Lunch, RockStar Toes and photoshop fun

For my birthday, my friends and accountability partners brought lunch to our meeting to celebrate my birthday with me. I know a few of them probably wouldn't have even come to our meeting had it not been for my birthday because they had soooo much going on.
So thank you friends!!!! I appreciate you soooo much.

Then on Wednesday, Jen and Brandi made appointments for us to all get our toes done for my birthday. I had not heard of RockStar toes before I had an appointment to get them, but now my toes are disco balls. See for yourself...

Here is the picture of the three of us outside the salon(well, our toes) and although the picture doesn't show it very well. All of us have very sparkly toes...


After we got our toes done, I went to work playing with one of my birthday gifts, some Photoshop fun.
Here is the original picture I started playing with (a picture I took of some friends)...

And here are a few results of my playing...




I am having so much fun learning.
And thanks for a fun birthday celebration!

Read more...

Friends, Hume Lake and a birthday

Our friends Dan and Christy are at Hume Lake and we got to go visit them on Tuesday.

They go every year for the romance conference where they serve as staff and minister to other couples. Last year Christy invited us to spend one of their days off with them by the lake, but because of our schedule, the best we could do was have lunch with them in Visalia as they drove through on their way. (Which we managed to do even after they had a tire blowout on their motor home.)
This year, however, we managed to get to Hume ourselves.
If you have never been to the Hume Lake Christian Conference Center, you are missing out.
This was my first time there and it is amazing, not only because of everything that there is to do there, but it is beautiful.
It is in the Sequoia National Forest, which is pretty high on the list of "amazing creations of God to see before you die".

It was a nice way to spend my birthday - visiting with old friends that we don't get to see very often, watching my kids have a GREAT time, hanging out in the midst of God's amazing creation. I only wish we didn't have to rush off so early.

Thanks Harker family for a great visit!!!

Here are a few pictures I took...

The kids were pretty excited to get OtterPops. I didn't get a picture, but even Molly was grubbing on the yummy treat.
And getting to ride in the Jeep was a sure highlight of the day - especially when mom stuck her head out the sunroof with the camera while we were driving. (Thanks Christy for the threats - to help me capture this picture.)

Read more...

my newly reupholstered chair

Well I finally finished one chair.

I have to say that, for never having reupholstered anything before and learning from a book I bought, I am pretty proud of myself for this project.
I have one more chair to finish that will look just like this one that I just have to assemble (all the sewing is done).
And I have 2 more chairs that will be the same basic chair with different material - for my bedroom.

Here are the before and after shots...

BEFORE:


AFTER:

One down - three to go!

Read more...

Father's Day

I took these pictures on Father's Day for Bruce's blog.

(you can read it here to see why)

But none of the kids wanted to pose for a picture, so most of the pics were blurry. (sorry, babe)

Except Merritt who was the first one out of the house saying, "take my picture, mom."

Such a poser!

Read more...

Remember this project?

Well, those chairs are still sitting in my garage as wooden shells, waiting for some love.

So over the past couple of weeks I have been working to get everything ready to actually start sewing and stapling. All of the foam and batting is cut and I should finish cutting the fabric for the 2 that will find their home in our living room this week.

It is slow-going and here is one of the reasons why...

I plan on finishing the living room chairs first.
I'll post pictures when they're done.

Read more...

High School

This month is my 20th reunion. (actually, last year was 20 years but the reunion was put off until this year. AND where did those 20 years go?)
My school opened its doors in 1985 with only Sophomores and Juniors. So the alumni association decided it would be fun to have a joined reunion for the first 2 graduating classes. They are calling it the "Totally '80s Flashback Reunion." I'm sure it WILL be fun.
We can't go, but I wish we could.
I had the BEST high school experience.
I know I went to the BEST school, the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts.
It truly was a magical experience that I was blessed to be a part of.

I am bringing this up because I got an email from a high school friend today with some YouTube links (posted by a guy we went to school with) to videos of us performing - remember, it was an arts high school.
Talk about flashback! Oh the memories.
I wanted to share a couple of the performances with you. I was only 16 for these performances, so don't be too harsh in your judgment of me.

Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy
(I am the one on the far left.)


"Birdland"
(I am on the far right - and not on screen much, but what an outfit I have on. The actual song doesn't start until 2:45, so you might want to fast forward a little.)


"Black Butterfly"

Read more...

Summer Vacation is here

Today was Merritt's last day of school.

Here is a picture from this morning.


Remember this from the first day of school?


I never cease to be amazed at the changes brought about by 1 year.

Read more...

Our Sweet Girl is 1

I can't believe she's 1.

She's grown so much and already trying out independence.

She makes us laugh every day.

She knows what she wants, except when she's fighting sleep - and then she knows what she doesn't want.

This morning she got in the pantry, got out the Costco bin of animal crackers (which is 1/2 of her size) and carried it to Bruce. She knows where the food is and tries to help herself whenever possible.

This month she perfected the art of saying no, no, no while wagging her finger.

Actually, she has learned quite a bit about communication this month.

And she says thank you, usually before she gets what she wants as a means to tell you what she wants, but it is very cute nonetheless.

She loves to sing and dance.

Itsy, Bitsy, Spider is her new song, and we do it A LOT.

She LOVES to be outdoors. If she sees any door open she drops everything and makes a run for it.

And she is definitely going to be our drama queen. She has already perfected throwing herself on the floor while crying when things don't go her way. (We're working on that one.)

We love you Molly Ruth Kane. You bring such joy to our lives and we are so grateful God chose us to be your family.

For those of you who have been waiting very patiently, here are a few pictures from her party...

Here are some of the fun things we did to make it special...

Instead of treat bags for each guest, we made special rice crispy treats

Bruce made these paper flowers and, of course, this arrangement

After the festivities were over, our sweetie was tired. And although she couldn't keep her eyes open, she was determined to finish eating her apple.

Happy Birthday sweet girl!

Read more...