I have been uploading the end of my 2008 photos so I can finish my Year in Review books for the girls. If I didn’t love working on this so much, I think it would just about be the end of me…lol. Does that even make sense?
Sometimes I wish January was a slow month so I could leasurely enjoy it, but Christmas runs in to the busiest month of the year for us. It’s always a blur. I would love to just focus on this photo project. But I can’t. So instead I’ve been squeezing in hours late and uploading the last of my (cough…cough) 20,000 photos from the year.
I got a lens for Christmas and thought it was the one I wanted and then I realized I’m not very lens smart (actually that comes as no surprise) and so in light of feeling as if I had wasted a LOT of money, I got a lot smarter real fast. That was the hard part. Let’s say I have learned quite a bit (I had a ways to go though) and I’m continuing to brush up on my technical photography skills, something I have never had much of.
So with a new lens on the way and a much better understanding of my “WISH LIST” and what’s currently in my bag, I actually don’t feel half as dumb as I did 30 days ago. It’s been the result of a lot of reading online, big time eater for sure. I am really hoping when I get my exchanged lens that I can say that I bought the right one for me right now and I don’t regret the money spent.
Laney got a little toy for Christmas and we uploaded this over the Christmas break. I’m just getting around to sharing it because I am YouTube challenged. Shhh, don’t tell her. This is so her, she enjoys nothing more than talking, seriously. But I think it’s fun to watch. Having video of little pieces of our world through her eyes will be a real treat one day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkYSDqpz6Ds
The WILD CHILD, we like to call her, was watching Peter Pan last night while Marty was making dinner. I was working late and when I came down from my office upstairs, I discovered that she had retrieved a bag of balloons from the junk drawer. She was determined to figure out a way to fly and was strategically trying to engineer it with the help of the balloons.
She started with 2 and then kept adding in another, one by one. The comments were priceless as she was sure success was just a balloon away. Delaney came home from dance and she hollered to her, “Sissy, I’m flying.” The look on Delaney’s face was definitely a big sister look, but I had to laugh further when Delaney wanted to know if that was really going to work?
I did stop for a moment to enjoy it (and resist the urgency to rush to get everything done that I wasn’t going to get done in the hours I had) knowing that this will all too soon pass ( sniff, sniff.) You just can’t help but love little things like this and I managed to grab my camera for a couple fast photos. They pretty well stink technically, but what can one expect when a 6 year old is trying to be Peter Pan in the dark? I’m ok with that and I know that one day i will not care that the photo stinks, but I will wish we could rewind the clock. I hope I don’t forget this innocence. I need to be sure to note this in her journal before I forget. I am thankful for the little reminders in our everyday craziness to just enjoy NOW.
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The CHA show is next week and if I’m ready, I will be going. Lots to do before then. Sharing some peaks for my faithful blog readers, you are just the best through all the times when I am a slacker and you keep coming back, knowing that I’ll come around and have something to say or share. Thanks for always hanging in there with me.
New Art Warehouse Roller Stamps: I have envisioned these for a while and it’s fun to see them come to life. They can be used on the roller or on a basic clear block, non rolling. So versatile.
Just in time for Spring, just a few butterflies and flowers.
New Stampers Toolbox Series: 12×12 Stamps:
Text Photo Frames: Possibly my favorite of the group, this one coordinates to the Life Defined Set from the CHA Summer release. Similar to our best selling interactive circle stamps, these are just a little different. But we sized them to work with photos, around them, inside them, etc.
Paper Classics: There is nothing I enjoy stamping more than a variety of paper styles on blank papers, chipboard, backgrounds of mini books, and more. I will probably use this set more than any other. We made these a little bigger so that you don’t have to repeat the stamp as many times for larger projects. Great basics!
I can already see pictures in my head of photos I will use these stamps with. These suit my kids perfectly and the humor is our everyday life. While there is a set for boys and a set for girls, I will likely use them both even with 2 girls in the house. Sized again to have IMPACT, these are both 12×12 sets.
I have to apologize, but I do not know when these are shipping. I will find out. You can order these Art Warehouse stamps and all the others at the Hampton booth. I have a few more that I’ll be sharing tomorrow, so check back for those.
and even though I don’t know WHEN I will have these stamps in my hands, it’s tradition here on my blog to give a few sets away. So can’t break tradition, can I? So comment to this post and let me know which of these new designs are your favorite and when the stamps arrive to me, I will send them out to one winner or two. Good Luck!
The girls both had music programs this past week. It’s always fun to see how their personalities come through in being in front of a crowd. Delaney has always liked performing, but she’s getting to the age of being conscientious of other’s watching her. Never been a problem before, believe me…she LOVES attention. So it will be interesting to see if she continues to like to be on stage. She loves everything musical except she would just as soon take piano lessons and practice only the day before her next lesson. She’s working on songs for her recital and I usually play a couple of duets with her. Last night we were working on asome for the first time this spring and it seems that her songs are getting hard enough that I’m going to have to practice to know my part…where as in the past, it’s been pretty easy for me to just pick up the book and play with her on anything. Hmmm…wasn’t planning on that this soon. Here’s Delaney at her program playing the cymbals with the group. She said they have to “try out” to play the extra instruments. 
and then lots of this…8 year old (9 in two weeks) girl in sundress and flip flops playing BBall. 
All the while Delaney was playing basketball, but when Delaney went to pet Zorro, then McKinley snuck in to get Laney’s ball, in a blink. She’s fast. 
