the jacket issue. heeeeeelp!

one birthday pict...

happy 7th birthday anna, originally uploaded by holly k 123.

more to come this weekend. :)

happy birthday anna!!!

7 years ago today this little sweetie blessed our lives. i'm so proud of what a sweet young lady she's becoming. she's so smart, funny, giggly, and even a little sassy, of course. she got to bring cookies to school and in a little while a few neighbor friends are coming over to hang out and eat, well, more cookies. lol! tonight we're having pizza (her choice) and yellow ice cream cake and then opening presents after that. i think it's cruel and unusual punishment to make her wait that long! well, ok, it's me who's impatient. lol! but of course we need to wait for daddy! ella was such a big helper today. she helped me with the balloons and streamers and even the present wrapping! wilson is loving all of this action. ok - off to finish the cookies. pictures later! :)

i keep forgetting...

becky tagged me a long time ago, or at least it seems like a long time ago, and i keep forgetting to post my random things! but i'll have to try to do them next time. tonight i have a few random things that i need to get down. they really need to be scrapbook pages but it will probably be quite awhile before i get to scrap again. maybe later next week!

cookies ---




this winter we got in the habit of making cookies most thursdays. the kids love to "help." anna usually does the eggs, ella loves to do the sugar the most, and wilson sometimes gets to do a little oatmeal, but today he chose to crawl up on the counter and try to lick the brown sugar that had spilled out a little. stinker! lol! we got a new oven earlier in the winter, and my mom bought me some great industrial pans from her school. for christmas kurt bought me a kitchen aid stand mixer, which i love! so with all of those goodies i can make 3 dozen at a time, so i can make the whole recipe in just over an hour (not counting dishes). it's great! i've never been much of a baker - or well good at anything domestic actually. lol! but these make me happy. :)


i have to remember to scrap a few ella things too. she's at such a fun age. she still very much loves her mom. :) this is one of the pictures she drew using my wacom tablet. she's way better at using it than i am. she draws all kinds of these types of pictures. she loves to write all of our names and draw hearts all over the page. she's constantly coloring and drawing and painting. she loves to give me a hug and a kiss goodnight too. my favorites are "squeeze hugs," but lately she's been giving me kisses all over. she kisses my forehead, my chin, both cheeks, and then my nose. and then she rubs them in. lol! she also says i'm the hero princess mommy, and that she loves me to the moon, the universe, and to texas and back. :) i usually tell her i love her to all of those things and front and she giggles. she sings ALL OF THE TIME. she drives her dad crazy because she will stay in the bathroom forever watching herself sing in the mirror. she even hums while she eats if she's enjoying what she's eating. anna is taking dance classes this year, and we tried and tried to convince her to take them too. but she told us very clearly, "i don't want people to tell me how to dance." lol!!!

i just have one page idea for wilson for tonight, but he's such a funny guy i'm sure i'll have more soon. one of his favorite things to say is our names, and he seems to prefer to group them together. he'll just walk around randomly saying, "mommy daddy mommy daddy mommy DADDY!" and he always says the last one with gusto. lol! he loves to say "mimi and papa and mimi and papa and mimi and papa and papa and MIMI!" too. sometimes he likes to switch them up for the last group. lol!

i wish i had some great page ideas for anna, but i don't. she is just growing up way too fast, and i'm really having a hard time with it. she's more into playing with her friends and doing her webkinz games for the day or watching or listening to the disney channel. she's really getting into music, so we've had fun with that. we're reading mrs. pigglewiggle together. i love that she's enjoying it since i did so much as a kid. of course i think i was in at least 3rd grade before i read it! she does still like us to snuggle with her at bedtime. i think sometimes she struggles just a bit with wanting to be more grown up but missing that cuddle time too. i hope we get to sneak a little more in during spring break. i can't wait!

splash

splash, originally uploaded by holly k 123.

i finally figured out how to blog pictures from my flickr account. - here's the potd from yesterday. now if i could just figure out how to do more than one at a time!

thank you!

thank you all for all of your kind comments about my photography - here and on 2 peas! i kind of feel like i should clarify myself a bit. i have a canon xt; 50mm 1.8, 28-135mm, and 85mm 1.8 lenses; and i recently got the 430ex speedlight. i've been practicing some with that, but i really need to practice with it more. i really prefer natural light, but i know that won't be possible at the wedding. i have a diffuser, which is great! but i've also been learning about bouncing the flash. i loved one of the tips i found about bouncing it off the wall behind me. so far that's my favorite flash technique. i have read understanding exposure and one of the scott kelby books, and i've been shooting in manual for about a year or so. i switched to shooting in raw last summer too, but it would be good if i could learn a bit more about the conversion process. i have a really hard time getting the white balance right unless i set it manually before taking the shots. i've read a lot about grey cards too, so i should try that out next i think. i use photoshop cs and pse 4. i have photoshop on our computer upstairs and pse on my laptop. so i know it's better to edit the pictures with photoshop on the upstairs computer, but it's almost always more convenient to edit on my laptop. i just wish it could be more reliable. i have calibrated it with the spyder pro, but of course it's never quite right. so that's about all i know! lol! sorry if i've bored some of you! here are a few picts from this week. i've been doing a picture a day - they are all posted at 2 peas and on my flickr account, so sorry if you're sick of seeing them! lol! eta - boo! blogger isn't letting me post picts now. i'll try again later.

photography...

it's been on my mind constantly since my brother and his fiance asked me to shoot their wedding for them this april. just about a month away! ack! i'm soooo nervous - i really don't feel a bit qualified, but they've seen my pictures and they still think they want me to do it. i will be working for a good price. ;) i've been able to get some new equipment and i've been doing a TON of practicing. everyone in my family is THRILLED about that. lol! i've put some of my better pictures on my flickr account (the link's on the left). if anyone has any advice or constructive criticism or can recommend any kind of study materials i would be so happy! i will be starting a class a few weeks before the wedding too, so hopefully that will help too. i definitely do much better in well lit situations, of course. and of course the church and reception will be pretty dark. ugh. this picture is from saturday when it was so nice and warm and sunny! tonight we're set to get more snow. i can't wait for spring! :)

what's new?

we're still busy around here! we've had a lot of days off from school for conferences and winter weather. our family has a lot of on our plates right now, and the stress is starting to take it's toll. so the days off have definitely been a blessing. it's great to have just a few days to sit in our sweats and play operation and princess monopoly. even if i do get beat at operation EVERY time! lol!

anna has been reading a TON, and i think staying up way too late at night to read. but really how can i discourage reading? especially because when i was her age when i was told not to read i would sneak under my covers with a flashlight. i'm sure that wasn't good for my eyes! anna is really into junie b jones and the american girls books. i've read a few american girl books along with her. i tried junie b too. she's cute, but her poor grammer really drives me crazy! and that's really saying something since my grammer isn't all that great anyway. in my defense, as an engineer i only had to take 1 english class. lol!

e is doing very well too. her teachers recommended that she start kindergarten in the fall, so i guess she will! since she has a summer birthday and she's so teeny tiny we thought about waiting a year. but she's really been growing up so much lately. i think i'm just still a bit hesitant because i'm just not ready for her to be gone all of the time. i thought it was supposed to get easier with the second!

wilson is still great too. he's talking more every day too. one of his new favorite phrases is, "bye, bye. see ya!" and then he gives a big smack. he's got me wrapped around his little fingers. he knows just when to give me the love eyes and melt my heart. he runs up and gives me a huge hug, puts his head on my shoulder and gives me little pats on my back. am i in trouble or what?! :)

i've been busy scrapping and trying to learn as much about photography as i can before my brother andy and diana's wedding in april. i hope i can do a halfway decent job for them. i've bought a little bit more equipment to hopefully help a little. kelly sold me her 85mm lens, and i love it! i'm definitely still learning it, but i've been really happy with the pictures i've gotten so far. hopefully my flash will be coming tomorrow. i'm really anxious about learning how to use that. i really prefer natural light, but i know i'm going to need the flash sometime. i really would like to take at least one class before the wedding too, but time is really running out. i wish there were more hours in the day! i haven't even started buying spring clothes or Easter outfits or anything like that, either. ack! help! lol!

here are my it kit pages and a few picts taken with my new lens.

i have 3 minutes...

until we have to get dressed for dance. we also have about 12 more valentines to finish for anna, i have 50 love bugs parts to get ready before anna's big party tomorrow, and wilson is currently holding a marker. so no time like the present to write a blog post, right? lol! i also need to scrap with my really FUN it kit for this month! i can't wait to start that! i should say i do have some pictures ready to go and a layout all planned in my head. they never turn out the way i plan, but at least it's a start. the busy-ness has been none stop this month! i guess i should start just getting used to it! here's a peek at the girls' valentines. we got the cupcake liner idea from martha (stewart, of course. lol!) but the rest of the design is all e. anna also designed hers too, if you couldn't tell. there are about 50 sequins on each and she insists on putting them on with glue dots. hence the reason why they aren't finished yet. why do i have a feeling this could be a late night? :P hee! we have had a lot of fun crafting together, though, and that's what it's all about, right? ooh! -ps - willsie got his first pair of tennies yesterday too. we happened to be getting the craft supplies at walmart and he pointed them out. thank goodness they had his size! pps - i love the pict of anna - she always sticks her tongue out when she's concentrating. and notice wilson's little head by the printer - getting in trouble as always!!!

okay...

is wilson's new favorite word. would you like a cookie? okaaay. are you tired? okaaaay. well, i guess usually the answer to that one is still no, but sometimes we'll trick him. we've been keeping busy even though we've mostly been stuck inside. ella has been teaching wilson about coloring and drawing. wilson likes to try to decorate the walls a lot, and for some reason he loves to color in the handles on our drawers. i think he wants them changed out as much as i do!


the girls and i got to have a fun day out last weekend. we had lunch, found some fun new tshirts at the gap, and went to see the movie enchanted. it was the first time the girls enjoyed a movie the theater. well i should say anna LOVED it, but ella was still pretty scared.



(i'm not sure why anna always sticks her tummy out in pictures. she really doesn't look this much like the suite life of zach and cody twins in real life! lol!)

we've been doing a TON of baking too. usually we make oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, but last week we tried to branch out a little. our monster cookies flopped - we tried to do a few substitutions and i'm still not completely convinced the girls measured the oatmeal correctly. lol! i can't remember how i got distracted, but when i came back they had already poured it all in. oh well! we had much better success with our heart cakes.




i love wilson's "who me?" expression after he rubbed frosting all over his head and shirt. guess who was the recipient of the frosting covered hug? lol! it was one of the best hugs ever! nothing like a little sugar bribery. :)