fun with photoshop ♥

i'm giddy over my new toy- photoshop elements. see what i've been doing on maternity leave while my babies sleep, rather than cleaning and organizing closets?







love love love it! so many possibilities. i've already created crosby's birth announcement and baptism invitation, and am working on some other invitations as well. fun fun! ♥

oh yeah, explanations of these photographs to come...

a full fall day of fun

today was not an active outside day. today was a day of getting things done around the house. but last sunday, we took advantage of the beautiful fall weather- crisp and cool, with the sun peeking out behind sporadic clouds- and captured some outdoor fall fun.

first off, was early morning apple picking. a bushel full to be exact. (our home will be filled with lots of apple recipes in the coming weeks, so if you have any great ones to share, please do.)

our little helper loved being able to reach the apples off the trees from her spot on the ground, and also getting a boost from her daddy to reach the high ones way up at the tippy top.

a few times, she'd find a good one, take a bite or 2 and throw it on the ground. just a taste of each kind.

notice the white coating on the apple? you don't think toxic pesticides are used, do you?! ugh.

and how could i not get some posed shots?? perfect setting, perfect weather, happy girl. that all equals a clicking mama.

and isn't she just delicious?!

we completed our apple picking with traditional cider and donuts. the good pumpkin-batter, cinnamon-sugar coated cider mill donuts. and they were fabulous. we lugged our bags of apples home, and curled up for a nap.

later that afternoon, we participated in our third annual buddy walk to raise awareness for children with down syndrome. i have the absolute privilege of working with several children with this extra magical chromosome every summer for summer speech groups, and they are delightful. their spirited, happy outlook on life gives me only positivity. it's so fun to catch up with these children and their families at the buddy walk after working with them all summer. harper was a mere 9 weeks old at our first walk, so it's fun to also see her enjoy the live music, good food, cotton candy machine, and of course, the one-mile walk surrounded by so many wonderful people. it's a great event for a great cause. and this year, their 6th annual, brought a record-breaking 850+ walkers for this support team. what a tremendous day it was.

a run and a birthday

our sunday started off very rough. with tornado sirens calling out their warnings, we were up and down the stairs multiple times in the wee morning hours, grabbing harper and maximus, blankets and pillows, our phones and laptop. sleep was just not to be had on the couches in the chilly basement. when we finally thought we were settling back into our own beds, the phone rings and michael gets called off to my parent's house to save their lower level from possible flood damage. thankfully, a flood didn't happen. michael came back home and finally nodded off to sleep around 4 am, only to wake up 2.5 hours later to get ready for his first 10k. harper and i joined him, as tired as we all were, but we wanted to be there to support him. this was a big day for him, and harper and i wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else (even our nice comfy beds).

and we are so proud of him! he finished in 1 hour, 8 minutes and 1 second. he kept a nice, easy pace the entire race as he wound through tree-covered streets, up and down hills and along the river. we spotted him just before the finish line, and i handed harper over to him so they could cross together. all she wanted to do since she saw him take his first steps across the start line was to run with daddy. michael, we are so proud of you, and are looking forward to standing at the finish line of your next race.

harper enjoying some of the post-race treats.

that evening, we celebrated kelly's birthday. michael has twin sisters, but jen was out of town. kelly left today for germany, so we celebrated with her before she left and will celebrate with jen later in the month. it was a momentous night, for harper that is. she actually ate chicken fingers (doesn't typically like any type of meat) and bit off some of the actual cupcake after polishing off the frosting first. usually it's frosting only, and the cake gets tossed aside.

happy birthday, auntie kelly and auntie jen!

3 years in the making

i picked up a new hobby of knitting about 3 years ago. i knitted a whole bunch of nothings. got a lot of projects started and then never quite finished, except for a purse that i made for my sister's birthday that first year of my hobby. one of my projects was a pair of baby booties, for our future child, started soon after i found out i was pregnant. i bought 2 skeins of soft, fuzzy yarn-one in pink and one in blue. i was going to knit 2 pairs, to be prepared for either gender. i decided to start with the pink pair, as i secretly was hoping for a girl. i finished one pink, fluffy bootie, started on the next, and then had a miscarriage. and i abandoned my project. i didn't feel like i could go back to finishing the pair when i had just experienced a huge loss. it was too heart wrenching.

when i found out i was pregnant again, i didn't want to start up on the project for fear of jinxing something, though i wasn't sure what. we waited with breaths held, finally heard the heartbeat, felt the tiny kicks, and in july, our beautiful little girl was born. and of course, with a newborn and a million other things to juggle, the bootie sat and sat, collecting dust under the bed. i had been meaning to get back to finishing that one baby bootie, but the knitting needles had been out of my hands for too long and i thought my project was too much to tackle on my first go round after sitting out of the game for close to 3 years.

but then i was inspired to make a special little something for a special little-to-be who lives far away, and so i chatted up my friend, candice. she is an expert knitter and gave me some great tips to get started. so, i have the skeins and the motivation, but bought the wrong size needle. i'm exchanging it this week, and will begin to tackle this project before the weekend. (details cannot be shared until the secret project has been completed and is in the hands of the receiver. spoiled surprises are just no fun.) but in the meantime, i decided to pick up and start again on the bootie so i could get some practice again before i jumped on my other project. and i actually finished! they are not perfect in the slightest, but they are complete. and they will look yummy on baby feet.

this is the mess of yarn as my last bootie awaits to be finished

and here is the finished product! these are, in fact, booties if you can't tell.

and here is the yarn, just awaiting my needles to get started and those first knits to be cast on. these colors remind me of spring.

more updates on my project to come...