Welcome Home Joe!

My younger brother Joe is back. He has been serving in the Navy for 5 years, the last 3 of those years in Hawaii. Needless to say we were all very thankful to have him return home on Thanksgiving morning. We had the best Thanksgiving in years. It was very relaxed and peaceful, and most of that feeling was just knowing that Joe was home for good. I know it was hard for him to say goodbye to paradise but I know he'd rather be here with his family. Carsyn is Joe's #1 fan. She held on to Joe for a long time when he arrived at our house. He had to put her down after a while but she would have stayed wrapped around Uncle Joe all day. Can you see the joy in her face? I had to post this picture. It says it all. It was the best Thanksgiving. It would have been totally complete if a few missing people had been there, but I can't complain. We have Joe back.

I also love this picture of my Cindy and Carsyn. Joe was in the picture but I figured only half of a face is a little wierd so I cropped him out. Can you see the joy?

My sister made these for Thanksgiving. I wanted to post them so I would remember them for future Thanksgivings. Aren't they adorbale? They are marshmellows on a cookie, covered with chocolate and decorated with yellow icing.

Thank you Angie!

Thank you for all of your editing tips. I am having a blast playing with photoshop! Here are the results of your teachings.

i love how carsyn is swinging her arm here. she is so happy to be shooting hoops with her KK. i also love the way the black and white turned out.

her glasses are so cute...i love this girl.

this picture turned out how I wanted it. i was trying to acheive the sharp contrast that I see on other photographer's blogs. a little more practice and i might just get it! they are so cute together....don't tell Braedan.

this picture turned out kind of blurry so i was happy to receive your tips because i feel like they distract you from the outer blur of the picture.

this one reminds me of savannah in the 80's movie savannah smiles. i LOVE it!

lately

*this post is for me. I need to record some things that have been happening lately, and some cute things the kids have said. If I don't write this down, I'll forget it ever happened. I do not expect anyone to read all of this, just scroll down to the italicized paragraph for a priceless Jack story.

Some tid-bits of what has been happening in our lives:

1. Kaitlin is playing basketball for the 1st time for her school's 4th grade team. Eric is the head coach. I am very excited about this because it will be good for them to have this in common. Some father -daughter bonding if you will.

2. Kaitlin got a lead in her school play. She is really excited about it. This will be a little test for her. She is a singer for sure, but she is going to quickly find out if acting is something she enjoys and wants to pursue as well. Some of her friends are actors in the local theatre and she has been bitten by the bug!

3. Jack has decided to turn into the sweetest little boy. He has been an absolute doll of late. Far cry from the little monster I once knew. Of course, even when he was a monster, I thought he was precious, but that is most definitely a mother's love in action. He has also adopted a very theatrical little persona. He is even sarcastic at times. He learns from is aunt C.C.

My favorite recent Jack moment was last week. Kaitlin has dance on Wednesday nights so we usually grab a pizza at a little Italian joint next door. We were eating dinner and Jack spilled something on himself (shocker) and Eric's little temper was ignited. He got frustrated with Jack and started rambling on about how he always spills everything. Jack took everything in that Eric said...... and after a long pause he said (with a very sarcastic little grin)....."Daddy, your pretty." We all 3 bust out laughing. I thought that was the work of a genius if you ask me. That comment was Jack's very manipulative way of letting Eric know that he was not listening to a word he was saying.

He's also very complimentary lately. Today we were driving to Nana's house to pick up Kaitlin and he asked me if he could go inside for just a little bit. I said no because Nana had to work and I was ready to get home. He would usually start whining and crying but he apparently has learned that it gets him nowhere, so he didn't. His sweet explanation as to why he should go inside and pay for a little was so heartfelt that I was sold. I said okay, and he started cheering. A few minutes went by and he said "mommy, you are very sweet to let me go play at Nana's. That is really (pronounced weewee) nice of you. I am so excited!" I was pleased with his joy, but mostly that he called me "sweet". I could just eat him he is so yummy!

One last thing about little man....his favorite show is John & Kate +8. He asks to watch it all the time. He told me he wished he could live with them. I told him I wouldn't mind living with them either! I learn a lot from Kate's parenting skills.

4. The economy is really bad, and we have been hit directly because Eric is a mortgage banker in an economy that is basically being blamed for the mortgage industries' predatory lending. But no matter how hard our financial state is right now, I feel eternally grateful that my family is healthy and my marriage is solid. I've been on the opposite end of the spectrum and I know from experience that money doesn't buy happiness. The year we had the most money ever was one of the worst years of my life. I now know that as long as I have faith, a happy marriage, and a healthy, happy family.....I have it all. I just wanted to write that down so I would never forget how I feel right now.

5. I am really happy. Life is good. It's stressful and busy, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Or maybe I am just on a week break from school. I don't know, who cares!

That's it for now.

Extreme Blog Makeover

In honor of 'keepin up with the Jones', I just had to think of a cute blog name to really and truly fit in to the blog world. I finally thought of one that is catchy and fit my family. I've been trying to come up with one since I started this darn thing but never could think of anything fitting.

I was thinking of how much I love my family on the way to Home Depot today and then all of the sudden a song popped into my head by Anna Nalick called Digamae (sp?) that says 'forever love' in the chorus. As I was singing it to myself, this alterted version of forever popped into my head and BAM....just when I had given up, I had a blog name! With a new name must come a new look, hence the black and white makeover.

Can I tell you how much fun it was to change this page? I love decorating my house but have put that on hold for a year due to limited finances, so this was me getting my decorating fix. I am not really thrilled about the title stamped on Eric and I's foreheads, but I am tired of this blog for now so it will have to do.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I have come to the conclusion that in another hundred years we will celebrate christmas year round. Every year the decor comes out earlier and its out of control! People have already decorated their houses on my street and the music is playing in stores and it's not even THANKSGIVING! I love the holiday season, but enough is enough. Let us get through thanksgiving so we still like Christmas music by Christmas morning! There are two houses on my street next door to each other, one with a pumpkin on the porch , and one with a statue of Santa Clause. Oh my!

On another topic, it's also the time of year we all attempt to get a family picture for Christmas cards. It's always a trip to watch the process from a distance. Couples yelling at each other, kids running away and crying, the photographer taking deep breaths and sweating bullets. It's hysterical to watch. My sister and I decided to do this honor for each other this year. The pictures actually turned out pretty decent. I still can't decide which one I like the best. Here are the favorites. I'll post more of the rest of the family later mom! The ones of The Vaughns are 'slim pickens' thanks to Carsyn and her tantrums...gotta love it! I am going to have to photoshop her red face from her crying. :)

the good ones

Which of the family ones do you like best?

To all my photography loving friends...

Last night I made a bold and brave desision. I was going to read the instruction manual for my camera. I was tired of taking pictures with a very expensive camera and feeling like my pictures looked like they were taken with a throw away. Every time I have tried to read the manual in the past I have been overwhelmed with all the information and closed the book in hopes that just keeping it on "auto" and photoshopping every picture would satisfy me. Then I came to the realization that I do not have the time to photoshop every picture so it was time to learn how to use my camera.

After three hours, and pages of notes, detailing every single setting and its options and possibilites, I finally know how to work my camera. I learned all about aperature, ISO sensitivty, shutter speed, white balance, P,S,A, and M modes, and much much more. I was able to figure out that all this time, my camera has been set on the LOWEST quality in each and every one of these settings. I even learned that you can customize the quality settings and choose your own levels of brightness, tone compensation, satuation, sharpness, and vivedness, to name a few (which I am still playing with). This is what I usually spend 30 minutes fixing in phototshop every time I post a picture.

There are options and terms I have not fully investigated but atleast I know have a properly functioning camera. My ISO sensitivy was set on 100, which is the setting it comes set on, but for true clarity it should be on HI 1 (3200). That may not make any sense to you, but the pictures below should drive my point home. There is nothing wrong with my camera. I just didn't know how to use it! I took these pictures of my neice today to practice with 4 of the settings on their new settings/speeds. I was so overjoyed with the results that I was jumping up and down in my yard! What I use to spend 30 minutes doing in photshop is now pre-set in my camera!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The pictures in the next post are completely UNTOUCHED using the P,A, and auto modes. They came straight from my camera. All it took was 3 or so hours with the manual and BAM! The quality is SO much better and now my photshop options are unlimited. I can't wait to have more time to play and learn!

If you have a Nikon D40, D40X, or D90, I will be happy to explain how to set all of your functions/settings at their highest levels to produce to clearest pictures possible for your camera (depending on the lens). Or maybe I am the last to figure this out! If you saw what my orignal pictures looked like before without photoshop, you would not believe I owned an expensive camera.

YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

what a difference

These were taken on 4 different settings (you can see the difference). I changed the clarity and tone compensation to see which tone I liked better. The 2nd picture is great. but this last picture is my favorite (taken in P mode). Can you believe these are untouched? Those of you who also use photoshop understand what I mean. I can't wait to play in photoshop now with higher quality pictures. I'm just giddy, can you tell?

Halloween- to like, or not to like.

(read this till' the end if you want to know the meaning of this picture)

Halloween is fun, and I normally love it because I just love this whole season, but the older I get, the more wrong I realize this holiday is. Think about it....allowing your children to recieve candy from strangers? Dressing up is scary costumes? Celebrating the dead? It's wierd that we ever thought this was a good idea, and that so many of us participate without really questioning its oringin. And the candy....oh the candy! The candy we all hide from our kids within minutes of bringing it home after we find them hiding behind the couch shoving mass quantities of it down their little throats! Don't get me started on candy.

Without verbally expressing my recent disdain for this holiday to my kids, at the risk of ruining their innocent childhood memories, I must say that my wise little Jack has somehow realized the strangeness of it all without me having to point it out. He has never been one for this holiday. He doesn't dress up because he thinks it's "dumb". I stopped trying to encourage his participation last year because I realized that he is right. It is a strange holiday, and I like that he thinks it's dumb. No harm...I support his desision, and I think it's great. This year a family member did convince him to wear a skeleton zip up jacket. That was big.

Kaitlin, on the other hand, has always liked it. She loves picking out her costume and posing for the camera. She doesn't hide in her closet and sneak-a-treat. She understands moderation, and cavities. But she loves it, so I support that too. I have a distinct feeling that this was our last year trick-or-treating as a family though. She is at the age where she wants to be with her friends.

Regardless of our differences in opinions, we all get together annually and eat homemade chili and enjoy this bizarre occasion as a family. It's always a treat, and at the very least, we build memories.

This year, the biggest treat for me was this picture of me and my man. We rarely take a photo together that we both like. He almost never smiles in pictures (its a football player thing), and because of this, I would rather not take pictures with him because he looks so unhappy. You can see how happy we are in this one. And for those of you who have been around for years and know what we have been through, you know what a blessing this happiness is.

little miss gangsta girl

i had fun in photshop today. i have spent 2 hours trying to play and learn. i learned, i played, and i want more!!! if you saw the before pictures, you would want photoshop too (if you don't already have it). i think i nailed it in the third picture. that is the look i was trying to acheive with the others. i am by no means where i want to be photography-wise, but i am getting there, slowly. i just wish i had more time to do the things that i love. being a grown up really bites sometimes! i just want to play!! now, i want a new lens. it's the ONLY thing i want for christmas. it won't happen because we have been hurt badly by this economy, but i can dream right?

mr. stinkerpants

the boy who thinks dressing up is dumb

hiking on a sunday

we typically do not spend our sunday's frolicking in the woods, but jack begged, and we caved, and it was really nice. the weather was beautiful and the hiking trails in our neighborhood are even more beautiful, and we needed the exersise, and i enjoyed the photo-op.

i am still annoyed with my way too expensive camera. i do not feel it is taking quality pictures. i can't figure out how to check/change the shutter speed. maybe it's the lens, or maybe i just don't know how to use the camera as well as i thought, but i compare the clarity of my pictures to others with the SAME camera and i feel i there is a problem. i refuse to believe it's my skills. maybe that's the problem.

back to hiking. jack loved every minute of it. he loved poking and hitting stuff with his hiking stick and he loved the time with mom and dad and no sister. (they always love the one-on-one don't they?) i wish i could spend every sunday doing stuff like that. i guess i could make more time for it, right?

ONE MORE DAY and it's HALLOWEEN! I love Halloween. :)

OMG....STILL in technology class

still having fun in technology class

having some fun in technology class

Old McDonald Part 2

Jack...always hitching a ride

This cow hated me.....he moooooo'ed at me angrily the whole time

Wheeeeee! I put this picture (above) thru photshop and I like the non-photoshopped picture better (below). I guess sometimes I should just leave my pictures alone.

Such fun, that bouncy thing. This is a framer. They both are..... too cool to put in an album.

Crouching Tiger, floating Jack

Old McDonald

Jack making me carry him through the maze because his "wegs huwt"

don't cha love it?

racing for their chocolate milk!

Boo with his beloved pumpkin

KK- worrying about something

We went to Cagle's Dairy Farm yesterday. We had yet to do the Corn Maze/Farm tour thing and Eric has been asking us to do it for years. I wasn't sure what to expect but ended up having a surprisingly good time. I highly suggest it to anyone in the Woodstock/Canton area. You get your money's worth for sure! The whole thing was a 4 hour process. We did they hay ride through the farm, we watched a baby pig race (nothing cuter), jumped on a bouncy thing, walked through a corn maze, and watched a man with a crazy mustache milk a cow. So this all may not sound fun, but it was. Jack loved every minute of it, especially the hay ride. And Kaitlin got a kick out of the little Wilbers racing for chocolate milk. It was a very "fall" day and it got me in the mood for the season. Not to mention a fantastic opportunity to use my camera. I made it a point not to be the paparazzi and actually enjoy the time with my family, but I did have to take a few.



I just LOVE the fall.

Kaitlin's song

"Stay Beautiful"

I remember that time

when you looked me in the eyes

and you said to me

stay beautiful

I remember that time

when you walked past me

and I said to myself

I'm beautiful

oh.....I'm beautiful

oh........your beautiful

yes you are

I'm beautiful

baby.......stay beautiful

This is a song Kaitlin wrote and shared with me. She is a little song writer isn't she? She comes to me all the time and shows me songs she writes. She's written about 10 so far, and she can't find most of them! I'm making her start a notebook so they are all in the same place so she doesn't lose them. She sings them to me, and it makes me want to cry. She really blows me away with her talent. She's got the chorus thing down pat. I wouldn't at all be surprised if she ended up being a singer/songwriter for a living someday. This is her life. Next step.....guitar lessons. I'm not letting her waste her talent on me in the living room. This girl needs a stage!

Pics of the Week

Jack at the ballpark

Liam, my 'nephew by friendship' on his 1st birthday

Carsyn and Jack decided to play "wedding". They came downstairs and ask me to come up and look at their "wedding table". Notice the flowers, the white towel table cloth, and the baby on the table (apparently they think it is normal to have a baby AT their wedding, I can't imagine where they would get that idea!). Jack even helped her button her wedding dress (below). They had the best time pretending to get married, and of course Carsyn knew all the details of putting on a wedding and had loads of fun bossing Jack around on their wedding day. My favorite part of the event was when Jack came back downstairs and asked me to put on his 'wedding shirt" OVER his waaaaaay to small spider man pajamas. I asked him if he wanted to find some wedding pants to match but he seemed quite confident in his spidey gear. I explained that they are cousins and they can not really get married ( I couldn;t help myself) and they reassured me that they were just pretending. I did not feel like putting these pics through photoshop so I didn't, but they have a great story behind them. I love listening to these 2 play.

Kaitlin has been party hopping all weekend so I did not get any pics of her. She feels she has met her modeling quota for the year and seems to want me to leave her out of my photshoots lately. Stinker!

Oops....he did it again!

Last night we had another "Jack Stark...clean car freakout".....I must share.

As my friend Lindsey was leaving my house with her daughter Sklyar, Jack plowed through both of them to get to the car first. I ran after him, not knowing why he was running towards the car when he was clearly not going home with them, and he just kept saying, "I have to see something. I have to see something!" As he was opening the door I said to him, "what are you doing? They have to leave! What do you have to see?" And he says, and I guote, "I just want to see if her car is clean!" He popped his little red head into the back seat and said, "yep, it's clean." After laughing for a few seconds (with secret concern) I said, "Jack, do you need me to clean out my car again?" He said "no, you don't need to. I like it the way it is." And he walked inside.

What? That was not a good enough answer for me. I followed him inside after more laughter and saying bye to Lindsey, and asked him again. "Jack, Are you mad that my car is so messy all the time? Why do you always want to see if people's cars are clean?" And he said, "I like clean cars" (actually, it was more like "I wike cwean caws"...he still can't say his r's...just like his daddy). I then offered to clean my car out again and he said, "no, you don't need to cwean it out, it's fine."

That was that, I let it go. But after thinking about it, it made me laugh with sweetness. He has totally accepted that my car is messy and is totally fine with it, he just needs to look at a clean car every now and then, just to look. Either that, or I may need to get him so counseling!

Happy 7 year Anniversary Eric!

I won't do the whole public love fest thing on here. Just wanted everyone to know it's our anniversary so you would send cards with money in it. We will accept belated wishes too! (Don't forget the gift cards and/or money). Happy Anniversary to us!