Yippee... I'm Three

There is nothing like being woken by the tiniest of voices whispering, "I want to show you something." You wrestle your tired eyes open
& struggle with your sleepy head but the excitement in his voice helps to push you up. He happily escorts your sleepy head out of bed
& down the stairs. You both shuffle into the kitchen where he gives a long side stare, then nods & happily replies, "It's a birthday!"

Yes sweet boy... it's your birthday!!!!


Our morning was filled with under table play & colorful cereal eating,
coffee & juice, red balloon, blue balloon, yellow balloon find, cleaning &
decorating, car play & cuddles, putting on our birthday shirt & heading off to church :)


Our afternoon was grand!!!! Awesome friends to celebrate with, roast in the crock pot &
nuggets in the oven, happy birthdays from all around & inside play,
party horns & scraping icing straight from the cake, pictures with the birthday boy
& monster truck treats, blow out the candle & scrap up a bit more icing,
messy faces & sticky hands, having your cake & eating it too!

Thanks to Jillian for capturing these wonderful cakey
family moments for us with our little one :)

You just loved your Monster Truck cake & I just loved making it for you!





Thoughtful gifts presented, seeing the surprise on your face, a new/used bike all your own,
watching you ride your bike for the first time, "Watch Mommie! I go fast!",
wooden puzzle play, & big brother bike riding time!


You were pretty excited &
ready to take on the neighborhood hill!!!!



Go, Ethan, Go!!!

The Biking Birthday Boy


Biking Brothers

Best Buds

a choo-choo, a kite, a boat & a fishy, which shape goes where?
when i watch him do these i can almost see the little gears
working in his head, thanks again Myers 6!

His Happy Birthday to Myself Dance...
what you don't have a happy birthday dance?

Because blowing out the flame once on your birthday is just not enough,
you need Mommie to re-light the candle "just-one-more-time" :)


more scraping of the icing, you really enjoyed the black frosting,
think it had to do with the fact that it was sugar cookie icing,
extra yummy! but the color of your tongue was a bit yucky!!!!

My good friend, Jillian & I during after party hours

though you may not have fully understood the concept of the wonderful paper tickets your Daddy made,
you were equally as excited just to have the tickets {you know like Polar Express} to pretend & dream about monster trucks!
Notice the section, row & seat numbers... your birth date!!!
your face says it all here, pure joy, happiness,
& excitement from such a wee bean of three!!!!

we ended our night with bedtime stories, cuddles, & Mommie & Daddy listening to you ramble on about your day at church
"with the kids"... "We play with the other kids, had cookies, they said happy birthday & bye, needed my book bag &
we go bye bye!" it was sweeter than the chocolate cake on your shirt!

You do truly light up our world bear!
And until next year...
Happy Birthday my Littlest Bean!!!!!!

Much Love~

Mommie, Daddy & Orion xoxo

Connect the Dots...

la la la...

can you guess what has been keeping me busy?



that's right my littlest bean just turned three
cake creating & party crafting have been at the forefront of my to do list



aeroplane garland, such a fun, functional & easy party decoration
{not to mention you can cut them down at the end of party & hand out as favors}
tutorial can be found at Michelle Made Me, she has the best ideas for paper crafts



when i was hurriedly shoving things in nooks & crannies cleaning up my sewing studio that morning i found a stack
of old/new images that brought my hurried swirl to a stand still, it's amazing how quickly three years
{plus 9 months} can fly by in the blink of an eye...

from labor to birth, chunky thighs & baby bubbles, first smiles & steps, sleepless nights & boo-boo's mended,
from coo's to chug-chug choo-choo's, first haircuts & bike rides, from here to there & running around everywhere
{cause you know he does :} it's been an amazing journey watching as little-by-little his spark-filled personality reveals itself
& am quite grateful that i've at least fifteen years {plus} to watch him grow into the man he's going to become & is meant to be!

after flipping through the years of his life in images i thought it would be nice to use mini clothespins to hang the images between the
aeroplanes & it turned out to be a wonderful addition to the garland & a nice quiet surreal moment for a mommie who feels
that life just moves all too fast sometimes:)



it's amazing what a printed number three coloring page, some heat-n-bond plus fabric & patient stitching can yield :)
love making birthday shirts as much as i love purchasing the birthday number candle! Blow out the candle!



this was taken on Sunday {day before his birthday}, after church we had our dear dear friends, The Myers, over for lunch
& a bit of cake to celebrate! Ethan soaked up every Happy Birthday to you, enjoyed frosting scrapped straight from the cake
& promptly licked clean from his finger & yes this was before i could even get the candle lit :)
more to come on that in a bit though! can you guess what his cake was?

more sweet shots:


{my little growing bean}


{there's nothing quite like daddy kisses, is there?}


more happiness:

{and a lot of mommie's sweeet sweet hugs & love}

we love you from here to there...
because you DO run around everywhere!
we love you just for being you
& all the extra sparks
you've brought into our hearts ♥

Happy Birthday to you sweet boy!


{photo taken by my oldest bean, **ahem** can i just take a moment to say how FANTASTIC it is, brought an instant smile to my lips, slightly edited by me}

Happy Birthday Little Bean
& Much Love ♥

Mommie & Daddy xoxo

Shoot & Edit :: Week 5 {Hearts}

{SOOC}

the lyrics are why {iwu} this song!

urnx
urnx, ni, imnx
ictv
ictv, nicu
icu, icu, nurok
urnx
urnx, ni, iw
icatv, icadvd, nicu
icu, icu, nurok
icu, icu, nurok

Translation:
You are an X
You are an X, and I, I am an X
I see TV
I see TV, and I see you
I see you, I see you, and you are okay
You are an X
You are an X, and I, I double you
I see a DVD, I see a DVD, and I see you
I see you, I see you, and you are okay
I see you, I see you, and you are okay

{Raw Edit}

camera calibration :: camera vivid
shot as :: daylight
recovery :: 50
contrast :: 45
clarity :: 55
vibrancy :: 20
saturation :: -15
used healing brush to remove
distracting spot on the surface of the W

{Soft Autumn Glow with Rounded Corners & 1960's Effect Edit}

crop 4x6
action used :: coffeeshop soft autumn glow {glow, contrast boost, slight color enhancement}
with this action i decreased all layers by 50% of their opacity & deleted color mute layer
added new layer {faded pink gradient} opacity 25%
lighten shadows :: 12
darken shadows :: 25
focal soften twice, despeckle once
remove dust & scratches once to reduce the amount of wood grain in background
lastly vignette, crop rounded corners with a 1960's effect

{SOOC}

a part of you has grown in me. and so you
see, it's you and me together forever and
never apart, maybe in distance, but
never in heart....

{Raw Edit}

camera calibration :: camera d2x mode3
shot as :: daylight
recovery :: 20
fill light :: 12
contrast :: 75
clarity :: 80
vibrancy :: 40
saturation :: -6

{Vivid Tie-Dye Textured Edit}

crop 4x6
action used :: coffeeshop vivid (no wait), adjusted layers settings to my liking
added pink tie-dye texture :: opacity 65%
selected hearts with smart brush to increase high contrast {opacity 45%}
makes hearts pop away from the background to draw your eye in
selected hearts with quick selection tool, selected inverse
focal soften twice, despeckle once
remove dust & scratches once to soften the tie-dye texture
added border for dramatic effect



more shot & edit:

You Capture :: Cold

“may you have warm words on a cold evening, a full moon on a dark night
& a smooth road all the way to your door.” ~irish blessing

more cold:

Happy Thursday!!!

xoxo