Playing.... around... with.... Photoshop...

Peek-A-Boo

Cayson was so excited to read one of his favorite books tonight. The first time I read it, he squealed the whole time. So, I got out the camera to try to capture his excitement. In typical Cayson fashion, he toned it down for the camera. I can read this book 4 or 5 times in a row and he is still enthusiastic about each page.

10 Months Old!

Today marks 10 months that Cayson has been an active part of our lives (Well, technically, it's been 19 months since he became a part of our lives!) I took some pictures of the little guy today.... and played around with Photoshop on a couple pics.

10 Months Old!

Mom, I have a question!!!

What's this piece of paper?

Now, what does this say?
This picture business is a lot of work! I need a break.I'm out! See ya...

It's Christmas at our house!

It was like Christmas at our house today! We got out a bag of "toddler" toys that were in the attic. They are some that the Victerys gave us before Cayson was born. Thanks Joe, Kourtney, Emma, & Joseph!

Cayson was thrilled with the new toys. I was busy this morning trying to scrounge up batteries and wiping down the new toys. Cayson had a hard time deciding which toy to play with. He kept trying to play with the ride-on toy and pull another toy with him. Grandma stopped by to see Cayson and he kept giving her looks that said, "Stop interrupting me!" He was so busy and serious about checking everything out thoroughly.

First Haircut!

Our little baby is all grown up... well, not quite, but he got a big boy haircut today. I was ready to get it trimmed up because it was getting to be hippie long. Of course, Dusty loved his mop. We went to the barber shop for Dusty & Cayson to get their haircuts. Dusty went first so Cayson could get used to everything... then Cayson sat on Dusty's lap for his haircut. He was pretty good though he kept turning his head to try to see what the barber was doing to him. I had to try to distract him. We were probably a funny sight, Dusty sitting with Cayson on his lap, barber trying to cut Cayson's hair, and me dancing and singing to Cayson and trying to keep his attention on me. The bad thing is that the barber shop has huge windows looking out on Main St for all to see my antics! Anyway, I am a little sad this afternoon because I kind of miss his shaggy hair... he just doesn't look like my baby boy! I know I'll get used to it. He looks very handsome now. The barber shop also gave Cayson a certificate commemorating his first haircut.

Before:

And the haircut begins!

All grown up with a new haircut!

Where's my Tiger?

We've started a new game with Cayson where we ask him where his tiger is. We put it in the storage compartment on his ride along toy. When we first started this game, he'd get super excited every time we opened the compartment and he caught a glimpse of his tiger hiding inside. You could open it over and over and over and over and each time he would squeal and stiffen up in excitement. It was the funniest thing. He has now figured out how to open it himself. Sometimes when he's crying, I'll ask where his tiger is and he'll perk right up and start looking for his toy.
Yesterday, Dusty and I were trying to get ready for church so we played the game with him while we were in the bathroom primping. We sat him on the toy and he opened and closed the compartment over and over. He pulls the tiger out sometimes but promptly puts it back. Here are some pictures...

Where's your tiger?

I found it!!!!

Kisses... sweet kisses

Cayson has become a great kisser! I hate to say that.... but he's such a sweetie. I got a few pictures today of his kisses. He likes to kiss his Valentine puppy too. Today he started hugging it for the first time when Dusty would tell him to hug his puppy. It was so cute!

Going in for the kiss...

Smack!

Kissing DaddyCayson is chattering now... he says Mama, Hi, & Hey. I think he's said no a few times too. Wonder where heard that word? Ha ha!

Also, Cayson and I are almost over our colds... now Dusty has it! Cayson's been sick for nearly two weeks and I had it for a week. Hopefully, Dusty will get over it quickly.

Now I know what pepper spray feels like!

Here is the background on my spicy experience of the day.

Tonight I tried a new recipe - Rachael Ray's Dinner Size Texas Cheese Fries. It requires a lot of prep work - more than my usual quick recipes. It also has quite a few steps. You don't just throw everything in the pot and let it be. I usually try to do these more complex recipes when Dusty is home to keep Cayson out of my hair.... silly me, decided to do this one while Dusty was working.

Cayson has been very needy since being sick. He got spoiled by all the attention and cuddling and now he expects me to hold him and play with him all day long. So, I am trying to make dinner and Cayson is at my feet bawling. Trust me, I'm not neglecting him... I gave him plenty of toys and distractions.

I chopped up the garlic, onion, & jalapeno and then washed my hands thoroughly (I thought). I opened the oven to pull out the fries to flip and a poof of steam hit me in the face. I thought something got into my eye and without thinking, I put my finger on my eye ball to wipe it out. HUGE MISTAKE! I repeat - HUGE MISTAKE! My eye ball started burning like crazy. I ran to the bathroom while calling Dusty to come home.

Dusty walks in to find me in the bathroom crying and washing my eyes out and Cayson attached to my leg crying hysterically. Somehow this jalapeno burn spread to my other eye, my face, my lips, etc. Holy cow, it burned. I always laugh when I watch Rachael Ray and she says not to touch your eyes after handling peppers. Stupid me! I couldn't open my eyes and my face was covered with splotches of red.

Mom came to take Cayson since I wasn't in a position to take care of him. Thanks Mom! I took a shower and it helped immensely. I was able to finish dinner and it turned out pretty good. I was soooo lucky to have Dusty available to run home and have my mom so near to help out. So, that's my experience for the night!

Here's my two-cents on the recipe by the way.... it's pretty good and pretty spicy. I did two jalapenos instead of one because I used to like peppers before tonight's experience... I'll probably forgive the peppers and use them again.... because deep down, I have a passion for hot spicy foods. Oh, Rachael Ray said she came up with this recipe for a healthier spin on chili cheese fries. It's not healthy all together but better than what you'd get at a diner!

New Photoshop Stuff

Here are a couple of things I made the past few days on Photoshop. I'm still working on figuring things out. My sister has been so patient and sweet to answer questions and give me suggestions! Thanks sis!

Cupcakes!

I tried out a recipe for cupcakes for Valentine's Day and am just getting around to sharing it.

I found this recipe on Home Made Simple. I found the icing recipe on allrecipes.com and I love this icing! It's a thinner consistency so it would be great as a glaze or on cupcakes and cakes! It is wonderful.

Strawberry Preserves Cupcakes

1 pkg. moist strawberry cake mix

2 cups sour cream

3 eggs

1/4 cup water

1/3 cup strawberry preserves

24 paper cupcake liners

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line cupcake pans with papers.

2. In a large bowl, combine cake mix, sour cream, eggs, and water.

3. Stir with a spoon and or whisk until well blended. (I just used my mixer)

4. Fill muffin pans 1/2 full with batter.

5. Using a spoon, make a slight indention in the center of each cup; fill with a heaping 1/2 teaspoon of strawberry preserves.

6. Spoon remaining batter evenly over each filled cup; covering preserves. (Muffin cups should be about 3/4 full).

7. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. If toothpick goes through the preserves, it won't come out clean. Duh!

8. Cool for 1 minute and remove from pan. Cool completely before adding icing. Store in the refrigerator.

Sour Cream Frosting

4 T butter, softened

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 t vanilla extract

1/2 t lemon juice

1/4 t salt

1 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar - powdered sugar

In a medium bowl, mix together the butter sour cream, lemon juice and salt. Stir in powdered sugar and beat with an electric mixer until smooth.

Playing around...

I'm trying to figure out Photo Shop with a lot of help from my sister. Here's a little something!

Fun at the hardware store...

I took Cayson down to the hardware store to see Dusty this afternoon. He had fun riding around the store in the wagon and sitting on the huge Toro lawnmower.

Good Movie!

Dusty rented Game Play yesterday for me because Cayson "shared" his sickness with me. I just want to tell everyone that it is such a cuuuuute movie! I loved it! Check it out!

Sleeping boys...

Here are my boys this morning.... Cayson doesn't sleep with us by the way... Dusty just brought him back to bed when he woke up at 7.... Cayson then slept till 9:15! He's still pretty sick and miserable. :(

Our Valentine's Day....

Our first Valentine's Day as a "family" didn't go quite how I expected... mostly because Cayson was sick and miserable. I did get some amazing things from my two guys... a message cookie, a new purse (of course!), and gorgeous flowers! I forgot to take a picture of the cookie before Dusty & I dug in!

I wanted to make a nice dinner for us... a simple fare of spaghetti, salad, garlic bread, & tea... the only problem is my sick boy thinks he needs to be held all day and babied... which he probably does! So, I started on the meal in the a.m. to get it done by dinnertime! While finishing up the bread, my dear sick boy decided to eat cat food. While tending him, our house nearly caught fire due to the bread being under the broiler! Here's the yummy bread....
Everything was ready (minus the blackened bread)... the table was set.... and......my sick boy decided he'd had enough and bawled his eyes out. ( I think he was still mad at me for taking the cat food away from him.) So, Dusty got to eat this romantic dinner for one while I bathed Cayson and got him ready for bed. Moral of the story, life changes drastically after kids! Ha! It was still a good day. I'm thankful to have a loving husband and great son!

New Tricks

Cayson's new tricks for today

• Turning his mobile on this morning by himself... I thought Dusty had already gone in and started it so we could sleep longer - then I saw the clock - 8:45 am! Cayson let us sleep in!
• Eating cat food... yes, he really ate it. He was shoving it in by the handful when I caught him. I dug out what I could and he was soooo mad at me.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

Cayson wants to wish everyone a great Valentine's Day!
Hope everyone has a great day!

Riding off into the sunset.... or not

I worked this evening for an hour and a half at State Farm. Joe needed someone to close the office and said I could bring Cayson. Anyway, I put Cayson in the pedal car and took a few quick pictures..... I keep telling Joe he needs to have Joseph's pictures done in the car. Anyway, here are the pictures... I only let him sit in it for a minute but he LOVED it! I think he wants one for his birthday. :) He's still quite sick. I took him to the doctor yesterday and he said to keep doing what we're doing. The poor guy's nose is so raw from being wiped. He was pretty fussy this afternoon and this evening because he is so uncomfortable. Please keep him in your prayers. We're ready for him to be back to his normal self!

A Valentine Sweet for You!

I decided to make some chocolate peanut butter balls to show our appreciation to our family and friends on Valentine's Day.... now that they are finished, I'm not sure if there will be any left after Dusty does his taste testing! He devours these things... oh, and I occasionally help him out with his quality control testing.

Before making this, clear out room in your refrigerator for two cookie sheets. I didn’t do this beforehand and had to go on a refrigerator re-arranging and disposal mission. It was not pretty what I found in there! Was it sour cream or penicillin?
Also before starting, make sure you have all the ingredients… I always forget this step and my dear husband is always running to the grocery store for me… this time he went to get me powdered sugar. Thanks, Amazing Husband!

Amazing Husband wouldn’t humor me and take a photo with the powdered sugar by the way. He also wasn’t willing to take pictures of me making the candy so these pictures are the best I could do! No action shots.

Here's the MIA powdered sugar bought by Amazing Husband.Peanut Butter Balls

2 cups peanut butter
1 stick butter, softened
1 16 oz. bag powdered sugar
3 cups Rice Krispies2 bags chocolate chips (approximately)
2-3 T shortening

Mix peanut butter, butter, and powdered sugar. Add Rice Krispies and mix in.

Roll into balls and place them on wax covered cookie sheet. As you can see, I am not a consistent ball roller… they get bigger and bigger as I go…. Which does mess with the peanut butter to chocolate ratio…. Try to make them uniform if at all possible or do whatever floats your boat.
Refrigerate.
Melt chocolate chips and shortening either on stove top or microwave. Using toothpick, dip each ball in melted chocolate and return to wax papered cookie sheet. Coat all balls and refrigerate until chocolate is hard.

Devour!

Note: I store mine in a Tupperware container and layer wax paper and candies and then refrigerate.

Disclaimer: I am not promising that we will give these out on Valentine's Day... it was a thought... they may not last that long so we may have to dispose of them as we see fit.