Latest Photoshop Before & After

I am constantly amazed at how much you can change the appearance of a photo using Photoshop. I Still have NO idea what I'm doing, but I find that if you mess around long enough with a photo, you can get some really cool results!

Birch Aquarium

(Watching the scuba diver swim with the sharks!)
(This is what happens when I tell my kids to just look at the camera and look normal....)

(Next Year's X-mas card?)

(These are not real. But I have a feeling even if they were, Mia would still be holding them!)

I've said it once and I'll probably say it again, but we are SO lucky to live in San Diego. There really is way too much to do in this town!

We decided to spend this last Saturday at the Birch Aquarium. It's a really small aquarium in La Jolla which is perfect since my kids can only last one or two hours before they go insane! It was a beautiful Spring afternoon and it just felt right to be overlooking the ocean while learning about sea life. We ended up purchasing the season pass, so I have a feeling this will be a popular destination for our family over the next year:)

Mia gets award at school

Oh my goodness. Let me just tell you that Mia has been SOOOOOO excited to get her award. This kid LOVES to get up in front of people and have all eyes on her! Mia's award was for being "Fearless in solving math problems, reading and writing hard words and speaking in front of the class".

The fact that her teacher used the word fearless just cracked me up. That is exactly the word I would use to describe that girl! She is going to be an interesting one to watch grow up:)

Love. Her.

St. Patties Day

A leprechaun visited our house in the middle of the night! YIKES! He turned all of our toilet water green (I would have taken a picture but, well...that would have been gross!) and turned our milk green too! He left gold glitter EVERYWHERE he went and left the kids Lucky Charms for breakfast!

Okay, so here's a funny story for you...

So at around 4am Wed morning, I wake up to find the hall bathroom light on. Hmmmm I thought. That's curious. Max prob got up to go to the bathroom and left it on...I look in Max's bed. No Max. Hmmmmm that's odd. Then it hit's me. The little turd saw that the leprechaun turned the toilet water green and went to investigate further...

I walk downstairs. Mind you, it's 4:00 in the AM!!! Max has ripped the Lucky Charms box opened and helped himself to at least 3 bowls. He was ever so casually sitting on the couch playing VIDEO GAMES!!! I kinda just stood there for a minute taking in the scene. I really couldn't believe what I was seeing. Max just looked at me like "What? This is perfectly normal behavior!" Let's just say that when I told him his party was over, he was not too thrilled and I was very clearly told that I was not his favorite mommy!

I hope this is not a glimpse into Max's teenage future! HA!

Spring!

While driving I spotted some BEAUTIFUL orange and yellow flowers on the side of the road. It's a good thing I had my own personal model in the car with me! So we pulled over and took some shots....
I'm getting SO excited for Spring!!!

Mana.

We had such a fun week with Mana, aka Val, aka Roy's mom:) My kids literally count the days until she comes, and there are always tears shed when she has to go:( She was such a great help to me with the kids from getting them ready for school in the morning (ugh!) to watching the baby for me in the middle of the day so I could go get my hair done! Not to mention the fact that she took them to the zoo and let them both sleep in her room!(I think that deserves some kind of award?!) My kids are sooooooo lucky to have such wonderful grandparents who love and adore them!
Thanks again Val for a very memorable week! We love you:)

Sea Lions Rule!!

My mother-in-law took the kids to the zoo the other day while I stayed at home with Van. Excitement and all things fun seem to follow my mother-in-law, because this stuff always happens when she's around! So it wasn't any surprise when I got a call from Mia saying she kissed a sea lion! Apparently Mia was completely at ease on stage and was not the least bit scared to touch the sea lion! I think this experience will be something she will NEVER forget:)

Sunday Funday!

There are many reasons why we choose to pay the big bucks to live in San Diego. This is one of them. We decided to drive down the coast after church on Sunday to check out the big waves, and found ourselves in Del Mar/La Jolla watching the para-gliders jump off the cliffs and take flight! It was truly a sight to be seen. Can you tell I am still LOVING my new camera???

Until the next photo opp....