For those of you who haven’t seen it yet, you can find Addie’s latest video here.
Happy Friday everyone!
July 7, 2009
We had a great Fourth– we spent the morning lounging around and enjoying a lazy day off, then we went to my parents’ house for dinner (with the missionaries, who seem to be over for every holiday or birthday celebration we ever have).
As soon as we got there, my dad and Jeremy went to buy (more) fireworks and they took the missionaries with them. Upon returning home, they went straight to the backyard and began “testing” a few.
After dinner, my mom and dad watched Addie while Jer, Madi and I escaped to the O’Fallon Heritage and Freedom Fest. Gavin DeGraw was playing a free concert there, and we were going just for that.
It had rained on and off all day, and unfortunately, after only 5 songs, Gavin was called off stage due to lightning. Shortly after, they closed the entire fairgrounds for the same reason. A little bummed out and A LOT wet, we went back to my parents’ house, where Addie was asleep and my dad was itching to shoot off more fireworks.
Jer and my dad got their punks and started shooting ‘em off! They kept going and going and going and going… we had dessert and lit up some sparklers… and they kept going and going and going… we ate some popsicles and burned the magic snakes in the driveway… and they kept going and going and going and going… until my mom was begging them to stop and the missionaries were falling asleep in their lawn chairs. So they called it quits, and there were still quite a few rockets left over for next year.
We finally got home at midnight and slept until 9 the next morning. Which, by the way, is exactly when church starts. 
July 6, 2009
I opened my e-mail today to the nicest surprise! A font in my very own handwriting! It’s called “Pea Ashwey” and I LOVE IT! And I got it for FREE! (That’s a whole paragraph with only exclamation points!)
I “sent away” for it about three weeks ago. Jer teased me a little and told me that my handwriting was too generic to be a font, but today it came!
You may be asking, “Ashley, how did you get your very own handwriting font for FREE?”
The answer is that I got it from Amanda over at kevinandamanda.com. I discovered her site only a few months ago, but I’m a huge fan! She has some super cute digital scrapbooking kits and she has HUNDREDS of (awesome) free fonts. I am a total font fiend, and her site feeds my habit. She makes FREE scrapbooking and handwriting fonts out of the sheer goodness of her heart and love of font-making. I really like her site (which has all sorts of goodies and ideas on it), and well, just her. I’d like to think that if I lived in Alabama, we could be good friends. 
Anyway, as you’ve already seen, I’ve used my font to create a new blog header as well as update my buttons in the sidebar. A total distraction from what I was supposed to doing, which was editing a new Addie video…
Font is such a funny word. Anyone want to know its origins? (I’m going link-happy in this post, apparently. Let me see what else I can link to…)
Oh, I almost forgot! Go here to find out how you can get your very own handwriting font. And if it gets made, please send it to me!
July 2, 2009
Hi, remember me?
Umm… No, sorry.
I used to live here. This is my place!
Really? You don’t seem familiar…
I haven’t been gone that long!
No one’s been here for, like, a month. I thought this place was abandoned, or condemned, or foreclosed, or something.
Well, it wasn’t, okay?! Get outta here, squatter!
Okay! Sorry! Sheesh…
Anyway, this place is mine and I’m back to reclaim it.
June was a CRAZY month for us, and here are the highlights:
Addison can pull to stand up on anything! This meant lowering the crib mattress, finally.
Addie also started crawling properly, and now she’s really fast! Her new favorite place in the house is the sunroom, where the windows are nice and low so she can see outside. She’s also a pretty good cruiser now, and she loves to walk along the long couch or the entertainment center.
We also celebrated Jeremy’s birthday, Fathers’ Day, and my mom’s birthday. (No pics of these, sorry.) Jeremy got to go golfing for his birthday and a tie (of course) for Fathers’ Day.
Last week, Addie had a visit from her great-grandma! Here they are reading on the couch:
Now, we’re looking forward to a fun July!
June 3, 2009
We got some new family photos taken! We had a great photographer, Cindy from Cindy Lee Photography. I found her randomly on craigslist and I could not be happier with the results.
We did our session at Faust Park a couple of weeks ago, and we had such a great time with Cindy. We HIGHLY recommend her to any of our St. Louis friends who need a photographer. She did a fabulous job and made our session really relaxed and fun.
There were more than 150 photos, so I chose my favorite 25 and put them on Picasa. You can see them by clicking on the link below.
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| Family Pictures – May 2009 |
May 31, 2009
We’ve made it nine months!
Can you believe it?! It went by so fast (most of the time).
We went to the doctor on Friday for her check-up and one shot. She actually did great! She didn’t even cry when they stuck her– she cried when we got to the car.
A little bit of a delayed reaction, but she was fine when we got home.
Here are Addison’s stats at nine months:
Nicknames: Addie, baby, blue eyes, munchkin, stinky, Poopy McSchmoopie, scooter
Hair: blonde (usually styled in that “just rolled out of bed” look)
Eyes: really blue
Height: 29.5″ (96th percentile)
Weight: 21 lbs. 13 oz. (91st percentile)
Head Cir.: 18.5″ (98th percentile)
Teeth: 2 (both on the bottom)
Clothing size: some 12 mos., some 18 mos.
Favorite food: Gerber Puffs
Likes: eating pancakes, playing with McKay, crawling, her new big girl car seat, looking at books, sitting in the grass, jumping on the couch, and climbing on the fireplace
Dislikes: nursing, taking naps at church, mixed vegetables, strangers, and being in the stroller too long
Plans for the future: weaning, 3rd stage foods, more teeth, and visiting Grandma & Grandpa Green in July!
May 28, 2009
I made Madi a birthday present about a month ago, and I really wanted to post some pictures of it.
I found this great frame at Michael’s and then I found some cute paper that matched the color scheme in Madi’s room.
I also added some ribbon and made a little embellishment of one of Madi’s favorite quotes out of vellum. The quote, by Vincent Van Gogh, says, “The way to know life is to love many things.”
For some reason, our photo printer wouldn’t print the picture correctly without cutting off part of the baby’s head, so I had to mat it a little with leftover paper. Oh well. I only wish I could have found a better flower to go in the little vase part. It’s not the best, but it works okay.
This was my first time using mod podge and I think it turned out AWESOME. Now I’m on the lookout for something else to make with it…
May 26, 2009
Yup, we’ve got a mover on our hands.
It’s our own fault, really. Addie had been moving only backwards for a few weeks, and she was getting so close to crawling that we were feeling a little frustrated. So we used some of those baby puffs to give her motivation. We made a little trail (ala Hansel & Gretel) to her room with the puffs and she went for it!
We were at my parents’ house the next day and laid a little trail again, so we could show off her new trick. Pretty soon, she didn’t even need puffs as motivation. Knowing that she could go wherever she wanted was motivation enough.
We created a (cute) crawling monster.
Now, let me just say that you have no idea how babyproof your house is or (more likely) is not until your child starts to get into (and put into their mouths) anything within a foot of the floor.
So far, Addie’s favorite place to hang out is in the small-ish space between the couch and the wall. But she also really likes the fireplace and the kitchen. And, for some reason, she’ll only go into her own room (which is right off the living room) when the light is on.
Anyway. If you want to see our little scooter in action, you can see it here.
May 21, 2009
For my non-RSS friends (mostly my grandmothers and Addie’s), you can now subscribe via e-mail! Click on the link in the right column and a form will pop up to enter your e-mail address. Then, it will send you an e-mail every time I post something new!
Pretty sweet, eh?
This HTML thing is easier than it looks…
May 17, 2009
I’ve been playing around in Photoshop a lot lately, and I am constantly amazed at how it can turn mundane shots into beautiful works of art that make me wish I had more wall space on which to hang them.
Here are a few from this week (with their before shots):
First, we took Addie outside to get some pics of her cute barrettes. She was fascinated by the grass.
Before
After some brightening and sharpening
A good shot of the barrettes…
Before
After some aging
Then, Addie’s friend and my friend, his mom, (McKay and April) came over while their carpets were being cleaned. Doesn’t he have such a precious face?!
Before
After some desaturation
I saved my favorite for last! Swinging on the swing at Grandma & Grandpa Moniz’s house. (It looks like she’s going a lot higher than she actually is because I was squatting on the ground.)
Before
After some fancy black and white work
Oh my goodness, doesn’t that just make you want to get it printed really big on canvas and hang it in your front room?
No?
It’s just me, then. 
