Work In Progress.

One of the things I love about doing digital pages is the sheer flexibility of digital templates. This template has room for 17 photos & allows me to include both close ups of Evan, his trains, and his cute little finger & toes. This template can be found at Designer Digitals.

The green spaces are areas that need to be filled with photos, journaling, or patterned paper.

I have been busy this evening sorting & organizing 1000+ photos that have been sitting in my office for the last five

months, waiting to be put into storage binders & eventually scrapbooked. It is a tedious process, but seeing Evan at

different stages over the last three years is fun. I haven't had any of Jack photos printed, which is now on my to-do list

for the upcoming week. I am really hoping to get some of his infant/newborn photos scrapped and put in his all too

empty album. I have a couple digital pages and one paper layout in there, but that's it! Considering Evan has almost

three full albums, with each album housing 40-60 pages, I really need to get moving on Jack's books.

Mark, Evan, Jack, & I will be attending Evan's pre-school open house tomorrow morning. Evan will get to meet some of his classmates & get to know his teacher a bit more. I am excited & anxious about Evan's first day on Monday. I am

anticipating many tears... most of them mine! But it will be good for both of us, I just need to get through the first few days and we should be fine. I hope :-)

I hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful weather & the last few weeks of summer. But I have to say, I am looking forward to fall & the changing leaves & Halloween & pumpkin pie. I am anxious to start planning our move & relocating 24 years of my life to a completely foreign state. Our life in Pullman has been some what of a fantasy... no crime, no traffic... having a husband who is a student and part-time employee for a local company & running into someone we know every time we go to the grocery store. Pullman is a mesh of a small town farming community with the benefits of an educated suburban town. We are absolutely going to miss being here, but we always knew it would be temporary. It's almost like we've been waiting for lives to really begin... to transition from college student to adult. Our kids of course helped shove us into adulthood, but having a "real job" will also solidify that role for both Mark & me.

I just hope we are both ready for reality. We have 16 weeks to figure it out!

Tomorrow I will post some more photos of the boys & a new project I'm working on. Peace.

Photo Session #2

My parents were kind enough to bring my camera charger with them on Friday, so I took more photos of Jack in front of the black velvet I have on hand. He sure is an easy baby to photograph! I love his cute smile & goofy expressions. Evan was a wee bit jealous of Jack & the attention he was receiving, so he got in on a few photos as well. I love, love, love how they turned out:

They two boys have a matching head tilt :-)

I intend to add a frame & possibly some brushes to these photos to display them in my home, but I wanted to get them

on my blog for my parents and our family to see. I have to say I am awfully proud!

We have started introducing oatmeal cereal to Jack, and he is undecided if he likes it or not. Most of the time we get a

half scowl/half "this is really yucky!" face from him:

Tomorrow is going to another beautiful day here & we have plans to walk the Chipman Trail & do a little grocery

shopping before heading to the park. I love spending time with my munchkins :-)

Jack @ 3.5 months

I haven't been updating because of doctor's appointments & family in town. Thank you mom & dad for spending the weekend with us!

I wanted to post a conversation I had with Evan at our physician's office on Friday:

(Evan needed to go potty & insisted on doing it completely by himself... he even shut the door and left me in the hallway).

Me (talking through the door): "Evan, how are you doing?"

Evan: "I going pee!!!"

Me: "Are you okay?"

Evan: "I all done!!!!"

Me: "Wash your hands!"

Evan:"I. TOO. SMALL!!!!!"

I walked in and he is reaching over the counter, too short to turn the handles on the faucet. I think the entire clinic heard our conversation... but I love how Evan's vocabulary & comprehension has improved dramatically over the summer. I think I have my parents and sister to thank for that!

I will post more later tonight or tomorrow.

-E

JS Tutorials & a layout (or two!)

I'm writing this in a sleep-deprived fog, so forgive me if I have a typo or something that just doesn't make any sense. Jack has been sleeping with us in the morning, usually from 3 or 4am until we get up, but I have decided to have him start sleeping on his own. He disagrees with my decision. Loudly. At three and five am this morning, especially. So... I'm really, really tired & trying to find low-key things for us to do today that don't require much movement on my part. Add to that some insane insomnia and my brain is a little scrambled!

But.. I'll get through it & the boys are in good moods this morning, which makes last night (almost) forgettable.

I am working through Jessica Sprague's "Up & Running with Photoshop" & I have a layout to share:

And last night I worked on a couple more free tutorials on her website. The first photo we converted to sepia. I have done this before, but this technique was using a different function in PSE:

Here is the same photo, but converted to black + white:

And this photo we created a "dreamy" look:

Jack is looking a little sleepy & Evan wants to play cars with me, so I better run. Have a restful Wednesday.

Jessica Sprague Tutorial

Tonight I decided to take a break from my Jessica Sprague class & try out one of her free tutorials. I started with the first one listed: Add a Grungy Edge to a Photo.

I used one of my favorite photos of Evan to create my grungy frame:

We have four appointments this week, with number two tomorrow morning. Evan has a check-up with his Pediatric

Cardiologist in Moscow for his annual ECG & ultrasound. Last year he was very uncooperative with the nurse who was

trying to do the ECG, so this year I have been talking about the procedure for days. I even made chex muddy buddies as

a bribe! It will be so much less stressful if he lets them do the procedures without a fuss.

We had Jack weighed & measured today. He is tipping the scales at 18.5 pounds and is 26.5 inches long! He is above

the 95th percentile in both categories.

I will post some photos & layouts tomorrow or Wednesday.

Have a wonderful Tuesday :-)

Bonus Assignment No. 2

The second lesson of Jessica Sprague's "Up & Running with Photoshop" class included a bonus lesson with a couple of free downloads. Our assignment was to complete a page using the white paper included & a brush. Here is my take:

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A few notes about today:

• Mark, Roy, Evan, Jack, & I took a trip to the Moscow Farmer's Market today & picked up the best corn-on-the-cob I have ever had.
• Mark spent the afternoon cleaning & organizing his office. It looks so much better already! Next week I need to tackle my office as well. I haven't done anything in there in months & I want to put together a few layouts & cards in the next few weeks.
• Evan loves the photos I took at the beach & asked tonight to see them on my "puter." I showed him the layout I created and he asked to touch it, so I need to send it to the printer soon! He truly loved our vacation to Rockaway, and I cannot wait to take him back. Thank you mom & dad for making our vacation possible and making Evan so very happy.
• Jack is growing & changing everyday. Right now he loves to sit in his swing & play with his butterfly. He also likes to be talked to & he gives the biggest grin when someone smiles or laughs at him.

That's it for us... we are just doing our thing, trying to spend as much time together as possible before school starts. Plus we have to be thinking about our impending move & making that transition as stress-free as possible, for us & the kids. Any advice on moving across the country with two young kids would be appreciated!

Have a blessed Sunday, friends.