The bluebonnets...

...they call to me!
I just HAD to go back to the patch again last night. I couldn't NOT go. Yes, it had been storming allllllll day yesterday, but when it cleared up at about 5:00pm, the sky had perfect cloud coverage (in other words, poor man's light filter...) I knew NOONE would be there and we would have the place to ourselves. And, we did. I called Nana who lives down the road from the bluebonnets and had her meet us there, and away we went! I put Lorelai in a more colorful dress this time (thanks, Auntie L!) to add a little more pop to the picture (and, eventually, my wall.) The other pics came out well, and they are still in the running, but seriously. You can't beat this lighting. Add these to your voting...












...and, of course, one with Nana!

Why I love photoshop...

....and why Photoshop can be soooo deceiving :)

Here is the before of picture #1
(not sayin this pic has won yet, just demonstrating some skills...If you havent looked at my previous post, go there to pic your fav...)



And here it is post-photoshop:


Notice anything missing???
I was able to crop out the other photographer on the left, but had to do some MAJOR clone stamping to remove the car to the left of Lorelai and the person walking on the right.

I. love. photoshop.

Bluebonnets...

I love having a girl. I love living in Texas. The two combined equal a BEAUTIFUL combination. My first set of bluebonnet pics with my sweet little strong-willed child. We went to the bluebonnet patch off Melody lane right by 2351...yes, in a sweet old man's front yard. He welcomes the company and asks for a picture for his albums if you come back by. I had to do very little editing on some of these, some I got too excited because I LOVE photoshop, and some I had to tone down BIGtime because there was full sunlight coming in. I am going to pick the favorite for our living room wall, so everyone cast your vote...I need some opinions! I can NOT decide. Number from top to bottom (starting at 1, of course...duh.) to avoid confusion (i.e. I really like the one of her in the bluebonnets! ...wow.)















I will post the picture with the most votes in 4 days.
Go.

***Update*** Karen, here is the pic you requested, boosted! I took the boost down to about 80% b/c it seemed a little overwhelming with the quick edge burn (which I also took down.) Let me know what you think.

Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be cowgirls...

So this was our second trip to the livestock show with Lorelai! It was during our wierd, only-in-Texas, freezing blast of wind and rain week before last, and we were accompanied by Nana! Lorelai got to wear her cowgirl boots from Auntie L, and enjoyed it just as much this time around, although she was still in a pet-but-DO NOT-ride mode with the ponies. Oh well! She still had a great time and even got a t-shirt and a stick pony! Woohoo! Here's what you came here for:




We were walking around, trying to contain the wild animal that is Lorelai, when we decided to take her to her favorite place on earth- the petting zoo! She had just as much fun as she always does, but I noticed in retrospect a sequence of events in the next few pictures that made me DIE laughing. AH, how it all makes sense now!
Here is the first picture of the sequence.

As she was making this priceless face, I was laughing and thinking how this was one of those toddler moments I am SOOO glad I caught on film! What happened next, however, was one of those toddler moments I was SOOO glad I did NOT catch on film. Lorelai had a lesson in animal A&P (anatomy and physiology) that day. She poked the poor animals poo-hole. She just couldn't help herself.
I stopped laughing and ran for the hand sanitizer. BLEH.
So, naturally, this is what happened a few minutes later:

That little turkey came back and took a few chomps on Lorelai's shirt!
Game. On.

Lorelai's retaliation: trying to step on the goat's head. Good one.
I didn't even realize as the events were occuring that this was the same goat she was going back and forth with.
This next one is after Lorelai noticed she had hay all over her diaper:

And a couple more random ones to conclude Rodeo Houston 2009:



and now, as a bonus, a little video.
If you went to the Rodeo this year, you were introduced to the most amazing thing ever: Mutton Bustin.
For those of you who did not make it, here's a little sample:

That's right, folks. It's just pre-schoolers holding onto a sheep for dear life. And, it's awesome. I haven't laughed that hard in a looooooooong time!
So, naturally, we tried it out with Lorelai. No animals were harmed in the taping of this video... and since we had no mutton on hand, we used Kelly's dog, Aggie, who is a beast of a dog. The video isn't as good as it could have been, mainly because Shawn wouldn't let go of Lorelai and let her ride free, as clearly she wanted to (wuss.) And please try to ignore the cell phone music in the background, it's really quite distracting.

If you can manage to get past that little piece of gold...
Onto other news....Lorelai's cold virus proved to be short-lived, Thank the Lord! She had a 102 fever Thursday and Friday, but seems to be doing much better today. She is really, really getting into her terrible twos (nice and early) and it is a real lesson in patience to be home all day with her (as well as a blessing, don't think I don't know that!) We are thankful the weather is getting warmer so she can just go free in the backyard until she's too exhausted to do anything but nap. :)
Next blog: our trip to the bluebonnet patch. It's awesome.

Friendswood Carnival

A couple of weeks ago we went to a festival at my mom's church, Friendswood Church of Christ. It was so much fun! I know Lorelai had a blast...except she wasn't as eager to ride the pony this time. She would pet it, love it, but NOT ride it! Here are my favorite pics:





LOVE the stinkeye she gives me after I try to put her on the horse. :)
Another blog to follow shortly! We went back to the livestock show and I've got some fantastic pics of her in her cowgirl boots! Little miss has been running a low-grade fever all week and we've just been laying low and catering to her moods!
Til next time...

My Little Cowgirl...

Thursday was an exciting day in the life of Lorelai (or so I would imagine...) She saw the Astrodome for the first time in her life, rode a pony for the first time, and got to harrass, abuse, and generally torture many small animals! Exciting. I've also been playing around with photoshop alot the past few days, so if you hate photos that aren't all-natural, .....sorry. Of course I didn't fix any flaws on Lorelai, because quite frankly, what flaws could a 15 month old have?? I just played alot with colors and lighting (courtesy of Pioneer Woman's photoshop action sets!) So here we are! These first few of her riding the pony, loving the pony, and then very shortly after realizing my hand was not supporting her, freaking out on the pony! I settled her down and she went back to loving the pony...




Cutest. Cowgirl. EVER.
These next ones were taken at the Petting Zoo. This is probably Lorelai's favorite setting in the whole world- animals TRAPPED and forced to take her love. She LOVES animals- all animals- they just don't love her so much at this point in her life! She's a little....ummm....rough, to put it mildly. She's also very obtrusive to their daily activities. In some of these you will notice she is in their face while they are eating hay, poking their eyes, letting them know where their nose is, and she was even trying to talk to a little baby goat while he was trying to nurse. He thought she was very rude, but was nice enough back to her. There was only one animal in there who was her equal. (dum Dum DUM) The Llama. This feller chomped on all of our shirts, and only after me yelling at him while he was eating Lorelai's shirt did she get upset.



(next one) "and this is your Nose!"

"Don't worry, he doesn't bite!"

"are YOU talkin to ME??"

Lorelai: Eye! Eye! Eye!
Animal: Uncle! Uncle! Uncle!

"...kids!"

The infamous Llama:

Lorelai's response:

Big girls don't cry!

"Shhhhh! Just go."

Here are a few favorites from inside the reliant arena where the livestock show was...


All tuckered out, ready to go home...

Auntie L also bought Lorelai some fantastic cowgirl boots, pics of those to follow in the near future!