Embrace the Camera - First Haircut!

Anna made it to almost 4 before her first haircut ever!

It's been a long time coming though.

Crazy to think that all that hair on the bottom has been there since the day she was born (in theory).



She felt like such a big girl!

And she was so excited with the results!

So was I!

Mommy got her haircut too :-)

I can't believe my baby is turning 4 on Sunday!

We're celebrating with a ballerina birthday party.

I'll just say there's been a lot of tulle in the house lately ;-)

Hoping to share some of the party details here next week.

Embracing the Camera with Emily

Embrace the Camera-Baby Love

I was trying to get Ellie to give her baby kisses at the same time as me.
She had a different plan...look at the camera and smile :-)

That works too :-)



Linking up with Emily at



BTW...trying to do this post from the BlogPress app on my phone. Not as easy as I was hoping :-( Any advice in that area is welcome!

Embrace the Camera - Lights Lights Everywhere!

I've been too busy living life to document it.

This is a busy season...right?
How is it going to be Christmas in 2 1/2 weeks?
cra...zi...ness

This past weekend we got to go to Disney!
We have a wonderful friend who hooked us up ;-)

The funnest part was seeing the Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights at Hollywood Studios.
I've never seen so many Christmas lights all in one condensed space.
And...it was all synced with music.

Anna wanted to take our picture.
She said "ok...now stick your tongue out."
I listened...and hubby didn't :-)
(sorry for the blurriness...she's only 3 you know)

And here's another one from Anna :-)

Here's a little glimpse of how amazing it was.
But...I mean...it's Disney...do you really expect anything less?




-Linking up with Emily today-


Embrace the Camera - Thailand Style

Even while in Thailand, I was able to Embrace the Camera with my kids!

We Skyped with them almost every day.

The time change (12 hours) made it difficult...

but we would try to catch them while they were eating breakfast...

or right before they went to bed.

This is me and Ellie on a Skype call :-)

And that is how you Skype with an 18 month old.

Make funny faces and tell her that you love her :-)

I was SO thankful for technology while we were half way around the world...

LITERALLY!

my babies on another Skype call

We were on the search for free wifi every where.

I had to stay connected for my own sanity.

My kids were like a billion miles away and I HAD to be within an email away from them.

I couldn't stand the thought of not being able to know how they were doing.

Here we are taking advantage of free wifi at a Starbuck's at a mall.

This is me Skyping on my iPhone in a coffee shop in another mall.

Did I mention there were a lot of malls in Bangkok??

Steve had to shoosh me a few times...

I had my earbuds in and was probably making silly noises a little too loud ;-)

But I didn't care!

I was talking to my babies!

I can't even imagine what it was like being in foreign countries years ago away from your family.

before internet...

before email...

before Skype...

When all you could do was make a super expensive phone call or write a letter.

Wow.

Thankful for technology.

And now I'm thinking of Napoleon Dynamite :-)

Joining Emily with ETC

Embrace the Camera - Turkey Pumpkin

Best and easiest pumpkin decorating EVER!!

At a garage sale a couple weeks ago...

I opened a box to find some painted wooden turkey parts.

A head and five feathers.

I instantly knew what it was for and confirmed with the lady selling it.

I think I got it for around $1

(it was bundled with other things...so it's hard to say exactly)

Bottom line...it was CHEAP!

We decorated our pumpkin in like 2 minutes :-)

With no mess...I might add!

We'll probably carve one next year...

but for this super busy month...

it made my life so much easier!

We just shoved a couple things in the pumpkin...





my concentration face lol



And...we're done.





Anna was not cooperating...so I got a pic with my Ellie.



I look tired and my hairs a mess...captures me pretty well lol



***Embracing the Camera with Emily***

Embrace the Camera - Photobooth Fun

Ellie and I spent some time alone last night.

Daddy took Anna with him to worship band practice at church.

He plays bass.

Ya...he's pretty cool :-)



So...back to my cute baby Ellie...

We had a little fun with my phone :-)

She is at a ridiculously cute age!

BTW

I couldn't figure out how to make my pictures look like a photo strip

then I found this website Big Huge Labs

I know nothing about it except I used it to make the cute photo strip above

but I thought someone else out there might want to know where to make one too

So there you go!

Photobooth strip away!

hmm...that can be taken out of context lol

Embracing the Camera...Join us!

Embrace the Camera - Love my Girls

Here's the back story to these cute pictures.

After naptime, Ellie was fussy and tired.

Why the child won't just sleep longer is beyond me!

So she was laying on my chest while I layed on the couch.

I thought...Embrace the Camera Picture!!!

So I asked Anna to go get my phone and take our picture on the couch.

Yes, my 3 year old totally knows how to use my iPhone.

So she took some pics and as I reviewed them I decided my arm looked majorly huge.

Not going to work what with posting it on the World Wide Web.

I like keeping it real and all...but even I draw the line somewhere.

So I adjusted my position...so as to make my arm look skinnier.

AKA fake a skinny arm

Then Anna, all on her own, decided to do one of those

I'll hold the camera out in front of us and try to get everyone in the shot type of pictures.

She's fun.

And here's what came out.

I love my girls :-)









beautiful Anna



cute grumpy Ellie



 

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Please by Ellie

Ellie is finally starting to say some words!

She will be 18 months in a couple weeks.

Her current word list:

Hi

No

Mama

Daddy
Up

Please

Bye

Cheese

I don't ever want to forget this stage.  So glad I caught it on video :-)

Joining Embrace the Camera via YouTube this week...

Embrace the Camera - 9/29/11

Here's my favorite pic of the week with my girls.

We were checking out the fishies at Dixie Crossroads (my birthday dinner).

I can't think about Dixie Crossroads without thinking "corn fritters...yum!"

I literally think that every time.

I mean...seriously...

Corn Fritters from Dixie Crossroads

 

Get in front of the camera and join us...



Embrace the Camera - 9/22/11

I succeeded this week in getting a cute pic with Anna!

There's actually a cute story behind it.  Anna did a not so nice thing and she and Daddy had a little talk in the other room.  Then she came to me in all her cuteness to apologize.  We were hugging it out after her apology.  Sometimes she can be so sweet.

Then we got a little silly...



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Embrace the Camera - 9/15/11

My goal of getting a cute pic with Anna this week didn't work out :-(  I guess that's why this Embrace the Camera is so important.  Days, weeks, months go by without putting ourselves in those pictures.  Our kids will grow up and wonder "What did my Mom look like when I was little?...What kind of crazy hairstyle did she have?...What kind of clothes did she wear then?"

So I will try extra hard this next week to get a cute pic with Anna.  But for now we will have to settle for old cute pics with Anna :-)

This is Anna when she was Ellie's current age (17 months).

This pic is so special, because Anna was NEVER cuddly.  This is one of the only times I remember her laying her head down on me as a toddler.

Anna at 19 months...such a little ham!

This one is from when Anna was 20 months old and I had a great haircut ;-)

Love!  Anna was almost 2 and I was about 8 months pregnant with Ellie.  Precious!

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Squeezable

How can you see that face and not want to squeeze that baby?!

please excuse my scary eyes :-)

Goal next week: cute pic with Anna!

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My Sweet Baby

She fell asleep in the car...and fell back asleep on me when I took her out of the car.  That rarely happens...so I soaked up every second of it!  <sigh>  This picture makes me happy.

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