What's in a Name?

I've been having all these random ideas for blog posts lately.  I think they're pretty fun and a good way to capture some of the small everyday pieces of our lives (also something that's been on my mind lately).

So for today, our names, their history, and our nicknames.

Troy Anthony

*I'm not sure there are any family connections to Troy's name.  If Troy had been a girl his name would have been Crystal.

*Also known as: hon, babe, TB, Dad, Daddy, T-dog, T-money

Amy Elizabeth

*My mom always knew that her first daughter would be named Amy because she loved it so much.  Elizabeth is my mom's middle name and my grandmother's middle name.  If I had been a boy my name would have been Eric.

*Also known as: dear, PT, Mom, Mommy, famous, amos

Luke Edward

*Luke was one of the front-runners for boy names for us right from the start.  Edward was my maternal grandfather's middle name; he passed away while I was pregnant with Luke.  If Luke had been a girl his name would have been Aubrey Elizabeth.

*Also known as: Lukester, munchkin, kiddo, crazy monkey, sweet boy

Hannah Elizabeth

*It took us a while to decide on Hannah but we knew we wanted something that would go well with Luke and biblical names seem to be favorites of ours.  Elizabeth is the same as mine.  If Hannah had been a boy her name would have been Eric Anthony.

*Also known as: Miss Hannah, Hannah-bean, Hannah banana, sweetheart, sis

Laughing

Tonight is the first time Hannah truly laughed out loud.  Troy was blowing raspberries on her feet and she just started giggling.  I managed to get the second go around on video.  Enjoy--I certainly did!!!

MDO Easter Parties

Last week at MDO Luke had Easter parties both Wednesday and Thursday.  Most kids go on Mon/Wed or Tues/Thurs and so Luke got to have two parties.  I went for the entire time on Wednesday and for a short while on Thursday.  Each child made an "Easter" hat for the parade they had in the morning.  Luke insisted on having construction vehicle stickers on his.  We also had pipe cleaners, his name in stickers and some Easter grass on his hat.  The kids enjoyed some goodies before going outside for the egg hunt.  Luke loved hunting for eggs but even more he loved opening them all to find the candy inside!  

Scrapbook Excitement

I will admit that this is somewhat silly but it's still really exciting for me.  I have mentioned Ali Edwards on my blog several times--she's the creator for the Week In the Life project I did last year and will do this year not to mention a super famous scrapbooker.  Anyway, Ali has a line of digital scrapbooking products and I bought some the other day to use with Photoshop Elements.  In the description of the product it states that it's possible to change the dates that are already set up in the template I bought.  Well, I couldn't figure out how to change the dates for anything.  So I e-mailed Ali to ask for her help yesterday afternoon.  And the exciting part is she replied today!!!  I figured she would reply but definitely not so fast; it was less than 24 hours.  I would absolutely LOVE to take a class from her personally but she doesn't do many and they are super expensive so it's not likely to happen.  I consider her e-mail response probably the closest I'll ever get to "interacting" with her.  Hehehe--that definitely made my day and more likely my week :)

Our e-mails:

Hi Amy,

Thank you for purchasing a set of my templates, here is a link that might help you:

http://aliedwards.com/2010/01/scrapbooking-with-your-computer-adjusting-digital-journaling-blocks-to-fit-your-story.html

A brief description of what you are looking for:

You mentioned in the video that it’s possible to change the day of the week so these could be used for other years. Can you show us how?

Answer:  Using the rectangular marquee tool (the one that looks like “marching ants” – select the area you want to delete (such as around the day of the week word) and hit delete. This will remove the word. To add a new word grab the T tool and type your word in that boxed area.

If you are wanting to have a different day (with that same typeface I used) you can open an overlay that is the day you want (say a Monday) and using the rectangular marquee tool again select the area and go to Edit/Copy and then Edit/Paste to paste it onto the overlay you want.

And a link to a series on my blog about getting started with digital scrapbooking:

http://aliedwards.com/2010/01/getting-started-digital-scrapbooking.html

I hope you have fun playing with those elements and let me know if you have another question.

Ali

Hi Ali,

I'll start by saying that I'm new to Photoshop Elements so this may be a ridiculous question.  I have the 10th edition.  I bought the 2010 WITL layered templates in an effort to finish my 2011 WITL before you start on 2012 WITL (hope that's clear).  Anyway, in the description at designer digitals it says that the dates can be changed or removed.  I can not figure out how to change the dates from 2010 to 2011.  I've tried reading all the help topics on text in PSE but nothing is working.  I would greatly appreciate your help.  

Thank you so much for your time!  I truly enjoy reading your blog everyday and love all of your projects.

Thank you,

Amy

Odd Hooray

So, this morning when I went upstairs to wake Luke up for MDO I came across some odd circumstances. They were in order of discovery:

*Luke's bedroom door was closed (I always open it before I go to bed)

*The door into the bathroom was open (it's always closed because it lets in a lot of light)

*The light was on in the bathroom

*The door from Hannah's room into the bathroom was also open (always closed as above)

I really was puzzled for a minute because Hannah didn't fall asleep last night until 12:30 and I know I didn't have the light in the bathroom on or the doors open.  Then it occurred to me that Luke must have gotten out of bed at some point.  

So I asked him.  Sure enough he said he had gone to the bathroom.  I was hugely surprised by this and that I hadn't heard it through the monitor or that he didn't wake up Hannah.  We have a gate blocking the way from his room because he likes to get up and play with the water when he's supposed to be going to sleep. He went into Hannah's room to get to the bathroom and apparently pulled his diaper down, went to the bathroom and pulled his diaper back on and went back to bed.  

This is a very exciting development.  Troy and I have been talking about no diaper during the night because it's only wet maybe 1 or 2 times every two weeks.  Last night makes that seem even more possible.  Hooray for Luke!!!

Phone Pics

Some of the pics that I downloaded from my phone--it's great to have a "camera" with me all the time nowadays.  I feel like I get more pictures of the everyday stuff which are the moments I'll really want to remember down the road.

 February 4: Home Depot project of the month

 February 18: Out to lunch on a Saturday--wacky stick glasses

 February 23: First activity of the day at MDO--playing with shaving cream

 February 25: Sleepy girl

 February 28: Luke was tickling Hannah for the first time and he was SO excited that she was smiling and cooing at him.

 February 29: A walk in the park

 March 7: Luke and I had a date at the ice cream cherry (Peachwave)

 March 21: Sleeping after eating

 March 29: Lunch with Dad

 March 30: Swinging on his stomach

March 31: Birthday party fun at Bouncin' Craze (lots of inflattable toys to jump on)

Photo Shoot

I downloaded the pictures from my phone to the computer yesterday afternoon.  I had a bunch of pics on there that I wanted to share with you and I will but first these are my favorites.  These pics are from March 13 and I've posted the bottom one before but I wanted to share more of the photo shoot.  I absolutely love these shots!!!  Both kids were in a good mood and the light was perfect.