The girl LOVES bath time!

Giving this girl a bath requires rain gear!  She loves to splash around and gets the floor, kitchen counter, and ME soaking wet! 

Wordless Wednesday

Someone wouldn't participate in Valentine pictures, but had no problem goofing off with Sister's headband after I was finished.  Silly boy.

Our Little Valentine

 Oh.my.word.  I have to admit, I've been so excited about Valentine pictures because I wanted to put a strand of pearls on Riley and get her all dolled up.  It was so much fun!  The picture below is one of my favorites, and it was taken and edited on my phone.  Imagine that.  I have a very expensive camera and Photoshop Elements, and my favorite picture was edited with a 1.99 app.  Instagram is awesome!

 

I kind of feel guilty that we haven't taken Riley for professional photos.  I love some of the pictures I take of her, but I don't think they're professional quality, especially when it comes to the editing.  But, I keep trying!  

I couldn't, for the life of me, get a great smile out of the girl when I really wanted one.  I even enlisted the help of Gavin.  I had him standing behind me, doing jumping jacks, snorting like a pig, singing her name...nothing!  

For 0.97 cents, I got a super cheap plastic tablecloth at Walmart to tape up the door in the toy room, pulled the blinds to let as much light in as possible, and started snapping away.  

 I can't believe our little Valentine is already 6.5 months old, trying to scoot and crawl herself around, and reaching and getting into everything already!  Time is going so fast...

Riley Savannah, you are so beautiful!

Field Trip!

These pictures are being posted rather late, but that's just the way life goes these days, huh?  Last month, Gavin was learning about transportation at preschool and took his very first field trip to a small municipal airport.  Of course, I had to sign up to chaperone!  So, Riley and I joined him and it was so cute.

I followed the school van in my car since I had Riley.  It was such a strange feeling to watch them walk out of the building and load onto the van.  Such a big boy!

We had tons of fun checking out the corporate plane and a really cool fire truck!

It was a lot of fun to watch the fireman get all dressed in his uniform/equipment.  He was really good with all the kids, making them laugh and getting them involved. 

 I think Gavin was slightly more intrigued by these flags because, according to him, they were just like the World Grand Prix flags on Cars 2!

I was very thankful that I was able to attend the field trip with Gavin.  It was a really strange feeling to be assigned a group of kids to be in charge of, bringing back lots of memories of field trips I went on with my own classrooms.  I love being his Mommy.

Pinterest Tutorial

I'm by no means a 'Pinterest Expert.'  I don't work for them.  They aren't paying me to write this.  But, I've been talking about Pinterest a lot, and a lot of friends are asking me about it.  Some don't get it.  And honestly, I didn't either when I started.  But I've learned to love it, and I've gotten so many good ideas, so I told a friend I'd post some Pinterest tips.  So, here you go!

First of all,  set up your boards.  Think about topics you like to get ideas for and make sure you have boards for them.  Recipes, fashion tips, craft idea, homeschooling topics, art you love...whatever it is.  {But know you can add a new board any time you want.} 

Make sure the Pin It button is added to your toolbar.  That way, when you're browsing the web and find something you want to remember or come back to, you can click Pin It and add it to the board you want.   


Start following people.  Find your Facebook friends (or use Twitter) and start following people.  


When you sign on to Pinterest, the pins that people you follow will show up on the main feed.  You can also search pins of random people by selecting 'Everything' at the top and choosing a category you want to browse.  I do this a lot when I want to look for wedding ideas for Megan.  If come across someone random that shares similar tastes, start following them!


Want to find something you pinned?  In the top right corner, hover over your name and select Boards or Pins (however you want to search for the pin).


Lastly, if you have an iPhone (not sure if there's an app on the Android or not), get the app.  I love to scroll through on my phone in the middle of the night when I'm feeding Riley.  


Jarrod thinks I spend too much time on Pinterest.  But I quickly reminded him that if I didn't have Pinterest, I never would have found Chipotle's cilantro lime rice recipe, which we've made at least once a week since I found it.  :)  

Just let me know if you have questions.  

ETA: You can find my boards by going to www.pinterest.com/mrspate22