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.

Halloween Treats

Halloween '09 started off the day with a pancake breakfast. 

I had been wanting to try pumpkin pancakes (not pumpkin, the ingredient - but pumpkin, the color and shape.)

Well, let's just say they look a little more like peaches, than pumpkins.  The way I figure it, I've got another two years to sharpen my skills before my daughter will know any differentt....I knew I'd better start to practice now.

Even though we had a busy day planned, there were some special little goblins that I wanted to have treats for.  I totally swiped this idea, but they came out so cute.

We had a great big bowl of treats for our regular trick-or-treaters.  After about 45 minutes with just ONE kid at our door, we bagged up our candy and walked across to our neighbor's house on our side street dumping all our sweet treats into their stash.  The way our neighborhood is situated, our house tends to get skipped over and we were already whooped by the day's events, so we thought we'd pass the torch.  They were happy, we were happy, and  the kids were happy.  Ta-da!  Creative problem solving at it's best.

We also went and met our good friends at a local church who sponsored a Fall Fest that afternoon.  Holy Moly! It was such a delightful surprise.  Tons of stuff for kids of all ages...even the little bitties.  Our godchild, Nate - the fireman came too.

And Hunter, as a pretty doggone authentic Woody.

And sweet Marie, as the most precious Dorothy.

There were even pony rides and the most adorable petting zoo.

It was a good day.  And it wore us ALL out.  Thank heavens we got the chance "fall back" that night.

If you missed our Busiest Bee post, CLICK HERE

The Busiest Bee Ever

Well, in contemplating possible costumes for Gianna, we finally decided on the most fitting for her current stage of toddlerhood. 

A bee.

 A BUSY bee.

The Busiest Bee Ever.

I really didn't mind buying one of those precious cushy costumes, but since last Halloween was so stinking hot, I was afraid of over-dressing her - just in case. I also didn't want to spend a lot of money on a costume, so I decided to make it myself, and it  looked homemade. And my husband couldn't have been more thrilled that I took the time to do that.   

 I figured if I went all out and spent way too many hours and dollars in making a cosutme, I'd likely never try making one again.  And I really do enjoy it.

So, I figured I'd set the bar a little on the low side. 

 It really wasn't so bad, it's just that we had major antennae issues.

So, we just did without most of the day.

 Thankfully, she looks cute in whatever fashion hits and misses that we put her it.

Sorta hard to believe this was our busy bee a year ago:

For more Halloween Fun CLICK HERE!