First Haircut

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Originally uploaded by mawkinberd

I've been looking forward to doing this little LO. I can't claim the pictures, because I knew I would be busy and called Aunt Jo to document the event. :) She did an amazing job, as you can see. Kylie also helped with filming. We made a good dinner party with it, and Daniel made his famous chicken and cheese enchiladas. Mmmmm.... I think that was the last time we had those. That was too long ago! 7 months is too long to wait for really tasty food like that. lol

Joe and I had a grand adventure today. We went to the zoo with Uncle Jeremy! Jeremy wanted to go so he could get in some practice for his camera class, which was his Valentine's Day gift from his partner. So, we took lots of aperture experiment shots. Plus, I got some great shots of Joe looking at the animals (as well as just Joe and just animals). I'll probably make a layout of some of them for the birthday challenges at MLAS, which kick back up for another round starting tomorrow. Can't wait!

I also saw something I had never seen before today. I saw something on the road, and I thought it was an animal. But when I got close enough to start swerving, I realized someone had tossed their weave into the road. How bizarre is that? Were they taking advantage of the fabulous weather by riding with the windows down, and the wind blew it out? Or did someone just snatch it off someone else's head and just throw it? I mean, the possibilities for humorous possibilities are endless. I'm still entertained just thinking about it.

Ciao for now!

Roving the Park

Page 77
Originally uploaded by mawkinberd

Yes, I stayed up past my boys' bedtime again. I'm getting to like this private time. ;) Of course, it helps that I had such a fabulous day with the boys. We got a lot accomplished today, and we all enjoyed one another's company. Well, most of the time. Joe had a really tough time with the teething today. It made him have a really bad fit of crying for a while this afternoon. He almost never cries, so to see him just sobbing is heart-wrenching. Luckily, Mommy was with him the whole time. I have to think that counted for something.

So, this page is dedicated to a memorable day in the park with Aunt Jo and Kylie. I journalled about most of it, so no need to explain again, but I will say that we all had a blast. I love Kiroli! I can't wait until the weather gets good enough that I can dedicate a whole Saturday to going there with Joe and Daniel. It's always so much fun! Then again, I am a bit of a woodsy kind of gal. But, it's also nice to have a good trail under your feet, as well. :)

Hope everyone has a lovely Sunday!

Dinner Coma

Page 76
Originally uploaded by mawkinberd

So, I was having fun looking at LO's at MLAS, and I found this absolutely awesome page by pagefrocks. I usually forget that lifting is an option (shame on me!), so I really tried with this one. I had to change the shapes a bit, but I think it worked a-ok. :)

Page 74

Page 74
Originally uploaded by mawkinberd

Tonite I attended a speed scrap hosted by Jac (jfink99) at the MLAS forum. It was a good one, as always! Jac has a style very different from my knee-jerk reaction, so doing these helps me learn soooo much about design. I feel good about where I'm at now in Joe's First Year album; he was eight months old when these pictures were taken. Soon, we'll be seeing pictures of the baby who goes to school while Mommy goes to work! :') He's growing up so quickly!

(*yawn*) I really enjoyed this, but I think I'm ready for a hot shower and a long night catnap. Night, all! :)

Learnin' learnin' learnin'...

Man, am I having fun with GIMP right now. I just found out something really cool... you can use .abr (Photoshop brushes) files in GIMP, if you know where to put them. Rock on! I did my first layout with some little droplets all over it. So fun! I'm gonna have to look at a lot of layouts and papers to see what works in designs and what doesn't before I feel comfortable with it (I'm not exactly God's gift to the designing world), but I can do it now! Yay! I also have to come up with a system to organize those brushes. Not to fear; I've got something figured out. Should be a breeze. (Famous last words, right? lol)

Last night was really nice at home. Daniel and Joe both went to bed early, so I stayed up and had some me time with the computer. Nice hot shower, no television, no noise, no stress. Ah!!! I think I like this new habit that's forming. An evening ritual to enjoy. Hope it lasts a little while at least.

I've also been having fun with Trillian lately. I finally figured out how to find the emoticons (yes, sometimes I'm slow). My new favorite is the (woot), which makes a cute woohoo noise. Trillian noises make my day. Now, if only I could find that desktop pet I had ten years ago that made the moop sound...

Rock and roll!

Giving in

Yeah, I'm giving in. I've been needing to make a blog for, well, eons now. And I need to make one where I'm not afraid to put up my picture and say, yeah. I wrote that. I did that picture. Whatcha gonna do about it? Perhaps it will take me a little while to get comfortable with it, but I need to do it. So there.

So, what am I gonna do here? Well, it'll mostly be scrapbook and photo editing stuff, with some personal life bits thrown in. Don't worry, I won't gripe and complain (too much!). But it is nice to have a place where I can do whatever I want. Isn't that what most folks want? Um, yeah. Anyway.

Let the parties begin! :)