A post for Becca S.

Are you someone who thoroughly enjoys reading other people’s private information? Umm, not that I am or anything… (Aside: my friend Jamie has the FUNNIEST post about eaves-reading on the train.)
Anyways, my dear friend Becca Stanley has been away all summer helping to run Camp Grace, a camp for inner-city kids. I have missed her so much and feel like we are missing so much of each others' lives. I was going to write Becca an email filling her in on my summer happenings thus far, but decided to post for all the world (which includes all 5 people who read this blog) to read. So without further ado:

Hey Becca!!
I really am starting to miss you terribly! I have felt really isolated all summer, just missing community and “doing life” with others! I don’t want to overwhelm you with a 5-page update of life, so I thought I’d jot down some less-intimidating bullet points:

• First, and most importantly, The BACHEORETTE!!! I miss you so much every Monday night! Ryan tries really hard to feign a vested interest, but it really just isn’t the same. Have you watched any episodes online yet? I have saved all the episodes on my DVR and am totally willing to re-watch the entire second half of the season with you when you get home!!

• In related news, this season of So You Think You Can Dance is turning out to be really good. There is this one guy, Phillip, who is a pop-and-locker. Do you know what that is already from working with the kids downtown? UrbanDictionary.com defines it as: A style of breakdancing which involves short, rapid movement of the arms and legs (popping), combined with brief pauses between movements. Umm, maybe this will be more helpful—this is Phillip’s audition. Anyways, he tried out last season too, and didn’t make it because he couldn’t pull off the other, more classical, dance styles. So he went home and trained for a year, and now he’s back and in the top 6 couples! Here he is in a hip-hop dance with his partner Jeanine (who is a contemporary dancer who’s never done hip-hop).
Love that!

• In family news, Holden is finishing up his series of 8 swim lessons this morning. He’s not swimming on his own yet, but has made big improvements in putting his face in, learning the swimming motions and whatnot. Oh, (I’m adding this in at the end) I also wanted to tell you that Holden prays for you guys every night, and not because we tell him to. After he says his regular routine prayer, we ask him if there is anyone else he’d like to pray for and normally it goes like this: “Dear Jesus, thank you for Mr. Adam and Jayci and Mrs. Becca and Charlie and Mav. Help them fall asleep quickly. [Because that’s what he prays for himself.] Love you Jesus, Amen.”

• Turner is growing up so quickly (which sounds like it’s been a year since you’ve seen him, as opposed to weeks)! Did I tell you that when we visited you at camp he said his first animal noise? When we were looking at the cow, he kept saying moo. And now he says cat and meow. And pretty clearly says “all done” after meals. Turner is super fearless at the pool. He will repeatedly jump off the edge to me or step off the stairs. His head goes completely under until I pull him up, but it doesn’t seem to faze him in the least! Once I put him back on his feet he waits about a half a second to do it again!

• Finally, let me wrap this up by saying how stoked I am about going to the Dominican Republic with you! Really, the thought of those seven lazy days gets me through many stressful days here! My sister and mom went a couple years ago, and Cam wants to tell us all the things/places we have to try.

So that’s it! I love you and miss you!

10 Year High School Reunion

My 10 year high school reunion was really something I thought I'd never see. It's not that I thought I wouldn't live that long, I just couldn't fathom that far down the road. Nonetheless, here I am 5-years-married and 2 kids later, showing up to a crowded Buckhead club anxious but excited.
In all honesty, this was my second high school reunion: I went to Walton until half way through my junior year, then transferred to Fellowship Christian High School. The FCHS reunion was a backyard BBQ and was so laid back and chill. Here are some pictures of that evening a few weeks ago:




And two weeks later was the Walton reunion. They were so different, mostly because there were 40-ish people at the first one, and probably 300 alumni at the second! Here are some pictures from Walton's:
These girls were some of my best friends in middle school and high school:


I have to run, but will finish this up soon!!

Parenting Tips you MUST Know!

Three very useful parenting tips when serving spaghetti to a 3-yr-old and 17-month-old:




1. Remove the kids' shirts first. If you do leave clothes on, make sure they are not wearing white shirts that have sentimental value (like, say, a shirt that the grandparents brought back from a trip). Bonus tip: As the Mom, do not wear you brand new white tank that you just bought.
In a nutshell: Spaghetti sauce + white clothes = bad news.



2. Do not give the children ripe, juicy, sweet, delicious, fresh-from-the-roadside-stand peaches as a first course.







3. If you expect your 3-yr-old to eat any of his dinner, do not let him have three bowls of cereal as his 4pm afternoon snack.




Now go procreate. I believe you're prepared.

New fave thing

So it turns out that I have a new fave thing almost every week. What am I, Oprah or something? Right now, this is my new fave. This blog is (obviously) in dire need of some maja sprucing up. I've searched around at how to make my blog look better, but am just in over my head! As it happens, Sharon at Redbud Designs is giving away a Complete Blog Design--something I could totally use!

PS~I totally have to mention that most of my fave things (including this one) are actually stolen from my friend Jamie's blog! I've known Jamie since elementary school (shout out to EBCS!) and we went to high school together. Jamie now lives in Manhattan and is probably the chic-est girl I know, and an amazing writer to boot! You should follow her blog...

Fix-It Friday #16

So it's another Fix-It Friday over at IHeartFaces! I am kinda proud of this edit because I didn't use any actions to aid in my editing! Just good, old-fashioned Photoshopping.



Original:

My Edit:
All I did was:
~pump up both the brightness and contrast
~apply a warming filter
~use the blur tool to get rid of noise and blemishes
~clone stamped under the eyes to remove redness and on the forehead to remove a vein
~finally, used the elliptical marquee tool to select each eye (individually) and pumped up the brightness and contrast again

And voila!

Babies, and Birthdays, and Pets, Oh My!

I had such a hard time choosing a birthday picture for this week! I actually ended up doing 3 different edits, and here is the one I chose:


I'll go ahead and add 2nd and 3rd place for your viewing pleasure:





And now on to the PETS category! Back when our youngest son was 6 months old (almost a year ago now!!), i finally succumbed to my husbands (not-so-subtle) hints for another dog. Yeah, I am definitely the most ambitious mom ever! So here is our Phoebe with Baby Turner:

Fix It Friday

So I'm making brownies to bring to my 10-year high school reunion tomorrow (I know, I just gagged a little that I'm that old!) and thought I'd give Fix It Friday a go during the 35 minutes of bake-time! This was such a sweet little girl!! Click on over to IHeartFaces to see all the entries from people who actually know what they're doing!! :)

Here is the before that was provided:


And what I did with it: