Photos and a Funny Tag!

Just had to share this first shot of Kennedy in her princess outfit - brushing her hair! :)

Last Sunday we went to a little festival in town at the Mahaffie Farmstead. They were having Wild West re enactments and lots of olde time performances and crafts. We thought Kennedy would LOVE the Wild West Show - and she did! UNTIL they started shooting fake guns and using whips! The loud noises FREAKED her out. As you can see below - she is in Daddy's arms.So we just visited the rest of the farm! She loved all the animals of course! Even kissed a humongous cow!!!!There were some men playing fiddles and singing under a tree. Kennedy loved the music and danced and danced and danced!!!

Forgot to thank Kory for naming me a Rockin' Girl Blogger!!! Hehehe!! Thanks girl!!!

Here is my latest layout for More Thank Scrapbooking. I am really missing my scanner! When I photograph my layouts they never look as good as in person!

I got this silly tag below from Carrie Potsma! It was too funny not to do! Thanks Carrie!

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car):Tory Odyssey

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie): Moose Tracks No Bake

3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name): D. Hol

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal): Green Dog

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born):Grace Des Moines

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first): Holda

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink):The red lemonade

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers):Keith Wilfred

9. WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names):Jayne Myron

10. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter): Mayfield Minneapolis

11. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower).Fall Lilly

12. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”):Strawberry Sockie

13. HIPPIE NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree): Cheerios Oak

14. YOUR ROCK STAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour” and the year):. The Scrapbooking Light Breeze Tour 2007

Scrappin' again!

So...we have kept busy this week at always!

Today we watched cousins Logan and Elijah. Below Daddy read to Kennedy and Logan...

and then here they are 15 minutes later!!!! Too cute!Tonight we went to the park for a nightime picnic! The photos did NOT turn out at all, but I still wanted to share!Also this week, we had our high risk OB appt. We got some excellent shots of the lil bugger at the sonogram! Our scanner has died, but I hope to share the photos soon! The baby is 100% healthy and growing right on target! I will be visiting another specialist soon.

And I finally am scrapping again!!! The card below is a hybrid card. I used Amy Teet's grunge kit for it!

The next 2 were made with the kit from More than Scrapbooking! Love me some My Mind's Eye!

Living for the Weekends!

It is so true that I feel I am living for the weekends lately! I love my job but I love family time more!!!!

Gotta share some photos of what we have been up to!
An 85th birthday bash for Dusty!

A typical face Kennedy gives us when she doesn't like what we have asked her to do. Her grouchy face!!!

Today we went to Autumnfest in Edwardsville. We met Grandpa Lou and cousins Logan & Elijah!

While there both Kennedy and Logan painted pumpkins!!!! They both really enjoyed it!!

Kennedy's finished pumpkin!And I am finally scrapping again!!! I was asked by a fabulous group of gals to join a blog group. We are called Scrap Faith. We are from all different religions and want to inspire others to scrap about their faith (or lack there of!). Our first challenge dropped today and below is my layout. Head on over to our blog and join in the fun!!

Lately

We have been soooo busy lately! I just wanted to share some photos of what we have been up to recently!

For Labor Day we visited Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead - one of Kennedy's favorite places! I just loved this photo of her! I know it isn't in great focus, but I still love it!

This last weekend was Old Settler's Day in our town. It is a 3 day long festival with lots of fun stuff to do and yummy things to eat! We volunteered to walk in the parade with our wonderful church. Jeff handed out water to spectators. I pulled Kennedy in the wagon. I really thought she would love it and get into waving at people. Nope. She didn't ever realize she was in a parade! She spent the ENTIRE time using her wipes to clean! She cleaned her entire body, her shoes, the wagon and everything in the wagon! Goofy girl!

Of course all great kid events have carnival rides! And Kennedy is fearless so she wanted to do them all! She rode a bunch and didn't want to leave!

Riding the fishy!!

Going down the HUGE slide with Daddy!

Riding a zebra on the carousel!

The alligator roller coaster - I think it was her favorite!

I loved this shot of the ferris wheel. And yes - she rode this one with Daddy too!

That's all for now! I will be back on again with more photos!!! :)

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!!!!!!