The magical bush

So I know this is a whole bunch of pictures of flowers.  I was so happy when I walked around the corner of our house and beheld the most magical bush ever.  I hadn't really seen it yet, because it's tucked away around the back corner of our house.  I saw it and I was yelling at the kids to come so I could take a picture of them with it and they wouldn't come and then the light was gone.  Luckily a couple of nights later it was gorgeous again so I forced the kids outside.  The light was just glowing through the branches.  Sigh.  I know I'm a nerd.  Ross was like... yeah... awesome...

It's way overgrown and really needs to be pruned back but I really don't have the heart to do it.  Perhaps next year.

These two were taken at a different time of day:

Eeeeeethan

 I've been meaning to talk a little about Ethan.  I haven't updated about him in a while.  Ethan is a light.  Delightful.  Full of joy.  Thoughtful.  Sweet.

And then he flips a switch and he is.. el diablo.  Luckily he's 80% delight and 20% diablo.  I think a lot of kids are that way.  I'm hoping that he is peaking with his tantrums and that they will start to dissipate over the next couple of  months.  He is SO strong willed.  It is tricky to discipline him, because one little innocent time-out often turns into a 45 minute long scream fest.  Dude.  Just do your time and get over it!

He is still not interested at all in potty training.  I'm trying my best to wait patiently for him to decide he wants to start.  I'm thinking that most likely he'll be in diapers when he goes to kindergarten.

 I love his hugs.  And he gives me smacking kisses on the cheek.  He pats his little hands gently on my face and says, 'you're a nice mommy.'   He still loves to snuggle.  Loves to read books, loves cars.  Currently his favorite movie is UP and will request it as much as possible.  I love it too, so I often comply.  Answers questions with full, descriptive sentences.  "Yes, I DO want to go to the park and play on the slide."

I'll admit I've been struggling a lot with being patient with him.  And with Leah.  I hope I can overcome that so that when he grows up he'll remember me as the 'nice mommy' and not as the annoyed mommy.

I'm grateful to be a mom.  Grateful to be his mom.

Vintage Playground

Still playing around with those actions...

Processed with A&S actions

Ross said I could post this

I think it's so funny!

So I thought I'd share some fun new actions I found for FREE the other day.

Straight out of the camera:

Processed with a few of the Apples and Sister's actions:

Many are a little (a lot) too processed for my taste, but they are kind of fun to play around with. I'm not sure if they work with Photoshop Elements, but they work with all other versions of Photoshop. And you can't beat free! Find them HERE.

365:11

So I decided to create a new blog to dedicate to project 365. I don't know, it was just cluttering things up here. I like things all in one place. The link is on the left, if you're interested. Hope everyone had a good mother's day!

FYI: Canon 20D, ISO 1600, f/4.5, 1/100

Happy Mother's Day!

To our mothers and grandmothers. We love you so much!

Made using picasion.com

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Growth. Well hopefully. This is our first year at the gardening thing, and we'll see how it turns out. I hope we at least get one juicy, flavorful tomato.

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Aren't our avocado green counter-tops awesome? The answer is yes. Actually I'm surprised at how well they've held up in the last 40ish years. And I really don't mind the color at all.

A night on the town

We've been enjoying the lovely weather these days. The kids and I wait on the front steps, watching for daddy's civic to turn around the corner so that we can go out and play (or work in the yard) until dinner time. This particular Tuesday evening we buckled the kids up and rode our bikes down to Mi Ranchito for $1 tacos. I'm pretty sure that half of our ward frequents Mi Ranchito on Tuesday nights. And why not? They are delicious and they are cheap! This was our second time going.

Leah enjoyed the crayons more than the food:

Then we headed to my favorite park, South Lake:

Sounds like a pretty perfect night to me!

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Snuggly wet baby.

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I'm a very lucky girl.

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By the way, I'm a couple of days behind. I started this last Monday, but didn't start posting about it until Thursday, so I will always be posting a couple of days later.