chickens?! I love chickens...

Why haven't I posted in awhile?? Part 'lazy'... part 'way too busy' trying to make a halloween costume for B. 

And I think my efforts were successful! 

Check out my little chicken nugget...  

Because I'm an over-acheiver...
he even has an egg basket to collect his goodies!

He's a stylin' chicken with Converse chucks... lol






And possibly the funniest picture I took... is there a baby in there?!?!?! Hahaha!

And, here's my chicken with his cousins... a farmer and his animals...

See that adorable little lamb... he won "Cutest" at the contest!
And the B-man? He got "Most Original"! 

Linking up with The Paper Mama Photo Challenge

catch me when i fall...

The B-man has been spending a lot of time standing up lately. And the past few days, he's been experimenting with crawling up on things too! (Watch out stairs - here he comes!)

He's definitely keeping mommy and daddy busy, and I've been trying hard to balance my reactions when he takes those inevitable falls that come with his adventurous antics... I don't always want to treat him like it was a near disaster - because, let's face it... most times, the crying will stop in .3 seconds. But sometimes, a momma's gotta be a momma. I just wanna be there to pick him up and cuddle away the tears. He's not always going to reach for me when he's upset, so I have to take advantage of the moments that I get now. They're already going by so stinkin' fast!

So, follow what "they say" and don't react... or sweep him up in my arms and tickle 'til he's giggling uncontrollably.... hmm.... hard choice....................... :)

And, in honor of the falls that we're taking in the house, 

thought I'd add some pics of the fall happening outside! 

Kinda proud of this fall pic that I took and edited... Isn't he a sweetheart?! :) 

And to see more pics of me and my fam celebrating fall, check out Danett Setmire's blog 

for a sneak peak at some of our fall family pictures{pictures 3, 5, 6, & 7}... so cute! :) 

Isn't she an amazing photographer? 

Linking up with the anderson crew 

my favorite subject...

It's no question what my favorite thing to take pictures of is these days....

see that puff stuck to his cheek? yeah... he had no idea it was there.
he's still learning how to get them into his mouth!
how can you not love this little guy!!!

Can you believe he's 8 months old today?!?!?! I can't......

Meanwhile, I'm still trying to play with camera features and editing (just a bit less now that I have that silly job to go to!) And, I'm currently trying to sell my cameras... I have a point & shoot and a film SLR... so I hope to upgrade from the point & shoot and downgrade from the SLR. Something in the middle, that still has some cool functions and excellent picture quality, but that doesn't require that I take out a loan for film and processing. ;) 

I can't wait to be able to get that camera!!!! 

But........... while I wait............ here are some highlights from September. Enjoy! 

Daddy made me this playhouse out of a box... aren't I the coolest?!?! 

This is the longest I've ever let any tower stand... i love to destroy!

My cool cousin's shared this toy with me! 

Mommy thinks it's funny that I'm standing like this... but I was just relaxing while I play!

I'm lovin' the shadow self-portraits that I've been seeing online lately...
so this is our attempt. Kinda cool! :)

slowing down...

These last few weeks have been so busy...

I started back to work (yuck!) after almost 7 months off with my sweetie. Luckily, it's only three days a week, but let me tell you... it's three days too long! With my schedule way busier than it has been in years past, by the end of the three days I feel like a stressed out, crazy person. Instead of focusing on the madness in my day, I need to slow down and enjoy those kiddos and the art they're creating...

Bryce has been doing new things every day it seems! Although he's been scooting himself around for a month or so now, he started using his knees yesterday. A couple of days ago he decided his new favorite thing was to  stand himself up next to the couch... what?! 7 months old!!  Slow down baby boy!!

So, in my busy schedule and overwhelming feeling of missing my little guy - I held and cuddled him through a nice, long, cozy nap {something I hadn't done in months, because I figured he was getting better sleep in his bed... silly mommy... cuddling with mom is always better, right?} I marveled at how old he's starting to look {when did your hair get so thick?? when did your hands get so big!} and how precious these days are. *tear*

And, at the risk of waking him and "ruining" the moment... I snapped some pics.

the fair...

This was our first of many years to come camping at the fair! I was very excited to try to get some cool shots of the rides at night... but by the time night came, I was usually putting B down to sleep and whooped myself! 

On the last night, as my sis and I walked back from getting our last yummy milkshakes of the year, I remembered - and took this pic with my cell phone! I was amazed at the quality that I got in a night pic with the lights so bright! Edited it to give it a 70's faded feel.... and here it is!

Linking up with Live Every Moment's Photo Challenge

This week's theme: FAIR!

sweet baby sleep...

Bryce is almost 7 months old and I still can't get over some of the poses that he's in when I lay him down, or check on him when he's sleeping...

The timing of this picture happened to line up perfectly with A Step in the Journey's Photography Challenge:

Week 5: Shoot from a High Angle

Think this little guy is cute?! Help him win a professional photo 

session by following this blog and voting for Photo 6!

Bryce says "THANK YOU!"

bokeh...

In my search for better photo capturing and editing, I have run across the word "bokeh"...

dictionary.com defines it as "a Japanese term for the subjective aesthetic quality of out-of-focus areas of a photographic image" {blah, blah, blah}....

basically, as I understand it... it's a picture that has parts that are out of focus.

Well, Live Every Moment Photo Challenge's theme this week is bokeh! And, I have a favorite bokeh image that I had posted here before.... so here it is again! The bokeh turned out backwards from what I intended when taking the picture... but I love it this way! Happy accidents! :)

Enjoy! :)

Think this little guy is cute?! Help him win a professional photo 

session by following this blog and voting for Photo 6!

Bryce says "THANK YOU!"

cutest photo contest...

Okay, Bloggie-friends... can I ask a huge favor??

 B has been entered into the Cutest Photo Contest on Danett Setmire's Photography blog... and I need votes! :)

Danett is a super awesome photographer -- and I haven't been able to have her take pictures of Bryce since he was just an itty bitty baby! (Don't get me wrong - having no money was worth the time off from work to be with him... but boy do I wanna see what adorable things she can do with his super cute smile!) The winner gets a $50 credit... so I really wanna win! :)

Check out his serious little face and folded hands.... how CuTe is that?!  {He never stops long enough to fold his hands like that anymore... but used to do it a lot... *tear*}

Okay - so click on this awesome picture taken by Danett Setmire Photography....
























.... then follow her blog, and leave a comment voting for my Bryce-chex - Photo 6!


                                      ThAnK YoU, ThAnK YoU, ThAnK YoU!!!!!!!!!

makin' baby food...

Ever since I found out I was pregnant, I was excited to someday make homemade baby food for the little man! The time has finally come...

I know there are tons of websites to get homemade baby food recipes {and really... I could just cook and puree some food and call it good} but my sister bought this book awhile back and loves it. The recipes make enough for at least 2 weeks of meals in only an hour (and many times, way less than an hour)! I couldn't wait to get it and start cooking! So, for now, this is where I'm getting my recipes. :)

I started with Butternut Squash... kinda difficult to cut in half...
watch those fingers (or employ the hubby if he's home). But once it's cut... super easy!
You scoop out the seeds, lay them on a cookie sheet,
 and stick 'em in the oven at 400 degrees for about an hour.
{During this step, your house will smell awesome!} 

When you take it out of the oven, the squash is super soft... scoop it out of the skins, 

put it in a blender with some 100% apple juice, and puree!

Next were carrots. SO easy!
I used 1 1/2lbs of baby carrots (they were big babies... so I cut them in half).
Boiled them for about 7 minutes in about 10 oz of water... then poured it all into the blender.
Puree!

Once the food is pureed, you just pour it into ice cube trays and let cool.
When they're cool, cover & stick 'em in the freezer overnight.
The next day you can pop them out and put them in freezer bags. They store for three months.
All you have to do is take out a cube or two, warm them up in a pan or microwave, and enjoy! 

While B's still getting used to the taste and texture of solids in his mouth...

he sure does look super cute wearing them!

Linking up to A Step in the Journey: Photo Challenge. This week: DINNER!

lovin' some leaves...

Bryce is a total outdoors boy already. {insert daddy cheering here!} 

He especially loves looking at leaves! So when we were on a walk through the yard the other day, we (well, okay... I) took this picture of the leaves that B was fascinated by.

And we're linking up to Live Every Moment's Photo Challenge...

this week's theme: Organic!

Did I mention I got top three last week in LEM's photo challenge?! 

I'll admit it, I was super proud... go here to check it out!

my brown-eyed boy...

Love my little guy's big, brown eyes....

Linking up with The Paper Mama's Photo Challenge... this week: Eyes!

two boats...

Linking up with Live Every Moment's Photo Challenge...

This week's theme: AQUA!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WOOHOO! Top Three Winner! :)

embracing our time together...

 My very long and LuCkY  7 whole months of time at home with my baby is quickly coming to a close...

I try not to think about it.... and remind myself that I'll only be working three days! Can't beat that! (Well, you can by being home all the time, but in my situation... you truly can't beat that!)

So when we were playing I busted out the camera... and the kid is so trained that he smiles when he sees it. Haha!  It's hard to get a picture of him far away, because he scoots right to it as soon as I pull it out.

my little van gogh...

As an elementary art teacher... I feel like I waited too long to introduce B to painting (just kidding!). I have been so excited to paint with Bryce since I knew I was pregnant... obviously I love doing art with kiddos. I figured almost 6 months is plenty old enough to start! :)

My original thought was to squirt some paint on a canvas, lay it out on a sheet in the yard, and let him to go to town, full body painting. BUT, we have a wild deer who has decided to use our yard as his home... very cool if you like watching a deer, very un-cool if you want to spend some relaxing time in your yard. He's nice... but annoying, and I didn't want deer hooves in the painting, or on my baby. ;) 

Anyhoo... I figured it was better to start out small anyways, let B get the feel for the paint and see how he reacted. So I raided my art tubs and found some paint...

strapped B in his high chair, and started with yellow...

"Am I really allowed to be doing this???"

then we added some red and blue. My job was to stand by and make sure nothing went in his mouth. Which it didn't... he's a pro.

think he's having fun?? i think so.... 

He painted one-handed... and of course, he had to test it on the tray. Worked just fine there too!

Bryce made three paintings! Definitely going to have to frame one... and maybe display one in my classroom? The kids'll love it. :)

 All done and all clean!!! :) Successful day of painting. Coming soon... body painting in the yard! Can't wait!

cuddlin' with momma...

happy 1/2 birthday, B...

 So, yeah, I'm a dork.

I thought it would be fun to celebrate his 6 month birthday (and yes, the fact that Laine and I made it 6 whole months without doing anything too horribly wrong to our sweet little baby!)




So, I made this fun little "invite" for daddy and some decorations...

Aren't I so clever to only use half of each letter on his birthday banner...
And these crazy balls of fun (can't decide what to call them!) are so awesome! I had seen directions a long time ago on someone's awesome blog (and I wish I'd have bookmarked it so I could give them some credit....). But here are some directions for you.... buy a styrofoam ball and some cupcake wrappers.... hot glue them to the ball = seriously cool decorations! I can't wait to make more for his real birthday party!

Mom and Dad got to eat some homemade ice cream sandwiches (made with chocolate cake and ice cream) for B's birthday.... B got to eat his first bites of oatmeal. I know, we're so mean. (For giving him oatmeal instead of ice cream... not for making him wear the silly hat! Come on, the hat's cute!)

bottom right... he's helping me with the spoon... is he the smartest or what? ;)

He ate a few bites really well... and then we got this! Hahaha! We'll keep working on it... 

Happy, happy halfie, B-man! Love you!!! :)