Will he ever forgive me?

For making him wear this hat?

I ♥ Faces Birthdays and Pets!

Birthdays!

I am having so much fun with the I ♥ Faces contests. Getting to "know" some of these amazing photographers and learning so much from them is awesome. Why did I wait 19 weeks to do this? No clue. Anyway, this is from Noah Red's first birthday party. He was just thrilled beyond belief that we would just put a chocolate cake on his tray and let him go for it. Not to mention all of his favorite people were there watching and laughing at his every move. It was a fantastic day!

Pets!

Surely I am the only person entering a worm in the Pet category this week! I promise you that no worm has ever been loved as much as Hope loved CoCo. It was very tragic when she found him dead the next day. Very tragic. After finding him dead, Hope declared that Worms do not make very good friends!

In Memory of CoCo. He was a good worm.

That girl of mine

I have been playing with photoshop layers this weekend. Something that is totally new to me. So, I realize these are not great, but it is really fun to learn. And, just to be clear, I like funky photos. I like lots of color, I like to boost color, and I like things off center. I realize some of these things drive some people crazy (some people being John, mainly.)

This picture started like this...

I added 2 layers (total of 3.)

One: background/sky. I increased the blues.

Two: Hope. I increased the blues, contrast and brightness.

3: Hope's bow and shirt straps. I increased the red. I made this a separate layer, because when you increase the reds on a person, the skin color turns funky. Funky in a bad way.

Now, I know this is some people's biggest pet peeve (um, Adam?!) Same picture, I just turned the first 2 layers black and white and left the red bow and straps. Deep breaths Adam, it's ok. I was just playing.

The Memphis Zoo or Bust

We decided to take a little day trip on Thursday to the Memphis Zoo. My mom, dad and I took my two kids plus my 3 nieces for the day for a lightning fast trip. Riley had to be back for soccer, but we couldn't even think about going without our animal lover! We rushed in, saw the monkeys, ran over to watch the Sea lion show, saw the pandas, ate lunch, ran here and there, and then it was already time to go! We are going to go back soon so we won't be so rushed! Hope has a broken toe, so I was really worried about her having to stay in the stroller all day, but that was just silly. She ran all over that zoo. She has become quite good at walking and running on the heel of her foot. (The toe was broken on Wednesday at school when it got accidentally slammed in a door to the indoor playground. She has not complained once since. The toenail is going to fall off soon and it so hurts me to look at it, but she has been a trooper!) We all had a lot of fun on our quick trip. Everyone had a favorite part of the trip. My favorite part was just watching Hope take in the Memphis Zoo for the first time. I grew up going to the Memphis Zoo when we lived in Jonesboro. We went every Mother's Day, and every time we visited my Aunt Frankee. I have lots of good memories there...and even one traumatic one...keep reading!

Say hello to my new favorite picture of Hope! Hope never ever ever just looks at my camera and smiles. She can look at the camera, or she can smile. You just can rarely get both. When she woke up that morning, she said "Mommy, I had a dream that I looked at your camera and smiled!" She knows it drives me nuts that she won't do this! So, at the zoo, I reminded her of her dream, and she just looked at my camera and smiled! This made my day!

Here is my overly dramatic TRAUMATIC story about the Memphis Zoo. My Aunt Frankee is an amazing photographer. She has taken some of my all time favorite pictures of my family. On one trip to the zoo, she was taking pictures of me and my sister. She sat me on this wall ( I think I was about 4!) and took some pictures, and then she and Jennifer got distracted, and walked away! Really, they did! They left me on this wall. I of course had to sit Hope on the wall for a picture. But, I did NOT walk away! :-)

I ♥ Faces - Silhouettes!

This week at I ♥ Faces it is Silhouettes week. I had not ever taken a silhouette before, so I had some fun trying this evening! It was a great chance for me to learn with some of my settings (and my timer.) I had a hard time trying to decide if this should be black and white or not, but I eventually chose the color because I liked the warmth. Around 6 in the evening, the sun comes shining through Noah's nursery window, so I thought this would be a good spot. Hope did not want to be my subject, so Noah and I had our own fun. And, as a bonus, this will be proof to Noah that I really was around during his childhood, even though I am not in many photos! See Noah, there I am, the dark shadowy figure... errr.
Your turn, go post your Silhouette photo! This week you have Tuesday and Wednesday to enter!

Carseat Safety

I know some of you think I am way over the top when it comes to carseat talk (and thankfully, I have learned that there are others of you out there who are equally over the top!) There is a new post over on MckMama's blog with some excellent information on carseat safety! Please take a look! Click here!

The Recital (with LOTS of pictures!)

The recital was a lot of fun. The events leading up to the recital were a bit chaotic, but once she was on the stage, she was a star. She is much more graceful than her mommy!

The afternoon started with me being in charge of getting 5 giddy, giggly, 4 year old girls dressed and ready for the recital. Costumes, hair, make-up. It was a tad on the crazy side.

Then, all the girls, I mean like ALL the girls (not just my 5) were put in a staging room where they were to wait until it was their turn. It was more than a tad on the crazy side. Hope does not do well in these situations. Too much stimulation and noises...she just melts down. And she did just that. Luckily, I got her out of the room and in a quiet hallway before the meltdown got too terribly bad. Aunt Nenny showed up just in time with her iphone which kept Hope entertained until it was her turn to perform.

She really did well, and did everything she was supposed to do when it was her turn in the spotlight.

There were times when she still did her own thing, but she definitely paid attention better than she did last year!

Her favorite part: skipping in a circle!

Julia's 6th Grade Graduation from CAC

It is possible I got a little carried away with photoshop today when playing with this picture of Julia...

My precious niece, Julia's, Sixth Grade Graduation would have been an exciting day all in itself. Clara added a bang to the celebration when she fell during the ceremony and hit her head on a pew, busting it wide open. 7 stitches! Ouch. Jennifer says she was so brave, which, I know what you are thinking, she must have gotten that bravery from me! Um, no? Ok, you are probably right. Anyway, we will never forget Julia's graduation day! I stayed to take pictures of our graduate. I think you can tell she had a great time!

Look! Maybe Julia didn't get those short Hoover/Naylor genes! She is only a couple inches shorter than her friend!

Er, never mind! Looks like she did! Julia, repeat after me, "I am little but I am mighty!" :-)

So proud of you, Julia T!

Recital Preview

I have got to go to bed, but I just had to post this first. Look for more tomorrow! She was a star!

Worms Don't Make Very Good Friends

So, I know it is really funny to my mom and family that Hope is "just like me." And I will admit, her sass, her stubbornness, her attention span... all very familiar. But, there is a possibility that she is not 100% me. Because, you would have NEVER in a million years found me in the backyard making friends with 2 worms!

But, Hope had The.Best. Time. making friends with these two worms. CoCo and Squirmy. She sat in the backyard for close to an hour watching them, relocating them, talking to them, digging holes for them to crawl in.

And after her fun time with friends, her mommy nearly scrubbed her fingerprints right off her tiny grubby hands. Just the thought of worms...eww.

Good times, right? I was pretty proud of myself for letting her explore and get dirty without discouraging her (which was of course my very first reaction.) We moved on, ate dinner, went to bed.

Next morning, Hope lets the dog out in the backyard and goes out there with the dog. She comes back to the door SCREAMING "CoCo is DEAD!!" She proceeds to bring me the shriveled up dead worm. So sad.

Hope processes things for a bit, and then come the flood of questions and comments. She prayed for CoCo that night, and for Squirmy. Then she tells me that Squirmy has ran away. And she starts crying, again. Then, she dries it up pretty quickly and says matter of factly, "Worms don't make very good friends."

Very true, sweet girl. Very true.

Brother is no longer satisfied watching sister play in the backyard from the window. He will scream and fuss until he is out in the sunshine. Who can blame him? He still doesn't like to be in the grass, though. I am sure this will change soon.