Reno Air Races; Fly Low Fly Fast Turn Left

It is just us and the planes.

Three days.

No kids.

No responsibilities.

Sounds fun, huh?!?!

i ♥ faces- Contemplative

Fix It Friday #28

Todays fix-it baby is adorable.

original photo

my edit

What do you think?

Here is how I did it:

Lightened up the photo using levels

Sharpened

Popped the eyes

Added some extra sharpening on the eyes

Cleaned up the face with the spot healing brush

Used a warming filter on 50% opacity

and

Cropped

To see some more amazing fixes, visit i ♥ faces.

Okay, so I can't stop! I am waiting for my hubby to get home and I just couldn't pass up the chance to do another fix. This one has more of a pop of color, which I usually love. But this time I think I prefer the softer look.

Collin Goes To Pre-School!

It was a big week for Collin. He started pre-school. This event is one that I have been having mixed emotions about. So excited for him because I know he is going to love it, a little sad for myself that my baby boy is starting school (even if it is just pre-school), and nervous that he will be sad and cry when I have to leave him.

We have talked about it for months now. We have talked about all of the fun things he will get to do at school, about how nice his teacher is going to be, about how his best friend Olivia is going to be in his class, and about how mom can't stay with him during school. He has been looking forward to the idea, but as it got closer I could sense that he was a little nervous.

I took him to a pre-school open house to meet his teacher and see his classroom the day before. He was quiet and not too sure what to do. I showed him where his cubby was, where he would hang up his backpack etc. and encouraged him to play with the toys for a few minutes. At times he got excited about a few classroom items but for the most part he was quiet and reserved . . . nervous.

The morning came and he was ready. Ready to leave the moment his clothes were on. After dropping Sophie off at her school we headed to his. As we pulled up he shouted "There's MY school!" in such an excited voice. We got out of the car, put his backpack on, and headed inside. I knew he was going to do just fine when I asked him if he wanted to hold my hand and he said "NO!" He walked right in hung up his backpack and started his morning routine that he had seen his sister do the 2 previous years. He was a pro. I kissed him goodbye and left. That was it. It was that easy. He never asked me to stay . . . not even for a little bit. There were no tears. I couldn't believe it.

When I picked him up he had had a great first day. He LOVED it. Just like I knew he would. He was ready. Welcome to school bud!

i ♥ faces- Back to School

The photo in this weeks photo entry isn't a new one . . . the theme is "Back to School" and I wrote about Sophie's first day of Kindergarten here.

But it was a big day and I couldn't pass up the chance to enter the contest at i ♥ faces this week. I took a million pictures but out of all of them this one is my favorite. I love her excitement.

My little boy starts school this week and I am excited to get some great shots of him on his first day. I can't believe he is starting school.

Fix It Friday #27

The photo today for fix-it friday is of a cute little guy. . . with the cutest cheeks. See for yourself!

original photo

my edit

I followed the instructions on Pioneer Woman Photography on how to reproduce a PW Action in PSE. Because I still cannot figure out how to install any actions and I have now completely given up. It is probably better for me to learn how without them anyway. Sigh. But the action I reproduced is called "Fresh and Colorful." I really like the color pop it gave the photo. Then I used the dodge tool to lighten around the eye area, popped the eyes, cropped and sharpened the photo. I love the way it turned out, but really it was a great photo to begin with.

I am loving all that I am learning about editing photos. It is always fun to see the "before and after" of each photo.

growing

Ruby Jane is growing. Like a weed. I know I always say this but well, she is.

Nine months old and performing new tricks. Tricks that are so fun to watch. She is crawling. Yup, crawling. She started two weeks ago. It has evolved from an adorable little butt hop to a full on crawl. She is getting good. And fast. Well not really, but a lot faster than she was. And it makes her soOoo happy. Grandpa describes it as "just getting her drivers license!" I would agree.

And cheerios. She is eating cheerios. She is starting to eat table food. She has been a gager and a choker, but I think she is getting the hang of it. And loves it. I am excited about this one. Excited that soon I may not feel the need to dress myself in a full body suite when I feed her in order to avoid the spray of baby food that comes out of her mouth every time I feed her. Ya, that will be nice.

Ruby had her 9 month doctor visit. Not her favorite visit so far. Let's just say there were tears. A lot of tears, topped off with a prescription for amoxicillin. Poor girl had a double ear infection and I had no clue. That is how good she is.

We love you Ruby. You are getting soOoo big.

A while ago my sister told me that I needed to put myself and Logan into my pictures more because my kids won't want only pictures of themselves with invisible parents. They will want to know what their parents were doing and how they looked back in the day. I listened to her advise, but didn't really heed it. Then today I read a post about just what my sister had mentioned to me. It really got me thinking. I thought about how I wanted my children to remember the things we did together and I decided that I would take that challenge upon me and try to put myself into my pictures more. And I learned that there are some fun ways to go about it - more that just handing your camera to someone else, although that is good too. So here is my first attempt at putting myself into my pictures. I like it. It's fun!