If I sound like an infomercial, so sorry, I'm just totally excited to share this amazing new tool!
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Letting loose a jewelry secret
If I sound like an infomercial, so sorry, I'm just totally excited to share this amazing new tool!
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Tyler's at camp
Poor Cole has been missing his 'boy' this week. He's made a little pile in front of Tyler's door with things that he might have forgotten in his absence. There is one stinky old shoe, one dirty sock complete with caked mud, one drum stick from Tyler's Rock Band game and one tiny Turtle from last week's VBS. The Turtle has made it's way to various places in the house because the dogs carried it around all week like a Teadybear, but eventually at some point in the day, Cole lays it atop the little pile in front of Tyler's door and just sighs. It will be a glourious day when his 'boy' Tyler returns and the running, jumping, chasing, and tug of war begin again. We are just not so fun as a little boy-littter-mate!
Mosaic Composite Photographs
http://homepage.mac.com/knarf/MacOSaiX/Download.html
It's called MacOSaiX and it takes photo's from your events folder or other folder and makes composite mosaic photographs while overlaying them onto an existing image.
Here's a sample of some I've done: (click on them to see the photo's within the photo)
The only draw back is that it takes a long time to compile and takes quite a bit of memory to create. I set mine to 'go' then just left the computer alone for an hour and came back to save it. Also when you save it, pay special attention to the inches or pixels it's saved as. If you only want an 8x10, make sure you enter the size or you'll have 25mb of storage wrapped up in a poster sized photo! On the other hand if you WANT a poster sized photo for a graduation or wall art, it's amazing the quality you can get out of this tiny little program!
Happy downloading!
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Friday, June 19, 2009
The Fly Hunter
Cole spent over 30 minutes hunting this fly around the sun room. He was very serious at his job, but just couldn’t stand the tickle the fly made when it touched his nose or fur. It was hilarious to watch the first time, but now, thanks to Brandon’s filming we get to enjoy it again and again!
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Southwest Crock Pot Chicken
Southwest Crock Pot Chicken
Cook Time: 3 hours
Ingredients:
1 can (15 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained
2 cans (15 oz) whole kernel corn, drained
1 cup bottled thick and chunky salsa, your favorite
5 or 6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves or tenders (about 2 lbs)
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
Preparation:
In a 3-1/2- to 5-quart slow cooker, mix together the black beans, corn, and 1/2 cup of the salsa. Top with the chicken breasts, then pour the remaining 1/2 cup salsa over the chicken. Cover and cook on HIGH for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, or until the chicken is tender and white throughout; do not overcook or the chicken will be dry. Sprinkle cheese on top; cover and cook until the cheese melts, about 5 to 15 minutes. Serve with tortilla chips.
Serves 6.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Art and Nature
International Peace Gardens USA and Canada
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Doin' the Shimmy Shimmy Shake!
International Music Camp
Brandon went off to the International Peace Gardens at the border of Canada and the United States last week for Music Camp. He had such a blast. It’s run kind of like a college campus. There are Deans in each of the dorms to monitor the kids while they are there, then teachers in all of the buildings to help the students get to where they needed to go, but other than that they were handed a schedule and encouraged to enjoy their week. It was like sending your kids off to college at the age of 12! EEek!
Of course he did great, and so did Mom in case you were wondering. He learned 6 new pieces of music in 6 days, had classes 6 hours each day and got up at 6:30am and went to bed at 11pm. See a trend here? He had $25 to spend during the week at the gift shop and he spent all 25 on candy, chips, and pop. (Can you tell he doesn’t get much junk food at home?!!!)
We went to the Peace Gardens to pick him up last Saturday and they had a wonderful series of concerts for us from the kids hard work over the week. There was a Orchestra concert, two band concerts, a choral concert, and several individual performers in a variety concert. What a beautiful time we had listening to all that budding talent. In fact I made a remark to Brandon that THIS concert sounded better than the end of year concert at his school. He said “it aught to, we spent 6 hours a day just learning the music and the rest of the day playing it!” :)
One camp down, one to go! Tyler’s next with Lutheran Island Adventure-Camp in just a few short days! Ahh, to be a kid again! It makes ME want to go to camp!
Monday, June 8, 2009
Fergie goes back to nature
Today a little thunk and twitter turned into an 'awwwwwwwwe, can we keep em'.
A little finch mistakenly flew into our plate glass window and it knocked the sense out of him.
Tyler lovingly grabbed an empty shoe box, lined it with a towel and gave the bird some seed to eat. He's hoping after a short rest the bird will feel better enough to fly back to his family, but for now my Fergie shoe box is serving as it's home and a secure location far from the dog's curiosity.
We'll keep you updated on our little yellow wonder and how his healing progresses.
UPDATE: INDEED, after several hours of resting our little friend roused from his drunken stupor and picked his way out of the box. With a little coaxing and some good old fashioned well wishes he flew back through the door and over the house to join his friends and family out in the big world beyond our back yard. Way to go Tyler for your compassion and patience, I'm sure this little bird is glad you were there to save him!
Summer Job
You know your OLD when your first born has his very own summer job!
After nearly fleeing from the sight of big dogs two years ago to volunteering at an animal shelter last year, to reading Cesar Millan's dog training books, Brandon's become quite the dog whisperer.
Our new neighbors noticed just how well Brandon handled his own excitable dog as he walked it and approached him about walking their dogs while they were at work. Our little guy stepped up to the plate and loves every moment of his new job!
Jack Russell Terriers, Carter, and Griffin think Brandon's pretty special too!