SnapWidget:Instagram

you might have noticed that my Instagram photos have popped up over there in my sidebar.

through a tweet on Twitter, i discovered a fun little tool that creates a slick, easy way to share your Instagram photos in a blog post or on your sidebar....and it's completely FREE. (i love free)

do you use Instagram?
have fun making your own at SnapWidget!
it's now available on Android phones. :)
follow me: @taniawillis

willis, party of 4: April 2011 edition

i'm baaaaaaaaaaaaack! kinda.

i couldn't wait another day to share these photos that were taken nearly 2 months ago, on April 30, 2011. we took them here locally at a park we like to visit a few times a year called Inniswood Metro Gardens. yes, i realize that was TWO MONTHS ago.

i'm trying not to panic over the fact that i'm perpetually behind in nearly everything right now---especially blogging and documenting stories. eeeeeeeks.

i think i've resigned myself to just hitting the major happenings---these photos, the circus experience, and school accomplishments--then dumping a bunch of random into one post, because i also have a deadline list with over a dozen things listed on it needing completed in the next week and a half. soooooo not complaining though. i loooove what i get to do. it's just a busy time. :)

anywho. it's quite fun looking back through the photos i've taken the last two months. helps me to remember that there were many peeks of sunshine through all the rain. both literally and figuratively. it's been a rough few months. i'll leave it at that, for now.

anywho..........onto the happy snaps of my sweet little family right now.



next up i have another video & tutorial, then pictures from the circus we went to........yep, you guessed it...........almost TWO MONTHS ago. hahaaa.

so, how's about a photo share...

so, i'm having a little fight with youtube at the moment, so how about i share some random photos while we wait for those technical upload glitches to get worked out?

these are random things i've found on my phone or camera as of late....

rainbows in the sky....

and on the ground....(artwork by ashlyn)

this one was a surprise sent via texting. ashlyn was sleeping over with a friend, i was invited out with some girlfriends, so daddy was stuck with spidergirl. they went on a little date and sent me this photo from their dinner table. i was laughing so hard i almost peed my pants.

then about an hour later i got this picture. hahahahaa.

and i'm not sure if i mentioned it for the grandparents yet, but spidergirl can read books all by herself now! she's super proud and her favorite is Hop on Pop. it makes waiting for the doctor pass much more quickly now.

on her table.....(spidergirl's mess)

on my table.....

and the results on her thumbprint art.... (you saw my finished layout yesterday)

ashlyn look way too grown up. i'm guessing that spidergirl took this photo for her.

sidewalk chalk by spidergirl.

littest pet shops eveeeeeeeeeerywhere throughout my house. i find them in the cabinets, in the pantry, the bathroom, my studio.

they've never really played with barbies, but they'll play with pet shops for hours.

doug's truck being towed away. it's a long story that i didn't share on the blog. just another thing we were dealing with in the midst of all the other chaos. long story short, his tie rod broke, blew the values and ruined the engine. $1800 to fix. so we junked it instead. after we paid $287 for them to tell us what was wrong with it. and $75 to renew the tags just the week prior. and $16 to get a title that still had a bank lein on it even though it was paid off 3 years ago....only after going round and round with the bank for 21 days. oy. a nightmare i'm glad is over. but doug's sad his truck is gone.

a message emma left on the wall of remembrance at Lifeline of Ohio for her big grammy...

and a little sneak peek at what's to come with this video tutorial..... :) thanks for your patience (because i think mine is running out, LOL.)happy thursday!!!

last week we went on a nature walk....

the girls were out of school on Election Day so I took a day off work to go on a little adventure with them. we headed out to one of our favorite local spots....Jeffrey Mansion in Bexley....for a little nature walk.

i haven't taken many photos of things other than scrapbooking projects over the past three months because i've been burning the candle at both ends with the Team Fitness program i was in (more details on that soon). so, i had a double motive. i wanted some fall pictures of the girls.

fall is my most favorite season of all. :)

we loaded Spidergirl up on her daily allergy meds, packed water bottles, grabbed a few ziplocks and took of for an adventure with the camera.

i was afraid we had waited too long on getting good fall color in the photos, but as usual, the landscape at the mansion didn't disappoint. i took 250+ photos in less than an hour.

they were both enamoured with the beauty, gasping at every little detail. we obviously don't go on these types of walks often enough now that i'm working outside the home. taking them on day trips to just be outdoors and explore our town is what i miss most about not being a stay at home mom. :(

listening to them giggle, and run with wild abandon. and hollering "mooooooooooooom, look!"

Spidergirl was all about gathering leaves....one of every color, shape & size. until, she found the acorns. then she stuffed her pockets like a chipmunk stuffing their cheeks. full.

at one point she stopped, totally dumbfounded, holding an acorn high up in the air and said "i can't believe it. it's a butt-guy." cutest thing ever!

i laughed and laughed and laughed. butt guy = buckeye. but it was just an acorn. gosh, i love this kid.

then, it was back to the leaves.

"it's huuuuuuuuuuuuge."

at this point she was starting to feel the effects of being allergic to mold & trees & grass & oak &, on and on and on. itchy, watery eyes. so we wrapped up our little adventure and made our way to the mulched play area shortly after this photo.

allergies turn her into a grumpalump.

i loooooooooooooooove this picture of the two of them. it is the exact definition of their relationship. there wouldn't be any other photo to describe them more accurately.

occassionally they will put their differences aside, drop their guard and show each other some love. oh, how this mama wishes it would be way more often than it is though. they have one of the coolest sisterly bonds i've ever seen. but, man, do they ever do their share of bickering. *sigh* all would be right in the world if i could just figure out how to squelch the bickering.

ashlyn is such a little mother hen though and adores her sister sooooooooo much. even her teachers comment about how much she adores & talks about her when we go to conferences.

this photo below reminds me of the song "Safe" by Phil Wickham. loooooooove it. so very much.

at this point it's quite obviously that emma was pretty much done with the camera. she's not a huge fan of having a camera in her face. she pretty much only likes to make silly faces for the camera. i was so lucky to get some natural (aka normal) looking shots. i know when i get this 'cheese' face that she's had enough.

but i was able to get one more out of her....

before she pulled out the attitude. this one totally cracks me up. it's a typical "emma" face that we see on a daily basis, usually when we ask her to put the snacks back and wait for dinner, or ask her to put her shoes by the door, or brush her teeth, or........anything she doesn't want to do really.

but, ashlyn, on the other hand, she's my shutterbug. she might just turn out to be in public relations, broadcasting, teaching, modeling, or any occupation that has her front and center.

she's such a natural in front of the camera.

she was more than willing to smile for me. i let her call the shots and just watched her creative little brain go to work. i didn't pose her or ask her to change her expression at all, i just followed her around and took the photos while spidergirl stuffed her pockets with butt guys. LOL.

she's got an eye for what works, i tell ya. :)

but this one...............oh my. she looks so grown up.

there is another full body shot that i haven't posted because i'm not gonna lie, it freaks me out a little bit. it made me feel like i was looking at her senior pictures. this one does too, but not as much. flash forwards are NOT okay. when did she get so big!?

anywho. before we left the piles of crunch leaves to go practice our soccer skills in the large open field, ashlyn wanted to take some pictures. who am i to turn that down? she's learning how to use my camera, the zoom and composition primarily.

hey, look. a picture of myself that isn't half bad.

and this one is totally for the grandparents. they are always saying how much emma looks like me.......and i'm always saying how much she looks like my mom did. and this picture shows 'em both. family resemblences are so amazing don'tcha think?

now, i just have to decide which one of these to have printed on a 20x16 canvas through Photo-Canvas. suggestions?

i keep thinking i want to print one from this post, but is it silly to have one printed from 2 years ago?

help a girl out, would ya?