Adore the Pioneer Woman's Actions

So, I love to take pictures of my kids. That is kind of obvious, I suppose. I am not very good at this picture taking, and even worse at knowing how to edit my pictures. My taste leans toward bright colors, lots of light, and pretty eyes. I only know a couple of tricks to help me out with that, but I plan on learning more. (I ordered a book to teach me more.) :) I got a brand new 35mm lens for Christmas, so I also plan on reading more about how to take better photos. I'd hate to have all of this nice equipment that my husband bought for me, and not know how to use it. Anyhow, in an attempt to dive a little deeper, I have downloaded some stinkin awesome "actions" from the Pioneer Woman. Can I just say how cool it is to have someone else do all the hard work for you in the editing? Very cool. So, I have been playing with a few of my favorite pics with these "actions" and came up with these results. I really enjoy having pictures all over the house, and I like to keep them fresh. Since I actually print my pics, I am happy that I will be learning more about how to make them better! Enjoy these photos from my first day of learning to use "actions!"Confession: Alan took this one of Payton while I was shopping.

Giving Thanks

Well, this Thanksgiving I had a heart overflowing with things to be thankful for. My salvation, the salvation of my husband and daughters, my amazing family of five who I am just humbled to get to spend my life with, God's provision for our family through my hard-working family-loving husband, and the list just goes on and on and on. I am blessed. Before we left for a fun Thanksgiving in Austin, Payton had a Thanksgiving day feast at school. She loved trying all the different food (weird, she never tries anything new!!!) We met my grandmother in Dallas for lunch and then went back to Austin for Thanksgiving with my mom and dad. It was a lot of fun and there was so much good food and a sweet time together. Blake had a pretty rough time while we were there. He got pneumonia and was really very sick. After we had an early Thanksgiving with my parents, we headed back home to have Thanksgiving with my amazing in-laws. We spent a lot of time playing, eating, shopping, and really just enjoying being together. We are really looking forward to getting both families together for Christmas in the mountains!! I will post when we return! Till then, enjoy these pics!

Payton's table centerpiece Silly turkey!Maci got to go with my mom, my sister and me to the Christmas Affair in Austin for some girl-time! She was a perfectly amazing shopping partner. She and I had a blast sampling every single piece of candy available to the point of making ourselves sick! We shared some serious laughter there! I loved my time with this beautiful girl!This child, adorable as she is, is not a shopper. She was not invited on our little outing because once we entered the building, the first words out of her mouth were sure to be, "My legs don't want to walk anymore." Therefore, she stayed behind with the men and played in the leaves, raked the leaves, watched movies, ate cookies, and had the attention of her favorite people all to herself! Trust me, everyone involved got exactly what they wanted! :) LOVE this kid more than words!This is just a random picture of my handsome little stinker covered in his Oreo cookies! He makes me smile!

Too Far Behind to Catch Up Now!!!

So, I took my gorgeous (I may be a little biased) family out to get some family pictures because it had been a while. Alan's parents were kind enough to shoot some that I could be in as well. I have to say, that little boy of mine was a little turkey, but the girls were angels! Anyway, I did get several printable pics for my house. I like to have fresh pics in frames, they make me smile!A shot of Mr. Blake protesting this photo shoot! Ha! Love him!These pics are from a little mother/son play date at the park! He and I really had a great time running around and sliding and swinging! He is a fabulous little sidekick to have around. He puts a lot of effort into making me laugh! Love it! My dad and sister came into town a couple of weeks ago and I thought it would be fun to go over to the pumpkin patch to get some fall pictures of the kiddos. I spent most of my time there chasing a little blond-headed boy around the pumpkins.A picture with me and my beautiful children! They are fabulous and I adore each one of them! Could a girl be more blessed!!!Blake is 18 months old in these pictures!!!My dad sat down in this chair with Maci and Kendall and started reading and singing. Payton came over and we threw Blake in there and, bam!!! An amazing picture of a granddaddy and his grandchildren was captured!Payton just turned 5!!!! Its funny, it seems like she's been 5 for a long time now. Although it doesn't seem possible that that tiny little baby girl is now a 5 year old...this year she has really grown up so much. The older Maci gets, the older Payton seems. She thinks she is just as old and capable as her big sister. Anything Maci can do, Payton thinks she can do too! So, it seems like she's been 5 for a long time! That said, I think I will only ever see her as a 2 year old when I look at her. She's my baby girl always! For her birthday, we had a cowgirl party at a local equestrian park. She and about 9 little girlfriends spent a couple of hours riding horses led by a trainer. It was adorable and my little cowgirl had a fabulous day!

Payton's 1st Day of Preschool

Payton started preschool this morning! When I went to get her out of her bed, she held her arms out wide and put on a big, cheesy smile and said, "Look mom, this is how I woke up today!! I am ready for preschool!!" Oh, my was she ready! She was asking me every 2 minutes if it was time to go yet (an hour before it was time to go!) She was super excited about her lunch box and thermos! She very happily posed for adorable pictures and then practically drug me to the car! Look out preschool, Payton is ready to rock! (I think I am going to have to drag her to the car this afternoon...she won't want to leave!) Blake and I miss her already, but are way too excited for her to be sad!Putting her things in her "turtle" toteShe found her chair! These are her new teachers!! Ms. Tanna and Ms. Sarah!!

The Soccer Season Begins!!!

Saturday was the girls' first soccer games. Payton's was at 8:30, then we all (all the grandparents and us) came back to the house until Maci's game at 11:30. After the game we all went to Chuy's for lunch to celebrate! The girls had a blast! Payton stayed with the ball the entire game and even scored 2 goals!!! (1 was questionable, but we'll give it to her!) After her first big goal, instead of running back with the team for the next play, she came to the sideline where her fans were and gave each one of us a high five! It was hysterical! I guess next she'll be doing a celebration dance after each scored goal! We flagged her for excessive celebration! What a little nut! At Maci's game I was shocked at how much more intense it was this year than last! man, those coaches were serious! I was afraid it would make her intimidated and not like soccer, but she loved it anyway! Hopefully, she continues to not let them bother her! (Although her mommy was pretty bothered by it!) She was fabulous too! She made several great plays and even got to be goalie for a little while...her favorite! She was great at stopping those balls! It was extremely hot during her game...I think record setting hot! She was a champ though, and played hard till the end! They were stinkin adorable out there! Its going to be a fun season!

Payton's 1st Soccer Game This is Maci in a nutshell...she runs hard up and down the field with a huge smile on her face...I hope it stays there! Go get'em girl!!!!Alan deserves the "Father of the Year" award in my opinion!! He has devoted 3 week nights and every Saturday to coaching BOTH of the girls' teams!! They have no idea how blessed they are to have a dad that adores them as much as he does! The best part is, he LOVES doing it! I think he looks forward to it every day! That man is amazing and I adore him!Here is my little firecracker doing her thing...I wanted a picture of both my soccer stars, but she was hot and hungry, so this is what I got!!! Oh, my! I have got my hands full!! Hahaha!

1st Day of 1st Grade

Maci started the 1st Grade today. She looked great and seemed to be really excited about it. Alan stayed home and had breakfast with her. Then I put her on the bus to start a new year! We miss her already! I am praying that she her first grade year is wonderful! We love you, Maci!!!

Daddy giving her a few last words of wisdom!

Posing for mommy! 1st grade rocks!!In line at the bus stop.Off she goes...have a blessed day, my girl!

The Last Day of Summer!!!

Friday was Meet the Teacher at Swenke. Maci got all cutsied up to go and meet Mrs. Parker. She seemed really nice and Maci thinks she is really going to like her. Mrs. Parker is her favorite friend from last year, John's, mom! Fun! Well, after a wonderful time there, we went downtown to have lunch with Alan. We enjoyed some Freebird's and then had a grand ole time playing in daddy's office. He needed to get some work done, so we killed some time at The Galleria until we could pick him back up and take him home. At home, we got rested up for a super fun night. We started a tradition last summer of swimming and having dinner every Monday night with the Sarine's and the Stovall's. The Sarine's moved before this summer started, and we miss them terribly! So, the tradition has carried on a little differently this year. The Stovall's have joined us most Friday nights this summer at Ron and Cindy's new pool for a cookout and swimming. We have LOVE, LOVE, LOVED those Friday nights!!! The kids love seeing the pool "glow" so a few times we have let the fun go on until pretty late in the evening. This was a perfect way to bring the summer to an end! (Hopefully, we will enjoy a few more Friday nights with them before it gets cooler, but in case life gets crazy with school, we went out with a really great Friday night this last time!) Thank you so much, Ron and Cindy, for wanting us around! We love spending that time with you!

The girls before Meet the Teacher (Blake would NOT sit with them!)

Us listening intently to whatever Janet was saying... :)the crazy, goofy kidsAK having a little corn on the cobMaci is super cool with huge chips in her mouth!Allie Kate thought she was one of the big kids!Brayden-goofballBlake-oh, my!the "loving" sisters...hahaha!Playing in the "glowing" pool! Thank you, God, for precious friends!