she's a camper

put little bit on the bus yesterday

for her first trip away to summer camp

with our church

a dozen of the cutest 8 & 9 year old little girls as her cabin mates

100 or so other kiddos

& a few nurses

she's totally excited

i on the otherhand....not so much

these images pretty much sum up her emotions






while this image
sums up mine..

well i'll be darned

so for about a year now

i've tried to respond

to each comment

that is left

on my blog

each one

i try to answer any questions

or maybe just say thanks for

taking the time

to not only read my blog

but to leave a sweet comment

i try to reply back

just to show you

how much it means to me

& this is usually pretty easy

its not like i'm the pioneer woman getting 800 comments

or anything crazy like that!

many times though

i email back a pretty lengthy reply

i may ask you a question

or 12

& often times

i never hear back

eh hum....kim s.

only to realize the other day
when i was responding from a different computer whose email format is set up differently
that a whole bunch
of the comments
actually connect back to
NONFLIPPINREPLYCOMMENTS

well
not in all caps
& i don't think it has the word flippin
in there
but you get the point

many of you

never have seen all these

millions

trillions

of kind

thoughtful

& dare i say

lengthy responses i've sent

& i just thought you were

blowing me off all this time!

who knew?

well

probably

all of you knew this

but not me

millions of emails

all floating around

out in the

NONFLIPPINREPLY blogger abyss

for crying out loud

i felt like such a dork

so i'm here now

all schooled in the situation

& just wanted to let you know

1. kim & i are all good

she had no clue

& now she has about 2 dozen photoshop, vitamin supplement & parenting

questions to get back to me on!

2. for all the times you left a sweet comment

or asked me a question

{thankyouthankyouthankyou}

& never received an email

i really did respond

pinkie promise

& since i'm getting all this blogger etiquette all squared away

i must ask

you a question

do you know how google reader affects site meters?

if i don't actually go on to someones blog

but just read it through reader

does the site meter still pick this up as a hit?

just curious

oh&ps

i'm totally not saying that comments all need replies back

or that i think that there is an unwritten rule

out there

but i'm wierd like that

& love the contact

the blog world has brought many a sweet priceless friend my way

& its just my little way of saying thank you :)

xo

my new toys

say what you will
about me
but i want to share one of the things that will make this summer
at our home
much
much
more enjoyable

these babies!

we've been a family of 6
sharing ONE desktop
now, i'm not complaining
i am very grateful for our ONE desktop

but seriously girls
one place to check emails
one place for four facebook updates
one place for working on projects & writing papers

one in pink & one in red
have made for bliss at the knudsen home

since these bad boys have arrived
i have yet to hear
one
"i call computer!!!!"
as we pull into the driveway

they are worth their weight in gold
i tell ya!

the last month for me has been a total
information overload

let me roll it out for you

i upgraded my antique flip phone
to my uber cool touchscreen rogue
which i now tweet from

(not that i have a twitter worthy life, but it is fun)

with a keypad for rapid texting
my girls didn't think i'd convert easily
they have no faith

figured out the new laptop

purchased
downloaded ( which just about caused me to loose my salvation)
& figured out
how to use florabella actions
and textures

upgraded from photoshop elements 4 to pse 8
so that i could run said actions & textures

attended a photography workshop
& made the big move....
flipped the switch on my canon from auto
drumroll please
to manual

why did no one tell me?
or did you?
what a world of difference that makes

learned ( sorry...learning)
how to shoot in aperture priority
play with white balance
figure out the best iso
& shutter speed

slapped on my new 50mm f/1.4 lens
& i swear i heard the angels sing
& my life was forever changed

i've taken over 1,000 photos of florals
in the last couple of weeks

seriously

much easier to play & learn on
still life

than running & jumping little cuties

here are a couple

sooc

( straight out of camera)

shots

and a couple post-processed

with florabella actions

& textures

this texture was actually a freebie

that i found on flickr

the only downside

to all the new toys....

gotta be careful not to spend all day

playing!

two words

c-"hey mama"

me-"what cutie"

c- "i got two words for ya"
me-"yeah, what ya got?"

c-"FOURTH GRADER!"

me-"oh yeah"

me-"well i got 6 words for you"

me-" you'll always be my BABY GIRL!"

as of wednesday

i'll officially be the mom

of

a

highschool senior ( heaven help me)

a 9th grader

an 8th grader

&

yes

little bit

a 4th grader!

sorry i'm so delayed...

cstargel

YOU are the winner of the super cute fun tote

please contact kelly

kellychartman@aim.com

& she'll get you all set up!

for the love of strawberry jam

homemade strawberry jam
is definitely one of my most favorite treats
a freshly picked juicy strawberry
truly is heaven isn't it?

so this weekend we made our annual
visit to the strawberry patch
with my new rockin lens in hand

& for anyone who wants to throw
their advice my way
please
lay it on me...
is my white balance off?
should i not be shooting in aperture priority
when its this bright outside?

change my iso?

???

well
overprocessed photo or whatever you want to call it

we had a great morning

( insert smiley face here...

i've wanted to shoot this next shot

for like

ummm

forever

i am so happy with my new lens

thank you to all my buddies

who so cheerfully gave me their advice

i ended up going with this one

& love it!)

caroline's little bestie was along for the fun

i usually use sure-gel

freezer jam recipe

but this year

found the ball jar brand no-cook packets

easey peasey

messy

but super easy

seriously

its like 3 steps

wash

blend, mix, chop

whatever your preference

i prefer smooth

but you could just slice/crush them if you like

the little pieces in your jam

stir

loads of sugar

& your mix

with the berries

or have your child do that part

while you're preparing the next batch

& voila

no joke

so darn easy

& seriously

YUMMY!

& ps

you may still enter your name for the fun monogrammed tote

i'll announce the winner later this week

~

a fun giveaway for you!

hi friends~

i have a super cute giveaway for you

kelly from "Thirty One Gifts"has offered

this square utililty tote

AND a monogram

( lime green monogram on this navy stripe will be so cute!)

to one of my readers!
the tote is 12.5"d x9"h x 12"l

& would make a great gift for a new grad

or picnic supplies
keeping the car organized
picking up toys
picking vegetables from the garden
knitting supplies
perfect size for scrapbook papers
books and dvd storage
or a cute container for taking chips and dip to a party

featured on pg 30 & 31 on the online catalog

if you see something you love on kelly's website
just click "place an order online"

and choose "Paige's blog party"


if you would like to leave a comment on my facebook

to be entered

that's just fine too

to be added twice
just go to kelly's facebook page & "like"

i will post the winner on tuesday

thanks kelly!

& i hope everyone has a wonderful weekend