yup, this is what we hicks do fer fun

When Jake got home from Salt Lake and his car was filthy dirty, I offered, out of personal sacrifice on my part, to drive it to the car wash for him. Alex, who loves the Bullitt to the extent that he caresses it every time he sees it, came with me.

I love to spend quality time with Alex. It seems like ever since little sister came along we don't get near enough of that, and whenever we hang out I am amazed at how much he's grown--even though I'm with him every day.

So I took Jake's point and shoot with me so we could play with it while the car was being cleaned.

I'm not sure who he is playing peek-a-boo with here...but whatever.

And pay no attention to how precariously his booster seat is situated. I think it's safe, but it looks so unstable. Megan, just don't look...

I love watching my kids in the automatic car wash. I think it's so hilarious.

And while the car is getting the inside cleaned we have to go to Orange Peel. I don't take the car in that often to be washed, but when I do this is our little tradition.

I asked him to look at me and smile, and this is what he gave me. Does it not look like he's about to give me the finger?? What are the kids teaching him at that pre-school?

When I got up to pick up our smoothies he snagged the camera...And here we are together. That boy is a sweetheart. I love how excited he gets over the littlest things.

Speaking of excited, while we were there I asked him what his favorite things were and I had to hurry and write them down because they were so funny...I mean AWESOME!

1. Bullets

2. Fire

3. guns

4. steam

5. power wheels

6. the road

7. rocks

8. sticks

I guess I should be worried about some of them. If I'd read this list before I had kids I would have been filled with such fear for that boy and his future.

Now I'm all, "RIGHT ON BUDDY! STEAM! YA!"

it's a miracle...that I'm not on Prozac

Well, Jake just left for the weekend. Which is bitter sweet because I always miss him while he's gone, but on the bright side, I get to eat lots of cheese and garlic and Easter candy and when he comes home I'll be 20lbs heavier and he'll never leave me again!

But aside from the unhealthy dependency, I'm also looking forward to some good quality one-on-one time with photoshop after the kids go to bed. I always feel guilty when he has to share our time with a computer program (even though it is photoshop), so I try to keep it to a minimum. You know, just long enough so we can actually say a few words to each other without being interrupted or poked or summoned to a horrible scene of sibling cruelty.

But that is not the true purpose of this post. I needed to post about something that happened today that was so miraculous that I had to write it down before I forgot. I know I've written before about how Lily is my "runner". She is the one who is making me grow that 3rd eye I've heard so many parents talk about. Unfortunately it's not quite there yet.

So today I took Alex, Lily, and Jordan to McDonald's to get an ice cream cone and play on the playground, just cuz I'm a cool mom, and when we were done I realized I didn't have my keys. I looked all around where we were, and seeing as how we were one of the only people in McDonald's at 4 in the afternoon, it was clear to me that they were nowhere to be found. So I thought I must have left them in the car. It's been known to happen.

So we all walked back to the car, and the whole time I was just praying that the door was unlocked because then I could at least strap the kids in the car and not have to worry about them while I went looking for my keys. AND I thought, if the door is unlocked then surely my keys will be inside because I always lock my car. Of course if they weren't in my hands as I was walking away then I wouldn't have locked it.

It's kind of an all or nothing thing with me.

OK, so the door opened and I did a quick look around my seat for the keys. I want to emphasize the word quick here, because it was seriously 2 seconds, and when I didn't find them I looked up and Lily was gone. Gone, gone. My first thought was that she could not have gone very far because she was only out of my sight for a nanosecond, so I kept running around the car shouting, "Lily! Lily!" And even when I knew she wasn't there I kept going because I couldn't bear to imagine where in the big wide world she'd gone and it scared me too much to think about it, so I kept having this frantic Chinese fire drill around my car.

And then Heavenly Father sent me a lady who didn't know she'd be Lily's guardian angel that day (and my 3rd eye). Up above the McDonald's parking lot is a very busy road (Sunset Blvd.) and when you're on that road, from that height, you would have to make an effort to look down into the parking lot at McDonald's, much less notice the toddler on one side of the restaurant trying to place an order at the drive through window, and the frantic mom on the other side of the restaurant (still running in circles), take in the whole scene and shout at me from her window that "SHE IS THAT WAY!" The more I think about it the more it amazes me. Total miracle.

So I put her in the car, STRAPPED HER IN, and went back inside because my keys weren't in my car, which is so bizarre to me. So after doing a once-more-over around the restaurant, I finally asked them at the counter if they'd found any keys.

And they're like, "Oh, ya, here they are."

And I wanted to yell, "WE WERE THE ONLY PEOPLE IN THE ENTIRE BUILDING! YOU COULDN'T HAVE LET ME KNOW?"

But I didn't. I said, "Oh, thanks so much!" And we left.

The thing I learned today is that despite my lack of 360 degree vision, I sense that we are all going to be OK because there truly is a Higher Power influencing our lives. I can't help but think about the course of that unknown woman's day that brought her to the exact moment where she could assess the situation so quickly and help me out. It makes me emotional, I am just so grateful to her.

I'm going to have to put a leash on that kid.

And Jeny, this is the second time you've been aware of me losing my keys in the last couple of weeks, and I promise it won't be the last. If Jordan is no longer allowed to go driving with "crazy Sister Bracken", well...we'll truly miss him, but I'll understand:).

gettin' skooled

I took this picture last January because I wanted to capture my kids playing underneath that really cool sky, but it was tricky to expose for. Either I caught the dramatic sky and you couldn't see the kids, or else I got the kids under a boring white sky. Now who wants to see that? Come on!

So the Pioneer Woman came through for me yet again! I just love that I can follow her instructions and they work! And I won't even have to see my therapist this week...for this!

OK, I've heard you can do this, but I never knew how until now. I layered the two photos together, (one straight out of the camera, and one in which I had bumped up the exposure in RAW), added a layer mask, painted over what I din' want dark, and tadah!

Do you see it? It's right there...the illusion of good photography right before your very eyes!

Seriously it's so easy. But I swear when I look at that screen in Photoshop with all the brushes and palates and filters and blending tools and other doo-hickies and I am just ready to throw in the towel. But stuff like this excites me.

If you are interested, The Pioneer Woman's instructions are here.

I love you, Internet!

Oh yes, and children, I love you too. Even more than the internet.

the shoes you always choose

No matter what you're wearing.

peace and quiet

Both of my kids woke up at 4am this morning, got in our bed, and poked each other until 7.

So this afternoon I decided that what we needed was a nice long drive somewhere. They're going to be pretty upset when they wake up and realize they missed the "toy store", but I'm hoping that they'll be a little more amiable after a snooze.
And Mom just may decide that they can go to the dollar store after they wake up. One never knows.

Easter

I am just going to post pictures from this weekend without too much commentary because there were a lot of pictures, what with it being Easter weekend and all, and what with me being lazy and all. There, I said it. I will just say that they are of my kids in their Easter clothes and our friends from the Easter party we had on Saturday.

Whew, That's such a load off. I think I'll go eat some candy.

our third child

Whom we love, but not nearly as much as our actual children.

Do you think she looks like me or Jake?...
I thinks she's a good combination of both.

So I have to admit, for all of the eye-rolling and "Men" that I've muttered in the last 24 hours, I am so smitten with this beauty. There is something primal about the roar of the engine, The Doobie Brothers blasting from the speakers, and the subsequent rubber-necking of passers-by as I rumble down the street. I defy you to stand within 10 feet of this car and not feel cool.

Today I was driving it by myself and some guys in some lesser Mustang pulled up beside me and wanted to race.

I will begin by saying that something about this car makes me feel 16, and I was not a smart 16. So, while I know that the responsible, adult thing would have been to wave them off with a "no thanks" and let them continue on their merry way, well, I just couldn't let it go down like that. So I looked over, smiled, and gunned it.

I know, I know, but I promise if you were in my car...ahem...I mean shoes, you would have done the same thing!

So, I came to my senses when I started to near 90mph. I suddenly was reacquainted with a healthy awareness of my own mortality, and the winning of some stupid drag race became not worth the mental picture I had of myself in a persistent vegetative state. So I backed off and let the guy pass.

Well, I guess the fact that I decided I was done wasn't enough for mister "lesser" Mustang. He backed off too, got behind me, and started to follow me onto the freeway. I tried to lose him in the traffic, but he just kept following me! I was pretty sure he was more interested in the car than me, but who's to say he wasn't some psycho with all of his psycho friends coming to hunt me down and do horrible things? So I got a little nervous for a minute there, but luckily, he gave up, took the Blvd exit, and I was able to go home without worrying that some lunatic was going to follow me there.

So, moral of the story is, Beka, don't be such a moron. I hereby promise I will never execute the awesome power of Jake's new car by racing strangers to prove it. I also understand that I am not invincible and that there are 2 small children at home who would really miss their momma if she were gone...especially from something as idiotic as drag racing.

OK, OK, enough about that. The car's awesome. I'm done. The end.

photoshop, oh how I love thee...sing with me brothers and sisters!!

Amy and I were talking about this little burned-edge effect I found on the pioneer woman website. If anyone is at all interested in photoshop, I highly recommend her site. She has such easy to follow instructions that I can make sense out of. Even without the twitching or muttering of swears that usually accompany my forays into Photoshop.

So you may remember this photo from a couple-a posts ago. I know. Go ahead and swoon.

But by adding this burned-edge effect it gives it just a little more interest. I didn't add too much here because his little adorable face is right up in the corner, but you can add as much or as little as you want. Here's a better example. This is a picture of a few friends of mine from a couple of years back. Rather than cropping out the distracting background I used our little trick here instead:
Doesn't it give it more of a finished look? I love that you can make it as subtle as you want and it gives the photo a nice frame.

To find out how to do it go here. It gives instructions for how to do it in CS2 complete with screenshots, but in CS3 I had to do some playing because it was slightly different. I don't know for sure if you can do it in Elements, but my bet is that you can.

There you have it. It's not the answer to world hunger, but it might keep you off the streets for a while.

And the fewer stay at home moms we have out on the streets the better...who's with me?

10 years ago today

This guy popped the question...

who is that crazy camera lady?...oh, wait, it's my mom.

So yesterday I was taking a picture of Alex in his new digs and this is the smile I got out of him...

Yah. I guess it's official. His spontaneous, adorable, looking cute just for cute's sake in front of a camera days are over. Now he's trying, and trying way too hard. It's really difficult to get a good picture of him just looking like Alex these days. So this morning I thought I should grab this time with Lily before it passes me by.

Spotting an airplane.

Cookies...the food that pacifies.

Here are some blossoms that I thought were gorgeous!

I don't know why, but I think that a great picture can always look better in black and white.

She is so cute and so fun to take pictures of. It reminds me of the good old days when Alex ws this age...




Even with spaghetti all over his face and a finger up his nose...just precious! And why this one of Jake with a guitar pick in his mouth?

Because that eventually led to this little image of adorable...

Alex's first co-ed bath...he looks so happy.This is really dangerous for me; Lily asleep in her room, Alex at the park with his friends, and me sitting in my quiet, peaceful home looking at baby pictures.

We're done having kids...Stay focused...stay focused...