BIG NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!

So......
I have really, really been bad about blogging the past month.
Really bad.
And I haven't scrapped in a month.
And I haven't taken many photos this last month.
And I haven't cooked or cleaned much either. (poor Jeff)
What is going on? you may ask.
Well......
The news is out!!!!!!!

WE ARE PREGNANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are EXTREMELY excited!!!! But I am sick, sick, sick. Much worse than I was with Kennedy. So, that is the reason I have been missing for the last month. The nausea is horrific but I am also just amazingly exhausted each day too. My doctor described it as "You look at the end of the hallway and think 'There is no possible way I could walk to the end of the hall and not just collapse in exhaustion.'" That pretty much sums up how I feel - well, along with feeling the need to throw up every minute of every day too. But, I just keep telling myself it is all worth it! Because it is! :)

So, the due date is March 8th for now. That puts me at 11 weeks. The end of the first trimester is in sight!!

In other news:

• Disney World was a blast!!!
• Jeff and I both celebrated birthdays!
• We celebrated our 5 year anniversary!
• I started back at school.
• Kennedy started back at day care.

These photos were taken by our AMAZING day care provider, Debbie! Kennedy is so happy to be back! She loves the Bakers!

And here are a few layouts I had been hanging onto and finally posted online. Nothing like Christmas in the summer!!

Hopefully soon life will get back to normal and I will be online more often!!!

Photo Lesson with Monica and Scrappy News

So I told you all about meeting with Monica, right?! Well, she let me use her camera (Canon 30D) and her SWEET lens! So the photos you see are taken with her camera - not mine! I am VERY pleased - she taught me so much and I am convinced I need a new lens!!!

Typical Kennedy face

Fun smilely shot

I am pretty sure Monica actually took this shot of Kennedy looking at me!

Playing peek a boo with Monica!

Monica tried to get her to peek around the tree at me - no luck! But she did get Kennedy to HUG the tree!

And with my camera I never could have gotten this shot! Her camera is so much faster than mine! My camera would have given me a big blurry shot!

And onto some scrappy news! I was asked to be a hybrid card designer for Amy Teets! I am very excited because Amy is sooo talented! Also, I had 3 cards picked up by CARDS magazine! I have never worked with them so I am VERY excited! Look for them in the November issue! And I have other scrappy news I can't spill until next week!!!

Quick Shots!!!

Just some quick shots I have taken the last few days! Kennedy and I have been busy as always! Monday we went to a VERY cool place called Paradise Park. She was in heaven and I was impressed! It is like a kid's wonderland!

Here Kennedy had finished her "kitchen session." Each child had their own tray with three cups. One cup of milk, one of ice cream and one of grape juice. The "cook" instructed them how to mix it and make it a grape shake! Then they got to eat it! Do you think she liked it?!
They also have an art room with 3-4 different art projects to choose from! She loved the painting one!
Outdoors were all sorts of fun things! Cool playground equipment, a trike riding track, a dinosaur bone dig in the sand, and Kennedy's favorite - the fishing hole! There were magnetic fish in the water and the kids used poles with magnets at the end to "catch" the fish! Oh- she thought it was THE best!
Another favorite spot was the water room! She loves water and got herself quite wet! Notice we did this AFTER the area where kids paint their own faces! :)
In addition, there was a room full of miniatures: doll houses, barns, people, animals, furniture....FUN! There were make believe areas too: a bank, a house, a pizzeria, a schoolroom, and a grocery store. They made them as real as possible - kids use fake money, working cash registers, items with prices on them, real desks, a bank vault, you name it! Plus the dress up clothes to accompany each room! As if that wasn't enough, there was a play room with a ball pit and slides and a building room with hard hats, bright orange vests and tons of wood to build with! Every few hours a large stuffed bear does story time, too! It was a great day!

Today the weather was PERFECT!!!! So we spent the morning on the deck and had "Art Day!" We played with sidewalk chalk, Play Dough and finally finger paints!!! Below you can see which was the messiest!!!


This afternoon I met with a new friend, Monica, so she could teach me more about photography! She is amazingly sweet and taught me so much!! So expect pictures from our session to follow in later blog entries!!!!

Fireworks!

This was my first attempt at shooting fireworks the RIGHT way!!!
It is the first time I have shot manual!
And it is the first time I have shot in RAW!!!!
We were quite a ways away from the actual fireworks because Kennedy doesn't like the sound!
I did use a tripod, though!

I changed the setting multiple times to try to get a feel for it so I will post each photo's stats individually!

Canon Digi Rebel
18-55mm kit lens

ISO 100 F/10 shutter speed 30 sec. no flash

ISO 100 f/22 shutter speed 30 sec no flash

ISO 100 f/4.5 shutter speed 10 sec no flash

ISO 100 f/10 shutter speed 30 sec no flash

ISO 100 f /11 shutter speed 2.5 sec no flash

ISO 100 f/5.6 shutter speed 30 sec no flash

ISO 100 f/10 shutter speed 10 sec no flash

And a funny shot of Grandpa Lou, Daddy and Kennedy watching the show! We had seen a smaller show up close on the 3rd. Kennedy did NOT like the noise and wanted Daddy to plug her ears the entire time! So on the 4th we parked a bit away and camped out so we could just enjoy the sights! The sound wasn't bad and she loved the show! She called them "sparkles!"As always, CC is greatly appreciated!!!!!!

4th of July!

(Isn't Izzie the cutest lil dog?!)

Hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July!!! We sure did!!

We started the day by meeting Grandpa Lou at VillageFest in Prairie Village! Silly me - I forgot to put the CF card in the camera before we left so I have no photos to show you! ARGH! BUT - we all had a fantastic time! It was extremely, extremely hot but Kennedy didn't mind! She got to pet and feed LOTS of animals and birds! She watched some sky divers jump from a plane and land! She watched a Chanook helicopter take off! She watched a phenomenal performance by the Marching Cobras! Those kids are beyond amazing! I had sweat running down my face and back just standing there - I don't know how they performed in that heat! Kennedy also jumped in some inflatables, got a Dora tattoo, did some crafts, watched a puppet show and rode a pony! It is something we hope to make a yearly event!!!

I am including the photos below for my family! Kennedy humored me and modeled a few dresses! Both the red and blue dresses are ones that I believe my grandmother made for me when I was little. Mom - if you are reading this and you were actually the seamstress - I am sorry!!!! One of the two of them made them by hand for me! And now Kennedy can wear them!! And I didn't tell her to pose with the umbrella! I swear! She just thinks it is the greatest new toy!
We grilled out and had yummy kabobs - steak, chicken, shrimp and yummy veggies!!!! Then we headed for the fireworks! More on them in a later post! ;)

Rain, Rain Go Away!

It rained here for 4 days straight and we are sick of it!!!! Today it was cloudy and gloomy but no rain thank goodness! Kennedy and I were getting stir crazy! We have done LOTS of reading and some baking. We have watched Dora and The Wiggles, too!! Speaking of - below is Kennedy modeling her Backpack - or Packack as she calls it!!!
Because of the rain I was able to do a little scrapping! I fear my mojo has left me temporarily, so I have been creating quite a few cards instead. Below is just one of them. It was for the Caardvarks challenge to use circle punches. I used 9 punches for the petals and one for the flower center. And stitched around each one!

ETA: I had to take down the photos of my card! It was accepted for publication! So look for it in the November issue of CARDS magazine!

And I did do one layout. It is not AT ALL what I intended it to look like! But, hey, I got the photo scrapped!!! ;)


Have a great 4th of July everyone and stay safe!!!!!!!!!!

Childhood photo challenge - CC needed!!!!

So this week we are challenged to take photos of childhood. I took the camera to the pool to get some shots of the pool itself. Those weren't so great. So I will share the Kennedy pool shots. I am not liking the coloring in most of them. I played with them for hours last night but can't quite get it right. If you all could give some CC on what I need to do in PSE I would greatly appreciate it!!!!

ETA: Ok, I Changed the photo below so you can see a before and after....is one better than the other???
and a random shot!




Thanks girls!!!!

6 days in Iowa!

We are back!!!! Kennedy and I went up to Iowa for 6 days and we are back! She had an amazing time and we were SOOOOO busy!!! So here is a VERY quick recap of our week!!

*As always, you can click on the photos to enlarge them!!!

Day 1:

• Mommy and Paw-Paw get their haircut
• Mommy, Paw-Paw and Kennedy hit the zoo
• Big family dinner

Day 2:

• Mommy, Grandma and Kennedy visit Living History Farms
• Mommy's camera battery dies 20 m inutes into the visit ( &!*$%)
• Convertible ride and a quick stop at GG and Great Paw-Paw's house

Day 3:

• Mommy, GG, Great Paw-Paw and Kennedy visit the library
• We all meet for lunch at Applebee's
• Mommy gets 2 back to back migraines b/c she forgot her migraine meds
• Uncle Ryan, Aunt Lindsay, Mommy and Kennedy (in the jogger) go for a run

Day 4:

• Uncle Ryan, Mommy & Kennedy hit the mall play place due to rain & visit HyVee
• Mommy and Uncle Ryan make a BIG meal
• Kay and Deb arrive and we have a huge family dinner

Day 5:

• Rich, Melanie, Joe and Ben arrive
• We all go to the grand opening of the play place at mall #2 and play fun games
• We all eat atKahunaVille
• We visit the Clive carnival and the kiddos ride lots of rides
• The big kids and Joe have a massive water fight
• Everyone eats and eats and eats

Day 6:

• We all pack up and leave

While there Kennedy had a little accident. While playing with the dog she fell and hit her head on the corner of a table. You can see her disgusting black eye below. Along with other fun shots!


It was a wonderful trip but we are so glad to be back home!!!!!

Father's Day Weekend

What a BUSY BUSY weekend!!!! Saturday Kennedy and I went to KidsFest! She had a blast - I am so glad we went! Some of the photos on the previous post are from that day as well as the above photo of the little "jailbird!"

For Father's Day we went to the Zoo! What a blast! This girl is scared of NOTHING!!!!! She was so into every animal and loved riding the train around the zoo!We were able to feed nectar to the Lorikeets - it was a truly amazing experience to have them eat out of your hand! Kennedy is feeding one below and I had 2 land on my arm and share!!

Kennedy had a great time ROARING at the sleeping lions!
The carousel is new to the zoo this year and it is gorgeous! So bright and beautiful! Kennedy had a blast! The carousel at the mall is now gone so she was itching for a ride!!!



Kennedy was dissapointed she didn't get to touch every animal! She thought she should be able to get in ALL the cages and play with each of them!!!
She was allowed to touch an 8ft boa constrictor though!!!!!!! She wasn't scared a bit! In fact, after this she petted a black throated monitor too! She had to go back to the boa a second time because she loved it so much!! She is a true dare devil!
And this is just a funny shot from last week. She is fighting naps lately and I worry that she is almost ready to give them u. :( I enjoy getting a little time to myself! One day last week I told her she had to stay in her bed. After an hour I could still hear her singing and making noises so I went to check on her. And this is what I saw!!!!She will hop out of bed to grab a book and RUN back into her bed! Hey, I won't complain about her reading too much! I love that she has a passion for books! :)

Ok, that is all for now! Have a great week my friends!