Funny YouTube Video Elyse Sent Me

This is just too hilarious not to share. My daughter, Elyse, sent it to me to watch. Why is this relevent? It's not. But she says I never mention her in my blog anymore. She's right. But I certainly have mentioned her here and there...oh, and here.

Have I mentioned she is such a sweet daughter? She has an awesome boyfriend, Sam, who apparently loves her dearly. I'm glad she has chosen him, and that he has chosen her. They are very cute together, too. The only draw-back to this relationship is that she always has her head in the clouds.....like when I sent her to the store to buy her sick dad some jello and some beef boullion, and she came home with SUGAR FREE jello and SODIUM FREE boullion. Ewwwww!

Ahem.

Maybe she's trying to tell us something??? Naaaaa....I think she just had her head in a cloud....the 9th one to be exact.

Elyse is also a great cook. When I'm not available I can always count on her to prepare a good nutritious meal for the rest of the gang.

Now, watering the plants seems to be a problem. She likes to let the plants get within an inch of dying before watering them. I'll have to work on that with her. But other than that, she's a keeper.

Enjoy the video. These two guys are very clever. DON'T FORGET TO PAUSE THE MUSIC AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE BEFORE WATCHING.



~Lisa

Another Photoshop Editing Job

Here is a picture of Elyse and Mark we took last week at Grandma's house.

Notice how dark the foreground is. The background is very light so the flash didn't go off. But that's ok when you have photoshop. *smile*

So, I cropped it and made some adjustments to the lighting and color, sharpened Elyses face, took some of the redness out of her complection (it was very cold and they were out sledding), and voila!

What a difference! Photoshop allowed me to take a photo that wasn't all that great, and turn it into something worth framing!

Before...

After!

I'm having so much fun!

Lisa

I Love Photoshop!!

So, I got a new toy! We invested in Photoshop CS4 and I just can't get enough of it. It will take me a life time to learn how to use most of the tools in it, but I'm having fun learning.

Here's something I just did. Below is a photo I took of Elyse around Christmas. Those of you who got Christmas cards from us might remember this picture on the card. Well, I edited those Christmas card photos online on a neat site called Picnik.com. Great site, but it's not photshop!

To show you what I recently did in photoshop I'll show you the straight out of the camera shot with no editing.

Before photoshop....

And after photoshop!

Wow! OK, Elyse would never wear this much make up in real life. But I added this much only because I am trying to learn how to use this new toy of mine.



I think I'm addicted. Is that a bad thing?


Lisa

Elyse is 19 today!

August 26th, 1989...our first miracle came into this world. I just can't believe that was 19 years ago. She was the tiniest one of our 6 pack, weighing in at 7 lbs. 15 oz. She is a wonderful pianist and loves to do sign language to praise music. She is growing into a beautiful young woman and I'm so thankful to be her mother.

Elyse chose crab legs as her birthday meal (what's with these expensive meals my kids are choosing????!) and not only got her nose buttered, but her eyes as well. I guess I was just trying to shake things up a bit. :o)

Happy Birthday, Sweetness!

All Grown Up

The is a video gift we gave Elyse for her graduation last year. Don't forget to go to pause the music before watching.

Meet The Shoe Dwellers ~ Elyse

Since I'm so new to the blogging world, and have virtually no hits (what does that mean, anyway?), I guess I'll start by introducing my family. I will introduce one person a day, which means there will be 8 posts, unless you include the dog and chickens. That would make 57 posts. I think I'll just stick to 8 with a possible 9th just for our doggie.

Elyse is our first blessing. She was born just 1 1/2 years into our marriage on August 26th, 1989. She weighed 7 lbs. 15 oz. Our smallest baby. What a perfect baby she was, which was a Godsend, considering I was a first time mommy and very young. She never gave us a lick of trouble, and hardly ever a sleepless night. She has blond hair and blue eyes, which seemed a miracle to me, as I just assumed my genes (dark hair, skin and eyes) would be stronger and more dominant than my husbands (fair skinned, blue eyes, blond hair). We began homeschooling her at age 6 after a year in public school. She was a brilliant child, naturally, and remains so this day. She took up piano at the age of 10 and now at the age of 17 is quite accomplished, in my opinion. She plays for the worship service in our church from time to time. She is also learning ASL (American Sign Language) on her own, with hopes of learning more formally in the years to come. She also signs to praise music in our church occasionally. This is such a sight to see. The words of the songs seem to sink in deeper watching a person sign them, as well as listening to them. It's a ministry all it's own, and I'm so thankful the Lord has given Elyse this gift.
She is a senior in our homeschool this year. We are planning a graduation celebration sometime in June. We've had her senior portraits done recently. I wish I could scan one for you to see, as they came out LOVELY!!! But there is a copyright on them. :o( Understandably so.
Elyse will make a wonderful wife and mommy someday, as she is my right hand here in Our Shoe. She selflessly helps me with her younger siblings and does a wonderful job with meals when I can't (Thanks Sweetie!).
Elyse also works part time for the same software company her daddy works for. She gets up at the crack of dawn to get her school work done. Then it's off to the office (on the other side of the drive way) for a 3-4 hour work day. She is still in the process of getting her drivers license, but we aren't complaining. ;o)