sweetness

Man, am I on a canvas kick or what? wouldn't this make a sweet canvas too?I love it when these two play together. It makes my heart happy. Naomi is coming to appreciate and protect her brother a little more everyday. She is also starting to get more jealous of him at times too. She's starting to say, "just leave him there and come play with me" or something similar if she feels he's getting too much attention. She is also a little mother hen to him sometimes and that's cute too. I think she was too little when he was born to really be "the jealous" older sibling but it's starting to show now. The other day, Greg, asked Naomi if she wanted to have another baby in the house (no, we're not pregnant) and Naomi said point blank "no". We talked about it a little bit and asked her again and she still said no. I think she understands now that if there was another little one her time and attention would be even more limited. We'll see how that changes, if and when we have another child. Anyway, for now, I love watching them interact and seeing them look out for each other is awesome!

photoshop

Photoshop is an amazing tool...that I am learning more and more how to use. I took some graphic design courses in college before I switched majors to Theology and that gave me a basic working knowledge of the program. But there is SO much that I do not know and I really lack a good workflow for working with photos after a session. So, I signed up for a photoshop class with Jessica Sprague online. I have only made it through one lesson so far but I learned quite a few tricks. Most of the things she went through I already knew but she helped me learn some short cuts and the most effective way of going through the different steps. I am very pleased with what I have already learned and can't wait to make time to go through the other four lessons. I used what I learned on a few of the photos that I took of Naomi the other day. Straight out of the camera (SOC) they're pretty good... but with a few steps in photoshop I can really make the photos a little more wonderful.

SOC
After a little bit of photoshop work...SOCAfter a little bit of photoshop work...The colors just come alive! I'm loving it! Now, I'm not one who loves to photoshop my images to death, I really prefer the natural image rather than lots of grain, texture, crazy colors and stuff (once in a while I'll do that stuff to a few images) but it is nice to learn all the little tricks that photographers use. I am looking forward to going back over some of my favorites and really making them awesome. I'm really looking forward to the black and white lesson with Jessica.

not broken...

My machine wasn't broken afterall. I changed the needle again and tried some new thread and it seemed to work just fine. So, while I was in the sewing mood I got a few things accomplished. I finished the pillow and burp rags for my little goddaughter, Faith. I made a felt lunch bag and I made a skirt for Naomi. I love the fabric that I used for this skirt and I still have lots to work with. Maybe I'll just keep making more and more skirts for her as she grows. She loves to twirl in her new skirt too! She's really been into dancing lately so it makes me happy to make her a skirt that she wants to dance in!This skirt was pretty simple to make (which is good since I don't have a lot of patience for fussy sewing and I have limited knowledge on the subject). I just cut the length that I wanted for the skirt plus about an inch, then sewed the two ends together so that no seams were showing. I'll have to post a tutorial on that sometime because it's really a neat way to sew things without having a serger. I made a pocket for the elastic at the top and then threaded the elastic through with a safety pin and closed the gap where I put that in. Then I sewed some ribbon onto the bottom of the skirt. I started with sewing the ribbon flush onto the underside of the skirt then folded it over to the front and sewed that down. Pretty simple but pretty nice too! Naomi loves her skirt and I can't wait to make her some more!

easter eggs

I found this great idea here and thought it would be a great craft for Naomi and I to do together since she loves to paint, and since Easter is so close (can you believe it?). I was right, she was totally digging this. Painting one egg was not enough, she wanted to paint another and then another...but we stopped at two! I let them dry overnight and then put them together today. I hung them on our sliding door...and made sure to hang it high enough so she would keep pulling the googly eyes off. When we were outside today she noticed the cheerios in the window since that was the box we used, how funny.

canvas

Okay, everyone needs to order a canvas...or a really large print of their favorite photo. It's addicting! We got Micah's canvas hung in his room! I LOVE it!

I haven't ordered anymore canvas' yet because I still cannot decide. So, I took some of the photos that I am considering and "put them on my wall" (please excuse the crummy photoshop job I did of the wall). I'm thinking that 10x20 may not be big enough...but I really don't have a specific place that I want to hang these photographs...so, I don't know.

I got a great shot of Naomi the other day and now I'm considering that one for her room. Which one do you think...bubbles or fence? ahh...choices. Please weigh in and let me know what I should do, I have a really hard time making decisions because I want them all. Oh and I think I'm going to order one other wedding photo...just not sure which one yet. I'll keep you informed!

breakfast

I made Naomi some pancakes the other day and then last night I made some eggs real quick. I am really having fun making this felt food. I want to make more and more and I want to keep it all. It was hard to give away my very first pizza but I know how to make more and I can tweak things the second time around that didn't work so great on the first go. I am thinking of making some to sell and obviously this new felt food obsession will come in handy for more gifts!



Maybe tomorrow I'll make the bacon and make this breakfast complete!

six new posts below!

a birthday party and felt pizza

We went to Olivia's fifth birthday party on Saturday night. We had a great time at the Carnival and enjoyed some games, prizes and time with friends. Naomi wanted to go swimming in the pool for the duck game and decided to drop her drawers and go for a swim...don't worry we stopped her from taking all her clothes off! Micah was in his stroller all night since he can't walk but loved watching all the big kids play. The little boys were wearing their "uniforms", red and white or blue striped shirts! I love that little Kia wears Naomi's old clothes, it's so cool to see those clothes again and brings back good memories and they look really cute on her too! Amy gets to see Sophia's clothes all over again too on Naomi....I LOVE HANDME DOWNS! Okay, here's some photos of the kids having fun! I decided on Tuesday night that I wanted to attempt to make Olivia a felt pizza. So, on Wednesday I got the supplies I needed and set to work. I love felt food and thought that it couldn't be too hard to make and I was right! I had a great time creating this felt pizza and can't wait to make more! The initial pieces took a while to finish but I had fun while doing it. I am really happy with how the pizza turned out and can't wait to make more. I have had comments about making more and selling them. I'll think about it but my time is valuable so it would have to be worth my time. What would you pay for a felt pizza?

familiar faces

This has been the week of familiar faces...which has been SO nice! We love to see old friends and to reconnect and we were able to do that on more than one occasion this past week.

Thursday night brought the Concordia, Mequon Juarez Mission team through San Antonio. Now, if you're good at geography you know that San Antonio is not on the way to Juarez. Well, they actually had to go to a new location this year because Juarez just isn't safe anymore for those types of mission trips. So, they went to Del Rio, Texas and crossed over the border into Acuna, Mexico. The team built two houses and had a great week. They stayed at Mt. Calvary on Thursday night and we went and had dinner with our old professors. It was so great to catch up and spend some time with some familiar faces.

Friday night was trivia night for the Lutheran High School of San Antonio. Greg and I went and were at a table with three other Pastors and their wives. We had a great time and came in third place. We would have tied for first but on two different occasions people got up from the table and when they came back they told us the correct answer but AFTER the sheet was turned in. Oh well, it was a lot of fun!

Saturday was Olivia's birthday party which was a lot of fun. I'll post about that later. But after the party I was able to go out for a little girls night. My friend Erin (from Sem life) was in town from Houston to help Kari with wedding things and they went to Stone Werks for a late dinner and I met them there after the kids were in bed. We sat around talking for a couple of hours and let me just tell you...it was awesome. It was so great to see Erin again, to hang out with Kari and to meet Bethany again. I really enjoy having conversations with people outside of my church but face to face. Does that make sense? I have to be a little guarded in my conversations with people that are members of Mt. Calvary, but when I am with my other friends I can sort of let go and just be me. I can be me with my other friends from back home but you certainly miss something when it's not face to face. Thanks Erin, Kari and Bethany for a great night of laughs and girl talk!!!

This afternoon Jordan and his parents stopped by for a visit. It was nice to see their familiar faces again too. Judith and Ed had not seen the kids since last May so they look a lot different to them now. They of course spoiled us with dinner and a few books for Naomi! They know her so well! Thanks Judith, Ed and Jordan for coming to hang out with us and for the yummy chinese food! Thanks for the books too, Naomi loves them! Oh and thanks Jordan for putting Naomi to bed, I'm sure she'll be talking about it all week!

awww...

We were on the go during Micah's morning naptime a few days last week and this is what I usually find when we get home. Awww...isn't he so sweet? I'm so glad that he stayed asleep for a little bit once we got home so I could snap a few photos of him!

playmates

It's so fun to watch Naomi and Micah play together. It doesn't happen all the time but when it does it makes me smile. Naomi tries to get Micah to play catch and inevitably throws it at his face at least once instead of rolling it, but he doesn't complain. She'll push him out of the way sometimes and he'll just move over, she'll make faces at him during lunch to make him laugh and it's so awesome to see. They were rolling the ball the other day and having a great time. I can't wait till Micah gets a little bigger and actually understands that they are playing and when he can walk and chase after her...ahh...that will be fun!