Ranching slideshow

I had a request for the Ranching slideshow that I put together. Here it is

Happy Birthday Dad!

As a birthday gift to my Dad, I put together a slideshow titled, "Ranching: Through the Years." I added a couple of songs ("Born Country" by Alabama, "The Cowboy Song" by Garth Brooks, and "40-Hour Week" by Alabama) and about 75 photos from the 1970s until now. I wanted it to represent his life as a rancher over the years. Last November, Andy and I bought him out, but he doesn't like the "R" word (a.k.a. retirement). Here are a few of my favorites:

I hope my Dad enjoyed his slideshow. I really enjoyed putting it together! Happy Birthday Dad!

Good times

I spent some time in the last week looking through a huge box of pictures from my childhood. Somehow all my mom and dad's pictures ended up at my house so I took advantage of the opportunity. I put together a photo slideshow as a birthday gift for my dad, and am in the process of putting another one together for our Giacomini family get together next month. It was fun to look through all the pictures. Here's one of my favorites. In this one, I was about 3 and my sister was about 6 months old.

My favorites....

Abigail and I did a little practice photo session a couple of days ago. I have been letting her wear her hair down to school and she loves it! I thought it would be cute to get a few photos of her like that. Plus I wanted to practice with my new camera and lens that I just bought. I had wanted to some outdoor-type portraits, but our yard isn't too colorful this time of the year. This way, I was able to try out my new green backdrop too. These photos turned out to be some of my favorite photos I have ever taken of her! Thanks for looking.

Binky free!

We have been successful in remaining pacifier-free. It actually ended up being much easier than I expected. Even with the cold he had this week, he hasn't wanted it. He did ask for it a couple of times, but I think he was testing us. We passed!!! Doodle Bear is still his favorite cuddle toy. He and Abigail are enjoying their Doodle Bear "cousins."

This week's V.I.P.

Abigail's class has a V.I.P. every week. This week she was chosen for the honor. She was asked to bring in pictures of her family, fill out a poster about her favorite things, have her parents write a short history about her (to be read aloud in class), and bring in anything that is special to her.

From her "Me, Myself, and I" poster, her favorite things are raspberries, riding her bike, and eating M&Ms. From her history about herself, she has seven pets (four dogs, two cats, and an un-named goldfish), one cow and a calf, and a horse. For fun, she likes to do crafts, color, write stories, and go to the ranch with her Daddy. When she is at the ranch, she gets to ride on a 4-wheeler and see her dogs, horse, and cow. When she grows up she wants to be a teacher.

Abigail took in a scrapbook to share with her class. She has been sharing a few pages each day. She seems to be enjoying the attention....

My first camera

Yesterday, I was looking through a box of pictures from my childhood and I came across a picture of my sister and I with my first camera. I think I was 11 or 12. Yes, I know it's not the cutest picture of me... (as my brother-in-law would say, "awwww, was that your awkward stage?"). Andy tried to talk me out of putting this picture on here (do you think he's embarrassed?) because he thought I would be embarrassing myself. Oh well.... it tells a story.

I do remember when I got this camera. I was heading off to a week-long church camp in the summer between 5th and 6th grades. My Grandma Dolly bought me this camera. I loved using it (even if I did not like church camp AT ALL!). I took a lot of pictures that summer. I think I even entered some in the county fair that year. So this is how my love of photography started....

Bye-Bye Binky!

It's been a busy couple months for J.T. In addition to potty training and getting a new big boy bed, we decided it was time for J.T. to give up his pacifier (a.k.a. "me-me"). This did not happen easily. Here's the last picture of J.T. with his beloved "me-me".
We tried cutting holes in them so they wouldn't suck correctly, but that didn't work. What ended up working (at least for now) is making a trade. Abigail has a Doodle Bear that she (and J.T.) both LOVE! A week or so ago, I asked J.T. if he would like to trade all of his "me-me"s for his very own Doodle Bear. The answer was NO!

I knew how badly he wanted one so yesterday I bought him a blue one. Andy, who is a MUCH better negotiator than I am, was able to make the trade. He was very excited to sleep with his own Doodle Bear (appropriately named "Doodle Joe Bear"). It did take him awhile to fall asleep, though, because he was used to having the "me-me" to help him relax. He slept all night and didn't even mention "me-me" until mid-morning today. We are making progress.....

I have absolutely no regrets about giving J.T. a pacifier. I do wish, though, that we would have gotten rid of it a little sooner.... Oh well, live and learn!

Abigail's owies

Last week Abigail was walking home from the bus-stop and our neighbor's puppy got a little excited.... she jumped on Abigail's back and knocked her face-first into the gravel. She cut both her lips and her gums, scraped her forehead and nose. We made an emergency visit to the dentist to make sure there was no permanent damage. The dentist said everything is okay and it's a good thing that Abigail didn't have any front teeth! Here's a picture a couple hours after it happened. The swelling went down pretty fast... thank goodness for ice packs! She still has some scrapes on her forehead and nose that are taking time to heal.

Owie #2: On Sunday night, she cut her first finger on her left hand on a folding chair. I will spare you all the gory details, but we had to use steri-strips (thank you Uncle Robert.... or should we say Dr. Robert) and are keeping those on her finger for awhile. (No picture of the finger... you really don't want to see it!)

Hopefully this will be it in the owie department for awhile. One thing I learned about Abigail, is she is tougher than I thought, probably tougher than her mommy! She has been a real trooper through all of this!

Sharing about me

I really try to learn something new everyday. Now I will share a few things about myself (one item for every year of age) so you can learn something new about me! (These are in somewhat random order....)

31 Things About Me

1. I have been happily married for 8 years, together for 11.

2. We have two wonderful children, a boy and a girl.

3. I absolutely love Nascar!

4. Dale Earnhardt Jr is my favorite driver.

5. I have never had anything chemical done to my hair.

6. I had my belly button pierced about 6 months before I turned 30.

7. I had a very hard time accepting that I was turning 30.

8. I really like my house to be neat and tidy, but I hardly ever feel like it is. (Can you say toys EVERYWHERE!)

9. I am a natural redhead.... curls are natural too!

10. I drive a Dodge 4x4 4-door truck and I like it! Can't imagine going back to a car!

11. I love red licorice (yes, I know it really isn't licorice) but I HATE black licorice!

12. I really miss the show "Friends" and love to watch re-runs.

13. I don't like nuts in my cookies or bread.... can't have the crunch with the soft.

14. Photography is my hobby. Someday maybe it will be something more....
15. I love to read. When I am in the middle of a book, I can't get anything done!

16. I never thought I was a creative person until I started scrapbooking.

17. My truck has a manual transmission (which I like) .... never had an automatic.

18. I am near-sighted in one eye, and far-sighted in the other.

19. I had braces on my teeth three different times (the third set was free because they screwed up).

20. I finally got my braces off during my junior year in high school.

21. I do not know how to operate a lawn mower (and I don't plan to learn).

22. I used to hate the color pink, until I had a baby girl. (I am wearing a pink sweatshirt right now).

23. I have one sister, who has become one of my best friends.

24. When I wake up in the morning, I don't want anyone to talk to me until I have woken up, had a shower, and at least one cup of coffee.

25. I love coffee... with some kind of yummy flavored creamer. Or a latte.

26. Shopping cheers me up. Not sure if that's a good thing or not. Probably not.

27. My husband and I are self-employed and I can't imagine working for anyone else, ever again.

28. I love sushi... yes, even the raw fish kind.

29. I really love steak.... that's a good thing since my husband and I operate a beef ranch.

30. I can't stand to have my nails filed. The sound drives me crazy.

31. I have a great life and can't imagine changing anything about it right now. I feel very blessed to have such a wonderful family and awesome friends.

Now you know a little more about me.... Lots of random things, yes, but they are what makes me who I am.

My baby isn't a baby anymore...

Last night we gave J.T. a real big boy bed. He had been in his toddler bed (converted from his crib) for about six months. We decided it was time for a twin bed. At first he wasn't too sure. He wanted us to leave his toddler bed in his room also, but we decided to make the switch quick and (hopefully) painless. It bothers me more than I thought it would that my baby isn't a baby anymore.... It is very easy to get in a hurry for them to grow up, but as they do, you find yourself missing the "baby" stuff. No, this doesn't mean I want to have another baby. I am sure it's a normal feeling.

What did I learn today? I really need to enjoy every minute of their childhood because it certainly does go by fast. Not that I didn't know this already, but it is great to have a reminder every now and then!

And here's one of Abigail all cuddled up with her favorite toy, "Doodle Marie Bear." Yes she gave it a middle name..... She wants to take that bear everywhere with her. She still hasn't gotten all those front teeth in yet!

What else did I learn today? I learned that I need to take time out for myself. I spent all morning in town shopping and doing errands.... ALONE! It was a nice break from the mommying and accounting that I do everyday. It helps refresh me and made me realize that I need to do it more often. I also want to take more time for photography. I haven't done much of it lately and I want to get back to taking at least a few photos every single day. Hope you all are taking some time for yourselves this week....

Happy New Year!

What have I learned today? One of my New Year's resolutions is to learn something new everyday AND think about how it affects my life, going forward. I especially want to learn new things about photography. I have learned so much over the past year.... I can't even put it into words. But of course I want to learn more.

I was asked recently what my five favorite photos of 2006 were. Here they are...

Thanks so much for looking!