How could I forget?

As I was playing around with some pictures this morning Sophie noticed that I had neglected to introduce the newest member of our family. Meet Serafina. Brought to Sophie from Santa Claus himself. Serafina is the cutest Siamese kitty ever, with the bluest of blue eyes, a characteristic among Siamese kitties. She is a bit of a terd, however. Nighttime is her favorite time for play. She likes to sleep with me and whenever I go to scratch my eye, or itch my nose, she immediately pounces and gives me a good scare. When you were little, did you ever fear that there was something under the bed that would jump out and get you? Well, I sure did! The other night I was reaching over the bed to plug my cell phone into the charger, and that little stinker came charging out from under the bed and bit me on the hand! She totally sneak attacked me! Scared the sh** out of me, too! No matter how many times you smack her away or remove her from your room, she comes back for more. But, she is a joy to have in the house and the kids adore her, so I guess I am hoping that she will eventually grow out of it!

The Pioneer Woman

This morning I found this totally cute website called "Pioneer Woman." This talented individual has tips and tricks from everything to cooking, home and garden, home schooling, and my favorite: PHOTOGRAPHY! Under her photography sections she offered FREE photoshop actions. For anyone who isn't familiar with photoshop actions, they can be used to speed up repetitive tasks, make quick work of time consuming edits, and give you a little creative inspiration. Anyway, they totally rock! Here is one of her actions called b&w beauty that I used on this photo of Sophie. Now this might sound silly to some, and it may just look like a basic b&w photo. Actually there were over 6 steps in making this photo look like this and all I had to do was hit the play button, and boom, there it was, all in one click of the button. And since my computer is a P.O.S and super slow it seriously saved me probably 8-10 minutes. I know, I am a dork, but this is so exciting. Actions can cost upwards of $1200 for complete sets, and some are around $50 a piece so it is really cool that she just puts it out there for others to enjoy. By the way Jenny Z...I thought she said she lived in Tulsa, OK. Ever heard of her?

A new project...52 weeks of photos...

I have been inspired! As a mom, and I now lots of other moms can totally relate, we are never in front of the camera. Birthday parties, vacations, recitals, day to day life, husbands with our kids, friends with our kids, kids with kids, and so on. Rarely am I in any of the pictures with my kids. In fact, I don't remember the last time I was in a picture with one or all of my girls. I have gone through whole outings, very special days where there was no evidence that I even existed. Sad, huh!
SO....I am going to challenge myself. I came across this project while "blog surfing." It's very simple: one photo a week, for 52 weeks. Easy enough, right?? These photos will include all of me, part of me, with one, two, or all of my kids. It doesn't really matter. My goal is just to be IN the picture in some way or another. I am not trying to capture the perfect portrait, just my life as I see it, with my beautiful girls. I am super excited and I think all mom's should try to do this for themselves.
That being said, this is week one's photo. Again, nothing special. Just me and my little Frankie G.

(I took this one while standing in front of the mirror in the bathroom. Oh and I totally had to cheat and edit my face a bit. I have been super stressed lately and the blemishes on my skin were proof so I thought I would spare you :)

P.S. Please be sure to scroll down and check out my offer for FREE children's photo sessions!

This is how Sophie woke up this morning. She doesn't have any allergies or anything, at least that we knew of. I am taking her to the doctor today to see if we can get this figured out. The rash is all over her body. She says she doesn't itch or anything, but it sure doesn't look too comfortable. I did open a new bottle of body wash last night, but we have used it before so I don't think that it could cause her skin to do this. Hmmmm...I guess we will see if Dr. Kramer has any answers for us. Oh, and her skin isn't really that yellow, the lighting in the kitchen isn't ideal for taking photos :)

Pretty little Sophie

She is just too sweet! I think I am going to have to order a really large print of this one! She is always so willing to let me practice taking pictures and I am so grateful. I love the way this one turned out!

WHEW!!! I finally got caught up.

My friend Lex is this sewing goddess and has started making child size aprons and oven mits!!! Oh my gosh, these are just too cute! She has the cutest, funkiest fabrics that I have even seen and now is making mits and aprons for little boys too. Sophie has one of her mits and loves it so much, and yes, they actually do protect from heat! You have to check out her Etsy site and that way you can see other prints that she has to offer. These are a great price and such a great gift idea. Check on the side for a link to her Etsy site!
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I stole this picture from her site. This is by far one of my favorites!
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Sophie started karate this month and she loves it! She is super good and is already set to belt test next Thursday. I am going to try to record her belt testing but gotta track down somebody with a video camera that will let me borrow it :)

Those eyes are looking pretty blue here.

Lately Frankie insists on feeding herself, or trying to anyway. We are still getting the hang of it.....

I was playing with the camera one day and got these. Sometimes I can't tell what color her eyes are.
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Well, that is still huge but I can't figure out what I did to make it that way...oh well!

Whoa, that's a big header!!! Just a quick fix, working on more but I gotta go be a parent for a little bit :)

Just wanted to let you all know that I have not fallen off the face of the earth! Lots of new posts to make I am just still trying to find the time where I can sit down and get it all done. Keep on checking. I am hoping to have some posts done by today!