Every Rose Has It's Thorns...

a.k.a The Most Boring Post Ever...

Tonight we got home and we were talking about all of our flowers that were blooming in our front flower bed. The sun was going down and it was making one of my amarillas appear to be glowing. I just had to get my camera. I'm not big on wildlife photography- well... except Annistyn... she's definitely WILD.... but I thought I would share some pictures of our beautiful flowers. I'll go ahead and give credit where it is due. Michael maintains our yards and flower beds for the most part- about 95% of it. I do usually plant the seeds in the seed pod in the spring. 2 springs ago I did all of the transplanting to the flower beds. Last spring, I planted seeds and helped with the rest as much as possible. I was really really pregnant during the first part and then we had a tiny baby who I didn't feel comfortable leaving inside while I worked in the yard. The fall before, I had planted all 20 something amarillas... so that counts for something. Michael pretty much does it all though- fertilizing, pine straw, and last Saturday he went to the nursery and bought a bunch of plants and flowers and did 3 flower beds, 2 planters, and the window box. Gotta love him!! :)

Anyway, this is the most boring post ever because I know it could not possibly be interesting to look at 18 pictures of my front flower bed. However, it was a beautiful afternoon, my flowers are beautiful, and it just amazes me to watch them grow from nothing to something so gorgeous. Another one of God's little miracles...


















Aren't they beautiful? And by the way, if you drove by my house tonight- YES, I was the dummy laying on the concrete walkway taking pictures of my amarillas. I'm obsessed with my camera. So shoot me! Get it? "Shoot" me? (like a photo 'shoot')
HA. I'm so good at being corny. In highschool, I LOVED writing the captions and introductions for the yearbook pages (I was on the yearbook staff) and our editor always griped out me (a 12th grade boy) because he said they were corny. Just a little random piece of info for the night.

Annistyn's seeds grew also! Here they are now...





They will be transplanted to their new homes in the ground in the next few days...

Well, believe it or not, I'm not going to put a picture of my sweet baby on here tonight.
I have one photo session for someone else this weekend- a mother/son session for Mother's Day- I'm so excited!!! But I hope to do one of Annistyn also.

Hope your week has been great so far! :)

Cutting Up

I love a good play on words for a title. Some people probably don't share my enthusiasm about it, so I hope it's not too corny.

I always wanted to be a writer, you know. I have "books" that I made dating back to age 3 and 4. Before I could even spell and read, I drew picture books and stapled them together. The first one with words is called, "The Secret Leter" (Supposed to be Letter, obviously, but I was not quite 6 when I wrote it) It's about 2 girls finding a letter and trying to figure out where it came from. I know you didn't see that coming! Ha! Anyway, I have a rubbermaid box full of them and it really cracks me up to go through it. I still write stories and ONE DAY I would love to publish a children's book. Alrighty... that's another topic for another day.

I am in LUUUUHHHHVE with my Cricut. No... not cricket! My Cricut Expressions machine that I got for Christmas. Just pretend this isn't the middle of my dining room table that it is on with the huge craft mess around it. We have OFFICIALLY outgrown our house!



It has been serving as an extra shelf in the guest bedroom closet because I haven't had time to play with it until now. I thought it was going to be really complicated because the instruction book was pretty explicit. I looked through it after Christmas and that's why I have been reluctant to get it back out. However, I managed to figure out how to use it in about 5 minutes without looking in the manual. I have absolutely gone crazy with it. It is SO fast and SO easy. This week, I have put vinyl monograms and polka dots on 3 tupperware pitchers and 4 tumblers for a birthday gift and two secretary's day gifts. I made a really cute travel cup with blue background and brown monogram and polka dots for a friend at work. I made cards and cut out letters for an awesome ribbon wreath I made for a baby gift. Of course, I didn't get pictures of any of that. I was looking for stuff around the house to put things on yesterday. I found Annistyn's snack containers and went to work. I put A's and dots on all of them and I made these matching ones for Blakely...




I think it is awesome to be able to make plain cheap stuff look fabulous and personalized! The weekend projects include wall art, picture frame lettering, Finley's area, and probably the toilet seat lid in Annistyn's bathroom. I re-did her bathroom for her going-to-bed-by-herself "prize" and I'll post all the pictures later. Here's the mermaid that I painted for it last night...



It doesn't look splotchy like the picture shows it. The camera flash just highlights the brushstrokes that you can't see in plain lighting. I'm too lazy to edit it out tonight. Sorry.

I have just been feeling crafty this week. I re-did our blog layout, updated my website- www.shaepage.com and finished the senior portrait images I did the week before spring break and made a portfolio of proofs for her. There are several on my website if you want to see them. I thought they turned out good!

Here are a few of Miss Annistyn.

I wanted to show you the outfit she wore last July that STILL FITS this year. I told her to smile for a picture and she did this...



And this...



She was being really "proper" with her posing. Then I told her to say cheese and she did this...



I laughed it off, but tonight I was chasing her around (literally) to take her pictures in her cute Potato Saks dress and I told her to say cheese and she did the same thing!




She sticks her fanny up in the air and bends over! Where this came from.... I don't know! She knows what "cheese" is because she calls it by name when we eat it- pizza, cheese sticks, grilled cheese... it's all "cheese" to her.

I don't know what she thinks she is doing, but it is really funny.
This is the front of the dress, by the way.



She has got one personality like you wouldn't believe unless you were around her. She talks SO much- much more than a 13-month old should talk- she uses partial sentences and asks questions like crazy (even though sometimes I don't completely understand the question). She thinks WAY too complex. She often misses the simple explanations of things because she finds the complicated one. Like the toy where you put the big fruit pieces in the holes and the light up. Well she finds the almost invisible button (because it's that small!) that makes the thing light up when they are put in there and that's how she does the game instead. I didn't even know the buttons were there! Anyway, it may not be something BIG but she will leave her mark on this world in one way or another. She is very very right-brained like me and while I love that wild, free, creative spirit- she is also very strong-willed. Most people get a calm child and a wild child. Usually the calm one is first. If she is our calm child then we don't need any more children! I LOVE her like crazy though and I LOVE watching her personality develop even more each day.

We have something else developing too!
Our zinnias and sunflowers from Tuesday have sprouted!!!




Yay! Soon we'll have a yard full of both of them! Enjoy your weekend!!! :)

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary...

How does your garden grow??!



This afternoon we planted seeds for two of my favorite flowers...



I always buy a seed pod...



And then transplant them to the garden when they are big enough. I started this a few years ago and I couldn't believe it when my little packet of seeds actually grew into beautiful flowers!!!!

It's been a yearly tradition ever since.

This year I had two helpers...




Annistyn was really excited about being part of our seed planting tradition.



I was explaining to her what happens to the seeds and when I said "pretty flowers" we can pick, she started "picking" the grass instead...



I gave her a seed pod to play with. Of course, she poked it and giggled and then tore it to pieces.





She kept trying to pull the other pods out, so I decided to get her a pot of her own. I helped her put the dirt in (although she did most of it herself).




I gave her a sunflower seed and she put it strait in her mouth. I didn't have to snatch it back out, this is what she thought of it...



Don't you love the potting soil all over her face?



I put water in her watering can. She thought it was awesome that water can come out the side of the house. She kept going back to the faucet and pointing at it and talking.

She was taking the water out with her hand and trying to put it in the pot herself.



She finally got the hang of it.



Finley just licked the water up and I think he got a few bites of potting soil.



I know she is too young to really understand the concept, but I just love sharing all of our traditions with her and doing things like this with her, even if she won't remember it. I will remember it forever...

On a side note, I decided Annistyn wasn't really a birthday girl anymore and it was time for a new blog look. I wanted to use my new favorite picture of her from the beach and I decided on these colors to cooridinate with it. It's one of the most simple ones I have made, but I really like it. Hope you'll enjoy the new look too. Everyone was probably tired of the cupcakes! Ha!

I have some new craft creations to share later- I got my Cricut cutter out yesterday!!! Also, I have been enjoying taking pictures for other people and I am in the process of updating my website. I can't wait to share it with you when I am finished!

Enjoy your Wednesday...

Ready or Not... Here We Come

I'll vote for NOT READY!!!

Today we packed up our stuff... a WHOLE LOT of stuff... and headed back to reality. Usually I can say that by the end of vacation, I am ready to come home. I couldn't say that this time. It's been a REALLY long time since I have gone off for a whole week, but it was so so so wonderful and MUCH needed.

I missed Finley Dog. We picked him up as soon as we got back into town. He stayed with Mrs. Donna- at Donna's Doggie Daycare- again. She always does such a good job taking care of him. I don't worry near as much about leaving him because I know she takes good care of him and he isn't stuffed in a kennel all day. He was VERY happy to see us. Besides that, I really think I could have stayed down at the beach another couple of weeks... or years!

Since I left off on Tuesday, here is a recap of the rest of our trip. Sorry this is really lengthy... it was a fun trip with lots of good memories. You know I can't ever decide on one or two pictures...

Wednesday, we went out to the beach again.
Annistyn wore her pink frog swimsuit. It's really 2 pieces- which is nice! It covers her like a 1-piece though (also nice!)



She enjoyed playing in the sand again. The sand toys kept her entertained a while.




She thought about playing in the water...



But decided on just burying herself in the sand instead...



The beach was really pretty again.



It was kind of windy, but it was nice. Annistyn enjoyed the wind blowing...



She always laughs and then looks around like, "Where is this coming from?"



I walked around and found a few more sea shells to add to her collection. She enjoyed putting those in and out of her bucket.







And here's my favorite picture from Wednesday...



She would NOT wear her glasses or hat around, but I got her to be still in them for a quick picture.

We ate a late lunch at Red Brick Pizza and then Michael came down Wednesday afternoon. We went to Sharky's for dinner. She picked out her crab outfit to wear out. (I let her choose her outfit each night... I like for her to make her own choices about some things. Since I had already selected the beach-themed outfits to bring, I let her pick which day to wear each of them.)

Here she is showing me her crab...


And here she is not cooperating for a picture...


And with Mommy... who didn't dry her hair for the 3rd day in a row! :)



I took one with her and her Daddy, but neither of them cooperated. They were both making funny faces...


Thursday Annistyn slept late again- we woke her up at 10:15. She'd been asleep since 8 the night before. Do you think they would have noticed if we took the drapes home????
It was Michael's first day with us on the beach. I know he was really excited about playing with Annistyn in the sand.




We tried making a sand castle, but quickly realized neither of us knew how to do that very well.



This is as good as it got.



I know, pitiful!
We put some water in Annistyn's big beach bucket and she enjoyed playing with it...



She sat in her chair for a while...



She walked around in the sand some more...









She even decided that she liked wearing a hat and sunglasses.







After playing on the beach a while, we went in, ate lunch, and let Annistyn get a quick nap (after a good long bath, of course!) We had decided to take her to Gulf World to see the sea lions and dolphins.








We saw the bird show too.





She thought everything was pretty interesting...









(Note- I really had intended on drying my hair and not letting it dry itself into that big heap of wild curls, but we only had a few minutes to clean up from the beach after lunch, so... it made a good excuse to do the easy thing and let it go wild.)

Thursday night we drove about 8 miles back towards Destin and ate Italian at The Spicy Noodle, which had been recommended to us. Not the place we would have picked from the outside, but we LOVE a good "hole in the wall" restaurant, so we tried it. It was great! I had the baked ziti and it was enough to feed me dinner, and Michael and I lunch the next day. We ate there again today on the way home. We got a pizza and it was good too.

Friday we did things a little differently. We woke up early (8:30- HA!) and drove back to Sea Grove area to eat at Donut Hole- an ABSOLUTE favorite. Annistyn shared pancakes with me and ate a whole pancake- which are the size of about 3 regular pancakes. She loves breakfast like her Mommy!!! We did some shopping and made an afternoon beach trip.









Annistyn went even more "sand crazy" and started digging in it like a puppy dog!



We had covered her in 100 spf sunscreen, but put her sun shirt on her for extra coverage.



When we told her we had to pack up to go, she got really sad and lay down in the sand to tell it goodbye.



She ended up getting sand in her eyes, which was a crisis of its own.

I had to take a few "scrapbook background" pictures...
This one was an accident. I was trying to get Annistyn's footprints, but I got all of ours instead...



And this one is for the title page for our photo book...



I wanted a good sunset picture and we saw some beautiful ones! Of course, the only one I had my camera out for was a hazy one. It was still pretty though. Everything was pretty from the 21st floor!!!!



Friday night was a real treat. My Aunt Trish and Uncle Carl kept Annistyn while Michael and I went to Angelo's. It was nice to have a dinner together without fussing with Annistyn over sitting in her chair and telling her to stop singing so loudly or throwing food on the floor.

She was sweet for them (or so they say!!!) and we got a picture afterwards. This is a funny picture. One, I'm not wearing my shoes and two, Annistyn wanted to be included too!



This is where we stayed, by the way...





It was really nice and I would love to stay in the exact same condo again. It was a great location and price.

I miss the beach already and I really did not enjoy unpacking a week's worth of stuff and washing it. I washed beach towels and everything before we left, but all of Annistyn's outfits and things had to be washed.

One happy note about tonight...
She used the potty for the first time!!!!!!!!!!! I've been talking with her about it and working with her for a few weeks. I don't want to be pushy about it at all. The last few days she has been saying "tee-tee" and going to the potty and trying to climb on it. I'll put her up there and she just smiles and claps. Today she actually used it though! I was excited and we made a huge deal over it, so hopefully it will keep happening. I doubt I'll be going to go buy Pull-ups any time soon, but the good thing is that we are headed on that track and that is all I want. She won't use it if she doesn't know about it, so I don't think it's too early to start it. We've phased pappy time out until it's almost gone. She has been going to bed and laying down for a nap by herself for two weeks now.

Well, I guess I need to end the longest post ever.....
I'll probably take a few days off because it may take you that long to read this one... Ha!!! :)