how to avoid the crowds (or miss them altogether)

Back at Christmas when we first starting talking about my mom coming for a visit in the spring or summer, I immediately thought of the Canadian Tulip Festival here in Ottawa which was scheduled to run from May 1st - 18th this year. With my mom's love of flowers, the beautiful spring weather and the proximity to Liam's birthday it seemed like the perfect time for a visit.

She arrived Friday afternoon, May 15th, and we spent the weekend furiously cleaning puttering around the house and getting ready for Andrew's baby dedication at church that Sunday (more in coming post). Monday was dedicated to building a play structure in the backyard in preparation for Liam's birthday party the following weekend.

That night as I sat down to catch up on some of my favorite local blogs, I read several posts showcasing this year's tulip festival. Beach Mama had some great pictures of the fair at Major's Hill Park, Rebecca at A little bit of Momsense posted some beautiful pictures of the seas of tulips, A Crafty Mom and her three Things made a day of the festival and spent the day downtown, and Postcard from the Mothership's Dani was waaay on top of things, writing her Tulip Festival post May 5th! You'd think that Dani's post would've been enough of a reminder, but I was still in a slight panic when I noticed that many of these posts mentioned that Monday was the last day...

The last day??

We'd missed it!

We decided to take our chances and head into Ottawa in the hopes that we'd at least be able to see some of the flowers in bloom. However we crossed the bridge and my heart sank as I saw a group of city workers DIGGING UP ALL THE TULIP BULBS in the beds around Parliament Hill. Oh, the carnage! My hopes weren't high, but we pressed on towards Dows Lake along Queen Elizabeth Drive.

And here's what we found...

Beds and beds of lovely tulips!

Simon and Grandma

I wish I'd thought to dress Simon in something that would contrast more
with the flowers. As it was, his green sweater totally blended into the tulip stems.
Nothing a little post-processing magic couldn't solve!

I tried orange first (I love anything orange), but it was a bit too fake looking.

Blue won out.
(Even though it's not orange. I love you orange.)

Look past the sweet grandma/grandson moment... See the sea of yellow, pink and
white behind my mom and Simon? It's like that for blocks and blocks.

I even managed to make it into a few pictures.

Simon ran and ran and ran. ALL. MORNING. Because it wasn't busy, we
didn't have to worry about losing sight of him in any crowds.

Even though we went A DAY TOO LATE, I think we had a better time than had we gone on the weekend or at the height of the festival. We were able to park less than half a block away, there were no crowds, no one walking through my shots, and lots of room to run and run (*see above). Sure we missed the rides and the fair and the vendors and musicians and food (Can you believe we've been here just over a year now and I HAVE YET TO EAT A BEAVER TAIL?), but we were able to take in the beautiful flowers, get out on a lovely-if-a-bit-windy day, enjoy a special time with my mom and get some exercise... all for free!

Part of our commitment to pay of our debt was to not put ourselves into situations where we'd be tempted to spend money. Completely forgetting about the last day of a festival we'd planned on going to for months? Temptation removed.

Another benefit to going to the festival after it had already ended was that I didn't have to stress to much if Simon decided to dig in the flower beds like he did a year ago...


This post links back to PhotoStory Friday, hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek, Friday Foto Finish over at Candid Carrie, and Life as Mom's Frugal Friday.

ETA: Somehow this post was set to not allow comments. That's been fixed. The shower of praise may now begin.

can I get a high five?

We've paid off our line of credit! I made the last payment this morning (we had the money to pay it yesterday, but the bank wouldn't let me make THAT BIG of a payment at once). See the graph in the side bar?? It feels awesome to have that thing paid off and no longer hanging over our heads, all the more so because of how hard we worked to get it done.

It definitely helped to have received some big chunks of unexpected money these last five months: a larger than anticipated income tax return, a huge retroactive payment for Quebec child tax that we didn't know existed so hadn't applied for, and a lump sum payment for Peter's Collective Agreement having been re-signed.

All that money could've easily (EASILY) been spent on other -ie. more fun- things. How bout a little family vacation? A few new camera lenses and an external flash? A new vehicle when we needed to upgrade? A new kitchen (oh for a new kitchen!)? The deck we'd like to build in our backyard?

Believe me, there's a list.

In addition to having to exercise A LOT of self-control when those cheques came, we also really cut back on expenses. Reeeeally cut back. As in, cut back in every area possible.
- no eating out
- no shopping (if we absolutely needed something, we looked second-hand first)
- no renting movies (maybe one every other month... if we had a coupon)
- smallest cell plans possible (because we were in a contract and couldn't cancel completely)
- basic cable (which we could've cut too, but we needed something)
- buying a three year old van when we needed to upgrade to something that would fit three car seats
- keeping our grocery bill under or around $400 a month (NOT EASY!)
- and cutting down on other household expenses: cloth diapers instead of disposables, homemade cleaning supplies, baking bread, winter temperature set at 15C (59F) at night, 17C (62.5F) during the day and 21C (70F) at night (I'm nothing if not a benevolent dictator), etc.

Basically, we lived as frugally as we possibly could. Our moto became:

Use it up,
Wear it out,
Make it do
Or do without.

And it worked. Thirteen thousand dollars in less than five months, is no small feat. We're excited and proud of ourselves. Next on the chopping block is our van payment. It's supposed to take another 4 1/2 years to pay off... think we can do it in one year??

Living frugally to pay off debt definitely Works For Me.

meal plan and grocery roundup - May 25th

PRODUCE- 2.5lbs of grapes ($2.99/lb *dead faint* but we needed something for smoothies)
- 3 bags of boston lettuce ($.99 each)
- 1lb organic strawberries ($2.99)
- 1 mango ($.69)
- 3lbs clementines ($4.99, cause Peter can't eat the $.65/lb navel oranges *rolls eyes*)
- 1 pomegranate ($1.99)
- bananas ($.69/lb)
- tomatoes ($.99/lb)

THE REST
-Terra chips (that I just now realized they didn't give me the 50% off of that they should've. grrr. I would never have paid $5.19 for a bag of chips! Even if Simon can eat them!)
- 2 bags of rice noodles ($2.49 each)
- 2 jars of organic jam (2/$4.00)
- Simon's goat yogurt ($3.79)
- 2 cheese ($2.99/300g)
- top sirloin steaks ($2.99/lb)
- 4L of milk that I forgot to put in the picture ($5.58)

Total this week was $65.93. So under $100, but I sure don't feel like I got much! They were out of several things that I wanted to buy like butter (on sale), spring lettuce mix, frozen OJ (SUPER sale, but I got a raincheck) and a few other items.

Monday
- thai lettuce wraps

Tuesday
- bbq'd steak
- Caesar salad
- some other (easy) veggie, maybe just cucumbers and grape tomatoes with dip

Wednesday
- frittata with tomatoes, spinach, mushrooms and feta

Thursday
- baked rice pasta with spinach, pumpkin and goat cheese

Friday
- szechwan shrimp with veggies over brown basmati rice (since we didn't get to it AGAIN last week, hopefully the third week's the charm)

Saturday
- burgers

Sunday
- not sure yet

Visit HERE for more grocery roundups and HERE for hundreds of meal ideas.

party in pictures

Liam, could you just stand still? I want to take a picture! Right. Thanks.

The big kid in the middle is Patrick.

The relative safety of the playhouse.

Andrew and his buddy, Alexis.

Death Star pinata painted by Nana and mum, decorated by the birthday boy himself.

Almost life-size to my 4 1/2 month old. I've never wanted to
pick up a cake and rock it before...

BIRTHDAY BOY

Sharing the rebozo love with little Remi and the lovely Shanon.

But you told me I couldn't have Bionicles til I was seven, mom!

A post with the cake details will have to wait for another day. Suffice to say it was a lot of work but it was TOTALLY WORTH IT.

I love you, Liam.

How we did it:
pre-party planning and ideas
the invitation how-to
pool noodle lightsabers
marshmallow fondant
the cake (in less than 100 pictures)
the big day

8+ hours of cake decorating later

Two cakes, two batches of rice crispy squares, and two batches of marshmallow fondant, then decorating? = OVER 8 HOURS OF WORK.

The expression on my 6 year old's face when he saw his Commander Fox Lego Clone Trooper cake? = PRICELESS.

I have loads of pictures to go through yet, so a more complete post will have to wait a bit. It was so much fun though, and Liam told me at the end of the day that it was the BEST DAY he'd ever had.

after a record breaking 40.3 million votes...

The winner is... LOUKIA! Congrats Loukia. Let me know which of the two prizes you'd like so I can put in an order on Amazon for two (one for me and one for you).

The Dave Ramsay book really is amazing -- although he might make you give up your purse habit ;) -- and sounds like you and I could both benefit from the Shred. However if you're prancing around parks wearing Lulu's, I likely have much more work to do than you.

Whichever prize you choose, I hope we'll have fun doing it "together".

Anyone else want to join??

free coffee at Tim's today!

I first read this over at Simply Frugal (a canadian site!) a week or so back, but almost forgot about it...

Today, May 21st, from noon til 5:00pm, you can get a FREE SMALL ICED COFFEE at Tim Horton's. I'm not really a coffee drinker, but it's free and there's ice in it. It's so blazing hot today, that I'd probably drink a glass of chicken stock if it had ice cubes in it.

No purchase necessary. Limit one small Iced Coffee per customer. Offer valid in Canada only, excluding British Columbia and Manitoba (whose residents can get a FREE small iced latte! I think I'd rather the iced latte, myself, but beggers acan't be choosers).

wordless wednesday

windy day

ETA: I know this is supposed to be a wordless post, but I will add one note: This is a picture of my SON, Simon. Ain't he pretty?

(Although, don't feel bad for your comment, Shelly. It totally made me laugh.)

Don't forget to enter my blogoversary contest.

blurb photo book contest

Here's my entry for the amateurs category of the I ♥ Faces Blurb Photo Book contest. I know it's not the best picture, but I'm running out of time trying to chose one.

And this one makes me smile. Andrew was about 5 weeks old here and starting to do a decent job of holding his head up.


"I am submitting this photo into the www.iheartfaces.com Blurb Book photo contest. I am granting I ♥ Faces permission to use my photo in a

printed version of a book for commercial use and possibly advertising of a photo book on both the Blurb and I ♥ Faces web sites."

ETA: I changed my picture last night (but before the deadline. Promise!). I had originally chosen a picture of Liam lying in the snow, but he was wearing a white toque which made it hard to see his head. Looked kinda weird. So I decided to enter this one instead. I should try to take another picture of Andrew in this same place/position so you can see how his eyes have completely changed color.

Don't forget to enter my blogoversary contest.

would you rather lose weight or get ride of debt?

Happy Blogoversary to me!

This wee blog of mine was started a year ago, May 19th, 2008. We'd recently moved across Canada from Calgary to the Ottawa area and didn't know a soul. We had no family or friends around and were living in a hotel in downtown Ottawa (for FIVE WEEKS). I was ten weeks pregnant and suffering from A.W.F.U.L morning sickness. I was sick, bored and more than a bit lonely.

A blog was born.

I wasn't sure if I should celebrate my one year anniversary today or wait until February 5th which was the first time that someone other than a family friend or family member left a comment on my blog (it was Noreen from 5K--Live Love Laugh).

That fateful day. I was hooked.

But having to wait until NEXT February wouldn't be any fun. I'm too impatient.

So to celebrate a year of rambling blogging, I'll be giving away a copy of EITHER the 30-Day Shred with Jillian Michaels OR The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsay. You can read more about my reasons for choosing these two prizes HERE. Because of our commitment to paying off our debt, this prize will be coming to you courtesy of the SwagBucks I've been winning.

In order to enter, here's what you have to do:

• Leave me a comment here on why YOU would like to win either the DVD or book (feel free to also include how great you think I am).

And because I'm a lemming and most other blog giveaways include the following ways to get additional entries, I'll include them too:

• Blog about this giveaway, and then come back here and leave a link for me to check out.
• Twitter about this giveaway (or RT my Twitter feed post update thingy), and then come back here and leave me a link to your tweet.
• Subscribe to my feed, or let me know if you already do.

Leave a separate comment for each entry.

Rules, regulations, and other important stuff: This giveaway ends Saturday, May 23rd at 11:59 PM, EST (at which time I will be passed out after Liam's Lego Clone Wars birthday extraordinaire). Winner will be chosen the following day via Random.org (or we'll cut all the names out of paper, tape them to the wall and throw darts). Winner has 48 hours to respond to my notification email, or a new winner will be chosen in their place. Giveaway is open to Canadian and US residents.

But remember, there's a catch...

I wish I had hundreds of prizes for all my hundreds of readers at least a couple dozen prizes for each of my handful of loyal readers (hey, I'm all about quality over quantity and I have some QUALITY readers!). If you've never left a comment before, I'd love to hear from you. De-lurk yourself! I really do truly appreciate everyone who takes time to read this blog.

What originally began as a space to share stories and pictures with my family and close friends has become much more. Still a place to record my thoughts and memories, it's now also a place where I can connect with other moms (or stay at home dads... hi, Ryan), explore parenting issues, work through feelings about my dad's death, seek accountability and vent and complain about bugs.

Thank you for sharing your time and lives with me. It means more than I can say.

meal plan and grocery roundup - May 18th

Sunday
- roasted leg of lamb (from Nourishing Traditions) with garlic sweet potatoes
- roasted cauliflower

Monday
- supper at a friends, not sure yet what we're taking

Tuesday
- roasted or BBQ'd chicken
- grilled asparagus
- salad

Wednesday
- roasted red pepper soup (I know we have this a lot, but my mom is in town and I want her to try it. Has anyone else given it a try? Penny, how did your kids like it?)
- fresh homemade bread

Thursday
- frittata with tomatoes, spinach, mushrooms and feta

Friday
- szechwan shrimp with veggies over brown basmati rice (since we didn't get to it last week)

Saturday
- LIAM'S BIRTHDAY PARTY! The menu is not totally set, but it'll be kid/finger friendly and hopefully involve eating outside. Please let it be nice out! Please let it be nice out! Please let it be nice out!

Sunday
- leftover birthday cake
- nothing else.

I'll add in my weekly shopping later, but wanted to get this post up before I completely forget the end of the day.

Visit HERE for more grocery roundups and HERE for hundreds of meal ideas.

another $2000 bites the dust

We paid another $2000 on our line of credit last week. That's a total of $10,000 in 4 1/2 months! Ugh, makes me wish we could've done something else with all that money. A trip, a kitchen remodel, maybe a few new lenses and Photoshop Pro and Lightroom...

We will NEVER have debt like this again.

$3000 to go.

a different kind of giveaway for my blogoversary

Earlier this week I asked what most bloggers do for their blogoversary. After an overwhelming response 3 comments (thanks Kami, Sab and Loukia!) I've decided to have a little giveaway.

But there a twist.

Most giveaways I've seen around the blogosphere are the result of a marketing campaign focused on mommy bloggers and the power of word of mouth (unless you're Pioneer Woman and can afford to give away cameras and KitchenAid mixers and the like. Oh, to be PW. Oh, to have a stand mixer...). I have nothing at all against those who host giveaways or have review blogs, but I do sometimes get tired of feeling like I'm "being sold" each time I visit a blog.

What makes this giveaway different is that the winner will have their choice of prizes, the prize chosen will not be "sponsored" (nor will it come out of my pocket), AND there's a catch. Of course.

Up for grabs next week will be ONE of the following (one, people. ONLY ONE.):

- the 30-Day Shred with Jillian Michaels














- The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsay














The prize will be shipped from either Amazon.com or Amazon.ca (depending on where you live).

How am I able to do this without spending any money out of pocket? Thanks to SwagBucks! Since joining about a month ago, I've won enough SwagBucks for $20 in Amazon gift certificates. Like I said in my initial post about SwagBucks, no one will get rich using them. $20 in a month is no winfall. But it's giving me that chance to say a little thank you to all of you who read my blog. It's worth it.

Peter and I talked about getting Starbucks gift cards and taking advantage of free babysitting the opportunity to go out while our parents are in town, but knowing I wanted to do something special for my anniversary here we decided to go with the Amazon cards.

Peter knows how much I want to start doing the 30-Day Shred and he also knows me well enough to know that I'm going to need some accountability a buddy threats a kick in the rear lots of encouragement to do said video.

I've heard it's HARD. And I'm scared.

But it's also only 20 minutes so I think it's totally doable.

In theory.

So if you win and chose the DVD, you have to commit to doing the Shred with me and keeping me accountable/listening to me whine and cry about how much I'm hurting after not having excercised much in the last four years while I was busy growing THREE human beings. Deal?

If the winner opts for a copy of The Total Money Makeover rather than listen to me curse Jillian Michaels, we'll read the book "together" and be eachother's sounding board for thoughs, questions, and ideas about how to live debt free. TOTALLY DEBT FREE.

Be sure to check back next week to celebrate me! my blogoversary and for your chance to win. It's sort of a Choose Your Own Adventure giveaway.

just another cute baby picture, and why I need a faster lens

We get decent natural light through our east-facing living room window. Unfortunately, in order to take advantage of the light requires using this couch as a backdrop. If I had a faster lens (like this one *drool*), I'd be able to make better use of the light in the rest of the house.


I'd also be able to avoid the hundreds of pictures that I have like this:

Peter! Quit shaking the baby!

PhotoStory Friday is hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek. Friday Foto Finish can be found at Candid Carrie.

pyjamas give me my super powers

This morning, I was sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast, nursing Andrew and checking email (quite the multitasker am I). Moments after burping the babe, he projectile vomited spit up all over my lap. Luckily, it was the fresh water-y kind, not the putrid, hours-old, curdled, stinky stuff. You moms know what I'm talking about.

Making matters worse, he proceeded to unload three days worth of pent up baby poo, again, on my lap. Nice. Good thing I was still wearing pjs.

To be honest, I probably would've left my pjs on had it not been for the poo. Seeing as my plans for the day were to clean bathrooms, vacuum, and sit on the floor playing, I didn't really consider it worth a change into "real" clothes. To be completely honest, I generally stay in my pjs most days unless I'm actually planning on leaving the house or will be seen by anyone other than my boys. With my mom coming for a week, followed by a week with Peter's parents, looks like I'll be going through much more laundry seeing as I'll have to GET DRESSED each day.

And today? Because I had to change after the poop incident, I decided to take Simon and Andrew to watch Liam's class at the bowling alley. That lead to a trip to Zellers and Winners in search of a pillow. And since we were already out, we just stayed out until it was time to pick up Liam for lunch.

The vacuuming? Didn't get done. Playing with Simon? We were out all morning. Bathrooms? One out of two ain't bad.

LOOK HOW UNPRODUCTIVE I AM WHEN I CHANGE MY CLOTHES! Pyjamas give me my super powers. Take them off and it's like when Delilah cut off Samsom's hair.

gluten holds the world together

Sunday I made pizza from scratch for the whole family. Even Simon. That meant making two different dough recipes for the crust. I started out with a recipe I found at Kimber LOVES a Deal! but then modified it for our family and Simon. But being curious to see exactly how it would come out compared to the original, I made both.

The original "Thin Crust Pizza" recipe:
- .25oz packet of active dry yeast
- 1/4 tsp granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup 110 degree water
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Dissolve yeast and sugar in water and allow to rest for 8 minutes. In a separate bowl, combine flour and salt. Pour yeast mixture over the flour mixture and stir with a heavy spoon (at this point I needed to add a few more tablespoons of water). Turn dough onto a floured surface and kneed for 2 minutes. Make a 12" circle either by pressing onto a pizza pan or by pulling and stretching while rotating to keep the circle forming. Place dough on a lightly greased pizza pan and stretch to the edges. Spread sauce over dough. Finish with cheese and desired toppings. Bake fro 8-12 minutes or until edges are golden.

Simon's Wheat Free Crust:
Same as above, however replace the 1 3/4 cups of wheat flour with:
- 1 cup sorghum flour
- 1/2 cup brown rice flour
- 1/4 cup tapioca flour
- 1/2 tsp guar gum

After combining wet and dry ingredients, press into a greased glass baking dish as kneading is useless/impossible. Bake for 5-10 minutes as the oven is heating up and nearing 500 degrees. Remove from oven, top with sauce, cheese and toppings. Return to oven and bake for 8-12 minutes.

I didn't take any pictures of the final products, but here's the difference between the two doughs. First the regular wheat flour dough, followed by the gluten-free dough.



See how the wheat flour dough is all stretchy and soft and... dough-y looking? All held together by the magic of gluten?

See how the gluten-free dough looks like a graham cracker crust??

This, THIS, is why those with Celiacs Disease or a wheat intolerance crave the soft, fluffy, yeasty goodness of wheat bread. While the GF crust tasted fine (Simon gobbled it up), the texture was more like cornbread or a really dense cake.

I'm going to keep trying, but I'm not sure if it's really possible to make GF pizza crust taste just like pizza crust made from wheat flour. Luckily, Simon doesn't have much of a point of reference.

meal plan and grocery roundup - May 11th

Seeing as yesterday was Mother's Day, I decided to forgo a solo shopping trip and instead have a nap. It was lovely.

I braved the stores today with Simon and Andrew. We hit up Costco, Super C, Loblaws, and Maxi. We even ran into some friends at Loblaws (hi, Ester!) which NEVER happens here since we know so few people. Such a little thing, but I'm still smiling about it.

PRODUCE- 2 pineapples ($1.66 each)
- celery ($1.69, more than normal but we're out)
- spinach ($3.69)
- bananas ($.69/lb)
- 3lb bag of clementines ($3.99)
- 5 heads of garlic ($.99)
- tomatoes ($.99/lb)
- 4 lemons ($1)
- cauliflower ($1.99)
- apples ($.79/lb, I'm looking forward to cheap apple prices again this fall)
- organic baby carrots ($3.49)
- 2lbs basket of kiwis ($1.66)

DAIRY- 4L of milk ($5.58)
- 3x 300g cheese ($2.99 each)
- goat mozzarella ($5.49)
- Camembert cheese (50% off so only $3.50, YUM!)

MEAT AND OTHER STUFF- 2x 1kg perogies ($1.79 each)
- 1.36kg coffee ($7.35)
- organic EVOO ($7.99)
- sausage from Costco ($10.49, not cheap but the only kind I can find without wheat in them)
- chorizo ($3.99)
- Scotch Brite pads ($3.99, so mad that I found some under the sink when I went to put these away!)

My total was $90.23, so below my $100 limit. With my mom visiting for 10 days and Peter's parents here for a week, I know our budget will be over $400. It'll be interesting to see how low I can keep it though... how many times do you think I can feed them beans and rice? Just kidding. I love cooking for my family... there are more people to help clean up the mess I always make!

And what will I be making with all this lovely food?

Sunday
- homemade pizza with bbq chicken, tomatoes, mushrooms, spinach and feta cheese

Monday
- sausage, perogies and spring mix salad
- peanut butter chocolate chip cookies

Tuesday
- pasta in an olive oil sauce with sausage, tomatoes, spinach, olives and goat cheese

Wednesday
- soup (I have both ham and chicken stock made, but am not sure what kind of soup to make... probably something with lentils)
- fresh homemade bread

Thursday
- hamburgers with all the fixings

Friday
- szechwan shrimp over basmati rice

Saturday
- leftovers

This week I also plan on making my own ketchup (without onion since Simon reacts to even the bit of onion in commercial ketchup), and I hope to try my hand at making tzatziki with the goat yogurt I made on the weekend. Using goat yogurt means that Simon will be able to have some too. Think it'll be worth the effort??

Visit HERE for more grocery roundups and HERE for hundreds of meal ideas.

what to do?

What's the status quo/protocol for ones blogoversary? What have you done? Leave me a link in the comments so I can read your post and get some ideas!

this is where I get sentimental

Dear Mom,

I wish I could be with you to celebrate you this year. To celebrate your birthday Friday and Mother's Day today. Again, I'm feeling very far away.

Mom, I want you to know how much I love you. How much I appreciate your care, the many sacrifices you've made, your advice and your prayers. I want you to know how much I admire you.

It's been a hard year. It's been a hard decade (and longer), really. Yet through it all, you've been so strong. I'm sure that you had your moments of fear and frustration and anger and pain, but you were always strong in front of us.

You have always been strong for us.

Your strength is something that has become more apparent as I've grown and can now look back on my childhood and adolescence with the benefit of perspective. Whether by choice or because there was no alternative, you were strong. When faced with disappointments and tough decisions, when surrounded by uncertainty and an unclear future, when dealing with illness and disease, you were strong.

And through it all, you loved us.

I know now that, as a child, I didn't understand that love. As a teenager, I took it for granted. As an adult, I tested it. When Liam was born, I began to understand the depth of love that you can feel for your child, and also better understood your love for me. When Nathaniel died and I saw my grief mirrored in your eyes, I knew that that love never changes.

Mom, I count myself so very blessed to have you in my life. I know that you aren't thrilled with our plans to moved overseas (and take your grandkids further away!) but it is good to know that we always have a home to come back to.

Thank you for all that you've taught me, sacrificed for me and all that you've invested in me, physically, financially, spiritually, emotionally. You gave me life and I am the person I am -and the mother I am- because of you.

Your loving daughter,
Amy

why I need Photoshop

My measly, plastic-y edit:

Aaron from tharpography:

Christina from tonkamom:

Angie from theArthurClan:
(will add it in shortly, I hope)

Drew from Happy Chaos:

Wow! That's ONE CUTE KID, eh?

Thanks so much to everyone from i ♥ faces who stopped by yesterday and left feedback and advice. I'll have to read over it all again, then try my hand at this same picture to see what different results I can come up with.

A HUGE thank you to everyone who took the time to actually edit the picture themselves. Time is not something that most people have in excess, so I truly appreciate it. It has given me loads of ideas (and more than a little bit of envy for your mad PS skills!).

If you'd like to see what else these talented folks are up to, take a minute to check out their blogs. It's amazing how much I've learned and the new ideas I've gleaned just from jumping around their sites to get links for this post!

(Now who wants to tell my how to make my pics fill up my whole column?? I've tried changing the html, but must not be doing it right cause they just disappear!)