Photo Perspective

K and Miah have been playing their instruments individually, but this was the first time they decided to put their sounds together. I've really liked what I've learned about the Suzuki method of learning the violin, so I think we will try to do the same with teaching K the piano.

I've been trying to catch up on some old pictures to get them into the kids' scrapbooks. Isn't Meister a cutey!

Credits:
Papers: Leah Riordan
Silver embellishments and chipboard action: Atomic Cupcake
Fonts: Brubeck AH and A Yummy Apology

Children learn from role-playing and role-play what they learn. This afternoon my kiddos are pretending that they are missionaries chased from their home by mean guys burning their house down (Missionary Stories with the Millers). They have run with their horse into the wolf-infested wilderness (Little House on Rocky Ridge). Their names are Katie, Matt, Patrick, and the smallest one is Tom (The Littles). :-)

On Sunday afternoon we shared a Lightning McQueen cake with 13 guests. If you count the 7 that live here, that's 20 all jammed in one little house to celebrate the life of one little guy. If you'd like to see more pictures, please check in my photoblog. I've decided to switch to uploading my Project 365 pictures there so as not to clutter up this blog.

Today I'm decorating Meister's birthday cake for his party tomorrow afternoon. In preparation, I needed a picture of the Rust-eze logo from Pixar's Lightning McQueen. I took a picture of a small toy we have in the house and pulled it into Photoshop to delete the extras and fix up all the scratches.

This is how we spend much of Friday on our way to and from vision therapy appointments and other errands:

Stayed up WAY too late last night working on this (1 a.m.). Once I got going, I just couldn't stop! Journaling reads: "Before you were born, Daddy wrestled with your nickname. He has always had a special name for K (Sweets), and so before you were born he settled on one for you (Sugar). Although you are awfully sweet, “Pumpkin” seemed so natural for you that the other nicknames were soon forgotten. Now even Meister calls you “Punkin”, and you recognize it just as easily as your regular name."

Credits
Page Maps by Becky Fleck: inspiration scheme
Peppermint Creative: yellow tag, eyelets
Shabby Princess: striped paper, frame, staples, red ribbon, red paper, alphas for "daddy"
Sandy D: orange paper
Atomic Cupcake: chipboard action for date tag and "pumpkin" title
Melany Violette: Natural bow

The kids and I were taking the tree down and putting away Christmas decorations today. As we were packing up the kids' homemade ornaments I marvelled again at these pretty stars. They seem to have so much more appeal to me than those reindeer made of popsicle sticks and pipe cleaners. K and V made these in Sunday school this year, and I actually really like them.

As for the technical side of taking a photograph like this, the lighting is very tricky and I obviously don't have it figured out yet. The shadows were terribly distracting, but if I add too much light the reflections of light on some of the beads were overexposed. I could spend an hour or two in Photoshop selecting the ornaments and literally deleting the background, but the infinite number of nooks and crannies . . . ugh!

My best buddy over at Cartoon Living and I have decided to take on Project 365 this year as one of our New Year resolutions. The basic idea is just to take one photograph each and every day of the year and post them on at least a weekly basis. At the end of December, we'll each have a journal summarizing the high points, low points, everyday routines, and special occasions for the entire year.

Since my buddy was also the one who convinced me to start blogging in the first place and who faithfully leaves comments at nearly every post, I'm dedicating this first photo to her. You see, she is not from Lancaster County and gets a bit squeamish at the thought of our traditional pork and sauerkraut on New Year's Day. I can understand where she is coming from, though. When I was first introduced to pork and sauerkraut, my mother-in-law showed me the trick for eating the stuff without puckering your face. It is all in the way you load your fork. You must get all three ingredients into your mouth at the same time in order for the taste to be pleasant enough to continue your meal. The ratio of mashed potato, pork roast, and sauerkraut varies depending on your tolerance for the sauerkraut.

So here it is folks, a fork full of pork, mashed potato and sauerkraut!