I have had several people wondering how I do my photo layouts recently. So I figured that I should just let you all know. The reason behind it is because I ran out of memory space for pics on here and had to buy more space. Now I just put up more pictures in one, if that makes any sense to you.
I have downloaded a free photo editor from online called Photo Scape (and I LOVE it), not only can I edit all my photos but you can make these cool picture pages. You can add frames and edges to everything and it does so much more. It only took me a little bit to figure it out, so anyone how is not tech savvy (like me) will figure it out pretty quickly.
I can do cool stuff like this!
I also know from a friend of mine that you can use Picasa Web Albums to make picture pages and add text as well. Along with Paint which is where I have made some as well, but they are much more time consuming and tedious.
I hope this helps you out and if not email me at LiLChrissy83@aol.com!
It may have been rainy and dreary outside last night, but Ike and Fallon's was bright and cheery. We headed over for dinner with my side dish in hand. Not to toot my own horn or anything but it was delish (toot), which for someone who does not do much cooking is a great honor. Fallon prepared an amazing meal of shrimp, grits, and sausage, yes my mouth is watering. Followed up with an amazing dessert by the Dessert Lady herself, Kelsey. Maybe I should plan a girls cooking night, so that I can learn from these pro's (since my loving husband has come out and said that I can't cook (I beg to differ))?
Ok enough about the food because it is making me super hungry and it's only 10am. Let's talk about our amazingly adorable Little's, who are growing like weeds. If you recall in an older post Brinkley and Olivia's first encounter didn't go so well. They would get within a foot of each other and start crying. Thankfully this has turned into the most adorable affection for each other. Last night we caught Olivia doling out hugs and kisses for Brinkly. I think little Coleson is feeling left out and may need another boy to even things up a bit.
So until next time here are some pics to show off our precious Little's!
Wow, I can't believe another weekend is over and we are now at the end of June. But we sure did kick off the last weekend in June with a bang, or a Fish Fry. Ben wanted to have some friends over to cook up all the goodies he caught crossing back into the US. Despite the weather it was a great evening, with kids running everywhere, catching up with the girls, and boys taking care of the cooking. I love entertaining and having my kitchen full of friends and good drinks. I just wish I could hire someone to do the dishes afterwards.
Saturday was a lovely lazy day followed by a special Sunday celebrating Leah Rose's baptism. It was a beautiful ceremony and two Little's who behaved very well. We took the party back to Mark and Jenny's to continue. As always it was gorgeous and every detail was flawless.
As a final stop to our weekend we had dinner with the Morse's in celebration of Dave and Darla's 28th wedding anniversary. We had a wonderful dinner and had such fun playing with Olivia.
I wanted to share a very funny story from this morning, I hope you laugh as much as I was.
Olivia and I were hanging out this morning while Ben was at a work function, just sitting on the floor in our bedroom when Olivia found my purse. She loves carrying it around pretending to be such a big girl. She took it into the bathroom and then back out and put it on the floor in front of me. I thought she was giving it back but no, instead she began to pull out each item. She tasted each one and then put them on the floor next to my purse, until she got to my car keys. At which point she stood up, looked me in the eyes, and waved saying bye-bye and walked out the bedroom door. I started laughing and she peeked her head back in and decided to walk back over to me. With my keys in her mouth she dug back into my purse pulling out my credit card. She looked at me, leaned over giving me a kiss, and said bye-bye and walked out the door again! Yes, that would be a girl after my own heart!
Oh I almost peed myself laughing at this. Oh I have taught her well and Daddy is in big trouble when she gets a but older.
This month marks the anniversary of when Ben and I met. Yes, it's been 10 long years that we have know each other and look how far we have come.
I can still remember sitting in the hot tub at the Long Boat Key Club with my sister and her friend chatting with this cute boy and his friend. The stories of that vacation are still told and laughed about because who knew that 2 families would meet and eventually be brought together this way.
New Semerna Beach
I will share 2 with you:
Embarassing first, I was playing in the surf with my sister and her friend, waving at Ben on the shore to come out with us. This was when a wave hit me from behind and broke the closure on my bathing suit top. Before I knew it my bathing suit top was around my wrist and I was ducking under the water as I scramed at Jamie to fix it! Thankfully nothing was seen, at least that he will admit to.
One night we (Ben, Butch, Jamie, Katie, and myself) decided to take a walk down the beach. As we were on the way back to the hotel the matchmakers took off running to leave Ben and I standing there. Let me remind you that they were all 15-17 years old and not very mature at the time. But if they wouldn't have done that we would not have had our very first kiss and one that makes for an amazing memory.
Olivia you have had such a busy month, since your birthday you have been on a constant run literally and figuratively. You went to Myrtle Beach, had a weekend at Gigi and Papa's house, and spent you first week out of the country in the Bahamas. I would say that you are pretty lucky.
You are certainly coming into a new stage one that is so much fun, each morning you wake with a huge smile and instantly are ready to attack the day. Your little mouth starts going and never stops until you fall asleep for the night. We have been lucky enough to teach you More in sign language and you also can say it. You have learned so many new words this month along with being able to say almost all of our family's names.
Names:
Gigi Jamie
Papa Julie
Nana D.J.
*We haven't gotten Uncle or Aunt down yet and you haven't figured out how to say Vicky. You won't say Oakley either.
Words:
Balloon Wawa More
Blanket Boat Snack
Duck Doggie
Book Please
Ball No (we don't like this one)
You have learned more about animals and now not only do you know and can show us what a doggie does, cows go Moo, crabs have pincher's, tiger's go Roar, and ducks go Quack, and birds go Chirp.
One of your biggest accomplishments this month was learning to kick your feet in the water, which you now do in the bath tub. After your bath the floor is flooded, but you think it's wonderful. You stand at the edge of the tub looking over at all the toys that you have joyously thrown over the side.
Like I said you love the water so since we got home from vacation Daddy has blown up the pool we got you for your birthday and you have just loved it. Minus the spray part, that you did not care for.
We are continuing the quest to get you to eat. You will gladly take your bottle and your appetite has grown which is good news for us. However you don't see to have much interest in eating your food. I am always looking for new ways to entice you to eat. You would rather eat what Daddy and I are having but you don''t have quite enough teeth for that yet. But you have eaten small pieces of bread, cheese, pasta, turkey, sweet potatoes, and avocado.
Since we have returned from vacation I hear "wawa" an aweful lot, and now she has found her sand toys. Maybe she just was confused since our sheets are the same color as the sand, but she sat in our bed for an hour playing with them.
The moment I had that little thought that I was pregnant with our little princess, I knew that you would be the most amazing father! Each day you prove me right, you are the most involved father, and you are not scared to do anything. I can't even imagine doing this by myself. I know that I don't show it nearly enough but all you do is appreciated beyond what words can express!
You make her laugh and all those smiles just melt my heart! You may not be here today but we celebrate you every day! We love you tons.
xoxo
Chrissy
Olivia worked very hard to make this beautiful book for her Daddy!
Also a BIG HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to my Daddy, my Grandfather's, and My Father-In-Law! You are all amazing. We love you so much and thank you for all you do.
We have returned!!! Our trip to Green Turtle Cay was amazing, great weather, great family, friends, and tons of WAWA! Which is one of the only words we heard out of Olivia's mouth the entire week. We were able to enjoy so much in the short time we were there, snorkeling, fishing, sun bathing, and crab hunting!
Olivia spent time each day on the beach and in the pool, loving every minute. Honestly I think that she had more fun then each one of us. She woke every morning, looked out the back window, pointing and said WAWA. OK more like screamed, I guess just to make sure that we heard her. By no later then 9 AM she managed to be down on the beach or in the hot tub on the back porch.
She has gill's I just have not found them yet.
The one day we went to a place called Nipper's we all had a great time but Olivia reached a big milestone. She learned how to kick her feet in the water. I was so excited for her and she used her new skill the rest of the week. (Since we have been home she tries to do it in the tub)
Kicking her feet at Nipper's!
We drove golf carts (our mode of transportation while on land) into town almost each day and that gave us a great view of the island. We saw the beautiful beaches, a random horse, and how we went crab hunting at night. You would think finding land crabs would be a lot easier, no so. But it made for good entertainment, that was our night life. If you made it that late, I did one night and Ben didn't get to go at all. After running after a 1 year old all day and waking up before the sun each morning, there wasn't much energy left for crab hunting.
It was a wonderful week and we made some amazing memories that we will never forget. We can't wait to go back one day.
I can't believe all the time that I put into planning Olivia's first birthday party and it's over. I miss it! Don't get me wrong, I do not miss all the late nights that I put in standing at the island in our kitchen cutting, gluing, and all together crafting. My back surely doesn't miss that! But I do wish that her birthday would have lasted longer so that I could enjoy all of my hard work just a little bit longer. I find myself looking through the pictures pretty often just to revisit the day.
As I was going through this whole process I started thinking about how I could possibly one day turn it into a business. Would people pay to have someone else do all the planning and work that comes with a kids birthday party? For that matter any one's birthday party. I guess I still have some thinking to do on that end, I would love to though. I really did enjoy the time. But the good thing is that I have already figured out the theme and colors for her 2nd birthday. Is it to early to start the decoration process? Maybe I should decorate now and leave them up for a whole year? Ha ha, OK enough!
Don't get me wrong I have plenty of things to keep me busy, since her birthday we have been gone every weekend. Our home has turned into a place we only visit. I have spent all this week doing laundry, packing, and cleaning in preparation for our Morse Family Vacation. This one is really needed, I just want to sit with my feet in the water.
Olivia and Oakley have always liked each other but never really bothered to much with the other one. Oakley has always been a skittish kind of dog, who ever had him before really must not have been nice. So all you have to do is lift your hand when he is around and he cowers and runs away. So needless to say having a baby in the house was never his cup of tea. Until lately!
Olivia giving Oakley kisses!
Olivia now tries to pet Oakley and sometimes he lets her, but she is very rough so he only takes so much of that kind of love. She feeds him from her highchair and anytime we give her a treat for him. She holds it in her hands to offer it to him, he will only take it if he won't touch her fingers.
They share toys and it's funny when Oakley doesn't want her to have one he will go over and take it from her. They have a love/hate relationship most of the times. But it melted our hearts when Olivia was saying good bye to me this morning, doling out kisses, and leaned to Oakley, and gave him a kiss on the nose.
Friday Ben and I met up with DJ and Vicky to head to Tallahassee for our family friend's Myles and Butchie! Even after 2 stops it only took us about 3 and a half hours which was pretty good time. The boys tried to play video games and Vicky and I had karaoke in the front.
We got there in time to pick up last minute items and drop off some things at the Rehearsal, before we had to get ready to head there for the party. It was beautiful on this little horse farm down a tree canopy road. Tallahassee is about the only place in Florida you will find generously rolling hills. The decorations were gorgeous and so were the people. Everyone came together to support 2 of our dear friends.
Rehersal Dinner Pictures
Saturday was a low key pool day and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. That is until about 4PM (the wedding was outside at 5:30) and as we were sitting around getting our hair done we could do nothing but pray that it would stop in time. I guess we were lucky it did rain because it brought the sweltering heat down to a comfortable temp with a nice breeze.
The boys dropped Vicky and I off to go park and we seeked cover. Luckily at about 5:20 the rain stopped and everyone quickly found their seats, anxious to give them enough time to have a beautiful ceremony sans the rain. The groomsmen and bridesmaids looked amazing, but the Bride and Groom were like cake toppers, PERFECT!
Wedding Day
It never rained again and the night went on as I am sure they imagined it would. We ate, we danced, we drank, and it was like the Bride and Groom, PERFECT.
Where was Olivia you ask? Well, she did not make the trip this time she stayed home with my parents for the weekend. She like us a good time away from Mommy and Daddy for 2 days. We missed her like crazy though and couldn't drive home fast enough to get there and hold her!
Olivia's new favorite thing to do, play in the tupperware cabinate! Something I used to do all the time.
I haven't even had time to breath this week, we have been running from one thing to another. We have been busily shopping to prepare for a very special wedding this weekend and our trip to the Bahamas next week. We squeezed in a dinner to celebrate Aunt Vicky and Uncle DJ's 10 year Anniversary on Wednesday night. It was a rare time when we were all together.
Thursday night we went to watch our God Daughter in her first school performance. She did great and her personality came right out on that stage. Other Little's were slightly shy, but Caitlin remembered her motions! We were so proud of her.
As we are about to get on the road to Tallahassee for Butch and Myles' wedding, I wish you all a wonderful weekend and promise to have lots of pics when I return Sunday.
