Math Whizzes in the Making

Math Whizzes from courtney on Vimeo.

Body Building

Chicken

I took this video tonight with one purpose.  To show it to Calder next week, when he insists that he HATES chicken. 


The Chicken Song from courtney on Vimeo.


He's really into making up songs about anything and everything...so I'm sure there's more of this to come!

I'm getting there...

So, I splurged and bought Photoshop Elements several months ago...and I just haven't made the time to really learn how to do it.  This week, my friend Carrie inspired me to get back into it...so tonight, I broke out my handy dandy instruction book and went to work. 

Occasionally I take my camera settings off 'Auto' and try to get a little fancy with the settings.  I usually like to play around with the different lighting settings...but the only problem is that I frequently forget to reset them...and then I end up with a picture like this:

This is my cousin's adorable son, Blake, and I totally ruined the picture by having my camera on the wrong settings.  Actually, half of my 4th of July pictures came out with this horrible blue cast over them, and I was SO mad at myself when I uploaded them to my computer...I guess I wasn't paying attention as I was snapping away.  I tried quickly color-correcting them with my standard photo editor, but they were all still completely washed out. 

Enter Photoshop...  After a few simple steps, the image improved drastically!  However, the green grass still seems really washed out and his skin tone doesn't look quite right. 

A few more steps...and voila!  Total, undeniable, 1-year old cuteness!!!

I still wouldn't say it's perfect...but it's SO much better than what I had before.  Now, off I go to fix the rest of my July 4th pics...maybe then I'll actually get around to posting them on the blog!

Two Little Helpers

Daddy had two awesome little helpers while doing some yardwork recently.  Calder truly loves to help!

And Tessa likes to do whatever Calder is doing...

They really worked well together.  Calder enjoyed teaching Tessa everything he knew about how to clean up the dead grass. 

The little one takes a break to pose for Mommy...

Trio

Trio building blocks by Fisher Price are totally awesome!  They are sort of like Legos, but much bigger and Calder can easily manipulate them by himself.  He actually got these for his 3rd birthday.  He played with them a lot at first, making all of the different creations shown on the box, and then he went through a period of not playing with them much.  Recently, he has taken a renewed interest in them...but this time he likes to make up his own creations.  They really inspire his imagination and Dave and I are continuously impressed with what he comes up with!  Here he is posing with the giraffe that he created.  :)

Mountain Goats and Llamas and Alpacas, Oh My!

After we left the fire station, we traveled south to meet up with our little buddy Will at a farm.

 For a small farm, they certainly had a wide variety of animals! 

 

The kids had fun feeding the goats, although Tessa had trouble getting the hang of the idea that she had to actually open her hand to let the goat eat the feed. 

Picking out the perfect pumpkin...

Fun swings!

Tunnels! 

 Hayrides!

Calder navigates the hay maze one last time before heading home. 

Pancakes and Firetrucks

 We started our Saturday morning off early, with a visit to the local fire department.  They were hosting an open house, complete with a pancake breakfast and lots of fun activities for the kids. 

First, the important stuff...PANCAKES!

Next, hand and face painting.  Calder had a fire hydrant painted on his hand. 

 Tessa was very intrigued by the hand and face painting, but wasn't brave enough to try it herself. 

 

Then, outside to the dalmatian bounce house! 

And finally, on to the fire trucks...  True to form, the first thing Calder did upon taking his seat inside the fire truck was to put on his seatbelt.  Poppa would be proud!

 Tessa checks out the front of the fire truck. 

 Calder was SO excited about the headphones! 

 He kept shouting "Four Alarm Fire!" into the microphone. 

The firefighters were beyond friendly and really took their time to explain things to the kids.  The fire trucks have manual window cranks, and one of the firefighters got a real kick out of Calder asking what it was.  It never occurred to me that he has never seen such a thing!

 A little bit of role play before we left. 

Practice Makes Perfect

All of her practicing finally paid off.   Tessa put her shoes on all by herself yesterday -- and she even got them on the right feet!