Late night love

I am up editing late because I have WAY too many things to do and I decided to edit a few pics that I took for my 365 today. I snuck away in the driveway for a few minutes just to unwind.

I love them all and would not wait to share.

Some sidewalk chalk got left out in the rain and I didnt want it to go to waste- so I went to town! ;)

It was a boot kind of day...

And this one joined me for a moment outside because I heard a little 2 year old calling for more milk inside.

I need more alone time. I don't get it quite enough and I cherish the few minutes that I do get.

365- Week Two

Monday 2/20/12

My little silly girl!

Tuesday 2/21/12

I had a real rough patch this week and I just could not get myself to take any photos so this photo was not taken on this day.. But this is Boxer, he is our neighbors dog and we all love him, including Anabelle who always asked to see Boxer or "baby puppy".

Wednesday 2/22/12

Some of our beautiful flowers in the back.

Thursday 2/23/12

My little girls birthday was today and we went the zoo! She had a blast. I love this picture.

Friday 2/24/12

Party mode in full swing.

Saturday 2/25/12

Having fun at her birthday party with Lauren.

Sunday 2/26/12

Hanging with her new Elmo doll. They were looking at the moon together. ;)

This is fun! I feel like it is helping me discover what I want my style to be and proving to already be helpful! :)

365- Continuing Week One

I am going to try to update in groups of a week. This post will be up to 2-19-2012.

This is my favorite picture from our mini hike on friday.

I was practicing some lighting techniques and Anabelle is not the best age for modeling anymore. Much easier to use a remote and set my camera on a tripod. I love the way this set turned out.

Bath-time! She was showing Daddy and I her new tricks in the tub... SPLASHING. She thinks she is pretty funny.

An awesome little hike with my family... 

Parenting stuff

Yesterday while we were gardening together, Greg asked me if I think about the childhood that we are giving Anabelle and how we are affecting her by the things that we do. I quickly I told him that I think about it all the time and make efforts to do things just for her to experience new things. I gave him the following example...

On Friday,  I picked Anabelle up from school, we came home, changed clothes, cleaned up a bit, got our grocery bags and headed to the store. We decided to take a stop for a little hike in the mountains. We didn't get far because she was really clingy, but we went and we explored.

We saw horses,

 dogs, pine cones,

 and made our way through tall grass.

Anabelle was talking about the horses and saying, "nah" till the next morning. She also brought that lovely pine cone home to Daddy. She always gets him something when we go on adventures without him and it is so sweet! He has a nice collection of rocks. ;)

We ended the night with our grocery trip.

How we are raising our child is a constant thought in my brain. I want her to enjoy her world and feel like we have given her a wonderful childhood with great experiences!

365- Week One

That's right! I am going to try this again!! Here are some shots from my last attempt 3 years ago. I stopped just before I got pregnant. I only had a point and shoot at the time and I think that this time around I will be better and I hope to improve my skills. I also have not been taking as many photos as I would like to of my little girl lately.

So, here goes....

2/11/12

I had a wonderful maternity shoot and I just LOVE this image.

2/12/12

I went to the swap meet and got Belle a new table for projects! I think she likes it.

2/13/12

This was actually taken on Sunday, but I didn't take one on Monday (didn't know I was doing a 365 then) and this is a new fave of mine.. so I will go with it.

2/14/12

We had some family time outside for a little bit... I brought out my 35 and did some self- family portraits. I even got a pick of Anabelle being "stuck" this is what she calls cuddling. Had to use two...

2/15/12

Last night we watched Grant and had such a blast. Anabelle was so sweet with him and it was so nice to have her spend some QT with her cousin.

I am excited about this fun new project!

Lace Crown Tutorial

 I have seen many adorable little kiddos with these crowns and I wanted to make some myself. After some digging around online I figured it out! It was a fun project for a Saturday night!

Supplies:

* Lace (I found at a local fabric store and bought a yard of each design)

* Mod Podge

* Hot glue gun

* Gold, silver, or any color fabric or acrylic paint

 *Wax paper

*Paint Brushes

*Glitter to match your paint

1. Go to a fabric store and pick out some lace. It is usually sold by the yard and you can get some great designs.

2.Cut the length that you need for your project. I put it up to my daughters head to measure where I wanted it to lie.

3. Paint the lace with your color choice. I painted on the wax paper as it was easy clean up. Let dry.

4. Paint with your first layer of Mod Podge. Make sure to coat both sides of the lace evenly and pick up the lace and move it around. You do not want the Mod Podge to pool and create "windows" in the lace. 

5. Let each layer of the Mod Podge dry. You can speed up this process by using a hair dryer on the lace. 

(This is what it looks like after the first dry layer)

6. Repeat this process 3-4 more times. While the Mod Podge is still wet on the second or third layer, add the glitter. 

7. Make sure that you have something fun for your little one to "help" with as all she wanted to do was help mama paint. :)

8. Hot glue or super glue the two ends together. Make sure that the lace matches up so that it looks as seamless as possible. I also brought out my needle and thread for a little back up at that point.

9. Enjoy!!!

Anabelle- 23 Months

Just 15 more days and we will officially have a 2 year old. It is kinda surreal! It is one of the most amazing things in the world watching her grow up and express herself and become who she is..


I have posted this pic before, but it is one of my faves.



Some new fun things are:

• She is using the word "new". This is used when I give her something that she doesn't like and wants something else or "new". 
• She can describe what she wants to eat.
• Talks about play-doh and specific toys.
• She asks me to read to her. She is obsessed with her butterfly (or "Poop-Pie" as she calls them) books and requests to sleep with them every night after being read to 3 times each.
• She has learned how to do the splits and really enjoys it.
• She understands when I make a call in the car and she thinks the only people that I talk to are, Daddy, Nana, and Auntie and insists on saying hi to one of those three while I am talking. Lately she has been saying hi to Auntie while I am talking and frequently mentions Mari. It is really adorable, but a little distracting. 
• She has a family photo hanging in her room and she asks me to "read" it to her, this means asking her who everyone is. She LOVES this. Some new names that she could not say before are Grandma Lori who she calls "Lauren" and Grant who she calls "Dant".
• She has been fully off the bottle for a few months. I took her to target and let her pick out a new milk cup. She picked a Dora cup and that is now what she uses. There was a little push back from her, but she got over it quickly.
• She likes telling me that things are too tight, her shoes, necklace, carseat, pants, shirts, hair thing, almost anything, which I promise are not too tight.
• She is potty trained and doing so well! 
• She loves my phone and knows how to put on her video.... sneaky girl.

See this face? Sneaky!

• She is so strong and likes to climb on things, hang on things, jump on things...etc

• She likes to be "stuck" which is just cuddling. We love to cuddle with her!

I love this little monkey and I am looking forward to her bday party! =D