Munchkin in Motion

It's becoming increasingly more challenging to catch photos of this little mover and shaker since she's always on the run. She's fast. She's busy. She's motivated.

I'm just super thankful for an awesome camera that let's me catch her on the run.

Oh, and thank you, Grandma, for her pretty little flouncy dress.

When Daddy comes home...

When Daddy comes home - it's Happy Hour in our house!  I'm not sure who is most excited.  Daddy? Gianna?  Max? or Mommy? (Most days, I'd have to vote: Mommy.) 

Sometimes, Daddy finds us on the floor when he gets home and he comes down to join us.

On this day, Gianna was super excited to play with her Daddy.  He's the best playground around.

The Approach

The Mount

The Lean

The Hug

The Adoration

(both ways)

I sure love those two.

From a Picnic to Picnik

I just discovered Picnik as I was perusing through some photography blogs this morning.  It's a photo-editing site that you can play around with for free.  Apparently they also have an upgraded service that has a fee, but you can do a whole lot with the free version.

I posted this picture of Gianna yesterday at our Picnic in the Park:

Then I tinkered around in Picnik for two minutes - tops - not sure exactly what I was doing.

Here's the same picture.  Much warmer and crisper.

As much as I appreciate Photoshop Elements which is what I use most often, this is SO much simpler and with great results.  You don't have to download anything or even register.
Go play around with Picnik and post before and afters.
Nothin' like a good Picnik!

Picture Perfect Picnic in the Park

I have such an affection for alliteration.

We took our sweet friend, Jessie, to the park for a picnic lunch and visit.

 Jessie is the one who wrote Gianna's Song for her birthday and whose dollhouse we are privileged to be borrowing.

As much as she enjoyed climbing around the playground equipment....

and discovering all sorts of cool nooks and crannies,

...and cruising down the slide with Jessie -

and as much as she LOVES "wee-ing" on the swing...

It seems like the simpler things caught her fancy.

Like hugging a tree.

And collecting pinecones while snacking on acorns (or trying to.)

And what gave her the most pleasure....

Was roaming free...wherever she wanted,

as fast as she could.

Simply sublime.

Sweet Sixteen

Sixteen MONTHS, that is.

We are really leaving babyhood behind.  Thank heavens for her full little cheeks (I hope they never go away) that remind me of the little baby that's somewhere in that busy toddler body.

Not long ago I wrote about why I choose to blog.  One of the things I didn't mention was just how helpful it has been in my digital scrapbooking - especially these little monthly stats and updates that I create on Scrapblog.   It helps that she was born on the first of the month - so I can begin each month's pictures with updates like the one above.

I am still working on completing the books from her first year - there were A LOT of pictures to edit and weed through.  (I know - you're shocked, right?)  I figured I'd create an 8x8 hard cover book for three months at a time.  My goal is to be relatively caught up by the end of the year. (We'll see how that goes.)

Here's my first book I completed for Gianna's first 3 months.  The layouts are a little busier than I'd prefer, but I figure that's pretty indicitve of that first year.

Click here to view this photo book larger

I'll post the rest of the books here and there.