Princess Em

Yay! I finally figured out how to merge photos. this still not as clean as I want it to be but I took a picture of her dress for the texture background and the actual picture of her is from Halloween. She has been wearing her dress all day today so I thought it would make a good texture photo.

Monday Menace!

Arg! I almost stepped on this today! We bought our house 2 1/2 years ago and the first spring we quickly realized we had a snake problem. Whenever there would be a warm day snakes would literally pour out of a hole coming beneath our garage. My dad and husband probably killed close to 60 before I called wildlife services. When they came there they caught probably another 25 right then and there in the yard and then set up a trap. I would call them to come empty it and then the snakes started figuring out how to get out of the trap. They charged us every time they came to empty the trap. We ended up tearing up the rotting deck and while putting the new one up filled in the hole with cement. I hoped that had solved the problem.
Last summer we still ended up with a few here and there but not as crazy as the first year. There is nothing worse than playing out in the yard with kids and almost stepping on a snake. My husbands project for his next day off...get rid of the wood chips in front of our house where this guy hung out for the day. As much as I hate them I can't go out and kill them so I usually call my dad to come over or my husband does it but they were both unavailable today. I'm a sissy!

Perfect day to fly a kite.

I took the kids to the park and decided to try to fly the kite. It was nice and windy and I did manage to get it in the air a few times before Em lost interest. The slide is just to hard for her to resist. It quickly got too windy for Ethan to be out so we headed to my parents' so Em could jump on the trampoline. I swear that child could jump ALL DAY. My husband showed me a bounce house online that he wants to get for her birthday. Yikes! It was a great Sunday!

Little Bear and Mommy Day!

Little Bear and I went into Missoula While Em stayed home with her Daddy. It was nice getting out an doing some shopping and not being on any schedule. He was a great shopping partner and enjoyed his day. Once we got home we met daddy and Em at the park and Little Bear had an opportunity to get down in the grass for the first time. He very quickly went from sitting position to his belly so he could grab at the grass. He is going to enjoy the summer.

My parents' favorite flower

They finally bloomed...well one group did. I love daffodils and they just happen to be my parents favorite flowers. At the end of this month they will celebrate 25 years of marriage. This photo is dedicated to them and their love through the years.

Add a little color to you life.

These are some of the paint colors we have used in our house. Actually they are the colors of the bedrooms plus some red in our sons room. Looking at them in the paint cans is a little scary to imagine them on walls but the rooms look really great. Em has the pink and darker blue in her room w/Dora theme. Ethan has blue, yellow and red w/ firetruck theme and we now have the lightest blue in our room with white trim. My husband is wanting an orange in the front room but he has yet to convince me on that yet. I'll keep you posted.

Piano lesson.

A couple of Friday challenges ago I was looking for an inspiration photo and saw one similar to this that I liked. The original used Gummy bears but when I saw my Daughter's letter fruit snacks I thought it would be neat to use them. Unfortunately the detail did not really show up well on the letters so I played around a little bit.

Candle Texture

I've had these candles for a few years and I always thought they were to cool to burn. I love the beading on them and am already thinking of how I can reuse them once the candles are no more. I was having a little fun with photo shop and added some extra texture. I am enjoying trying out the features on the program.

Our Other Munchkin!

This is our other rug rat! He has been with me since before I met my husband so he has had a lot of adjusting to do over the past 5 years. He is all my dog but has learned to love the kids. He and my Husband still have a love/hate relationship. I love my Codykins. This is him doing his favorite activity after eating and playing with his teddy bear. He is a total blanket snuggler...or whatever he can find to snuggle in.

Trail of Clothes!

Em has really been loving this weather we have been having. She loves playing outside and after walking into the room and seeing this I figure it will be a barefoot summer. This was the trail on the way out the door. When asked why she took her shoes off she said "So I can climb my slide." Silly Girl!

Going on an Adventure!

Emilee and I rode our bike down the bike path to the river and then walked along one of the trails. We went through the spooky forrest then she had a blast throwing rocks into the river. It was fun with just us girls getting away for a short bit.

Colors of Spring!

I have been waiting for my daffodils to bloom and they are getting really close. Since they haven't yet I chose the next spring colors I could think of. Jelly beans!!!

Rainbow Cupcake!

Yay! I have made it to day 77 and I am posting on the correct day for once. These are the cupcakes that I made for Em's story time. They turned out pretty tasty. In fact my husband and I were laughing as we watched Em eat one. She was outside and between being concerned about what her new neighbor friend was doing and eating her cupcake it was comical. she took about 4 minutes to lick the frosting off and 30 to eat the cupcake. Ah to be young!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I hope everyone had a great St Patty's Day. We enjoyed our day here in the Ross household. Last night I made rainbow cupcakes for Em's story time snack. Yeah, I'm a gluten for punishment. They turned out really good though so I added them to today's picture. I babysat today so we all headed up to the library by foot. I am so glad we don't love to far from anywhere in town. The girls enjoyed story time and they made little leprechauns. Okay so they helped make them. They turned out cute though. Tomorrow I take Little Bear for his six month check-up.

Texture!

I am still working with my photo shop and trying to merge photo layers. I have been pretty busy this week plus the nice weather makes it hard to sit in front of my computer and figure it out completely. I am still working on it but my time is up for today so this is what I have. The texture is from our new ceiling in our bedroom.

Squish Squash!

Little Bear turns 6 months tomorrow so today he had his first baby food meal. He has been eating cereal for 2 months now and he sure does love his food. The other day I thought he was going to attack me for the apple I was eating. He enjoyed his meal and ate all his squash.
He is not crawling yet but is trying very hard. He looks like he is trying to swim and then lays down. Too Cute! He will also rock on all fours and can push himself backwards a little bit. He still doesn't roll from his back to his belly so he gets stuck on his back which makes him mad. My dad calls him a turtle when he does it.

Good Times and Good Friends!

This past week I was able to visit for quite a while with an old friend from high school. Then I decided to pull out my year book and a scrapbook that I made when I graduated. Man we were goofy back then. Some of these ladies I only see once in awhile but I still think of them often and the good times that we had. We all have are own children now and hopefully my kids will be friends with some of their kids. Good friendships last a lifetime!
The next picture is of me WAY back when but when I saw it I wanted to posted it. When my daughter saw it she said "look its Emilee!" My Mini Me! Now I know she got her crazy hair from me. Sorry Kid!

P.S. I am caught up! AGAIN!

Weekend Project!

This Saturday we spent the day in Missoula, mostly in Lowe's. First we went to the mall where they were having a children's fair. I picked up some info on how to get Em involved in gymnastics. Yay! and then we let her play on the train in the play area. Then the real fun started while my husband and I tried to agree on a paint color for our bedroom. We have been camping out in the front room for the last few nights while our room gets a total makeover. The popcorn ceiling is gone. Yay! In fact I think the ceilings will be my subjects for Texture Tuesday. The color of the walls are going from tan to a light blue and new white trim around the base and doors. I don't mind camping in the front room because for some reason everyone seems to sleep better however it is kind of cumbersome having our bed out here during the day!

Kiwi!

So I decided other than my kids my favorite things to take pictures of are fruit. I think you can have a lot of fun playing around with them. The second one I played with a little more while experimenting with Photo shop. It ended up with an adjusted plastic wrap texture and adjusted lighting and color. Yes! One day closer to being caught up!

Sunshine in my soul...

A few weeks ago I posted a these flowers when they were just sprouting up. I am so happy to see flowers we make a special trip by the front of the house everyday to see them when they are opening up to the sun. I can't wait for my tulips, callas, and daffodils to bloom.

Not Words but Work of Art!

Emilee is really getting good at drawing and loves to color. I asked her to draw a person and this was what she did. You may have to use your imagination a little but I see it clearly.

A Good Nights Sleep!

My husband works at Bed Bath and Beyond as a manager and informed me that he found the new bedding that he wants to put on our bed. This is our current set which we just got about six months ago. It has a nice texture and rich colors but apparently it is for winter. When we picked this out we spent about 3 hours debating sheets, duvet, drapes and everything. Arg! He is turning Martha Stewart on me. The new set he wants is really nice but pretty pricey even after his discount. Maybe we will find an alternative that we can agree on.

Let's Roll!

Emilee and her friend riding their trikes up our street. I love our street. They rode to the end and back twice and we didn't encounter a single car. It is a nice quiet street. Its amazing that she can all of a sudden ride her bike when last fall she couldn't even reach enough to peddle. They love being able to get outside. As soon as Em gets her helmet on she hops on her bike and says "Let's Roll!"

"Put the shoes by the door"

We usually leave our everyday shoes by the door. When we asked Em to put her shoes by the door last night this is how we found them. It cracks me up!

Kootenai.

Today we had a beautiful day with blue skies and warm temperatures. We took the opportunity to go for a little family hike. We went up Kootenai but we were not able to go to far because the trail was covered with ice. My husband and daughter did have fun doing a little climbing up the rocks. It was a great day!

Reflection.

We went to the refuge today and I saw the opportunity to take this shot. I love the reflection!

Sharp!

Once again I am a day behind. This is becoming a habit towards the end of the week. NOT GOOD!! Anyway, I used my eyeliner sharpener a few weeks ago for an Em project and instead of putting it back where it goes I put it in with some of her other art things. I have been looking for it for about a week now knowing I put it somewhere it didn't belong. finally today I found it when we were getting stuff out to paint. It was in with the paint brushes!!! I may be bright but I'm not always the sharpest pencil in the box!

Sunshine is...

We have definitely been enjoying the sunshine and warm weather. I love being able to enjoy things with my daughter like bubbles, sidewalk chalk, coloring and so on. Of course as I post this the sun is tucked away behind some dark and sinister looking clouds.

Pop Pop Pop!

Today I downloaded Photoshop elements 8 trial and have 30 days to figure it out and decide if I want to purchase it. This was not what I wanted to do with this picture but it is getting late and I give up for tonight. I will keep working with it tomorrow and hopefully learn some things.

Smile to Melt your Heart!

This little guy can put a smile on my face any time. What a long and exhausting day it was here today. It started when both kids were awake at 5:15 and was just craziness all day. It is now 8:30 p.m. and both kids have the precious just bathed smell and are sound asleep. I am not far behind them. I love that his sock is half off; he is always pulling them off now.