What we did this weekend...

WITH NO PICTURES! Boo- but that's the way it goes sometimes.

The weekend unofficially starts on Thursday night in my book. So, Thursday night we went to Shogun for Uncle Bub's birthday dinner. It was really fun and very entertaining for the kids. Except Landon was scared of the fire and every time a flame was lit on the grill at any table he hid under the table. LOL. Why I did not bring my camera with me, I was wishing the whole time I had it!! We did get a cute  family picture taken by the waiter when they came to sing Happy Birthday! They printed it out and I am sure Uncle Bub has it framed by his bedside!!

Just a good ole Friday night with Brad's BBQ for dinner and a late bed time! Everyone slept in pretty late on Saturday morning. By late, I mean 8:30am.  We just hung out around the house for the morning. We had been planning on getting my grandmother's bedroom furniture for Allie Ruth's room. Kelly, Landon, and Hunter went to my grandmothers to get it and Allie Ruth stayed with Gammie. I got dressed (in peace, woot woot) and went to a wedding shower with my Mom.  After the wedding shower, I helped my Mom start sorting through pictures from my Memaw's.

On Saturday night the kids spent the night with Gammie and Kelly and went on a date! Thats right, a real date. We went to J.Alexanders and it was very yummy and nice to have adult conversation with no interruptions.

On Sunday morning I started cleaning out Allie Ruth's old furniture. Then we switched out the old with the new/old furniture. I cleaned her room and washed all the linens. My mom came over later in the afternoon to see what it looked like and help out with the finishing touches. When I first got the furniture, I didn't think much about it. Thought it would look good, but not a big difference. I was wrong. Allie Ruth's new room is so cute!! Looks like the sweetest little girls room. She had a queen bed in there that we will take to the cabin. Now she has a double bed with a head and foot board that looks just so sweet. I will not be moving her to that bed anytime soon. I plan on keeping her in the crib as long as possible. I did tell my Mom that I could not believe that two adults slept on a double bed together for over 60 years. Kelly and I have a king and I think we could both go for some more room, LOL!

The weather was somewhat mild so we got out and went across the street to the park and played in the yard for a while. So nice to be outside.

Super Bowl SUNDAE! We had a party with just our wee little family. Landon requested tacos and ice cream sundaes. Funny, both the kids were asleep at the start of the super bowl. They had not had a nap so we let them have a little snooze. We had our yummy snacks and watched the commercials, I mean game. The kids danced during the half time show!

Time for bed and getting ready to start another fun week! Whats that I smell?? Smells like snow!! Rumor has it theres a SNOW DAY in our future!!

Fauxtography

They say "a picture is worth a thousand words." Sometimes its worth all the words because its so good. Sometimes its worth a thousand words because of the story they tell.  Well, I have never created a photo that would be worth a thousand words but one day I would like to! It would be of my adorable children, of course! That is really all I want to do with my photography is take a picture of my kids that is creative and I love. I have always had an underlying interest in taking photos, but it really did not become a hobby until I inherited this camera from my Dad.

The camera came with accessories and two lens. A minolta 28mm and 55mm. 

I got a digital SLR shortly after playing around with this camera and realizing that a dollar a click of the  shutter was not going to be in my budget. Film is expensive! Plus you have to focus the lens manually and that ain't gonna happen with two small kids! Definitely a camera for taking pictures of things that don't move:) But film can capture a better picture in some situations. This is my favorite picture I have taken with film.

 

I am going to use a portion of my blog to make myself more accountable in learning how to use my camera. I mean, whats the point of spending all that cash on a camera that you have not even taken the time to use it to its full potential. And pictures are one of  the most important things, freezes that moment in time. 

I will be doing a 12 week course to better photos. I started this back in the summer and got stuck on the first week. Ha! I am really bad at math and numbers scare me! There are a lot of numbers and thinking about numbers in photography. The time has come to move forward!! Join me, do the lessons with me! You don't have to have a dslr camera:)

 Here is the link: http://sites.google.com/site/biowbiow002/twopeas_12week

Lesson One: Aperture

Aperture: (or f-stop) um, can you say opposite, opposite?! WIDER= LESS, SMALLER= MORE.

Picture #1 35mm  f/1.8

I am focusing on the M in Mac.

Picture #2  35mm f/8

See how the "fluffy pancake mix" is more in focus? Still focusing on the M in mac.

Picture #3 35mm f/22

Still focusing on the M in mac. Kinda grainy in real life. 

This exercise is best done outside, but since it is freezing cold, no thanks. And since I have already done this lesson back during the summer, I am moving on. Oh, Lordy!!!!

Tutorial Thursday!

Potato Print Penguins!

This is a easy project that kids love! Even a child as young as two could participate with help from an adult. I recommend reading a book about penguins first just to get them involved and interested. Heck, you could make a whole day of it revolving around the letter "P"!

Supplies:

-paper 

-blue, white, and black paint                 

-paint brush

-small potato

-sponge

Paint entire paper with blue paint. I like to tape the paper to a place mat because it helps keep the paper still for little people, plus it makes a nice border. After you paint with blue, let the paint dry.

Use a sponge cut into pieces to create snow with white paint. Sponges are a fun way for little ones to paint because they can hold them easily and sponges create great texture. You can get a pack of several at the dollar store, so they are cheap too! Let the white paint dry. 

Now it is time for the potato! Kids really get excited at this point because how fun is it to paint with food?! Cut the potato in half and I recommend cutting a little off of each side to create a handle. It makes it much easier for kids to hold on to. 

Press the potato in black paint and then press the potato on the painted paper!

It makes the perfect penguin shape!

You can use the thumb or other fingers to make the heads, wings or feet. 

Use the white paint and sponge again to make the white part of the penguins face and belly.

You can use markers, crayons, paint, etc. to make the eyes and beak.

Perfect Potato Print Peguins!!

Today...

Allie Ruth learned how to dress herself in Landon's clothes and Landon learned how to crack an egg!

Allie Ruth also kept telling me today was Saturday! It was like she knew we did not have to go to school. I knew the weather was going to be nice today so I had been telling the kids that we were going to the Zoo. Got to love Memphis weather- Snowed Wednesday, high of 65 on Saturday. After we cooked breakfast and played around the house, we headed out for our Zoo trip with Uncle Bub!

Allie Ruth wanted no part of a stroller or the wagon! 

All the animals were out enjoying the nice weather!

Memaw's apartment building in the background!

What a pretty day!

We looked at the animals for about two hours and then went and got lunch and took Uncle Bub back home. We were not ready to be done at the zoo and since we bought a membership, we went back and had Mimmie meet us. She had been across the street at Memaw's apartment.

Landon is wearing his adventure vest! Last weekend we went to Tucker's birthday party and Tucker got one of these and Landon really wanted one. He got it has a reward for taking all of his antibiotics for his ear infection. Yes, I bribe my children. Allie Ruth has not been feeling well, either. I took her to the doctor on Friday afternoon. She has been running a low fever and has an ear infection also. Despite all that, it was a great weekend. It was nice to have a taste of Spring weather!

How to Do a '50s Hairstyle

How to Do a '50s Hairstyle

So for Tutorial Thursday I am sharing this video on how to do a 50's hairstyle. Tomorrow is the Sock Hop dance at our school and I am debating if I should dress up or not. So I googled looking for ideas and this is the first thing I clicked on. I think I may be sticking with a spirt shirt. We shall see! And how many times can that chick say "pompadour"??

Tut Tut Tuesday!

This week has a bonus tutorial! So you're welcome! Just kidding:) I was just excited about this and everything was ready to post!

INFINITY SCARF TUTORIAL 

I'm going to show you the steps to make your own infinity scarf. An infinity scarf is basically just a large circle of fabric that you wrap around your neck a couple of times. They are very popular right now and can be worn pretty much all seasons except summer! I have seen a couple of versions at one of my favorite stores, Forever 21. My scarf is made out of one of my husbands t-shirts. Thanks Hon!

Materials needed:

- a t-shirt that you don't need anymore (or that you think your husband doesn't need anymore)

 If you want to be really daring, you could mix colors of the t-shirt.

- scissors, thread, pins, sewing machine, measuring tape. 

Bye Bye t-shirt!

Cut the shirt into strips. My pieces were 7'' wide. It really doesn't matter the length of the piece of material as long as they are the same width. They can also be wider if you like, that part is up to you.

I ended up with 10 strips that were 15'' long and 7'' wide.

Sew half of your strips of fabric end to end until you have one long piece. Repeat with second half of strips of fabric. A plus of using this t shirt material is that it stays in place so you don't need to pin it much. 

 So now you will have two long pieces of sewn together fabric. They are really the same length, but I had them clipped on the hanger uneven. oops:)

Now put the two long strips of fabric together with the wrong side facing out. Sew them together but leave an end open. 

Next you will use that opening to pull the right side of the fabric to the outside. Once your fabric is all put into place you will sew the ends together. 

I just sewed these two ends together but I wish now I had tucked them into each other and then sewn them together that way. But it really doesn't matter because you can just place this seam on the back of your neck and no one will notice. 

Now you should have a big circle of fabric!

Some things to remember when working with t-shirt fabric is that it gets a lot of lint in your sewing machine and this can cause problems. It can make your thread bunch up and not sew correctly. I use a small paint brush to clean out the fuzz. I did this several times during this project. Also you really need to make sure you have your stitch settings correct before you begin, so practice on some scrap fabric to be sure they are correct. 

You can get really creative with the colors of your scarf and the way you wear it. The possibilities are endless with the infinity scarf! Get it? LOL!!

Whats cuter than...

A little girl in footie pajamas?

A little girl sipping tea in footie pajamas!

Pinky up, of course!

Oops, spilled a little!

So cute!!