all things thrasher

Toothless, well kindof

2010-08-30T05:28:00.000-07:00

N has been a little slower at losing teeth than most of her friends. However, the front two have been lose for awhile. So lose that the other two have started growing in and pushed the baby teeth forward quite a bit. N just says that they're her bunny teeth. Finally, the first top tooth came out last week some time. It looked even more bizarre to see her walking around with the one tooth sticking out. She and I wiggled and wiggled it yesterday but no luck. Well in the middle of the night, I thought "I'll just wiggle it one more time", and guess what? It came out!!!! She was so excited this morning. Here's a picture of my sweet little girl with her big girl teeth coming in.

The Awakening

2010-08-24T07:29:00.000-07:00

I was sleeping oh so peacefully last night when all of a sudden I was awakened by something. What was is? Well, I had fallen asleep early last night and forgot to put a diaper on my little one. Yep, it was pee. I woke up, woke my husband up and we cleaned up as well as we could in our sleepy stupor.

The problem was not the pee. The problem was that I could not go back to sleep. I ended up being awake for 3 1/2 hours. I thought and I prayed and I prayed and I thought.

One thing that was constantly on my mind was my friend Julie. Julie has been a part of our lives for forever. She just sent her only daughter off to college. Now she and her daughter are very close. I can't believe she's already old enough for college. You see, Madie was the flower girl in my wedding 10 years ago. 10 YEARS AGO!!! It really does seem like yesterday. And yet today she a gorgeous young woman starting out on her own journey. It's exciting and yet sad at the same time. I can't wait to see all of the wonderful things that the Lord has in store for her.

After thinking of and praying for Julie for awhile, I started thinking about my own kids. I know that I will literally blink my eyes and that day will be here for us. The day that we send our kids off to College. The day that they start their own journeys.

Last night I snuggled my kids so tight. I whispered sweet things to them that they were too asleep to hear. And today all I can think about is how I want to freeze time.

How I want to sit in the floor and play

.... bake cookies just because

...... get down on their levels and look them in the eye when they talk to me.

I want to play games and sing songs.

I want to be encouraging and cheerful.

I want to not say "in a minute" but stop everything just to hear about each Mario level.

I want to dress baby dolls and play house.

I want to play barbies and "guys".

I want to blow bubbles and play at the park.

But most of all..................

I want desperately to disciple them and teach them everything that I know about the true God of the Bible and His son

.......... because I know that one day I will open my doors and let them out into a world that doesn't know Him.

I want to soak up every minute of their childhood

...........because one day I will open my eyes and my babies will be big.

I will blink and years will have passed and I will be the one decorating a dorm room and driving away saying "this feels kind of yucky".

I Heart Faces "Fix It Friday"

2010-07-30T07:09:00.000-07:00

So here are my fixes for I Heart Faces "Fix it Friday". I so hope my sister doesn't see that I've taken time off from editing her pictures. I was told yesterday that she expects her family pictures by Saturday. I guess that's how those older bossy sisters are. You know, older and bossy...

Anyway, I love IHF "Fix it Friday". I love the community that this website creates.

Here we go......

Here's the original.

This first picture I created adjustment layers for curves, color balance, and saturation/vibrance. I ran MCP's eye doctor, dentist, and magic powder. I did a little cloning on the circles under her eyes. I then ran MCP's magic contrast and this is what I came up with.

The next picture I ran Pioneer Woman's warmer filter.

The next picture I ran Coffee Shop's Simply Vintage Action.

The next picture I ran Coffee Shop's Johanna's Tea Party Action.

And the last edit I did was just a black and white.

There are so many talented photographers at I Heart Faces . Be sure to head on over there and check out all of the other "Fix It Friday" submissions.

Blueberry Picking

2010-07-29T06:40:00.000-07:00

We went a week or so ago to a local blueberry farm. I was so excited because the blueberries weren't sprayed with pesticides and were only 1.10 a pound(beat that coupon mom). We didn't pick for very long because the gnats were so bad but we ended up with right under 4 pounds all for $4.25. It was a lot of fun. I hope to go back before blueberry season is over(which is like next week, so I better hurry).

I Heart Faces Week 30 Purple Photo Challenge

2010-07-27T17:41:00.000-07:00

This week was I Heart Faces Purple photo challenge. I immediately thought of this picture of my daughter. We got these glasses after cashing in several tickets from a local pizza place. I love this picture and think that my sweet little girl looks like an old grandma:)

ps. I realize her skin is a little red but I'm still trying to prove to Adobe that I homeschool my kids and should have a teacher addition of CS5.

pps. I am not cheating by getting the teacher addition. I really am doing a photography class for N. this year. She already learned a little about adjusting exposure in the trial version:)

Head on over to I Heart Faces to see the other entries.

Today's thoughts

2010-07-22T08:07:00.000-07:00

I really don't want to clean even though this place is a mess. It just feels like it's not our place.

My kids have been watching WAY too much television lately but I have to admit that I really like having it on because I love old cartoons (boomerang channel).

I'm ready to know if we'll be moving to Georgia or not. I feel like things are so up in the air and I don't like it.

I'm wondering why parents don't teach they're children modesty.

I've been trying to eat a daily salad full of added fresh veggies but this weeks salads make me gag every time I try to swallow a bite.

I'm trying to remember that even though I think that photos are the illustrations to the story of life, that I DO NOT have to have a picture in every blog post.

Both of my kids are finally trying to swim without floaties.

I'm glad that I've made such sweet friends in the short time that we've been here.

I love taking pictures of N in girly stuff but usually make all of the really cute stuff she has. I'm so not in a sewing mood and may have to bite the bullet and buy her a twirly skirt and hair bow.

I love it when J looks me in the eyes when he talks to me.

I'm finally able to run without feeling like I'm dying.

I'm trying my best to get all things photography organized so that when/if we move I can set up shop.

I'm thankful that our young adult friends like hanging out with us so much that they will all pile up in our 1200 sq. ft apt. (hmmm..... maybe it's not us, but the yummy bbq chicken I make)

I'm thankful that God is Sovereign. I'm thankful for His Sovereign will.

I'm thankful for those I've stayed in touch with in Tx and miss those that I don't talk to very often.

I'm so proud of my hubby for working hard with both diet and exercise to lose a little weight. He's looking oh so handsome.

I'm excited about starting school but not excited about reading through material to try to figure out how to teach it:)

I should probably get out of my pjs and get dressed for the day.

ps. I'm still looking at the broccoli in this salad and wondering how I'm gonna force it down. Ughh!

Saturday

2010-07-20T04:57:00.000-07:00

We decided to go to the zoo on Saturday. It's always fun when daddy gets to go somewhere fun with us. It ended up being a nice day. I'm so thankful that it wasn't 100 degrees that day. We all had a blast. The monkeys were J's favorite animal. N's favorite animal was the flamingo. After we left the zoo, we went to the library to turn in our summer reading log. After going to the library we all went home and crashed. That evening we took the kids to a drive-in movie theatre to see Despicable Me. Wow, what a Saturday! Here are some pictures from the zoo.

Checking out the map.

Getting ready to ride the ponies.

Riding the ponies.

Riding the train.

Pictures with daddy.

Riding the carousel.

The aquarium.

How creepy is this guy?

I Heart Faces Week 29 "Over My Head"

2010-07-19T04:41:00.000-07:00

This week's photo challenge at I Heart Faces is "Over My Head". I've often thought of how large we as adults must seem to our kids. I've asked my kids before if grown-ups look like giants. I love it when an adult will stoop down to my child's level to talk to them.
My son has always been little for his age. Well we have a very sweet friend that is 6'5", 300 lbs. and plays left offensive tackle in college. My son ADORES him! I can't tell you how many times I've told him that if he wants to be big like D then he must eat all of his dinner. It usually works. Here's a picture of my son with D. He is literally "over his head".

Head on over to I Heart Faces to see the other entries.

I Heart Faces Fix-It Friday #62

2010-07-16T08:12:00.000-07:00

So it's fix it friday at I heart faces. Here is the original picture. (Isn't she adorable?)

I opened up the picture in CS5. I adjusted the curves. I then painted a little light on her face with MCP's magic light. I used MCP eye doctor, and magic skin next. I increased the contrast a bit. I then used MCP's color finder. Here's the result.

I then took the image and added a vintage filter that my cousin gave me. I love a good vintage filter. I decreased the opacity a bit on the filter. Here's what I ended up with.

Then I added a texture that I downloaded from DeviantArt. I think this one is my favorite. I'm kindof crazy about textures lately.

Head on over to I heart faces to check out the other fixes.

ps. For some reason I can't get the ihf button to work. Says that the tag is not closed:CENTER
Whatever that means??

Farm Fresh Restaurant

2010-07-14T17:59:00.000-07:00

We went to a very cute restaurant/farmer's market today. They only carry local produce during the summer and the vegetables that they make in the restaurant come from local farmers. It was so cute that I thought I'd share some pictures.

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My camera bag

2010-07-14T13:02:00.000-07:00

Here's what's in my camera bag.

My Nikon D700 which I LOVE!

My 50mm f1.8

I edit with ACR and CS5 and MCP actions .

2010-07-13T09:43:00.000-07:00

every day life test

2010-07-13T09:41:00.000-07:00

about test

2010-07-13T09:36:00.001-07:00

A pretty picture

2010-07-12T21:44:00.000-07:00

Some of my favorite pictures

2010-01-20T08:04:00.000-08:00

I've been editing my blog and somehow deleted these pictures.

Awana

2009-09-30T06:58:00.000-07:00

My kids have just started going to Awanas over the past month and they LOVE it. JS will even stay in his classroom the whole time. He has two very sweet teenage girl teachers. He comes home every Awana night telling me about his new friends and his teachers. He's a cubbie which I think is just about the cutest name. He was so excited when he earned his first badge. I'm amazed that even a 3 year old can learn scripture.
Noelle has been working very hard to learn her scripture also. She gets awana bucks for every scripture she memorizes and can't wait until the store opens so that she can spend her money. She is a Spark. I love the name. Doesn't it start just like that. A little spark can be the beginning of a massive fire. My desire is that my children will be just that spark. A spark that eventually turns on fire for Jesus. Here are a couple of pics of my cubbie and sparkie.

My first embroidery project

2009-09-27T15:47:00.001-07:00

I've not been feeling well lately but I can't stand just to lay around. Yesterday evening I decided that I would try to learn to embroider. I went to Hobby Lobby and bought the necessities for embroidery. I made my sweet friend a pillow and wanted to share with you all the final product. My next project is going to be to transfer one of Noelle's drawings onto muslin, embroider it and frame it. I might get started tonight.

Things I want to remember that JS has said lately

2009-09-23T06:50:00.000-07:00

While running back and forth in the school room(trying to catch a balloon), he looked at Scott and said "Watch and learn".

He had two quarters and lost them while helping me make the bed.
"Where's my money? I call it mun. So where's my mun"?(you really have to hear his little voice)

When visiting his cousins in Alabama, the boys were all taking turns shooting the basketball. When we got in the car, he said "Anyway, I'm a better shooter than Andrew". The thing that makes it so funny is that his cousin Andrew is very good at basketball and much older than JS.

Sunday Ramblings

2009-09-20T12:59:00.000-07:00

Since I haven't blogged in quite awhile, I have a lot to ramble about.

The last few months have been crazy. We started homeschool a little early because we knew that we would have things come up that we would have to take a break for. One of those things ended up being the death of my sweet papa. This man has been probably the biggest influence in my life. My little one is even named after him. I miss him often and cry when I talk to my grandmama about him. She said the other day that she just feels empty. Imagine spending 60 years of you life with someone and then one day they're just gone. I hate to think of her being alone and missing him.

After coming home from papa's funeral, my husband lost his job. We've been about one week with him home. I love having him here. I keep saying, there has to be something that he can do from home. We put our house on the market and will start Craigs listing things and packing this week. I'm just praying that God will lead us to where He wants us to be.

My birthday was yesterday. We layed around most of the day. Yesterday evening Noelle and JS decided that they would make something for me. They ended up making what Noelle called "romantic soup". It consisted of popsicle, water, ice and juice. JS's version also had chips in it. They also put grapes and broccoli on the table. Oh, and tortilla chips. They made Scott and I sit at the table and have a romantic dinner. We pretended to eat the soup and when they weren't looking Scott poured his outside. I hid mine in a McDonalds cup. It was really sweet.

I'm having really bad reflux and digestive stuff going on. It's a pain in the butt. I really would like to just eat a meal without having to drink apple cider vinegar first.

We will hopefully be cleaning today and painting the banister. Maybe we'll get a walk in this afternoon.

Everytime I look at my neighbor's back yard, I giggle. She has these fake owls sitting around to keep the birds away. My cat seems to be keeping plenty of birds away from our yard. He's killed 3 birds and two bunnies in the past few days.

I really wish I were a better blogger. I have lots to say but forget that I even have a blog. I need to make a to-do list and include my blog.

I'm feeling creative lately and am itching to take pictures.

Cow Appreciation Day

2009-07-10T12:22:00.000-07:00

Chick fil A had Cow Appreciation Day today. If you dressed up like a cow you got a free meal. They had face painting and cotton candy. The kids loved it. To make our cow outfit, Noelle cut shapes out of black construction paper and stapled them to white shirts. They turned out very cute. Here's a pic of the two cutest cows at Chick fil A.

Swim Lessons Day 1

2009-06-22T08:43:00.001-07:00

The kids had swim lessons this morning. Mornings are usually rough for me but I was determined to make it. I got the kids to bed early last night and we were up before my alarm even went off.
Noelle has always been afraid of water. She has just now stopped crying when I wash her hair. I thought that this would be good exposure but did not expect her to want to participate much. JS can be a little shy at first so I wasn't quite sure how he would do. I am so glad that our friend Lee Ann is the teacher.
They did great!!!!! Everytime the teacher asked them to do something, they did it. They were walking on their hands doing a bear crawl in the baby pool and holding onto the teacher doing kicks in the big pool. I'm so excited about the rest of the week. Here are a few pics. I couldn't get many of them in the pool because I had to be in there with them.

Happy Father's Day

2009-06-21T17:39:00.000-07:00

I always love holidays, any holiday. If I could hang lights on my house for President's Day I would. I love those holidays when we celebrate a particular person. Most of you who know me know that I do not have the best relationship with my dad. I did call him today but he didn't answer. I love my dad and don't harbor any bad feelings towards him but we really aren't very close.

I do however have a wonderful stepfather who truly loves me like his own. I think about what kind of man it takes to marry a woman with two children and care for them as if they were his. I don't even like to refer to him as my stepdad. To me he has always been a father. He is the only papa that my kids know. When we go to visit him my little girl sits in his lap and tells me that she's papa's girl. So today, I just wanted to tell you all how very blessed I am to have not one but two fathers. One who I hope will one day become the man that God wants him to be. The other a wonderful dad and papa.

Also, today I have really been reflecting on my heavenly Father. I am so thankful that I can call myself his daughter. My heavenly Father never lets me down. He loves me unconditionally. This past year has been a hard one for me and God has seen me through every bit of it. I am so very blessed.

Happy Father's Day to you all!

My new black bag

2008-12-04T19:11:00.001-08:00

I've been wanting a big black bag for sometime now but every time I find one it just isn't big enough (and stealing Michele's just wasn't an option). Well while in Alabama for Thanksgiving, I found the cutest black bag. You're probably thinking why in the world is she blogging about a darn bag. Because, something so special happened yesterday. I put the bag in the passenger seat and yes the passenger light started blinking. I think that in a pinch I could throw Joseph-Scott in it. I'm just saying there is something very satisfying about finding the right purse.

Hello there

2008-11-22T16:26:00.000-08:00

Hello! Bet you thought I was never gonna blog again. Things have been busy lately. We've been running around having lots of kid fun. Between Chuck E. Cheese, going to lunch with daddy, playing with friends, and having girl time, I haven't really been on the computer very much.

Not much to talk about. I'm really excited about seeing our family soon and sad about the ones that I won' t see. I still desperately want to move to Georgia. I still don't want to clean my house. I like our new cat (Batman). I don't like cleaning the litter box. I still am crazy in love with my family. It's been really cold here and I love it. I'm mad that I had to give up coffee because all I can think about is how nice a hot cup would be right now. I'm thankful that I have the best sister on earth. I really want a new huge black purse. Noelle got a new carseat that she loves because it has a cupholder. I'm off to go watch Bibleman with the kids.

Hopefully I'll have some profound wisdom to write about next time.

Awards

2008-11-07T18:26:00.000-08:00

This is for my sister's sweet friend Tiffani who's been a trooper while her husband has been gone. http://bearsandbelles.blogspot.com

This award is for my super cool sister for getting me on the blogging bandwagon. http://mamainhighheels.blogspot.com

I got an award!!

2008-11-06T17:14:00.000-08:00

My very first blog award! Sweet Felicia gave me this award. Check out her blog at http://gograhamgo.com/. She also did my very cute blog design. Thank you Felicia!

Custom Blog

2008-11-02T12:09:00.000-08:00

I don't mean to post twice in a day but I found this really cool blog. She has super cute blogs and does custom blogs. I want one!!!!
http://blogcandydesigns.blogspot.com

I love my neighbor

2008-11-02T06:11:00.000-08:00

I live in the greatest neighborhood and have some of the sweetest friends ever. Last night while watching the Texas/Texas Tech game (Go Texas Tech!), my sweet neighbor surprised me with a very yummy, homemade cake. Just for me!!!!! She's quite a little baker.
I wish so badly that I could just pick Texas up and move it next to Georgia.

Joseph-Scott immediately said "Cake!" and mommy said "No way, it's mine!"
He was so sweet when he said his night night prayer. He thanked God for cake and batman.

A cupcake and a craft

2008-10-29T07:50:00.001-07:00

The other day Noelle decided that she'd like to have a Halloween Party. We ran to Walmart, gave our friends invitations and had a cupcake and a craft the next day. Here are a few of pictures.

Little mama

2008-10-25T18:44:00.000-07:00

Noelle is truly one of the sweetest children I know. She's so tenderhearted and very gentle, especially with little ones. She gets this from her dad by the way. She and Joseph-Scott may fight but anytime they're out and about, she turns into a little mama. We went to our neighborhood fall festival today. Joseph-Scott was too little to go down the big slide alone. Noelle would stand in line with him and then they would go down the slide together. At one point when they were standing in line, I looked over at them and Noelle had her arms around him and was rubbing his arm. Just like a little mama. Here's a sweet picture I snapped while they were in line.

Halloween Party

2008-10-24T20:34:00.000-07:00

So, we went to a Halloween party tonight at Ainsley's house. We had so much fun. I just had to post a picture.

Try, try, try again

2008-10-23T11:31:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I've tryed this blogging thing before and was never consistent. My sister uses her blog as a journal and prints the posts. So, here I go again. Hopefully even if I'm talking about smelly diapers and a dirty house, I'll still be able to post something.