PHOTOSHOP FUN!!

So, I have had the opportunity to install Photoshop on my computer and play with it a bit. What a great program! I have a TON to learn but I will learn it for sure. Today, I decided to play with this photo of Shae that I took and on the right side of her it was darker than I wanted and her eyes didn't pop out so here is what I did.

Straight out of the camera (SOOC)

In Photoshop I used the Vintage Action from Pioneer Woman action pack 1 and then added a bit of green at 5% opacity to her eyes and used the dodge tool at 20% to lighten the right side of her face and for fun used the dodge with a smaller tool at 10% to brighten her teeth and finally lightened up her hair a bit on the left side.

This was turned to B&W and then used the lighting effects filter.

I used the seventies action, lightened the right side of the face a bit and added a little green to her eyes on this one.

Just a little play'n around and thank goodness for my hubby being able to answer my questions and guiding me on this Photoshop journey.

It's not even Wednesday yet!

So, it's not even Wednesday yet and my calendar has been minute by minute full and over flowing! But we are having lots of fun, doing great things, spending time with family and friends, and exploring new adventures. I just finished sewing 24 gogo boot covers,12 vests, and 24 hats for the next show "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" and also finished reading "The Well Trained Mind". So, I am getting a little of my projects completed as well as the girls list. :0)

We got a much needed day with Tom's family! We had 9 of them up here and we spent the day together on Saturday. We had a nice BBQ and went to the car show at Tsunami on the square and then back to the house for lots of play time with the kids and yummy dessert. My nephews are getting so big and so darn cute! Great family time! I wish they would all move up here and we could see them more!

The girls are taking a art class with about 50 kids on Mondays for an hour and a half. They studied Egypt this Monday and loved the exhibit along with being able to rap up the mummy. Over dinner Kayla told Tom and I all about how the Egyptians pulled the brain out threw the nose and how they took out the body parts and left the heart. She wants to go visit Egypt one day.

The girls have never played Tennis before so I decided to have them try out a class this week. Both girls are enjoying it and may get their own racquet's one day soon.

Today we got to spend some volunteer time at the Heritage Park Zoo in the garden. A friend of mine came up with the wonderful idea of creating a garden to grow vegetables and feeding the zoo animals from it and having a "Garden Club" of volunteers maintain it. Today, we brought some friends with us and we got to clear out and make a path from the main walkway to the garden area and also move dirt and create a rock drain for the one low corner.

The is a great community service project for the kids and the animals will love their fresh food taken right from their own garden.

Now, I must finish the rest of my week with 2 birthday parties, lunch at a friends house, helping a friend with her garage sale and watch the celtic dancers at the library.

Whew! I need a nap x 5!

We have a Cecropia Moth

Here is the cocoon (very large!)

I checked on the cocoons about 9:30pm and there it was.... gently flapping its wings in the habitat. I had to wake the girls up to see it and then we decided to release it since moths are more active at night. It wasn't quite ready to fly yet so the girls got to hold it until it was ready.
It's wing span was as large as their hands.

We put the moth on the juniper tree and let it be.

Isn't it beautiful!

Then this am Tom went outside to take the dogs out and he noticed these two moths and called me out to see them. I wonder if one was ours and it found a mate? So, I picked up the rock they were on and placed it on the Juniper tree and we noticed there were having a little fun. tee,hee,hee! Here is a close up of them. Shae asked them what they were doing and quickly all I could think of was "They were kissing with their butts" and she says "GROSS!"

Congrats Kayla!!!

In the mail today Kayla received a special package! A couple of months ago Kayla wrote and illustrated her second book. While we were working on her book we found out about the Reading Rainbow contest ................. so we submitted her original artwork and story to Arizona State University and PBS. She has been waiting patiently and finally we got the news.

Kayla's submission was selected for and sent on to the 2009 NATIONAL READING RAINBOW YOUNG WRITERS AND ILLUSTRATORS contest! She received a Certificate of Achievement and 3 DVD's. We will now watch for more information in the mail from National PBS and in August we will find out more. Way to go Kayla! In the mean time Kayla's book has been formatted and ready to be published and printed. The title of her book is called "Tom the Turkey". The story line is very cute and she came up with the entire story herself including her illustrations. More on her second book later. And don't forget she still has her first book on Amazon.com "Green Aliens in Space."

Oh Crack .... I mean Crap!

What another wonderful day today was! It started out with the girls wanting to go golfing. I thought and said " you just golfed all week at camp for 2 1/2 hours a day." So, I took them and they golfed for about 1 hour. Shae is great at putting and Kayla at chipping and they both love to drive.
As I was preparing dinner with my Red Stripe in hand .......... Kayla says "someone pooped!" And sure enough one of the dogs pooped! And that is the problem with having 2 dogs as I don't know which one did it. Damn!
So, after that was all taken care of we all sit down for salad and the famous French Bread Pizza that we decided we like my homemade pizza much better....................... anyway, I look out the window towards my neighbors house and there it was! The CRACK! Our neighbor is having some work done on their house and the workers were cleaning up and yes ... bending over and the CRACK was right there as I take a bite of my pizza and wash it down with my Red Stripe. Yummy! Crack and Crap all within the hour.

SUMMER DELIGHT

What a joy it has been hanging out on the golf course with the girls all week. What fun they had at golf camp! Kayla and Shae both worked on their swing and Shae LOVED to help gather up the golf balls. It was like a easter egg hunt to her.

Hang'n out with their friends was the best part!

CAMP

Golf camp is now is session and the girls loved their first day! To my surprise Shae really liked it even though the day before she told me that she thought golf was "dumb". They had several friends there so that made it even more fun. I got to hang out with my mommy friends on deck and enjoyed our 71 degree afternoon with overcast cloud coverage. Just BEAUTIFUL!!

And this is for Nala and Tuesday's foster mom Jody and the min pin haven rescue.

We are enjoying every day with our new min pins! They are learning the sit and stay command and are getting the hang of walking on leash. They are so darn cute and fun to have around!

A Proud Little Lady!

Kayla was a proud little lady this week! We are so lucky to have such great neighbors and one of them is a great quilter. Kayla went to her house every week on Thursday afternoons for the past month and learned to measure, cut, sew, layout her design and snip. She did everything including the shopping for the fabric. She just loves her new quilt! Thanks Sherry!

This one is for you Jamie. Artisan Bread in just 5 minutes! Yes, it really is true! I first read about it on my weekly read of the Everyday Cheapskate. So, I checked the book from our local library and gave it a try. I have made homemade Artisan bread just about every other day for the past 2 weeks. It is so simple and fresh that I have no need to buy that fresh baked bread at the bakery.

Kayla even made her first batch all by herself and brought a loaf to our neighbor Sherry as a thank you for showing her how to make her quilt.

(last night's fresh baked bread)

Got TWO??

Wow!! We must like things in TWO'S!! Two daughters, two cocoons, two hamsters and now two adorable dogs. The addition to our family has been great! Nala and Tuesday have settled right in and made their self a home and now have an instant family. They are so funny to watch! They do nothing without the other. One is mellow and stubborn and the other is a slight spaz and likes to obey. The girls are enjoying them very much and I think Tom is as well. When the girls and I are out they like to lay in their bed near Tom in his office. Today he said that they were snuggled so close together that it looked like one dog with 2 heads.

The new hair do's

The girls decided to get their hair cut along with me this week

and it turned out to be a great decision. They both just love the

shorter look.

After our haircuts I decided to go back the next day and get my hair

blonde again. I miss that color and it goes well with my skin tone.

Tom and the girls dropped me off and they played around town while

I got my hair done then went out for a little mexican food with some

girl friends.

A sad and happy day ...

(Pictured here is all 5 birds together on Monday before they left one by one)

This was our first day in a couple of months that we woke up to a empty tree by our door. All of our 5 birds have left the nest that we kept close watch of everyday. It was an amazing past couple of months and mostly these past few days. We first noticed one of the 5 birds had moved to a branch on the outside of the nest and would just sit there while lots of communication was going on between the parents who were near by on top of a pine tree. It was as if they were telling the little bird that it was his time to learn to fly and to get ready. And then he was gone and only 4 were left in the nest. Yesterday, we woke up to 4 birds in the nest and by 8am the fourth bird was on the same tree branch and waiting for his or her instructions from the parents. Within 30 minutes he was off and flying. After that hour after hour the next bird would do the same exact thing and prepared for flight. It was the coolest thing to witness yet sad at the same time. The funny thing is that in our science book we were doing life cycles and they had a picture of a mommy bird feeding newly hatched birds in a nest. Well, we had a much better learning experience of that life cycle first hand. Good bye little birdies!
We will miss you and we enjoyed every moment of your beginning life.

(Pictured above you can see on the left the branch that each bird stood on when it was ready to leave and learn how to fly. The last 2 remaining birds wait in the nest)

New Family Members

We finally got our visit today from the minpin rescue haven. What a joy it was to meet Nala and Tuesday and of course Pat and their foster caregiver! We took them to the dog park and all the girls got acquainted... they even warmed up to Tom after a little while. Then we came back to the house and learned more about them and Kayla and Shae got to walk them around the house by the leash. :) Oh boy ... that was so much fun for the girls! Tuesday has more brown on her face and is pictured with Shae and Nala is with Kayla. After spending over 2 hours with them we got a real feel of their bubbly personalities. They are on their way back to Glendale to get spayed and microchiped and then we will get them sometime next week.

We can't wait! The girls already have told me that they miss them.

We are very happy to give them a new home where they will have fun, feel safe, be well taken care of and have a loving family for the rest of their lives.

Our past week in a snap shot

The Brownie Troop celebrated their year at Build A Bear in Glendale. The girls had a blast and then the troop had lunch at Johnny Rockets.

I am happy to report that ALL 5 baby birds have hatched and are all doing GREAT!

Their eyes just opened yesterday.

Here the mom is visiting and feeding them.

The proud dad!

The girls have been enjoying the warm weather and we have already started to hang out at the club house.

I got a picture of them!

Here they are sleeping

Then they woke up! Their eyes are still shut and they open their mouths but no noise as of yet. The daddy has been coming to the nest throughout the day feeding them. What a sight! The girls have definitely seen this amazing transformation of life and now parenthood.

Rescue Minpins

Oh if anyone knows me from a long time ago .... I miss my Kyra! She was my first dog and a minpin. I loved her dearly and then she passed away. She brought me many tears and still when I think of her I may tear up.

We have been wanting to get a dog for about a year and would love another minpin. I came across this wonderful min pin haven rescue organization and have spoken to the director there about placing us with a rescue minpin.

We have our eye on "Minnietoo" and also the 2 girls above "Nala" and "Tuesday" (they are sisters and best friends) and need to leave their foster home together.

So, after completing our paperwork we will await our home inspection and the visit of these 3 dogs. They will take a drive from Gilbert to our home and we will get to spend some time with them and see if they are the right match for us.

So, hopefully not before too long we will either be the proud new permanent parents for Minnietoo or both Nala and Tuesday.

WE HAVE BABIES!!!

Yes, you read the title right!! Our babies have hatched! I can't tell how many have come out of their eggs but there is at least 3 of them out and soooooooooo cute!! Their eyes aren't open yet and they have fluffy feathers partly on them. Oh my ... they are so precious! When I get a chance I will get a picture for you all to adore.

What fun is a party without the party hat?

We celebrated "Buttercup and Cotton" turning one yesterday. The girls were so excited for their hamsters! They worked hard at preparing for the big celebration. While Kayla made place mats and her cards Shae mixed the cupcake batter. They frosted diligently and decorated those cupcakes just right. And of course we had to blow up ALL the balloons!

And what fun is a party without a party hat!
Kayla with Buttercup
Buttercup didn't mind his hat and wore it for the entire party.


Shae and Cotton
Cotton didn't care for his hat but boy did he like the cupcake.

One Hatching

After 7 long months our little friend FINALLY decided to come out. He chewed a hole thru his cocoon and hung out in the habitat till we came to greet him in the morning.

After we observed him for a while we released him outside. We are still waiting for the 2 Cecropia Moths to come out and when they do we will have pics.

The show was a great success!!!!!!!!!!!

WOW! I have never in my life been a part of something like this. What a great organization for these kids and what a wonderful experience and one of a lifetime. Kayla was not nervous one bit and her confidence showed on stage. The director (Shmaine Posey) is an amazing director and knows how to bring out the best in each child. Pictured here is Kayla singing Fabulous. So cute!
Part of the cast in "The Wizard of Oz" costumes for the song "I want it all"

Wildcat Cheer

"Hi I'm Kayla and I am 8 years old"

buddies from the cast

After rehearsing 2-9 hours a week for 10 weeks the kids developed great relationships.

CHECK OUT MORE PHOTOS HERE

on the Young Star blog