Karaoke A B Cs

We have to be super stealth these days to attempt any video of Elyse. It happens all the time. She does something super funny / cute and we debate about who runs to get the camera and who can hide it best. She just loves the camera and whatever she is in the middle of, if she notices it, she will chase you down in hopes of watching the videos.

I literally made it only SEVEN seconds in this one before she caught me.


Forgive my incessant giggles at the end. She was literally crawling up me to get to the camera. Funny girl. That's our 19-month-old! Love her.

It's Hard Being Little

Lucien and Elyse - January 2012 playgroup.

Elyse has always been an easy baby. Now that she is officially in toddlerhood, she can definitely have her more trying days. Don't get me wrong, she is a very good girl, but she is 19 months old! I'm always telling her, "It is hard being little, isn't it?" It is hard when you feel like you're communicating, but don't have the words. Have basically no patience. Teeth hurt. Want things and are told no. Yep, life can be tough.

We've had a great weekend, but it has been a little rough for her. She is teething, had a runny nose, wanted to play, but then would change her mind and want to be held and didn't sleep very well, waking during the night and naps needing to be comforted. Yep, it is tough being little.

We stayed home from playgroup today. I was pretty bummed about that because she loves being with her friends. She always has so much fun. I'm pretty sure her runny nose is from teething and she has no fever. But, she is just not a happy girl and I didn't want to risk exposing her friends in case she is contagious.

We went and ran some errands this morning. She loves going "bye-bye" and I find her frustrations are much less when we are on-the-go and it was too cold to be outside.

I put a dress on her with some leggings. We hadn't worn the dress in a while and as soon as I put it on I realized it was just too tight at the top. "Owww," she said. I went to pull it over her head and realized it had caught on her tooth. Did I mention her mouth was already sore? Now, I had a screaming baby and as I went to get the fabric off the tooth I realized it was just too awkward to get off. It was very tight around the shoulders and arms. She was already so upset, I just grabbed some scissors and cut it off.

It was just one of those days. I hated ruining the dress, but I hate a sad baby even more. Ever have one of those days? Enjoy your Monday. We sure will.

Buh-Bye Picnik

So, Picnik is closing. In less than five days to be exact. This may mean nothing to many of you, but to a small group of us - it is really a bummer. Picnik is a photo editing software. I use a combination of Picasa, Picnik and Photoshop Elements (PSE) to edit photos. Really, PSE could do it all for me, but I just really haven't taken the time to learn all the ins and outs of the program. Often, I'm editing photos on a Saturday night after Elyse goes to bed and time is of the essence and Picnik is really easy and quick.

We've been warned of the closing for some time now. Picnik is now suggesting we try GooglePlus, PicMonkey and Aviary.com.

Tonight I dabbled quickly in PicMonkey.

The first shot is straight-out-of-camera (SOOC) with no editing, except a little cropping. The light is just horrible in Elyse's room and many of her pictures shot in auto white balance get that terrible orange cast. The edit in PicMonkey is pretty. I like how the color cleaned up, but it does wash out the orange pad she is laying on.

Not bad, but I liked it better that Picnik was embedded as part of Picasa. It just made it easier to edit. PicMonkey is time consuming as you have to pull up each photo at a time to edit. I'll keep at it and maybe I need to start reading my PSE manual.

Happy photo editing! What programs do you like to use?

New Beginnings

It is easy to get focused on the eggs, candy, baskets and ham dinners. But, Easter is about hope and new beginnings. I had an inspired morning on Easter listening to a message at a new church. It is a large church and completely out of my comfort zone of The Lord's Prayer and hymns on page such-and-such, but it was interesting to try something new.

I didn't end up taking any pictures on Easter Sunday, but here's what we did get on Saturday.

I took Elyse to the mall where a local church sponsored an Easter Egg hunt and celebration. Elyse had a ball. We got her face painted with one of her favorite things - BALLOONS. She was so sweet and super good. She held really still and admired herself in the mirror afterward. I was so proud of her!

They gave away balloons and we had to stand in line for one. She was so excited seeing them everywhere repeatedly saying, "BOOOON!"

Pushing the stroller is great fun.

We saw our cousin Sophia on stage. She participated in a dance-off and a hula hoop contest. The girl is NOT shy. She was happy to see Elyse.

Not a fan of the Easter Bunny.

Grandma Jo, Sue and Scott came over later for dinner. Sue and Scott brought Libby a present - a leather jacket! So funny. Sadly, it didn't fit.

We had a yummy ham dinner with potatoes and a seven-layer salad. It was pretty good if I do say so myself.

We colored eggs. Paas has come a long way, let me tell you. Such vibrant colors and glitter! So fun!

She liked it.

Grandma was fascinated by the entire process.

Big smiles for Aunt Sue.

Time to hunt for eggs!

She had it figured out quick!

Libby thought it was fun too!

All that hard work paid off. Daddy let her have some chocolate.

She loves to look at the pictures in the camera.

Someone is teething again and gets fussy. She wanted to go bye-bye when Grandma Jo was leaving. So, Sue and I took her for a walk around the neighborhood. But, Sue had to snap this photo first. I know she is sad and crying, but it is still cute!

Guess what? The Easter Bunny came to our house!!



I hope your Easter was joyous!

PS: Thanks to Aunt Sue and Uncle Scott for taking pictures for us!

Happy Easter 2012

May blessings to you and yours abound on this joyful Easter day.

Love,

Bill, Courtney and Elyse

Sprucing Up

Elyse had a pair of leggings I'd set aside that had gotten a hole torn in the seat that I needed to mend. I'd added to the pile some hand-me-downs we'd received - a dress from her cousin and a brand new boys sweatshirt. The dress was perfectly good it just needed a little detail. The sweatshirt was clearly for a boy and had a little basset hound on it. I meant to go into the fabric store and pick up something to jazz them up. It seems almost all of her clothes these days have little flowers on them - fabric, felt, yarn. They make her already cute clothes somehow even cuter!

The very next day we picked up Evelyn to go to breakfast and she handed me these crocheted rosettes she'd found on Etsy. She bought several so she could make more herself. She gave me two and they were PERFECT for my project.

First - here is the sweatshirt. Again, nothing wrong with it. It is just clearly for a little boy.

Here's a closer look at the little embroidered dog. Sorry, doggie - you're cute, but we're covering you up!

Next is the dress. Very cute, but pretty plain.

Here are the afters - first up is the dress. This little heart really makes the dress even sweeter.

Next is the hoodie. Just a little something that says GIRL!

Only took a few minutes during Elyse's nap (including sewing up those torn pants).

You can find these embellishments for pretty cheap at craft stores like Michael's and JoAnn's and also on on-line sellers such as Etsy! Or, show your crocheting friend this photo and maybe they can make you some.

Thanks, Evelyn!

Never Too Young to Start

18 months means this transition toward leaving baby behind with each day becoming more and more a toddler. There are times she is all baby - wanting to be held or rocked. And then there are the days she notices things I never thought she would and we get to see her learning before our very eyes.

I've mentioned before Evelyn sends us a picture or video each week that she watches her. This particular week it seemed Elyse had noticed Evelyn crocheting. She thought she'd give it a try. So cute!

Poor cell phone quality, but I just had to share!

Pucker Up

At a Mexican restaurant recently, we re-introduced limes. And, somebody decided she liked them.

We did get this face. But, she kept right on eating it - down to the rind!

PS: Don't you love the one droopy pigtail? 'Tis the life of a spunky toddler.