Eight.

My beautiful firstborn is eight today. A grand old age full of maturity and wonder. Heehee, she did something nice for her brother tonight and he asked if she was going to be nice now because she is eight. Poor dude.
It was a fun day with a big Christmas program at school where she got to perform, love that. We had a visit from Granny who let her pick something from the American Girl Doll catalog for her birthday AND and brought her the 1st Communion dress that she wore over 60 years ago. Beautiful.
Most exciting were presents and cake. She wasn't too excited about the birthday spankings though...or maybe it was the pinch to grow an inch....hmmmm.
We are so proud of this girl and so amazed with her positive attitude, sincerety and sense of humor. Lucky us. Lucky us. Happy Birthday Gab!

Scrapbooking?

Nope! But I am using my stash! It took forever but we finally got Gabby's room decorated. Gran helped us get everything painted when she was here this Fall and we just got everything put up last weekend. Things take forever around here. But this one was well worth it. :)

These are all made with corkboard behind them so she can tack up photos and other goodies like girls love to do. Now, to get some photos printed...

Can you believe it?

This amazing Fall color just blows me away every year, takes my breath away. It never gets old. I pretty much grew up in the desert. This kind of color was non-existent unless there was a wildfire somewhere and the sunset turned the sky these colors. I just love this part of living in the Midwest.

So anyway we have been riding bikes to school all week, until today. Today it snowed.
So the Fall party is over. Winter is officially here. It has been a super warm and beautiful Fall, I will miss it dearly, especially come February.

I took these pictures on Monday with my little point & shoot, amazing color isn't it? Sigh. So long Fall.

Love this time of year

With these amazing high temperatures it is pure heaven.
But I wish someone would take away the candy...get it out of my house!

I knit this.

My 2nd sweater with a matching hat. This one was so easy and fast using a super chunky wool. It was for Gavin since the first one I did was for Gabby. But it fits her perfectly. I think I need to adjust my scale a little. Heehee. I think I want one in this color!

A Few More

Amazing Opportunity

This gorgeous couple asked me to do some engagement photos for them. So much fun. I have been obsessed playing with these. I just can't stop! Please tell me what you think!

Stunning Color

This Fall is turning out to be incredible for color. Every year it takes my breath away. Mom wanted a quickie photo session with the monkeys in the Arboreum near our house so we went and played for a little while. I am so excited about the lighting this time of year too. So easy to work with, especially when there is a little cloud cover. I am really getting used to my new lens, the 50mm 1.4 and I am keeping it right around 3-5 aperture for most of these and loving the results. More to come of a little engagement session I did this weekend too. So much fun.

Crazy Boy

I can't stop this collage thing in Picasa. Today I thought, I need to make one of all the crazy Gavin pictures from RAGBRAI. So here it is. There were plenty to choose from.

Double Grandmas

A Granny and a Gran, both here at the same time. Could life get better than this? Nothing but 1-on-1 attention all day long for both of them. I was surprised to see how much Gabby takes after Daddy's side and Gavin after mine.

Another uber easy collage, this one by the new version 3 of Picasa. I don't think I could live without Picasa now. Unless of course there was no digital photography. Wow, imagine that!

I am hooked.

First of all, Julie, how could you do this to me girlfriend? Seriously, this was the last thing I need right now. I need to be outside enjoying the last of the warmish weather, the beautiful Fall colors, the sunshine, fresh air, and of course I need to be moving my butt! But no, I am stuck here in my desk chair, playing with PhotoScape thanks to you. Sigh. But I love it. (Thanks for the tip!) I have been searching for a fun, FREE collage program and this is a great one!

So I did make it outside a little for Gavin's field trip. He especially loved that Granny showed up to take him through all of the haunted houses which he couldn't get enough of. It was a spectacular day for a pumpkin hunt. Of course he was too busy to slow down long enough for a photo with his very slow pumpkin and even slower Granny. Heehee. It was kind of hard to get photos in the patch. I got to haul it back to the wagon for him because it was too big for him to carry. See I got some exercise too!

My girls & actions

A wonderful weekend at Chez Shannon's Creative Retreat. Heehee, otherwise known as Shannon's house. Thank you so much Shannon for having us!
Being scrappy girls and moms who rarely get their photo taken we always make a point to have a little photo shoot of our own and we always have to get that group shot (we totally missed you Nicole!). I played around with some new actions...so addicting. Got a favorite? Sorry girls...didn't have time to remove our little imperfections....but of course we are perfect anyway, right? ;)

A beautiful thing

I was so worried about Gavin and his pencil holding in Kindergarten. All summer I stressed that he would refuse to hold his pencil correctly like he does for us. He has had trouble figuring out which hand he prefers.

Knowing how important this is to his teacher, I dreaded the fight he would put up when she insisted he do it right. I dreamed up terrible scenarios where his refusal lands him in the dreaded school office, a phone call home, an entire school year off to a negative start.

Now look at him, only a few weeks into the school year. Holding his pencil correctly and actually enjoying writing rather than just struggling and giving up.
Mama's so proud.