Almost an Angel

Sure, she gets into things, bothers her brother and makes lots of messes, but Abby really is a good, sweet little girl, and that's why she's an angel for Halloween. Well, that, and it was the only idea I could come up with at the last minute.

You know when you start something and halfway through you begin to feel like you're in an I Love Lucy episode? The shell of her costume was a sleeveless fairy princess costume, size 4-6x. So I cut off the bottom to make sleeves, except I was working with ravelly silky material, and my sewing skills are pretty lame. So I got the sleeves made (after having a knock-down drag-out with the bobbin,) and tried to sew them on to the costume but realized the sleeves were too small to manuver into the sewing machine. So I hand sewed one sleeve on but it was getting super late so I went to bed. The next morning was a play group halloween party and the costume only had one sleeve so I got out the heat and bond tape and patched the sleeve on ten minutes before we left. Hey, it works! The wings were from the One Spot at Target, the fuzzy boots were $3 at Walmart, and our neighbor gave us that awesome halo after taking pity on our makeshift foil one. I think it turned out pretty cute.

This was Abby's first time trick-or-treating, and I think she liked it!

Especially the candy part.

Aaagh!

Is what you say when you discover your daughter has bitten off the top of every one of her Disney Princess markers, which aren't, by the way, very washable.


She's getting in her top eye teeth and so she's chewing on everything, and she's as grouchy as all get out. Heaven help me.

Random Pictures

For posterity's sake.

Pumpkin Patch

We took our annual trip to the pumpkin patch last Saturday. It was mad crazy, but we still had a good time. We tried to take pictures of Abby and Ben, but they didn't seem too interested in the camera.

Whatever it was must have been awfully interesting.

Abby didn't care to pose for me on the pumpkins either. Instead, she went flitting about going from pumpkin to pumpkin.
And testing each one for structural integrity.This is me and my sis, Missy.
Took a picture of Abby and Brian walking around. I thought the people and objects in the background were distracting, so I removed them. Neato!


Our happy family.

Brian and Abby playing a little peek-a-boo.
And Carter hung out with cool Uncle Mark. He's always good for a laugh.

The Creature

I spied a creature crouched behind the foliage and approached with caution. This particular specimin is known to strike without warning. "Krikey!" I'm discovered, so I back away quickly to avoid the smattering of mud that is sure to ruin the outfit of anyone who crosses its path.

The creature, distracted by a patch of mud, loses interest in the camera and goes about its business, but not before shooting a look of warning at the photographer.
Success! After several attempts and close calls with the mud, I make peace with the creature and even manage to capture a smile.
And even got an amazing freak of nature shot. No editing! Weird!

At last, the creature's mom makes her clean up and come in. Ah, to be a creature again...

We Have Photoshop!

So we bought Photoshop last week and I'm just getting around to trying it out. There is a huge learning curve so it will be a while before I get the hang of it, but I'm SO excited! This is a picture I took recently of Abby and so I did a little experimenting with it.

Here's the original. Great face, but the pic is washed out and there's not a lot of natural contrast to work with.

So I cropped it, converted it to b&w and increased the shadows to give it sort of a vintage or "newspapery" look.
Still got a lot to learn, but it's fun!

Decorating Help

There used to be a HUGE stereo and speakers on top of our entertainment center, but it was pretty ghetto so we finally took it down yesterday. But now it feels empty up there, and because our entertainment center is smaller than the fireplace, it looks so tiny! So should I put something above the ET center? Should I move some things around? Help, please!

Hairless Chimp

So Carter is sitting up now. He doesn't care to roll or do the tummy time thing, he would rather sit up with the big people. He's still a little unsteady so he supports himself with his arms, which makes him look like a monkey...with no hair... and pointy ears.

I think it's adorable!

No Dead People Shows For Me

So I know that TV isn't the most productive thing I could do with my time, but I have to admit that there are a group of shows I HAVE to watch!

*How I Met Your Mother - Fun show, not as good as friends, but it makes me laugh.
*Biggest Loser - This season is going to be good!
*Dancing with the Stars - Not so much into it this year as in past seasons, but I still have to watch it.
*America's Next Top Model - I know. But I love it.
*Ugly Betty - I think it is a creative and brilliant show and the season premiere was AWESOME!

I think most of the things I watch are brainless happy shows, but I can't handle serious dead people shows like CSI or stuffy dramas. Of course, I don't watch the news for that same reason. So my brain is going to deteriorate and I will be completely out of touch with the real world, but at least I'll be happy.

What are your favorite shows?