Pictures On My Camera :)

I found these pictures on my camera. :) Karleigh Mei saw that Lexie was wearing a pink shirt and black shorts, and so she insisted that she also wear a pink shirt and black shorts too. My girls then went in Karleigh Mei's room for what appears to be a sort of photo shoot.  Here are some pics that I found:

I love this picture 'cause it shows how active Karleigh Mei is. :) (the blur) But I also love it because you can see how her sweet little ear sticks out of her hair. This is something that I just love about her!

Posing for the camera...
Karleigh Mei has been watching Snow White a lot and this is what "Bumpy" (Grumpy) looks like. She makes this face pretty good!
Practicing her "Bumpy" look with Lexie.
So precious!

Digital Scrapbooking You Ask?

I've had a lot of people ask me about how I did Karleigh Mei's Lifebook. I used Adobe Photoshop Elements to create my digital scrapbook pages---and I used the quickpages from the Bright Jade and Spring Blossom kits.

Okay....if you have NO IDEA what I'm talking about read on. :)

Adobe Photoshop Elements is one of the MANY computer programs that you can buy to edit your digital photos. You can also make digital scrapbook pages with this program. The cool thing about Adobe Photoshop Elements is that you can try it for FREE for 30 days! Just go to http://tryit.adobe.com/us/photoshopelements/?sdid=EPZYQ and you can download it to give it a try. If you like it, you can buy it, I think, for around $100. (And you must agree with me that this is NOT a bad price for what you get out of it! Come on ladies...those who PAPER scrapbook! I think to get STARTED with my creative*memories I paid almost $300--and that was years ago!!)

There are also many tutorials that you can find online that will teach you how to use it to do digital scrapbooking. I learned by watching the Shappy Princess tutorials. You can find those tutorials here: http://www.theshabbyshoppe.com/tutorials/software_tutorials.asp I also really, really, REALLY like The Shabby Princess, because it also gives you FREE scrapbook kits that you can download to practice with! You can find the free kits here:  http://shabbyprincess.com/downloads.asp

For the Lifebook itself, I also bought this e-book found here: http://www.digital-scrapbook-kits.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=123 This book was great in keeping me on task and knowing what to include.

Any questions!? I'd be happy to answer any other questions if you have any!

Dressed For Costco*

***Bad, blurry photos...but cute nonetheless. :)

"I'm ready to go to Co(short o)-Co(long o) Mama!"

Errrr...ummmm....yea......no.

Don'tcha' love the panties showing? I cannot get this girl OUT of her leotard. She loves it so!

This face almost let her wear this. :)
Okay....now we have some more approved Costco* clothes on (that we bought at Costco*!).
Love that super-cute-smile-of-a-girl!
"Can I take my pack-pack?".

Lifebook

**I used two different digital scrapbook kits for my lifebook. Click on --> Spring Blossom and --> Bright Jade

Last week I finally made the decision that I needed to finish Karleigh Mei's Lifebook (and Shutterfly* was having a sale!). I could have dragged it on and on with the fear that I'd leave something important out, but I decided that it was more important for her to HAVE one than for me to always be working on one. :)

I got it yesterday and I am so happy with it! The quality of the book is nicer than I thought it would be...nice thick pages! And Karleigh Mei is delighted at seeing all the pictures of her in it!

Here is a sample of the book:

~The cover. I put my little ladybug on top of our last name. :)

~Pages about her orphanage.
~The referral!
~In China!
~Bible verse on the back cover.
I did my pages using digital scrapbooking. Most of the pages were "quick pages" where all I had to do was just "slip" in my pictures and add any text.

Hodge-Podge

I have a hodge-podge of pictures to share from the past couple of days.

Gannon is playing on the middle school soccer team. He is an awesome defense player!

I took out the memory game the other day and this girl has an awesome memory! She was beating me pretty badly! I started out with just a few tiles, but she was doing so great I added more.

Let's see....which one should I choose first?

I found both kitties! Throw them into the matched pile!

Karleigh Mei needed to wash her hands, so off she went to the bathroom to wash them herself. She was taking too long, so I went to check on her and the whole sink was bubbling over with bubbles! You should have seen what it looked like when I first walked in! You might also notice that she is wearing a leotard! She started gymnastics yesterday! I'm lame and didn't take any pictures. :( Soon!

~Beautiful Life Friday~

Where has the time gone!!?? The days are just flying by me and I can't seem to keep up. You would think I would be now that it's just me and Karleigh Mei at home. :)

Last weekend we went to my parent's house to celebrate my Grandma's 90th birthday (Sept. 13th)! We had a lot of fun with Aunts and Uncles, Grandmas and Grandaddies, cousins and more cousins!

Look at these two sweet girls! Sweet baby Ella and Lexie.

Lexie with the twins, Grayson and Dawson.
Lots of fun was had running "the circle" at Grandma's house!
Running as fast as the wind! Unfortunately,  it was all fun until someone decided to run the opposite direction and there was a head on collision. :(
Karleigh Mei being silly with Noah.
Karleigh Mei and Dawson and Grayson.

Karleigh Mei and big sister Katie!

...and brother-in-law Blake! :)

The "big" cousins.

Singing Happy Birthday to Grandma Alice!

Karleigh Mei was a big help opening up presents with Grandma. Karleigh Mei cannot wait until it's HER birthday!!

♫ Singing In The Rain ♫

It's a Beautiful Life Friday, and we are singing 'cause it's raining in our parts! We decided that Karleigh Mei NEEDED an umbrella and so off we went to find  one! She is soooo happy about her *Hello Kitty umbrella and matching rain jacket. HANDS DOWN this is her favorite toy ever. Who knew??

You can almost see her singing... ♫ It's raining....it's pouring...the old man is snoring! ♫

Ohhhh...I love this girl soooooooooo!!

Disclaimer... Karleigh Mei insisted on wearing the mismatched clips and mismatched pink bows. :)

So Powerful and Convicting....I had to share

**Be sure to quiet my music in the sidebar before watching**

Lexie and her "Black Beauty"

Last week Karl took Lexie down to the DPS and she got her long-awaited driver's license. Remember her passing her final driving test to Big Bend* and back?!

Years ago Karl bought a Karl (ha ha...just reread that...I mean CAR) for himself, with the intention of passing it down to the kids. Katie was the first to inherit the "Black Beauty". Katie drove her for 4 years. For Katie's 21st birthday we bought her a newer car, and kept the Black for Lexie. So for 1.75 years the Black has been waiting and dreaming of being driven again. 

Today Lex drove off this morning, for the first time, with brothers in tow, off to school. sniffle. sniffle. Where have the years gone!?

This weekend was spent cleaning up "The Black".

Gannon helping. 'Cause one day this Beauty will be his! :) Can you see the excitement and joy in Lex's face!?

Ewwwwww!
Stopping for some snuggle time!
Muy importante things to have....air freshner and gum. :)
The cleaning supplies.
Dad and Gannon helping to shine 'er up!
Going over things NOT to do while driving...

Don't be a wild driver...
Don't check yourself out while driving...
Talking on the phone is a BIG no-no!! Especially while checking yourself out in the mirror!!
What to do??

Wear your seatbelt and smile your beautiful Lexie smile!